Eastern Jin Invincible Iron Army

Chapter 85 The Trebuchet

As early as the Warring States period, the Yue State had already used primitive "artillery" weapons that could throw stones weighing 500 jin to a distance of [-] steps.Later, Cao Cao also used the catapult machine. The "Thunderbolt Chariot" used to attack Yuan Shao's camp in the "Battle of Guandu" was a catapult machine with a loud sound when fired.The trebuchet is to use manpower to pull the tip connected to the crossbar together at a place far away from the catapult (the tip of the gun is mounted on a wooden frame, one end is tied with a rope to hold the holster for the stone bullet, and the other end is tied with many ropes. , which is convenient for manpower to pull) to throw the stone bullets, which are divided into single-shot and multi-shot.There are thirteen shoots at most, and a maximum of [-] people are required to cast them.

The trebuchet built by Lu Longtian's Qihuojun belongs to the five-point trebuchet. This kind of trebuchet requires two people to hold it, and four to fifty people to pull it. Or throw a twelve-pound stone bomb more than 50 steps away.Such trebuchets, Tian's begging army assembled a full forty or fifty (fixed on the ground, not cannon carts).Although these trebuchets are of the same standard, they are not arranged in a straight line, but in a group of three "pin" layouts. The nearest trebuchet is about fifty steps away from the city wall, while the farthest trebuchet is arranged on the city wall. 120 steps away.

Ji Kan explained to Gao Jingzong: "In this arrangement, the catapults can be used to plant stone bombs, and carry out cross-strikes at long, medium and short distances, making it impossible to defend against. In particular, Lu Longtian's begging army and [-] light cavalry are always on guard against us. Risking your life and going out of the city to attack the catapults, the battle is not easy to fight!"

"Isn't the trebuchet famous for its inaccuracy?" Gao Jingzong said: "I remember someone said that where the trebuchet hits depends on the mood of the trebuchet."

However, is this really the case?
Gao Jingzong had never experienced city defense battles, so he naturally didn't know the power of the trebuchet.But Ji Kan experienced the tragic battle of Weiyan and Yecheng.In the battle of Ranmin Liantai, he won first and then lost, and was captured when he was defeated.Murong Jun sent Guangwei General Murong Ping and Lieutenant Hou Jing to attack Yecheng.From April 352th in the third year of Yongxing (AD 25), Murong Ping began to attack Yedu, and General Ran Wei Jiang Gan and Prince Ran Zhi closed the city and stood firm.The battle was very difficult, and the Yan army's attack was unfavorable and suffered heavy casualties.On May 2, Murong Jun sent Murong Jun, Murong Yugen, Da Sima Huangfuzhen and other [-] people on foot to assist Murong Ping in attacking the city.However, the Yan army still failed to break through the city.After a bitter battle until the [-]th day of the eighth month, the soldiers in Ye City were exhausted and could only eat people to satisfy their hunger. The palace people in the former Empress Zhao's palace were almost eaten up.With reinforcements outside and no food and grass inside, Ran Wei's Changshui captain Ma Gu opened the city gate and surrendered to the Yan army, which led to the capture of Yecheng and the demise of Ran Wei.

At that time, the State of Yan captured You, Ji, Bing, and Yan and captured a large number of Han craftsmen. They built about a thousand trebuchets and threw stone bombs at Yecheng day and night, but they did not hurt the city walls of Yecheng.

In fact, the trebuchet is a very powerful weapon, but its deterrent significance is greater than its practical significance.During the Mongol war against the Song Dynasty, the Mongol army entered Xiangyang and adopted return cannons. In fact, the city of Xiangyang was broken, but it was not the return cannons that contributed to it, but the Southern Song guard Lv Wenhuan's failure to keep the Yuan at the end of the festival, which led to the fall of Xiangyang.Hezhou Diaoyu City, which also used return artillery to attack the city, held on for more than 30 years, until the defeat of Yashan and the fall of the Southern Song Dynasty. Wang Lizai, the guard of Diaoyu City, led the soldiers and civilians of Diaoyu City to surrender to the Yuan army after receiving a promise from the Yuan army not to slaughter the city. .

Although Ji Kan didn't know what a return cannon was, he knew very well the true power of this trebuchet.The stone bombs thrown by the trebuchet are naturally powerful against that kind of rammed earth city wall. Each bombardment can smash a large amount of rammed earth, and even after repeated bombardments, the city wall can also be smashed down.However, the city wall of Banxian Valley is the same as the city wall of Ye City. It is made of bluestone, which is extremely strong.Not to mention the trebuchet, even the light howitzers of later generations are helpless against this kind of city wall.

Just when Gao Jingzong was about to walk down the city wall, he suddenly saw strange vehicles one after another, advancing slowly under the impetus of more than a dozen soldiers of the begging army of Lu Longtian's family.

Gao Jingzong asked curiously: "What kind of vehicle is this, why is it so strange?"

Ji Kan said: "This is a shield chariot, made of thick wood. Originally, the shield chariot needed to be covered with raw cowhide, but Lu Longtian's army didn't have this kind of material, so they just covered it with thin mud, but this shield chariot is very powerful. , the crossbow arrows do not penetrate, the fire does not burn, it can effectively provide effective cover for the attacking soldiers!"

Only then did Gao Jingzong suddenly realize that this is a "earth tank".Gao Jingzong has watched the old movie "Little Soldier Zhang Ga" in later generations, and he still remembers the plot in it. In it, the Eighth Route Army used multiple layers of quilts to water them, covered them on the table of the Eight Immortals, and created simple "earth tanks" to attack the devils' artillery towers. .And it's not an incredible thing. First, the multi-layer quilt is soaked in water, and then sandwiched with soil (some say that it is useless, and I think the soil is useless). The function is similar to the current soft body armor, and the Japanese army The gun fired on the turret, while the armor of the earth tank is on the roof, so the angle of impact is very small, and the protection effect is doubled.

The shooting angle of the crossbow arrows on the city wall is also not large, and the killing effect on this kind of shield vehicle is limited.Although cotton had not been introduced to China at this time, the ancients used soil instead of kapok to absorb the impact of crossbow arrows, thereby reducing casualties. Although this method is old-fashioned, it coincides with the principles of mechanics.

At this time, Tian Luo made dozens of soldiers with loud voices stand a stone away from the city and shouted: "Hand over Gao Jingzong, Rao Er will not die."

"Hand over Gao Jingzong, and Rao Er will not die."

……

Ji Kan didn't answer yet, but Liu Meng, the other Sima, yelled: "What are you talking about, your mother? If you want to hit me, hit me. Grandpa will stay with you until the end!"

"If you want us to hand over the high governor, you have such a fucking idea!"

"Kneel in front of grandpa and kowtow three times, grandpa spares your life!"

The atmosphere on the city wall of Banished Immortal Valley suddenly became active, and foul language was flying everywhere.These soldiers of the dead army insulted, abused and teased the soldiers of Lu Longtian's family in every possible way.It directly made Tian Luo under the city so angry that his seven orifices were filled with smoke.Tian Luo was young and inexperienced, so he immediately ordered an attack out of anger: "Attack, take the Banished Immortal Valley, and leave nothing behind!"

The first to speak was forty or fifty trebuchets, and these trebuchets began to test fire from the furthest distance.

"Bang bang..." A dozen trebuchets were dragged by hundreds of soldiers of Lu Longtian's family army, and the stone bullets in their leather cases slammed into the city wall with a soaring sound.

These dozens of stone bombs fell to the ground without even touching the edge of the city wall.On the contrary, the shock caused dust to fly on the ground of the city wall.

"That's it, the power of the trebuchet is too weak!" Just as Gao Jingzong finished speaking, another stone bomb flew towards the city wall.The stone bullet tumbling in the air hit a dead soldier who was only ten steps away from Gao Jingzong, and the stone bullet easily smashed the dead soldier's head into a rotten watermelon.Immediately, red blood and milky white brains flew across.

It took a long time before the headless corpse fell onto the city wall with a plop.

Gao Jingzong has never seen such a bloody scene. As a person of later generations, he has never seen killing a pig, not to mention killing a pig.Watching a living life wither before his eyes, watching a living person turn into a bloody corpse.Gao Jingzong only felt his gastric juice surge up.

(End of this chapter)