A ray of sword light fell sharply, and the long sword in Xu Huai's hand slashed like thunder, splitting open the side fender of a light car rushing towards him.
The archer standing behind the baffle was caught off guard and moved back a few inches, but failed to avoid Bu Shu's sharp edge. A line of blood ran down from his forehead, split the bones of his face, and came out under his chin. The archer subconsciously raised his body and wanted to move.
The Tuomu stepping bow that blocked the blade was also chopped off by the blade.
Xu Huai ignored the blood spurting towards his face, looked at it with his eyes, turned his step diagonally, and reached under the left chest of the spear-wielding enemy soldier who was standing on the other side of the light chariot, and turned his step diagonally upward to the right.
tease.
An arc of shadow flashed across the front, like an antelope hanging its horns. There was no trace to be found, making the enemy unstoppable. They watched helplessly as the armor on the chest, which was usually the thickest, was filled with a sharp blade that was filled with great power.
It was broken open like a knife cutting off water, and the castration was so fast that you could hardly feel the pain of the chest being broken open.
Niu Er holds an iron mace and fights more fiercely than Xu Huai in the front line.
He is a huge man, holding a shield in his left hand and wielding a six-edged iron mace in his right hand, like a deadly weapon. The shadows of the mace are designed to slash at the enemy's head - it cannot be split with sharp blades, and it is lined with cowhide.
The iron armor cracked like paper under the blow of the mace, which weighed more than a thousand pieces.
Of course, Niu Er is murderous and easily forgets himself, and his huge body makes him an easy target for elite archers.
To this end, Xu Huai tailor-made Niu Er and equipped him with dozens of elite warriors, holding heavy shields, walking swords, cutting sabers, and light shields and swords to specifically cooperate with him in attacking difficult battles.
Xu Huai stood leaning on a tree and looked around.
Although he personally led the elite selected vanguard troops who dismounted to fight into the north bank of the Centipede River and charged into battle, killing two hundred enemy troops like a weed harvester, but after several groups of enemy troops were defeated one after another, they showed no intention of retreating, and there were still hundreds more.
Thousands of enemy soldiers are pouring here in a steady stream.
Although the war equipment built by the enemy was very heavy, such as heavy shield vehicles, which weighed more than a thousand kilograms and were difficult to move among the uneven shallow valleys and low ridges, the north bank of the Centipede River was only thirty miles away from their camp on the south bank of Yingshui River.
After several days of fierce fighting along the Centipede River, the enemy still transported a large amount of war equipment to the front line little by little.
With the advantage of military strength and these weapons, the enemy forces in the west of Beijing are gradually gaining a foothold on the north bank of the Centipede River.
At this time, if the Chushan Army wanted to repel the enemy from the north bank of the Centipede River, it would have to pay a heavier price than before.
Xu Huai took the lead at this time and personally led the elite selected vanguard troops into the north bank to charge into battle. In addition to boosting morale, martial arts skills also need to be better honed on such a bloody battlefield of life and death.
"Commander, the enemy seems to want to drag the trebuchet to the front line to fight!" Zhou Jingchi rushed over on horseback, holding a shield. He was alert to the cold arrows from the front line and reported to Xu Huai.
From where Xu Huai was standing, he could not see the situation behind the enemy's front line. He shouted to Niu Er, who was still fighting passionately: "Niu Er, stop it and leave some heads for the brothers in the front line to harvest!"
When the front troops and horses re-formed a complete front line, Xu Huai, surrounded by more than a hundred selected forward troops, retreated to the south bank of the Centipede River, rode his horse up a hillock, and formed a formation here with Chen Zixiao, who was in charge of the battlefield command.
meet.
Xu Huai raised his eyes and looked north, only to see three or four miles away from the enemy's front line and behind them, there were a dozen machines about two feet taller than the men and horses, slowly moving southward; they were several miles away, but they could still vaguely see them.
It is judged to be a light trebuchet.
"Yue Hailou is very confident in holding his position! Or is it because the Red Husbands are urging them to put more pressure on us at all costs?" Chen Zixiao asked with some confusion.
Catapults are mostly used to siege and defend cities, but they are not completely unsuitable for field battles. The prerequisite is that the position can be defended, and the opponent needs to be close to the position to attack intensively.
This is definitely not a simple matter.
In the battle of Huangyangzhai, Chushan put light trebuchets into the array. At that time, Tang Qing's troops arrayed themselves in the narrow valley on the right bank of the Mingxi River.
They deployed in the front line to resist the enemy, and used the Huangyangzhai cofferdam as a bait to defend it until they attacked, so that the trebuchets could play their role.
Today's heavy trebuchets are more than five or six feet high, requiring hundreds of people to pull the ropes, and can even throw stone projectiles weighing two to three hundred kilograms; light trebuchets that are one or two feet high also require dozens or twenty people.
By operating at the same time, it is possible to throw stone bullets or loose stone bullets weighing dozens of kilograms, but the distance is less than 200 steps.
This means that if the light trebuchet is deployed, it will not only occupy a lot of space, but also must be deployed directly to the front line to be able to attack the attacking enemy.
This will directly cause the frontmost side of the array to become hollow and weak, and the terrain and the solidity of the front array will be extremely demanding.
Not to mention Chen Zixiao, Xu Huai could not imagine that Yue Hailou would deploy slinging equipment to the front line to assist his front line soldiers in fighting.
Don't say too much, four or five trebuchets are deployed to the front line. The space occupied can greatly weaken the density of the front line. How confident is Yue Hailou that he can withstand the attack of Chushan's elite and let his trebuchets
Make a difference?
Although Xu Huai was puzzled, he calmly watched the enemy's movements.
The catapult was cumbersome, but after all, it was only a light trebuchet two feet high. An hour later, under the escort of thousands of horsemen, it rendezvoused with the troops in front and was also deployed to the front.
"Yue Hailou is too arrogant!" Chen Zixiao sneered, preparing to organize elite troops to directly attack the enemy's trebuchet arrays.
"..." Xu Huai hesitantly stopped Chen Zixiao and said, "There will be a truce today and we will immediately order the troops and horses from the north bank to withdraw!"
"Why don't you destroy this annoying thing in one go?" Chen Zixiao asked doubtfully.
At this time, an order was given to withdraw the troops, giving the enemy a chance to breathe. They could dig deep trenches around the trebuchets and build protective walls all night, and wait until tomorrow to send out troops for a surprise attack, but the price they would pay would be much higher.
"This is the Western Region Cannon!"
The Centipede River is only a tributary of the old Yingshui River. It dries up in winter. The river is narrow. The hillock where Xu Huai stood is only five or six hundred paces away from the enemy's front line where the trebuchets were deployed.
At this time, he could clearly see the structure and shape of the trebuchet.
Different from traditional tractor-type single-tip trebuchets, the trebuchets deployed by the enemy to the front line did not have dozens of ropes tied to the tail, but dozens of ropes for people to pull to exert force, but there were more portal wooden frames and hanging boxes.
.
This caused an unprecedented memory to flash through Xu Huai's mind:
"Wasima is a native of Xulie in the Western Regions. He is good at weapons, construction, arithmetic and other techniques. He leads many disciples and is favored by the king. The national army cannot attack Xiangyang for a long time. He builds Western Region artillery in the southeast corner of the city. The stone bullets weigh more than 150
Ten kilograms, the machine is fired, and it can reach as far as three hundred steps away. The sound shakes the heaven and the earth, and everything it hits is destroyed, and it sinks seven feet into the ground. The more the general is afraid, the more he will surrender with the city..."
Although this memory did not explain the structure of the Western Region cannon in detail, Xu Huai discussed the construction method with Zhuang Shouxin, Shen Lian, Zhuang Yong, Yu Chengzhen, Ding Chong, Chen Rongjun and others when he had nothing to do, and reviewed dozens of details recorded in the military books of the time. The method of making a trebuchet is familiar to everyone, but at least Chushan currently does not have the ability to create a trebuchet that can throw a stone projectile weighing 150 kilograms to a distance of 300 to 400 steps.
The traditional heavy trebuchet requires hundreds of people to pull the force through ropes. Even if it is well practiced, it is difficult to overcome the disadvantages of the force component and the tendency to deviate in the front, rear, left and right directions. It can generally be launched to a distance of 200 meters, even if it is well practiced. Well done.
In addition, the southeast corner of Xiangyang City is a steep slope and cannot accommodate traditional heavy trebuchets. It often requires space for one to two hundred people to operate.
Xu Huai now saw that the enemy's trebuchet did not have a traction rope attached to the end of the tip pole, but added a portal wooden frame and a suspended box structure. He instantly wanted to understand what happened to the Western Region Artillery and how it was operated.
The suspension box carries heavy objects and is connected to the tail end of the tip pole. Before launching, the suspension box is tied to the portal wooden frame with another rope. At this time, it can be operated by a winch; when launching, the suspension box weighs more than a thousand kilograms or even thousands of kilograms. The box suddenly falls, driving the tip rod to rotate suddenly, and uses centrifugal force to throw the stone bullets at the tip of the tip rod like a whirlwind to complete the operation.
Compared with the towing operation of tens or dozens of people, the force of the suspension box is more intense, and there is no problem of power dispersion and easy deviation of direction. Therefore, the throwing weight, distance and even throwing speed are greatly increased, and it is also faster than the traditional one. The trebuchet is more accurate and is a powerful weapon for attacking cities and demolishing strongholds.
Xu Huai had a headache and was about to moan.
It's not that the Chushan Army had a headache facing the new Western Region artillery.
No matter how powerful the Western Region Artillery is, it is inconvenient to move and has worse maneuverability than traditional heavy tanks.
Even though the throwing speed of the Western Region Cannon is faster than that of the traditional trebuchet, it is extremely limited.
When faced with the enemy's deployment in the Western Region in a field battle, the Chushan Army could choose to attack from the flanks, or they could quickly attack in front of the enemy's formation in a horizontal formation and engage in a melee.
What really sent chills down Xu Huai's back was when Yue Hailou threw the Western Region Artillery into the Centipede River confrontation battlefield. In addition to Yue Hailou feeling the huge pressure brought by the Chushan Army, he desperately needed new weapons to make up for the lack of combat effectiveness. Most importantly, the Red Husbands should have also deployed Western Region artillery in Heluo, Xusu and other departments.
Yue Hailou now no longer needs to specialize in the battlefield of Centipede River to keep this new type of war weapon secret.
What Xu Huai really felt was pain and worry in Huainan. Zuo Xiaosheng's army and the Huai Prince's Mansion Army had a strong and clear battlefield in Ruzhou. They had previously maintained a strong city to defend. How would they face the enemy's new stoning this winter? machine?
This also explains why this winter, Cao Shixiong led the Heluo soldiers and horses so decisively to insert themselves between Ruyang and Liang County - he must have expected that the use of new trebuchets could directly attack the dangerous buildings. Ruyang City.
Yang Lin was unprepared. It was very likely that in the face of superior enemy forces, he would completely give up the fight outside the city and choose to retreat to Ruyang City, so that Cao Shixiong could easily deploy the Western Region Artillery directly in front of the city wall...
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