Chapter 276 Siege

It is said that people are shameless and invincible in the world.

And if a person puts his own life and death aside, then he is also invincible to a certain extent.

Standing with a sword in hand, although he has become as thin as a bone, standing on the east city gate, Robb Stark has become the undisputed core.

Some soldiers recognized the king who had been patrolling the city before, and they couldn't help but feel confident.

Previously, there had been rumors in Harrenhal that His Majesty had died in the city, and some strange conspiracy theories had been added, which really made the northern soldiers at Harrenhal confused. For a while.

The lower the people are, the more they believe in the king or emperor and regard them as their spiritual sustenance.

Many soldiers spontaneously gathered around Robb Stark. They all saw Robb Stark's weakness and the obvious sword held in his left hand.

Protecting the king, these soldiers didn't think too much.

But Robb Stark didn't need their protection at all. After scolding them for returning to their defensive positions, Robb Stark came to the center of the east city gate gate building.

From this moment on, he became the supreme commander of the final battle at Harrenhal, the East City Gate battlefield.

He felt a vague sense of urgency from Tywin Lannister's unusual movements.

The old lion must be aware of the emptiness in Harrenhal City, but fighting in such a hurry, especially at this time, is actually not a good choice in Robb Stark's opinion.

But Duke Tywin still took action, which meant that something was forcing him to launch a full-scale attack immediately.

Robb Stark looked towards the wilderness to the north, feeling slightly enlightened.

I'm afraid, there are reinforcements on our side, and they are about to bite the old lion on the butt.

This forced him to take action at this time of heavy snowfall.

But, it doesn’t matter, since we are here, let’s have a good fight. In this battle, one of the lion or the wolf must fall.

…

"Prepare, release!"

The Lannister army had been waiting for many months to finally build the siege equipment, which was considered to be catching up in this final war.

The attack distance of a catapult is much greater than that of a bow and arrow, and because of the different way of exerting force, it is even higher than that of an ordinary city-defending crossbow.

Therefore, the Western Army placed these siege weapons at the rear of the military formation.

With an order, the soldiers cut the rope, and the counterweight fell quickly, driving the long arm of the catapult to swing quickly, throwing the boulder covered in grease, which burned with blazing fire after being ignited, towards the city wall of Harrenhal.

Even though it's snowy weather, it seems like the fire can be easily extinguished, but this is actually not true.

Unless the air is physically isolated from a flame containing grease, the flame will not stop until the grease is burned away.

The weather is so cold now. Although the soldiers do not have the cold-proof winter clothes issued by the army, they will definitely try their best to fill their bodies with something that can keep them warm.

Without exception, these things are the best combustibles.

…

"Get out of the way!"

Looking at the flaming boulders that were billowing black smoke, dragging their long tails in the sky, and crashing towards him, Robb Stark roared, knocking out the dumbfounded soldiers who were standing there. To wake up.

At this time, people are very vulnerable in front of these guys. If you are hit from the front, no matter whether you are strong or not, there is no other end except broken bones and tendons, turning into a puddle of inhuman flesh. .

At the moment, they can only count on the remaining battlements on the east gate of Harrenhal to save their lives.

"boom!"

The sound of stones hitting the battlements was not harsh, on the contrary, it was very dull.

However, no matter how thick the battlements were, they could not withstand such a heavy blow.

After all, the rules of physics are universal. The acceleration of gravity and the huge mass generate powerful kinetic energy that instantly causes the battlements to shatter and disintegrate, while the soldiers hiding behind are either dead or injured.

"Ah, my legs!"

Just five meters away from the battlement where Robb Stark was hiding, a soldier of the Karstark family had his leg broken by a stone that came in.

The pale broken bones pierced the skin and were exposed to the air. The wounded soldiers hugged their legs and screamed in horror.

Robb Stark did not choose to save him. An injury of this degree could not be guaranteed to be cured in Winterfell, let alone Harrenhal, which lacked medical treatment.

If there were slightly better medical conditions here, Robb Stark wouldn't be like this now, with one foot on the verge of death.

"Bang, bang, bang..."

The bombardment lasted for about twenty minutes, until on the Western Frontier Army position, the long arm of a catapult broke during the throwing of stones. The boulder was thrown into the air and crashed down, hitting a nearby knight with his horse and man. Into a puddle of meat.

The stone-throwing attack by the Western Army came to an end. However, they had no intention of giving the Northerners a rest on the city wall.

Bursts of dull horn sounds were heard, and the Western infantry standing at the forefront, like a golden-red tide, instantly rushed towards the riddled East Gate of Harrenhal.

Robb Stark, who had already had a similar experience, stood up directly from the pile of rocks and shouted loudly, regardless of his disgraced look:

"The people from the West are coming, meet the enemy, meet the enemy!"

Under normal circumstances, the main breakthrough point for such an attack is the city gate, because the city wall is so thick that it cannot be knocked down in a short while, and no matter how well the city gate is made, it is still inferior compared to the city wall.

Therefore, as long as the brothers responsible for ramming the city gate successfully blasted open the city gate, the infantry behind them would swarm in, directly crush the defenders inside with their numerical advantage, seize the city gate, and then enlarge the army into the city.

Assuming that the subsequent street fighting is not considered, then the siege battle is actually won at this step.

Although that is said, in fact, because the city gate is in a fixed location, it has always been a key defense target for the defenders. Forget about rolling wood and stones, if you throw it down with a can filled with grease, then shoot a rocket.

Then, in front of the relatively closed city gate, there was suddenly the blazing Abi Hell.

The attacker will pay a lot of blood here, and may not be able to open the city gate.

But this time, Tywin Lannister is already desperate, so naturally he can't control that much.

The wooden cart, which was tied to a thick log and used to hit the door, quickly approached the east gate of Harrenhal under the cover of some thick shields.

The people of the Western Region thoughtfully sprinkled a layer of snow on the wooden cart. Even though it was only this little bit, it ensured that it would not be ignited by the rockets fired from the city before the cart reached the city.

"City Guard Crossbow! Dismantle that assault vehicle for me, don't let it rush under the city gate!"

Seeing that on his side, the arrows fired by the soldiers just stayed on top without any results.

Robb Stark immediately ordered the city defense crossbows on the side to aim at the rush car that was churning in the mud, and ordered to release the thick crossbow arrows.

Although crossbow arrows are valuable, the city's oil reserves are really not enough.

After guarding for so long, it has basically bottomed out. During the last distribution, Dongchengmen only received a total of fifteen cans.

There are only seven cans allocated to the east city gate, and the rest are four cans on each side. After all, their defense area still has a section of the city wall.

If this rush car were to rush to the city, it would not be completely burned without more than three cans.

Therefore, fire oil cans are used as a last resort and should not be used if possible.

There was a sound of the bow string relaxing, and a thick crossbow gun roared out.

The archers who were responsible for controlling the city defense crossbows were all highly skilled. With one arrow, half of the wooden ram was broken off. The log hanging in the middle also fell directly to the ground due to the broken beam.

Robb Stark on the top of the city breathed a sigh of relief. He understood that this time, the guy who simply smashed into the door with the help of the Western Army was finished.

But the smile stayed on his face for less than ten seconds. Under the shouts of the soldiers, Robb Stark noticed that two more identical siege vehicles were launched from the red and gold military formation.

It was clear that Tywin Lannister had planned this attack for a long time.

The time cost of building this thing is quite expensive. This time, Tywin Lannister even spent money on it.

The battle soon became intense.

Because the number of defenders on the city was too small to form a sustained attack, some soldiers simply wore multiple hats.

He was both a slinger and a spearman. When he had free time, he had to pick up the bows and arrows from his dead comrades and fire a few random bows towards the city.

This is because there are too few people. The entire east gate currently has less than 300 defenders. Facing the attack of thousands of Lannister troops, it is naturally stretched.

Under the city, three archer phalanxes lined up in neat formation and began to tilt a large number of arrows towards the east gate.

This is not a counterattack by the Northerners.

Thousands of feather arrows were thrown into the air at the same time. Intuitively, they looked like a dense black cloud.

However, this cloud is here to kill people.

Suddenly, arrows rained down, and the defenders on the city were caught off guard. Many were killed and wounded in a row. The remaining defenders were forced to hide behind the remaining pits of the wall and were suppressed.

This is when the archers buy time for the siege infantry who are preparing to attack.

Once the vanguard is close to the city wall and the long ladder has been erected, the task of these archers is completed.

If they continue shooting, they will risk accidentally injuring their own siege troops.

If the number of defenders at the top of the city is sufficient, then what they should do at this time is to boldly shoot at each other with the enemy archers whose armor is relatively weak below the city.

Don't worry, their casualties in the end will be smaller than those under the city.

…

Soon, the first Western Soldier climbed to the top of the city. Before he could slash with his sword, he was pierced by the spearman who had been prepared long ago. Then, amid the screams, he fell. Go down the city wall.

The real hand-to-hand combat begins.

This seemed to be a signal. More and more Western soldiers broke through the death blockade of the Northern soldiers and jumped onto the city.

The pinging sound of the sword blades colliding with each other was mixed with the dull sound of iron hitting flesh, accompanied by heart-rending wails.

The sound immediately echoed through the entire east gate of Harrenhal.

But in fact, it was not just the east gate. Tywin Lannister launched an all-out attack this time, and the battle at the north gate was equally brutal.

Human life becomes worthless on such a battlefield.

The only way is to kill the opponent with gritted teeth, otherwise, there is no possibility of survival.