At this time, it was already the third watch. Shang Wen had a huge fleet of chariots and horses around him, only a few of these chariots and horses were horses, and most of them were still traditional ox carts, and the carts were loaded with a large number of supplies. Medicinal herbs, weapons, clothing, and a lot of machinery.

It took Shang Wen a lot of effort to convince the King of Qin to let him go to the northern front. Shang Wen has elaborated on many potential factors, and explained that if these factors are not dealt with in a short period of time, they are likely to cause catastrophe. These things may only be solved by yourself.

King Qin was very reluctant to go to Shangwen, because the north was unusually cold. And Shang Wen's body is very weak. Shang Wen strongly demanded on the grounds that he had pathogens to resist. plus Wang Jian is a front-line soldier. Reluctantly, he agreed, but he had to send letters every day. Otherwise, withdraw immediately.

So Shangwen organized a large number of supplies to go together. Another purpose of Shang Wen's visit this time was to start transporting heavy industrial equipment to Guyang, where he set up the first heavy industry base of the Qin State. Therefore, some of these necessary equipment, such as hydraulic presses, stamping machine tools, have to be sent to the front line.

Old Man Wei must be taken away. There were also nine students walking along. The old man's medical skills are really notorious, mainly to peel off people's skin, open people's stomachs, or knock people's heads to heal, which sounds creepy. So, a lot of people don't want to learn, even though it's all free. But if you stay with the dead all day long, you have to be sick if you are not sick. Able to get together nine people. It's already remarkable.

To Shangwen's surprise, Yingyu actually came to see him off in person. Shang Wen was a little moved, but he didn't know what to do. This guy even wants to keep in contact with Shangwen. The reason is that without him, she can't do a mess of things in Xianyang.

In this way, Shang Wen went to the front line in a daze. What happened before, Shang Wen didn't know.

Just when Shang Wen went there overnight. The Mengtian tribe in the north is suffering from unacceptable suffering.

First of all, those soldiers who had failed to treat in the cold had begun to show some symptoms of pneumonia. And the army is powerless. Worst of all, due to the dense crowding, the seriously ill still live with normal soldiers. The hidden danger of infection has been completely buried.

Then there was a lot of frostbite. The wound began to fester. And the places where the soldiers lived, coupled with rain and snow, were damp, and related diseases were also spreading.

The worst happened, the new musket regiment was sick to the stomach and the weather was cold. Some symptoms of dysentery began to appear, vomiting and diarrhea, and the excrement area was filthy, and they began to infect each other.

The number of non-combatants in the Qin army began to surge.

"Alas," Meng Tian said, looking at the military reports from the various battalions sent by the guards. Very helpless.

"Let's go down." Meng Tian waved helplessly.

"Whoa." The guards retreated. Meng Tian held his head with his hands with a headache, and now what he was most worried about was not the Yue Army, because, because of the heavy snow, neither side was able to launch a large-scale attack. On his side, the biggest enemy is a series of illnesses brought about by the severe cold. These diseases, the military doctor simply cannot treat them in time, only today to control this, tomorrow that disease. The one that was under control recurred the next day. And so on and so forth. It makes the military doctors exhausted. In this regard, I can only prescribe some medicine and take some medicine.

And these war reports on his desk, without exception, are all about the various camps that are unable to fight because of illness. Today, the number has surged to more than 10,000. That's just too big. Meng Tian felt that his opponent was not from the Yue Clan. It's these diseases. If you continue like this, you will be completely defeated. But I am a soldier, not a doctor, so there is no way at all.

Just when the Qin army in the north was plagued by illness, the Zhao army was fighting extremely hotly.

After the last artillery battle, Zhao Jun began to ponder the shortcomings of some artillery on his own. First of all, the accuracy of the artillery is very poor. This is the first drawback that all the gunners came together to draw together. They obviously aimed at each other through the aiming door above, but the cannonball was inaccurate.

Then there is the artillery that can only hit the city wall, not the soldiers on the city wall, and the bombardment of the city wall, how many shells will have to be fired to destroy the city wall. Even if it's rammed earth. But it's thick enough. Direct bombardment is not feasible.

So it was proposed that the artillery be removed from the gun mount. Placed in a trench, covered with a shield on it, it was directly bombarded near the city gates. In this way, the power of the gun can be increased, and the accuracy can also be greatly improved. The idea passed at once.

Others have come up with a bolder idea. They believed that the cannonballs could fly out like bows and arrows, so that they could fly far and bombard the Yan army from above. It's a very good idea. Got the approval of the gunners, so. A two-pronged approach. The next day, the Zhao army launched another artillery battle.

This time, the Zhao army set up two artillery pieces directly on the trench to fight. Setting up artillery is very time-consuming and labor-intensive. The artillery in a farther position was directly erected on the mound, and the highest elevation angle of the Qin army's artillery carriage was only 25 degrees. This angle is far from satisfying Zhao Jun's requirements for curving shots. So they unloaded the artillery themselves. Racked on a mound of earth.

Then the cannon fire began. The normally fired propellant pushed the cannonball into the distance. Although the shells entered the city, the target was too big. The effect is not very obvious.

So the Zhao gunners came up with another way, that is, to reduce the use of propellants. This method is one of the effective ways to reduce the initial velocity of artillery.

As a result, the Zhao gunners reduced the projectile by nearly half. The artillery was fired again. Cannonballs curled into the open space in front of the city walls. The power is still insufficient. Gotta add a little more. The gunner, adding seventy percent of the dose, unexpectedly grazed the city wall. One click away from Midtown Tower. Thereupon. The charge was quickly controlled at sixty percent. At this time, an artillery piece was like a mortar, and the trajectory of the curved shot finally hit the Yan army on the city tower. The morale of the Zhao army was greatly increased, and more artillery joined in.

Zhao Jun's artillery is a cannon, with a high muzzle velocity and a straight trajectory, and the initial velocity of the artillery is greatly reduced by modifying the amount of charge. Increase the elevation angle of the gun. In this way, a cannon made Zhao Jun change it into a mortar suitable for siege.

With the addition of mortars. More shells began to tilt on the tower. The Yan army suffered heavy casualties and was unable to organize a counterattack at all.