The siege methods listed in "Mozi Beicheng Gate" are not more than 12 kinds: Lin, Hook, Chong, Ladder, Annihilation, ***, Burst, Hollow, Ant Fu, Ran, and Xuan. Among them, there is a sentence of "Er's hook aid, and Er's Linchong, and Chongyong" as early as the Emperor of the Book of Poetry. When you are in the car, you can rush to the bottom of the city, and you can be on the defenders, so it is called Lin. In other words, this is similar to the siege tower in the Middle Ages, about ten meters high, with wheels underneath, and soldiers hidden on it, and when the siege is pushed to the bottom of the city, the upper soldiers can be on top of the city.

The reason why Lin was listed by Mozi as the first of the twelve methods of siege is that it is actually the most effective, fastest and least lossy method in siege warfare, and it is also the most headache for the defenders. This is tantamount to a reversal of the geographical advantage of the attacking and defending sides, the attacker on the front car is condescending, and the defenders on the city have to fight on their backs, losing all their geographical advantages.

In the face of the attacker's approaching car, the Mohist countermeasure was a crossbow chariot, whose 'arrow was ten feet long, and the end of the rope mouth was like a sword, and it was retracted by the grinding mouth. This is to shoot the arrow into the attacking vehicle with a repeater, and then reel the rope at the end of the arrow to pull the vehicle down. In addition to the repeating crossbow, there is also a Taicheng or Xingcheng (movable), that is, a high platform that can extend out of the female wall is built with wood on the city wall, so that it is higher than the attacker's Linche or Tushan (Yangqian), and then shot it with a crossbow.

Taicheng, Xingcheng are all wooden, laborious to build, although this city can stretch out beyond the female wall, but if it is far away, it may not be able to meet with the attacker's short soldiers, can only be shot with arrows and crossbows, and use the crossbow to pull down the attacker's car, which is the way to cure the root cause. It was precisely based on this consideration that Nao Cunning would risk being captured by the Qin people and hurriedly send Jing Crossbow to Chengyang.

The range of the crossbow is twice that of the repeater, and the advantage of being able to shoot the car at a longer distance is that it is easy to pull down the car - the car is attacked, if it is shot from the front, the result of the rope at the end of the arrow can only pull the car closer and closer, reflecting on the pain of the siege party pushing the car forward, only by shooting the side of the car, the rope at the end of the arrow can pull the car down.

In the pre-Qin period, the horse face (that is, the rectangular circular square platform that protrudes from the outside of the city at intervals on the outside of the city wall) was not the standard construction of the city, and only a few positions in a few cities had one or two horse faces, rather than the later city wall, where a horse face of 70 or 80 meters was customized. And the city that Mozi said is not a horse face, and the city is a feasible (mobile) city, and Taicheng is an unfeasible city.

The face of the horse protrudes more than ten meters outside the city, forming a '匚' shape with the main wall, so that the defenders can attack the enemy on three sides, and can also fire arrows on both sides to pull down the approaching car. The length and width of Chengyang City are eight or nine hundred meters each, the main wall is straight, and there is no horse face, only the urn city. The crossbow chariot is located in the urn city, which can pull down the temporary car within a hundred steps on both sides of the urn city, and can only fire arrows at an oblique angle on the city wall a hundred steps away.

The crossbow is different, the crossbow has a long range, it can sweep all the vehicles within 400 meters when it is located on the urn city, and if the arrow is fired at an oblique angle, it can pull the enemy down before the vehicle crosses the moat. In addition, the crossbow is powerful, and the arrows are shot very deep, even if the enemy on the rook wants to pull out the severed arrows, it will take longer, and the chariot has already been pulled down.

As the defender of the city, Chen Qi fully understands the significance of the Jing crossbow to defend the city, and he believes that the Jing crossbow is important. Unexpectedly, the officers of the Jing Crossbow Battalion did not allow him to visit the Jing Crossbow, which immediately made people feel unhappy.

"How can it be!" Chen Qi was not angry yet, and Sima Chen, who had just come up to report, was displeased, "The general is the general of Chengyang, and the soldiers of the whole city must not obey his orders, your crossbow is only six, if you can't prepare for the enemy's car, what can I do?" ”

Chen's concerns are not unreasonable. The chariots of the crossbows were set up in the city of urns, ten on each side, twenty on each gate, and on the city wall, not less than one hundred and twenty in the whole city; There are three crossbows on each side and six on each gate, and there are only twenty-four in the whole city. At the same time, the repeater is a continuous firing weapon, with at least 60 arrows per weapon and hundreds of arrows in actual combat, so as to ensure the hit rate with intensive continuous fire; There are only a hundred arrows that Jing Crossbow sees now, what should I do if I can't shoot at that time?

"Sima, the crossbow is the secret of the Chu State, and those who have not obtained the order of the king and the order of the Great Sima Mansion cannot be observed." The crossbowmen came from the king's pawn, and they had a ban on them, and they were not afraid of Chen Beggars and Chen Bu. "As for preparing for the enemy's car, this is the duty of the villain, and if you miss the shot, it is the villain's crime, and you are willing to be dealt with by the general's military law."

"Just these arrows?" The arrows of the thorn crossbow are also different from the repeaters, they are thinner, and they are also very light to start, and they are all stained with oil. "It's ...... Is this an iron arrow?! Chen Qi was taken aback! Pig iron is extremely brittle, wrought iron is too soft, so the crossbow arrows are all made of copper, now how to use this iron arrow to pull down the enemy's car? Could it be that the gang in Yingdu are even greedy for the cost of arrows?

"Please don't touch the arrows, general." The iron arrow that Chen was holding was snatched back by a crossbowman, and then carefully placed in the groove of the wooden arrow box. Although the arrows are made of evil gold, this arrow box is exquisitely made, and there is a waterproof wolf skin pad inside.

"Arrows?" The two assembled thorn crossbows, which were nearly two people high, were tightly covered with black cloth, and they could not be seen at all, only the arrows in the arrow box and the uninstalled components of the thorn crossbow, which were also covered by black cloth.

"It's the Arrow." Just like the artillery of later generations, each crossbow has a length, six crossbows and a company, and now it is the company commander of the Jing crossbow company who is talking to Chen Qi, and he replied to Chen Qi with a straight face. His Royal Highness the eldest son once said: Whether you hit or miss is related to the weight and shape of the arrow, so the weight and shape of the arrow must be customized. The arrows of the crossbow are eight feet long and weigh 1,600 grams, and the arrows are the same. Do not move the arrows when they are made, lest they spoil their shape. In order to shoot far, the house was made of iron. ”

The crossbow is made by Xiong Jing, and the implementation is naturally the rule set by Xiong Jing. Borrowing the concept of sniping, the weight and center of gravity of the arrow are related to the hit rate, so the crossbow arrows are made very particularly, especially the crossbow arrows that pull down the enemy's car, and the center of gravity after the arrow is tied to the rope, everything is to increase the hit rate.

Although Chen Cheng didn't understand all of it, he didn't know it. He asked again, "Can you get three shots out of ten within a hundred steps?" ”

"Hehe......" someone laughed, it was a few crossbowmen, and as an officer, he immediately turned his eyes and shouted: "Rude! ”

"What do you mean?" Chen Qi didn't understand it again. The crossbowmen are commoners, and they are nobles, of course they laugh at themselves as rude, but he doesn't understand why these people laugh, is it stupid for him to ask?

"Please atone for the general's sins, and the villain will punish them heavily." Empty Depth.

"Why are they laughing?" Chen Cheng asked, "It's not that what Ben General said is wrong." ”

"General, the Jing crossbow is not a repeater, and it is more accurate than a repeater. If the Qin people attack me with a chariot, the general should know the strength of the crossbow. "The range and hit rate of the crossbow are all confidential, and there is no way to tell each other, so after a question and answer, Chen Beggar was sent away with a courtesy.

"Nao is cunning and has a very heavy heart to guard against me." After walking out of the city wall, Chen Bu sighed.

This is a fallacy. Earlier, I heard that the eldest son wanted to set up a military academy and recruit students among the nobles in various counties, and one of them ...... "Artillery is not something that Chen Qi can imagine, so he had to change his words, "He has the knowledge of good archery." For this matter, the eldest son also argued with Ling Yin about the amount of annual tax revenue of Ling Yin's mansion, thinking that in a few years, our army will also have a crossbow camp. ”

Many of the things discussed by the Yan Dynasty were not secrets, and the prince's intention to set up a military academy had spread a few months earlier, and the county nobles welcomed it. Most of the princes who study Lantai are the royal families after King Chu Zhao, the Cheng family, the Dou family, and the Yuan family, and the children of these old husbands basically have no possibility of entering Lantai, even the most powerful Qu Jingzhao clan in the court, but also because of the limited number of places in Lantai, only a few children enter Lantai.

At the end of the Warring States Period, the number of county officials had already been determined, and it could not be increased rashly, and the power of the feudal monarch was also very small. It's just that I don't know when this military school will open, and what kind of rules are in it.

Chen Qi hoped that the military academy would open as soon as possible, but Chen Buze said: "There are many nobles in the DPRK and China, and we will wait with them... Although it is not as powerful as fire and water, it is not far behind. By the way, Jin Gu threatened his father with revenge, so I didn't want him to drink the poisonous wine. ”

Chen can't go to the city to find Chen Cheng for Jin Gu's business. According to the unwritten rules of the Chu State, the army will be killed. Jin Gu's immortality is a violation of the rules, so Da Sima Nao cunning gave him a flying message to give him wine. But Jin Gu didn't drink, and he also brought out his father Cai County, Cai County is a big county, and in terms of interests, Chen Wei will not force Jin Gu to drink wine.

"Is he really threatening to take revenge on his father?" Chen Qi's eyebrows furrowed.

"You dare to laugh at the nobles, if it weren't for wartime, you would have to wait to look good!" Above the urn city, the crossbow company Changkong was reprimanding the few crossbowmen who laughed at Chen Beggar just now, these people were lying on the ground, each of them was flogged ten times, and blood spots appeared on their backs. "Quickly load the crossbow, the Qin people are going to attack the city!"

Borrowing the concept of mountain artillery from later generations, Xiong Jing not only required the crossbow to be assembled, but also required that the heaviest parts should not exceed 50 kilograms. In this way, it is convenient to transport, but there is an additional procedure before use: assembly.

"Yui." Flogging is not a heavy punishment, you can work after the fight, these crossbowmen who went north full of blood spots barebacked, began to neatly assemble the crossbows, and the assembled crossbows were debugged by the craftsmen sent by the government - it was not the two machine boxes that were debugged, but the simple high and low machines that controlled the direction of the launch.

But except for these distracted craftsmen, at this time, the soldiers and soldiers of the whole city will all be attracted by the Qin people, and their eyes are fixed on the west. There, while the drums were beating, the tidal tide of Qin troops was surging in, wanting to swallow everything they encountered. This is not a military parade that passes in a row like the moon in Xixian County, but a horizontal array that cannot be seen at a glance and marches towards the city of Chengyang.

Countless Qin army flags fluttered in the sun, and even more eye-catching colorful feathers fluttered in the dust. Under the banner and the sword, Qin's crossbowmen, Qin's Rongche, and Qin's sharp soldiers were all in the array, but in the array, there were more Qin infantry wearing brown armor and holding halberds and spears. They raised their weapons and marched like a forest of soldiers, marching to the sound of the captain's bracelets and drums, and their momentum was unstoppable.

"Drumming right away?!" Chen, who had never seen the Qin army, was scared enough, so he wanted to beat the drum to prepare for battle.

"Not necessarily. The first army to conspire, and the second to fight, the Qin people are like this, and they want to make me afraid. "The war of diplomatic relations is not the destruction of diplomacy as later generations believed, but the pre-war observation of troops: I let you see the prestige of our army, and ask you if you are afraid. At this time, Chen Buzheng tilted his head and squinted his eyes to resist the murderous aura exuded by the Qin army's military array. But in any case, this time they lost, and the non-commissioned officers were all frightened.

"Put that ......" Chen beggar said, he blushed and cleared his throat and said again: "Pass my order, and order the crossbow to shoot immediately." ”