Chapter 158: The Defense of Brandenburg – Blood Water

In this way, the battle fell into a stalemate. In order to save supplies and the physical strength of his comrades as much as possible, George only gave the order to attack every time the Barbarians under the city wall were most densely packed. Although the frequency of attacks dropped significantly in this way, every shot guided by George could make more than 20 Barbarians fall on the spot.

Although the specific casualties could not be known due to the obstruction of the dark night and heavy rain, those Barbarians must definitely not be feeling good. And for the battle situation, the most critical thing was that every rain of arrows could cause chaos in the Barbarians’ formation and stop their filling work for at least a minute.

To be honest, if Knight Val’s Fireball Magic Wand was in George’s hands, seeing the dense sea of people below, George would really not be able to resist shooting a Fireball to wipe out some of the Barbarians gathered together. This impulse that affected his reason made George’s eyes a little bloodshot. This was a process he had to go through as he received the baptism of the battlefield for the first time.

Suddenly, George felt a stinging pain on his scalp. He took a lunge and moved himself a considerable distance away from the observation port. Then he quickly drew his sword and waved it, with a flash of cold light. With a “pa da” sound, everyone found that on the position where George stood before, an arrow cut into two sections fell to the ground.

The situation just now was really quite dangerous! In such a pitch-black night, coupled with the blocking of sight by rain, and the interference of the sound of rain hitting the Watchtower and the city wall. If George didn’t have an amazing sixth sense, he might have been hit just now. Although he didn’t know how much kinetic energy the arrow shot here still had, the part it was very likely to attack just now was George’s face. If he wasn’t careful, George might have become a one-eyed dragon for a short time.

“Everyone be careful, I don’t hope anyone stays here forever tonight. A few people come and temporarily seal the extra observation ports with wooden boards, just leave the one I use.” Before George’s voice fell, as if to prove him right, a stray arrow shot into another observation port, but fortunately no one was injured.

But looking at the arrow that fell after hitting the Crenelation, several soldiers responsible for carrying arrow quivers immediately put down what they were doing, started to take wooden boards and looked for hammers and hemp ropes.

The “Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!” of nailing and knocking, the “Hua! La! La! Xi! Li! Li!” of the heavy rain, the “Bang! Bang! Bang!” of bowstring vibrations and the “Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!” of arrows breaking through the air. These four originally unrelated sounds gathered into a tune that didn’t annoy people. Coupled with the “Deng! Deng! Deng!” of arrows hitting the Ebony bunker from the top and front of the Watchtower from time to time, it could almost make up a symphony.

With a scream of “Ah—”, a soldier who was nailing the wooden board had his palm nailed by a stray arrow shot from an observation port that was not completely sealed. Bright red blood immediately dripped onto the ground along the arrow shaft.

Hiren, who looked at the other party’s injury, immediately reached this conclusion: “Hurry up and go to the military doctor for treatment. If such a small injury is treated, it shouldn’t affect the next battle.”

After getting the answer, the injured person quickly left the battlefield and went to the medical point in the tower not far away to receive treatment. Although there was temporarily one less person, the nailing work didn’t seem to be affected much. Before long, the vast majority of the observation ports were temporarily sealed by wooden boards, and the possibility of the soldiers in the Watchtower being threatened by bows and arrows was greatly reduced. And the overall battle situation still repeated the previous stalemate.

‘Is it a bit too easy?’ Unconsciously, George had this thought. In the past hour, at least nearly a thousand Barbarians fell within the range of bows and arrows in front of the defense line of Bolerum Territory. Except for the consumption of a few Crossbows that were overused and had to have their strings or arms replaced, and the consumption of arrows, Brandenburg’s personnel loss was basically zero. The person who had just injured his hand had already returned to the battlefield after treatment.

This achievement was certainly entirely due to sufficient preparation before the battle. But after George took the time to let Hiren go for a walk, he found that the defense lines other than Bolerum Territory also had light losses, and there was no sign of danger at all.

Facing the rain of arrows constantly shot from behind the defensive fortifications, those Barbarian soldiers and slaves busy filling soil on the other side of the moat had no power to fight back. They fell one by one and became stepping stones for those who came after, and only when it really affected the filling work would someone move them slightly. The arrows shot by Barbarian archers were extremely difficult to have any impact on the defenders behind the Watchtower, and it could be said that they played no obvious suppressing role at all.

‘Things shouldn’t be this simple! Is the other side really wanting to use human lives to fill that moat? Even if it was previously expected that the heavy rain and dark night would have a greater impact on the defenders’ ranged attacks, the current situation should make those tribal leaders calm down a bit.’ Just as this thought turned in George’s mind, the whole sky suddenly thundered loudly.

Flashes of light were constantly emitted from the black thick clouds that originally covered the sky over Brandenburg. With the sudden uninterrupted flashing of light, George could finally roughly see the corpses that had fallen in the rain of arrows before. It should be said that there were much fewer than he had estimated before, excluding the possibility that the Barbarians still had the time to collect corpses in this situation. The most likely possibility was that some of the Barbarians who fell before did not die. Shortly after falling to the ground, they struggled to get up again.

George thought about it slightly, and the possibility of this situation should still be very high. During the day, those Barbarians filling soil just wanted to leave the shooting range of the bows and arrows on Brandenburg as soon as possible after completing the task. So except for those who were really hit in the vital parts by arrows and fell unconscious, no one would lie on the ground for a long time.

And tonight was a completely different situation. Poor sight added to the influence of rain, making it very easy for people to slip after being injured. The muddy ground further increased the difficulty for the Barbarians to climb up again. Coupled with the previous dark environment and the influence of rain, even George, who had low-light vision, could only see a large number of members among the Barbarians constantly falling under his side’s rain of arrows.

Coupled with the preconceived ideas generated during the day, George’s previously estimated number of enemies killed had a not-too-small gap with the reality. However, through the observation just now, George had a new idea, ‘Conducting such a large-scale night battle in a non-industrial society is really not a smart decision! Of course, those races that have the same vision in the dark and day are exceptions. But the Barbarians in front of us obviously don’t have this ability! Coupled with such a downpour, although it affected the defenders’ attacks, it also had a significant impact on the Barbarians doing earthwork! It seems that the other side’s reduction in personnel tonight is probably far above my previous estimate!’

‘Should I open a bottle of champagne to celebrate at this time? I even suspect whether the planner of tonight’s battle plan is the spy we sent from the Duchy of Nohan before. This kind of practice that can be considered as pitting their own people, even if they achieved their tactical intention for a while—filling the moat, so what? Such a serious reduction in personnel not only has a serious impact on future combat effectiveness, but is also a huge blow to morale!’ George thought with a bit of gloating.

And the reason why George felt so happy was that a serious stampede occurred during the process of the Barbarians filling the river. Stampede generally refers to a chaotic scene where, during a certain event or activity, due to the excessive crowding of people gathered in a certain place, some or even most people fall down due to unsteady walking or standing and cannot get up in time, being stepped on or pressed under others, and cannot be controlled or stopped in a short time.

And in such an environment, the other side didn’t seem to have taken effective measures to improve this situation. Like organizing a special Inspectorate to maintain order! Or using lighting tools that are not afraid of heavy rain! Both could have had a certain effect. But for some unknown reason, the other side didn’t have any response at all.

Just as George showed gloating and was about to share the happy news with his comrades, a nauseating stench made the smile on his face disappear. The alert George looked around and found that the light outside the window had weakened to the point where it was difficult to see things. Feeling that the situation was wrong, he risked being shot by arrows and stretched his hand out of the observation port. When he withdrew it, he saw a palm of bright red. What fell from the sky was not water, but waves of foul-smelling corrupt blood. In the pouring filthy rain, the defenders of Brandenburg did not fall into chaos. Years of training enabled them to stick to their posts. However, they could not rely on lit torches to observe the enemies outside the moat, and the Mages and Priests scattered everywhere could only cast limited lighting spells, which could not cover many places at all.

And for the guards in defensive structures without roofs like the Catapult, even using torches for lighting became a luxury. Moreover, whether such blood rain would cause any harm to the human body was also an unknown. The soldiers located by the Catapults just relied on their own perseverance to forcefully suppress the fear in their hearts.

“Alright! Boys, you don’t need to stay here for now. Later, Priests will check your condition. After all, no one knows what bad effects this damn blood rain will have on our lovely fighters.” An officer informed the soldiers on the roof of the temporary evacuation. In the same time period, within a difference of less than ten minutes, dozens of towers and Catapult positions on the rock walls of Brandenburg successively received this news. The boys who got permission left their posts as if avoiding excrement.

Similarly, the situation in the Watchtower wasn’t very good either. After losing accurate guidance, the effect that the rain of arrows could achieve was also somewhat unclear. Moreover, neither drawing a bow nor stringing a Crossbow was an easy job. Everyone had consumed a lot of physical strength, and at the same time, this strange blood rain obviously affected morale.

‘It’s almost the limit, we can’t go on like this.’ Sensing that something was wrong, George turned around and said: “Alright, my soldiers, from the look of it now, the bows and arrows in our hands probably won’t have any effect. In that case, let’s take a rest! The enemy’s despicable Magic shouldn’t last too long. After we get enough rest, we will wait for it to pass and then fight hard.”

Not only the section of the defense line commanded by George, but the archery in other parts had also started to stop one after another. Although George’s side wasn’t slow, it couldn’t be called fast either. Immediately after, George leaned against the Crenelation, not knowing what he was thinking, while Hiren still had the mind to stretch his muscles and bones on the fairly wide city wall.

Soon, Knight Ahuatan came here and gave a notification: “It looks like you guys did a good job. I was just about to notify you that there is no need to shoot out anymore before this damn blood rain stops.”

“Then how long will it take for this blood rain to stop!” Hiren was the first to ask this question that everyone cared about.

Knight Ahuatan said with a bitter face: “I’m afraid it won’t be that fast. The other side should have used the method of sacrifice for this blood rain. And the people sacrificed were those Barbarians we shot today. This blood rain, besides seriously blocking non-Magic light, just brings a nauseating stench. But in this regard, it is far inferior to the real Stinking Cloud spell. At the very least, not even a single person is actually vomiting, let alone fainting. Even those Guards who were drenched by the blood rain will be fine as long as they take a hot bath and drink some herbal soup. It’s just that tomorrow we have to arrange manpower to deal with the filthy blood in Brandenburg. If that thing is delayed for too long, it might cause a plague.”

“Then how long will it be! Mr. Ahuatan, please give us a definite answer!” Hiren, who didn’t get a definite answer, continued to ask.

George waved his hand to stop Hiren and said: “There is no need to ask anymore. Since the other side has made such an arrangement, it should play a corresponding role! This blood rain exchanged for the sacrifice of thousands of people’s Souls actually doesn’t have any too strong effects, so its duration definitely won’t be short. At the very least, it’s enough for them to complete the offensive in front of them.”

“George is right. Everyone should have a good rest during this time! Tomorrow there will probably be a hard battle.” Knight Ahuatan’s tone really wasn’t good.

That night, after Brandenburg stopped its rain of arrows, the Barbarians’ arrow suppression also stopped. George learned that during the whole day today, only two of the defenders of Brandenburg actually died. Both were hit in the face by stray arrows shot into the observation ports during the night archery battle. There were only more than 50 other wounded, of which about 8 were temporarily reduced, and no one was permanently disabled and forced to leave the battlefield.

If we only talk about the battle loss ratio, today’s battle can be said to be a brilliant victory. A score close to 300:1 would probably be recorded in history books before crossing over. However, considering that those sacrificed by the other side today were basically cannon fodder, and they were very likely to have achieved their tactical purpose, coupled with the gap in numbers, none of the defenders of Brandenburg, including George, could laugh.

At the same time, in the Barbarians’ camp, two people were talking in the Common Tongue of the Continent in their tent.

“I didn’t expect those Barbarians to really agree to your plan.”

“Barbarians are Barbarians after all. They have never stopped doing things like sacrificing their own people. One more time isn’t much, one less time isn’t little. Besides, the wealth accumulated by the Duchy of Nohan over so many years is enough for them to cast everything else aside.”

“I hope our plan can succeed this time.”

“Believe me, it will definitely succeed…”

The rain lasted until the second half of the night before it stopped. By this time, there were not many people from the other side within the attack range of the defenders. It seemed that they had already achieved their purpose.

The sun rose as usual the next day. George found that the vast majority of the moat had been filled. However, on quite a few sections of the moat, George discovered bridge decks paved with split tree trunks. At the same time, with his sharp eyes, he also discovered through the gaps between the tree trunks—bundles of straw laid underneath.

Such wooden bridges were basically prepared for Siege Towers. The so-called Siege Tower is a powerful siege weapon. The tower body is tall, and wheels are installed under the tower, which can move forward. During a siege battle, pushing it near the city wall, soldiers could directly cross to the enemy’s city wall head from the platform on the top of the tower.

Seeing this situation, George thought it was time to let the prepared fierce fire oil show its power. As every jar thrown down by the guards was ignited, dozens of tree trunks were swallowed by flames. And as the fire oil seeped under the tree trunks and ignited the straw, waves of thick smoke were emitted.

Before long, the wooden bridges built by the Barbarians at a considerable cost during the night collapsed with a crash. Seeing this situation, everyone in Brandenburg followed suit. In less than half an hour, the results that the Barbarians had spent most of the night on could no longer play their due role. At the same time, some panic seemed to have occurred in the Barbarian camp.

But George knew that such destruction could not have too much impact on the moat that had already been filled underneath. The main thing was that the other side had already completed it, and it would not be difficult to repair it during the battle later. But the encouragement to our own soldiers was real. Listen—this lingering cheer is the proof.