The first wave of probing attackers numbered around thirty, carrying three roughly made scaling ladders, each about thirty feet long.
Judging by the weapons and attire of the attacking Soldiers, the first probing wave mainly consisted of a small number of infantry leading about twenty peasant Soldiers equipped with simple weapons.
Their main purpose was to use their lives to test the “height” of Talburg’s walls.
Odo, standing directly above the fort gate, had never independently commanded such a large-scale engagement.
He appeared quite nervous; when the enemy was still about one hundred and seventy paces from the gate, he had already ordered the archers on the wall to begin shooting.
When seven or eight arrows floated lightly to the front of the enemy, it indeed caused fear among those originally honest and simple farmers.
However, when they saw that not a single arrow fell more than ten paces in front of them, their panic immediately dissipated by more than half.
Odo awkwardly turned his head and glanced at the inner fort tower behind him.
Art, standing on the top of the tower, merely nodded in encouragement.
A moment later, the enemy charged within eighty paces, a distance within the killing range of a bow’s arc shot.
However, the several light arrows that followed, as expected, all missed, with only one Soldier’s shoulder being grazed by a light arrow.
“Archers, wait until the enemy scales the wall, then direct fire from both flanks!” Odo, seeing that the makeshift archers’ aim was truly poor, promptly halted the firing to avoid wasting arrows.
On the attacking enemy’s side, when the thirty or so peasant Soldiers responsible for the first round of attack reached the outer wall of Talburg, the dozen or so archers behind them also followed closely, standing where the light arrows from the wall had just fallen.
They all drew their bowstrings taut and unleashed a volley towards the outer wall of Talburg.
The enemy archers’ skill was clearly much superior to that of the archers in the outer wall’s arrow towers.
Nearly all of the dozen light arrows barely cleared the parapet, and these dozen incoming deadly light arrows caused considerable confusion among the defending Soldiers.
The Soldiers on the wall, having endured a volley of light arrows, raised their wooden shields to block, and a series of “thud-thud-bang” sounds immediately echoed from the shields.
As Odo lowered his shield, a wooden ladder leaned against the left side of the outer wall’s crenellation.
“Forked ramming poles!!!” Odo quickly ordered the Soldiers behind the crenellation to use their forked ramming poles to push down the leaning ladder.
“Get the forked ramming poles! Overthrow these Bastards!!” Kazak and Tuba’s roars rang out.
Several Soldiers behind the crenellation picked up the forked ramming poles placed at their combat positions on the walkway and pushed outwards with force against the wooden ladder extending over the wall.
However, the enemy Soldiers at the bottom of the ladder held it down firmly, and the defending Soldiers on the wall were temporarily unable to push the ladder away; meanwhile, enemy Soldiers had already begun to climb the three wooden ladders one after another.
“Throw rolling stones!! Direct arrow fire from both flanks!!” Seeing the unfavorable situation, Odo disregarded the sporadic arrows flying in from outside the city, dropped his shield, and picked up a rolling stone the size of a pottery jar.
He threw it towards the base of the wooden ladder below the outer wall.
The Soldiers beside Odo, hearing Odo’s command, also quickly picked up rolling stones and hurled them towards the base of the wooden ladder.
On the left and right sides of the outer wall, Kazak and Tuba stood near their Soldiers, directing them to throw stones while also taking down their shortbows from their backs and drawing out light arrows to arc-shoot towards the enemy archers.
They had practiced archery under Art’s personal instruction.
Although their archery skills were not excellent, they were still slightly better than those makeshift archers.
As the Soldiers threw down rolling stones, the two had already shot four broad-headed light arrows in succession.
Standing at a high position and protected by the parapet, they had a certain advantage.
The seven or eight arrows they shot still hit two enemy archers.
However, at such a long distance, the light arrows had lost their momentum, and unless they hit a vital spot, they would only pierce a layer of skin when striking an enemy Soldier.
Nevertheless, these arrows flying from above still affected the enemy archers.
After enduring several rounds of arrow attacks, the enemy archers gradually retreated.
Below the outer wall of Talburg, the rolling stones falling from the sky smashed the Soldiers attempting to scale the wall, causing their heads to bleed.
Except for a small number of infantry equipped with leather-covered round shields, most peasant Soldiers had no shields or armor.
A volley of rolling stones instantly killed one and wounded three.
After the peasant Soldiers holding the base of the wooden ladders scattered, the unsupported ladders were directly pushed over by the defending forces on the wall.
Several enemy Soldiers who hadn't managed to descend fell heavily to the ground with the overturned ladders, remaining motionless for a long time.
With a bullhorn blast from the enemy’s rear formation, the attacking Soldiers dragged away the corpses and helped the wounded, retreating hastily.
The first probing attack ended in less than half a meal’s time.
On the outer wall of Talburg, a Soldier holding a forked ramming pole, whose cheek had been struck by a stray arrow, and a Soldier throwing rolling stones, whose left forearm had been hit by an arrow, were carried down by the laboring farmers, who had been hiding in a safe place, to receive treatment.
In the wooden house at the base of the inner side of the outer wall, Quartermaster Spencer was not only responsible for preparing food for everyone in Talburg but now also had to serve as a “temporary Medical Officer.”
Spencer, pressing down on the wounded Soldier who was screaming incessantly, his face covered in blood, on the straw mat, turned his head and shouted at the captive laborers who were preparing food for the defending Soldiers under the low eaves outside the house: “You lazy bum!! Are you blind? What are you still cooking for? Hurry up and come help me!”
This fellow, called “Lazy Bum,” was a bandit minion captured by the Patrol Team when Ars堡 was recaptured.
He had participated in road construction in Valley Wood Fort and, due to his good performance, was selected by Lawrence to serve as a military laborer for the campaign.
Although this fellow was called “Lazy Bum,” he was quite honest and hardworking when doing tasks and had even learned some simple wound treatment techniques, earning him the “esteem” of Quartermaster Spencer.
Whether it was a big task or a small one, this fellow was always called upon to do it.
However, in the past few months with Spencer, this thin captive laborer had eaten quite well and had even started to gain weight.
“Quartermaster, Master Odo said we must provide hot meals for our brothers on the wall on time.
I’m too busy!” Lazy Bum ran into the wooden house, holding an iron ladle and sweating profusely, saying to Spencer with a helpless expression.
“Are you a pig? Are you the only one who can cook? Can’t you go find two Bastards hiding under the eaves watching the show to come cook? You pig-headed idiot, no wonder the military caravan didn’t choose you as an attendant!”
“Go find someone! Are you standing at the door waiting for me to kick your ass?”
Lazy Bum quickly put down the iron ladle in his hand and went to another wooden house to find someone to help.
On the outer wall, Odo, who had just finished directing the first round of defense, was still busy.
With the cooperation of Kazak and Tuba, he adjusted the positions of the defending forces on the front of the outer wall, strengthening defenses at several places where ladders could easily be placed.
He also had the defending forces pair up: one person holding a shield to block arrows before the enemy scaled the wall, and the other operating a forked ramming pole or throwing rolling stones.
After just finishing the defense arrangements on the fort wall, he rushed down to the wall to organize idle laborers and serfs to transport rolling stones to the outer wall’s walkway positions or collect arrows shot into the fort by the enemy.
On the inner fort tower of Talburg, Art was observing the enemy camp outside the fort with his arms crossed.
The first wave of attack was clearly just a pawn for the enemy to test Talburg’s defensive capabilities.
After the attack ceased, the enemy at the foot of the hill truly began to get busy.
Some of them were tying two wooden ladders together to increase the length of the scaling ladders, so that the defending forces’ rolling stones could not harm the Soldiers holding the base of the ladders, and at the same time, it would make it harder for the defending forces’ forked ramming poles to push down the ladders.
Some were assembling scattered parts into two large wooden-topped shields.
During the siege, the Soldiers under the wooden-topped shields would collectively carry the shields forward, which could block the arrows constantly flying from the city and also withstand rolling stones.
Others were cutting timber at a slightly further distance to build military tents and enclose them with fences to form a fortified camp.
The enemy had not constructed siege engines or battering rams, clearly indicating they were already aware of Talburg’s terrain.
Heavy siege engines and battering rams could not be pushed up the slope smoothly under enemy fire, and tall siege engines were prone to tipping over on the slope.
A team of enemy Soldiers left the rear formation and stealthily moved towards the small hill on the right flank of Talburg.
The enemy had clearly noticed the watchtower on the small hill.
Although not a single arrow was fired from that watchtower throughout the first assault, and from the enemy’s perspective, no defending Soldier was seen stationed in the watchtower, Geoffrey, who had some military knowledge, still guessed the watchtower’s purpose and dispatched Soldiers to climb that small hill to scout it out.
In the hill watchtower, the commander of the first squad, Bass, who was responsible for guarding it, was leaning against the wooden wall of the watchtower’s arrow tower, observing five enemy Soldiers cautiously approaching from below the hill through a small crack in the wooden wall.
According to the pre-arranged plan, unless three short horn blasts sounded from Talburg, the watchtower would not easily fire a single arrow at the attacking enemy.
There was only one very narrow and steep path leading to the hill watchtower, wide enough for only two people to walk abreast.
No more enemy Soldiers could rush up at once, and the entire path was filled with pre-laid traps.
To capture the watchtower, the enemy would have to suffer greater casualties.
Indeed, a leading enemy Soldier attempting to approach the hill watchtower had just climbed halfway up the small hill when he stepped into a trap pit.
After a few screams, he died instantly.
The four Soldiers who followed climbed to the edge of the deep pit trap to inspect it; the unlucky fellow who had fallen into the trap had already been impaled by the sharp wooden stakes in the pit, turning him into a sieve of flesh.
“What in the world are these Bastards doing! To use such insidious tricks, devils! Bastards!!” The enemy Soldiers were utterly enraged.
Since entering the mountains several days ago, they had constantly encountered these extremely well-camouflaged trap pits.
One careless step into a pit meant a ruptured gut and being nailed into a pulp of flesh.
Several Soldiers had already been killed by such traps.
After cursing, the four enemy Soldiers dared not be careless anymore, cautiously climbing towards the hilltop, one step at a time.
They had barely walked ten steps when they indeed discovered a large area of loose soil in front of them.
They immediately concluded it was undoubtedly a trap.
With a poke of their short spears, a large section indeed collapsed.
This pit was much larger than the previous one, and they couldn’t jump over it, so they all discussed bypassing it by going around the nearby earthen bank.
However, a bold fellow had just jumped down the earthen bank when a sharp pain immediately shot through his foot.
Upon closer inspection, the entire area of dead branches and fallen leaves beneath the earthen bank was covered with small sharp spikes smeared with human and animal feces, making it impossible to step anywhere.
The remaining enemy Soldiers refused to advance another step and could only carry the Soldier with a pierced left foot back to their camp.
“Come on, all of you, there are plenty of traps here waiting for you.” Bass, sitting under the wooden wall of the watchtower, smiled and took a bite of the smoked meat in his hand.
Several Soldiers around him, who were watching the commotion through the cracks, also burst into laughter.
Approximately three hours after the first probing attack, the sun was already setting.
The enemy, having eaten hot meals and being somewhat better prepared, began their second round of attack with a long horn blast.
This time, the attacking enemy was no longer as simple and hasty as a few infantry leading peasant Soldiers.
The attacking enemy was roughly divided into three waves.
Leading the charge were Soldiers carrying two large wooden-topped shields.
Beneath each wooden-topped shield were twenty elite Soldiers clad in chainmail and iron helmets; they would be the main force of the second wave of attack.
Behind the wooden-topped shields were four extended scaling ladders.
Each ladder was carried by five peasant Soldiers with shields; they would erect the ladders on the left and right sides of the large wooden-topped shields, allowing the Soldiers beneath the large shields to quickly climb up the ladders.
Behind the scaling ladders were a dozen or so archers; they would conduct several rounds of overhead fire before their own Soldiers ascended the wall, providing cover for the climbing Soldiers.
Talburg was facing a real battle.
