The Jingzhou army set up camp in the east and south directions of Linxiang City. In the next few days, they drove tens of thousands of civilians to build sieges, cut trenches, and build ladders in preparation for the army to attack the city.
At this time, Liu Jing, who was far away in Lingxian County, took Liu Zong, Liu Xiu, Cai Sheng and others to visit the Lingxian city defense built by him.
On the basis of the original Linzheng Township, after a year of transformation, the prototype gradually emerged. However, it is still far from Liu Jing's true vision. It will take at least one or two years. And when it is completely completed,
, it’s time to face the Jingzhou army head-on.
But even though Lingxian City is now only a semi-finished product, Liu Zong, Liu Xiu, Cai Sheng and others are still quite surprised when they stand under the city.
Lingxian County is only a little over four miles away. Compared to Linxiang, which is more than ten miles away, it is really a small place. However, in terms of city defense system, Lingxian County is far enough away from several streets in Linxiang.
A small semicircular city, the same height as the city wall, tightly surrounds the gate of Lingxian City. This is the Wengcheng, and the Wengcheng is round, and it is one of the most important defensive facilities of the Chinese city.
Above the city gate, there is a three-story pavilion, with houses on top of the pavilions and towers on top of the towers. The towers are several feet high. The pavilions, rooms, and towers can all be used to display crossbowmen, commanding them to suppress the enemies outside the city.
The city walls in Lingxian County are neither high nor thick, but the parapets are neatly arranged and the horse faces are extremely long and dense.
"Shi Ming" written by Liu Xi records: "The wall on the city is called the wall, which is also called the female wall." The wall means to spy on people on the city. At the same time, it also serves to protect the defenders on the wall.
Horse face is also known as Xingcheng. It was recorded as early as Mozi. It is a platform-shaped building protruding from the surface of the city wall. Because its appearance is long and narrow like a horse face, it is named horse face.
Because the horse face extends out of the city, it can attack the enemy climbing the city from the left and right directions in conjunction with the friendly forces in front, thus forming a crossfire and flanking the enemy. This is what is mentioned in "Mozi: Preparing for the Enemy"
"Use the drum to blow it, then pinch it and hit it."
In addition to the parapets and horse walls, there are also a large number of towers and oars built on the city wall. There is one almost every ten steps. There are as many as twenty or thirty on a single city wall.
What's even more frightening is that Liu Jing doesn't seem to be satisfied with this density and is planning to increase it even more. The entire city of Ling County is almost armed to the teeth by him.
Not to mention, Lingxian County is surrounded by Chengshui River to the north, Xiangshui River to the east, and surrounded by mountains on three sides, giving it an excellent geographical advantage.
Anyone facing such a military fortress-like city would probably have a headache.
When Liu Zong arrived at Lingxian County yesterday, he noticed the specialness of Lingxian City from a distance, but after all, he did not observe closely. Only when he visited the city in person today did he realize the horror of Lingxian City's defenses.
City defense facilities such as urns, pavilions, parapets, horse faces, oars, and even the turrets at the four corners of the city wall are nothing new. They were not even invented in the Han Dynasty. Most of them appeared one after another in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. But what can really be done is to
There are very few of them integrated into one place, and it can be seen that Liu Jing has improved on the basis of his predecessors.
Ling County's city defense is so complete that it is one of the few in the world, and few can match it.
"Zhongda, I didn't expect you to have such ability." Liu Xiu kept watching and couldn't help but admire: "With this strong city, only a thousand people can defend it, and we can withstand thousands of enemies."
Liu Zong was quite convinced, but what he admired was not that Liu Jing had built such an indestructible city, but that he had started building the city as early as last year.
His purpose of doing this was certainly not to resist the bandits and Jingman. Besides Liu Biao's army, who else deserved his attention?
His foresight is truly terrifying.
Liu Jing smiled and waved his hand and said: "Although city defense is important, people are more important. In the past, the small town of Kunyang was not strong, but it blocked Wang Mang's millions of troops."
Liu Zong and Liu Xiu glanced at each other subconsciously. Liu Jing mentioned the Battle of Kunyang, obviously it was not without reason, and he meant something.
Cai Sheng seemed to be particularly interested in these city defense facilities. He never looked away from them from the beginning to the end. It was not until he heard Liu Jingzhi's words that he looked back and said, "It's really fascinating to think about the style of the ancestors."
Liu Jing nodded with a smile and said: "Yes, although the ancestors have the name of a clan, they started out on foot and were founded in green forests. In the end, in just ten years, they eliminated the chaos, destroyed the unruly, and unified the world. Following the great ancestor's legacy,
"Xiu Lie, who has cultivated an unparalleled career in civil and military affairs, and whose virtues are as high as ever, his merits are incomparable."
Liu Zong and Liu Xiu were shaken for a moment and couldn't help themselves. They both sighed: "How magnificent! Shizu!"
Liu Jing then led three people to board the ship to visit the shooting pole. Since the shooting pole is still his own secret weapon, he usually covers it with a crimson cloth so that outsiders cannot see the details clearly.
At first, the three of them felt very strange, not knowing why the mast was set up at the bow of the ship. Until the crimson cloth was pulled off, the true face of the pole was revealed, and the power of the pole was witnessed with their own eyes. The three of them couldn't help but fell into a deep shock.
Today's water battles are all about distance and fire attacks. Close combat mainly involves using sterns with cowhide-covered hulls to collide with enemy ships, or using weapons such as hooks and repellents to close the distance between the two sides, and then landing on the enemy ships for hand-to-hand combat.
But to be honest, both methods are difficult to severely damage the enemy in a short period of time at a relatively small cost. After all, the warships and weapons of both sides are on the same level. The final battle can only be about whose ship is bigger and whose soldiers are bigger.
many.
However, the emergence of the shooting pole is definitely a leap forward for water combat. Once you get close, you only need to shoot a few times to destroy the enemy ship without any damage.
Liu Zong whirled around excitedly and said to Liu Jing: "This, this is really a powerful weapon in water warfare! If used properly, it can destroy enemy ships several times larger than our own in one battle. No wonder Zhongda covered it with cloth and refused to show it to others.
, if it were me, I would definitely try to hide it."
Liu Jing said with a smile: "This object is inspired by the tangerine. I made this object based on the principle of tangerine extracting water, and named it the shooting pole."
"That's it." Liu Xiu suddenly realized, and then sighed: "Zhongda is not only a world-class scholar, but he also knows how to build cities and make utensils. Is there anything else you don't understand? Is there really anyone in the world who knows this from birth?
"
Liu Jing smiled. If he knew the effect of the Quyuan plow he invented, he would probably be even more stunned, right?
Yes, he invented the Quyu plow during spring plowing this year. It is not easy to popularize a new thing quickly. For this reason, Liu Jing built a batch of Quyu plows and gave them to Pingyang and Zhong Shui for free.
The land is granted to the people in the township.
You know, in this era, not everyone can afford an iron plow. People don't care whether it is a straight-shaft plow or a curved-shaft plow. If there is a free iron plow, they will naturally accept it happily.