The newly made hundred-handled repeating crossbow had not yet been painted with resin. Xu Mu couldn't wait to pick a hundred soldiers and began to try to operate it.
Compared with ordinary war crossbows, repeating crossbows are much heavier. According to Xu Mu's request, at least five crossbow arrows are stored in the crossbow gate of the repeating crossbow for continuous shooting.
A lot of performance was sacrificed in exchange for this continuous shooting weapon in the mountains and forests.
"Gouxuan Dao!"
After a hundred soldiers pulled the trigger, bursts of crossbow bolts shot forward.
"Lord, the range is a bit short." Yu Wen Ning spoke loudly.
"normal."
The range of a repeating crossbow is about fifteen feet to less than thirty-five feet, which translates into a distance of about fifty to one hundred meters in later generations.
If the iron arrow is replaced by a wooden arrow, the range may be longer, but the lethality will be greatly reduced. Xu Mu doesn't want this.
When fighting in the mountains and forests, there are too many shelters, so the only thing to consider is short-range killing.
"Yu Wen, what did the old man say?"
"The old man said that it will take nearly two months to prepare three thousand repeating crossbows."
Xu Mu sighed slightly. For a small force with no foundation like his, many things need to be accumulated slowly.
Three thousand repeated crossbows are the minimum requirement for conquering Shu.
"Yu Wen, you stay in Bailu County. I will go to Wolf Valley and come back in two or three days. If there is anything wrong, I will send someone to report it."
"Lord, don't worry."
Jia Zhou was not in Bailu County, so Xu Mu was still worried. Although Yu Wen had the talent of a general, he still needed time to grow.
"Bring the repeating crossbow."
Xu Mu got on his horse, took Si Hu and the other Baiqi, and the group hurried towards the Wolf Valley. The sky was dusk, and under the patches of red clouds, the bridge construction project in the Wolf Valley was still in full swing.
A Shunan general had a serious expression on his face and hurriedly walked closer before Xu Mu could stop his horse.
"General Xu."
"Tell me, how is it?"
"There are more and more tiger barbarians, and they have gathered three to four thousand people. My lord has brought six thousand people to quell the rebellion."
"how so?"
"I heard that the leader of Pingman was willing to join the Shunan Army. Several cave masters of Human were furious and joined forces to join the army."
Pingman, that is, the gentler barbarians, are often hired by the Shu people. And tiger barbarians are extremely cruel barbarians from the mountains.
Previously, Xu Mu sent people to send some food, grass, weapons and armor, and thus recruited a barbarian camp of 2,000 people.
"Burning and killing all the way, several villages on the southern border of Shu were all slaughtered." Pi Jiang's voice was hoarse.
"Stay here and don't let anyone get close to you. I'm going to go to southern Sichuan."
Although the built suspension bridge was much better than the plank road, it was still swaying, and Xu Jiajun, who had hundreds of horses, had to dismount and lead him.
We didn't have much time, and we were afraid something bad might happen in Bailu County. We had just crossed the hanging bridge, and before taking a breath, Xu Mu continued to lead people deep into southern Sichuan.
"Brother Mu, I see dead people every time I come here."
Even though he only came twice, what he saw twice was enough to make Xu Mu's eyes split.
The scalped corpses were hung on the branches of nearby trees. Many of them died of pain, with expressions of pain on their faces.
Along the way, the smell of blood made my nose hurt.
"Keep walking." Xu Mu calmed down.
Just after he finished shouting, General Feng suddenly started to hiss after running a few steps.
"Brother Mu, what's wrong?" Si Hu grabbed the double-edged ax angrily.
"There is an ambush."
Just waiting for Xu Mu to finish speaking, a long whistling whistle was heard all around the forest road, and densely packed bamboo spears were thrown out from the forest.
Seventy-eight people were stabbed in vital parts and fell off their horses and died.
"The shields are raised on the side, and the crossbows are raised on the middle row."
Ignoring the scattered war horses, under Xu Mu's order, nearly a hundred people immediately formed a shield and crossbow formation.
After all, it was not made of iron. After discovering that the bamboo spear could not penetrate the shield, there were at least hundreds of tiger barbarians in the woods on both sides, clamoring and picking up stone hammers and battle axes, and rushed towards the forest road.
"aim."
Unlike longbows, repeating crossbows focus on powerful shots, aiming at the target to kill. Moreover, crossbow weapons are easier to use than longbows.
As long as you are not a fool, just touching it a few times will be enough.
Fifty repeating crossbows, under the command of an accompanying captain, fired towards both sides.
Within a distance of thirty feet, before the tiger barbarians could rush closer, a large group of them fell down.
"Continue to aim, Gouxuan Dao——"
The capacity of five crossbow arrows is enough for several rounds.
The hundreds of tiger barbarians who had originally rushed in with a clamor fell back to the forest in shock after more than a hundred corpses fell.
"Go up to the crossbow gate." Without any carelessness, the captain shouted in a low voice.
Xu Mu had a sullen face, looking at the fleeing tiger barbarians, and the anger in his heart became even more intense. As Dou Tong said, these tiger barbarians in the deep mountains are just relying on their familiarity with the mountains and forests, like dormant evil tigers, jumping out from time to time to injure people.
people.
"Si Hu, come back."
Si Hu, who was chasing after him with a double-edged ax, heard Xu Mu's words and ran back with blood all over his body.
"Lord, there are eleven casualties and twenty-eight horses."
Hearing this number, Xu Mu sighed.
No matter how careful you are, if you can't completely kill the savage tigers that suddenly emerge from dormancy, they will eventually become a serious problem.
"Let the injured mount the horse first. Those who have no riders can share a horse."
This ambush proves the power of the repeating crossbow. Within a short distance, it should be a powerful killing weapon.
Encountering an ambush, when Xu Mu continued to move forward, he finally saw Dou Tong's army of thousands of people about twenty miles away.
They were setting up a simple camp at the foot of a mountain, waiting for an opportunity.
"Lord?" After hearing the announcement, Dou Tong came out of the Chinese military tent in surprise and walked towards him.
"Dou Tong, how's the matter?"
"Something is wrong. The leader of the two thousand barbarian army was captured by these people?"
"On the mountain?"
"It's on the mountain. This is the only mountain pass. Unless those tiger barbarians dare to jump off a ten-foot-high cliff. Lord, I'm worried that the leader of the plain barbarian army is missing."
"How many tigers are there in the mountains?"
"After a wave of killing, more than a thousand people were beheaded. I estimate there are at least two thousand tiger barbarians left."
Dou Tong looked anxious, "Lord, you don't know. Those tiger barbarians are like madmen. I am worried that the leader of the Pingman camp will be humiliated and killed, and the morale of the Pingman camp will be lost. In this way, this excuse
The matter with the barbarian soldiers will be considered a failure."
Xu Mu also frowned. According to what he and Dou Tong had originally thought, at least three thousand barbarians could be recruited to help attack Banan County.
If these barbarians are used properly, they can be a powerful mountain and forest army. Maybe one day they can capture Banan and take control of Shuzhou, and they will be relied upon for important purposes.
"Dou Tong, don't worry too much. Barbarians value strength and will not give in easily."
"Lord, then, the leader of the Pingman Camp is a barbarian lady."
Xu Mu turned around and was startled.
"After her husband was killed by tiger barbarians and her son was underage, seeing her tribe being bullied, she first became the cave master and befriended Shunan. Everyone in the two counties in Shunan who knew her called her Mrs. Luanyu