I am not Yuan Shu

Chapter 260: Failure to cheat
Of course, not all rebel soldiers cannot eat meat.

There are also soldiers who can eat meat, such as those elite bodyguards who can hold weapons and monitor the big-headed soldiers.

They were holding the legs of unknown animals in their hands and tearing them into big bites, drinking the broth in big gulps. The greasy mouths made many rebel soldiers stare in amazement.

But most soldiers only get a bowl of broth. If they are lucky, they can get one or two small pieces of meat to eat and taste the meat flavor that has long been in their blurred memory. In addition, there are steamed cakes and pickled vegetables.

But for them, this is already a very good New Year's Eve dinner, which they couldn't have before!
The aroma of meat from the Han army camp drifted to the top of the city wall with the wind. The rebel soldiers covered their stomachs, feeling longing, sadness, grief and hatred.

The content of the Han army's shouting kept circling in their minds, and the voice became clearer and louder.

The last day of the first year of Zhengshi passed like this. On the first day of the second year of Zhengshi, the Han army launched round after round of attacks on the city walls with full spirit, and the rebels could only put up a hopeless resistance.

What was even more terrible was that the rebels from top to bottom had never expected that on this day, the craftsmen summoned by Yuan Shu from Liangzhuang in Luoyang had already arrived. After their arrival, Yuan Shu treated them to a big meal, and then they had a good sleep to restore their strength.

On the second day of the first lunar month, they started working.

They first restored the parts they brought, and restored three human-powered trebuchets and one counterweight trebuchet that afternoon. Then they started to rush the production of new products.

Yuan Shu called generals such as Duan Xing to his barracks and showed them the siege weapons he had brought.

"Is this the trebuchet?"

Duan Yu stood in front of a human-powered catapult, looking up and down at this wonderful device.

"I've read about it in military books before, but I've never seen it with my own eyes. Zijia, how did you come up with the idea of doing this?"

"During the three years of mourning for my teacher, I also read military books and saw relevant records. I was curious and asked someone to make it."

Yuan Shu smiled and said, "This machine is manpower-operated. It requires many people to hold the traction rope and work together to throw the stone bullet out. In the pre-Qin and Warring States periods, armies from various countries would use this device to attack cities when competing for supremacy in the Central Plains. It also triggered a major change in city defense."

Having said this, Yuan Shu pointed to the counterweight trebuchet.

"This one doesn't require human operation. It's an improvement I envisioned based on this human-powered trebuchet. It uses pre-installed heavy objects instead of human labor, which can reduce the demand for manpower, and can throw heavier stone bullets, and the range will be relatively longer."

Duan Xing and many other officers walked around the four machines, looking left and right, up and down, marveling in amazement.

The next step was the experiment. Yuan Shu called in technical craftsmen to guide his soldiers. After a brief drill, they operated a human-powered catapult to throw the 40-pound stone bullet in the net bag out at a long distance and with a loud noise.

Everyone who saw it was amazed at the tremendous power of the catapult.

"I'm afraid it's about 200 steps long. It's as good as an ordinary bow and arrow, but slightly worse than a strong crossbow."

Dong Xuan, who came to watch, was surprised and said, "The rebels lack archers and crossbowmen, so it is difficult to threaten the catapults. If we can build enough catapults under Puyang City and throw huge stones together, how powerful would it be?"

Fan Li, who was standing next to Yuan Shu, couldn't help but sigh: "Even if it doesn't kill many people, seeing this huge rock flying over will scare them to death. For a city, this is really a powerful weapon! Why hasn't it been deployed before?"

“Because I don’t need it.”

Yuan Shu smiled and said, "The enemies of the Han Dynasty before were all Qiang people, Xiongnu people, and Xianbei people. How could these people have such a large city for us to attack? They are guys who come and go without a trace, so we naturally have to use cavalry to deal with them. The Han army has not fought a serious large-scale offensive battle for at least 180 years, right?"

Upon hearing this, Duan Xing and the other generals nodded, thinking that what Yuan Shu said made sense.

It was indeed useless before, but now...

Seems like it could come in handy.

Then, Yuan Shu demonstrated to them the power of the counterweight trebuchet. The craftsmen operated it personally, and with a loud bang, a stone bullet weighing about 50 kilograms was thrown out and hit the open space not far away.

"This... is probably about three hundred steps away! Most powerful crossbows are inferior to it!"

Fan Li was surprised and said, "If this can be deployed to the entire army, then the rebels in the city will be beaten up and unable to fight back, right?"

Duan Yu clenched his fists, his face full of surprise. "Captain Yuan, if we win this battle, I will take the credit for you! Hahahahaha! Make more catapults as soon as possible! Train more soldiers to use them. This Puyang City is definitely in my hands!"

"Here!"

Yuan Shu accepted the order.

Afterwards, he mobilized more craftsmen in the camp to cooperate with the technical craftsmen he brought with him to make the catapults. He also arranged for soldiers who were good at learning to operate the two types of catapults, and they started working in full swing.

On the other hand, Duan Xing no longer ordered his soldiers to scale the city walls in a rush, but instead slowed down the offensive and only allowed his soldiers to shoot into the city from the earth walls, allowing other soldiers to rest more and conserve their strength, waiting for more catapults to be completed before launching a general attack on Puyang.

On the fifth day of the first lunar month in the second year of the Zhengshi reign, Yuan Feng dispatched officials in the name of the emperor, bringing cattle, wine and other valuables as rewards for the army, as well as an inquiry document to the commander-in-chief Duan Xing, asking Duan Xing about the specific situation of the battle and the estimated time to end the war.

At the same time, Yuan Shu received a reply letter from Yuan Feng in a private capacity in the military camp.

In the letter, Yuan Feng expressed that he could understand Yuan Shu's decision not to let his soldiers massacre the city, and he had no objection to it. As long as the situation on the front line permitted, it would be fine to do so. However, as for rewards and the like, the court's finances were in a difficult situation, and he was afraid that it would not be able to come up with all the money.

Give him one third of support at most.

He needs to figure out the remaining two thirds himself.

If there is no other solution, then we can only accept the fact of the massacre.

Yuan Feng believed that from the perspective of the imperial court, allowing soldiers to make money on their own was definitely beneficial. Yuan Shu had good intentions and wanted more people to survive. As a father, he was of course pleased, but sometimes, one should not let a woman's kindness affect the overall action.

After reading the letter, Yuan Shu sighed.

Yuan Shu said that he supported his actions, but deep down he probably disagreed. He did not think that Yuan Shu's actions would bring much benefit, but he expressed his support and was willing to provide some financial support because he did not want to oppose Yuan Shu.

But most of the responsibility still needs to be borne by Yuan Shu himself. I guess they want Yuan Shu to pay for his own actions.

As expected, now that I am an adult, it is no longer convenient to cheat my father.

As an adult man, I no longer have any legitimate reason to continue cheating my father.

Yuan Shu suddenly felt a little regretful and thought that he should not have performed the coming-of-age ceremony so early. If it was three years later, he could still openly cheat his father for three years. Wouldn’t that be great?

But now that things have come to this, I can only dig the hole and bury it myself. I have to pay the bulk of the money myself.

Yuan Shu put down Yuan Feng's letter, wrote another one to Lu Zhi, and asked Lu Zhi to prepare five-zhu coins, silk cloth, gold, silver, etc., and to officially distribute the money after the army returned.

Do what you say!

Afterwards, Yuan Shu did not continue to lead his troops to attack Puyang City, but often stayed in his own camp to assist the craftsmen in making catapults.

He can't make things, but he can provide off-site support. Whatever supplies they need, he can find them. He can arrange for food and medicine. If they want to conduct any experiments, he can gather enough soldiers and train them on how to use them. He can also sit in charge and require the soldiers to study hard.

During this process, the craftsmen told him more than once that it was possible to hastily make a trebuchet, but the quality was difficult to guarantee. The materials needed for a high-quality trebuchet were relatively expensive and time-consuming to make. The ones they made now could be used, but there was no telling when they would break down.

Yuan Shu was not too worried about this. As long as it could be used, it was fine. As for whether it would break...

Just keep working on it.

What is needed now is to use these catapults as soon as possible to give the rebels in the city a greater deterrent, so as to put an end to the rebellion within their ranks. At the very least, it can increase the possibility of the Han army's successful climb into the city.

Living people are not monsters or zombies. They can feel fear. As long as we make them feel completely scared, the effect will be better than killing them.

From the fifth to the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, a full ten days, Yuan Shu did not leave the craftsmen's camp except for going to the wounded camp to look after the wounded. He helped the craftsmen with production while supervising the soldiers in their operational practice. He divided one person into three and was very busy.

(End of this chapter)