"We need the Winged Dragon Legion to destroy those catapults in advance. Otherwise, once they get within range, the pressure on us will be too great."
“Hundreds of dragon-slaying crossbows are positioned around the catapults. If we send out the pterosaur legion, the crossbows will cripple it. But if we don’t use dragons to stop the catapults, they will threaten the city walls. It’s a calculated move, and we will have to pay a price no matter what we do.”
Barristan thought for a moment, then said.
"If that's the case, we'll have no choice but to send out our troops first, using cavalry to charge into their formation and destroy those catapults."
Lu Xuan glanced at Barristan. It wasn't surprising that they had this idea. After all, the enemy had a numerical and resource advantage, making it easy for them to create such a dilemma. However, they had been preparing outside the city for over four months, and Lu Xuan had already rehearsed for this situation.
His initial plan was to have the Pterosaur Legion fly high in the sky, then drop alchemical bombs over a large area. In short, if you're poor, use tactical maneuvers; if you're rich, bomb them all. Hundreds of baskets of alchemical bombs would directly cover the enemy's lines. No threat whatsoever.
However, the arrival of hundreds of shapeshifters gave him a simpler idea. It didn't have to be so complicated. A few rats could easily handle it.
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Chapter 311 Offense and Defense
The allied forces' catapults were top-of-the-line. After all, these guys weren't short of money; everything they had was the best. Even their auxiliary troops were equipped with complete armor, shields, and spears—no different from a regular army.
Catapults, crucial siege weapons, were naturally under strict guard. However, they were guarding against people, not rats. Over a day and a night, more than twenty shapeshifters, controlling rats, infiltrated the catapults and began gnawing away at key parts. Some of the connecting ropes, though seemingly intact, were actually already on the verge of collapse.
Countless soldiers followed the catapults, slowly approaching. The first wave naturally wouldn't be the Golden Legion. Various slave soldiers and auxiliary troops would first advance to deplete the city walls' arrows, boulders, and other defensive equipment. Then, shield formations would cover the friendly siege engines, catapults, and archers as they moved into firing range to begin a counter-offensive against the walls. Only then would the elite Golden Legion personally advance to attempt to breach the city.
The tactics were standard, nothing particularly outstanding but also nothing particularly flawed. It just shows the enemy commander has a solid foundation. They know their advantage is superior numbers and resources, so they opted for a direct, head-on assault, without resorting to fancy maneuvers.
Unfortunately, he decided to play the gentleman's game, while Lu Xuan wanted to go for the flashy and extravagant style.
Accompanied by a rapid drumbeat, the vanguard of the slave troops began their charge. Despite being slave soldiers, they were still equipped with a large number of siege ladders. The allied forces had plenty of money, and these slave soldiers, armed with shields, charged straight at the archers.
Standing on the city wall, Lu Xuan was at a loss for words when he saw this scene.
"With such vast resources, all you've produced is this pile of junk? If I had these resources, I would have turned Westeros into the tenth city-state two hundred years ago."
Barristan opened his mouth, but didn't know how to refute. Although the enemy's offensive seemed fierce, from his strategic perspective, even the Eyrie might not be able to withstand this level of attack. But for Meereen, it really posed little threat.
The wildfire bombs finally appeared. However, they weren't the sophisticated air-dropped bombs, but rather some makeshift wildfire canisters. These were launched by simple catapults and then ignited by rockets. The next second, a rolling wave of fire appeared below the city walls.
The intense heat of the wildfire filled the entire city wall with the stench of charred flesh and blood in just a dozen breaths. But this was only the beginning; more alchemical bombs were thrown, and within minutes, the entire battlefield outside the city wall was engulfed in flames.
Such a reckless deployment rapidly depleted the wildfire's reserves. However, Lu Xuan seemed unconcerned about this and directly ordered another round of attacks.
It's impossible to count how many people died in this firestorm. But the first wave of auxiliary troops had completely vanished.
A brief silence fell over the battlefield. The Golden Company hesitated at a distance. Even the trained elephants began to waver. What the hell was this all about?! Only fifteen minutes into the battle, tens of thousands of auxiliary troops were gone!
The key issue is that the opponent's attack completely disregarded identity. If the Golden Company had gone up there, they would have been wiped out too. After all, wildfire burns people, and unless it's Dani, Lu Xuan wouldn't have been able to hold out for long.
The sea of fire beneath the city walls halted the allied forces' advance. A brief confrontation ensued between the two sides across the flames. As the fires gradually died down, tens of thousands more auxiliary troops began to advance and die.
The advantages of slavery are fully demonstrated here; there are as many cannon fodder as you need.
At the same time, Lu Xuan also noticed that the enemy's catapults had stopped advancing, seemingly having entered firing range.
He turned around and gestured, then Gray Worm immediately turned and went down to prepare.
Dozens of catapults began to build up their power. At the same time, a group of soldiers rushed forward and placed wooden barrels onto the launching platform.
If you look closely, you'll see that those wooden barrels are actually filled with large amounts of wildfire.
As mentioned before, the Fire Alchemists' Guild exists on both continents. With the strength of the nine city-states, they could naturally acquire a sufficient number of fire mages, and even finished wildfire.
They chose to use catapults to launch wildfires directly into the city. These wildfires were early versions, extremely unstable. They didn't even need to be lit; the violent impact was enough to ignite them.
More than forty catapults began to gather power. Then, with a click, one of the catapults shuddered and went limp. Fortunately, the barrel of wildfire hadn't rolled away alive.
The surrounding soldiers rushed down to investigate and found that a supporting rope had snapped. They quickly began repairing and replacing it. At that moment, with a command given, the remaining catapults launched in unison…
The instant the catapults were launched, the soldiers operating them heard a cacophony of snapping and breaking sounds, a chorus of ropes breaking. They instinctively sensed something was wrong, but it was too late.
Some of the wooden barrels filled with wildfire, weakened by their elasticity, only flew fifty or sixty meters before landing directly in the golden mass at the front.
In some cases, at the moment of launch, certain stabilizing pins broke, causing the Wildfire barrel to deflect by hundreds of degrees.
The violent impact left the Golden Company members dumbfounded as they watched more than a dozen barrels filled with wildfire fall into their camp.
"We've been betrayed?" That was the first thought of most members of the Golden Company. But the explosion the next second left them no time to think.
Only after experiencing it up close can one understand how troublesome wildfires are. Neither steel nor flesh can withstand their temperature. Even a powerful army like the Golden Company was instantly blasted to pieces.
This was just the beginning; the most terrifying part was yet to come. Several catapults' launching poles merely trembled before drooping limply back down. This caused the buckets of wildfire to jump up from their spots and then fall straight down.
The surrounding soldiers ran for their lives, but the violent explosion engulfed them in a single breath. The flames then swept away the nearby stockpile of wildfire ammunition. At that moment, the commanders at the rear finally understood why wildfires had never been used in large-scale warfare. They were simply too unpredictable.
By then, it was too late for regrets. They could even see the gates of Meereen City opening in the distance. Countless Unsullied rushed out, then lined up on both sides, and a group of figures as large as small mountains surged out of the city gates.
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Chapter 312 Stealing the House
A two-meter-tall elephant, heavily armored, with a knight wielding a long lance riding on its back—isn't that terrifying?
Now look at this: a giant mammoth over five meters tall, with a giant over four meters tall sitting on top. Both are fully armored and wield a seven- or eight-meter-long spiked iron rod. Are you scared yet?
The Golden Troupe member said, "I was terrified. You wouldn't believe it, I craned my neck as high as I could, but I still couldn't see what that giant looked like. He was so tall he blocked the sun, I couldn't see him..."