Since testing the weapon required a certain amount of preparation time, Zhao Hongrun and his team had lunch in Wang Fu's squad room at the General Administration of Metallurgical Engineering at noon.
After noon, a clerk came to report that the weapons for testing were ready.
Seeing this, Zhao Hongrun and his party, led by Wang Fu, left the city known as "Yecheng" and came to the plains outside the city.
At this time, in the north of Yecheng City, about five miles away from the city, a group of craftsmen from the Metallurgical Bureau were already waiting there, as well as a group of guards from the Metallurgical Bureau, numbering about two hundred people.
When Zhao Hongrun and his party slowly arrived at the test site on their mounts, two officials led a large group of people to greet them. They respectfully bowed to Zhao Hongrun and others: "Under the Smelting Bureau,
Chen Dan, deputy director of Yecheng, and Zheng Zhao, director of the Machinery Manufacturing Department, pay homage to His Highness Prince Su."
Zhao Hongrun got off his horse and helped these two talented people up.
Chen Dan and Zheng Zhao were both old men of the Metallurgical Bureau. The latter was recruited by Zhao Hongrun a year after he took charge of the Metallurgical Bureau. Chen Dan was even more remarkable. When Zhao Hongrun took charge of the Metallurgical Bureau, he
He has been in the Smelting Bureau for about ten years. In terms of seniority, Chen Dan is more senior than Wang Fu.
"Sir Chen Dan, you did a great job supervising the construction of Bolangsha River Port." After helping Chen Dan up, Zhao Hongrun couldn't help but praise Chen Dandao.
Among the old people in the Metallurgical Bureau, there are not many as nimble as Wang Fu. The vast majority are honest and introverted officials, and Chen Dan is a typical example of them.
Zhao Hongrun heard that when Chen Dan was supervising the construction of Bolangsha River Port in recent years, he moved his family to the river port and built a thatched cottage in the once barren land, where he provided food and accommodation.
It was precisely because of the inspiration of this wise man that the officials and craftsmen who were responsible for supervising the construction of Bolangsha River Port at that time followed the former's move and moved their families one by one to the foundation of the river port that was not yet completed at that time.
The "ten-year project" of Shahe Port has entered the final stage in just six years.
It is no exaggeration to say that the reason why Bolangsha River Port was built so quickly is inseparable from the hard-working officials such as Chen Dan.
Both Zhao Hongrun and Wang Fu felt quite relieved to have this person as deputy director in Yecheng - compared to the slippery Wang Fu, Chen Dan was a truly senior technical official with expertise in equipment making, machine making, construction, etc.
Although he is good at it, the only thing this person is not good at is probably dealing with other court officials.
Zhao Hongrun still remembers that when Chen Dan met him for the first time, he was obviously an adult in his thirties, but he was trembling in front of him. At that time, Zhao Hongrun just asked a few questions casually.
However, after overseeing the construction of Bolangsha River Port, Chen Dan is much more stable than before, but he still seems not very talkative.
After a few words of encouragement, Zhao Hongrun turned his attention to "Zheng Zhao", the director of the "Machinery Manufacturing Department" of the Smelting Bureau.
Weapon means ordnance. As the name suggests, Zheng Zhao is the official responsible for all war weapons, including but not limited to the research, improvement, supervision and manufacture of these war weapons.
Although this person has low qualifications and has only stayed in the Metallurgical Bureau for a few years, it is undeniable that this person is also the mainstay and technical officer of the Metallurgical Bureau.
While Zhao Hongrun was chatting with Chen Dan and Zheng Zhao, Jie Ziyu looked around curiously.
He discovered that there were two large weapons placed not far ahead. One of them he recognized as the famous "catapult" of the Smelting Bureau, but the other large weapon he had never seen before.
Just as he was raising his head to look at the unknown large-scale weapon several feet high, Zhao Hongrun had already led the officials and craftsmen towards this side.
After arriving at Jie Zizi's side, Zhao Hongrun also raised his head and looked at the unknown large-scale weapon, with bursts of excitement in his eyes.
Seeing this, Jie Zizi asked curiously: "Your Highness, what is this?"
"Ballista!" Zhao Hongrun replied with a little excitement.
"..." Jie Ziyu looked at Zhao Hongrun without knowing why.
In fact, during this era, the State of Lu had already developed a large-scale crossbow weapon, the "bed crossbow". As the name suggests, it was a heavy crossbow as big as a bed.
But soon, the "Bed Crossbow" was shelved by the Lu State. The reason is very simple, because the bed crossbow was too powerful. At that time, the only enemy of the Lu State was the Chu State. To deal with the Chu State's army wearing leather armor, even the skin
Lightly armored infantry without armor use heavy crossbows like bed crossbows, which is like using anti-aircraft cannons to kill mosquitoes.
The consumption is simply not proportional to the results.
Therefore, in the end, the Lu State developed the "Crossbow Box", a mechanical crossbow with a short range but fast firing rate, specifically used to restrain the Chu army's human wave tactics.
As for the bed crossbow, it is said that it was once used by the State of Lu to attack cities, but later after the state of Lu improved the "trebuchet (similar to a trebuchet, but cannot move)", the bed crossbow was completely eliminated.
There is nothing that can be done about it. After all, Lu's bed crossbow is like Wei's repeating crossbow, which is most suitable for dealing with heavy armored infantry.
Just like what Zhao Hongrun did when he faced Qin's Ge Dun soldiers in Hangu, hundreds of repeating crossbows were fired at the same time, making it impossible for Qin's heavy infantry like Ge Dun soldiers to even get close, even with the thick armor on their bodies.
, including the shield, were all shot by Wei's repeated crossbows.
Come to think of it, if the enemy of the State of Lu was not the light-armored and unarmored infantry of the State of Chu, but the medium-armored and heavy-armored infantry of the State of Wei, I believe that the State of Lu would not have chosen to eliminate the bed crossbow, a sharp weapon against heavy armored units.
.
The Metallurgical Bureau also saw the powerful weapon such as the "Bed Crossbow" recorded in "Lu Gong's Secret Records", so it decided to develop and improve it.
Of course, the purpose of research and development is not to use it to deal with heavy armored troops. After all, the Wei State already has Liannu (repeating mechanism heavy crossbow) in this regard.
The purpose of the Smelting Bureau's research into crossbows is to build the "ballista" that Zhao Hongrun calls before them.
"Everyone is in place!"
Following the order from Zheng Zhao, the director of the "Armor Manufacturing Department", the craftsmen of His Royal Highness Zhao Hongrun, who had been watching Zhao Hongrun just now, gathered around the two large weapons.
Seeing this, Jie Zizi asked curiously: "Are you going to test the power of this ballista by comparing it with a "catapult"?"
Zheng Zhao smiled slightly.
In fact, the name of meson owl is incorrect.
In the Smelting Bureau, catapults or trebuchets that can be moved are called "trebuchets", while those that cannot be moved are called "trebuchets". There is a difference between the two - except for whether they can move.
, the more important thing is the tonnage of the two.
Because the trebuchet needs to be convenient for soldiers to move, it is not suitable to be built very large, and most of the materials used are light wood; but the trebuchet is different, it sacrifices the mobility, the base tonnage is larger, and the throwing
The stone bullets are heavier and have a longer range.
The one in front of everyone at this time was a trebuchet. It was huge and heavy, but it was far more powerful than the trebuchets used by King Su's army.
"Your Highness, that's the target." Zheng Zhao pointed to the distance and signaled.
Zhao Hongrun squinted his eyes and vaguely saw that about two hundred feet away, there were two brick buildings, three feet high, covering an area of about four feet, about a hundred feet apart from each other, and they were bare without even a roof.
If nothing else, these two unusually similar brick buildings should have been built temporarily by craftsmen from the Smelting Bureau using bricks and cement, purely as testing targets.
"This distance... is two hundred feet, right? Can the range be two hundred feet? Have you tested it?" Zhao Hongrun asked with slight surprise.
Of course Zheng Zhao understood that His Highness was referring to the "Crossbow". After all, that trebuchet, with its tonnage, had a range of more than two hundred feet.
He shook his head subconsciously and said: "If it can't even reach a range of two hundred feet, then this crossbow is meaningless."
After saying that, he realized his mistake: this ballista was designed by His Highness Prince Su next to him.
However, Zhao Hongrun didn't have any objection to Zheng Zhao's words. After all, he also felt that Zheng Zhao was right. If the range of the ballista was not two hundred feet, it would be very disappointing.
You know, even the military trebuchet, which is one size smaller than the trebuchet, has a range of basically two hundred feet.
If the power and range of a siege weapon like a ballista, which completely sacrifices mobility, is not as powerful as a movable catapult, then this research and development would be considered a complete failure.
"Let's start, the trebuchet will come first." Zhao Hongrun signaled.
Zheng Zhao nodded and ordered the craftsmen to take the lead in operating the trebuchet.
As Jie Zizi watched with great interest, several craftsmen pushed a boulder as big as a millstone into the throwing basket. Then, several people worked hard to twist the winch connected to the rope until the thick throwing pole was tight and slightly
bending.
"That's enough, that's almost it." Zheng Zhao reminded aloud. After all, after the trebuchet is completely tightened, its range can exceed two hundred feet.
"put!"
Following Zheng Zhao's order, there was a roar, and the trebuchet's throwing rod bounced up, throwing out the huge boulder in the throwing basket.
It was vaguely visible that the boulder flew in the air for a while, crossing an arc like a crescent moon, and then with a loud bang, it collapsed most of a brick building in the distance.
"Okay!" Zhao Hongrun praised, stroking his hands, and then his eyes turned to the crossbow.
Under his watch, the craftsmen began to operate the crossbow. They placed a stone bullet weighing sixty kilograms into the ejection slot, and then began to twist the winch to correct the direction.
"Let it go!" Zheng Zhao ordered.
Suddenly, there was a bang, and the powerful torsion spring assembly ejected the stone bullet. Then, in the blink of an eye, the stone bullet flew over the brick building.
"Is the range more than two hundred feet?... Try again!"
Although this attempt did not hit the target, Zhao Hongrun was not disappointed. Instead, he was a little excited because the power of this ballista was more outstanding than he imagined.
"yes!"
Zheng Zhao nodded and signaled the craftsmen to try again.
After re-adjusting the angle, the craftsmen repeated the previous operations.
There was a loud "bang" sound, and the second stone bullet ejected, breaking the brick building in the distance in the blink of an eye.
After a sudden collapse, only a ruin about ten feet high was left of the brick building.
Seeing this scene, everyone nearby cheered.
Zhao Hongrun also showed a satisfied smile on his face.
Comparing the trebuchet and the ballista, it is obvious that the former is still more powerful, but the problem is that the landing point of the former is difficult to judge because it is a parabola with a large arc.
Despite the skillful operation of these craftsmen, this is because they have been dealing with these weapons all year round, but the new recruits in the army cannot master them in a short time, and often the landing point is either too far or too close, and cannot aim at the target.
In comparison, the arc of the ballista's firing line is shallow, which means that as long as it is aimed at the enemy's wall, it can hit the target with casual bombardment.
It is a pity that Wei State has ended its war with Chu and Han at this time.