Zhutian: Starting from the Space-Time Merchant

Chapter 14 Siege Equipment
The drums roared and the murderous aura filled the air.

Soldiers stood on the walls of the fort, looking outside vigilantly.

Wushuai Feng Dun heaved a sigh of relief. "I'm not afraid of the Jiehu attacking the city, but I'm afraid of their long siege."

The so-called dock is actually a large militarized manor.

After the Yongjia Incident, the north was filled with the smell of wild animals and the barbarians were rampant.

The people who had suffered massacre and enslavement could not bear it and gathered in forts to protect themselves.

The large dock is almost like a city, with high walls, deep moats, and all kinds of defensive facilities.

On the top of the city wall, the military commander and others echoed and praised General Wu for hitting the nail on the head.

"General Wu, Master Qin Chuang is here."

Hearing the report, Feng Dun frowned slightly. "He's not patrolling the fort, why is he here?"

Qin Lang's men were all cavalry, so they were not needed when defending the city.

The main task became to patrol the suppression fort to avoid internal unrest.

The sergeant responded, "Master Qin Zhuang brought Master Lin Jia with him."

Those who sell goods on the go are called merchants, and those who sell goods in towns are called merchants.

The one who does big business is the real boss.

When the Jiehu were besieging the city, Feng Dun believed that the forest roads could no longer transport grain into the city, and their importance was rapidly declining.

However, considering that they would still be needed after the Jiehu retreated, Feng Dun thought for a moment and said, "Let them come over."

When Lin Dao and nine personal guards who were also wearing armor came to the courtyard wall, there was a sudden cry of surprise from all around.

Wearing armor is not uncommon.

Feng Dun had hundreds of soldiers wearing armor.

But the armor worn by Lin Dao and others is very beautiful.

The machined products have undergone multiple industrial processing steps such as polishing, grinding and coloring.

That brilliant luster cannot be compared with that of handmade lamellar armor.

This appearance immediately attracted the attention of the defenders.

"Master Lin Jia."

Feng Dun smiled broadly and asked, "What are you doing here?"

The subtext of this sentence is, if you don't have anything to do, don't come, there is a war going on here.

Lin Dao understood.

He also smiled and said, "See if there is anything I can do to help."

"If there's anything you need, Marshal, please don't hesitate."

"That's thoughtful." Feng Dun nodded with satisfaction, but his eyes swept over the armor of the guards behind Lin Dao.

She is so beautiful! In the eyes of warriors, she is a beauty that can topple a country.

Come to think of it, such a wealthy businessman must be surrounded by well-equipped guards.

At this time, the Jiehu outside the city had already begun to attack the city.

The most popular method of attacking a city in this era was to drive the people to form trenches.

They captured civilians near the city as cannon fodder and drove them to clear the fortifications outside the city.

When the Later Zhao army arrived, most of the Qihuo soldiers outside the fort fled into various large and small forts, or scattered in all directions.

But some of them were still slaughtered and arrested.

Driven by the Jie cavalry, these captured people ran towards the fort crying.

They carried sacks of earth on their backs, filled trenches, pulled antler fences, and destroyed various defensive facilities outside the city.

Feng Dun had a calm expression, but his mouth, at a temperature of thirty-six degrees, uttered words as cold as ice.

"shoot!"

Strong bows and crossbows shot out and killed the beggar soldiers outside the city.

Arrows flew, nailing many people to the ground one after another.

Seeing Lin Dao's expression of pity, Feng Dun consoled him, "It would be worse than death for them to fall into the hands of the Jiehu. It would be better for them to escape early."

'I'm not pitying these people!'

Lin Dao complained in his heart, but nodded and smiled, "I'm sorry to have embarrassed you, Marshal."

What he was thinking was that if the siege force was limited to this, then even if tens of thousands of people died, there would be no way to take the city.

Coming to this courtyard wall that is as strong and spacious as a city wall is also to observe the battle situation closely and find out what supplies are needed to influence the battle situation.

Soon, as the outer city defense facilities were destroyed and filled in, the siege intensity suddenly increased.

A large number of Jie cavalry came roaring.

They were organized into teams of ten, connected end to end.

He rode his horse with skillful riding skills and galloped around the fort.

The strong bow and heavy arrows in his hand shot at the city wall one after another, hitting the defenders as accurately as a poisonous snake.

Defenders were shot one after another, and screams were heard everywhere.

The archery skills of these Jie cavalry were extremely accurate, and almost every arrow hit the target.

Sun Dalang brought several guards and walked forward quickly with riot shields in hand, protecting Lin Dao behind them.

Lin Dao, who was experiencing war in the cold weapon era for the first time, was not afraid.

He was just surprised that "these barbarians are so accurate in shooting."

'Puff puff! ’

Several sharp arrows flew in succession and hit the riot shield in front of Lin Dao.

Sun Dalang, who was holding a shield in both hands, swayed a little.

Lin Dao took the sharp arrow and looked at it. He could feel its heavy weight as soon as he touched it.

"This is a heavy arrow."

He immediately thought that the most famous dynasty in history for using heavy arrows was the Jin Dynasty, which destroyed the Northern Song Dynasty.

But that was eight hundred years later. Was the level of technology during the Eastern Jin Dynasty already so advanced?
"These are Shi Hu's imperial guards."

Qin Lang drew his bow and arrow, and shot down several riders outside the city in succession, causing the surrounding defenders to cheer.

The morale of the defenders was greatly boosted, and they fought back with powerful bows and crossbows, shooting down dozens of cavalrymen in succession.

From the distant Later Zhao camp, the sound of gongs and drums could be heard. The Jie cavalry and cannon fodder retreated like a tide.

Qin Lang then explained, "These guards are carefully selected, with superb riding skills and the ability to use strong bows."

"The trenches and antlers outside the city are used not only to defend against engineering equipment but also to stop these flying cavalry."

Lin Dao, who was experiencing war in the cold weapon era for the first time, was still in the learning stage.

Just watch and don’t talk, study hard.

Normally, people in the modern world have no use for this knowledge.

The forest trail is probably the only exception, and I think it will be used frequently in the future.

Qin Lang looked at the Hou Zhao army camp in the distance, his eyes full of worry.

"There's no need to worry too much about the flying cavalry not being able to reach the city."

He gripped the bow tightly in his hand and pointed to the distance, "The real danger is the engineering equipment over there."

Lin Dao looked in the direction he pointed.

In the distance, I saw a large number of craftsmen and laborers rushing to make tools of various sizes.

"That wooden cart with a long pillar standing on it, about 20 to 30 feet high, is a nest cart. There's a person hidden on top, used to spy on the city."

"Those four-wheeled wooden carts on the side, the ones covered with cowhide, are carts. They can block arrows and falling rocks, and are used to protect people as they get closer to the city walls."

"The iron chain hanging from the battering ram is a battering ram, used to ram the city gates."

"Those big guys nearby have several pairs of wheels on their bases, and on top of them are folding wooden ladders with grappling hooks. They're ladder trucks. You can get close to the wall, fix the grappling hooks, and then use the ladders to attack."

"And those bases over there are wheels, and above them, several feet high, are wooden railings covered with cowhide. They are the well guardrails. Archers stand on them and can fire at the defenders."

Lin Dao listened carefully and gained a lot of knowledge.

In the past, his only source of information about sieges in the cold weapon era came from scenes in movies and TV dramas where soldiers carried ladders to attack cities.

There are only ladders in movies and TV shows because they are the cheapest and most convenient.

Real siege equipment, even if it is just a prop, is worth a lot of money.

The audience can’t tell anyway, so just fool them and everyone can split the money.

Only then did I realize that when actually attacking the city, there were almost no ladders. All they had were huge things that were several feet tall.

"I think it will be ready in a few days."

Qin Lang gritted his teeth and said, "That's the moment of life and death."

"How about destroying it in advance?" Lin Dao suggested, "Send people out of the city and burn all these siege weapons."

"Ha~~~" Qin Lang laughed, "It's not that easy."

"The other side is heavily guarded. Only elite soldiers are allowed to approach."

"Even if we get close, what can we burn with?"

The earliest record of using petroleum water to burn siege equipment did not appear until several decades later.

Nowadays, ordinary torches are almost useless when facing those big guys covered with cowhide and iron sheets, or even painted with tung oil to prevent fire.

"I have a plan." Lin Dao replied with a smile, "Come to my yard tomorrow."

In this era, there is a lack of attached burning materials.

Faced with siege equipment that had a lot of fire prevention measures, there was a lack of means to destroy it.

But in the modern world, there are so many things that can deal with these big guys.

Back in the yard, Lin Dao took off his armor, went back to the house and returned to the modern world.

Purchase several barrels of gasoline in the name of the company.

Go to the supermarket and buy sugar.

At the snack street, I bought more than a dozen boxes of snowflakes and put them in a tricycle.

I bought scrap rubber products from the scrap yard and took them home to have them cut into pieces.

Bringing all the supplies to Yonghe Time and Space, Lin Dao greeted Sun Dalang, "Give me some wine today~~~"

The guards were very grateful and lined up with their pottery bowls in their hands.

Lin Dao opened bottles of Snowflake and poured them into the guards' ceramic bowls.

"You're welcome." He waved his hand proudly, "Keep drinking!"

These days there is not enough food to eat, and a huge amount of grain is needed to brew alcohol. Ordinary people don’t even have the chance to smell it.

Lin Dao asked the guards to keep drinking. For the alcoholics, he was like a reborn parent.

"The master has been very kind to us." The guards were deeply moved when they saw that the wine and drinks given by Lin Dao were all packed in expensive glass bottles.

The fine wine that can be packaged in a priceless glass bottle must be a rare and exquisite wine.

"Master." Sun Dalang spoke on behalf of the guards, "This wine is better than the one that irritated my throat before~~~"

There are actually not many people who really like high-proof liquor.

The taste of the ancients actually preferred low-alcohol drinks such as rice wine.

"Come here, everyone." Lin Dao called to the women, "Wash these bottles first."

The women were very careful when washing the bottles.

After all, these are priceless glass bottles.

The shape is exquisite and the crystal clearness is so beautiful.

If I accidentally break it, even if I chop myself into pieces it won't be enough to compensate for it.

Lin Dao took out the oil bucket, inserted it into the bottle and poured gasoline.

"Get a spoon." Lin Dao instructed Jinlian, "This packet contains sugar. Add three spoonfuls of sugar to each bottle."

"Sun Rong." He pointed to the rubber fragments beside him and instructed Sun Rong, "Use scissors to cut them into rubber blocks. Put three pieces in each bottle."

Everyone was watching out of curiosity.

Many people thought, "This strange-tasting water, coupled with expensive sugar and these strange things, could it be the secret recipe for brewing fine wine?"

Some people even want to have a taste.

Fortunately, Lin Dao stopped him in time, otherwise he would have to swallow soapberries and have his stomach washed.

Put the things in and plug it with cloth.

After more than a hundred bottles were packed, Lin Dao stood up and instructed, "Find a room to put them away."

"Remember, absolutely not allowed to touch it, and certainly not allowed to get close to the fire!"

PS: I would like to thank my book friend Syman for his 500-point reward support. I am very grateful. Thank you~~~
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(End of this chapter)