The Polotsk army carried many siege engines, and now, they were being put to use.
The soldiers realized the urgency of the situation, so everyone dragged the siege engines forward at the fastest speed, hoping to enter the city before the Novgorod Militia stabilized.
The Novgorod Militia on the city walls were still quite panicked, after all, they had not yet seen the arrival of reinforcements, and what was happening over there remained unclear.
A volley of arrows rained down on the city walls of Novgorod, and although they caused little damage due to the long distance, the most important purpose of this arrow rain was to create panic.
The militiamen on the city walls, whose morale was already low, became chaotic under the arrow rain; although not many people were hit, they were still made to feel like startled birds.
Although reinforcements had already entered the city, the soldiers on the city walls could not see them; they had not even realized that reinforcements had arrived and were still panicking over the Polotsk army's attack, thinking they were isolated and helpless.
Only a small number of battle-hardened militiamen picked up bows and arrows to shoot at the charging enemies, and the Chud were also desperately throwing their javelins, but unfortunately, these sparse projectiles did not affect the enemy's charge much, at most causing a few unlucky fellows to break their necks.
These arrows even made many Polotsk people mock inwardly, saying that this arrow rain couldn't even compare to those trash from Lithuania.
Initially, they were quite worried about besieging Novgorod, fearing they couldn't take down the second-largest city in All Rus, but now it seemed those worries were completely unnecessary; if they had known these Novgorod people were so weak, why didn't they attack this city earlier?
Soon, a faster-running Polotsk soldier set up a ladder under the city wall, and soldiers with swords began to climb up in an orderly fashion.
Although only their small team had reached the foot of the city wall, they showed no fear and still bravely climbed up; with the weakness shown by Novgorod, was dealing with them still a problem?
The Polotsk Prince's soldiers fought very bravely, forming a sharp contrast with the chaos and discord of the Novgorod people; they didn't even encounter the greatest obstacle when climbing the city wall, and smoothly stood on the city top, raising their banners.
This scene undoubtedly encouraged more Polotsk people, making them charge faster; everyone wanted to enter the city sooner, as the earlier they entered the city, the more things they could plunder.
In contrast, the Novgorod Militia constantly recoiled and retreated; not a single one dared to stand out and fight the enemy, these fellows were like they had been scared out of their wits.
Even if those administrators dared to stand on the city wall, it was useless, because the militiamen around them were all in disarray, with people from various districts, and even from his rival district, the kind that often got into street fights.
Facing such a force, the administrator's authority naturally struggled to be effective, and he could not stabilize morale; it was precisely for this reason that the Novgorod Militia constantly routed; if they had stood with their neighbors, their fighting would have been firm, but now they were surrounded by strangers, not to mention that guy might have even fought you, everyone was uneasy.
At the place where the Polotsk people first ascended the city, those militiamen even began to flee without any courage to fight, not even the courage to engage; the suddenness of the Polotsk Prince's attack and Novgorod's recent chaos simultaneously led to this result.
But this did not mean that the city had no one who could stand up and turn the tide; Novgorod was, after all, the second-largest city in All Rus after Kiev, and brave people were not lacking here.
"Stop! Everyone stop for me!"
Seeing this scene, a Novgorod administrator stepped forward; he was wearing black chainmail, holding a long sword, and stood in front of the militiamen who wanted to descend the city wall.
Behind him followed a group of resolute Novgorod Militia, and it was precisely because of the presence of these militiamen that these deserters stopped their steps, otherwise, the deserters would not care who you were and would have directly crashed through.
"What are you doing? Have you forgotten that your families and children are behind you? Why are you retreating? Don't you have weapons and armor on you? Hurry and come back to fight with me!"
This administrator was named Gavrila; his family became wealthy in Novgorod through farming, and in his generation, he was directly elected as the administrator of his district.
Gavrila had always been inconspicuous among the administrators because he had no intention of participating in political struggles; he spent more time training with his district's neighbors, preparing for a possible war.
And when the Polotsk army arrived, Gavrila did not, like others, chaotically gather militiamen to the city walls and then rush them all onto the walls; he only came here after gathering all the district militiamen, and then he encountered such chaos.
Seeing Gavrila and the imposing militiamen behind him, the deserters were all shocked, and Gavrila did not hesitate to kill the first few deserters, after which they all turned around and rushed back to the battlefield.
After all, the appearance of these deserters was more due to the unease of lacking a backbone; now that a person with a large number of militiamen and clear sufficient authority appeared, everyone naturally felt at ease.
Everyone had the physical strength and equipment, and there were so many reliable brothers behind them; wasn't it just going back to fight desperately? What was there to be afraid of?
Humans are such strange creatures; one second they are fleeing, the next they are bravely fighting back.
Just as the Polotsk people were still cheering for their easy ascent of the city and rejoicing over future rewards, they suddenly found that those vulnerable Novgorod people had returned, shouting and charging at them.
Initially, the Polotsk people thought they could easily drive away these enemies, but after engaging, they discovered the fierce nature of the Novgorod Militia; these people even dared to kill the Prince's personal guards and burn ships, how could they establish themselves without ability?
There is nothing more to say about the subsequent course of the battle; the number of these Polotsk people who first ascended the city was, after all, too small, and they were quickly all defeated by the Novgorod Militia.
So when the main assault force of the Polotsk people reached the foot of the city wall, they saw the banner that had once stood on the wall top thrown down, and the ladder pushed over, followed by the bodies of Polotsk people being thrown down from the city wall one by one.
The Novgorod Militia cheered as they threw down the bodies of the defeated, celebrating their victory.
This scene undoubtedly strengthened the resolve of the wavering militiamen everywhere; they saw that these Polotsk people were not so terrifying, and could also be easily defeated, so their steps were no longer so light, and the administrators also seized the opportunity to encourage everyone, which made them become resolute.
But this did not greatly dampen the morale of the Polotsk people; on the contrary, they became even more fierce, vowing to tear off the faces of those Novgorod people on the city wall who were laughing like fools, to see if they could still laugh.
The battle then became fierce; the Polotsk people bravely and fearlessly climbed the city wall; among these first ascenders, there were even those completely encased in iron armor; Vseslav had committed all his elites to the battle; this Prince intended to take the city wall in one fell swoop.
The Novgorod Militia, facing such an attack, appeared quite disheveled; they already had a series of problems such as scattered ranks and low morale, and were able to block the Polotsk people entirely by relying on the advantage of the city wall.
"God, this won't do; are there any more reinforcements?"
After slashing a Polotsk man and kicking his body off the city wall, Gavrila, bathed in blood, complained, saying that if they couldn't turn the tide now, they would sooner or later be finished!
Polotsk's advantage was constantly expanding; only where Gavrila was located was the situation barely maintained, but the persistence in one place could not change the overall disadvantage; if this continued, they would sooner or later be defeated! The city would also be finished with them!
As Gavrila was complaining, a sudden scene made his eyes widen, because the city gate slowly opened right under his nose.