In recent days, Bitatu, the leader of the Jiejiao tribe, has been in a very bad mood.
Who would have thought that an army of more than 200,000 people could not capture Luocheng, which was defended by only 30,000 people?
If Luocheng is a big city with walls as high as four, five, or six feet high, then the current situation seems acceptable. But the problem is, Luocheng is clearly an ancient city built by the Wei State in the early days of the founding of the People's Republic of China.
The city wall is only less than two feet high, so there is no need for a siege ladder. You can directly climb it with a human ladder.
Under such circumstances, an army of more than 200,000 people could not attack Luocheng, which is simply incredible.
However, although he was in a bad mood, Bilatu did not lose his mind due to anger, because he knew that the cause of the current situation was the repeated crossbows owned by the Wei army, which were specially developed for slaughter.
Weapons of war.
Bitatu's eyes couldn't help but look at the table in front of him, and he saw a special crossbow arrow placed on the table.
This crossbow bolt was picked up by his tribe on the battlefield. It was the crossbow bolt fired by the Wei army's serial crossbow. This crossbow bolt was as long as a person's entire arm and about as thick as an adult's finger.
The thick, triangular arrowhead with a pointed tip reveals a ferocious barb, making people shudder.
This is not a crossbow arrow, this is simply a short gun!
The Wei army's repeating crossbows were actually able to shoot crossbow arrows of such thickness, and their power was so powerful that people were stunned.
Recalling what he had seen on the battlefield, the bloody corpses of the slave soldiers who had been shot into sieves by the Wei army's repeating crossbows, Bitatu felt his stomach churning.
This is the difference between nomadic peoples and farming countries: due to the harsh living environment, nomadic people are generally very strong, which makes them accustomed to using their own force to participate in various wars, so they focus more on honing their own skills.
, such as archery, riding, etc.; for the Central Plains countries, let’s take Wei as an example. The people of Wei live in a relatively superior climate and environment, which makes the Wei people generally not as strong as the people of Sanchuan. Therefore, they choose to use
The way to strengthen one's own strength through external forces is to make better weapons and armors and make up for one's own shortcomings.
Looking at the countries in the Central Plains, almost all countries in the Central Plains focus on industry and metallurgy. They build city walls to defend the enemy, make repeating crossbows, and catapults to capture enemy cities. This emphasis on war makes every Central Plains country dare not fall behind.
China's industrial and metallurgical technology, because they understand the importance of tools.
Of course, this does not mean that the nomads are uncivilized savages. It can only be said that they believe too much in their own abilities and ignore the research on tools, which makes their industrial and metallurgical technology stagnant and gradually lags behind the Central Plains countries.
The bigger it gets.
Take the matter at hand as an example. Zhao Hongrun used 500 repeating crossbows and transformed them into a mere 250 repeating crossbows, thus putting the more than 200,000-strong army under Tatu's command in a dilemma. Isn't this strange?
In fact, if this matter were put to any knowledgeable Central Plains people, whether they are Koreans, Wei people, or Qi people, they would not be surprised, let alone the Lu State, whose industrial and metallurgical technology is second to none in the world.
But now, Bitatu has tasted the embarrassing situation caused by its own industrial and metallurgical technology being far inferior to that of the enemy.
It is undeniable that there are brave warriors in his tribe. These warriors have repeatedly defeated the warriors of the Hu people in the North. They are not only skilled in bows and horses, but can also shoot at the enemy at a distance of sixty or seventy feet. They are indeed superb warriors.
But these soldiers, facing the Wei army's 120-foot range, had no power to fight back. This is just like a short-handed dwarf fighting a tall man with longer hands: before the dwarf's fist can hit the tall man,
, he was knocked down by the tall man's punch.
…
Changing his sitting position, Bitatu slowly let out a sullen breath.
It has to be said that Ji Run, a young boy from Wei State, used five hundred crossbows to trick him around, which was something he did not expect.
Thanks to this incident, Bitatu did not dare to carefully recall how embarrassed and embarrassed he looked when he ordered the chiefs of the tribes who were attached to his Jiejiao tribe to let their tribesmen participate in building the camp.
No wonder, after all, before arriving at Luocheng, Bitatu took it for granted that he could easily conquer Luocheng with 200,000 to 300,000 troops. Therefore, when a certain clan leader suggested setting up a camp, he quite arrogantly said that it was not necessary.
It is unnecessary to do this. After conquering Luocheng, we can directly set up camp in Luocheng.
Unexpectedly, six or seven days had passed, let alone conquering Luocheng, he was actually harassed and teased several times by the opponent, which made Bitatu feel like a loud slap in the face.
Fortunately, all this has finally passed. The Jiejiao army under his command has retreated five miles and set up camp. Waiting to escape from the rainy weather in the past few days and find clearer weather, they can finally prepare to attack Luocheng again.
matters.
Just when Bitatu was thinking about what tactics to use to attack Luocheng, suddenly the tent of the felt tent was lifted up, and the young Jiejiao warrior Bosile walked in.
"The big patriarch." Bosile put his right hand on his chest and saluted, and said in a deep voice: "Outside the felt tent, there are several chiefs of small tribes who want to see the big patriarch."
"Huh?" Bitatu was stunned when he heard this, nodded and said, "Ask them to come in."
Bosile nodded and went out. After a while, he led three or four middle-aged people with somewhat sad faces to the tent again.
Bitatu took a closer look at the people coming, and then realized that these people were the chiefs of the small tribe who were attached to his Jijiao.
"What's the matter with you?"
During the questioning, Bitatu secretly recalled the tribal clan names of these clan leaders. However, there were too many of these clan members in small tribes with hundreds to more than a thousand people attached to Jiejiao.
Bitatu thought about it for a long time, but couldn't remember which tribe the other party was from.
"Big clan leader." A small clan leader bowed to Bitatu and asked hesitantly: "I don't know how long this battle will last?"
Bitatu frowned when he heard this, looking a little unhappy, and said in a deep voice: "If you have anything to say, just say it!"
Hearing this, the small tribe leaders looked at each other, and one of them gritted his teeth and said hesitantly: "That's it, the big patriarch... Four days ago, you asked us small tribes to be responsible for the food of the slave soldiers, well,
You also know that there are more than 200,000 slave soldiers... Our tribe just sent people to deliver the news, and all the wheat stored in the tribal camp has been eaten..."
Bitatu understood it as soon as he heard it, and his face became even more ugly.
Seeing this, a bit of fear flashed across the face of the little clan leader, and he quickly explained: "Big clan leader, our tribes only have two to three thousand clan members combined and tens of thousands of sheep. We cannot afford more than two hundred thousand."
Food for the slave soldiers..." At this point, he looked at each other and several other small clan leaders, and said hesitantly: "So we thought, if this battle is going to last for a while, can... can we
…”
"Can it be anything?!" Bitatu interrupted the other party with a face full of displeasure, and said coldly: "Are you going to break the promise you made a while ago, break away from my Jiejiao army, and return to your respective tribal camps alone?!...
…This battle is not over yet!!”
After being drunk by Bitatu, the heads of the small clans were trembling with fear, lowering their heads and not daring to speak.
Seeing this, Bitatu glanced at these people and said coldly: "If there is no food, aren't there still sheep?"
After hearing this, the little clan leaders who had their heads lowered invariably flashed a trace of shock and anger on their faces, and they tried not to show up.
It's no wonder, after all, the Sanchuan tribe regards the sheep as the wealth of the entire tribe. They regard the act of killing sheep as begging for food from the sheep. It has a rather cumbersome process, and it is not just about stabbing the sheep's neck with a knife to draw out the blood.
Once the work is done, they must first pray to their plateau god to inform them of the matter, then wash the sheep and remove the wool, and then recite an unknown prayer to thank the sheep for their generosity.
In this whole process, the people of Sanchuan would never use the words "kill" or "slaughter". They would call it a generous donation, which means thanking the sheep for dedicating all of it to the tribe.
In return for this generous donation, the tribe will eat any part of the sheep, including its blood, steam it and then burn it in a soup. Moreover, the sheep's hair, skin, horns, and bones, including
The stomach pouch and sheep bladder (bladder) will be made into corresponding handicrafts. Finally, the leftover materials that cannot be used will be properly buried in the soil, which probably means that the soul returns to the earth.
Because of this cultural custom, no tribe would slaughter sheep in large numbers. They believed that this would be disgusted by the gods of the plateau.
Therefore, when Bitatu said those words, the expressions of the small clan leaders immediately changed. They just dared to be angry but dared not speak.
"The patriarch."
At this time, Bosile reminded Bitatu in a low voice.
…
Perhaps realizing his gaffe, Bitatu took a few deep breaths and adjusted his emotions, but did not mention the matter just now, saying: "Childs, I will keep your tribe's contribution in mind.
, after the Wei army is defeated, the leader of this clan will reward you based on your merits, compensate you for your losses, and give you corresponding rewards... What do you think?"
Chiefs of the small tribes, look at me, let me look at you. After a while, one of them bravely said softly: "Head of the tribe, my tribe is so small and weak that I may not be able to help, but it will only harm the big chief."
It's a good thing... Our tribe doesn't want those compensations and rewards, we just hope that the chief of the clan can defeat the Wei army..."
This may seem like a nice thing to say, but in fact, it is nothing more than hoping that Bitatu will allow him to break away from Jie Jiao's army.
Therefore, Bitatu's expression darkened again.
But if you think about it carefully, these small tribes had to bear the food and consumption of more than 200,000 slave soldiers for four days. Even if they requested to break away at this moment, Bitatu could not say anything to them.
"Then... let me lend you some good words."
Bitatu smiled reluctantly.
Several small clan leaders left with great gratitude. Looking at their departing figures, Bitatu felt very complicated.
It was a complex mood of anger but helplessness, perhaps mixed with a bit of helplessness.
After a long time, Bitatu let out a long sigh.
"If I were defeated, the reason for my defeat would be that... the Wei army clenched their fingers into fists, but I, Sanchuan, were like a plate of loose sand."