Three minutes seemed to Xiong Jing to be a long time, but the generals did not think it was long, they were first shocked by the height of the trebuchet, and now they looked at the turning disc and felt strange, waiting to see the vertical boom fall and fix, some people who knew a little bit about the mechanics, such as the military Sima Peng Zong, finally saw some doorways: this is a bit like an orange tree, or a borrowed car for defending the city, but the short side of the boom is not pulled by anyone, and the water cannot be lifted.

The orange tree and the car are similar principles, but the former is used to carry water, and the latter is used to throw stones on the head of the city, but on the seven or eight meters high city wall, the stone is only 50 steps by the car, and the flat ground is less than 30 steps, so it cannot be used in field battles. In front of you, how many steps can you throw rocks with the help of the car?

Once the boom was secured, the pawn began to load his pocket. Because the original design was intended for siege rather than field warfare, and because of the small size of metal bullets, the small amount of flying air assistance, and the ease of casting, trebuchets only had iron, copper, and lead bullets, and weighed more than 100 kilograms. This weight does not even exceed fifteen centimeters in diameter, and when it is rotated on both sides, few people see a 100-kilogram iron bullet in the leather pocket attached to the boom, and they only see that the disc begins to rotate again.

"Ready!" The 'preparation' in Xiong Jing's mouth somehow became the 'ready' in Gong Yindao's mouth, he waved his hand to signal that everything was in order, and then looked at Xiong Jing with an inquiring eye.

"Put!" Seeing Xiong Jing's head from a distance, Gong Yin waved his knife hand, and the boom he was holding suddenly released. After the metallic sound of 'cluck', the ten-ton counterweight at one end of the boom fell rapidly, and the other end 'whirred', quickly upturned and brought out a leather bag containing 100 kilograms of iron bullets, the rope of the leather bag was extremely long, and it was a large circle in the air.

The generals were startled by the sudden rotation of the boom, thinking that the big wooden frame was about to collapse, and at the same time they were worried and unconsciously let their eyes follow the boom upwards until they reached the sun in the sky. It's past noon, the sun is slanting, the light is extremely dazzling, most people are stabbed by the sun, and they don't know what happens next. But there are also people who do not see the sun because of the position, and only see that the leather pocket suddenly stretches out at the highest point (one side of the leather pocket comes out of the hook), and a black dot flies forward rapidly. Staring at the black dot of the flight, after counting the breath, three hundred steps ahead of him first stirred up a puff of smoke and dust, and then there was a muffled sound of 'boom'.

"Put!" The two trebuchets are too close to each other, but also to let everyone see clearly, when the first stone throwing is completed, the ten ton counterweight shakes left and right to make a tooth-aching 'creaking' sound, the second trebuchet begins to throw stones, this time everyone can see more clearly, the short end of the boom quickly downward, the other end of the leather pocket flew into the sky, and then the black point out of the pocket, three hundred steps away is a burst of smoke and dust, a 'boom'.

Xiang Yan was silent, Peng Zong's face was still amazed, and Xiong Jing remained silent: "Let's go and take a look." ”

"Tell the king: the iron catapult is three hundred and fifty-one steps...... "Xiong Jing has not yet reached the landing point, and someone has already reported the distance. Three hundred and fifty-one steps, in fact, is more than four hundred and seventy meters, far enough.

"Three hundred and fifty steps away?" Peng Zong whispered, he thought it was about three hundred steps, which was similar to the effective range of the Jing crossbow.

"Jun Sima can measure it himself." Xiong Jing was in the front, Xiang Yan followed closely, and behind him were Peng Zong and other generals. Everyone was shocked by the range of three hundred and fifty-one steps, because they had never shot such a long range of weapons, except for the Han crossbow in the mouth of the Zongheng family.

"The minister doesn't dare, the minister is just frightened and throws a stone." Peng Zong knew that he had offended the king by asking for military power just now, but he was not afraid, it was Yin Chen Gong of Chen County who gave him a livelihood, and Xiong Jing, the king, could not cross Chen Gong at all and do anything to him.

"And do you know how much the projectile weighs?" Xiong Jing didn't care about him, just made fun of him.

"I don't know, please tell the king." Peng Zongyi saluted, the diameter of the iron bullet is about half a foot, and it is not real to fly in the air, thinking of the crossbow, he estimates that the stone bullet weighs about dozens of catties.

"Yes. About 400 pounds. "Because one Chu Jin is equal to 251 grams, Xiong Jing can only be said to be approximate.

"Four hundred pounds?!" Xiang Yan, who was silent, was also taken aback. "Your Majesty, this ...... Is there really 400 pounds? ”

"If you don't believe me, you can hug it." Xiong Jing smiled, looking at Xiang Yan's tail-like expression, he was refreshed to his heart.

"The last general won't dare, the last general will ......" The king said that four hundred catties is four hundred catties, and Xiang Yan could only think so.

"Where's the Iron Bullet?" walked to the landing point of the flag, but the iron bullet was nowhere to be seen, and Xiong Jing, the king, couldn't hold his face.

"Tell the king, the iron bullet has hit seven feet into the ground, and the villain is ......" The person who came up to say the word was full of mud on both hands.

"Grounded?" There was a shocked sigh behind him, Xiong Jing shook his head, this metal bullet still can't work, if it is a stone bullet, even if it will not be ejected on the ground, it can be broken into several pieces, and the gravel will fly sideways, eroding for dozens of miles. "It's better to have a stone bullet." He said to Gong Yin Dao.

"The king has spoken very much. Iron bullets can only be used for sieges, not for breaking formations. It's a pity ......"

After several test shots, Gong Yin Dao also noticed this, and his eyes rolled wildly, not knowing what he was thinking. "It's a pity that it's too late to polish the stone bullet at this time."

"Your Majesty, please look." The seven-foot iron bullet into the ground was finally dug out, and the weight of one hundred kilograms needed to be carried by two people, even if it was put down low, the ground was still smashed into a small half of the pit, and no one believed that it was four hundred catties.

"What does the Admiral think?" Xiong Jing asked Xiang Yan, wondering what he thought.

"This thing is very beneficial for attacking the city," Xiang Yan thought of attacking the city as soon as he heard that the bullet weighed 400 catties. Thinking of this, he was glad that it was the craftsmen of the Chu State who created this kind of thing first, if it was the Chengyang of the Qin State, it would have been broken long ago. "If it's for field warfare......," he said, looking back at the trebuchet a mile away, "it's too heavy to be able to move." ”

"Nothing inconvenient." Xiong Jing also looked back at the trebuchet, and of course he had considered transportation when designing it. "It is no more than seventeen feet wide, and it can be transported on two tracks. Although its weight is 34,000 catties, only the middle bracket is left when the disc is removed during transportation, and fifty oxen can be dragged on the avenue, and it is difficult to pull some in the field, but hundreds of soldiers can be found to pull the fiber. ”

After the trebuchet got off the ship, it was transported here, and it was also pulled by hundreds of oxen, Xiang Yan nodded when he heard this, "May I ask the king, how many of these slings are there?" ”

"There are only ten bodies in the barracks, and the other ......," only the ten bodies that were made before, and the rest can only ask Gong Yin Dao.

"Tell the king and the general, the third batch is being built, and the second batch of ten bodies is on the way, and it will be ......delivered next month."

"It's too late next month." There are still eight days to pass this month, and Xiong Jing and Xiang Yan are very clear that they will not be able to wait for a decisive battle with the Qin army next month, and it is likely that in these two or three days, while the Qin army's reinforcements are not yet on a stable foothold.

"Where is the second batch of 10 now? Didn't you get to Xi County? Xiong Jing asked the second batch.

"Expired." Gong Yindao's answer was once again discouraged. It is not far from Xixian County, but it will take two days, ten trebuchets will disembark at least one day, and it will take at least two days to reach Yiyi, which is ninety miles away, and if they encounter Qin cavalry in the middle, they will be delayed.

"When will our army go north?" Xiong Jing had to ask Xiang Yan.

"......" This question is really more than a thousand pounds, Xiang Yan's lips moved for a while, and the person walked to a place where there were fewer people, and walked for a while before saying in a voice that only Xiong Jing could hear: "Tonight." ”

"Today......" Xiong Jing could think of tomorrow at most, but he didn't expect Xiang Yan to pull out the camp tonight.

"The Qin army in Chengyang traveled north after noon yesterday, and it can reach Yiyi in four days, and the Qin army in other places will also take three to four days." Xiang Yan talked about the itinerary of Qin's reinforcements. "The time left in our army is only three days. Our army is about 50 miles away from the Qin army camp in Yiyi, and today it will travel 20 miles to the north of Jiangyi at night, and another 30 miles tomorrow, and it will be able to set up a battle with the Qin army the day after tomorrow. ”

"But the Qin army can't come out of the camp, how about not fighting with me?" Xiong Jing is still the same question as before.

"According to the truth, our army is not as ......good as the Qin army," Xiang Yan sighed, and the reality was revealed in Xiong Jing's face.

In fact, history also has clear evidence: eleven years later, in 227 BC (the twenty-first year of the reign of King Qin), when the Qin state was preparing to destroy Chu, Qin Wangzheng asked Li Xin how many soldiers and horses he needed, and Li Xin replied, "It will only use 200,000 men"; Later generations knew that it was necessary to destroy Chu with 600,000 people, but how many people would it take to defeat Chu?

Before Li Xin's 200,000 people attacked Chu, Chen County, an important town of the north-south high-speed waterway and the gap connecting the Yellow River and Huaishui, had been lost, so there is a record of 'Changping Jun migrating to Ying' in the 21st year of the Qin Dynasty. Chen County is a logistics town, loss is equivalent to the attack on the Chu State The gate has been opened, Li Xin and Meng Wu (non-Meng Tian) led 200,000 people to 'attack the peace and the bed, and break the Jing army...... The city father' can be described as invincible, but because Changping Jun, who lived in Chen County, raised the flag and rebelled, 200,000 people were cut off from logistics and had to retreat immediately.

As a result, Xiang Yan led the army to win the victory of 'three days and three nights without giving up, breaking Li Xin's army, entering the two walls, and killing the seven captains'. Li Xin was defeated, but if Changping Jun had not revolted in Chen County, what would have been the result?

After destroying Zhao and Wei, eleven years later, Qin's war machine had been sharpened to its best, and it was difficult for the 200,000 Qin army to destroy Chu, but it was not difficult to defeat the Chu army. Xiang Yan, who has always been arrogant, said that 'our army is not as good as the Qin army', and he is well aware of the gap between the two armies.

“…… Today, the war has been in the hands of the Qin people. Instead of waiting for the 300,000 Qin army to gather, it is better to make the Qin army think that I am weak and fight with me first. If you want to fight, go north quickly, what's the harm to me? Two or three days later, the number of divisions in Huaibei is less than 10,000, what good will it do me? ”

The more the situation dragged on, the more unfavorable it became, and instead of waiting for the Qin army to assemble, it was better to go north and hope that the newly victorious Qin army would take the enemy lightly. In addition to this reason, Xiang Yan had another reason, but he didn't say it.

"This victory and defeat are less than five or five, and the king will be invited to return to Xi County. If the end is defeated, the state of Chu may be able to bow down and survive. Xiang Yan said again, looking at Xiong Jing's gaze extremely calm.