Great Song Super Scholar

Chapter 690 Looking for Weaknesses
Yeluhu Jian was standing on the top of the city watching the training of the militia soldiers. They recruited the first batch of [-] militia soldiers, almost all of whom had military experience. These soldiers wore leather armor and held spears, bows and arrows.

There are [-] pairs of armor in the warehouse. Except that the armor is relatively old-fashioned leather armor, the spears, knives, bows and arrows are the same as normal soldiers. They are civilians recruited on a temporary basis.

Yeluhu was very proud. He knew very well that many civilians in the city had been conscripted into the army. With a little training, the number of troops doubled. He suddenly had an army of [-]. Why should he be afraid of the Song army?
At this time, a soldier shouted: "The smoke of the cage fire city is lit!"

Cage Fire City is a military city about [-] miles south of Youzhou City. The [-] soldiers in the city have all withdrawn to Youzhou City, and there are only ten soldiers left. Once the wolf smoke is ignited, these ten soldiers will abandon the city and die. escape.

Yeluhu Jian also saw the three pillars of beacon smoke, he sighed softly, "The Song army is still here!"

An hour later, a black line appeared in the distance. As the black line got closer and closer, the flags were unfurled, the crowds were dense, covering the sky like dark clouds, and the low-pitched horns kept blowing.

The [-] troops led by Fan Ning finally arrived at Youzhou City. The team stopped three miles away from the city, and saw that the high walls were densely packed with soldiers, and trebuchets stood behind the soldiers like giants. , The whole Youzhou City looks magnificent and extremely strong, and it is not easy to break through it.

Fan Ning urged his horse forward slowly, and stopped when he was still a mile away from the city wall.

The summer sun was particularly glaring. Fan Ning squinted his eyes, and looked at the city wall, city gate and moat with a hand curtain. The city gate is three feet high and two feet wide. It should be a thick wooden door, covered with iron sheets, which is extremely strong.

At this time, Fan Ning's eyes fell on the moat. The moat was very wide, at least ten feet wide, and connected to a tributary of the Sanggan River. A stone bridge was built in Youzhou City to connect with the outside. On the stone bridge, but the stone bridge deck has been demolished, leaving only four stone piers standing in the water.

Fan Ning's eyes moved to the water gate again. Most big cities have water gates, and Youzhou City is no exception. The water gate is two feet high and one foot five feet wide. It can accommodate a thousand-stone cargo ship into the city. There is a secret passage leading to the top of the city through the water gate. , when the ships sailed in, the soldiers would come down from the secret passage to collect taxes or inspect, but at this time the water gate was blocked by three arm-thick iron fences, which were as strong as the city gate.

Seeing that Youzhou City was indeed difficult to attack, Fan Ning sighed in his heart, turned around the pier and came back, ordering: "The army will turn to Lu County."

'Woo—'

The low-pitched horn blew, and the [-] troops turned eastward, heading towards Lu County, fifty miles away.

The West Route Army led by Zhong Er has already arrived at Luxian County first. Luxian County is a large county with a city circumference of [-] miles, but the population is less than a thousand households. The Song Army has cleared all the people from the city and cleared them Sent to Huairou County in the north.

The Song army began to demolish the houses in Lu County and level the land. Except for the county government office and a few mansions, no other houses were left, and all were razed to the ground. Soldier.

In the wilderness on three sides of Lu County, vast tents have been built respectively, and board walls have been built around the big tents to form three large barracks that can accommodate 20 troops.

Lu County is close to Lushui, and the river is full of boats full of food and various supplies. Tens of thousands of militiamen are in charge of transporting supplies into the city. Hundreds of large tents have also been set up in the city, which are specially used as warehouses. These warehouses are not against the city wall. , but built in the center of the city, surrounded by a circle of wooden fences.

The reason why they do not rely on the city wall is to prevent spies from the Liao army from shooting rockets into the city. Of course, there is a barracks on each of the three sides of the city, arranged in the shape of a character, and enclosing the county town in the middle. Even if there are spies from the Liao army, it is difficult Close to the city wall.

The military office is also in the county seat, which is to use the original county office, and a large mansion that has not been demolished next to it is used as the residence of the intelligence department.

At this time, Fan Ning stood in the lobby of the military office with his hands behind his back, staring at the model of Youzhou in front of him for a long time. The model was made of wood, about one foot long and wide, and it was made according to the scale of Youzhou. The state city is exactly the same, even the proportions of the moat and the city gate are correct.

Veteran Zhong Er slowly stepped forward and asked in a deep voice, "Does Mr. Xiang have an idea to defeat the enemy?"

Fan Ning sighed softly, "Our biggest advantage is the navy. I'm thinking, can we break through the city by water?"

Zhong Er immediately understood what Fan Ning meant, "Is Xianggong trying to take advantage of the wideness of the moat?"

No wonder Fan Ning thought of a waterway. The moat is more than ten feet wide and two feet deep, which can completely sail a ship of three thousand stone.

Fan Ning nodded, "The ship can be transformed into an upper city passage."

"Have you ever thought about it, the ship is too close to the city wall, and the Liao army can easily destroy the ship by using kerosene to attack."

Fan Ning didn't speak for a while. This was what he was most worried about. The moat was close to the city wall, and the soldiers on the top of the city could easily throw the fuel tanks onto the big ship. It's really unrealistic. For a while, he was a little helpless.

Seeing a lot of experience, he said with a slight smile: "In this case, it is better to use heavy trebuchets to open the way first, and fight for a month of air-to-air combat to destroy the morale of the Liao army, and then look for opportunities."

Fan Ning also laughed, "There is also a heavy-duty trebuchet on the top of the city. To suppress it, we must use a super-heavy trebuchet. It is estimated that it will arrive today."

The assembly workshop of siege weapons is located in the southwest of the county seat. There is a large open space surrounded by wooden fences. At night, the wooden fences around are filled with torches and brightly lit, illuminating the assembly workshop like daytime.

The assembly workshop is filled with countless siege equipment transported by the tugboat team, such as siege ladders, aerial ladders, battering rams, trebuchets, etc., of which there are as many as two hundred trebuchets alone, but most of them are It is a heavy trebuchet, small trebuchets and super heavy trebuchets are only a small part.

Fan Ning expects about twenty super-heavy trebuchets. This kind of super trebuchet is as high as five feet, which is equivalent to the height of a five-story building. Each trebuchet requires hundreds of people to operate, known as the king of war.

This super trebuchet is a self-weight projectile, which is the principle of a seesaw. Thousands of kilograms of iron ingots are hung on the front end of the throwing pole. When the iron ingot falls from a high place, it will drive the long pole behind it to project. It is simpler than the hinged structure, not easy to damage, and the transmission frequency is fast, but the only trouble is that it requires a lot of manpower to push the other end down like a seesaw, usually at least a hundred people.

However, after the invention of the steam engine in the Song Dynasty, the power of the steam engine can be used to replace manpower, and a steam engine is enough.

The steam engines of the Song Dynasty were continuously improved by craftsmen, and made smaller and smaller. The smallest steam engine was only five feet long and wide, and weighed about [-] catties. It could be transported away in an ox cart.

The open space was in full swing, and two hundred craftsmen were installing a super trebuchet. Accompanied by an ordnance inspector, Fan Ning checked the installation of the trebuchet.

"The biggest difficulty of this kind of ultra-heavy trebuchet is the production of throwing poles, and each throwing pole needs to be made for at least five years."

Fanning was taken aback, "How could it take so long?"

"Throwing poles must be made of bamboo. Go to the south to find large bamboos more than ten feet high. Each throwing pole needs five large bamboos. Split them into bamboo strips, then use glue to bundle them, and wrap them tightly with cloth tape. After oiling, dry it in the shade, then wrap it tightly with a cloth, then soak it in oil, dry it in the shade, and then wrap it in a cloth. It takes several months to soak once, and it takes several months to dry it in the shade. It needs to be soaked in oil five times and wrapped five times. It takes five years, and the final throwing pole is so tough that it bends but does not break."

Fan Ning thought for a while and asked, "If the curvature is too large, will it be shot towards the sky when it is finally thrown?"

The military inspector said with a smile: "It is indeed possible. This requires constant experimentation and adjustment to find an optimal balance point. Therefore, the assembly process is very important, especially the assembly of super-heavy trebuchets. There is a slight difference. There will be thousands of miles away, every detail must be perfect, and it needs to be meticulously crafted."

"How long does it take to install a trebuchet?"

"A heavy-duty trebuchet is relatively simple. Thirty craftsmen can install it overnight, but installing a super trebuchet requires two hundred craftsmen to install it for three days. The main trouble is debugging."

Fan Ning didn't calculate carefully, and asked directly: "Then tell me, how long will it take to install [-] super trebuchets?"

The military inspector thought for a while and said, "If everyone works harder and assembles it day and night, I estimate it can be completed in ten days."

(End of this chapter)