The rainy season in Mexico starts softly, like a young girl. The sun hides behind the thin clouds, dyeing the sky into a light golden color. The continuous drizzle sprinkles in the faint sunshine, turning the trees
and green grass, soaked in verdant green.
The water mist on the riverside was filled with hazy smoke, and several small boats came out of the misty rain, making gentle ripples on the river. Seeing this scene, Shulot couldn't help but recall and long for the distant place.
Jiangnan water town.
Two weeks have passed since the meeting with the envoys from Hilotepec City. Although the chief commander dropped his harsh words, it will still be a year before the cruel words are realized. The nobles of Hilotepec, and
Time was spent hesitating, quarreling, looking forward to reinforcements from the western allies, who didn't know when they would arrive.
At this time, Shulot was in the forest by the river, instructing some carpenters and laborers, using rough stone axes and wire saws to laboriously cut down the hard rosewood.
This slightly concave rosewood is an extremely excellent mahogany, which can grow to a height of twenty to twenty-five meters. It has a hard texture, beautiful texture, clear tone, and a light fragrance.
In later generations, it was generally used to make high-end guitars and high-end furniture, and every inch of wood was valuable. But now, Shulot is planning to use it to make a catapult.
With the help of a senior carpenter, he has completed the design of the human catapult: it is a fixed trapezoidal gun mount, four to five meters high, almost the same as the city wall. A slender gun tip used as a lever, the length is temporarily set at eight meters
, the top is connected to the ammunition bag, and the bottom is connected to the rope pulled by people. There is also a gun shaft placed horizontally on the gun mount. The middle of the gun shaft and the bottom two meters of the gun tip are tied together with sisal rope.
In this way, when the gunner pulls the rope, the two-meter short axis of the cannon tip drives the six-meter long axis. The cannon axis is on the stand to keep the rotation stable, and the rocks at the top are launched out, bombarding the distant city-states in a parabola.
However, reality is not always smooth sailing. When the design was implemented into the actual object, Shulot encountered the first problem: the gun shaft and gun tip were under too much force and could easily break.
Shulot didn't understand the connection technology of wood reinforcement, nor the hardening method of wood. He could only come up with a simple and crude idea to use the best and strongest wood! When the carpenter heard about it, he recommended cocobolo.
Cutting this hard wood with a stone ax is like sawing a tree with a knife. So an hour later, when Avitt found Xiulote, he was still sitting on the stone by the river, watching the peasants working in boredom.
"By the way, can you get me some copper axes?"
"Bronze ax? You have to borrow this kind of excellent equipment from the Broken Hair Guards. They are the only ones in the camp currently who have it. Of course, the premise is that they are willing to lend it to you."
"Ha! Then I might as well ask the king for it."
Thinking of Totec, who had broken hair, wrinkles, and a rock-like face, Shulot felt a lot of pressure.
"At least the king must look good and be easy to talk to!"
Avitt laughed "haha" without comment.
"Xulot, I have business to come to you today. Put down the big toys you have. There will be a battle in the next few days. I have applied to the king and will take you to watch the battle... We have to leave tonight
!”
"What battle? Wait, what toy? I'm making a catapult, an epoch-making siege weapon!"
"The battle to ambush the Otomi people. Otopan's first batch of 20,000 reinforcements has been setting out for a week. Soon, they will reach the ambush range of the elite army. Hmm...beyond the times? Waiting for you
Let’s turn the big toy into a usable weapon!”
"Then...when did the Legion set up the ambush?"
Shulot thought for a while, thoughtfully.
"Are they the group of warriors who disappeared a few days ago?"
"Not bad! Hey, when did you see it? It seems that this legion's actions are still not very cautious."
"Okay, I'll go! By the way, why did you suddenly think of taking me to watch the battle?... Avitt, you want to go to the battle yourself, right?"
Hearing this, Avitt smiled without saying a word, just pulled Shulot and left. Before leaving, Shulot even gave instructions loudly.
"Don't stop, you must cut down the rosewood trees in the next two days! If it doesn't work, just burn them with fire..."
Returning to the camp, Shulot took off his priest uniform and put on green leather armor and war robe. He looked full of energy. His delicate face had gradually revealed strong lines, and he became like a warrior.
The two of them rested and tidied up in the camp for a while. Then, accompanied by a hundred or so bodyguards, they walked around the city and headed west from the northern forest.
Marching in the mountain forests during the rainy season is difficult. It was difficult for Shulot to trek on the soft humus land. The sky was not visible above his head, the roots were tangled under his feet, and his body was soaked with rainwater.
However, this kind of difficulty is not at the same level as the tropical rainforests in the northeastern lowlands or the southeastern plains. The tropical rainforests in the rainy season are a nightmare for large-scale marches. There are swamps, poisons, miasma, water sources...everything
, both mean inevitable death.
After marching like this for two days, on the morning of the third day, the two finally arrived at the ambush legion's camp, a small platform behind a hill to avoid observation by enemy scouts.
The warrior camp maintained an orderly silence. Shulot looked solemn, and from time to time he saw jaguar warriors wearing tiger head feather helmets, yellow patterned leather armor, and carrying shields and clubs. They were obviously among the large army.
The elites are all lurking here.
Avitt took Shulot into the big tent in the middle. The commander in the tent, whom Shulot had seen before, was one of the commanders wearing a sunstone cloak. And the pattern on his back was that of a samurai war club.
picture.
"Praise be to the Lord God! Kasar."
Avitt smiled warmly and greeted the commander.
"What's the situation with Otomi's enemies?"
Hearing this, Casal just nodded and smiled faintly.
"There are 20,000 of them, from the Ottopan state. It is estimated that 5,000 are city-state warriors and 15,000 are village levies."
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! "There are only five thousand warriors? What's the use of coming to support with such a small number of people?"
"This support army is just a formality. Their march is very slow, only covering a dozen miles a day, and their scouts are deployed far away. They spend most of their time waiting for reports from their scouts. Their determination to fight is very questionable. I guess once they see
If the situation gets bad, they will retreat."
"In their familiar territory, the heavily armed warriors cannot catch up with these mountain people who are good at escaping."
Avitt nodded in agreement.
"Then what are you going to do?"
"We have eight thousand warriors. I am going to divide the troops into three groups and take the initiative to attack! If you come over just in time, the four thousand warriors will be handed over to you to attract attention from the front. After the battle, Barda will lead two thousand warriors to attack from the left wing.
And I took 500 elite Jaguars and 1,500 warriors, detoured to the rear, and launched the final blow!"
After Kasar said this, he waved his fist vigorously with murderous intent on his face.
After hearing the order, a strong warrior next to him smiled at Avitt. He was Barda. Judging from the patterns on his helmet and leather armor, he should be a hereditary noble in the Eagle Warriors.
Eight thousand versus twenty thousand, and the troops must be divided into three groups and attack at different times? Shulot's head was full of questions. Seeing the confident expressions on the faces of the generals in the tent, he temporarily suppressed his doubts.
Soon, the military meeting was dismissed and everyone returned to the camp. The warriors needed to rest in advance to accumulate strength for the next day's battle.
Shulot was lying on the officer's thatched bed. The tips of the grass had a natural smell and were slightly pungent. However, this soft straw bed was already much more comfortable than the floor beds of the warriors. Shulot relaxed his whole body and laid down
I raised my question to Avitt.
"Haha! Shulot, there is no absolute relationship between the combat effectiveness and quantity of the army."
Avitt chuckled and replied, also telling the common sense of war.
"The combat effectiveness of the army depends on the specific combat terrain and scenes, their morale and courage, and their physical consumption!"
"For example, a Jaguar warrior can easily fight against three ordinary warriors or ten village warriors before his physical strength is exhausted. And this is even more true in narrow terrain! However, in a siege battle, he can only
He can be regarded as an ordinary village warrior. Because a stone thrown by a village warrior from the city wall can easily kill him."
"And a village slinger can only be regarded as half a village warrior in close combat. If you give him enough firing time and shoot in an orderly manner, he can be regarded as an ordinary warrior. Once you occupy the advantageous terrain, in the mountains or
During the battle to defend the city, he shot and threw stones from a commanding position... He was even more lethal than the Jaguar soldiers!"
"In this field battle, there are only five thousand city-state warriors worth paying attention to. On a large-scale frontal battlefield, the village militias are more used to maintain the battle line, or to consume the opponent's spears and stones. Simple stone spears and
The wooden spears and crude skills limited their damage to armored warriors. The sparse shields and armor made them more vulnerable to harm. As for the low morale of the militiamen, they were prone to collapse in field battles."
"Actually, warriors, and only warriors, are the core of every city-state in the world! Witness the Lord God! Tomorrow's battle is not difficult, just for you to see the world and learn to be a commander... Shulot, sleep peacefully!