Herald of Steel



The naming reason behind the rubble core method was quite evident once one knew about the technique.

But forming the rubble core did not mean the end of the wall's construction.

Far from, that might be actually the easy part.

As it could be done relatively easily given it was not done in winter, or more specifically during winters where the temperature dropped to zero, as the water in the slaked lime and slurry would freeze, halting the chemical reaction that would solidify the mixture and destroy the rubble core as the water would expand into ice.

But anyway, that small inconvenience aside, with the rubble core formed, then a veneer or shell needed to be formed around it, both to protect it, but also to give it some much-needed additional strength.

Because given the weak mortar used, and the core's asymmetric construction structure, it was actually unable to properly redistribute the forces acting against it, meaning it was prone to breaking if hit in its weaker points.

So this outer shell would be made very specifically, by skilled artisans who quarried, cut, and shaped the stone into appropriate shapes, and then fit them together like jig-jaw puzzles, all to give this relatively thin later a much greater strength as it was able to spread the energy of the impact all throughout the structure.

And it was this strong but thin outer structure, combined with the thicker but weaker main structure that together worked to give a wall its toughness and strength.

As for the reason why the entire wall was not made as such, well that would take too long, and be far too expensive to be used in any meaningful quantity.

Hence the compromise.

And this was how almost every large defensive wall was made.

Except one.

Alexander's one.

Well to be fair, half of Alexander's wall, because he had not torn down the wall Pasha Muazz's ancestor had built.

Instead, he had added to it, by using bricks and concrete made from Portland cement, to add a second, much stronger front layer.

That wall was made like any modern would be, with bricks, concrete, and using wooden logs as substitutes for iron rods.

And though this second layer that much thinner than the first layer, the combination and techniques of much modern knowledge were not something an ancient catapult could overcome.

At least not in a short time with such low numbers.

Hence there it was of little surprise that Perseus had run against a brick wall.

In fact, given Perseus only had 30 of them, it could have even been argued that even without the rest of the walls, just with the second layer, Zanzan might have stood and stood well.

As Perseus complained about the walls, like his king, Leosydas too felt the walls were too hard, as even with the low-intensity fire from a relatively small number of catapults, he was sure they should have done more damage.

Surely at least some bits of the outer structure should have been chipped off.

But they got nothing.

And this did make him worried.

But instead of guessing it was because of some super futuristic building material like a prescient prophet, Leosydas simply chalked it up as the Kaiser exaggerating about their weapon's capability and the catapults being too less effective at such distances.

"The wall is a problem. What about the other side?" Leosydas wanted to probe for weakness around the southern part of the city, the part facing the sea.

But Perseus shook his head to deny that dream, saying, "Our spies say that too is well guarded. "Apparently they had a recent war where their ports were blockaded, and so the walls had been thickened and new, thicker gates installed."

"Attacking that will be no use. And anyway, if he did that, we would not be able to place our catapult there."

"Not to mention we do not have any ships with us, and the weather is terrible."

"I will lose half my soldiers to the sea gods even before landing on the harbor."

So a flanking maneuver with the intent of attacking a weaker section and overcoming the defense with surprise and speed was out of the question.

As for the reason why Tibias did not try a naval blockade, one was because they thought these catapults would be enough to win even a front assault, two was because they did not really have the number of ships or the manpower to man those ships, and lastly, three. because of how rough the seas around here became during winter.

Thus Leosydas changed his tactic to this,

"Then should we do a ladder rush? Throw everything we have at one go and hope to catch the enemy unaware." Leosydas sounded very optimistic as he said, furthermore pointing to Perseus this fact,

"Remember the enemy has no ditches around his city. So it might actually work. Especially if we do it at night."

In times of sieges, it was not unusual to dig a ditch around a city, in fact it was pretty common.

The reason was to deny the enemy being able to just waltz his siege towers right next to the walls unimpeded.

If there was a ditch there the invaders would first need to fill it up before they could approach the wall, all while the wall defenders would be able to rain arrows, stone, and other hot materials like tar, boiling water, sand, oil, etc, onto those attempting to do so.

But the reason Zanzan had not done so was because the siege was too sudden and Perseus was too close to the city to try and attempt such a huge endeavor.

And this was especially the case given the cold, wintery soil, which made it feel like digging through concrete when trying to do so, meaning the speed would have been too slow anyway.

But even without the presence of a ditch, Perseus only shook his head in denial.

Because he felt his friend sounded a bit too optimistic.

Night battles were certainly not as easy as Leosydas was making up to be.

They were generally quite hard.

And it would be tens of times harder if it was against a city that was as well defended as Zanzan.

So he struck the idea down saying, "The risks are too big. And the enemy is quite vigilant. I have seen they have even installed large fire pits atop the walls to make it easier for their soldiers to stay warm and still be on lookouts."

"I have already lost too many men in the last battle. A failed wall assault would cripple me." Perseus was understandably unwilling to throw everything to a roll of the die, especially when that roll was so heavily stacked against him.

Not to mention if he did not succeed, not only the campaign would come to an end, but losing so many men might even shake his throne back home.

Also, it would not only be the men directly killed in the fight who would end up as casualties.

Because given the weather, the risk of frostbites was a very real possibility, and couple them in wounds and cuts, the bodies would start to very quickly rack up quite nicely.

The Germans understood this reality with every single bone of their body even they attacked the Soviet Union, where at some points, the hospitals had more people admitted for frostbite than gun wounds.

And though Perseus did not have that particular historical lesson to draw from, he did know of other incidents where armies were destroyed by it.

Hence the caution.

And Leosydas of course understood this, as he nodded and said, "You're right. Ladder rushes rarely work, and most of the time it only works to increase the casualties on the side attempting it," before letting a sigh of resignation and shaking his head.

While Perseus took that idea and decided to bash it a bit more,

"Mmn, you are right. Plies, don't forget the amount of archers they have up there. Half our men will turn into scarecrows before they even reach the foot of the wall."

Perseus here was referring to how a man who had been shot too many times would have too many wooden arrow shafts pointing out of him and making him seem like that.

As he then added, "And even if they do manage to scale the walls, the men would still need to then fight to clear it."

"And given the number of defenders the enemy seems to have, they will be able to quickly reinforce any breakthroughs and throw us off the wall in no time."

"No ladder rush will work to win us the war," Perseus seemed to vehemently toss that tactic into the bin.

"You're right, you're right….it was foolish of me to suggest it." And Leosydas frankly admitted this mistake, though he was just spitballing here.

But then frustratingly added, "But what else can we do?"

The unsolvable problem of the crossbow seemed maddening to him.

"Could we try to win the siege? Starve them out?" The man asked a bit weakly.

But Perseus dashed it with a shake of his head, "We do not have the ability to enforce a full blockage. So with the ports open, Zanzan's allies will surely be able to keep it supplied and fed."

"Don't forget their city lord is not in the city. So he might very well be coming from the capital with help." Perseus did not know it yet but he had made quite the precinct prediction.

But he still could not precinct his problems away.