Wei Ba then took Zhao Yun on a small boat, passed through two heavily guarded fences, and came to the assembly workshop of the repeater. Hearing that General Zhao wanted to see the repeater, the busy craftsmen quickly rolled out a repeater.
The crossbow cart was loaded with arrows and the arrows were set up. Two strong men stepped forward and quickly turned the wooden wheel beside the crossbow cart. The sound of rattling strings continued to sound, and the clicking sound of the crossbow machine was in place.
It's endless, monotonous but extremely cheerful.
After winding up, the two strong men stepped aside and wiped the sweat with their arms. Wei Ba smiled and said to Zhao Yun: "Master, try your hand?"
Zhao Yun had been watching quietly, secretly calculating the time to prepare the crossbow. After hearing Wei Ba's words, he couldn't help but feel itchy and stepped forward to trigger the crossbow.
With a slight pull, the crossbow machine jumped, with a soft "click" sound, and a sound of loose strings came from the carriage. A crossbow arrow flew out of the crossbow carriage and rushed towards the arrow fifty steps away. The first one
As soon as the crossbow arrow flew out, the second crossbow arrow also flew out. The sound of loosening strings in the car was endless. In a moment, ten crossbow arrows flew out.
"Tuk-tuk-tuk!" A series of sounds sounded, and ten crossbow arrows were nailed to the arrows one after another, and the arrow rain was still trembling slightly.
"Ten arrows in one shot?" Zhao Yun took a breath of air, surprised and happy.
"This is a short-range crossbow machine. It has a range of fifty steps and ten arrows per shot. Within fifty steps, the armor penetration rate of ordinary soldiers is fifty percent, and within twenty steps, it is one hundred percent."
"Since this is short-range, does that mean there is also medium-range or long-range?"
"It is divided into four categories, ultra-long-range with a thousand steps, long-range with 500 steps, medium-range with 200 steps, plus short-range with 50 steps."
"Thousand steps?" Zhao Yun asked in surprise: "What kind of repeating crossbow can reach a thousand steps?"
"The thousand-step crossbow is not a repeating crossbow, but a single crossbow." Wei Ba chuckled: "That is a sniper crossbow, specially prepared for the opponent's generals."
While Wei Ba was talking, he had someone push out a large crossbow cart. Zhao Yun curiously looked at this giant crossbow that was said to be able to shoot a thousand steps away, and found that this crossbow had three crossbows, and the ones placed in the crossbow slots were not arrows.
, but a giant arrow that is almost the same as the iron spear used by ordinary soldiers. The giant arrow is not made of feathers, but wood chips shaved into feather-like shapes. The wood chips are wide and long, almost one third of the length of the giant arrow.
One. On the head of the giant arrow, there is also a clay pot as big as a fist pierced through. I don’t know what it is used for.
The two strong men worked together to pull the wheel behind the crossbow cart. With the sound of strings rattling, the three giant crossbows were pulled apart and the crossbow engines were clicked on.
"Joining the army, what is your goal?" the crossbowman asked.
"Master, what do you think?"
Zhao Yun looked into the distance and pointed: "Let's take that tree as our target. It's so big, it should be similar to the size of the command vehicle."
The crossbowman responded, stretched out his finger, made a gesture in front of his eyes, estimated the distance, then leaned behind the crossbow cart, adjusted his position, looked through the bow on the wooden board in front of the crossbow cart, and took aim carefully.
Yes, he stood up and said softly: "Light the fire!"
A soldier came forward with a torch and lit it on the clay pot, and a fire lit up. Only then did Zhao Yun discover that there was a thick rope on the mouth of the clay pot, which seemed to be dipped in oil and caught fire.
The fire had just been lit, and the crossbowman swung the wooden hammer hard and hit the crossbow machine. There was a loud "buzz" sound, and the crossbow car shook violently, causing a burst of smoke. In the smoke, the giant arrow that looked like an iron spear appeared.
It flew out with a roar and disappeared in the distance in the blink of an eye. Zhao Yun looked far into the distance and saw the giant arrow drawing a flat arc in the space and flying towards the big tree.
The big tree didn't move at all, and then a ball of fire flashed and disappeared. The light of the fire could be seen from a thousand steps away. If you looked closer, the fire would be at least as tall as a person.
Wei Ba was a little embarrassed and glanced at the crossbowman. The crossbowman's face was also red and he was embarrassed.
Zhao Yun raised his eyebrows, raised his legs and walked towards the big tree. Wei Ba quickly followed, and Dun Wu and a dozen other personal guards also followed. When he walked in front of him, he saw that the giant arrow was about 30 meters away from the target tree.
Ten steps away, the arrow pierced deeply into the soil, the clay pot shattered, and the oil inside spilled out, burning a large black spot on the ground. I couldn't help but nod my head.
"It's really not easy to have such accuracy from a thousand steps away." Zhao Yun asked, "What kind of fire is this? Can it burn people to death?"
Wei Ba scratched his head, "It's difficult to burn someone to death with this fire alone. After all, the jar can't be too big, and the amount of oil poured into it is limited. However, there is poison in the oil. As long as a little bit of it gets on the wound, it will make him peel off his skin even if he doesn't die."
.Of course, it has to be shot to be useful. If it is missed, it is of no use."
"A thousand steps away, the probability of hitting with an arrow is too small." Zhao Yun calculated: "How many of these thousand-step giant crossbows are you going to equip me with?"
"About ten."
"Ten units." Zhao Yun smiled slightly: "If ten units are launched together, I estimate that there is more than 70% chance of hitting the target."
Wei Ba looked at Zhao Yun, stunned for a moment, and then ecstatic. He was worried about the low accuracy of this thousand-step giant crossbow. Although an error of ten steps is very good at a thousand steps away, but when used as a sniper crossbow,
After all, this was not enough. He was considering whether to use metal components instead of wooden ones to improve accuracy, but Zhao Yun unexpectedly thought of using quantity to make up for quality.
Obviously, in a short period of time, it is much easier to build the same giant crossbow with ten wooden components than the same giant crossbow with ten metal components.
Wei Ba boasted half-truthfully: "Master's words make sense, why didn't I think of this?"
Zhao Yun laughed: "You are too focused on practicing boxing, so that you are a little paranoid, forgetting that war is not a one-person war. On the battlefield, it is rare to have a sharp archer, but under normal circumstances, a sharp archer is not
What may determine the outcome of a war is the overall strength, quantity, range, and firing order of the crossbowmen, rather than the shooting skills of a certain crossbowman."
Wei Ba nodded nervously. As Zhao Yun said, he used too much force. He only wanted to kill the enemy with one blow, but he forgot that there is a big difference between the battlefield and a private fight. In a private fight, precision and suddenness are important, while
On the battlefield, more emphasis is placed on overall coordination, the use of comprehensive strength, and the ability of the commander.
"However, it is a good thing to have such a sharp weapon to help. Even if you can't shoot him, scaring him half to death is enough." Zhao Yun pondered for a moment: "It's just that we don't have much time, do you still want to wait?"
"We can't wait any longer." Wei Ba sighed: "All kinds of equipment will be shipped out tonight. Master will take 10,000 of the 15,000 people who are being trained, and you will also take away the cavalry camp and leave it to me."
Five thousand recruits will do."
"Five thousand? Not enough?"
"It's okay. Someone will come soon. Even if I can't capture Chang'an, there's no problem in trapping Xiahou Mao. Master has to face Cao Zhen's main force, and there are too few people to be able to do anything."
Zhao Yun did not insist anymore. He also knew that with only the 2,000 elite men, 10,000 recruits, and the 2,000 cavalry he had left, a total of 14,000 men, it would be very difficult to block Cao Wei's reinforcements.
Not small. At present, Cao Zhen only has 20,000 elite troops. He can still rely on the natural barrier of the Yellow River to block him. Then Cao Wei's main force will continue to arrive, and his pressure will increase day by day.
"Then be careful."
"Master, don't worry, I will be fine." Wei Ba pointed to the workshops on both sides of the Weishui River: "Master, this is my confidence in guarding Guanzhong. As long as Cao Wei cannot attack Chang'an within two months, we will win."
Zhao Yun looked at Wei Ba doubtfully, not quite understanding, but he also knew that these workshops were heavily guarded and ordinary people could not enter. Originally, he didn't quite understand why Wei Ba spent so much effort on these workshops, but today he saw
After using the crossbow chariot and the thousand-step giant crossbow, he somewhat understood Wei Ba's intentions. With the help of these sharp weapons, the chance of surviving Cao Wei's counterattack was even greater.
"By the way, tomorrow morning, when you lead the army to leave, don't dismantle the tents." Wei Ba suddenly remembered and hurriedly warned: "I will use him to deceive Xiahou Mao, although I don't know how many more days I can deceive him.
But it’s good to be able to cheat for one more day.”
Zhao Yun laughed: "Well, the weather is not cold anyway, so camping is no problem. Maybe we can enjoy the moon and have a look at the astronomy. Maybe we can see some celestial phenomena that are beneficial to me as a big man."
Wei Ba couldn't help laughing: "Master, do you believe this?"
"It's better to believe that something exists than to believe something doesn't exist." Zhao Yun glanced at Wei Ba intentionally or unintentionally, and sighed: "You don't know how many times he followed the late emperor to conquer the world, relying on those unpredictable celestial phenomena.
Come here. You don’t have to believe in the celestial phenomena, but there will definitely be people who do.”
Wei Ba was thoughtful.
…
In the Jianzhang Palace, on the top floor of the fifty-foot-high well, Xiahou Mao's face was as pale as dirt.
When Wei Ba used a thunderbolt car to smash the complex road connecting Jianzhang Palace and Weiyang Palace, Xiahou Mao happened to be at Jianzhang Palace. The complex road was broken, and he was also stranded in Jianzhang Palace, unable to return to Weiyang Palace.
Although it was possible to walk on the ground, it was just a little more dangerous, but Xiahou Mao's courage had been broken. He would rather huddle in Jianzhang Palace like a turtle than take the risk of taking a step.
Wei Ba didn't know this, so he sent someone to deliver the letter of persuasion to surrender written by Xiahou Hui to Weiyang Palace. It was not delivered to Xiahou Mao at all, but to Yan Fei, the prefect of Jingzhao. Yan Fei read the letter of persuasion to surrender and originally thought
They burned it immediately, but when Princess Qinghe heard that someone had entered the city, she immediately sent someone to rescue Xiahou Hui's letter, and forced Yan Fei to rush to Jianzhang Palace with the letter to ask Xiahou Mao to make a decision.
At this moment, Yan Fei was standing behind Xiahou Mao, looking at the surrender letter trembling in Xiahou Mao's hand, secretly regretting it. If he had known that Xiahou Mao was so useless, he should have burned the letter regardless of Princess Qinghe's request.
.
Obviously, Xiahou Mao was moved, and he didn't want to live such a life of fear anymore.
"Captain, neither Weiyang Palace nor Jianzhang Palace is that easy to attack. Although there are many people outside the city, how many real soldiers can they have?" Yan Fei persuaded without giving up: "There are still more soldiers in the palace.
Food, we can definitely hold on for a while longer until reinforcements arrive."
"You don't understand, you don't know how smart Wei Ba is." Xiahou Mao shook his head like a rattle, and looked toward the Shu army camp in the distance with nervous eyes: "Have you ever seen someone who can do it in less than a month?"
A knight who can gallop on a horse within a short time? Many things you think are impossible are not difficult for him. Attacking Jianzhang Palace and Weiyang Palace may be difficult for you, but for him,
But it might be as easy as pie."
Yan Fei was speechless. He felt that Xiahou Mao was scared out of his wits by Wei Ba. In his words, Wei Ba seemed to be omnipotent. However, he was also a little surprised how Wei Ba managed to make those people who had just been on horseback for more than a month The cavalry can start galloping, riding and shooting. After serving as an official for many years, he has never seen a knight who has made such rapid progress.
"Surrender, surrender, I can die here, but I can't let the princess die here." Xiahou Mao said nonchalantly.
Yan Fei lost all hope. He was silent for a long time and suddenly said: "Captain, please leave the people from Jianzhang Palace to me."
Xia Houmao looked at him blankly for a long time, then lowered his head in shame: "Just what Wen Lin meant."
——————
This is today’s extra update. Currently, the number of monthly votes today is 15. Although Tang Sanzang is popular, I am only 6 votes behind him, and I am not pulled too far by him. So far, it seems that extra updates are better than single chapters. More effective, Lao Zhuang is very pleased! Please give me monthly votes for encouragement! (To be continued. Please search Piao Tian Literature, the novel will be better and updated faster!)