Liu Yujue asked: "Then the teacher thinks, how should the current city wall be built?"
Guo Yixuan said: "A low and thick city wall should be built. Such a city wall is not only easy to erect various heavy weapons, but also difficult to be broken through by the enemy's siege guns. [ ] At the same time, a wide and low city wall can be built on it
More city fortifications and deployment of more firepower. As long as a triangular bastion is extended on this kind of city wall, the cross firepower can block all passages of the castle, but traditional tall city walls always have blind spots for attack.
If the traditional city wall is transformed in this way, combined with a moat or a moat, a lower outer cliff is built next to the trench, some civil engineering works are built on the edge of the cliff, and a corridor is laid along the top of the gentle slope.
The city defense troops can move quickly from one place to another. Some light cannons can also be set up on the outer cliffs of the city defense trenches to deal with a large number of siege cannons and keep them away.
The enemy's large number of siege engines will lose their effectiveness, but they will still attack the city, and the defenders will still attack the enemy in tight fortifications. The sacrifices the enemy will have to make to capture a city will be greater. Simply put
, this idea has changed as the power of siege equipment has become more and more powerful. In today's wars, the defense methods of thousands of years ago should no longer be used. No matter how tall it is, it can be easily destroyed by the enemy.
Building a low and thick barrier-type fortification is used to deploy powerful counterattack weapons to curb the enemy's attack from the beginning, and it is a counterattack that leaves no dead ends. Its effectiveness will be higher than that of traditional city buildings.
.It also has an important advantage that is far inferior to the old-fashioned city fortifications, that is, it is difficult for the enemy to dig tunnels under the city wall and cause it to collapse."
Guo Yixuan said enthusiastically: "We are on the offensive side now, so we don't need this knowledge for the time being. You can first learn about the manufacturing of offensive equipment and the scientific design and excavation of attack channels. How about this, I will take you to the place we have built in a while.
The siege cannon that came out"
After bathing, Guo Yixuan looked refreshed and indeed took Liu Yujue to the craftsman camp.
In the past few days, Liu Yujue, as a disciple of Guo Yixuan, had followed him in and out. He had been in and out of the craftsmen's camp several times, but he only went to the tents of scholars and found only piles of drawings and messy models.
He had an intuitive impression, but this time, Guo Yixuan took advantage of his interest and took him to the storage area of the completed weapons.
Giant trebuchets, catapults, artillery, battering rams, excavation equipment for tunnel operations... there are all kinds of weapons for attacking fortresses, a dazzling array.
Timur's massive expansion and invasion in Asia, West Asia, and Europe caused a large number of scholars from all over the world to flock to Samarkand. As a result, Samarkand received military technology from Greece, Rome, Iran, India, and even other parts of the country.
There are many engineers, architects, mathematicians, chemists, astronomers... in his army, and the knowledge of these scholars has been used in the manufacture of lethal and destructive weapons.
"This is a light cannon, this is a heavy cannon, oh, there is a rapid-fire cannon over there. Generally speaking, various cannons can only fire five to six times a day, but with our continuous development and improvement of this kind of rapid-fire cannon,
It has been possible to shoot thirty times a day without scrapping.”
Guo Yixuan proudly introduced the terrifying murder weapons to his disciples: "This is a field gun, this is a siege gun, and there is this kind of caliber of 850 mm, with a range of 200 to 500
The main function of the rice mortar is to siege the city. Oh, by the way, come on, this is our latest developed siege cannon."
Guo Yixuan walked a few steps quickly and came to a huge, intimidating rock-shooting cannon. The first thing Liu Yujue saw was not the super-large war cannon, but the shells piled next to the war cannon.
Those cannonballs were extremely round stone balls that were polished. When Liu Yujue saw the cannonballs, he took a breath of air and looked at it with a cold eye. That stone ball might weigh over a thousand kilograms.
At this time, one kilogram was sixteen taels. That is to say, according to modern calculations, the weight of this stone ball was about 1,500 kilograms. It was too terrifying. If such a shell hit the city wall...
…, Liu Yujue suddenly thought of what Guo Yixuan had just said in the bathroom. No wonder he dared to boast that the taller the city, the easier it was to be destroyed.
Standing in front of this behemoth, Guo Yixuan could only touch the mount of the majestic cannon. He stroked the mount and said: "This kind of gun requires two hundred skilled gunners and sixty oxen to pull and use it. One day
It can only fire seven rounds at most. Even so, after a few shots, the cannon will fall apart. But..., what does it matter? Haha, just one of such a huge cannon is enough to hit the strongest city wall.
Open an irreparable breach and let our brave soldiers rush to the city."
Liu Yujue said in surprise: "How can such a huge cannon be transported away?"
Guo Yixuan said: "The further east you go, the harder it is to get enough materials to build these equipment, so you have to build them here. When the war starts, the light siege equipment will be carried with the army, and the heavy equipment will be carried later, but that's it.
The delay won't be too long, because these things can be dismantled, and we have done tests before. Carrying this kind of disassembled heavy siege equipment can travel an average of thirty miles a day."
Liu Yujue said in surprise: "Can it be so fast?"
Guo Yixuan said: "How about it? Now you have some confidence in our army to break through Jiayuguan Pass?"
Liu Yujue nodded repeatedly: "The teacher is right, with such sophisticated weapons, Jiayuguan will definitely be a problem."
Guo Yixuan laughed loudly, patted him on the shoulder and said: "When the Great Khan invades Jiayuguan and destroys the Ming Dynasty, you won't have to hide in Tibet. Not only can the Great Khan avenge your annihilation, but a talent like you,
I will also reuse you as a local official in the Ming Dynasty."
He looked leisurely to the east. The setting sun reflected on the sand made the shallow wrinkles on his face shine as if they were made of brass.
After staring for a long time, Guo Yixuan said softly: "People say that the setting sun is the end of the world, and I can't see my home as far as the end of the world. I hate that the green mountains are blocking us, and the green mountains are still covered by dusk clouds. I am already half buried, and I really want to go back.
Dadu, I really want to go back to my hometown..."
For a moment, his eyes filled with tears...
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"Okay, it's getting late. Yu Luo, you should go back and have a rest."
When Liu Yujue sent Guo Yixuan back to his residence, Guo Yixuan's mood had calmed down somewhat.
Guo Yixuan also had students in Samarkand, but none of those students were as respectful as Liu Yujue. He treated Guo Yixuan in full accordance with the country's thousands of years of respecting teachers. So Guo Yixuan was
I like and appreciate this disciple even more.
When he returned to his sleeping tent, Guo Yixuan asked Liu Yujue to go back and rest in a pleasant manner.
Liu Yujue has always wanted to get more useful information from Guo Yixuan, but he can only make insinuations and analyze from the bits and pieces of information he has. It is rare to see Guo Yixuan feeling homesick today, and his mind is a little depressed.
I thought that if I could persuade him to drink a few glasses of wine, he would stop talking when he said he was drunk, and he might be able to ask more questions.
Therefore, Liu Yujue said respectfully: "Sir is in a depressed mood, otherwise... disciple, how about having a few drinks with my teacher? If you drink some wine, your mood may be better."
"It's rare for you to be filial"
Guo Yixuan's expression became more and more gentle, and he said with emotion: "When it comes to respecting teachers and respecting morality, we have to be a country of Chinese etiquette. Your filial piety is appreciated by the teacher. However, this wine is not required."
When Liu Yujue was about to say more, Guo Yixuan shook his head and said: "Yu Luo, you don't know something. Don't you think this place is noisy and chaotic, like a city, but this is a military camp after all. You usually walk around here and you can see everything. Is there a tavern?"
, No? Haha, the army has its own laws and regulations, this wine cannot be drunk."
Guo Yixuan smiled and said: "Only when there is a major festival, or when the Great Khan has won a great battle, or something very happy happens, will drinking be allowed. Not only is drinking allowed, the Great Khan will also have a grand banquet, and summon
Some Kabuki dancers and jugglers are here to help everyone entertain themselves.
Your military camp is usually very disciplined, right? But at that time, after a night of drinking, everything is a mess, more chaotic and lively than the market. However, the opportunity is rare, otherwise, I would accept such a proud disciple like you.
As a teacher, don’t you want to have an apprenticeship banquet? Haha..."
Guo Yixuan smiled and waved his hand: "Go back and rest, my teacher is about to sleep."
"yes"
Liu Yujue had no choice but to bow and watch Guo Yixuan lift the tent and enter, and then left sadly.
That day Xia Xun asked him to follow his plan and worship under Guo Yixuan's family, originally for the opportunity to get close to Timur. Who knew that Guo Yixuan blew the clouds and mountains in front of him, as if he had great abilities, but he didn't know until he entered the military camp.
Even Guo Yixuan had a hard time meeting Timur, let alone his little apprentice.
Although Liu Yujue did not have any more clues to sneak into the military camp today, he saw with his own eyes the power of those siege weapons. Although there are such sharp weapons, they may not be as devastating and omnipotent as Guo Yixuan boasted, but their sharpness is indeed
It far exceeded the previous Ming Dynasty's assessment of Tamerlane's empire's siege weapons and tactics.
These things should be weapons that Timur's empire gathered various scholars and skilled craftsmen to design and rush to produce specifically for Ming Dynasty's Eastern-style city defenses. This was quite important information. He needed to tell Xia Xun immediately. After leaving Guo Yixuan
After entering his residence, Liu Yujue hurried out of the military camp.