Zhu Kuangcong, who was standing on the side, suddenly gritted his teeth and said: "Grand Governor, this roar must be the war elephants of the Han army! No wonder the Han army put so much thought into it. It turned out to be to protect their elephants and cavalry from marching in! Now our army Being besieged in this square area, if we don't try to break through the shield wall, the consequences will be disastrous..."
Li Yuan nodded and said solemnly: "Xie Gui wants to eat us in one breath! However, there may not be a way to crack it. It's too late to move the trebuchet... That's all, Zhu Kuangcong, go and get rid of us immediately. All the Fuyuan crossbows in the army have been brought up! Originally, I wanted to use them to deal with those elephant riders, but now I will try to see if I can destroy the shield array!"
Zhu Kuangcong was stunned for a moment and said: "Captain, this shield wall is right next to the wooden wall of our camp. If you can't break the iron shield, but instead destroy your own camp, this will be -"
Li Yuan's eyes were like torches and he said: "I know what I know! The elephant cavalry is coming, so don't be nagging!"
"I will obey your orders!"
The soldiers from both sides were fighting around the camp, and the terrifying neighing sounds forced them closer. Zhu Kuang never dared to neglect, and immediately took people to carry the secret weapon Fuyuan Crossbow specially brought on this trip.
Among the technologies of the Tang Dynasty, there was one thing that could be called the Tang Dynasty’s trump card: the crossbow. The laws of the Tang Dynasty clearly stipulate that it is strictly prohibited for people to practice crossbow shooting. If any ordinary people dare to hide crossbows privately, they will be sent to the army and imprisoned. The crossbow was a sophisticated secret weapon of the Tang Dynasty army, which was unmatched by all dynasties.
But the one with the most terrifying lethality is the Fuyuan Crossbow.
(Note: It is recorded in Volume 16 of "Liu Dian of the Tang Dynasty" that there were seven types of crossbows used by the imperial army during the Kaiyuan period of the Tang Dynasty: "One is the Zhang Zhang crossbow, the other is the horn bow crossbow, the third is the wooden single crossbow, the fourth is the large wooden single crossbow, and the fifth is the bamboo pole Crossbow, the sixth one is the big bamboo pole crossbow, the seventh one is the fuyuan crossbow.")
The Fuyuan crossbow uses red oak, mulberry, beef tendon and other materials to make a multi-layered crossbow arm; silk, hemp, beef tendon, etc. are mixed into the string; the crossbow body has a bronze receiver with a built-in mechanism; the receiver is Looking forward to the mountain, coupled with the specially made eight-inch fine steel-tipped crossbow arrows, it can shoot three hundred steps and penetrate heavy armor. With such huge lethality and super long range, this ruthless guy can hit the battlefield in one breath, which is simply an all-round three-dimensional bombing.
It is a pity that the production process of this kind of crossbow is very complicated and highly precise, which leads to extremely high manufacturing cost. After the decline of the Tang Dynasty, it was rarely used.
In order to deal with the Han army's proud Elephant Cavalry this time, before leaving Langzhou, Li Yuan specifically ordered the weapons supervisor to urgently build this heavy crossbow with astonishing lethality. Unfortunately, time was too tight, and more than a thousand craftsmen rushed to do it. I hurried slowly and only made twenty units.
Zhu Kuangcong quickly led people to carry over all the twenty Fuyuan crossbows in the camp. Dozens of guards immediately moved the boulders originally used as trebuchet shells, and quickly lined them up in a row and fixed them on both sides of the Fuyuan Crossbow to prevent the huge impact caused by the shooting. The twenty operators also quickly put the Fuyuan crossbow into position, cranked the machine shaft to tighten the thick bow string, and placed the iron-tipped crossbow arrows as thick as a child's arms into the slot.
"Captain, where to shoot?" the operator adjusted the angle and asked.
"There are iron shields all around, let alone where?" Li Yuan shouted.
"As ordered." The soldier looked up at the black python surrounding the camp, stretched out his hand to hold the yellow rope of the transmitter, took a breath and pulled hard. There was a "buzz" sound from the bowstring, and Fuyuan's crossbow almost jumped up from the ground. Several huge rocks held it firmly in place, preventing it from losing its position.
At the same time, the crossbow arrow as thick as a human arm was shot out quickly, and the next moment there was a "clang" explosion. Even in broad daylight, you could see flying sparks. The iron head of the crossbow arrow first directly penetrated the wooden fence, and then hit the wooden fence. There was a harsh sound on the smooth surface of the iron shield.
Li Yuan and the soldiers around him stared with wide eyes, but they saw that the crossbow arrow did not penetrate the shield. After it hit the shield, it bounced off the shield and slid far away along the layers of shields before falling to the ground. .
Zhu Kuangcong cried out in disappointment: "Fuck you! It's useless!"
Before he finished speaking, when he saw the crossbow arrow, the surface of the iron shield seemed to have collapsed a large area, as if a few tiles on the roof had been removed, but it returned to normal after a while.
"No, who says it's useless? It's very useful. Despite the solid appearance of the iron shield, it is actually supported by human power. The governor was sure that the Han soldiers holding the shield would not be able to withstand the impact, and they might have fainted and vomited blood. Come on. Listen to the order, concentrate the crossbows from afar, and shoot in one place, and you will definitely achieve great results!"
Li Yuan shouted orders, and Zhu Kuang hurriedly ordered the soldiers to gather the Fuyuan crossbows. Twenty Fuyuan crossbows were lined up. The soldiers quickly twisted the strings and installed the crossbow arrows, and then aimed all the Fuyuan crossbows at the target. Settled on the shield formation near the camp gate, Sergeant Wu Ping, who was guarding there at the moment, received the order and hurriedly spread out to both sides to avoid being accidentally injured by the heavy crossbow.
Following an order, twenty operators opened their machine guns at the same time, and twenty iron crossbows shot out with a faint sound of wind and thunder. The ear was instantly filled with the harsh sound of gold and iron clashing. The sparks that emerged this time were clearly visible. Twenty crossbow arrows hit the intersection of the four shields at the same time. They also bounced up and slid far away in the air. It fell to the ground, but this time the effect was very different.
The shield that was shot dented, and then dozens of surrounding shields collapsed at the same time, just like the roof of a house collapsed. There was a chaos of "Ping Ping Ping Pong". Dozens of Han soldiers holding shields seemed to have suffered a huge collision, screaming and vomiting blood and rolling to the ground. However, this happened to reveal a man behind the shield who was holding a blade and waiting for orders. The Han army spearmen were shocked and at a loss what to do.
It was as if the mouse hiding in the hole had been lifted off the roof of the nest and suddenly exposed to the sun. These guys were stunned.
"Fire the arrow!" Li Yuan seized the opportunity and shouted sharply. Before he finished speaking, an arrow shot out from his side, hitting the throat of a Han soldier with a shield who was holding on for dear life and bleeding from the corner of his mouth. That soldier He turned over and fell to the ground, causing another shield array to collapse beside him. After this exciting flying arrow, there was a dense rain of arrows from the Wuping crossbowmen, killing all the hundreds of exposed Han troops.
Li Yuan couldn't help but admired: "What a great arrow!"
"Thank you, Commander-in-Chief, for your compliment!" Wang Jingguo's voice sounded beside him, and Li Yuan immediately turned his head to look at the handsome young man with approval. When he turned around, Zhu Kuangcong had already ordered the Fuyuan Crossbow to start the second round of shooting.
A moment later, another shield array collapsed, and this time without waiting for an order, the archers fired arrows at random the moment the shield array collapsed. As soon as the Han soldiers were exposed to the sun, they were immediately shrouded in dark clouds of bows and arrows.
The elephant cavalry from the rear was speeding up. The Han soldiers just wanted to desperately support the shield formation to ensure that the elephant cavalry could rush into the formation smoothly, so they tried to connect the shield formation again. However, how could the Wuping army give them a chance? With the continuous concentrated firing of Fuyuan's crossbows, the shield array around the camp was shot to pieces.
The iron arrowhead of the Fuyuan Crossbow is actually quite crucial. Although it does not seem to penetrate the shield array, it is this iron arrowhead that hits the shield at an extremely fast speed. The impact and vibration force are enough to make the man holding the shield behind The soldiers could not hold on.
The harsh sound produced by the collision of iron and iron is also the key to it. Just like a few people are covered in a big iron bell, and people outside are ringing the bell with a big hammer, the sound inside will definitely hurt people. Many Han army shield soldiers and soldiers on standby in the rear were shocked by the loud noise, causing their ears and noses to bleed, and some even lost their ability to move.
In short, Li Yuan's move was definitely a mistake. He originally wanted to use the powerful impact of the Fuyuan Crossbow to break the shield, but he didn't expect that the shield was not broken. The impact and noise were already unbearable for the Han soldiers, and they all lost their footing and fell down. Down.
Whenever a shield wall in the camp was destroyed, the arrow rain from the Wuping Army archers would ruthlessly cover that area in time, killing the exposed Han soldiers, even if the nearby Han army shield soldiers wanted to hold their shields. They stretched to fill the gap, but the ferocious shooting of Fuyuan Crossbow still kept them away.
