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Siege of Dun-Kurrengev: Difference between revisions
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Daxian attempts to storm the walls continued for the following seven months, including digging tunnels to try and undermine sections of the wall, scaling the walls with ladders, hooks and siege towers and the ever present cannon bombardment. Dun-Kurrengev however had an extensive system of mines and tunnels that were used to hear the Daxian sappers as they worked, and swiftly raids against them or flood the tunnel and the sheer thickness of the walls made them highly resistant to even concentrated cannon fire. Daxian morale was sapped by the spread of dysentery in the siege camps and news that a Daxian fleet carrying reinforcements was destroyed in a storm northwest of [[Lotoa]], with a reported loss of some six thousand men. With his forces dwindling with every assault, Zhu Bolin ordered the construction of wooden catapults and the gathering of rotting enemy corpses from the battlefield so they could be flung past the walls. The grisly tactic did serve its purpose of spreading disease inside the fortress but also strenghtened the resolve of the garrison to resist. This is one of the first recorded instances of biological warfare being used. On 18th November 1665 Luidan Răzvala's fleet returned from a scouting expedition and brought news extracted from a burgher taken from Sarolasdra, a large Kiravian fleet under Alcibiades Verramar was on its way to provide relief to Dun-Kurrengev. | Daxian attempts to storm the walls continued for the following seven months, including digging tunnels to try and undermine sections of the wall, scaling the walls with ladders, hooks and siege towers and the ever present cannon bombardment. Dun-Kurrengev however had an extensive system of mines and tunnels that were used to hear the Daxian sappers as they worked, and swiftly raids against them or flood the tunnel and the sheer thickness of the walls made them highly resistant to even concentrated cannon fire. Daxian morale was sapped by the spread of dysentery in the siege camps and news that a Daxian fleet carrying reinforcements was destroyed in a storm northwest of [[Lotoa]], with a reported loss of some six thousand men. With his forces dwindling with every assault, Zhu Bolin ordered the construction of wooden catapults and the gathering of rotting enemy corpses from the battlefield so they could be flung past the walls. The grisly tactic did serve its purpose of spreading disease inside the fortress but also strenghtened the resolve of the garrison to resist. This is one of the first recorded instances of biological warfare being used. On 18th November 1665 Luidan Răzvala's fleet returned from a scouting expedition and brought news extracted from a burgher taken from Sarolasdra, a large Kiravian fleet under Alcibiades Verramar was on its way to provide relief to Dun-Kurrengev. | ||
The news of the enemy fleet made Daxian commanders very uneasy. The Daxians were penned in near the fortress and impeded from advancing further into [[Sarolasta]] by a chain of fortifications to the north. Problems were mounting with dwindling supplies, the spread of sickness and inclement weather not to mention the lack of reinforcement. The inability to reduce Dun-Kurrengev even after a siege that prolonged for over a year was starting to create a mutinous feeling. A late night conference that included representatives of the soldiery agreed on one final assault attempt on November | The news of the enemy fleet made Daxian commanders very uneasy. The Daxians were penned in near the fortress and impeded from easily advancing further into [[Sarolasta]] by a chain of fortifications to the north that stretched across the island. Problems were mounting with dwindling supplies, the spread of sickness and inclement weather not to mention the lack of reinforcement. The inability to reduce Dun-Kurrengev even after a siege that prolonged for over a year was starting to create a mutinous feeling. A late night conference that included representatives of the soldiery agreed on one final assault attempt on November 22th, if it failed the siege would be abandoned. During the early morning of the 22th a sustained cannonade finally cracked a hole in one of the northern walls, upon seeing this a general assault was ordered. Daxian assault columns charged up with slaves wielding pickaxes to clear the rubble. The battle for the collapsed gap in the wall saw the most ferocious melees of the siege yet; two of Siguatera's chief lieutenants were killed there as was the mercenary leader Răzvala who lost an arm and was speared through the neck. Zhu Bolin charged into the battle firing a special crossbow from atop a palanquin carried by slaves. The fighting raged for hours but eventually the gap was choked up with bodies and the Daxians began to pull back, with the Daxian leader being carried off after his palanquin was set on fire. The failure to take the gap mean the last effort was defeated, the siege of Dun-Kurrengev was ended. | ||
==Aftermath== | ==Aftermath== | ||
==See also== | ==See also== | ||