Vientiane Throne of Civilization

Chapter 942 New Weapons (Additional chapter for monthly tickets)

It's a new day, the weather is pretty good, and a winter sun in the sky adds a touch of warmth to this cold season.

Riding in a carriage, Zhou Xu arrived at the testing ground of the Ordnance Research Department outside the city.

"His Majesty."

"No need for formalities, just let me see the new weapon!"

Faced with Zhou Xu who was obviously impatient, Zhuang Mengdie did not hesitate and waved his hand. A tester holding a new weapon walked over quickly.

"Your Majesty, this is my latest version of the individual crossbow!"

At this moment, the individual crossbow held in the tester's hand was definitely not a light crossbow, but a heavy individual crossbow with a crossbow arm one meter long!
Compared with those arm crossbows and one-handed crossbows with a range of only ten or twenty meters, the size of this heavy individual crossbow is much larger. From head to toe, it is not small and light at all.

Anyone with a discerning eye can see that this heavy individual crossbow evolved from the city defense crossbow.

The size was reduced and some of the designs were adjusted, so that the city defense crossbow that originally required two soldiers to operate and shoot by leaning on the wall was transformed into a single-soldier crossbow that can be operated smoothly by only one soldier.

During this period, a large number of tests and adjustments were carried out to ensure the power and range of the heavy individual crossbow to the maximum extent.

The test started quickly, and the target for the test was placed directly at the 200-meter position, which can be said to be very confident.

This situation would never happen if we used bows and arrows.

Not to mention the powerful bows specially equipped for fierce generals like Zhou Chongshan, let’s take the mass-produced bows used by ordinary archers as an example.

Let’s not talk about the maximum range, which doesn’t make much sense. Let’s just talk about the effective range. At this stage, while ensuring lethality, the effective range of a bow and arrow shooting horizontally cannot reach two hundred meters.

Even if it is possible, the archery skills required to hit a target two hundred meters away are very high, but this is obviously different from the situation with heavy individual crossbows.

While Zhou Xu's thoughts were racing, the tester responsible for operating the heavy individual crossbow had already taken action.

He was seen stepping on the ring at the crossbow head, which was the foot pedal of the heavy individual crossbow. After stepping on it, he could use the force of his whole body to pull the crossbow faster.

During the process of continuous adjustment and testing, this tester has undoubtedly used this heavy individual crossbow countless times, and the entire operation is now quite smooth.

He loaded the crossbow with an arrow, picked up the heavy individual crossbow, took aim briefly, and pulled the trigger.

At that moment, accompanied by a slightly sharp whistle, the crossbow arrow shot out of the air and directly hit the target two hundred meters away!
Zhou Xu, who was watching on the side, couldn't help but applaud, and the testers also breathed a sigh of relief.

From the development of this individual crossbow to the present, he has been responsible for all the testing work.

After using it many times, you will naturally become more proficient in it and can basically ensure that you will not miss the target.

But the situation was different today. Their Majesty was standing right beside him and watching, which made him a little nervous. He was afraid that he would perform poorly and embarrass himself in front of their Majesty.

It was not until a crossbow arrow successfully hit the target that I completely relaxed and felt a sense of relief.

However, the test was obviously not over yet. After adjusting his state, the tester started the operation again. This time, he aimed at the target located 100 meters away.

Unlike the target at two hundred meters, the surface of this target is covered with a layer of fish scale armor.

Obviously, if you want to ensure armor penetration, you have to shorten the range to within 100 meters.

The trigger was pulled, and the crossbow arrow shot out again, directly piercing through the armor plate and accurately sinking into the target!

"it is good!"

Zhou Xu, who saw this scene, became excited.

Quickly order someone to fetch the armored target and find out what's going on!
After receiving the order, the target was quickly delivered to Zhou Xu.

At this time, it can be clearly seen that the armor has been pierced by the crossbow arrow.

The crossbow arrow was pulled out and the staff nearby quickly took measurements.

"After penetrating the armor plate, it will sink five centimeters into the target and hit the enemy's chest, directly piercing the heart, killing them for sure."

Zhou Xu was very satisfied with the power of this heavy individual crossbow.

"Very good, let's start mass production according to this version!" Zhou Xu developed the heavy individual crossbow, not to deal with the ratmen in the southern border, because they are not worthy of it.

The advantage of a crossbow lies in its powerful penetrating ability.

The reason why Zhou Xu wanted to develop the individual crossbow was because of the greenskin troops that had appeared in the New North District before.

Although those greenskins were poorly equipped, they had the annoying "WAAAGH!!!" force field. Bows and arrows were obviously not powerful enough against them and could not pose any threat to them at all.

Under this premise, the dwarf troops that appeared later quickly shot and killed the greenskins with heavy crossbows.

This is the fundamental reason why Zhou Xu developed the individual crossbow, to deal with the greenskin troops that might appear in the New North District, and to further ensure the stability of their Great Zhou’s New North District.

Of course, this does not mean that after having the heavy individual crossbow, the bows and arrows in the Great Zhou can be completely retired.

In fact, compared to the crossbow, the bow and arrow is the real long-range weapon that runs through the entire era of cold weapons.

At the same time, the two long-range weapons, bows and crossbows, also have their own advantages and disadvantages.

The standard is still based on the mass-produced version within their Great Zhou. Let's talk about the power first. The crossbow is stronger, there is no doubt about that, the penetrating power is there.

As for range, things are a little more complicated.

The attack methods of bows and arrows are divided into flat shooting and projectile shooting.

In the flat shooting state, the bow and arrow cannot compare to the crossbow, as the crossbow has a longer effective range and greater power.

But bows and arrows can be thrown.

When projectiles are used, the effective range of the bow and arrow is longer.

At the same time, the arrows can form a large area of ​​rain. In a defensive battle, they can pass over one's own city walls. In a battle in front of the formation, they can pass over one's own front troops and directly attack the enemy, or even attack the enemy's back row.

This has tactical value.

But the crossbow won't work. To show its power, the crossbow troops have to be placed in the front row to snipe against the enemy at the gate, or in a city defense battle, they have to be placed on the top of the wall. In short, there must be no obstacles in front of them that affect their shooting, otherwise they won't be able to perform.

At this time, someone may say that the crossbow can also be used for projectiles.

Indeed, you can do so if you insist.

But this is like asking a fat person with poor jumping ability to participate in a high jump competition. He can jump a few times, but the effect is terrible!

Besides that, bow and arrow attacks are more efficient.

The loading efficiency of the crossbow is really slow. If you switch to a bow and arrow, you can just fire a string of arrows at once.

And compared to heavy individual crossbows, bows and arrows are lighter and more flexible.

Of course, compared with bows and arrows, crossbows also have their own advantages, which is that they are easier to use.

Just pick up a farmer on the street and let him practice according to the process for an hour or two, and he will be able to do it well.

If you change to a bow and arrow, it is questionable whether you can hit the target in this amount of time.

To train a qualified archer, it takes a lot of time, energy, and cost.

However, the cost of crossbowmen in this area is very low and can be quickly formed.

But even so, the crossbow could not shake the position of the bow and arrow in the cold weapon battlefield.

Crossbows are more expensive, time-consuming, and more prone to malfunction.

As we all know, at the military level, a weapon needs to be strong and durable, and also needs to be able to be mass-produced. The crossbow obviously does not meet this requirement.

In situations where a large number of configurations are required, bows and arrows are a better choice, and crossbows are more suitable for forming a special unit.

On the battlefield, crossbows and bows can be used alternately according to the actual situation on the battlefield. There is basically no question of one replacing the other, and they can coexist.

(End of this chapter)