Outside the West Mountain.

Piles of countless stones were piled up, and Merton had already placed a huge order with the brick and mortar merchants for the construction of the city walls, and agreed to deliver it at this time.

However, it was impossible for these merchant men to enter the barracks, and if they wanted to be transported to the valley, they still needed a hundred-man team of Qin Huaiyu and three people.

Qin Huaiyu and the three of them took the lead, and struggled to pull the brick cart to the valley, although with the support of the jack arm, the soldiers did not have the pain of moving bricks.

But the mountain road is hard, Merton

Qin Huaiyu and the three of them led their respective teams of 100 people to transport a large number of bricks and stones piled up outside the military camp to the valley.

"Whew!" Qin Huaiyu and the three of them gasped and pulled a cart of bricks to the valley, breathed a sigh of relief, and saw Merton standing on the side of the trebuchet doing nothing, and suddenly his eyes burst into flames.

"Humph!" The three of them glared angrily, snorted coldly, and turned their heads to pull bricks.

Merton laughed, looking at the trebuchet in front of him with a look of amazement, the trebuchet equipped by the sixteen guards was the most advanced trebuchet that would be produced by the superintendent, about a zhang high, almost an all-wood structure, and a long crossbow arm stretched far away.

"This is a trebuchet that can throw a hundred catties of boulders, and once it hits, it will shatter people's bones." Xue Rengui introduced.

Merton excitedly said, "Let's try a few shots." ”

This kind of giant weapon is no less than the giant cannon of later generations, and Merton is naturally excited.

Suddenly, several hundred riders stepped forward to operate, and put a boulder of hundreds of catties into the bowl.

"Launch!" With Xue Rengui snorting.

Airplanes!

With the sound of the strings tightening of the noose, hundreds of catties of boulders flew out in an instant.

The boulder drew an arc, hitting a large tree in front of it, destroying the tree in an instant.

"How far?" Merton asked.

"Lord Sacrificial Wine, a total of 200 steps!" Xue Rengui gestured with his hand and said affirmatively, and soon, a range-measuring soldier came back, which was not much different from what Xue Rengui had measured.

Merton waved his hand and said, "Change it to a fifty-pound stone." ”

Soon, a small stone flew out and broke a tree in half, but it didn't break the tree.

"Two hundred and sixty steps!" Xue Rengui reported again.

"Change a twenty-pound stone." Merton said again.

"Whew!" A basket-sized stone whizzed past and slammed into the trunk of the tree, causing large foliage and bark to fall.

"Two hundred and eighty steps! But the power is too small. Xue Rengui shook his head and said.

Merton frowned and said, "In this way, the best distance is fifty catties and only two hundred and sixty steps!" ”

Although two hundred and sixty steps is not close, but the distance is still too short, the biggest role of the trebuchet is to siege the city, if there is a sharpshooter condescending, the range can easily reach three hundred meters, although the bow and arrow can not threaten the trebuchet, but the trebuchet soldiers will definitely suffer heavy losses.

"Is the sake priest going to replace gunpowder with stone?" Xue Rengui's eyes flashed.

He had seen the power of a gunpowder explosion, and once a gunpowder bomb was thrown into the enemy's city wall by a trebuchet, although it did not have the impact of a boulder, the power of the explosion would make everyone shudder.

Merton nodded and said, "Yes, so everyone in the firearms prison is the most valuable asset, and losing one of them is a great loss for the Tang Dynasty." Therefore, the location of the trebuchet must be in a place where the enemy cannot attack. ”

When ordinary people see gunpowder, they will think of artillery, and the combat effect of early cannons has been significantly backward for a long time compared to the best projection equipment in ancient times, and the early artillery fired solid bullets, and the lethality was not strong.

If the trebuchet is used with gunpowder bullets, the operation is simple, and the effect is likely to be immediate, and it can be said that it is comparable to the power of artillery in later generations.

Xue Rengui couldn't help but glance at Morton with emotion, and said, "But even if you throw twenty catties of stones, it's only two hundred and eighty steps." ”

Merton had a flash of inspiration, and thought that in the future life, there was a king of trebuchets, and that was the return cannon.

In the later Song Dynasty spent decades to survive the Jin Dynasty, and the Mongolian iron cavalry held each other, as a result, under a round of bombardment of the Hui artillery, the fortified city of Xiangyang, which had been held with the Mongols for six years, quickly fell, and then under the bombardment of the Hui artillery, the city wall could no longer stop the footsteps of the Mongols, and the entire Great Song Dynasty fell violently.

Morton picked up a pen and paper and continued to improve according to the trebuchet in front of him, and soon, the prototype of the later Huihui cannon slowly appeared in the pen.

"Zhang Mu!" Merton waved his hand to summon Zhang Mu, who was directing the right guard soldiers to dig the earth.

"Young Master, what do you command?" Zhang Mu hurriedly came over and said.

Morton handed the drawings in his hand to Zhang Mudao: "Leave the task of building the city wall to other craftsmen, you go to Mojia Village to transport a set of woodworking machinery to the firearms superintendent, and make it in the fastest time." ”

Zhang Munai is the son of the old Zhang Tou, and his craftsmanship is naturally not a problem, and he couldn't help but nod when he saw Merton's drawings. asked, "How much does the young master need?" When to do it! ”

"The more the merrier! It must be made before the big martial arts. Merton commanded.

"Yes!" Zhang Mu immediately took the order and left.

"Great Martial Arts!" Xue Rengui was surprised.

Merton nodded and said: "The western expedition is imminent, Your Majesty will naturally have a big military performance before the expedition, General Li is ready to select the five guards to go on the expedition, and then Your Majesty will definitely come to the scene in person, and that will be the time when my firearms supervisor shines." ”

Merton set his eyes on the city wall that was being built in full swing, and he spent so much effort not only to experiment with the power of gunpowder, but also to point his arrow at this great exercise.

"That's it! Continue experimenting with trebuchets? Merton continued.

Xue Rengui couldn't help but be stunned, and said, "Lord Sacrificial Wine, aren't you going to use a new trebuchet?" ”

Merton shook his head and said, "The trebuchet seems to be very powerful, but the quasi-head does not dare to compliment, so I am afraid that the effect will be greatly reduced." ”

Xue Rengui was puzzled for a moment: "But the stone flew out, and it was beyond our control. ”

Merton shook his head and said, "We can't control the stone, but we can control the force, direction, and even the landing point of the stone, this is ballistics, and it is an extremely advanced arithmetic. ”

"Arithmetic?"

Xue Rengui was dumbfounded, if he wanted him to fight, he would be able to do it, if he took the academic test, although his eyes were dark.

Merton suddenly had an idea, he thought of a suitable candidate, that is, Zu Mingjun, if you want to study ballistics, I am afraid that there is no suitable person for him.

His afterglow drifted past Qin Huaiyu and the three of them who were selling coolies, and a strange smile appeared on the corner of Merton's mouth, and he secretly said in his heart that he would also deceive Zu Mingjun, otherwise how could he say that he was a brother in trouble?

Thinking of this, Murton immediately wrote a letter and handed it to Xue Rengui and said: "Immediately use the post station to send this letter to Fanyang County, and hand it to Zu Mingjun, telling him that there is an arithmetic knowledge that has been passed down through the ages to study, and asking him if he is interested." ”

This sentence did not deceive the ancestor at all, even after a few years, ballistics is very popular in the world, if the ancestor is a pioneer of ballistics, I am afraid it is impossible to become famous.