Shu Han Confucian General of the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 81 Improving the Catapult

"Wenhe, what has Yuan Benchu ​​been up to lately?" Cao Cao asked Jia Xu leisurely in Cao Jun's big tent.

"My lord, the Hebei army is still attacking every day, but they are all repelled by our army. The same is true for Baima and Yanjin." Jia Xu replied flatly.

"Hmph, Yuan Benchu ​​is very patient, and he will not go back to Yecheng for the New Year." Cao Cao straightened the fur coat he was wearing, and said angrily.After confronting each other for almost half a year, both Yuan Shao and Cao Cao became numb.The difference is that Yuan Shao is completely numb, but Cao Cao is looking for opportunities.

"My lord, Yuan Shao's general Han Meng came to Guandu with food and grass just now." Cao Hong suddenly opened the door curtain and came in to report.

"Oh?" Cao Cao was overjoyed when he heard that.Guo Jia's strategy formulated early in the morning was tug-of-war + harassing Yuan Shaoliang Road, but Yuan Shao's grain transportation will never notify you all the time, no matter what, you have to find out the news before sending troops to rob.But after all, this scout was not the military command of the Central Command. Even if he got the news, he hurried all the way back to report, and then Cao Cao sent troops again.That's why Cao Cao was so excited when he heard the news.

"Order Xu Huang to lead the Qingqi of the headquarters to rob food. If you can bring it back, bring it back, and burn it to me if you can't bring it back!" Cao Cao ordered vigorously, and the soldiers in the tent rushed to pass the order without mentioning it. "It's snowing!" The moment the pawn lifted the curtain to remove it, Cao Cao found that snowflakes began to fall from the sky. "It's so good, Yuan Shao has no clothes and no food, let's see how he survives the winter!" Cao Cao can't wait for a heavy snow to bury Yuan Shao's army on the other side of the Yellow River.

Not to mention how Prime Minister Cao is flirting, Liu Bei in Xuzhou City is also a bit dull at this time. "It's snowing!" Liu Bei looked at the snowflakes falling outside, but his heart felt a little empty. "Feng'er, let daddy hug you!" At this moment, Mrs. Mi came behind Liu Bei holding her eight-month-old son.Liu Bei turned around and looked at his tiger-headed son, and couldn't help smiling.Unlike the smiles he used to smile in front of people, Liu Bei now smiles very lovingly.

The inertia of history has been continued to some extent, and Liu Bei still named his first child Liu Feng.When Zhao Feng learned about it that day, he felt an indescribable feeling in his heart. "Husband, do you think of the Second General?" Mrs. Mi, who is good at observing words and expressions, saw Liu Bei hugging her son, but her eyes were looking into the distance, and she immediately understood that he was thinking about the two brothers who were worshiped.

"Yes!" Liu Bei also sighed softly.Since they became sworn brothers in Zhujun more than ten years ago, the three have been inseparable for so many years.Now each is the head of a state, but it is rare to see each other again. "Wait 18 years, let's say 18 years. When we don't fight anymore, I will leave everything to Feng'er and the young people to take care of it. At that time, I will go back to my hometown in Zhuojun with my wife and you to spend a few years in peace. Days." Liu Bei hugged his son, seemed to be talking to himself, and seemed to be talking to Mrs. Mi.

"But I don't know what's going on with Bo Tao's army to conquer the South?" Liu Bei asked himself subconsciously. Naturally, Liu Bei didn't expect Madam Mi to answer this kind of thing. In fact, he just received Zhao Feng's military report just yesterday. , Knowing that after he conquered the Lujiang River, he temporarily stationed in Wancheng because it was difficult to advance troops in winter. "Bo Tao is indeed a great talent." Liu Bei said silently to himself.As for Zhao Feng's loyalty issue, to be honest, he didn't care much about it, or worried about it.

At the same time in Wancheng, Zhao Feng also looked at the snow that was getting bigger and bigger, and secretly rejoiced in his heart that he had ordered the construction of the city dock earlier.The warmth retention of ancient marching tents is really poor, and it is really incomparable with the big tents on the grassland.Especially in the north, if the army dared to camp in tents, once the cold wave hit, half of them would freeze to death.In the south, even if the wind and snow are not as severe as in the north, people will not be frozen to death, but frostbite is still possible.

"I don't know how the wind and snow in Xuzhou are. Do the two wives miss me at home?" Zhao Feng thought of the two beautiful wives he hadn't seen for several months, and felt a little worried.The meeting between him and Diao Chan was accidental, and he took her in more out of sympathy at the beginning, and as time went by, it was regarded as love for a long time.As for Zhen Jiang, although he hasn't experienced much since he met him, whenever he recalls the first meeting in Pengcheng, the rush to rescue outside Shouchun City, and the acquaintance and talk in Zuixianlou, although he was a little hasty, he finally managed It feels a bit like falling in love in a previous life.Fortunately, the two wives got along well, so they wouldn't let his backyard catch fire, but they would enjoy the blessings of everyone.Being able to get to know them is also the most gratifying thing for Zhao Feng to come to this world.

"General, Marquis of Lu Jun, please see me." At this moment, the voice of his personal guard Marquis Hao Zhao came from outside the door. "Tell him to come in." Zhao Feng also hurriedly let Lu Hao in.After the latter entered the door and greeted briefly, he said directly: "General, according to your instructions, I have improved the thunderbolt car, and the range has now reached nearly 300 steps!"

"What Thunderbolt Chariot? This name is what Cao Cao called out to bluff people. Let's call him Catapult!" Zhao Feng laughed, admiring Prime Minister Cao's imagination.He forgot that the trebuchet was made by Liu Ye.

Since Lu Hao made the first trebuchet a month ago, Zhao Feng took a brief look at its structure and immediately understood the working principle.In his previous life, he had seen the structural schematic diagrams of two trebuchets, one was counterweight type and the other was winch type.The former structure is slightly simpler, but the power and accuracy are relatively poor.The latter are more precisely manufactured and therefore sharper, and can even be adjusted for range.Originally, I wanted to draw the blueprint by myself and let Lu Hao make it, but I couldn't draw such a complicated blueprint with a brush, so I simply waited to see the real thing and then improved on this basis.

After going out, he followed Lu Hao to the field outside the city dock and looked at this trebuchet, which was initially designed by Liu Ye and improved by himself and Lu Hao. Zhao Feng felt that it was much better than the original one. "Try it on!" Zhao Feng ordered, and immediately the two soldiers shook the winch to press down a horizontal bar that looked like a big spoon, until the hook on the horizontal bar hooked a longitudinally fixed hemp rope, Then he lifted a stone weighing more than one hundred kilograms and put it in, and then released the movable hook. As a result, the entire horizontal bar was directly pulled up by the winch, and the stone weighing more than one hundred kilograms flew out.

"Bang!" The stone flew to the ground after a certain distance, and the two pawns who had prepared earlier hurriedly pulled the rope to measure the distance. "General, it's about 290 steps!" The soldier who had measured them replied loudly.

"Very good!" Zhao Feng was quite satisfied seeing that he could reach this range, but it was only about [-] steps in the beginning.With a distance of dozens of steps, it can basically be guaranteed that only I can hit you, but you can't hit me. "Lu Hao, is there any way to increase the range?" Zhao Feng turned to Lu Hao and asked.

"General, then we have to use other things instead of bamboo strips to make the winch." Lu Hao lowered his head and thought for a while. "What?" Zhao Feng asked hastily.

"Palm cable, leather." Lu Hao thought for a while and came up with these two things. "Palm cable and cowhide are both easy to handle. I will allocate materials tomorrow. You will lead people to rush to work day and night before the spring. The more the better!" Zhao Feng is also in a good mood, as long as he can guarantee that his trebuchet can shoot a hundred steps farther than Cao Cao , that's really cool.

"The villain understands!" After hearing the order, Lu Hao also stepped back directly to gather his battalion of craftsmen to start work.Hao Zhao on the side couldn't understand this "high-tech" product, but he was secretly shocked when he saw that it could throw stones so far.

"General, are you using this thing for siege?" After thinking about it, Hao Zhaolue realized that once this thing was used on the battlefield, it would be a deadly weapon. "More than that!" Zhao Feng was not surprised when he heard him say this, if he didn't even have this knowledge, then he wouldn't be Hao Zhao.

"More than that?" Hao Zhao was a little hard to understand. "It can also be used to defend the city!" Zhao Feng continued to explain to him with a smile.Hao Zhao's eyes became brighter when he heard the words: If trebuchets were used to defend the city, their power would be more than doubled.

"Hey, Wuhou, Wuhou, you are lucky to be the first to try the greatest invention of my old Zhao in these years!" Zhao Feng patted the trebuchet beside him, and what Zhao Feng was thinking about was the beginning of spring. , the "grand occasion" of attacking Sun Quan with hundreds of such trebuchets, the smile on his face became more lewd, and Hao Zhao also felt guilty for a while.

Lu Hao's speed is not slow, and after another month, he has already produced nearly a hundred trebuchets day and night.On this day, under the leadership of Zhao Feng, except for Zhang Liao and Li Tong who were stationed in Ruxukou, the rest of the generals went to the wilderness with him to see the power of the latest trebuchet.Firstly, to keep it secret, and secondly, it was still improving, Zhao Feng never told them.

"Let go!" With the wave of the small red flag in the hands of Lu Hao, who was in charge of the command, a hundred trebuchets were arranged in four rows in the wilderness and fired one after another. Stones the size of millstones were thrown out one after another, smashing hard three hundred steps away. .For a while, there was a loud "bang bang" sound, and the dust was flying.

"How?" Zhao Feng turned to Wei Yan and the others with a smile and asked, but saw that they were already stunned and speechless. "Amazing!" After a long while, Gao Lan was the first to react, uttering two words with difficulty.

"With this treasure, we will be able to level Soochow just around the corner!" Wei Yan's confidence soared immediately after recovering.Zhao Feng knew that he was too optimistic, but he didn't need to spoil everyone's interest at this time, right?After seeing the power of the trebuchet, the generals, who were already a little hungry and thirsty, wished that spring would come immediately so that they could send troops to Soochow.

However, life still needs to be passed day by day. The weather seems to be a little warmer this day. Zhao Feng is thinking about when he can march. Soochow!" After saying that, Hao Zhao also felt a little disdainful, these days since Zhao Feng came to Lujiang, there are people like this almost every day, and most of them are scammers.

"Did you tell me your name?" Zhao Feng asked, putting down the letter in his hand.

"He said he was Xiangyang Longguang." Hao Zhao replied honestly.

"Long Guang?" Zhao Feng muttered the name in surprise, and suddenly a flash of light flashed in his mind: Could it be him?

(End of this chapter)