Wang Han finally swallowed the noodles and then said, "Back to the general, we caught a few tongues and the confessions were all similar. The daily water in Guan City is drawn from the mountain springs and rivers outside the city."
Feng Yong guessed right. There is indeed no water source in Longguan City built on the mountain, but its water source advantage is that there is enough water source to supply the city whether it is in the east or west.
If the enemy attacks a key point from the east, it can draw water from the west; if the enemy attacks a key point from the west, it can draw water from the east.
And no matter whether the enemy comes from the east or the west, there is no way to send a large army to bypass Guancheng to cut off the water source behind.
Therefore, Longguan at this time can only be regarded as troublesome to obtain water, but there is no worry about water shortage.
After hearing Wang Han explain these situations, Zhao Guang was most anxious. He drank the soup in the bowl with a grunt, wiped his mouth, and said, "Brother, let's attack the city directly."
"The longer we delay, the more advantageous it will be to Cao Cao. If it is true as the prime minister estimates, Cao Cao's Guanzhong reinforcements will arrive in a few days. Our visit this time will be in vain."
Feng Yong burped, nodded, and said, "Okay, let's start attacking the city tomorrow. Jufu, Wang Han, each of you will lead fifty night hunters, armed with more poisonous arrows, and we will go over the mountains to the pass in advance today.
On the east side of the city, guard the place where Cao thieves usually get water."
"As long as you see fireworks in the sky tomorrow, you can intercept and kill the Cao thieves who come to get water from Guancheng or the mountain. Remember, you can't fight with them, just interfere with them and prevent them from getting water smoothly."
Since Feng Yong took control of the Yuexun army, he carefully established the Dark Night Camp from Nanxiang soldiers and Yuexun soldiers in a elimination system.
This army is based on the special operations of later generations as its training guiding ideology. It requires proficiency in bows, crossbows, swords, knives, spears and many other weapons of long and short distances.
Mountain climbing, climbing over obstacles, survival in the wild, swimming in deep water, precise throwing, gathering intelligence, camouflage, infiltration, lurking, tracking, setting up obstacles, capturing prisoners, etc. are all within the scope of training.
Of course, it is impossible for each of them to be proficient in everything, but each person must be proficient in at least a few things, and then form a team to cooperate in combat.
This cooperation must be based on strong organization and discipline, and communication between them must be guaranteed by a certain literacy rate.
Finally, there are many veterans who have survived the battlefield to provide various battlefield situations for simulation.
The money and food thrown in were enough to build a team of 5,000 professional soldiers, and then 132 qualified personnel were trained, called Night Hunters.
Fighting in the mountains and forests, as long as they do not confront the army head-on and attack from afar, one against a hundred is an exaggeration, but if they are not surrounded by the enemy, one against ten is completely capable.
If there are no more than 3,000 Cao soldiers in Guan City, then the equipment used to draw water will not exceed the number of 300 men. If he attacks the city himself, there will be even fewer people sent out to collect water in Guan City.
It is even more impossible to say that Pang would send a large army in advance to protect the water source without knowing about the ambush of the Night Hunters.
"Wang Ping, tomorrow you will lead three thousand people to guard the north to prevent the Cao thieves from Guan Mountain from rushing down the mountain."
"Zhang Yi, you start to organize your army from now on. The siege in the next two days will be up to you."
"Zhao Guang and Yang Qianwan, you two will stay with me tomorrow and listen to my orders at any time."
Feng Yong was assigning tasks in the commander's camp, while Pang Hui was also watching the movements of the Han army in the distance on Guancheng.
I saw that after the Han army built the nest chariot, they kept moving and continued to build siege equipment.
By the time the sun was about to set, the prototypes of three riprap trucks could already be seen.
But this time, Cao's army in the city was much more able to withstand it.
Pang Hui pointed to the well and smiled at the soldiers around him, "The stones thrown by this trebuchet are no more than a hundred steps away. If you want to damage the city wall, you have to move the trebuchet five steps away."
Not within ten steps."
"This distance is the most suitable for crossbows. Isn't it clear that you are here to die? What's more, the pass is narrow and can only accommodate three trebuchets at most, so what's the use?"
Everyone burst out laughing.
This Long Pass was built on a mountain, and there was not much space in front of the pass. No matter how many people the Han army had, they could only come up in batches to die.
Unless you spend several times the number of lives in the pass to consume the defenders, there is no way you can break through this pass.
But if they push the stone trebuchet up again, they will basically block their own siege road.
As for this trebuchet, unless it throws stones in batches, what harm will a few of them do to the city wall?
At that time, as long as you give an order and fire a volley of bows and crossbows, the trebuchet will be useless.
Pang Hui finally felt relieved at this time. It seemed that Feng Yong, although he had a literary name, was just a Confucian scholar. How could he be undefeated if he acted in such a rigid manner according to the military manual?
If I had known that this person was like this, why would I have put out so many antlers in front of the pass to resist the horse?
Instead, he blocked his way to sneak attack the Han camp.
As night fell, the Han army below lit up the lights again, and the noise continued. It seemed that the enemy was going to build equipment overnight.
This made Pang Hui hate him so much that it seemed that this Shu captive, relying on the large number of people, really didn't take him seriously!
In the early morning of the next day, we saw a group of riprap trucks set up below Guancheng.
"The stone dump truck seems different from usual?"
Pang Hui stretched his neck, trying to see clearly what was going on through the mist. Unfortunately, the Han army had already set up high oar shields, making it difficult to see clearly.
"Have the rocks been placed?"
Wenshi yelled.
"Put it away."
The soldier in charge of firing the stone bombs replied loudly.
"Okay, get ready! One, two, three, release!"
A stone as big as a thigh flew high into the sky, and with the whistling wind, it landed more than ten steps away from the city wall.
Cao Jun, who had been holding his breath, suddenly burst into laughter.
This kind of catapult was too weak to even touch the city wall, let alone destroy the city wall.
Pang Hui was shocked. This stone-throwing cart was two hundred steps away, but it could be thrown so far?
"The counterweight is too light, add another hundred pounds."
Wenshi saw this scene and quickly commanded the soldiers at the other end.
"Brother, this catapult looks quite convenient. There is no need for soldiers to pull it at the other end."
Zhao Guang looked at the strange-shaped stone dumping truck curiously and asked.
"The one you're talking about is a human-powered trebuchet. Mine is called a counterweight trebuchet."
Feng Yong replied.
Trebuchets have appeared a long time ago, but they have always been launched by manpower.
That is, one end is loaded with stones and one end is tied with many ropes. When launching, everyone pulls a rope and works together to throw the stones out using the principle of leverage.
If you want to throw it farther, the more people will use it, the larger the trebuchet will be.
But there is a contradiction here. With ancient production materials and techniques, the larger the trebuchet, the faster things will break due to various reasons such as its own weight.
And the more people use it, the lower the utilization rate of manpower. After all, there will always be a sequence of exertion. At the same time, if they stand scattered and the direction of the force is not completely consistent, there will be mutual cancellation effects.
Therefore, after the trebuchet exceeds a certain size, its power and range will decrease.
More importantly, with the development of city wall technology, cities have become taller and stronger. Such ancient siege equipment cannot keep up with the development of the times, and it is difficult to directly cause serious damage to city walls.
After all, due to limited manpower, the maximum distance of a human-powered trebuchet is generally less than a hundred steps, while the range of a Han crossbow can reach two hundred steps.
Coupled with the reasons such as being bulky, easily damaged, inconvenient to move, and difficult to operate, trebuchets can no longer serve as the main task of siege.
On the contrary, it can be used to meet enemies and destroy temporary camps built with wood.
During Cao Cao's Battle of Guandu, someone modified it and turned it into a mobile one, which was used to attack Yuan Shao's army's chariots and oar towers made of wood.
The trebuchet returned to the peak of the battlefield, when it got the Song Dynasty.
The "Hui Hui Cannon" in the hands of the Mongols is to replace the manpower with a counterweight. The short arm of the lever no longer uses manpower to pull the rope, but is replaced with a heavy object.
In this era, no one knows more about long-range strikes and non-contact warfare than Feng Yong.
The trebuchet can be regarded as an ancient artillery unit, so Feng Yong knew its development history clearly.
This kind of counterweighted trebuchet, as long as it is properly designed, can throw more than one hundred kilograms (Hanjin, sixteen taels) of stones over a distance of up to three hundred steps.
Before the laughter of the Cao soldiers on the city stopped, the second stone flew over and hit the city wall with a "dong" sound, stirring up some dust.
Another Cao Bing laughed, what threat could such a small stone pose to the city wall?
Pang Hui's expression became solemn. The Shu thieves' rock-throwing cart was indeed more powerful than ordinary rock-throwing carts.
The third stone soon appeared again, jumped directly over the city wall, and hit the house behind.
Feng Yong raised his head and looked at the hanging basket on the roof of the Chao car.
A red flag appeared on the nest car and a semaphore was played.
"The distance is not enough, add fifty kilograms of counterweight."
Although the weather was not hot, there were still beads of sweat on Wenshi's forehead. Although it had been tested before, this was the first time it was used in actual combat. It was indeed much more complicated than during the test.
He secretly glanced at Feng Langjun, who was standing not far behind. Fortunately, Feng Langjun didn't say anything.
The fourth stone hit the middle of Guancheng directly, and a pass signal finally appeared on the nest car.
"Okay, just press this weight."
Wenshi shouted loudly, almost making his throat hoarse, "The commanders of all the riprap trucks are coming over to collect the data."
"Prepare on the 1st, let go!"
The Chao truck signaled to the left.
"Adjust direction!"
…
Zhao Guang and Yang Wanwan stood dumbly behind Feng Yong, watching the person operating the rock dump truck shouting unintelligible terms. This was not the use of the rock dump truck as they knew it.
The method, I feel unclear about it.
The Cao soldiers at the top of the city gradually stopped laughing. No matter how stupid they were, they could still understand that the power of the trebuchets of the Han army on the opposite side should not be underestimated as they watched stone after stone flying over their heads and falling into the city.
But why do they only throw one stone at a time?
"Brother, let everyone smash it together!"
Zhao Guang stepped forward and said excitedly, "Such a good thing, if one hits a stone, it's useless..."
He originally thought that what his brother ordered to make was just an ordinary trebuchet, but he didn't expect that it was such a powerful siege weapon.
"What do you know? Watch carefully, this is called a test firing! If you want to use this thing when you lead troops in war, you have to know how to use it."
Feng Yong scolded.
…
"Test firing on the 10th is completed!"
After all this hard work, the sun has reached mid-air and all the fog on the mountains has dispersed.
Wenshi came over and saluted Feng Yong, "Feng Langjun, you are ready."
Feng Yong nodded and ordered, "Let's begin."
"promise!"
Behind each riprap truck, something was covered with a felt, and there was a pile of sand and soil around it.
A soldier opened the felt cloth, and underneath were jars wrapped with straw rope or hemp rope.
After closing the gate, Cao Bing discovered that the objects thrown by the Han army on the opposite side began to increase. It was no longer a single stone, but dense black shadows, like giant locusts flying above.
It's just that they were all a little confused. The Han army's catapults were really powerful, but their throwing was too bad. Not many of them hit the city wall, but most of them fell into the city.
There was a "crash" sound, and something hit the arrow tower diagonally, making a shattering sound.
"What is this? Why is it a piece of pottery?"
Some soldiers curiously picked up the fragments that fell on the city and looked at them. They laughed and said, "Could the Shu captives have gone crazy? They used clay pots to attack the city?"
Pang Hui walked over, picked up a piece of pottery and looked at it. He saw that it was greasy, as if it was used to hold oil.
Oil?
Pang Hui thought of this, his heart suddenly lurched, and he shouted, "No! Hurry, go to the city to get water!"
Unfortunately, his reaction was still a little late.
At the foot of Guancheng, some of the soldiers operating the trebuchets soaked a felt cloth in tung oil, then wrapped it around the stone, wrapped it tightly, placed it in the leather nest of the trebuchet, and lit it.
"put!"
The burning stones flew out and fell into the city.
With a "boom", the wooden house that had been covered with tung oil suddenly burst into flames. The fire spread very quickly, and in the blink of an eye, a small area turned into a large area.
On this end, the soldiers quickly shoveled up the sand and buried the newly ignited leather nest. They dug it out when the fire was extinguished, pulled it and felt it was still strong, and then continued to use it.
At the top of Longguan City, clay pots filled with tung oil kept flying over, and occasionally burning stones fell into the city, causing fires everywhere.
The houses in Guancheng are all made of wood, so they are naturally waterproof.
Cao Bing carried water and poured water on the burning house. Unexpectedly, as soon as the water fell on top, the fire suddenly jumped up and licked his face directly. Cao Bing covered his face and screamed.
Go back.
Crackling!
The huge tongue of fire jumped up happily, as if thanking Cao Bing for the bucket of water.
Houses began to collapse and sparks rose into the sky.
From time to time in the city, humanoid fireballs rushed from burning houses onto the streets, rolling over and calling for help.
"Quick! Get some people down to put out the fire!"
Cao's soldiers obeyed the order and rushed down the city wall, but the fire on the street was so fierce that they forced some of them back.
Pang Hui's face turned pale. He really didn't expect that the other party would be so vicious that they would attack the city with oil and fire. They were planning to burn all the people in the city alive!
But where do they get so much oil?
Where did such a powerful trebuchet come from?
Why is the projectile so accurate?
All kinds of doubts flashed through Pang Hui's mind, and his heart was on fire.
Cao's soldiers below were running back and forth carrying water, trying to put out the fire, but for some reason, the more they poured water, the bigger the fire became.
Wooden houses are prone to fire, and with the help of tung oil, it didn't take long for the fire to spread throughout the city.
However, Guancheng was only a little over a mile in radius, and the fire was so powerful that even Pang Hui, who was standing at the top of the city, was roasted to the point of sweating like rain.
Feng Yong, who was standing under the pass, looked at the billowing black smoke rising from the city. He didn't need to look up to see the signal from the Chao truck, but he already knew that the fire in the pass was unstoppable.
Fire attacks require the right time and place to launch.
People of later generations have a very common question when discussing the Three Kingdoms: Why didn't Cao Cao use arrows when he borrowed arrows from a straw boat?
So many people debated it from the perspective of romance, or from the perspective of historical facts, or even added their own ideas and so on.
In fact, the answer to this question is very simple, just one sentence is enough: because there were no rockets at that time, or in other words, no one was aware of the large-scale use of rockets.