What Chang Yu didn't know was that when he was leading his troops to look around by the riverside and the lake, Bai Wang, an earth-built high platform on the opposite side, was holding a telescope and looking at them fiercely. Although he didn't know that it was a young eunuch coming.
, but based on the war horses and armor reported by the spies, it is inferred that they should be an elite group of officers and soldiers.
In the past two days, there were just some scattered officers and soldiers scouting around. Today, a group of elite cavalry suddenly came forward to kill the rebels' horses. This was a very obvious signal that the storm was coming again.
What is supposed to come will eventually come. Bai Wang looked around on the high platform. There were thousands of people around him who were busy building defense lines. Most of these people were cannon fodder and ordinary people in the city. At this time, they were all recruited as coolies. Although he had some thoughts in his heart,
Although they complained, no one dared to say a word, because the consequences would be disastrous.
Under such a severe situation, Bai Wang can no longer maintain his hypocritical face as before. The top priority is to resist the enemy from going south, and what he lacks most is manpower and food and grass. Therefore, at this time, the people in the city must obey absolutely. If you are asked to help, you will
You have to go to work, and if you are asked to pay for food, you will be ruined. If you dare to say a word "no", your family will be ruined.
Chizhou City was panic-stricken under this kind of white terror, but its efficiency was surprisingly high. The whole people mobilized under Bai Wang's command, transported earth and rocks to the city, and left the city to dig trenches, dig earth and build walls. In less than three days, Chizhou City took advantage of the superior terrain and mobilized.
Created a natural line of defense.
Bai Wang is still very satisfied with this line of defense. To be precise, he is satisfied with Chizhou's natural geographical advantages. The vast lake in the north of the city completely blocks Chizhou. The northernmost ones are as slender as a bottleneck and are called Chaoyang Lake, Qingxi River, and Qiupu River.
Three rivers converge on the riverside, less than a hundred meters away from the Yangtze River. The water system is dazzlingly complicated. If it is difficult for merchants to travel during the weekdays, it is the best line of defense at this time.
There are roadless mountains in the south, vast lakes in the east, and rolling rivers in the north (the Yangtze River runs northeast to southwest in Chizhou). There are only two ways for the officers and soldiers to come here. They can fly in with wings or fill in the holes with thousands of lives and kill them.
It is impossible to grow wings, so if the officers and soldiers want to come over, they must pay a heavy price and lose the ability to continue going south. Moreover, Bai Wang is mentally prepared. Even if the officers and soldiers break through this line of defense, he will retreat to Chizhou City and Chizhou City Wall.
Although it is not very tall, it is surrounded by water. Yes, Chizhou City is surrounded by Qiupu and Qingxi Rivers, forming a natural moat.
With such a natural barrier, officers and soldiers who want to break through the city have to pay a heavy price again. After suffering repeated heavy losses, even the heavenly soldiers and generals will have their legs weak.
Fight, even if it turns Chizhou City into ruins and becomes a hell on earth, as long as it can stop the officers and soldiers from going south, it will be worth it. Bai Wang looked up at the sun. It was the hottest time at noon, but he didn't do anything.
He didn't even intend to let the people around him who were busy building fortifications rest, and he didn't even plan to start a meal for them. At the moment, there was a shortage of food, so one meal a day was all he needed to survive.
"Is there any news from Anqing?" Bai Wang got off the high platform and walked to the shade of a nearby tree, scooped up a ladle of cold water and filled it with water and asked the soldiers around him.
The day before yesterday, he had learned that the officers and soldiers had heavily surrounded Anqing but had not yet begun to attack. To be honest, he was not particularly worried about the officers and soldiers attacking the city, because the walls of Anqing City were so thick that there was almost no possibility of breaking through the city in one fell swoop. What he was worried about was the unstable morale of the troops in the city.
He was even a little worried that Cheng Niandong would be tempted to surrender after not seeing him for a long time, so he sent people across the river to Anqing to collect intelligence, but more people went and less came back.
The soldiers around him shook their heads: "Commander, we are going hundreds of miles to Anqing. The mountain roads are difficult to travel, the rivers are fast, and the officers and soldiers blockade is tight, so our people can't move that fast."
Bai Wang had a dark face and stopped talking. A few days ago, his original intention was to use the force of the young eunuch to weaken the opponent's morale, and then take advantage of the victory to break through Tongling City. In this way, he could break the siege of Anqing. Even if the officers and soldiers there refused to retreat,
However, after hearing the news, the rebels in the city will surely have a surge in morale and defend Anqing City.
But now... He was beaten up and retreated for more than a hundred miles, and there was no news from Anqing. Of course, he was very panicked.
"Commander, Commander!" the observation post on the high platform shouted. Bai Wang, who was taking a nap under the shade of a tree with his eyes squinted, turned over and asked, "What's wrong?"
"The officers and soldiers... are here." The lookout post swallowed and looked very nervous. Bai Wang climbed up to the high platform with a gloomy face and looked eastward with a telescope. Within ten miles, there were several groups of people running around, and he could see the skyline by the river in the distance.
A black line snaked towards him, and he couldn't help but let out a long breath. He knew that the main force of officers and soldiers was coming.
"It only took two days after the war to rush after him. This dog eunuch is not afraid of gnashing his teeth." Bai Wang felt a little confused. He looked at the officers and soldiers in the distance and was in a daze. He didn't even know when Yuan Sanzhong came to him. Hearing this
He sighed and then sneered: "He is in a hurry, but he can't afford it!"
Is Chang Yu anxious?
At this time, he was taking a rest with his subordinates under the shade of a tree by the lake. Kuang Ren had hunted some game and was grilling it, and the aroma filled the air. Chang Yu was leaning against the big tree, looking at the lake and laughing with Li Muchian, looking more like he was on an outing.
At noon, when the weather was hottest, the army behind found a shady place to rest, making fires, cooking, cutting grass and feeding horses, but there was no sign of impatience at all.
It was not until nearly dusk that the army of officers and soldiers came to the border and advanced to camp by Pingtian Lake. They either wandered by the river or looked around by the lake, which made the bandits very nervous.
Lu Daqi, Wu Sangui and other generals went to the break of Pingtian Lake and watched the water flow. They couldn't help frowning when they saw the water flow as fast as thousands of horses galloping. They also saw the complete fortifications of the rebel army on the opposite side, and they all had sullen expressions and remained silent.
However, while everyone was watching, the rebel army on the other side launched a sneak attack. A burst of arrows were fired at them, causing everyone to retreat. They wondered why the firepower was so fierce even though they were more than a hundred meters apart. After a closer look, they found that the rebel army was actually using a powerful crossbow.
, Lu Daqi was well-informed and believed that the bandits were most likely using foot-operated crossbows or divine arm bows, with a range of up to three to four hundred steps, even farther than the range of the Crouching Tiger Cannon.
When did the bandit army come up with this domineering thing, the news soon reached Chang Yu's ears and aroused his curiosity, so he started studying it with the generals.
The crossbow is actually an enhanced version of the bow, which has been around since the Qin Dynasty. During the Three Kingdoms period, Zhuge Liang also made a Zhuge Liannu, but at that time it was only a little stronger than the bow and arrow, and even had the same range as the bow and arrow of the Ming Dynasty. But by the Northern and Southern Dynasties
The period finally summoned the King of Crossbows, and that was the Bed Crossbow!
The bed crossbow is a powerful weapon comparable to artillery. The huge javelin it fires is not only as simple as killing enemies, it can directly attack the city. It has great destructive power on city towers and walls, and its range can be as far as three miles.
land!
In the Tang Dynasty, human power was replaced by ox power, improving flexibility and speed. It was not until the Song Dynasty that it reached a peak. In order to deal with the cavalry of the northern nomads, the foot crossbow and the divine arm bow (crossbow) were invented, and there were many more models of bed crossbows.
Both range and lethality have reached their peak.
By the time of the Yuan Dynasty, it may be that the Yuan people were too confident in their riding and archery and were not interested in these things at all, so weapons like crossbows began to decline. With the development of firearms, they almost withdrew from the stage of history. By the Ming Dynasty
Then they were replaced by firearms. The regular army no longer uses these things at all, leaving only some hand crossbows and a few improved crossbows. It's like who would add millimeters and rifles when there are airplanes and cannons? Yes, some people are using them.
As long as this skill is still there, it will still be useful. In the early days of the rebellion, Li Zicheng and others also relied on millet and rifles, and relied on knives and crossbows for close combat. However, they got better and better later. They also had the muskets and cannons that the officers and soldiers had.
, those backward long-range attack weapons such as bed crossbows were retired, but now they are seen again.
"This is not a bed crossbow, it should be a divine arm bow. It was popular in the Song Dynasty." Lu Daqi had encountered Bai Wang in previous years, so he was familiar with it: "This thing has a farther range than a bow and arrow. If the rebel army is prolific, it will be ineffective against us."
!”
Chang Yu just smiled. These days, just making a decent bow takes three to five months. The process of using this kind of crossbow is even more complicated and time-consuming. Chang Yu has also heard about the divine arm bow and uses it.
They are all made of synthetic materials, because the bow body made of a single piece of wood cannot withstand such great strength, let alone mulberry wood, even the mulberry wood bow in his hand cannot!
Therefore, he concluded that even if there were such divine arm bows in the rebel army, there would be only a few of them, but if they had foot-operated crossbows... it would indeed be a bit troublesome.
However, although the foot-operated crossbow is powerful, its range is not as good as the divine arm bow.
But the comparison of long-range suppressive firepower is range, so...
It was disrespectful to come and go without reciprocating, so Chang Yu immediately sent an order to Wu Weiying to fire a few shots at the other side, firstly to test the firing range, and secondly to destroy the opponent's prestige.
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To correct the geographical location, Chizhou is southwest of Tongling, not due south. The Yangtze River runs north-south in Tongling. Chizhou is northeast-southwest, so the Yangtze River is north of Chizhou City and Pingtian Lake is east of Chizhou.