The craftsman camp moved from Nanyang to the hidden mountains and forests behind Lantian County.
The craftsmen inside participated in the development and production of the first generation of trebuchets, and were quite experienced in this area. After the first generation of trebuchets was developed, Zhang Xiu gave them orders to develop the second generation.
Due to the tightness of the previous battle, they had to give up research and development and concentrate on producing the first-generation trebuchet to supply the needs of the battle. Now that the battle is over, they have restarted in-depth research and development.
On this day, Zhang Xiu brought Zhang Liao and Gan Ning to the craftsman camp.
After the previous battles, all the generals in the camp knew the power of the Craftsman Battalion. Everyone became polite when meeting the people in the Craftsman Battalion. Some generals even used various methods in order to get a few more trebuchets. to please the people of the Craftsman Camp.
Gan Ning was well aware of the power of the Craftsman Camp, so after entering the Craftsman Camp, he became very easy-going and low-key, without any airs of a governor at all.
Qian Song, the commander of Chebing Camp, learned that Zhang Xiu and the two governors were coming, so he waited at the door early.
Seeing Zhang Xiu coming over, Qian Song bowed his head and raised his face with his fists in his hands: "Qian Song pays homage to my lord!" After saying that, he knelt down.
Zhang Xiu got off his horse and helped Qian Song stand up: "My old battalion commander, please get up quickly, please get up quickly!"
Gan Ning ran over very diligently and rushed to help Qian Song up.
Zhang Liao next to him looked puzzled.
I am just a small craftsman. Is it necessary to lower myself to such a level?
Entering the craftsman camp, there were shirtless men on the left and right, holding various tools and making the required wood. They looked enthusiastic. Zhang Xiu asked: "Mr. Qian, how is the development of the second generation trebuchet?"
Speaking of this, Qian Songwu touched his gray beard proudly, revealing a pair of sparse yellow teeth: "Although the Lord's order was urgent, we have fulfilled our mission and have developed a prototype. However, due to the mechanical It’s too large and the accuracy needs to be improved.”
"Well, it's not easy for you to develop it in such a short period of time. Take me to see it!" Zhang Xiu first affirmed their results and then said.
"My Lord, please!"
Qian Song made a gesture of invitation.
Zhang Liao had been looking at Qian Song with an arrogant face for a long time, thinking, isn't this man just a craftsman? Why is he so arrogant?
With a puzzled mood, Zhang Liao followed Qian Song towards the back.
Around a mountain, there is an empty flat land behind.
After turning the mountain bend, Zhang Liao froze on the spot.
Behind the mountain bend, on the open flat land, stood a huge wooden thing. It was estimated to be about fifteen meters high and five or six meters wide. He recognized at a glance that this huge thing was used for sieges. Trebuchet.
But such a huge trebuchet was unheard of.
With unparalleled shock, he followed Zhang Xiu into the venue surrounded by a circle of walls. The entire venue was large and rectangular.
"Lord, this is the second-generation trebuchet we developed. It can throw stones up to five hundred steps." Qian Song said this with a bit of pride.
Five hundred steps?
Even Zhang Xiu was surprised. He originally thought that a maximum of three hundred steps would be pretty good, but he didn't expect that he could actually projectile a distance of five hundred steps.
"What's the error?" Gan Ning asked hurriedly.
Qian Song chuckled: "It's not big, only about three steps."
Gan Ning opened his mouth for a long time and couldn't close it.
Zhang Liao was also deeply shocked.
Five hundred steps, three steps error.
This is simply a magic weapon for siege! With this big treasure, no matter how magnificent a city is, it can be smashed to pieces.
"Five hundred steps, an error of three steps!" Zhang Xiu nodded, "Mr. Qian, if it is true as you said, I will reward your craftsman camp a hundred gold. Come, give it a try."
Qian Song was overjoyed.
Immediately ordered the equipment, pulled down the tip pole, and placed the huge stone.
When the tip rod was pulled down, Zhang Xiu could see the structure below clearly. The biggest improvement of this time's trebuchet was the removal of the counterweight device, which was also an important reason why the throwing distance could reach 500 steps.
The power of the counterweight trebuchet all comes from the counterweight. The amount of the counterweight determines the strength, which also limits the distance of the throw. Now the counterweight has been changed to ejection, using the iron spring provided by Zhang Xiu. As a driving force, the power of the trebuchet is greatly improved.
Of course, this spring is not made of carbon spring steel from later generations.
Its material is higher than iron and lower than steel. It should be called alloy steel. Since the pulling weight is very large, the demand for this spring is also very large, because the spring needs to be replaced frequently.
The shortcomings and advantages are very obvious.
"put!"
Qian Song's hoarse voice actually roared loudly.
"boom!"
With the sound of a spring, the tip pole was suddenly thrown up, throwing the boulder out and hitting a circle drawn about five hundred steps away.
As the earth shook and heavy sounds came, the boulder hit the line of the circle.
This hit rate is already very high.
Zhang Xiu laughed happily: "Okay! With such a high hit rate, coupled with the power of the second-generation trebuchet, even Luoyang City cannot withstand its fury."
Zhang Liao was already stunned.
At this moment, he finally understood why Gan Ning had lowered his status and followed Qian Song. This was good news to the infantry. With this treasure, the casualty rate during the siege dropped sharply.
But big means heavy and difficult to move. He raised his doubts to Qian Song: "Mr. Qian, this thing is indeed very powerful, but how can you carry such a huge thing when marching and fighting?"
"Hahaha!"
Qian Song laughed confidently, looked at Zhang Liao and saluted and said, "You must be my lord's newly appointed Governor Zhang, right?"
Zhang Liao clasped his fists in return and nodded in agreement.
Qian Song said: "We knew this thing was bulky and difficult to carry, so we made it assembled so that it wouldn't be troublesome to carry."
"Assembled?"
Zhang Liao looked confused.
How could Zhang Liao know about this assembly? It was brought by Zhang Xiu from later generations. When developing the second-generation trebuchet, he also considered the problem of carrying it and put forward the idea of assembly.
After unremitting efforts, the craftsmen finally developed a second-generation trebuchet that can be assembled.
Seeing that Zhang Liao was puzzled, Zhang Xiu smiled and said: "Since Governor Zhang has never seen it, Mr. Qian, please disassemble it and assemble it so that Governor Zhang can open his eyes. I'm afraid Governor Gan has never seen it either!"
Gan Ning chuckled.
Without saying a word, Qian Song ordered people to start assembling it.
More than thirty people, after about half an hour, the originally huge trebuchet turned into pieces of wood of different thicknesses and lengths.
Zhang Liao was stunned again.
Qian Song smiled and said: "Two governors, this is the dismantled trebuchet. You can put them on the carriage and go with the army to fight. When they get to the place, the brothers in the carriage camp can assemble it in half an hour. It’s convenient and fast to get up, but the key is that it’s very powerful.”
"With this weapon, I'm afraid even the Jianmen Pass in Yizhou can't stop our army!" Zhang Liao exclaimed.
"Um?"
Zhang Xiu looked at Zhang Liao in surprise, "Why did Wen Yuan say that Jianmen was closed?"
Gan Ning was the first to answer: "My lord, these Zhang Song sent by Yizhou to bring gifts have not left yet. They said they want to see you no matter what, as if they want to join forces with our army."
Zhang Xiu's eyes suddenly lit up.
I am reminded of an incident recorded in later generations: Zhang Song presented a picture.
