After the assembly is completed, the protagonist can't wait to test the power of the ballista.
Since the scientific research team did not manufacture or transport any ballista ammunition, the protagonist could only find a solution on his own in [Swamp City].
But this is not difficult. The ammunition available for the ballista is generally stone bullets or arrows.
Stone bullets are the simplest. Just find a stone of suitable size that can be put into the bullet slot in the main beam. Of course, in order to ensure a straight trajectory, it is best to process the stone into a spherical shape.
The arrows used by ballistas are generally specially made giant arrows. When the arrows are fired, the ballistic trajectory is the most accurate, and it may even happen that the next arrow hits the previous one.
Before the Tan Yuan Alliance, the Song army used bed crossbows to kill the Liao army commander in one fell swoop at a very long distance, and its accuracy was evident (there are also views that it was due to good luck and accidental attack).
The protagonist first tested the power of stone bullets. The island where [Swamp City] is located lacks almost everything, but only small stones are not scarce. On the windward side of the island, there is a small beach that was carried and piled up by the wind and water. , there are both small gravel and large pebbles. A large number of stones of all kinds are piled up there. It is not difficult to find stone bullets of suitable size.
In the past, when a large amount of slings were consumed in battle, ants would come here to replenish the stones, and tie them with ant wire to create a new sling. The stone projectiles required for the ballista are one size larger than the stone projectiles, and the two do not affect each other.
The ants quickly found dozens of stone bullets for the protagonist. The protagonist first fully pulled the string of the ballista and hung it on the trigger. Then he put the stone bullets into the slot, put his back legs on the ground, and held the ballista with his middle legs. The main beam was aimed at the trunk of a shrub not far away.
Then, the protagonist pulled out the trigger with both front limbs, and the fully loaded spring drove the bowstring to eject violently, and stretched it into a straight line again. The protagonist only heard a shrill wind howl, and the stone bullet had turned into an afterimage from the bullet chute. disappear.
The bushes didn't move at all... A small splash of water exploded on the water in the distance... Obviously, the stone bullet did not hit the bush that the protagonist had aimed at before, but passed by and fell into the water.
The protagonist thought about it for a while, and it was probably because the trigger was too tight. When he pulled out the trigger, he used a little too much force, which shook the main beam of the ballista.
He thought for a moment and tried repeatedly to pull out the trigger. Finally, he asked the ants to take a piece of insect grease and spread it evenly on the surface of the trigger to reduce friction.
This time, pulling out the trigger is not so laborious, and the protagonist in normal state can do it easily.
However, the process of pulling out the trigger will inevitably shake the ballista slightly, and no matter what you do, it is difficult to avoid this interference. After all, the structure of this ballista is too simple, and the protagonist is not a sniper. In this case, the action of "pulling" the trigger should be done as unconsciously as possible under natural circumstances, that is, "consciously aim, unconsciously Fire".
In addition, the grooves on the main beam of the ballista were not straight enough. After several experiments, the protagonist found that it was difficult to accurately hit the target from half a meter away, and he could only achieve it within half a meter.
Fortunately, the power of the crossbow is quite good. When a single stone bullet is fired at a shrub trunk, it will sink deeply into the trunk, and the power is evident - at least it is enough to break the carapace of the parasitic war beasts.
Although the accuracy is insufficient, the protagonist is not discouraged. As the first ballista, it is experimental in nature. It is already very good to be able to achieve this step.
The protagonist simply took a different approach and tried firing multiple stone bullets at once. After repeated experiments, the power was sufficient when five or less stone bullets were fired at one time. Multiple stone bullets will spontaneously form a barrage, which is more effective when shooting at high-speed moving targets. At least, this ballista can be used as a qualified anti-aircraft weapon, which makes up for the embarrassing loophole that the air defense firepower of the God's Envoy Army is basically zero.
After that, the protagonist wanted to experiment with firing arrows. In theory, arrows would have a longer range and higher accuracy than stone bullets.
Since there were no arrows made in advance, the protagonist initially used the lances of the flying knights instead. These lances use the tough wood fiber of plants as the shaft, and the top is fixed with ant wire and ant glue to a stone or ceramic spear head. It is very tough during combat, making it easy for flying knights to swing and stab, and once it is stabbed , the gun barrel will break, leaving the gun head inside the enemy's body and difficult to pull it out.
However, when this kind of lance is fired from a ballista, due to the lack of strength of the gun barrel, it will be directly broken by the bowstring, making it impossible to successfully shoot.
The protagonist experimented again with small branches of suitable size dropped from shrubs collected on the island. This time it was successfully launched with a considerable range. However, because the branches were not straight enough and there were no arrows and arrow feathers, the accuracy was not ideal.
After the experiment, the protagonist was still worrying about the ammunition for the ballista. A large number of ants stopped what they were doing and were either busy collecting stones on the beach, collecting suitable branches on the shrubs, or processing ammunition at the bottom of the nest.
The ants will strip the bark off the branches of the shrubs, cut off the uneven parts, sharpen the arrows with jaw knives or other tools, and install fletchings made of insect-injurious leather on the arrow tails.
The ants were very slow at processing arrows, and they only made two in one night, but as long as there were stone bullets, the ballista could fight.
Now, the protagonist is fully looking forward to using the crossbow to kill the parasites the next day. His desire for the enemy to appear has never been so urgent.
But the weather did not go as planned. Starting from the second half of the night, the fog in the sky became significantly heavier. By early morning, the sky was already covered with dark clouds and the sun could not be seen rising in the east.
When the time came for the parasitic ants and parasitic war beasts to appear, the enemies did not appear. Instead, it started to rain lightly—the first rain after autumn.
As the saying goes, autumn rain brings coolness. The rain is still falling, and the swamp area can already feel the obvious coolness that is different from the heat of summer.
The instinct of the ants has already predicted this rain, and this rain will become heavier and last for a while.
No insect likes to go out when it is raining. This is extremely dangerous and can easily drown. Parasitic insects are obviously no exception.
After realizing that the enemy would not appear today, the protagonist actually felt a little disappointed. But soon, he would be involved in a new job and had no time to think about it.
[Swamp City] has never experienced rain before, and the protagonist asked the ants to step up inspections and clean the drainage pipes.
There are also the two ballistas placed outdoors. Due to their large size, they can only be transported indoors through the Flying Knight Passage. But it was too late now, so I had to move to a higher place under the bushes to take shelter from the rain, and then cover it with a few pieces of insect leather to protect it from the rain.
After everything was done, the raindrops began to become heavier, seeming to herald the arrival of autumn.
