The Crown of the Hundred Years' War

Chapter 16 The Siege of Orleans

Salisbury and his commanders stood on a gentle ridge, gazing at the greyish-white castle.

Compared to other castles of its kind, Jeanville Castle is considered "ugly," with two separate, somewhat crooked moats and walls of varying heights surrounding the towering main tower in the center, standing alone in this open field.

But its defenders, like the castle itself, which was gradually expanded and pieced together, were simple yet resilient. Yesterday afternoon, the British attempted a surprise attack with a small detachment, but it was repelled by the few hundred defenders inside. And at night, a dozen or so cavalrymen even tried to counterattack. Now the army has surrounded the castle on three sides, leaving the south side open for the defenders to escape—of course, if the commander wanted to escape, he should have surrendered just now.

"My lord, the envoy has returned."

Salisbury's lieutenant, Suffolk, stepped forward, his face somewhat grim.

"Why wouldn't they even accept being politely escorted back to Orleans?"

Suffolk paused for a moment: "They simply stripped the envoys naked and threw them back."

Salisbury turned and saw the Earl of Suffolk's face, which was turning blue with rage. The envoy behind him was his distant relative, a young knight who had gone there in armor but was now naked, wrapped in someone else's cloak.

"My lord, shall we continue to try to persuade them to surrender?" Suffolk asked through gritted teeth. "I've captured a few priests from a nearby monastery; we can use them as persuaders."

Salisbury turned back and continued gazing at the castle.

"Will the siege equipment be ready tonight?"

"My lord," Suffolk replied, suppressing his anger, "these are all things that have been prepared for a month, transported from Paris and only needing assembly. But the roads are too bad, several wagons have broken down, so the cannons won't be in place until tomorrow. The materials for filling the trenches are also ready, it's just the laborers—"

"What's wrong with the laborers?"

"We ran dozens last night, but that might not be enough."

Salisbury was silent for a moment.

"Send cavalry to capture as many more as possible from the nearby villages. Tell your men to keep them alive before the siege. Also, tell those country bumpkins that they can go home after dropping off a few bundles of firewood. Those who don't cooperate—" He didn't finish his sentence, but Suffolk understood.

"Dinois should still be gathering his troops. Let these defenders live one more night. We'll launch the attack first thing tomorrow morning." Salisbury rode away from the hillside, and Suffolk and the others agreed.

Before dawn, the British camp was already in turmoil.

Relying on dozens of cavalrymen to block the defenders' night attack route, the siege positions had been set up overnight. Movable bunkers had been pushed into a row near the city walls, each large enough to conceal three or four longbowmen. Although the bunkers were merely large shields made of wheeled wooden planks, the defenders' crossbowmen's attempts to fire several times failed to harm the longbowmen behind them. Hundreds of longbowmen thus stood beneath the city walls, easily suppressing the defenders.

Suffolk nodded in satisfaction and ordered the siege to officially begin.

"put!"

The bugle sounded. The first volley of arrows rose up, densely swarming towards the city walls. The defending crossbowmen tried to return fire, but after several rounds, they only managed to add a few more corpses to the walls.

The crossbowmen did not continue to fight back. Instead, they pushed out several strange objects from behind the crenellations—several short, thick iron pipes tied together and placed on a wooden frame, like bundles of flutes.

Suffolk narrowed his eyes.

"Organ cannon," he said softly.

The projectile exploded, unleashing a barrage of iron projectiles that swept across the foremost mobile bunker. The wooden planks behind it shattered, and several longbowmen fell. The nearby longbowmen were startled and immediately ceased firing; some even considered retreating.

Suffolk looked at Salisbury and asked, "Sir, should we have the longbowmen withdraw and wait for our cannons to be in position?"

Salisbury shook his head.

"The cannons haven't arrived yet. Send more longbowmen forward." His voice was calm. "Just have them retreat a little. Those things don't shoot very far. Keep an eye on that turret. Keep firing until it's silenced. Don't let it interfere with the subsequent siege."

Suffolk drove the fleeing longbowmen back, then had new fortifications pushed up from behind, ordering the longbowmen to work together to move the fortifications back. Gradually, the cannon fire could no longer reach the longbowmen, while the English retaliatory arrows grew denser. The cannons fired slower and slower, and after a long while, the defenders mustered the courage to extend a row of iron pipes from the crenellations for a volley, but it was no longer a threat to the longbowmen.

Salisbury confirmed the firing interval and gave the order.

"Longbowmen, maintain the pressure; let the laborers fill the trenches."

Suffolk waved behind him.

Hundreds of peasants were driven by cavalry from behind the camp. They were tied together in groups of ten, each carrying a bundle of firewood. They walked slowly, and the cavalry behind them grew impatient, hacking and slashing at the peasants who lagged behind, forcing everyone to speed up.

Suffolk went to the laborers and began to give orders.

"See that moat? You're not allowed to come back until you've thrown the firewood into it. We'll be watching you; anyone who dares to leave it halfway there will be shot dead!"

The laborers were driven forward, their supervisors replaced by several captains of archers. The defenders seemed reluctant to waste ammunition on them amidst a hail of arrows. Some quick-witted laborers jogged at a stoop, but every now and then someone would trip and cause the whole group to stumble, at which point a deadly volley of arrows would rain down from behind. The lucky survivors could only run as fast as they could, throwing their bundles of firewood into the moat before turning back. Dozens of corpses thus formed a path between the English longbowmen and the moat.

Bundles of firewood, branches, and reeds, mixed with mud and gravel, slowly filled in the small moat.

The defenders finally couldn't resist any longer and organized their crossbowmen to fire several volleys, which landed among the laborers. The laborers, terrified, fled in droves, only to find that the English longbowmen's arrows were even more devastating and faster, and they continued their retreat and advance in this manner. Because they were bound together with ropes, one person could drag ten others down with them, making it look like a farcical play, except that the only dialogue in this drama was pleas for mercy and wails, and the actors were exhausted far too quickly.

Suffolk watched with satisfaction as the trench was gradually filled in, and looking at the remaining laborers, less than half full, he continued to give orders:

"Bring more laborers to fill in a few more places. The French crossbowmen are getting tired; let the longbowmen take turns resting."

After a morning, several sections of the first moat had been filled in. Although Suffolk also organized an attempt to fill in the second one, the water volume was too large, and the dry firewood thrown in disappeared without a trace, which led to the evacuation of the last few dozen laborers.

Salisbury finally nodded.

"As long as the siege ladders can get through, the second river is quite narrow. Set up the siege ladders and have the siege engines try to ram the city walls. You make the arrangements."

Suffolk personally ordered the armored soldiers to emerge from the rear of the camp, pushing out the heavy battering ram and two siege ladders towards the city wall. The crossbowmen charged frantically under a hail of arrows, but these structures were covered with thick wooden planks, and the crossbow bolts had little effect other than causing the armored soldiers pushing the ladders below to furrow their brows in frustration.

As the siege ladders were nearing the center of the battlefield, a series of loud crashes rang out—the defenders' catapults had been activated. These catapults, hidden by the defenders all morning, proved surprisingly effective: the battering rams, which had been under heavy fire, had their tops smashed open, splinters flying everywhere. The armored soldiers pushing the ladders quickly fled, but several already dead on the ground. The longbowmen, terrified, scattered from their cover, fearing they would be next.

Suffolk was startled and spurred his horse forward, shouting, "Don't run! Maintain the suppression! The catapults can't fire fast enough! Squadrons, advance quickly and hold the city walls!"

But he spoke too late. Although the armored soldiers pushing the siege ladders restarted, the catapults were still loading faster than the cumbersome ladders. The second volley of stones clearly targeted these tall ladders, and one stone hit a ladder in the center, breaking the ladder in two. The top of the ladder smashed into the armored soldiers pushing it, eliciting cries of pain.

The other ladder truck successfully crossed the moat, but awkwardly veered over it and landed on the city wall. Suffolk was excitedly organizing his reserves to begin the charge when the defenders threw down torches and poured oil from the wall. The entire ladder truck was quickly set ablaze, billowing thick smoke. The armored soldiers below coughed from the smoke, and one poor man, who had been so eager to climb halfway up, fell off the ladder in flames, writhing on the ground howling in pain.

Suffolk could only look at Salisbury and ask:

"Sir, we have no more ladder trucks. Should we have the soldiers carry the ladders and charge in?"

Salisbury was silent for a moment.

"Keep the longbowmen pressing, don't stop. The cannons have been delivered to the camp. We'll just smash the wall down." He pointed to a section of the wall—a burning ladder was placed on it, the outer layer of the wall burned away, exposing the rubble and soil inside. "This section of the wall was recently repaired with old materials. Set up the cannons there, and once the wall is breached, we'll finish off the French."

After agreeing to the order, Suffolk went to the rear camp to find the artillerymen. He then had people push the bunkers to protect the heavy catapults. By the time he found a relatively safe position, with the catapults still firing intermittently, the sun was already beginning to set.

The longbowmen had already rotated several times, and the first batch had to return to the battlefield. Although their arms were so sore they could barely draw their bows, Suffolk still ordered them to make one last effort to maintain pressure on the defenders.

The good news was that although the catapults were frantically trying to bombard the stone-throwing cannons, their range was insufficient. The organ cannons, however, completely fell silent; it was unclear whether their operators had all died or they had exploded on their own.

Suffolk walked a distance behind the gun emplacement, personally inspected the aimed direction, and gave orders to the gunners.

"put!"

Several shells slammed into the city wall, kicking up dust and completely shattering the nearly broken ladder truck. The shells landed heavily on the outer wall, causing bricks to crumble and revealing rubble and loess underneath. Suffolk nodded in satisfaction at the effect and ordered the artillery to continue firing.

Although the catapults were sometimes accurate and sometimes inaccurate, and one even nearly exploded, it was ultimately that section of the city wall that gave way first. Debris and mud carried the entire section of the wall down, revealing a gap large enough for two or three people to squeeze through side by side.

Overjoyed, Suffolk ordered his armored soldiers, who were already prepared in the rear, to push the "mobile bridge" forward. The "mobile bridge" was really just a few large carts with a plank of wood, barely longer than the moat, supporting them. Suffolk personally directed them as they pressed towards the breach.

The defenders did not sit idly by and wait to be killed. They poured out from the breach, and a small squad of armored soldiers lined up outside the city wall. The nearby walls were filled with reckless crossbowmen firing wildly. Those behind them carried sandbags and piled them up, and the breach gradually narrowed.

Suffolk panicked and immediately ordered several carts to be set up nearby to send the armored soldiers across the river to fight for the breach. But the defenders, wielding spears and battle axes, relied on their superior formation to push the English troops to both sides. Several armored soldiers fell into the moat, while the English soldiers behind them continued to push forward, creating a complete blockage. Seeing that the defenders seemed willing to die rather than leave the breach unblocked, Suffolk had no choice but to send more armored soldiers across the river.

The cannons roared again. Suffolk turned around and saw Salisbury standing beside the artillerymen, directing them to bombard another section of the wall. Suffolk instantly understood and instead ordered the armored soldiers to hold off the defenders, preventing them from escaping. Those who hadn't crossed the river went to fetch more planks for the bridge.

The cannons finally breached another gap, but instead of the defenders collapsing, another poorly equipped infantry unit repeated the same action. Suffolk, watching a dozen armored men fighting them to a standstill, gritted his teeth, pulled his helmet over his head, grabbed a spear, and roared to his personal guard behind him, "Follow me!"

He led his personal guards across the moat on planks, squeezed through the gaps between the armored soldiers, and stabbed the foremost guard to death with a spear. He continued to direct the advance, with his personal guards following behind, forcefully pushing back the group of infantry.

Suffolk, finally inside the city, watched the infantry flee in disarray. He took a breath and looked around, seeing the infantry leaping over the catapults in the square and fleeing towards the main tower at the back. Then he looked up and saw several crossbowmen already aiming at him on the top floor of the main tower.

"Damn it!" Suffolk quickly ducked, trying to avoid any vitals from the crossbow bolts. The two armored soldiers behind him were immediately taken down, and thanks to his armor, the uninjured Suffolk turned and ran out, the bolts whizzing past his ears. He tumbled out through the breach, kneeling on one knee against the city wall, panting heavily.

His guards rushed over to help him up: "My lord—"

"I'm fine." Suffolk pushed his hand away, stood up, and glanced at the main tower.

"We can't fight like this." Suffolk tossed his spear to his guards and drew a warhammer. "We need to clear the walls first, then suppress that damned tower."

Suffolk, with his personal guards, climbed up the city wall through the passageway at the breach and began to clear out the defenders section by section, forcing them all back to the main tower.

Under Suffolk's orders, the English longbowmen were forced to scale the walls as well, engaging the crossbowmen in a firefight at the main tower. However, lacking cover, the longbowmen were no longer able to suppress the crossbowmen. In the final, desperate gaze of the defenders, Suffolk ordered the catapults to be hoisted onto the walls and fired at the main tower.

After creating another breach, Suffolk led his guards and armored men directly into the main castle. Shouts of battle echoed through the castle, and cries of agony came from the stairwells.

The fleur-de-lis flag on the main tower didn't fall from the flagpole until the sun had completely set. Suffolk, half-covered in blood, walked out of the tower and found Salisbury waiting for him.

"Who is the commander of the garrison? Bring him to me," Salisbury asked.

Suffolk gave a wry smile and said, "Sir, there are fewer than a hundred people inside this main tower. We don't know where the commander is."

Salisbury was moved for the first time: "One hundred men? That means the garrison held off our three thousand men for several days with less than two hundred?"

Seeing Suffolk nod with a wry smile, Salisbury sighed and said, "Send word to Fastov to take over the castle. We have no time to rest; we must continue eastward tomorrow. Dinois is almost catching up with us."

Suffolk asked in anguish, "My lord, this is the toughest battle of my life! If all the castles are like this, we'll never see Orleans!"

Salisbury was silent for a moment, then replied, "Find a live prisoner and release him to Denois. Knowing his nature, he'll probably withdraw the garrison to defend his Good Orléans. You're right, we can't let every castle fall like this."