The next month felt uneventful.
The rain is still pouring down, and there are few sunny days. Time flies, and it’s mid-July in the blink of an eye, the peak of summer when everything flourishes.
The city of Hilotepec still did not surrender. Their food will last at least another ten months. Outside the Mexica camp, a steady stream of food was shipped from the lake. The warriors stayed in the camp, competing with each other in martial arts, and teaching the new recruits how to fight.
Shulot and the carpenters have been cutting the hard rosewood with difficulty. Make the gun mount of the catapult and polish the long gun tip. Of course, the most difficult thing to make is the rotating gun shaft. The craftsmen worked on the connection between the gun shaft and the gun mount for a long time. Bertard and some of the warriors who followed helped with the attack.
Then the different parts were finally assembled, and the gun mount was reinforced by army carpenters. Next came the first test of the cannon. The rope connecting the cannon tip to the cannon shaft quickly fell apart. The cannon tip dropped from a height of four meters and was deeply embedded in the soil, shocking everyone into a cold sweat.
Shulot had no choice but to find Avitt. Avit provided the adhesive for building the pyramid for Hulot's big toy, and also recruited several senior carpenters from the eastern city-state of Mexico.
The senior carpenters seriously dedicated their wisdom to the Coyote Priest. They studied for several days and used mortise and tenon technology to improve the overall connection of the catapult. Finally, after a month of hard work, a real catapult was completed.
The afternoon sun was warm and comfortable, and it was a rare sunny day.
Avitt stood on the edge of the school field, looking at the four- to five-meter-high catapult not far away. Craftsmen and civilians were busy under the catapult. He smiled and said: "Why did you pull me here in such a hurry? Is your big toy ready to play with?"
Shulot looked excited: "Avit, this will be an epoch-making weapon and will forever change the way we attack city-states. I call it a human-powered catapult. No, it has no wheels. It should be Type 1 human trebuchet.”
Then, Shulot watched the craftsmen finish loading and shouted: "Launch!"
With an order, more than twenty strong civilians pulled the more than twenty ropes connected to the short axis of the cannon tip, and then the cannon tip and cannon shaft rotated. When the long axis of the cannon tip approached the highest point of rotation, about ten meters above the ground, a stone weighing more than ten kilograms flew out of the magazine at the top of the long axis, drawing a parabola and smashing it far away. Towards the end of the school grounds, a piece of dust was smashed on the ground.
Avitt stared at the scene with his mouth agape, shock solidified on his face. A stone the size of a human head is thrown a distance of more than 200 steps, and the huge kinetic energy can kill any warrior at any landing point in an instant, regardless of martial arts or armor.
Shulot "appreciated" Avitt's expression. This was the first time he saw the rude shock on Avitt's face. He was excited and had a huge sense of accomplishment. This was the first product he completed that transcended the times, and was also the first time he transcended history.
At the same time, he also had a clear understanding: for the heroes of this era, he did not have strong military power or extraordinary wisdom, and he was still learning to grasp the people's hearts and the current situation. All he can really rely on is his emphasis on science, technology and productivity, his prediction of future development directions, and his memory of historical trends.
"Okay." He smiled self-deprecatingly: "A priest who is a part-time scientist, craftsman, and prophet."
Avitt's shock lasted for six seconds, which was the longest time he had lost control of his expression.
Immediately, he walked to the trebuchet with a serious face, carefully observed the mechanical structure, and determined that the weapon could be fired repeatedly. Then he walked to the point where the stone was thrown and measured the launch distance.
"Fourteen pounds, two hundred and twenty steps." Xiulote heard Avitt calculating and studying.
Avitt then called a skilled hunter to measure the effective killing distance of the hunter's sling on the five-meter earth platform. "The sling on the city wall has a range of one hundred and twenty steps. It only slightly damages leather armor and has a very low hit rate."
At this time, Avitt said to Xurot with excitement: "Test it, what is the heaviest stone that this machine can launch at a distance of one hundred and twenty steps."
The two began to test stones of different weights, and finally found that the weight of a 120-step shot was more than 40 kilograms, which is about nine liters, about the size of three human heads.
Then, the two tested the destructive power of throwing stones at this distance. The potential energy of a stone of more than 40 kilograms and the initial velocity of nearly ten meters plus the kinetic energy of the initial velocity. This power can leave obvious marks on the earth and stone city walls, but it cannot cause structural damage to a city wall ten steps wide.
In other words, if you want to bring down the city wall, a human-powered catapult cannot do it.
However, for the wooden structures on the city walls and inside the city, this power is devastating.
After getting the detailed weapon data, Avitt left in a hurry.
After a while, the commander-in-chief Totec was forcefully pulled over by Avitt. This cold, tall Mexican ace warrior watched with an unswerving expression as the "big toy" was loaded with forty pounds of stone bullets. Then with a huge roar, his hard face was stunned and shocked for an instant. For more than ten seconds.
"God bless you." Totec looked at the impact point of the stone. The stone bullet sank into the ground a full palm deep. "Is this a weapon of God? It is said that the giant in the first era used this weapon to kill the sun?"
Shulot looked at Totec who was almost worshiping beside the trebuchet with a look of helplessness on his face. This kind of trebuchet is estimated to be as powerful as the Thunderbolt Chariot in the Battle of Guandu, but far from the large-caliber short-barreled cannon used by the Spanish to besiege the Moors in this era.
"They are all suffering from lack of culture." Shulot thought. So decades later, Aztec warriors would also mistake the Spanish colonists' cannons and matchlocks for divine punishment, and fell into imaginary panic.
In fact, the damage caused by these weapons to personnel is far less than that of brutal close combat, and the impact on morale is inversely proportional to cognition. "Fortunately, you have me now!"
In any case, this is the first large-scale siege weapon in Central America, possessing epoch-making power.
Totec immediately mobilized village warriors and craftsmen, and then forcibly recruited outstanding carpenters from nearby city-states. Under the strong supervision of the Eagle Warriors, he manufactured man-made trebuchets on a large scale.
The nearby rosewood trees were immediately destroyed. In order to improve cutting efficiency, Totec also requisitioned all the copper axes in the Praetorian Guard. Then, the clanging sound of construction echoed throughout the camp.
Shulot's big toy quickly became famous throughout the army. Officers at all levels came to watch the trebuchet being launched, leaving various shocked faces. Even King Tisok came over for an inspection and was as shocked as Avitt for six seconds, making Shulot exclaim, "He is indeed a brother."
Half a month later, more than fifty trebuchets were lined up in a row outside the east gate of Xilotepec City, a hundred or two hundred steps away from the city wall. Shulot gave an order, the drums sounded, and a thousand strong men suddenly pulled the ropes on their backs. The wooden tips of the trebuchets were raised high, and more than fifty boulders flew out, breaking through the air in the horrified eyes of the defenders. It came and landed with a loud roar. The ground where it hit was shaken, houses were torn apart, and a cloud of dust was raised.
"Sling Commander" Shulot stood on the earth platform two hundred steps away, observing the results of the bombardment. He asked Tisock for this position on the grounds that he could better exert the effect of the trebuchet. In fact, he just wanted to evaluate the power of his masterpiece nearby and feel proud for a while.
"The launch angle is 60 degrees from the front. Well, it can only ensure that the stone shot is within 60 degrees from the front. Not bad, not bad." Shulot wiped the non-existent sweat from his forehead. "Perhaps it would be better to round the stone, but that would require too many tools. Forget it, we don't expect precise strikes anyway."
Shulot then paid attention to the opponent's casualties: "A lot of houses were smashed, and about three or four shots hit the city wall? The hit rate on the city wall was 5%, and the opponent estimated that four or five were killed. It is estimated that with the increase in shooting, the opponent will Adapt quickly and casualties will be negligible.”
"Sure enough, small trebuchets are just weapons to lower morale and suppress long-range weapons." Xiulote thought, "Technology research and development must continue."
The ruthless bombardment continued, and the boulders fell to the ground with a sound like thunder. The city-state warriors on the city wall had pale faces and their majestic bodies were trembling. Many militiamen knelt on their knees and prayed to the "behemoth" roaring from the front, including many of their own warriors and militiamen.
As for the inventor and commander of the "behemoth", Shulot, the warriors and militiamen had many strange and god-like emotions. Of course, this emotion will gradually fade away, but the seeds of respect have been planted, and people have more recognition and obedience in their hearts.
The bombardment continued for three days. During this period, Otomi nobles and priests continued to board the city, and then left in a panic with faces full of horror.
Three days later, the gates of Xilotepec were opened again, and a group of messengers hurried out. This time, the messengers came with boxes of gifts and tributes.
