Finally, thousands of Crusader soldiers dismounted, holding two shields each and enduring the arrows from above, began to push towards the city gate.
It had to be said, their method was quite effective.
Although the two shields they held did not offer complete protection, they covered a substantial part of their bodies.
With two shields, their casualties immediately decreased.
After a few breaths, they had only lost a few dozen men.
Such losses gave the Crusaders a glimmer of hope.
"It works! Our method works!!"
"We're going to succeed, it seems we're going to succeed!!"
"As long as our soldiers hold on and withstand the pressure, and get close to their archers, our troops will surely disrupt their formation and enter the city!!"
The two shields seemed to grant them renewed hope.
This made many Crusaders reluctant to retreat, even though archers continued to rain arrows down on them.
However, just as they adopted the tactic of using two shields, Lin Tian devised a new countermeasure.
He ordered some archers to use lobbed shots and others to use direct fire.
Some arrows came from above, while others came directly from the front.
This immediately overwhelmed many of the Crusader soldiers.
The continuous volleys of arrows were like death warrants, constantly aimed at their vital areas.
This was utterly devastating for the Crusaders.
Many of them could only protect their heads, neglecting their bodies, and as a result, the Crusaders suffered heavy casualties once again.
In a mere instant, the casualties among the Crusaders surged again.
This time, the Crusaders grew anxious.
"What do we do? What do we do now? Our soldiers seem unable to hold on again??"
"Why are the enemy archers so fierce? Why do their arrows fly like that? How can we break through such an arrow formation??"
"We cannot advance any further. If we continue, not a single soldier will survive. General, we should retreat for now!!"
While deciding the outcome of the battle was important, their lives were equally precious.
Many soldiers realized that without a better method to break through the arrow formation, they could not afford to take such risks.
Therefore, some of them urged their general to retreat.
Upon hearing this, General An Ji hesitated.
He looked at the dense hail of arrows within the enemy's range and then at the Qin soldiers still shooting from the city walls.
Finally, he could only order a reluctant retreat.
"Withdraw! Withdraw now! We will go back and devise a strategy!"
As the word "withdraw" was uttered, everyone breathed a sigh of relief.
If they had continued to charge, they would have pressed on.
But continuing to press forward would have come at a tremendous cost.
Therefore, retreating now was the best outcome for them.
Soon, General An Ji's order spread throughout the vanguard.
"Retreat! Retreat now!"
"Let's go, we retreat for now!!"
After the order to retreat was given, the vanguard moved with incredible speed, disengaging from the battlefield at an astonishing pace.
Even the soldiers holding two shields retreated rapidly.
They had already felt the terror of Lin Tian's army. To remain there meant certain death.
Therefore, they needed to escape quickly to ensure their survival.
As they withdrew from the battlefield, the city gate of Lin Tian's army was closed once more.
Looking at the closed city gate, General An Ji felt a surge of dejection.
After all this effort and the sacrifice of so many soldiers, they still failed to break through the city defended by Lin Tian's army, and not a single enemy soldier was harmed.
This was an utter failure for them.
Such a failure was unprecedented for the Crusaders.
It was also a great humiliation.
Yet, despite this, they had to face this humiliation.
"Their archers are too numerous and too powerful. Our men simply cannot break through!!"
"No wonder our army was defeated by them before. With such formidable archers, they are like a nightmare for our soldiers!!"
"In just one charge, we lost tens of thousands of soldiers. If we cannot find a way to counter their archers, taking this city will come at a terrible price!!"
At this moment, Lin Tian had only displayed the archery prowess of a portion of his soldiers. While this was not the full extent of his army's capabilities, the sheer density of the arrows was enough to cause significant trouble for the Crusaders.
They even felt that with Lin Tian's archers present, they could not possibly assault the city.
Therefore, their most crucial task now was to find a way to break through Lin Tian's archers and breach the defenses of Lin Tian's city.
Undoubtedly, this posed a considerable challenge for the Crusaders.
After much deliberation, they finally devised a plan.
"I believe those soldiers holding two shields can somewhat counter their archers!"
"Since that is the case, why don't we have our soldiers wield even larger shields and advance step by step!"
"As long as our army can get close to their city and their soldiers, their archers will pose no threat to us!!"
In their view, once their army got close to Lin Tian's archers, the archers would lose their effectiveness.
Once they lost their effectiveness, Lin Tian's city would become an open field for the Crusaders to conquer at will.
Therefore, using large shields was a viable option for them.
Coincidentally, some of the Crusader army already used large shields.
By gathering these individuals and training them, they could undoubtedly withstand the arrows of Lin Tian's army.
Upon reaching this conclusion, the Crusaders immediately took action.
They first gathered these soldiers and then began their training.
This training lasted for seven days.
After a full seven days of training, the Crusaders felt they had sufficiently prepared and regained confidence in their ability to assault the city. They reappeared before Lin Tian's army once more.
At the same time, they boasted:
"Hmph! You group of villains still think you can use arrows against us? Today, we will shatter your arrows and leave you with no recourse!"
"Men, attack the city!!"