Chapter 453 Hot Weapons Come to the Age of Cold Weapons
The soldiers who besieged Chang'an were the happiest when they were stationed in the west of the city, because there was a palace to live in. Although the Jianzhang Palace was in a semi-abandoned state, the various palaces were tidied up enough for 40,000 people, and the palace walls could be used for defense.
Measures to keep out the cold are the best.
The east side of the city is also good. The annex outside the city can be renovated and used as a garrison. Then some wind-proof walls and defensive measures will be built, and a large military camp will be built in no time.
There are advantages and disadvantages in the south of the city. Mingtang, Taixue, Piyong and the imperial ancestral temple are just outside the city. There are also attics and palaces for living. However, the residences will be scattered, which will test the general's dispatching ability, so Liu Xiang arranged Sun Jian here.
The worst part is in the north of the city.
There are two annexes outside Chang'an City, one in the east and one in the north. The annex in the north of the city is on the north bank of the Weishui River, facing Chang'an City across the water. There are three bridges connecting the three gates of the north city.
The northern city wall is winding and winding, and the distance from the Wei River is only three to five miles, which is not enough for camping. Therefore, the garrison in the north of the city can only be divided into three areas to control the bridge. The area that needs to be patrolled is very large. Xu Rong has rich experience in leading troops and understands the Liangzhou Army.
Therefore, he was placed in the north of the city.
In fact, there is no need to build new camps in the four camps. There are abandoned houses to live in, including the mansions of wealthy families. If they are renovated, the defense effect is not bad. The ability to keep out the cold is much better than tents. There is no need to dig the ground for cellars, which saves money.
A lot of time and energy.
Therefore, there is a lot of firewood cut down, and combined with the coal cakes shipped from Bingzhou, there will be no problem with fuel in the severe winter.
The construction progress of siege equipment has also been greatly accelerated. The general ordered that there is no need to build ladders and rams, which made the generals of each army very strange.
Liu Xiang rubbed her hands and walked out of the secret room, shivering a little from the cold. This was the place where gunpowder was prepared. If she didn't dare to light a fire to keep warm, she would be seeking death.
Not to mention the fear of having an open flame, the utensils inside are all made of wood, and there is not a single iron tool, just for fear of causing sparks when there is a collision.
He has prepared about 400 kilograms, and in order to burn it more fully, he has made it into granules and is drying it in the shade in the side halls on both sides.
"Is the elm wood I want ready?"
"It's ready, and the hollow has been drilled." Zhao Jing and Dian Wei, who were guarding the door, were shivering from the cold, but they didn't leave even a step.
"Let's go and have a bowl of ginger soup to warm ourselves up for a while, and then we'll go take a look." Liu Xiang was very anxious, but she couldn't stand the cold.
He wanted to make an elm cannon, a weapon used by our party during the Anti-Japanese War. Of course, because the gunpowder was not pure enough, it could not be copied. The method and usage had been changed, but the idea was indeed based on this weapon.
To put it bluntly, the elm cannon is a front-loaded earthen cannon made of elm wood as the barrel due to lack of iron.
After Liu Xiangnuan came over, he took people to another cross-yard. There were two crash cars here, but the crash logs had not been installed yet. Two thick and three-meter-long crash logs were placed next to them.
Guo Jia tilted his head and looked at it curiously, taking out the hollow wood, guessing its function.
"Why does Fengxiao have the leisure to come here and suffer the cold?"
"My lord is very confident in conquering Chang'an. Jia has no use and can't drink, so he has to wander around to pass the time. What's the point of this hollow wood collision? Do you need to install an iron awl on the front?"
"This is a weapon to destroy the city. You will know when the time comes." Liu Xiang gave up and looked at Guo Jia's resentful eyes and couldn't help but burst into laughter.
There is nothing secret about the courtyard where the car crash was made. Just looking at it, it has nothing to do with gunpowder. The people of the Han Dynasty were limited by the times, and no matter how smart the wise man was, they could not guess the real usage.
Looking at the wood that was more than two and a half feet in diameter, I measured the cavity I took out with my hand. It was half a foot in diameter and more than an arm long. The inner bore was smooth, and there was a drilled hole as thick as a thumb at the back end of the cavity. This is where the lead wire is placed.
location.
The carpenter's craftsmanship is so good, it's hard to imagine that this was made with hand drills and axes.
In fact, you can saw the wood in half, dig out the cannon bore, and then use wedges and iron nails to connect them together. In that case, the manufacturing difficulty will be relatively small, but it will not be strong.
Liu Xiang didn't want to use this thing to make a long-range artillery. The gunpowder was not pure enough. He wanted to fill the cavity with 150 kilograms of powder and make it into an oversized blasting tube.
He didn't know how to use explosives for directional blasting, so he used the principle of a muzzleloader and used a one-foot-thick elm barrel to restrict the explosion direction of the black powder and blast through the city gate.
The density of black powder is about 1.6 grams per cubic centimeter. One cubic meter of gunpowder weighs 1,600 to 2,000 kilograms. A cavity of 123 centimeters in diameter and a little over one meter long is enough to charge the powder.
There is space for mud sealing.
"After taking out the hollow outer wall, we reinforced it with iron hoops." Liu Xiang was afraid that uneven wood would cause the chamber to explode prematurely, affecting the effect of directional blasting.
Pretending to be a car crash, they transported a large blasting tube to the city gate, fixed it at the door, lit the fuse and then withdrew. It is estimated that the city gates in the Han Dynasty could not withstand the damage of this thing.
Just in case, he made two of them, and the charge was a bit too much. If he hadn't been short of time, he would have made a few more.
Insufficient firepower phobia is a common mental illness among people who grew flowers in their previous lives.
He also prepared wolfsbane, arsenic and other smoking and poisonous raw materials to make a batch of poisonous smoke balls to cover the soldiers in blowing up the door.
Coupled with the suppression of the crossbowmen and the support of the chariots, the tactics have already been formed in my mind.
"How are the trench bridges, trebuchets, and Jinglan going?" Liu Xiang turned to ask Guo Jia.
"More than sixty trebuchets, more than twenty trench bridges, and eight jinglans have been built." Guo Jia was well aware of the preparations for the siege, and added: "More than thirty chariots and oars have been built.
Three hundred cars."
Liu Xiang nodded, that's enough. For Chang'an City, whose wall length exceeds fifty miles, a full-scale siege is sheer nonsense. It only requires many feints and key breakthroughs.
"Inform Zhuge Jin to prepare sacrificial supplies. I want to pay homage to the ancestral temple and worship the ancestors. I will also prepare Tailao utensils and build a platform for worshiping ghosts and gods in the Zhang Palace. I will build a three-foot-high platform outside the Hengmen of the North City for setting up the altar and performing rituals.
"
There are three gates in the North City, the westernmost one is called Hengmen, also known as Guangmen and Wushuomen.
This city gate was his breakthrough point. The methods of worshiping the royal family and ancestral temples, worshiping ghosts and gods, and erecting altars were all based on the superstition of the Han people to conceal the gunpowder.
In fact, there are other purposes.
The violent explosion will definitely scare the ancients of the Han Dynasty. When we modern people hear the explosion, we will only be afraid for a moment. As long as we are not injured, it will be over.
But it was different in ancient times. They would definitely panic. Rumors would definitely shake the morale of the military. This has nothing to do with regular training. The fear of the unknown is natural and cannot be overcome.
Therefore, he wanted to let the soldiers of the Anping Army know that this movement was caused by their commander to break through the city gate. In this way, not only would it not cause panic in the army, but it would boost morale.
It can also improve one's prestige, unite people's hearts, and deter those with ulterior motives.
After all, obeying the stronger is a common problem among social animals.
If the attack fails, the defenders will be frightened.
If you can blow it up once, you can blow it up twice. This unconventional combat method will definitely break the enemy's psychological defense line.
Maybe he surrendered on the spot.
When a weapon that spans the ages comes to this world, its power is not just an explosion, but the impact on people's hearts is the strongest point.
If you don't make good use of this fear, you will really waste your resources. You only want to use black powder to blow up the enemy, or use thermal weapons to push forward. Regardless of the productivity of this era, this kind of thinking is obviously too rigid.
.
War is a contest between armies and an extension of politics. It is about materials and money, which is correct.
But in the final analysis, war fights against people's hearts, making enemies fearful and making everyone obey your will.
This is Liu Xiang's understanding of war. All other means, whether strategies or technology, serve this purpose.
After those small black particles dry, they will bring fear that does not belong to this era to the enemy and shock everyone's hearts.
I wonder what tricks Jia Xu can do during this period of time to give himself a surprise.