Ziad pinned his hopes for the capture of Maia City entirely on the huge siege equipment, and he had to constantly make a large number of siege equipment and arm the army under his command with a large number of equipment, so as to reduce the casualties of the army under his command as much as possible.

In order to build these siege machines, as well as the materials needed to prepare them, Ziyad mobilized an army of 20,000 men and turned them into craftsmen, and at the same time, he also captured a large number of laborers from all over the country and asked them to help with the work, and those who had the skills were responsible for building the siege equipment, while those who did not have the skills but only the strength were responsible for preparing various raw materials, such as cutting wood and mining stones, and even making fireball products.

Wood can be used to build siege equipment, all siege equipment can not be separated from the raw material of wood, and stones can be used as a catapult weapon, there must be stones for catapults, if there is no large number of stones, there is no point in building catapults, in addition, you also need to prepare a lot of flammable fireballs, these fireballs can be cotton, you can also use cheap forage, as long as you add fire oil to it, you can burn it.

All of this requires manual preparation, and to stock up on a large amount of these supplies, it takes a lot of labor.

The direct use of 20,000 troops to prepare siege equipment shows how much Qi Yad attaches importance to these siege equipment, and they also plundered a lot of laborers from the surrounding area, and the number of them is also 10,000 or 20,000.

The soldiers ate military rations, while the plundered civilians ate their own food, and if the food was not enough, their families also needed to send some food, otherwise, these people would have to go hungry.

Even, because of the great pressure on the supply of military rations, Ziyad's army often went to the surrounding areas to loot grain and grass to supply the needs of the army.

In order to avoid the siege equipment being raided by the cavalry in the city when he was in Ar City, this time, Qi Yad attached great importance to the safety of the siege equipment, and the deployment of guard troops was 10,000, which was quite powerful, and it was completely able to prevent the location of the siege equipment from being raided.

After Abu *** was wounded, Ziyad became the de facto commander of the army, and in addition to dealing with all kinds of military affairs, he also had to personally inspect the construction of siege equipment, even if he was busy, he had to find time to inspect every day, in order to show the importance he attached to the problem of siege equipment.

"Is this arrow guard fireproof? Can you block the attacks of the bed crossbow? ”

Qi Yade inspected it himself, looked at a piece of equipment that had been made, and asked.

"General, this arrow guard has such a thick arm, it will definitely be able to block the attack of the bed crossbow at a distance of 100 steps, and the front is wrapped in cowhide, and the inside is wrapped in fresh grass, and when fighting, you can also water it inside, such as being able to defend against fire attacks."

The subordinate introduced.

Qi Yade nodded with satisfaction and said: "The bed crossbow of the enemy defending the city is huge, and it poses a great threat to our soldiers and horses, so in front of each catapult, an arrow blocking cart must be placed. ”

"Yes, General, my subordinates understand."

The subordinate answered.

Ziyad continued: "How far can the catapult be thrown, has it been tested?" ”

"General, the small one can throw 200 steps, and the largest one can throw 500 steps, compared to the catapults and bed crossbows that defend the city, they are not lagging behind!"

The subordinate replied.

"Well, that's great, we must build more, the more there are, the greater the damage that can be inflicted on the enemy, and the greater our hope of capturing the city of Maia."

Ziyad said.

"General, we have so many siege equipment, we must be able to break through the defense of Maia City, do we still need to continue to make them?"

The subordinates felt that it was already a lot.

Ziyad shook his head and said: "No, no, no, it's not enough, these weapons are not enough to break through Maya City, you should know that there are still a small number of artillery in the city?" That thing is extremely powerful, we don't have the quantity, how can we resist it, and besides, our plan is to attack from all sides, and we need more equipment. ”

The soldiers and horses outside the city are building equipment in large quantities, all of this is happening under the noses of the soldiers in the city, they also wanted to raid these equipment, but unfortunately the defense is too tight, there is no chance at all, and the soldiers who go to the sneak attack are all reimbursed.

Looking at the large number of siege machines outside the city, Artik's mood was not very good, so many siege machines would bring great pressure to his defense.

He even wanted to transfer the defenders of several nearby cities to help, but unfortunately, he knew that this would not work, and whether or not he could send the news over, even if the surrounding cities sent troops to support, they would be defeated by the Khorasan cavalry on the way, or even annihilated, so this plan had to be abandoned.

But the soldiers and horses outside the city are making siege equipment day and night, and the soldiers in the city cannot be idle, it is definitely not possible to sit and wait for death, and measures must be taken to deal with the immediate crisis.

"City Lord, Qi Yad must be crazy, how can he use such a huge number of men and horses to make siege equipment, tens of thousands of people? Moreover, there is no intention of stopping at all, it is really terrible. ”

The subordinates took the binoculars and observed carefully, and were immediately stunned by the large-scale manufacturing site outside the city, and at the same time, they were even more shocked by the large number of equipment that had been manufactured, especially the huge catapults, arrow blocking vehicles, and wells taller than the city wall, which could cause great pressure on the defending soldiers and horses once they attacked.

The listening soldiers and horses in the city are still working, because they are not sure that the soldiers and horses outside the city will not continue to dig tunnels, and if the soldiers and horses outside the city continue to dig tunnels, they can also get the news as soon as possible and be prepared to deal with it.

Artik touched his forehead, and suddenly felt a lot of pressure, these guys outside the city are clearly going to fight to the end with themselves, isn't it good for everyone to live in peace? Why are you calling around? Wouldn't it be good to use the peninsula as the boundary and establish their own independent states? How can Mansour's ambition be so big, he has to occupy the land of the peninsula, and there are still many people on the peninsula in the hands of the Tang Dynasty, and he has the ability to attack the city of Aden and the Canal Peninsula occupied by the Tang Dynasty!

"The enemy army is building siege equipment on a large scale, and we can't be idle, we immediately build a large number of siege equipment, the more the better, to see who can hold out to the end."

Artik spoke.

The subordinate spoke: "City Lord, our most powerful city defense equipment is supported by Datang, and we don't have such good technology ourselves, even if we manufacture it, the technology is not as good as the weapons provided to us by Datang." ”

"Aren't there Tang Dynasty soldiers in the city, you can go and ask them, if they can't, then it's okay to make lower quality, what's not to do?"

Artik spoke.

Soon, his subordinates walked back and reported the situation: "City Lord, the Datang soldiers told me that they use machinery to make these instruments, not by hand, and we have no machinery in the city, so we will never be able to make such good weapons as the weapons provided by Datang, and we can only manufacture weapons with slightly worse performance." ”

Artik nodded, "In that case, let's start manufacturing!" It doesn't matter if the performance is inferior, as long as it can be used for defense, it is enough, and also, ask more Datang soldiers, maybe they also know more effective defensive weapons. ”

"Yes, city lord, my subordinates understand."

The subordinates answered, and immediately went to prepare.

Because the manpower was not as abundant as Ziyad, Artik could not organize tens of thousands of people to make the defense equipment, and he drew a total of 5,000 people from the army and the common people to make the defense equipment, including 1,000 people with skills.

Although the scale of the construction personnel cannot be compared with the Qiyad side, the defending side itself has a great advantage, because the tall city wall is the biggest advantage, and there are auxiliary defense facilities such as moats and moats outside the city, and even the urn city, which is crucial to the defense, so, in general, the defending side is not lagging behind, and the strength of the two sides is roughly equal because of the role of the city wall.

The big war has not yet happened, and both sides are desperately making various preparations, hoping that through adequate preparations, their side will have a huge advantage.

The initiative of the big war is on the attacking side, when the big war breaks out, it all depends on when Qi Yad launches the attack, after all, the Altic side is a passive defense, it can only be when the enemy attacks, when they resist, there is no situation of taking the initiative to start a war, after all, their infantry strength is very weak, once out of the city, the whole army will be wiped out.

Ziyad wants to be fully prepared, and then launch a fierce attack, and strive to complete the battle, and break through the city of Maia in one fell swoop, but Mansur will not give him much time to prepare, and the reality does not allow it, in recent times, the cavalry activities under Artik's command have become more and more frequent, these mobile and flexible cavalry teams, constantly harassing and destroying their grain routes, have caused them a lot of losses, part of the grain and grass that should have been transported to the camp have been robbed, and even, some materials have been burned, This greatly annoyed Ziyad, especially since the food supplies looted from nearby were easily snatched by Artik's cavalry.

The practical pressure of logistics, as well as Mansour's urging order, made him have to launch a siege battle in advance, at least after the siege, many soldiers will be killed, and the soldiers who died in battle do not need to eat, but it can relieve the pressure on food a little.

Before the attack, Ziyad went to visit Abu ***, after all, Abu *** was the leader of this army, and he was just in command.

"General, are your injuries healing?"

Ziyad asked with concern.

"I'm fine, it's not a big deal, it's just that I'm very tired, by the way, Qi Yade, this battle is about the fortune of the country, you have to fight well, you must not embarrass me."

Abu *** spoke.

Qi Yade hurriedly nodded and said, "General, don't worry!" We have prepared so many siege equipment, enough for the defenders to drink a pot, you just wait for the good news! ”

Looking at Ziyad's confident face, Abu *** nodded with satisfaction and said, "Ziyad, I wish you success, you must succeed." ”

"Yes, General, by your good words, I will definitely capture the city of Maia, you just wait for my good news!"

Ziyad saluted, turned to leave the big tent of Abu ***, and went to command the deployment of the troops.

Because this time it was a strong attack, Ziyad gathered most of his troops, even the ordinary people he brought with him, and also participated in the siege operation.

The weakest 20,000 soldiers and horses were left in the camp, they were responsible for guarding the camp, and the remaining 60,000 troops attacked the city gate on all sides, of course, there were more than 10,000 people who were forced by them to participate in the siege, and there were 70,000 or 80,000 men and horses who actually participated in the siege, which was very powerful.

There are more than 30,000 soldiers and horses under the command of Qi Yade himself, which is the main direction of attack, and there are only a little more than 10,000 soldiers and horses in the other three directions, but even this is not a lot.

In addition, even if it is an auxiliary attack, it is a strong attack, not a diversionary feint.

The commanders of all the soldiers and horses are all Qi Yad's very trusted subordinates, and their combat ability is not weak, after they receive the army, they go to receive a large number of siege equipment, and then set off towards the predetermined position.

The four armies carried a large number of siege equipment, set off in a mighty manner, the goal was directly aimed at the city of Maia, the time of the attack was in the morning, and now it was not dawn, there was not much time left for the preparation of the various armies, they must arrive at their respective attack positions as soon as possible, and at the same time, launch a fierce attack together.

The movement of the large army in the city quickly attracted the attention of the defenders in the city, although the transfer of troops began in the early morning, but then the moonlight could still be seen, after all, the enemy army was very large, and with a huge siege engine, the target was too obvious.

"The enemy army is about to attack the city, go and inform the city lord."

The young general who defended the city hurriedly gave an order, and gathered his subordinates who were still sleeping under the city to defend on the city wall to defend against the surprise attack of the enemy army.

Soon, more than 10,000 soldiers and horses were assembled in the city, and they guarded the four gates and closely monitored every move outside the city.

Artik's deployment was that the main force was in the center of the city, and the defenders of each gate were only 3,000 people, including 500 soldiers on night duty, and the rest of the soldiers and horses were in the city.

Among them, the main force in the middle of the city of the large battalion, the number of more than 10,000, and some soldiers and horses scattered deployment, in order to maintain the security of the entire city, and ready to support all directions at any time, the number of these soldiers and horses is very small, a total of only 2,000 people, and 1,000 people are responsible for monitoring the tunnels, and there are 5,000 soldiers and horses who build the city defense equipment, which can be put into battle at any time, of course, the 10,000 reserve forces in the city can also be recruited at any time to join the battle to defend the city.

"What, the enemy army is about to start attacking the city."

Artik was awakened in his sleep, and looked at his men in surprise, looking a little shocked.