After cheering for a while, Wang Ben calmed down. He looked at the "Thunderbolt Fireball" and asked:
"General, if this thing can only throw two or thirty steps, how can it threaten the Huns' cavalry?"
Wang Ben got to the point of his question.
The Xiongnu cavalry fired arrows from a distance of more than a hundred steps, and it was rare for them to be even dozens of steps away from the Qin army, let alone twenty or thirty steps away.
If that's the case, wouldn't "Thunderbolt Fireball" only blow up itself?
Or is it just making some noise to scare people?
But of course it won't just be like this if Shen Bing will make it.
Shen Bing replied:
"First of all, when we retreat, the Huns cavalry will not pursue us too closely."
The reason does not require too much explanation. When the Qin army retreated, they only had to throw a few "thunderbolt fireballs" backwards... and the Hun cavalry chasing after them would be blown over.
In this way, there is basically no situation of "fighting, fighting, and not being able to escape, and not being able to escape". At least you can still escape if you want to.
Then Shen Bing added:
"Besides, we also have a three-bow bed crossbow!"
Wang Ben and everyone else couldn't help but said "Oh" and understood, and nodded in praise.
The answer is obvious. It is true that throwing by hand can only throw two or thirty steps, but this is not the case with the three-bow bed crossbow... Combine the three-bow bed crossbow with the "Thunderbolt Fireball", and it will be a grenade. Launcher, isn’t it a piece of cake to blow up the Hun cavalry a hundred steps away?
But it’s easy to say it, but it’s not as easy to do it as you imagine.
The first is the issue of ignition.
In ancient times, there was no such thing as carrying a lighter with you like today.
Or make the "Thunderbolt Fireball" into a string-like style like modern times...
Shen Bing indeed wanted to do this. The grenade's firing device was not complicated, but it was very difficult to mass-produce it in Qin Dynasty where productivity was still very low, so he could only put it aside for the time being.
The solution is to break the fire.
At this time, there were no huozhezi. To make a fire, you would use fire knives and flints... It would definitely not work to bring these things to the battlefield.
So Shen Bing also invented Huozhezi by the way.
The raw materials for making huozhezi are all readily available, which is paper... No wonder there were no huozhenzi at this time. It was very difficult to make huozhenzi without paper.
Add some flammable substances such as sulfide powder and sulfur powder to the paper, of course, spread it out in small amounts and evenly, so that the paper will become very flammable.
If you apply too much of this stuff, it will turn into a small tinderbox.
Then roll the paper into a ball and stuff it tightly into a small bamboo tube or wooden tube, first light it, cover it with a lid to isolate it from oxygen and extinguish it.
At this time, the paper roll in the bamboo tube still retains many sparks, and because the paper roll is added with sulfide powder and other substances, it is very flammable, but it cannot burn because there is no oxygen.
When you need a fire, just take it out and blow air gently, and the fire will quickly rekindle the fire.
It is said that this thing was very expensive in ancient times, and only wealthy people could afford it.
Shen Bing guessed that it might be because paper was more expensive in ancient times.
But this is nothing to Yunzhong County. Each soldier has one, and the cavalry can even tie it to their chest. If they need it at any time, they just need to take off the cover on the horse... and it can be used to light the guide of the thunderbolt fireball. Fire cord.
When this thing was made, it made Wang Ben and others extremely happy. It was even more strange than seeing gunpowder:
"General, how come such a good thing has to be made now?"
"This thing is interesting, but you can hide the fire in the bamboo tube and blow it on!"
"In vain, I used to use fire swords and flints to start fires, but now I have this..."
"Huo Zhezi!" Shen Bing explained.
"Fire Zhezi! What a name! With this thing, you can ignite fire at any time!"
The ignition problem is easily solved.
Then there is the issue of the three-bow bed crossbow.
There is no problem with the three-bow bed crossbow itself, and it is no problem to combine it with the "Thunderbolt Fireball". If it doesn't work, just tie the "Thunderbolt Fireball" to the iron crossbow arrow.
The problem is that the three-bow crossbow is a heavy equipment used by infantry and is not suitable for cavalry.
The cavalry cannot drag a three-bow crossbow with several horses and then set it up urgently when it is needed.
In fact, this is not necessary. The reason is that the three-bow bed crossbow has excess bow power for the "Thunderbolt Fireball"... The three-bow bed crossbow can shoot an iron crossbow weighing dozens of kilograms more than a hundred steps, while the "Thunderbolt Fireball" only has Ten jin (about five jin).
So using a three-bow bed crossbow is obviously a waste.
What Shen Bing did was to make the three-bow bed crossbow smaller... to be precise, it was not a smaller crossbow, but a fixed crossbow designed for chariot soldiers.
For crossbows, the chariot is a very good and mature platform, and its speed is comparable to that of the cavalry.
If we talk about disadvantages, it is that it has high terrain requirements and poor off-road capabilities.
But this problem is almost negligible in areas where the Hetao Plain is either grassland or desert.
Considering this, Shen Bing directly modified the tank with the spirit of reuse.
This is just like modern equipment that is often modified from the chassis of some tank to an assault gun. As long as it is suitable for the battlefield, there is no need to redesign it, especially equipment that soldiers are familiar with, because this even saves training.
For example, Shen Bing uses chariots...the organization of each chariot can be retained, and the driver's responsibilities are even the same.
Then all the right-hand halberd and left-hand archers are useless.
A bracket is erected in the middle of the tank, and a crossbow is set up on the bracket. The crossbow can be rotated, just like a machine gun is attached to the jeep.
Moreover, this crossbow is also a step crossbow, which means you can fire the crossbow by pressing the pedal below.
The reason why you need to use a crossbow is because this way of firing the crossbow is faster and you can use your own weight... If you use an arm to open the crossbow, you can't fire the crossbow while observing the enemy and turning the crossbow body to the target. Use your hands and feet to save time.
The two people on the chariot were a crossbowman and a loader.
The loader is responsible for loading the "Thunderbolt Fireball" onto the crossbow body and lighting the fuse. The crossbowman is responsible for firing the crossbow and aiming. Then with a "soar" sound, a "Thunderbolt Fireball" soars into the air and takes off to a distance of 120 steps... ...a full twenty steps farther than the Huns' cavalry and shooting range.
Wang Ben felt relieved after seeing this equipment. He confidently said to Shen Bing:
"General, with this crossbow and the 'Thunderbolt Fireball', we can drive the Huns out of the Hetao!"
The only problem is that Shen Bingzhi has no tanks...
This can be said to be Shen Bing's mistake. He always thought that tanks were a unit that was about to be eliminated, so he had no equipment.
What Shen Bing didn't expect was that he didn't dare to equip saddles and stirrups because he was worried about the Huns, but if he didn't equip saddles and stirrups, it would be impossible to completely eliminate chariots.
It's too late to regret now.
Fortunately, training chariot soldiers is not very difficult.