Chapter 1416 Rockfall Plan
Yan Liang replaced Tian Feng and Gao Gan. He was located in the cottage on the Taihang Mountain Trail. He watched the soldiers on the opposite mountain ridge start to cut down trees, repair the platform, and start building the trebuchet position in his spare time. His scalp felt numb for a while. .
The trebuchet is also called the cannon. Strictly speaking, it should be the word "cannon". It has already appeared in the Spring and Autumn and Warring States Periods. Many people pull down the lever together and throw stone bombs on the other side. Cannon is also a general term for all trebuchets. If there are wheels that can be pushed forward, it is called "cannon cart".
The human-powered catapult machine uses human power to pull the tips connected to the crossbar together at a place far away from the catapult, and use the principle of leverage to eject the stone projectile. The tip of the cannon is mounted on a wooden frame, one end is tied with a rope to hold the leather sheath containing the stone bullets, and the other end is tied with many ropes to be pulled by manpower to throw the stone bullets. Seven gun tips are installed on one gun mount, and 250 people are required to cast it.
However, because this kind of stone cannon is cumbersome and lacks precision, and after the unification of the Han Dynasty, more time was spent dealing with the surrounding nomads, and relatively less time was needed to attack cities for civil wars. The technology tree has not been greatly improved until the emergence of Huang''s workshop in which Fei Qian participated.
More than a dozen stone cannons are forcing the camp to stand.
There are still many soldiers, mules and horses carrying baskets of stone bombs up the mountain!
Yan Liang could even imagine that after all the stone cannons were set up by the soldiers who marched to the west, the scene of overwhelming stone bullets would be shot over in a hurry!
"Bastard!" Yan Liang couldn''t hold back his rising anger, and shouted angrily, "It''s been so long, why haven''t we found the mountain road leading to the opposite mountain ridge! These scouts are just eating for nothing!?"
Seeing that the general was angry, Yuan Jun''s soldiers all speculated, but they couldn''t say anything, they could only lower their heads and pretend to be grandsons.
"Damn it! Send someone out again!" Yan Liang roared, "We must find a way to get there!"
At this distance, it is in the state of looking at the mountain and running a dead horse. You can see it, but you can''t touch it. There is a deep mountain stream, and although the sound of the two sides can be faintly heard, no matter whether it is an arrow or a crossbow, they are all in range. Insufficient, only big guys like trebuchets have enough range and lethality.
Of course, the range of the ballista is enough, but the ballista is more of a point of damage, unlike the catapult, which has the additional effect of splash and ejection damage, so Jia Qu deliberately chose the catapult, anyway, the counterweight Catapults are actually not difficult for some master craftsmen in Huang''s workshop, but it is more difficult to find a suitable place, so it was displayed here after many days.
In all fairness, this offensive weapon that reappeared here is far from the highest level of this era, and it is not as convenient as the return cannon at the back. Not to mention it is bulky and heavy, and its artillery power is not strong, and it cannot throw huge stones , and it doesn''t shoot very far, and stone bullets are also time-consuming and labor-intensive, which is very inconvenient.
If it is used in ordinary siege battles, such heavy engineering equipment can easily attract the attention of the defenders. In addition, the defenders have always tabooed to defend the city, so this kind of siege equipment is often the defenders. The first counterattack point chosen by him is easy to be destroyed, and it is useless to spend a lot of effort to build it, which is very tasteless.
But this time the soldiers of General Zhengxi used stone cannons, but they used them without fear, which was very joyful. Because Yuan Jun adopted a step-by-step strategy, the steady is certainly steady, but it also lost the suddenness and the right to choose the battlefield. After all, there are only a few hills on the Eight Paths of the Taihang that can be built, plus the distance and advance speed , basically can calculate when and where it will appear, so Jia Qu only needs to choose a suitable place.
Like now here.
Yuan Jun came from afar and climbed the mountain road. Although there are cavalry, they are not many and it is not easy to deploy. In addition, the Taihang Mountains are rolling and rolling, and the most direct attack route is very short. The most difficult, almost upright mountain stream, in this age, if you want to climb up and down in a straight line, it is no less than a natural moat.
Yan Liang has already sent out many scouts, trying to find a way to attack the mountain ridge on the opposite side, but the problem is that the soldiers of General Zhengxi on the opposite side also know this, so everywhere in the surrounding mountains, they have become scouts from both sides. battlefield.
In this way, Yuan Shaojun''s scouts and sentries will be in bad luck.
It''s very simple. In such a mountain, the defensive side, who is familiar with the terrain, has the upper hand after gaining the upper hand. If they want to get back, they have to pay a considerable price. The scouts led by Ling Jie are not only veterans of the battlefield, but also have rich experience, and they are extremely sharp with the intention of avenging their father and father. Can go back again, naturally there is no progress in exploring the road.
In front of Yan Liang, either he hoped to find a mountain road that could directly destroy the trebuchet position on the opposite side, or he simply gave up the cottage and found other paths, but if he found Zhengxi before he built the cottage, If it is the trebuchet position, it may be better to abandon the cottage and choose another place, but now that the cottage has been built and stabilized with great effort, and a large amount of material food and grass have been transferred to the cottage, even if you want to change places , but also reluctant, and at the same time, it is not something that can be done within three to five days...
And in the past three to five days, the soldiers who conquered the west on the opposite side may have been able to directly cover and attack the camp to pieces!
Of course, stone bullets are still stone bullets after all. Even if they can bounce, refract and splash, they are not as good as the artillery shells of later generations. The stone bullets can kill them all, but the main purpose is to destroy the camp, and incidentally get rid of the materials that Yuan Jun worked so hard to transport from the mountain road.
More importantly, by the way, Yuan Jun''s morale and morale were frustrated!
Is there anything worse than being beaten while standing still, feeling powerless but powerless?
If it wasn''t for Yan Liang who was still in the camp to oversee the battle, if it wasn''t for the scouts who were looking for the road on the flanks to find the path of attack, if it wasn''t for the fact that the soldiers on the opposite side had not deployed yet and hadn''t launched an attack, maybe Yuan Jun''s The morale of the army will be lost step by step, until the camp is abandoned, and the whole army collapses and flees!
On the other side of the mountain stream, the soldiers of Zhengxi were calm and orderly. Even though they were under Yuan Jun''s nose, what could Yuan Jun do?
"Try firing a few rounds first!"
Jia Qu stood on the rocky mountain ridge, waved his sleeves, and the red war robe covered by the armor was flying in the mountains, like dancing flames. In order not to interfere with each other, the placement of the stone cannons was staggered and divided into two floors. If it weren''t for the site constraints, Jia Qu would even have wanted to erect more stone cannons.
Hearing Jia Qu''s order, the soldiers who were the first to assemble the stone cannons responded loudly, then trotted back to their positions, and began to direct the more than 20 men under their command to start equipping the stone cannons, busy Get started.
Besides, the unassembled soldiers and auxiliary soldiers, civilian husbands, speed up the men in their hands while casting envious eyes.
"rise!"
Several people dragged the tip of the cannon and fixed it to the ground. The counterweight at the other end was raised high. Three or four civilian men held a stone bullet together and put it in the ejection pocket.
"put!"
According to the order, a soldier knocked off the latch with a hammer, the rope was loosened, and the counterweight fell, driving the long tip of the cannon, and shooting the stone bullet into the air!
"Ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo..."
Although only one stone bomb flew into the air, almost everyone cheered involuntarily, and their morale was high.
"Ahhhh..."
Yuan Jun on the opposite hill exclaimed.
This stone bomb drew a high and graceful arc in the diametrically opposed emotions of the soldiers on both sides, leaped over the mountain stream, the clear sky, and the cottage, and then fell to the other side while everyone was stunned. The hillside went down, and there were a few clicks, and I didn''t know what I hit...
The pawns of different affiliations on both sides across the mountain stream seemed to be equally sluggish for a moment at this moment.
"Damn it!" Captain Shipao, who was the first to wake up, roared, "That pretending is too big! It''s too big! Come down with two more!" Although the words were endless, the people around quickly understood the meaning , Several people rushed to the frame of the counterweight, untied the rope, removed two of the stone counterweights, and then tied them again with the rope.
"Do it again!" the captain roared, "Faster!"
"rise!"
"put!"
"嗖~~"
Another stone bomb was thrown into the air, and then smashed towards the opposite cottage with a whistling sound, hitting the wall of the cottage with a click, breaking two or three wooden pillars of the wall immediately, and smashing out a huge In the gap, the splashed wooden piles and sawdust pierced Yuan Jun''s soldiers beside him, bringing a tinge of blood.
"Oh oh oh oh oh~"
"I got it~! I got it~!"
On the one hand, there was joyful cheering, on the other hand, the silent pale face.
Yan Liang looked at the huge gap that was smashed, and couldn''t help but fight a cold war. In the face of such a terrifying force, no matter how powerful he is, as long as he doesn''t dodge, he must be dead!
"Report!" A Yuan Jun scout staggered over, bowed down in front of Yan Liang, and reported, "General! Find, find the way... find the way!"
Yan Liang was overjoyed, immediately pulled the scout up, and said, "Quickly tell me! Where is the road?"
Yuan Jun scout was covered in plaster and looked tired, but he still insisted on pointing in the direction and said: "Go down from here, go around the foot of the mountain, and turn over two mountain tops, and you can see the way for the soldiers of Zhengxi to go up the mountain!"
"Okay! Come on! Bring some wine and meat!" Yan Liang patted the scout on the shoulder and laughed loudly, "Go down and rest for a while, wait for someone to gather troops and horses, and then lead the team! If this trouble is eliminated this time , you will be the first..."
Before Yan Liang spoke the last word, he heard the guard on the side yelling: "General, be careful!"
Yan Liang suddenly raised his head, only to see a black shadow approaching in mid-air, so frightened that Yan Liang immediately slumped, not caring about his manners and demeanor, he hurriedly jumped to the side with his hands and feet on the ground, and then ran out two times. Just a few steps away, a loud bang was heard, and a stone bomb was dropped from where he was standing just now, jumping, circling, and happily leaving a big hole in the ground, with the flesh and blood of several Yuan Jun soldiers, After the bones rolled out of a **** path, they crashed into a tent and finally stopped...
Even though Yan Liang has been on the battlefield for a long time and has seen a lot of life and death, but the feeling of walking around the edge of life and death himself still made Yan Liang terrified and turned pale.
Well, if Yan Liang has a pretty face.
"..." After a few breaths, Yan Liang came back to his senses, couldn''t help jumping up violently, and shouted angrily, "Send troops! Send troops! Send troops immediately to kill these **** Zhengxi bastards! Kill them all! Then...then...huh?"
Yan Liang glanced around half a circle, a little dazed: "Where was that scout just now?"
A Yuan Jun standing next to Yan Liang tremblingly pointed at some stumps and blood clots on the ground, and seemed to utter a few words from between his teeth: "General... general... then... that''s it..."
Yan Liang (#⊙□⊙!)
It seems that a heavy cloud hangs over Yuan Jun''s cottage, and the joy of defeating the pioneers who conquered the West just a few days ago has been swept away, leaving only boundless fear and bewilderment.
"Team! March! This group of Zhengxi **** can only play tricks! They can''t fight head-on! Let''s kill them and avenge our brothers!"
Yan Liang encouraged loudly, he knew that something had to be done, otherwise, if this continues, morale will collapse to the extreme! Only a few stone bullets were fired. If all the catapults were set up and the stone bullets came overwhelmingly, I am afraid that there is no need to fight, and the soldiers will disperse by themselves!
"Ho Ho!"
"Revenge! Revenge!"
"Kill these bastards!"
The guards who followed Yan Liang were naturally more or less clever. Seeing what Yan Liang said, they naturally responded, waving knives and guns and shouting loudly, and then began to gather soldiers, preparing to go around the mountain stream to find trouble with the soldiers who conquered the west. With things to do, Yuan Jun in the cottage gradually calmed down a bit, not as fearful and helpless as before.
Although the unlucky scout who showed the way just now is dead, several scouts also rushed back. They met and discussed together, and they can generally know the direction. Therefore, after a short period of gathering the whole team, Yan Liang set off with his troops, ready to attack the position of the Zhengxi Catapult on the opposite mountain ridge.
As for the camp, Yan Liang asked the soldiers to find a bunker to hide. Anyway, as long as the stone bomb is not so unlucky to be hit by the front or scratched, generally speaking, nothing will happen, so Yan Liang thinks that as long as the The trebuchet position on the opposite hill was destroyed, so there was nothing to worry about.
However, the development of the matter was far beyond Yan Liang''s consideration...
(end of this chapter)