Liu Xiang's army passed Guzhu, followed the Luan River southward, and reached Haiyang.
Haiyang is on the north coast of the Bohai Sea. There are not many fields. Because the seaside is mostly saline-alkali land, the yield is not very good. Most people in the city make a living by fishing in the offshore.
But Haiyang is not a port city, it is built next to the Luan River.
When Liu Xiang visited the city, he felt that Haiyang had a strange shape. It was neither square nor round. It was located on the east bank of Luanshui River, and a long city was built along the river bank.
This is not in line with aesthetics and does not comply with the rules of city building in the Han Dynasty. The northern cities of the Han Dynasty were generally small square cities, mostly four to seven miles in diameter, which made them easier to defend and gave them a sense of symmetry.
But Haiyang is unruly, like a caterpillar lying by the river. The east wall is long and straight, the west wall curves and spreads along the river bank, and there are two earth platforms in the north and south.
There are two gates in the county seat, one is the city gate facing the east, and the other is the water gate facing the west.
What kind of crazy building is this? Liu Xiang has the idea of knocking it down and rebuilding it.
It looks worse in person than in the picture.
After retracting my chaotic thoughts, I have to say that Haiyang is indeed difficult to fight.
Liu Xiang could not lay siege to the city without a naval force. The north and south walls were too short, only about thirty steps, and were just a rectangular enemy platform. It was difficult to use troops. He could only attack one wall on the east side. The most difficult thing was the crossbowmen on the east and west walls.
Even if they can hit the siege troops, this design is very beastly.
Liu Xiang was faced with a difficult problem.
I have tried to persuade you to surrender, but the people in the city are indifferent; I have tried to attack the city, but it is really difficult; there is no room for strategy, and the defenders in the city cannot be beaten to death, so what can you do?
As hard to chew as a dead turtle huddled in its shell.
Liu Xiang squinted his eyes and looked at Haiyang, and a sinful villain in his heart told him that no matter what kind of fortified city, the plague could not be stopped!
He quickly interrupted this thought. He couldn't do such a thing, it was too anti-human. Although he was not clean when he started, he was not vicious enough to use the plague to attack the city.
He forced his thoughts back and continued to think about how to attack the city. It was flooded and burned, and there was no water or food. One method came to his mind, but one after another was rejected.
Liu Xiang didn't want to waste too much time in Haiyang. He had to return to the army as soon as possible, otherwise he would always be on tenterhooks and easily suffer a heart attack.
He shook his head. He was a bit over the top and needed to think about this issue from a different angle.
If you can't push a door open, you might as well try to open it. If you can't capture the city, can you try to break through the defenders' psychological defenses?
Liu Xiang is not good at reading people's hearts, and he hasn't learned the strategy of attacking people's hearts and minds. But he knows a truth, there is a limit to people's ability to withstand pressure. As long as he finds ways to keep putting pressure on him, he will definitely collapse emotionally.
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How to put pressure on the defenders? The simplest way is to attack the city without stopping, but Liu Xiang will not use human lives to consume the enemy troops. He plans to use trebuchets to play justice from heaven.
There are craftsmen accompanying the army in the light vehicle camp. They can make large trebuchets, and then set up the trebuchet positions outside the city on the south and north sides of Haiyang, and throw stones to hit the east-west city walls. This way the hit rate will be very high.
In frontal combat, you hit a point, and on the side, you hit a line. The impact point becomes many times larger, and the hit rate will naturally be many times higher.
As long as you pretend to be attacking the city, the defenders will have to climb the city wall, and the trebuchets will make them doubt their life.
The troops can take turns to fight day and night. How long can the defenders hold on? Each of them is determined and has a heart as solid as stone. Liu Xiang doesn't believe it. As long as one part cannot bear the pressure, it will affect others. This
The mood of the troops will collapse.
In order to save manpower, he planned to try to make a large counterweight trebuchet. For the technology of the Han Dynasty, this was not difficult. Liu Xiang did not expect a super large trebuchet that could hit several miles. As long as it could hit a
A hundred or so steps is enough.
When I thought of a solution, I felt much better, and Haiyang County suddenly became less ugly.
Liu Xiang was about to go to Qingche Camp to find a craftsman, when Yan Rou brought Wu Yan to ask for a meeting.
After the meeting, Wu Yan bowed very humbly and saluted: "Greetings to General Anping, Wu Yan, who is on the right side of Beiping, greets the general."
Wu Yan is wearing auburn clothes, has a round bald haircut, and a vermilion wooden bow that looks like an upside-down teacup. He is particularly cheerful.
The Wuhuan people have the custom of shaving their heads, but it is not the Mediterranean style of shaving the top of their hair like the Khitan style. The Wuhuan people shave all their hair, which is a bit like the modern shaved hair that is relatively bald. And both men and women shave their heads.
, women should not grow their hair until after they get married.
Liu Xiang held back a smile and returned the greeting, saying: "I am very happy to meet Lord Wu Yan, and I understand what you mean.
I want to build and protect Wuhuan's military department in the near future. Master Wuyan can also do what Nanlou did, expand the city and gather more people, so that the people can live and prosper."
Wu Yan said gratefully: "Thank you, General, for your protection. Our troops are willing to listen to the General's dispatch and raise horses and graze for the General."
Liu Xiang knew why Wuyan was so humble. Wuyan's tribe only had more than 800 luo, while Lord Wuhuan of Liaoxi had more than 5,000 luo in Qiu Liju, and Lord Wuhuan of Shanggu had more than 9,000 luo in Nanlou.
Both he and Liaodong Su Puyan were about to be exterminated. Su Puyan only had a thousand people left.
Wuhuan, a "town" of the Xianbei people, is a settlement of about twenty households and a hundred or dozens of people.
In this kind of settlement, in order to meet the needs of grazing life, one unit of more than 20 households is divided into two and three households into one unit, scattered throughout the vast grassland.
Any "luo" used in Chinese historical materials to express Beidi's tens of thousands of Luo or thousands of Luo refers to the subdivision of "Yiluo" into two or three households, that is, a group of tents with a population of more than twenty.
A careful calculation shows that the Wuyan tribe has less than 20,000 people, and Liu Xiang is his life-saving straw.
Except for women and children, Wu Yan has brought all the young and strong people in the tribe, and they are determined to help Liu Xiang in the war, expecting Liu Xiang's support.
After sending Wu Yan away, Liu Xiang sighed. He originally had the idea of wool, but he was thinking of weaving the wool that the barbarians did not want, making a lot of money, and containing the barbarians in the grassland.
It's a pity that people have been making woolen fabrics since ancient times. Wuhuan, Xianbei, and Xiongnu all made woolen fabrics, which were their daily necessities. During the trade, cattle, horses, leather, and woolen fabrics were their main commodities. How could it be Liu Xiang's turn to pick up the bargains?
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It's right to think about it. Hu people are not fools. They know how to make leather. How could they turn a blind eye to animal hair.
It's because I am ignorant.
Liu Xiang laughed at himself and went to the light vehicle camp to find craftsmen. He gave some suggestions to the craftsmen. There were no big technical barriers between the counterweight type and the traction type. One was to pull with a traction rope, and the other was to hang a counterweight box.
There is no fundamental difference.
The craftsmen tried several times, and finally the counterweight trebuchet was completed, but it could not be super-large, and neither the gun tip nor the load-bearing shaft could carry it, so Liu Xiang gave up. He estimated that it would have to be equipped with steel accessories.
After testing, it was found that the firing speed of the miniaturized counterweight trebuchet cannot keep up with the existing single-shooter cannon, and there is no need to change the equipment.
The final product was a large trebuchet with seven tips, which could launch 30-pound stone projectiles 140 steps, 40-pound stone projectiles 120 steps, and 50-pound stone projectiles 90 steps.
Each aircraft requires twelve operators to fire smoothly.
Liu Xiang waved his hand, and 10,000 militiamen assisted, and 1,500 soldiers from the light chariot battalion started to make it as soon as possible.
Making the trebuchet takes time, and he can do something else during this time.