At the end of Qin, I became a son of the plane

Chapter 167 Destruction and lack of shells

In the early morning of May 37, the 5th year of the First Emperor's reign, Xingyang City.

Qin general Zhao Rong led a group of generals to climb the city tower and saw hundreds of behemoths approaching the Xingyang city wall step by step under the push of soldiers, and did not stop until they were 300 steps away.

Each stone cannon is surrounded by busy civilians and soldiers. They inspect the stone cannon and transport the shells. They look like they are ready to go. The civilians in the distance have formed a long queue and are driving the baggage trucks to transport the stone shells. , the number of stone bullets popularized by light stone cannons is staggering.

"This is the stone cannon that came from Daliang. It is indeed much larger than the one in the imperial court." Zhao Rong said a little surprised.

Although he already knew that the rebels had stone cannons, it would be difficult to understand the power of this thing without seeing it with your own eyes. After all, the Qin army also had stone cannons. Although this thing was powerful, its firing frequency was too low. Basically, it is fired once every quarter of an hour, and a stone cannon requires dozens of people at least, or hundreds of rounds to operate. At this time, the Qin army only has 10 kilograms of live ammunition. It is difficult to rely on such a small thing to break the city wall. Not realistic. Among the various arsenals of the Qin Army, the price/performance ratio is extremely low. Only the Xianyang arsenal still has a few such antiques.

So when Su Peng sent a message saying that he should pay attention to the rebels' stone cannons, he was very confused. He couldn't figure out whether the stone cannons were useful or not, so what was there to worry about.

And now he has a good understanding of it. Da Qin's stone cannon can only shoot projectiles the size of a human head at most, but now the rebels' stone projectiles are 10 times larger, and its power can be imagined.

There were stone cannons outside the city one after another, and the number far exceeded Zhao Rong's expectation, not to mention the dense stone bullets under the stone cannons. Zhao Rong thought about these things in his mind and flew 300 steps away to hit them. Zhao Rong was so frightened by the Xingyang City Wall that he had goosebumps, and he didn't dare to think about the next scene.

"call out!"

"boom!"

The stone bullet once again drew a beautiful arc.

"call out!"

Hundreds of artillery shells hit Xingyang City. The sound of the impact of the artillery shells was like thunder, shaking the earth. The stone cannon hit the city wall. The bricks of the Xingyang city wall collapsed. The stone cannon hit the wooden watchtower. The watchtower immediately became a pile of ruins. The soldiers on the watchtower They screamed in terror, but they still fell down one after another and became the first batch of soldiers to die in battle.

Zhao Rong also wanted to continue to boost the morale of the officers.

One advantage of modern people is that they are well-informed. If the ancient generals had obtained such stone cannons, they would have ordered their soldiers to use them. They would not have cared about standardized shells or weights accurate to the kilogram. Hits were all based on faith. Stone cannons It's more of a deterrent tool for them.

"General, General, it is not safe here. I will take you away."

Zhao Rong quickly calmed down his inner emotions and said: "Come here, send the county governor to see a doctor!"

After speaking, Zhao Rong's personal guards pulled Zhao Rong and fled the tower, and other generals also followed and fled this terrifying hell, leaving only the Qin soldiers hiding in the corners of the tower.

As for the Qin army standing on the city wall, the scene just now was a nightmare. They could even feel the vibration of the city wall. A stone bullet was so powerful, and now there were hundreds of enemies. How long could Xingyang resist? The rebels entered the city, but they were still alive.

Thinking of this, the body of Wang Wen, the governor of Sanchuan County, shook involuntarily, and then his vision suddenly went dark, he felt dizzy, and he fell down on the tower.

"Cai~~~!" Tens of thousands of Han soldiers cheered loudly when they saw hundreds of stone cannons firing volleys. Dozens of shells hit the Xingyang city wall and destroyed a large number of Xingyang city defense facilities.

A storehouse full of long arrows.

"Dong, dong, dong!" The soldiers who beat the war drums also played the war drums with all their strength. In this way, they boosted the morale of the soldiers in the Shipao Battalion.

"Cum again!"

The reason why Xu Fan wanted to make standardized counterweights and stone bombs was to ensure the accuracy of the stone cannons. Otherwise, he would only be able to hit a few shells if he fired hundreds of cannons. This was not a waste of effort. There was no need to spend money on polishing the stone cannons and transporting the shells. manpower?

"Come here, help!" The soldiers around the warehouse were trying to save their lives one by one.

Qin Bo and several painters took out two 2-pound iron ingots from the stone cannon's cage.

They were not only cheering for Xu Fan, but also for the newly established Shipao Camp.

Han army camp.

The sound of war drums mixed with the cheers of tens of thousands of soldiers merged into a torrent, crushing the soldiers of Xingyang City. The morale of the Qin soldiers in Xingyang City dropped at a speed visible to the naked eye.

But at this time, there was another shrill roar coming from the direction of the rebels, and the huge roar was like a violent hurricane passing through the sky and the earth.

"Boom, boom, boom!"

Everyone was horrified to find that hundreds of stone bullets were fired at them.

Zhao Rong's words gave them some confidence.

Yingbu shouted excitedly: "Keep going and smash this turtle shell."

When Wei Wangjiu saw the future of hundreds of stone cannons firing volleys, he couldn't help but be shocked and said: "With these stone cannons, there will be no fortified cities in the world."

Tens of thousands of Han soldiers saw this scene and cheered, and the sound was so loud that it shook the heaven and the earth.

Although people have gone down, what just happened still makes the generals present feel panic. Just as the war started, they lost the county guard. This was an ominous sign. Originally, they had full confidence in the defense of Xingyang City, but the enemy's two artillery fire just now completely destroyed them. Destroyed their confidence.

After a round of shelling, the entire Xingyang City was filled with dust. Defense facilities such as arrow towers, low walls, and horse-faced walls were destroyed, leaving a dilapidated scene on the city towers.

"General, be careful." Zhao Rong's personal guards knocked him down and pushed him to a corner under the city wall. The other officers also took shelter.

A 300-pound stone bullet hit the Xingyang city wall.

Xu Fan observed the impact point and said loudly: "If you hit it far, reduce the weight by 100 kilograms!"

"boom!"

A stone bullet struck Xingyang in a graceful arc over a distance of 300 steps. The stone bullet flew over the city wall of Xingyang and entered the city.

Soon 5-6 Qin soldiers carried Wang Wen off the tower.

Indeed, Xingyang is the heart of the world and the granary of Meng Tian's 30-strong army. Neither the imperial court nor General Meng Tian can fail to save them.

The civilians and soldiers around the stone cannon were also busy quickly. Four civilians loaded the cannonballs, and a dozen civilians used the rope to pull down the long pole little by little and buckle it.

But Xu Fan understands that hitting depends on science and standardized components. Artillery can be used to shoot Zhuyuan, and stone cannons can also be made to a similar standard. In this way, as long as one stone bullet can hit the Xingyang city wall, the remaining stone cannons The hit range is roughly the same place.

The stone cannons manufactured by Xu Fan now are standardized products. Their long poles are about the same length, and the leather buckles are also about the same length. The iron ingots and stones in the cages are all of the same weight, plus the cannonballs of the same weight. In this way, the stone cannons The hit rate can be relatively high.

All the generals looked at Zhao Rong and asked what should Zhao Rong do?

Zhao Rong said calmly: "Xingyang is the center of the world. Neither the imperial court nor General Meng Tian will watch us being besieged. As long as we defend Xingyang, Da Qin's soldiers will come to annihilate the rebels below the city."

"Counter, Sheriff!" The officers around looked at this scene in fear, not knowing what to do for a moment.

Ji Xin, Chen Xiao, Deng Zong, Lu Chen and other generals also said excitedly: "Keep shooting and smash Xingyang's city defenses!"

A quarter of an hour later, 100 stone cannons were ready.

"咻咻咻" The stone cannon once again made a sharp and harsh sonic boom sound.

Hundreds of stone bullets rolled all the way with frightening power and hit Xingyang with the force of thunder. "Boom, boom, boom!" Xingyang City was filled with dust again. This wave of attacks once again destroyed 4 arrow towers, and 5 weapons depots under the city were destroyed. As for the low walls that had been destroyed, countless soldiers could not count them.

The 300-pound cannonball is like the god of destruction. Anything that stands in its way will end up in ashes. Only the city wall of Xingyang could withstand their power, but it was inevitable that bricks, wood and rubble would fly all over the sky. The buildings that were built at random on the city wall suddenly collapsed and fell to the ground.

Yingbu and other generals under the city wall laughed heartily when they saw this scene.

The devil they originally regarded as killing their own soldiers, now became Xingyang's weak point and a waste-like existence under the attack of stone bullets.

These fortifications are wooden structures that protrude outside the city walls and are more vulnerable to stone bullets. However, they are extremely fragile to stone bullets. As long as they are hit by a stone bullet, the arrow tower will be destroyed. They Now I am happy to see an arrow tower fall.

They all shouted: "Just hit these arrow towers and knock them all down."

Zhao Rong, who was staying in a safe zone, could only watch helplessly as the city defenses he spent two years building were being destroyed bit by bit by the enemy, but he couldn't think of any way to do it.

The Qin soldiers on the city wall could no longer bear the fear caused by the stone bullets, so they fled from the top of the city wall and hid in places where they thought they were safe.

"Don't run, get up here!"

Zhao Rong's personal guards held long swords and wanted to drive the soldiers up to the city wall. If there were no soldiers guarding the city wall, the enemy could scale the city wall with one charge. That would be their doom. So even if Zhao Rong's personal guards escaped, they Soldiers at the bottom were not allowed to escape.

Zhao Rong understood that driving them up the city wall in this way would only cause dissatisfaction and even rebellion among the soldiers. He said: "Stop driving them away. Arrange offensive spies to observe the enemy. Wait until the enemy's stone cannons stop attacking before going up the city wall."

Soon Zhao Rong felt lucky for the order he had given.

The Han army's stone cannon battery fired thousands of stone bullets, thousands of which hit the Wengcheng in Xingyang. The Wengcheng in Xingyang was newly built by Zhao Rong. It was just a city wall made of loess. Although it was strong, Zhao Rong also I didn't expect that this city wall would be attacked by 300 kilograms of stone bullets.

But the Wengcheng outside the city gate was the place that suffered the most intensive bombardment from the Han army's stone cannons. The Wengcheng, which was not as strong as the main city, cracked little by little under the bombardment of stone cannons. When it reached a limit, the wall of the Wengcheng to the east of Xingyang City collapsed.

Although Zhao Rong and others who were standing in the safe area did not see the situation on the city wall, they were all veteran soldiers. When they heard the sound, they knew that the city wall had collapsed.

Zhao Rong and others were dumbfounded as they listened to the sound of the urn city collapsing, and their faces turned pale for a moment. In addition to the deep fear in my heart, although Wengcheng is not as strong as the main city wall of Xingyang, it is still a city wall.

The rebels actually took only one day to destroy. Now even the officers who were confident in the defense could not guarantee that they would be able to defend until the reinforcements from the imperial court or General Meng Tian. The defending Qin army hoped to be completely defeated by the powerful stone cannon of the Han army. Destroyed.

"General, report to His Majesty the First Emperor, report the situation here to General Mengtian, and ask them to send troops to rescue us as soon as possible!" an officer said to Zhao Rong in a panic.

At this time, more than 3 Qin soldiers and civilians in Xingyang City saw the huge boulders in the sky that were like meteors. They were frightened and frightened. They were afraid that they would be mobilized by the general to go to the east wall. The powerful attack of the stone cannon completely destroyed it. Their morale, panic, fear, death and other emotions enveloped the hearts of every soldier in Xingyang City.

Zhao Rong stared at everything in front of him dumbfounded. The collapse and destruction of the various defense facilities he had spent two years building. The rebels seemed to be mocking him in this way. In front of Shi Pao, his efforts were not worth mentioning. .

Then Zhao Rong felt a surge of anger in his heart, angry that the rebels had destroyed the results of his efforts. He shouted with a hint of despair in his anger: "Order the crossbow battalion to counterattack, and use the crossbows with the largest range to counterattack."

As Zhao Rong's order was issued, the soldiers of the Gongnu Battalion were driven towards the city wall by the Qin army officers, and then fired in the direction of the stone cannon.

"Shhhhhh!"

Thousands of long arrows were shot out, but these long arrows only flew more than 200 steps, and were still dozens of steps away from the stone cannon.

The soldier immediately reported to the captain of the Qin Army: "Colonel, the enemy is too far away and our crossbows can't reach it."

Another officer also persuaded him: "The enemy is too far away. We are risking death by staying here. It's better to leave as soon as possible."

The captain said angrily: "You have to find a way even if you can't reach it. Why don't you fight if you can't reach it? Find a way by yourself!"

The captain of the Qin Army issued a death order.

The officers and soldiers below could only act foolishly. Even though they knew the range of the crossbow arrows, they still shot tens of thousands of long arrows at the Han army's stone cannons.

Seeing this scene, Xu Fan seemed to say: "What are you doing, sending us a long arrow?"

Chen Xiao sneered and said: "This is the idea that the Qin army in the city is still unwilling to give up and wants to fight. We must destroy their ideas."

Xu Fan thought for a while and said: "The stone cannon is used to extend the attack into the city and eliminate the group of archers."

As Xu Fan's order was issued, the hundreds of stone cannons began to slowly change directions, and at the same time replaced some lighter stone cannonballs to increase the shooting distance.

When all preparations were made, following Xu Fan's order, hundreds of stone bullets drew a beautiful arc, and the stones hit the place occupied by the Gongnu Camp in Xingyang City like raindrops.

The soldiers of the Qin Army's Bow and Crossbow Battalion were caught off guard. They were hit by stone bullets falling from the sky, causing their flesh and blood to fly everywhere. You must know that the stone bullet attack does not kill one person, but a row of people. It can be said that as long as the stone bullet rolls to where, what will happen? The place will be filled with blood and flesh.

Only a dozen of the hundreds of stone bullets hit the Gongnu camp, but they caused hundreds of casualties. The Qin soldiers wanted to retreat.

But the Qin Army captain just stopped him and said: "Don't retreat, continue to fight back!"

But at this time, the second round of attacks was coming, and the Qin army once again suffered hundreds of casualties. This time, the captain wanted to stop the Gongnu battalion soldiers from descending the city wall, but was directly stabbed to death by the soldiers swarming in. The remaining soldiers fled from this hell in a panic.

This once again gave the Qin army in Xingyang a shock. Seeing that it was getting late, Xu Fan immediately raised the gold and retreated his troops.

There was great joy in the operation of the Han army, and Yingbu and other generals of the Han army tried to please the giant Qin Bo.

Military generals like them will encounter too many things to attack the city. There is a more suitable siege weapon than this stone cannon, so now we should please the Qin Bo giant first, and when the stone cannon is needed later, They are also easy to mobilize.

Zhang Liang said: "The stone cannon is so powerful that the King of Han should seize the opportunity to pursue the victory. It is best to capture Xingyang within 10 days. Otherwise, my subordinates are worried that reinforcements from the Qin army will arrive and our army will fall short."

"Zhang Canjun is right, the nights are long and the dreams are many. Thousands of stone bombs thrown today are so powerful. Throw tens of thousands tomorrow. Bomb one city wall today, bomb all four walls tomorrow. Not to mention ten days, even three days will be enough." The city of Xingyang was destroyed."

Xu Fan smiled bitterly and said: "How can there be such a good thing as you think? Today, 3000 stone bombs were launched, which is already one-third of the inventory. If we continue shooting at this frequency, we can only shoot for two days at most. There will be no There are enough projectiles, and when the time comes, no matter how many stone cannons there are, it will be useless.”

Chen Xiao was surprised: "How come there are so few? Didn't we make a lot of preparations in advance?"

The other generals also looked surprised. Everyone couldn't believe that such a powerful weapon could only be used for two days at most?

"Stones are not everywhere. We send tens of thousands of people to look for boulders and knock rocks on the mountains. Then there will be cannonballs." Yingbu proposed a solution.

Qin Bo immediately explained: "To ensure accuracy, the stone bullets we project are not only about the same weight, but also individually rounded. Such stones are difficult to make. Although the King of Han has fired pottery bullets in the surrounding kilns, But it takes time and people to transport it to the battlefield. According to the current production capacity, it will take about 10 days before we can produce 2000 stone bombs every day."

Now these 1 stone bombs have been our production capacity for more than 10 days, and the entire army is already working hard. Moreover, we have already sent civilians to knock stones on the nearby mountains. Although these stone bullets are not accurate enough, they can also destroy the enemy's fortifications. However, without the standardization of stone bullets today, it would be difficult to achieve today's effect. .

Now I kind of admire the King of Han. You really have a long-term vision. You already knew that we would encounter this logistic problem. This is only 100 stone cannons. In the next few days, the number of stone cannons will increase, 200, 300, 400. We are afraid that the speed at which our army can manufacture stone cannons will not be able to keep up with the speed at which they can be fired. "

"What should we do?" After enjoying the effect of powerful weapons like stone cannons, they wanted Yingbu and others to risk their lives to fill in the enemy's fortifications bit by bit. They felt that it was not cost-effective. How many brothers would die.

Xu Fan said: "There are ways to fight with more, and there are ways to fight with less. We will not fight without stone cannons. In the next few days, we will save some use. While using stone cannons to suppress the enemy, at the same time Send soldiers to fill up and dismantle the Qin army's fortifications bit by bit."

(End of this chapter)