Ch. 164 At the first watch of the night

The last piece of news brought by the scout was that the number of Anglo-Saxons had reached two thousand.

At the first watch of the night, the sentry suddenly sounded the alarm. The night was terrifyingly dark, and when the soldiers appeared on the walls, wearing rain capes and fully armed, they could all see countless torches flickering about a thousand meters away.

“About two thousand.”

Adlan estimated the number of torches.

“At most two thousand five hundred.” Anthony replied.

“Why don’t we raid them?”

Artoria asked.

Adlan glanced at her.

“Good idea. But we don’t have enough manpower.”

If it weren’t for the fact that she was someone the King had specifically placed in the army, he might not have paid her any mind.

“And, do you see the position they chose?” Adlan pointed ahead.

The Anglo-Saxons were camping in an open space several kilometers away.

In the rainy night, apart from the flickering torches in the distance, nothing more could be seen.

“Even if we had enough manpower, by the time we got there, they would immediately withdraw, and when I left, they would come right back.”

This was the experience of this knight over many years.

“Alright, there’s nothing to see, let’s go back; we need to consolidate our defenses.”

Adlan said, waving his hand.

The ladies were not suited for the hard labor of building fortifications.

Wilden was also standing on the city wall; the tree and lion surcoat he wore was clean and new, and he stood out from the crowd.

Even without that surcoat, which was different from this country’s, his physique was enough.

“I have some suggestions, my lord.” He looked at the open space in the distance and said to Anthony.

Anthony replied: “Please, go ahead.”

For this stern, sturdy knight, everyone also gave him their respect.

“We need some siege defense equipment.” Wilden replied.

Anthony frowned: “Siege equipment?”

They had siege equipment.

Ballistae mounted on the walls, roadblocks used to block the gate, and iron forks capable of pushing down scaling ladders, and so on and so forth.

These were all standardized siege defense equipment.

“Feces, my lord. I propose we collect feces.”

“…?” The others looked at him with very confused expressions.

This is defending a castle, not farming.

Why collect feces?

It was foul-smelling and disgusting filth.

“If they manage to climb up the scaling ladders,” Wilden explained, “we can boil the feces and pour it down.”

“Hiss—”

How ruthless!

Just hearing such a proposal.

Knight Adlan’s face turned pale, and he almost felt nauseous.

Artoria stepped back behind Kay in shock.

“This proposal… hmm.” Anthony’s expression didn’t look too good either.

Who would like feces?

No, absolutely no one.

Not to mention watching those disgusting things bubbling away in a pot.

What a ‘beautiful’ scent that would be.

“Ugh—”

Knight Adlan truly couldn’t bear the thought and began to retch.

“I think, um, it’s a viable method,” Kay said.

Artoria moved another step away from Kay.

“Those Anglo-Saxons deserve to be buried in feces, don’t they?”

He shrugged.

“This proposal is truly hard to judge.” Anthony took a deep breath of the cool air in the rain.

“I think we should just forget about this.”

Adlan and Anthony exchanged glances, then both looked at Wilden simultaneously.

Wilden didn’t mind.

“I have another suggestion,” Wilden said. “Find some heavy logs, drive nails into them, tie ropes to both ends, and when they climb up the scaling ladders, we’ll throw the logs down.”

Anthony pondered for a moment, then his eyes lit up: “Tell me more specifically?”

“If possible, I need to draw a diagram,” Wilden replied.

He was trying to recreate some common siege defense methods from The Lands Between here.

Anthony sent someone to fetch parchment and a pen.

Inside the tower on the wall, Wilden followed his memories to sketch a draft.

Just as he said, it was a reusable device that could clear enemies off the scaling ladder in one go.

This was obviously much more efficient than simple rocks and wooden stakes.

It is very difficult to push down a scaling ladder with iron forks; one must first deal with the people on the ladder, otherwise, the people on the ladder will work with the wall to turn the ladder into a stable triangular structure.

Only by dealing with the people climbing up can you push down the scaling ladder.

And on the draft Wilden drew, that kind of log could not only clear enemies like a normal log.

But after being pushed down, it could also hang above the ladder, obstructing enemies who might come up later.

A siege defense device that combined striking and blocking into one.

That looked heavy.

But if it were Soldiers equipped with plate armor, they would be strong enough to withstand arrows and carry that thing to throw it down.

“This idea is very clever.”

“Much better than the last one.”

Adlan and Anthony both nodded.

“How long until they attack the city?” Mia asked.

“Within three days, it seems we must hurry.”