Chapter 62 Big Killer
Since the watchtower was still under construction, Shengyun's perspective at the foot of the city was blocked by the city wall, and he did not know that crossbows were being assembled on the top of the city. However, even Wang Jian didn't know that there was such a powerful weapon in the arsenal, and the soldiers were even more unfamiliar with it. They could only figure it out while assembling it - the big components were all there, but small parts such as lock pins and connecting rods were either missing. Either it will decay, and it will have to be remade, which really takes a lot of effort. Especially the iron spears that were fired, there were only about twenty in the library. The iron feathers at the tails had all been rusted through and broke when touched. The spear heads were also rusty. Some soldiers tried to pierce the brick wall with great force, and the bricks collapsed. The big piece and the iron spear head also broke off - these also need to be remade.
Finally, the lookout was almost completed, and all that was left was to install baffles and guardrails on the top platform. Takato Dou was eager to climb up with several battalion officers to have a sneak peek - the three flying beast battalions were the main attackers, and he cared more than anyone else. The city defense of Shaanzhou.
The bed crossbow on the top of the city was finally set up, but the iron spear on the side that had just been equipped with a brand new spearhead had not yet had time to attach its tail feathers. The soldiers saw several thieves wearing iron helmets on the mound opposite and were about to climb up to the observation tower. One of them had a helmet that was obviously a little taller than the others - obviously, these guys were all thieves generals, and there was one among them. Big boss! I couldn't miss the opportunity, and I was very curious, so I worked together to turn the winch to string the crossbow. I didn't have much experience, so I thought that if I didn't install the tail feather, I wouldn't install it, so I put an iron spear into the launch slot and adjusted it slightly. He set the shooting direction and aimed the iron spear at the top of the observation tower.
A soldier half-raised a wooden hammer and looked to the opposite side. He saw a cluster of black tassels emerging from the top of the watchtower - most of the armored weapons of Guan Shengyun's department were blackmailed or captured military equipment of the Ming Dynasty. The Ming Dynasty claimed to have the virtue of fire, and the color was red. Since Guan Shengyun and others rebelled, they also wanted to seek auspiciousness in the five elements of the conflict. Water overcomes fire, and the corresponding color is black. Ordinary soldiers, in addition to the iron armor or cloth armor issued to elite soldiers, have a variety of clothing. If they hadn't grabbed new clothes, they would have worn pretty much what they wore when they joined the army. In order to distinguish between ourselves and the enemy on the battlefield, the soldiers were ordered to hang black cloth strips on their bodies, and the generals dyed the red tassels on the top of their helmets black - the hammers in their hands hit the lock pins of the machine teeth, accompanied by " With a bang, a huge iron spear flew out...
Gao Tengdou's feet were still on the ladder. As soon as he poked his head out of the observatory floor, he caught a glimpse of the crossbow on the opposite wall and the black shadow heading towards him. He subconsciously shrank his head.
The bed crossbow has a long range and is powerful, but it has a fatal flaw: its shooting accuracy is insufficient. It’s no wonder that even today, when guns are generally equipped with advanced optical sights, not just anyone can pick up a gun with ten rings, let alone On the Ming Dynasty several centuries ago.
The tail feathers on the arrow allow it to rotate on its own during flight with the tip of the arrow cluster as the axis, thereby maximizing shooting accuracy. The soldiers opened their mouths wide and watched as the iron spears without tail feathers trembled and drew a strange trajectory in the air: the flight path for the first hundred or ten steps was still expected, and then suddenly turned and shot out diagonally, twisting seven times. He tilted to the east, crossed the trench, and stuck a wheelbarrow being pushed by an auxiliary soldier. The huge kinetic energy instantly overturned the cart, and at the same time, the spear pole swept to the auxiliary soldier's waist, and with a muffled sound, The unlucky guy bent his body at a weird angle, flew a few steps into the air, and lost his life in a daze. The other auxiliary soldiers around looked at the corpse in fear, then looked at the city head, shouted, and ran away in all directions.
Naturally, Gao Tengdou and others also saw this scene. No one would be stupid enough to continue to climb up and be a living target. They rolled and crawled down the ladder, mounted their horses and ran back to the camp.
The general ran away, and the auxiliary soldiers in the open space in the south of the city who were doing the finishing work before the attack, such as digging holes and shoveling fences, thought that they were far out of the range of bows and arrows. When they saw this, they dropped their shovels and ran back. Guo Qinglin led A few confidants wielded whips and tried their best to stop them. Their arms were sore before they were able to gather them together.
In fact, the auxiliary soldiers were overly worried: the defenders would not waste expensive iron spears on them—not even the soldiers.
Those seemingly heavy and crude siege equipment are much more valuable than human life!
There was a burst of cheers on the top of the city.
Although he did not hit the traitor general, it was still considered a victory in the first battle. The defenders were smiling and thought this was a good sign. The witness naturally became the centerpiece of the crowd's attention. He vividly and vividly described the miserable situation of the guy who was hit with a weird performance and screams. The people who listened were also very happy. His face was sprayed with spit and stars, and they didn't even bother to wipe it, and turned around. He ran to tell others about it in a more embellished way, and also enjoyed the admiration of the other beggar soldiers.
Wang Jian cursed for wasting a good arrow and spear, and was very happy inside. The soldiers could see it, and responded with a playful smile, and hurriedly installed tail feathers on other iron spears.
Ma Wensheng was making trouble for nothing in the blacksmith shop, and when he heard the news, he ran up the wall excitedly - Mr. Ma was so happy, he shouted loudly and announced the reward: kill an enemy and get two taels of silver! Immediately surrounded by soldiers, you and I praised each other one by one: the one who first discovered the enemy general, two who carried the spear, six who moved the bed, one who corrected the aim, and ten who were on the winch side (including six Bed lifter), the swinging hammer fired in a hurry, roared and there was me... Master Ma threw out nearly fifty taels of silver with a smile on his face.
Wang Jian looked at the tower being built in the distance, and worriedly whispered to Pan Ding and Jing Xiangshan: "My lords, can you please advise Lord Ma? If the reward continues like this, I will eventually be afraid that the soldiers will shoot at the traitors indiscriminately in order to seek reward." One pass - these iron spears are very expensive, so we should keep them as siege equipment to deal with thieves."
Pan and Jing looked at each other and smiled bitterly: "Who can stop Mr. Ma's temper? Alas!" Even though they said this, they still approached: "Sir, we only have dozens of arrows and spears. You look……"
Ma Wensheng was startled when he heard this. He glanced at the arrows and spears on the ground for a few times, and then responded: "Isn't this just a short spear? Wang Jian, just go to the arsenal and find some more spears to shorten them!"
When Wang Jian heard this layman's words, he said anxiously: "Sir, this is not a gun! You see, the spear head is about a foot long, and the spear shaft is thicker and heavier than the spear shaft, so it can be fired with enough force. Ordinary spears mainly rely on their length. If the horse is blocking people, the spear head is no more than two, and the shot is not powerful enough. Therefore, special javelins must be used for throwing. Simply shortening the spear - it is useless to shoot siege equipment. When it comes to shooting people, it is better to use arrows. Also, most of the gun shafts are made of elastic wood such as white wax rods, which is convenient for expanding the thrust range, and the arrow shafts are made of hardwood so that they will not shake when shot..."
Ma Wensheng felt that it was very humiliating to be robbed by a martial artist in front of everyone, so he impatiently interrupted Wang Jian's explanation: "Fart, fart, fart! Don't try to use excuses to excuse me! You are obviously lazy! Go, go, don't keep talking anymore. beat!"
Wang Jian opened his mouth to tell the difference, but Pan Ding tugged on his sleeve and smoothed things over: "You can do whatever Mr. Ma wants you to do. It doesn't hurt to give it a try..."
"Humph." Ma Wensheng was disappointed and left angrily.
Looking at Master Ma's back, the three of them sighed in unison.
"General Wang, what did you say about Douzi Arrow just now? What is that?" Jing Xiangshan asked curiously.
"Sir, they are ordinary feather arrows. In addition to firing arrows and spears to destroy the enemy's equipment, the bed crossbow can put dozens of feather arrows in an iron bucket and shoot them out, probably from dozens to hundreds of steps. The shooting range of Laibu. I have only heard of it, and I roughly know how to use it. I can’t tell you exactly how far it can shoot, so I want to give it a try.”
"This is good!" Pan Ding became more energetic after hearing this, "Why can we only deal with the unarmored? The crossbow is so powerful, even if it is armored, it can't bear a hit, right?"
"Master Pan, please. The bed crossbow is indeed powerful, but when dozens of arrows are packed in the bucket, the strength is lost, and there is still a lot of string power wasted on the bucket, so the effect is not much different from an ordinary walking bow. If To break the armor, you have to use special iron-bone armor-piercing arrows.”
"Then just install armor-piercing arrows?"
Wang Jian smiled wryly and spread his hands: "Master Pan, iron-bone armor-piercing arrows are very expensive. One of them can hold up to ten ordinary feather arrows. Ordinary archers are reluctant to give them, and elite veterans can only afford three." Five of them, if you put them in a bucket and shoot them with a crossbow, there's no chance of accuracy. Hitting or missing depends entirely on luck. It's better to let the archers aim and shoot."
Hahaha, every other line is like a mountain. The laughter of the three people dissipated the unhappiness just now.
"Let's find a gun and give it a try," Jing Xiangshan pouted in the direction Ma Wensheng was leaving, "I have to give him an explanation."
"Yeah." Wang Jian responded. He waved a few soldiers over, sawing the gun shaft and tearing off the red tassel on the gun tip.
"Hey, by the way, General Wang, why are there all these red tassels on the gun heads? The adults in the Ministry of Industry are notorious for being picky, and they are all ruthless people who want to scrape half a ounce of oil off the legs of locusts. Isn’t it just to look good?”
"Your Majesty is right, the red tassel on the spear head is not just for good looks. In addition to resisting the horse, the spearman also needs to stab and kill the enemy. If the enemy is hit by the horse, the blood will flow down the gun barrel, and it will be easy to slip on the hand. With these tassels blocking the way, just turn your hand a few times and flick them around. In fact, you don’t have to use red, any color will work. I’m just guessing, the red color is to scare the enemy. From a distance, it’s all over the place. The tassel stained with blood..."
"Oh, the spear shaft is soft and the spear shaft is hard, the spear head is no more than two, the fighting arrow, the iron bone arrow, and even the ordinary-looking red tassel have so many truths in them. Zhuangzi said, 'The Tao is in the ants, the Tao is in the shit.' It’s true, it’s true.”
"I don't dare to take it. I am an illiterate rough man in a humble position, but the adults are literate and have a lot of knowledge."
The three of them were talking and watching the soldiers at work. After a while, the short gun was ready, and the mallet smashed the teeth of the machine. Under everyone's gaze, the short gun flew out tremblingly, with an increasing amplitude. Due to the design of the long gun, The principle never considered the mechanics of flight, and then he simply turned somersaults in the air, and with a snap, he landed on the ground only seventy or eighty steps away, making everyone laugh.
When Gao Tengdou ran back in shock, Guan Shengyun was looking at the several siege towers that were about to be completed with great joy. When I suddenly heard the news that there were several crossbows in the city, I was shocked - most of the generals were from the frontier army, and they all knew the power of such large-scale killing weapons. After discussing for a long time, other than making more shield vehicles and sending as much cannon fodder as possible to the bottom of the city to dig up the walls, I really couldn't think of any better way.
It seems that the tower is no longer useful. The dog officers and soldiers will definitely use bed crossbows to deal with it - arrows and spears are expensive and difficult to make. If you can exchange them with human lives, it will not be a loss at all, but you will lose money if you exchange them with the tower. Grandma's house.
Just when everyone was looking at each other with nothing to do, Tangqi, who was on alert from the south, came to report and found that a team of two to three hundred people was approaching the camp.
Guan Shengyun was wondering how Gu Baihua, who was setting up an ambush at Xiashi Pass, could miss this small team. The second group of Tangqi brought more detailed news: it was Gu Baihua himself.
It turns out that the army surrounded Shaanzhou too tightly, and the three divisions of Yu Province are still kept in the dark. Gu Baihua held a super battalion of six troops in his hands, plus a thousand auxiliary soldiers to help him defend against danger. It was really boring to be idle for several days. Thinking that if there was a police call, it would take less than an hour for the horses to run fifty miles to report the news, so I simply left a few horses behind and brought two teams back to join in the fun.
Also coming back with Gu Baihua was Liang Laosi.
He was randomly thrown into a team by Gu Baihua, and he was bored for several days. Seeing that Gu Baihua was going back to his old camp to join the battle, Liang Laosi, who was bent on killing the officers and soldiers for revenge, started shouting. None of the team officers had big mouths. Tell him to shut up. Gu Baihua liked this kind of man, so he simply brought him up and incorporated him into his personal guard.
