Make Peace or Die by C. J. Fielding

Author:C. J. Fielding [Fielding, C. J.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Amazon: B0BLKF2YX6
Goodreads: 63308481
Publisher: #PrB.rating#4.67
Published: 2022-11-12T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter 24 September 92 AD Muza-Siege

Over the last several weeks, Udo was busy moving Aksum infantry and supplies while watching the siege from a safe distance as the troops and supplies were unloaded. The trebuchets that he gave to the Aksum did an amazing job of knocking the parapets off the city's walls, knocking down towers, and significantly damaging gates. After seeing the utility of the trebuchets, the various nobles pointed out that the trebuchets were much more practical in the desert than ballista since they didn’t need wooden shafts for bolts, and any rock could be used for ammunition.

The siege took longer than it should have, because they had difficulty bringing enough ladders from Aksum to Muza. This was largely because the people back in Aksum were not in a hurry to build the ladders they needed, which slowed everything down. Even when they were complete, the ladders were a logistical headache to bring across the Red Sea since they were all different sizes and so were awkward to bring aboard and store, but eventually the ladders reached the army.

Except for the acquisition of ladders, the siege went smoothly. So smoothly, the Aksum asked Muza to surrender many times, but they refused and decided to hold out for their army. This was unfortunate since the Aksum army was far too green to deal with a real well-trained army, so after the last refusal to surrender, the fifty thousand soldiers surrounding the city were split into a thousand units of fifty, and each unit was given a ladder. They were told to wait until the horn sounded and then attack. The trebuchets would continue firing until the first units were on the wall. As they waited for the horn to sound Udo gave each unit crossbows.

Preparation finished, Aksum gave Muza one last chance to surrender. They refused, the horn sounded, and Udo watched as fifty thousand soldiers ran at the city. Udo was impressed when those soldiers continued running despite his trebuchets launching massive one-hundred-pound rocks over their heads and into the city.

As they ran to the city, Udo couldn’t help but think about the strategic reality. Normally you would send soldiers in waves at a city you wanted to siege, but this army was too green. It was best for Aksum to send them all. If they succeeded, then Aksum had a new city. If not, then Aksum got rid of fifty thousand desperate men. During the discussion of the wisdom of this maneuver the nobles pointed out that since this army was raised, crime in Aksum had gone down thirty percent, so win or lose, Aksum was better off. But Paulsland needed them to win. If they failed to take Muza, then the Himyarites would have no reason not to send more soldiers to Paulsland.

Udo’s heart clenched as he watched the soldiers make their way to the walls. Muza was a city built on an oasis, and thus it had a lot of structures like dams, dikes, and canals to store and move water through a complex web to irrigate the fields surrounding the city.

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