Neon Clothes and Iron Clothes

Chapter 21 Scorpion
"Fortunately, there are two springs on the hill, which save us a lot of effort. We will be able to complete all the fortifications in two days at most!" Wang Wenzuo's voice was a little hoarse, and the flames shook, reflecting the firm lines on his face , Marching, fighting and toil are like sharp chisels, cutting off weakness and vanity, leaving only strength and tenacity.

"Thank you, Saburo!" Liu An walked to the wooden wall and lowered his voice: "Is your secret weapon ready?"

"Samples are ready!"

"Okay, let's go and see!"

The curtain was lifted to reveal the things below. This strange machine looked thick at the front and thin at the back when viewed from the side, like a scorpion lying on the ground. Under the reflection of the fire, the oak and steel shone with a dark red luster. , as if there is life surging in it.Liu An approached this strange machine, trying to compare it with the one that destroyed the wooden raft of the Baekje people in his memory, but it was difficult to find something in common, and finally he gave up trying: "Sanlang, it seems to be a little bit different from last time. Is it different?"

"Last time it was improvised, but this time it's serious!" Wang Wenzuo slapped the bracket twice with a smile: "Goro, let you have a look at the drill?"

"Okay, let's practice!" Liu An nodded with great interest,

The two soldiers walked to the side of the machine and began to turn the wooden handle at the tail vigorously. Liu An noticed the slow rotation of the crossbow arm. It was so tight that there was only a click at the end.The soldier let go of the handle, put a short spear about half a meter long into the slide rail, and snapped the crossbow string into the groove at the end of the short spear.

"Captain, everything is ready!"

Wang Wenzuo walked to the tail of the machine and lifted it from the bracket. Liu An was surprised to find that Wang Wenzuo could easily turn up and down, left and right by himself. Finally, he aimed at a target about 30 meters away—a top The helmet hanging on the wooden wall pushed the trigger next to the slide rail hard, only to hear a muffled sound, and the crossbow arm bounced back at an alarming speed and hit the leather-wrapped crossbar.

"Come on, let's go and see!"

The short mark nailed the helmet halfway through, and penetrated deeply into the log. Liu An grabbed the handle of the mark and pulled it out vigorously, but it didn't move at all.He couldn't help but be dumbfounded, obviously no matter how good the armor and shield were, they were as fragile as paper in front of this thing.

"Sanlang, what's the name of this thing?"

"Scorpion! What do you think of that name?"

Liu An nodded, he had to admit that the name was very appropriate: this machine was as accurate and deadly as a poisonous scorpion.Perhaps the bed crossbow is more powerful and has a longer range, but the bed crossbow requires more operators, takes up more space, and is very difficult to move, making it difficult to aim and shoot at individual targets.This thing can be operated by only two people. It is easy to turn, aim, and more accurate. It can exert terrifying lethality when hidden behind ditches and barriers.

"Are you hiding evil spirits in this thing?" Liu An patted the handle, and asked in a joking tone: "Otherwise, why would it be so scary?"

"All the secrets are here!" Wang Wenzuo brought the torch closer to the crossbow arm: "Did you see the thick rope inside? It is made of horsehair, hair, tendon and hemp, and it will be pulled when you turn the crossbow arm." Tighten it tightly, just like the bow arm of a bed crossbow, it can accumulate huge power, and as long as it is loosened, the arrow or buckshot can be ejected."

The mysterious machine made by Wang Wenzuo is the torsion spring crossbow. This weapon invented by ancient Greek scientists may be the most terrifying projectile weapon in the cold weapon era.As we all know, the power of a crossbow comes from the potential energy stored in the elastic deformation of the bow arm. In order to increase the power of the crossbow, people continue to increase the length of the crossbow and improve the material of the crossbow arm, but both have limits. The continuous improvement of armor and shield manufacturing technology soon surpassed the upper limit of what individual bows and crossbows can achieve.

Under the pressure of the war, the craftsmen of Dionysus, the tyrant of Syracuse in ancient Greece, adopted the latest achievement of scientists at that time - the torsion spring: that is, using the torsion generated by two bundles of horsehair, hemp rope or animal tendon to drive the crossbow The arm drives the bowstring to fire arrows or projectiles.Compared with the crossbow arm, the rebound speed of the torsion spring group is much faster, and the arrows fired are not only enough to penetrate shields and armor, but can even smash civil fortifications.After adopting the ratchet, trigger, and turning machine, its loading and firing speed and accuracy can be compared with that of a single soldier crossbow, and it is lighter than a bed crossbow, and it is easy to carry after disassembly. This weapon serves as field suppression fire.

"How many 'Scorpions' are there?" Liu An asked in a low voice.

"The materials and parts I have on hand can make at least twenty units!" Wang Wenzuo replied: "But assembly and debugging still take time!"

"Very good, you leave all the things at hand to others, and concentrate on doing this thing well!" Liu An blushed, as if suffering from a fever: "Can we survive on Erzagang this time?" , just look at this stuff!"

Zhouliu City (also known as Zhourou City).

"Look, this is the finest silk, it's from Yangzhou, Tang Dynasty!" The elder brother lifted up the robe to show her: "Come, touch it!"

Gui Shiyun touched it, and the fabric was as soft as what her brother said, flowing through her fingertips, she had never worn such a good dress, she suddenly got a little scared, and withdrew her hand: "Where did this dress come from! "

"This is specially prepared for you!" Onimuro Fukunobu smiled, and few people can see such a relaxed smile on his face: "The best Yangzhou silk, water red, just matches you. And gold Crowns, all kinds of jewellery, you must be more beautiful than everyone else tonight, so that His Highness Feng can't take his eyes off of you!"

"His Royal Highness Feng?" Gui Shiyun's mouth widened, she was no stranger to this name.As Shuzong of the royal family of Baekje, Gui Shiyun knows the situation of the royal family very well.Among the many sons of King Uija, Fuyu Fengzhang, who was sent to Japan as a hostage when he was young, was a marginal man, but after the king of Baekje was captured by the Tang army, King Uija and his sons were almost all taken back to Da In Tang Dynasty, Fuyu Fengzhang became one of the few choices for the returnees.

"Yes!" Onimuro Fukunobu showed a smug smile: "Tonight I will lead everyone to welcome His Highness Feng, he will become the new King of Baekje, and you will become his queen!"

"Yes, but I heard that the King of Japan has betrothed your noble daughter to His Highness Feng as his wife!"

"The king has more than one wife!" Fukunobu Onimuro's eyes flickered with fanaticism: "One day, the new king on the throne must have the blood of our family!"

(End of this chapter)