Late Tang

(Thank you for the strong support of the two students, Raindance and Support Yueguan, thank you. Summon a guaranteed monthly ticket at the beginning of the month, and recommend tickets for free every day. Please praise and reward!)

A war horse couldn't hold back its charge, and a front hoof stepped on it. The horse's front hoof suddenly slid forward with a bang like those war horses before, and a cloud of smoke and dust was raised.

"Barbed caltrops!" a Shi Wei centurion shouted.

Bala also showed surprise on his face: "It's hooves!"

This barbed thorn is a defensive weapon that has been used in urban defense warfare as early as the Warring States Period. "Six Taos. Tiger Tao" records: "Narrow roads and small paths, Zhang barbed wire, four inches high and eight inches wide After the Qin and Han Dynasties, barbed caltrops became a commonly used defensive equipment in the army. In addition to being deployed around roads, defensive areas, and cities, they were also deployed around the camp when troops were stationed.Since the Sui and Tang Dynasties, the types of barbed wire have begun to increase, and they are widely used by military forces.Even the prairie tribes far outside the Great Wall have begun to learn to use barbed caltrops.Bala used to cover the road with barbed thorns at night when he was fighting with other tribes, and then he pretended to be defeated and retreated in the morning.

This barbed thorn is just a general term. In fact, up to now, there have been various styles.

For example, in the Qin army, there were iron water chestnuts specially set up in the water, ground astringents attached to wooden boards, hoofs used to stop horses, and even ghost arrows coated with poison on thorns.

For example, the current hooves specially used to deal with cavalry are made of four pieces of iron cast into a square shape, with a diameter of seven inches, and there are barb-like iron whiskers stuck on it in the middle.It is specially designed to stop the horse. Once the horse's iron hoof steps in, the iron barbs in the middle will get stuck in the horse's hoof and hurt the horse's legs. This is a weapon that is more powerful than a horse pit.

It’s not that Qin Jun’s cannon just missed, but that their gunpowder packs contained this kind of barbed wire. Before the barbarians attacked, they didn’t find this kind of barbed wire, so they charged with confidence, but they didn’t expect it at all. The Qin army actually used catapults to throw barbed caltrops, which were packed in explosive bags, and the catapults were only thrown when they were about to charge. They used the explosion of gunpowder to scatter the barbed caltrops like flowers, and blocked them on the way to charge. .They were caught off guard, and many cavalrymen didn't notice at all. As a result, the forwards were caught all at once.

Caltrops are dead, especially in open fields like this, where presets are hard to come by.But Qin Jun's move is very powerful now, until the cavalry is about to charge close, they suddenly use the catapult to project, which is completely unexpected.

But the effect is excellent.This kind of defensive equipment is simple to make, easy to throw, and can be recycled repeatedly. At this time, it gave the attacking barbarians a blow.

One after another, the horses stepped on their hooves, and then the horses stumbled.

Zhao Zhang held up the observation mirror and looked at this scene happily. It was really satisfying.The effect of this poking hoof was simply far beyond his expected effect.

As a result, Hu Qi's charging force was hindered, and the cavalry charging behind slowed down one after another, and the scattered formation became denser.

"It's now!" Zhao Zhang yelled, "Throw mine carts, throw kerosene bombs!"

"Yes, Dutou, look after it." The third son of the ace gunner replied loudly, and his shirtless commanded several people under his command to carefully move out the black earthen jars one by one.

The torch ignited the fuse, and then in the violent pull, the crock pot with flames flew in an arc towards the more and more dense tribal soldiers and horses.

After flying at a high speed, the [-]-jin earthen pot hit the enemy army in front of the formation, and it burst open with a bang. The broken earthen pot fragments were scattered like sharp blades, and a cavalry shot A black shadow flashed past, and the next moment, half of his head had been cut off.After the gunpowder smoke passed, people turned on their backs on the ground, and the tribal soldiers within a few feet of that area were beaten to pieces, their hands and feet were broken, their rotten intestines and pieces of meat were flying everywhere, blood was sprayed like rain, broken shields, broken knives and guns, flying Torn leather robes are everywhere.

After the kerosene bomb wiped down all the people and horses within a three-foot range, the lethality did not stop.

The earthen jar burst open, and the kerosene inside was scattered and sprayed out, like a sudden rain shower from the sky, and the black viscous liquid was scattered everywhere.A cavalryman's right arm and half of his shoulder were sliced ​​off, revealing a pale shoulder, with some shattered muscles remaining beside it. Blood gushed out of the huge wound like a fountain. Before he came, he screamed, and suddenly the wound A plume of black smoke rose from his wound, and a black flame began to burn from his wound.

This black fire burned extremely fast, he gritted his teeth and patted it with his other intact hand.But it didn't go out after a few shots, but the palm also started to burn.

A moment later, amidst the screams of despair and fear, the whole body of the cavalryman burned up, turning into a huge torch. He struggled and rolled to death, but ignited the black liquid on the ground one after another.Soon, within the range of several feet, there were raging and inextinguishable flames everywhere.

"what!"

There were screams of exhaustion one after another, and one after another the tribal warriors who were burned rolled all over the ground in terror, with despair in their voices.They have never seen this kind of fire, it can't be extinguished by patting, rolling, and it doesn't matter if it is covered with soil, he can burn everything.

Amidst the horrified screams, countless pottery pots roared from the sky at this time, and then in front of the Qin army, there were crackling sounds one after another, followed by countless screams, and the smell of barbecue Floating in the air with the wind.

The first round of artillery shells directly exploded and burned hundreds of Hu soldiers to death, but it was not the deaths and injuries of these hundreds of people that alarmed the Hu people the most.In such battles, sometimes a rain of arrows fell, and hundreds of thousands fell down.What really alarmed them was this weird style of play. They still don't understand why this fire is so powerful.They would rather be hacked to death with a knife or shot with an arrow, but no one would like to be burned to death like this.

Shiwei Zhihu's face was livid, holding a mace scimitar and holding a large shield in front of him.His hands were shaking, his heart was cold, he glanced not far ahead, there was already a hell on earth.The horses and cavalry who fell down in the middle of the barbed wire, the soldiers who were injured by the shell fragments, and the "big torch" that was nodded by the will-o'-the-wisp, could not be extinguished and could only scream in despair.In the blink of an eye, the centurions rushing to the front were almost gone.

Before approaching a hundred steps, and still beyond the range of the bow and arrow, hundreds of his forward warriors fell down, and a team of one thousand people had almost been broken up.I've heard that the Qin people's artillery is powerful, but I didn't expect it to be so powerful.When he was in Yunzhou City, he thought that it was already the most powerful artillery.But thinking about it now, this place is definitely more powerful than the artillery in Yunzhou City.At least, under the city of Yunzhou, Qin people rarely used this kind of fire.He had always thought that the Qin people's artillery was powerful, but not too many, and being hit could only be due to bad luck.But now it seems that the Qin people have a lot of cannons and more gunpowder.

There was another cannon shot from the opposite side, and white smoke rose from the trench artillery array in front of the barracks. His heart trembled violently, and dozens of shells came roaring with smoke and fire, right in front of him. A cloud of mud and smoke rose not far away.

The shells this time are not kerosene bombs, but ordinary explosive shells. Those fragments and the broken nails and rotten iron inside exploded like a goddess, and those who were lucky in front of them were not hit in the first two rounds. They all hung up the color.

Bala's heart was twitching, these are all warriors of the tribe.Although not many were killed this time, the bleeding wounds on each of them made him understand that these soldiers were not dead for a while, but they were not much better.With such a serious injury, he could bleed to death, even if he could retreat, there is a lack of medical treatment, especially in the hot weather of this month, the wound is more likely to fester, how many people can survive?

Zhao Zhang watched with satisfaction that they stopped the Hu people's charge with only a few rounds of shelling, and the killing effect was good.Wiping the sweat off his face, he looked up at the sun in the sky, hoping that the sky would get darker. When it was dark, they would not be so relaxed.

The gunpowder smoke on the position was blown away by the wind, and the gunners were quickly cleaning up the catapult and continued to load.There is an observer in front of each catapult and ballista gun carriage, responsible for observing and ordering.In addition, there are different numbers of loaders and bombers.

Qin Jun's shelling stopped, Bala looked carefully, and the opposite position was quiet.

"Come on!" Seeing Qin Jun stop, Bala immediately shouted the order.Maybe the Qin Army's guns take time to reload, maybe the Qin Army doesn't have enough gunpowder to fire continuously, but no matter what, the Qin Army's artillery is suspended right now, which is the opportunity to rush over and approach.He has already seen the light, the Qin army does have a lot of artillery, but it seems that there are not many soldiers and horses guarding the artillery array.If they can break through this distance, they have a chance to destroy the Qin army's artillery.

But the only trouble is the barbed caltrops thrown by the Qin army just before the formation, which is a simple but very effective defense against cavalry charges.If he charged directly, many cavalry would fall under this little thing.

There was no other way but to get people off their horses to clear a way.Although this method is too simple, there is no other way.

A team of thousands from a small tribe was sent up, holding their shields and spreading out, carefully searching for the caltrops on the ground, and putting them into bags.

"Dutou, Hu Gou is coming up, they are cleaning the barbed wire, ready to charge!" The third child shouted.

Zhao Zhang held up the observation mirror to watch carefully, and snorted twice, "Fu Yuan crossbow is ready, aim at the block, and kill these bastards." (To be continued.)