As Zhao Yun had expected, Karacalla and Getta were unprepared for the Han army coming by sea. In fact, even if they had been prepared for a long time, it would be of no avail, because the navy of the Great Qin Empire had been wiped out, and it was impossible to stop the Dahan navy.
After the Han army landed, they arrived at the Roman city without encountering any obstacles along the way, and quickly formed an encirclement. However, he encountered no small difficulties when attacking the city.
There are still four legions of the Great Qin army in Rome. The four legions were the Greek legion, the Roman legion, the Gaul legion, and the Germanic legion.
Although the Gaul Army and the Germanic Army suffered heavy losses in Parthia, they are the direct forces of Caracalla and Getta respectively. They have received a lot of care in the process of reorganization. They have been given priority to supplement their personnel and equipment, and their combat effectiveness has been greatly improved. Strengthened, even surpassed the level before the invasion of Parthia.
The Greek Legion and the Roman Legion are the famous Imperial Forest Legions of the Great Qin Empire, and the Roman Legion is named after this great city. From the commander down to the teammates of the Roman Legion, their families were in the city of Rome. To protect Rome was to protect their families. This made the Legion up to 50,000 soldiers and almost everyone was determined to die.
After surrounding the city of Rome, the Han army did not immediately launch an attack. Instead, they recruited many Daqin people and shouted to the city all day and night, telling them that the whole area of Daqin had fallen, and only Rome was still resisting. , I hope that the soldiers and people in the city will recognize the situation and give up their weapons and surrender. The Han army will ensure their safety.
In the process of shouting, all kinds of music and singing were still mixed outside the city. These musicians and singers were selected from various parts of Daqin that had become independent, and they sent a message to the city through their singing, proving that other parts of Daqin had been captured.
In the early morning of the next day, the battle against the city of Rome officially began. The tactics of "being embarrassed on all sides" arranged by Liu Xin didn't seem to work. The soldiers of the Qin Army who defended the city made a stubborn resistance using Jiancheng as a support.
Different from the Han army, the Qin army was not equipped with many weapons like bows and crossbows to defend the city. It is precisely because of this information that Liu Xin seriously underestimated the difficulty of siege. Although the Qin Army bows and crossbows were disadvantageous, they were accustomed to throwing spears, which also caused a lot of trouble to the Han army. All the soldiers of the Qin Army were tall and powerful. When the soldiers of the Han Army finally climbed to the top of the city, the one-on-one individual combat would often fall under the wind. Many soldiers of the Han army were even cut off their hands by the Qin army with a heavy double-edged axe during the climbing process, and fell alive to death under the city of Rome. The battle was extremely fierce and lasted until the evening, when countless brave soldiers of the Han army fell under the Roman city, and on the top of the city, the eagle flag of the Great Qin Empire was still flying in the wind.
The Han army has never encountered such a difficult situation in countless siege battles, large and small in the past. Jushou really couldn't stand it anymore, and said, "Your Majesty, the casualties will be too great if you hit this way, let's call the trebuchet!"
In previous siege battles, the trebuchet has always been the pioneer of the Han army. This time, Liu Xin also made meticulous preparations to attack the city of Rome, even using psychological tactics such as "being embarrassed on all sides". The four-door siege troops changed their main offensive and feint attacks from time to time, so that the defenders could not figure out the point. .
However, this time, Liu Xin was still hesitant to use the trebuchet, a super killer. Because Liu Xin knows that the destructive power of a trebuchet is as great as its power. After a city has been hit by a trebuchet, it will often become riddled with holes. Liu Xin didn't want this great city to be destroyed in his own hands, and he didn't want to leave such a record in future history books: On a certain year, a certain day, the Han Emperor Liu Xin led an army to invade, and the Roman city was destroyed by war.
However, due to the stalemate of the battle, Liu Xin had to reconsider his tactics. He ordered the offensive to stop and Mingjin to retreat. The soldiers and soldiers failed to board the Roman city, which made the soldiers of the Han army a little disappointed and unwilling, and the Daqin army on the city had already uttered deafening cheers. It was the cheers of the Daqin army that made Liu Xin make up his mind. No matter how great the city of Rome was built, it would not be as precious as the lives of the Han soldiers. Even if it will be cursed by thousands of people in the future, Liu Xin will use a trebuchet.
Not only did he use the catapult, Liu Xin also planned to use another tactic at the same time.
The Han army returning to the camp did not die, but got busy all night. Knowing that there will be greater action tomorrow, the depressive atmosphere circulating in the three armies because of the frustration of the siege will be wiped out. The trebuchets transferred from the rear began to assemble quickly, one after another lined up outside the city of Rome. More soldiers went into battle shirtless, brandishing shovel, and digging the tunnel leading to the city of Rome.
In the city of Rome, Caracalla and Getta personally climbed to the top of the city, patrolling, while watching the movements of the Han army outside the city. The commanders of the four major legions in the city are all experienced veterans, and they have arranged a lot of detailed investigations about the situation outside the city. It is not easy to make the city in detail, but they have their own methods for digging tunnels, and the actions of the Han army cannot be concealed. They quickly judged that a total of fifteen tunnels were excavated by the Han army outside the city, all concentrated in the south of Rome.
Caracalla and Getta both dismissed this little carving technique, and immediately ordered the excavation of a deep trench around the southern city wall. Don't underestimate this trench, as long as the Han army tunnel is dug here, it will be cut off immediately, and it will be impossible to dig into the city. Not only that, the soldiers of the Han army who were responsible for digging the tunnels would certainly not be ready for battle, and they would not even have time to escape, and they could only become the dead souls of the Daqin army.
Gradually, it was dawn, and the Han army outside Rome began a new round of assembly, and the sound of war drums was shaking. With yesterday's victory, the morale of the Qin Army in the city of Rome was greatly boosted. The spears on the city's head were like forests, and the crazy Qin Army soldiers licked their lips, as if savoring the blood in the air.
The soldiers outside the city did not initiate a charge, but there was a loud bang. Caracalla was taken aback, and ordered: "Quickly disperse!"
However, it was too late. Countless stones fell from the sky, and fell on the head of the city. The soldiers of the Qin Army were wounded and killed. This time, Liu Xin didn't have any reservations, and ordered the trebuchet to attack continuously until all the stone bullets were exhausted!
Seeing the heavy casualties of his men, Getta couldn't help but furious, and said loudly, "Open the city gate and rush over!"
At the beginning, Yu Yi taught the methods to deal with the catapult. One was to spread the forces as much as possible, and the other was to try to rush to the position of the catapult. Getta didn't expect to be able to rush to the trebuchet position, because he had no idea where the trebuchet position of the Han army was. But he can rush to the front of the Han army. As long as the two sides engage in hand-to-hand combat, the trebuchet of the Han army will be greatly reduced in order to avoid hurting his family.
Caracalla was very cautious, and hurriedly stopped: "Never! Be careful of the tricks of the Han people, especially those tunnels. If the order goes on, you must dig a trench in front of the Han people, and ambush heavy soldiers on both sides of the trench!"
The trebuchets of the Han army were so powerful that many stone bullets flew directly over the city wall and fell into the city. The trench dug by the Qin Army in the Nancheng area was very close to the city wall. From time to time, stone bullets fell, killing and wounding the Qin Army soldiers who were digging the trench. But Caracalla gave the order to die, and the soldiers of the Qin Army braved the stone rain of the Han Army, and a trench more than two feet wide and one foot deep gradually revealed its rudiment.
A large number of Qin army soldiers were dispatched to jump into the trenches, nervously guarding the possible exits of the Han army tunnel. As long as the tunnel is dug through, they will rush over and wipe out all the Han army.
At this moment, a Qin army soldier who jumped into the trench suddenly discovered that the stone bullets of the Han army rarely fell into the trench. As the news spread, more and more soldiers of the Qin Army took the initiative to jump into the trench, using it as a refuge from trebuchet attacks. Some soldiers even dug a lot of potholes along the sides of the trenches. People hid in without worrying about the damage of stone bullets.
The trebuchets outside the city attacked for a whole morning, and the stone rain finally became sparse, and Geita was full of energy, and ordered: "Quickly, there are not many rocks for the Han people, all go to the city, ready to meet the enemy!"
The head of the city is already a wolf, with broken arms and limbs and bloody corpses everywhere. Some houses in the city near the city wall were also suffered. They were either smashed or smashed into many big holes. The Roman citizens hiding in the houses were also killed and wounded. However, the city of Rome was very solidly repaired. Under such continuous and fierce blows, there were only a few places in the city walls that were not obvious cracks, and there was no need to repair them.
The soldiers of the Qin Army who rushed to the top of the city did not care about cleaning up the corpses and messy stones of their companions, and picked up their spears one after another, preparing to throw them down the city. Suddenly, the already sparse stone rain raged again, and the soldiers of the Qin Army who rushed to the top of the city were shot in succession, and more than half of them were casualties in a blink of an eye. It turned out that Liu Xin deliberately ordered most of the trebuchets to stop attacking, giving the Qin army the illusion of a shortage of stone bullets for the Han army, but at the moment Qin army rushed to the top of the city, he suddenly stepped up his attack and it worked.
However, this was also the last stone bullet of the Han army. After this round of shooting was completed, the Han army had no stone bullets to use. The roar outside the city stopped abruptly. The trebuchet completed its mission, and there is still nothing left. Rely on the soldiers to fight with flesh and blood!
Although the trebuchet attack did not achieve the expected results, it still brought a strong psychological shock to the soldiers and civilians in Rome. After the stone bullet attack ceased, there were still no figures visible on the city. Most of the soldiers of the Qin Army were still hiding under the city, especially in the trenches south of the city, almost crowded with people.
This time should be the best opportunity to attack the city wall, but yesterday's frustration in the siege made Liu Xin a lot more cautious. Instead of ordering the infantry to charge, he moved the crossbowmen forward. This time, he must make full use of the advantages of the Han army's bows and crossbows to suppress the defenders at the head of the city and provide cover for the infantry.