The ballista bed, which has different names in different eras, has been improved several times, and its performance has also improved a lot.

However, the ballista is a heavy equipment, not suitable for maneuvering, and consumes a lot of manpower, once it encounters an enemy cavalry assault, unless it is a group of crossbowmen, otherwise after carrying the first wave of attacks, the cavalry can be slaughtered.

The mobility and bulkiness of the ballista bed led to the decline of the status of the ballista in ancient wars, but in the battle of siege and defense, the ballista was still a heavy equipment that could not be ignored.

For example, on the city wall of Chang'an, there are hundreds of fixed crossbow beds, which require the joint efforts of several people, and the maximum range can reach 1,000 steps, within 500 steps, and no opponent can resist the attack of the ballista bed.

And in the offensive, the importance of the ballista bed is self-evident.

You can suppress the enemy army at the head of the city, you can attack the city gate, if you encounter a city with a weak city wall, when the city gate cannot be breached, you can mobilize dozens of crossbow beds in one place, aim at a point and keep attacking, as long as you do it, you can directly shoot down the city wall.

Of course, this usage is stupid, and few people use the ballista in this way nowadays.

More often than not, crossbow arrows are used as support points to shoot at rammed earth walls, which are used as other climbing tools besides ladders.

The advantage of this form is that the enemy cannot destroy it, and as long as the attacking side can avoid the enemy's attack, it is still easy to climb to the top of the city.

Li Yuanji's fortifications could knock down the ladder, even if the defenders did not show up, but in Hou Junji's opinion, as long as the crossbow bed was moved, this fortification would be breached sooner or later.

And Hou Junji, who has long been unaccustomed to Li Yuanji, how could he give Li Yuanji this face?

"If General Hou is not satisfied, he can adjust the crossbow bed to attack." Li Yuanji squinted his eyes slightly, and secretly kept Hou Junji in his heart, and he must clean up when he finds an opportunity.

"Just tune it, the old man is afraid that you can't do it?" Hou Jun's angry teeth itched, his old face turned sideways, and he shouted.

It seems that the record of Hou Junji, what the history books say should be true, this person is indeed extremely arrogant, and there is no one in his eyes, and he is born with a villain.

For this kind of person, the best way is not to use him, not to give him any power, and not to give him any opportunity to make meritorious contributions, so that he has no reason to be embarrassed for the rest of his life.

But it is obvious that Hou Junji at this time has not yet swelled to the appearance of more than ten years later, although he is a little arrogant, he is still very measured in front of Li Shimin, and he is still one of the generals that Li Shimin trusts very much.

But regardless of whether you are a military general trusted by Li Shimin, if you dare to question Lao Tzu's masterpiece, I will definitely humiliate you today.

"This king will give you a hundred crossbow arrows, and if you don't think it's enough, a thousand or ten thousand will be fine. Ten steps, fifty steps, one hundred steps? The distance is up to you, no matter how many crossbow arrows you choose, where you choose, as long as one crossbow arrow can be inserted into the wall, this matter will be regarded as a loss for the king today. "Concrete fortifications, cannonballs can't penetrate into them, at most they will blast open a hole, although the crossbow bed is powerful, but in front of the concrete fortifications, you can only pinch your nose to be grandchildren.

"It's too much of a deception! If half of it doesn't fit into the wall, I lose! "Hou Junji is so angry, Li Yuanji doesn't know if he wants to slap his face?

Although Hou Junji was not named the Duke of the Kingdom, it was almost over, Li Shimin had already quietly hinted at him that he would be crowned the Duke of the Kingdom after he ascended the throne, and he was also a hero on the battlefield, what kind of battle had he not seen?

Not to mention this small broken city tower, it is the extremely hard Chang'an city wall, even if it is the imperial city wall, as long as it can be shot accurately and the location is appropriate, ten arrows can pierce it with seven or eight arrows.

Even the Imperial City is not a problem, will you be afraid of your little broken building?

No, you can't just let Li Yuanji go.

Hou Junji's eyes suddenly lit up, didn't Li Shimin want Li Yuanji to die? Why not take advantage of this opportunity?

A pair of small eyes purr and make money, maybe the thief's eyebrows and rat eyes are pointing to the current Hou Junji, but Hou Junji doesn't care at all, and still looks angry: "Since it's a gambling contract, there should always be some bets to be appropriate." ”

"Yes!" Hou Junji was in a hurry to send money to himself, how could Li Yuanji, who was short of money, embarrassed to refuse?

"The loser will fight with his life, I don't know if His Royal Highness the King of Qi dares to bet with this general?" There was a smug expression in Hou Junji's eyes, this time, he had won.

There is no defense in this world that cannot be attacked by a ballista, unless it is a stone, but look at the small broken building opposite, is there a stone?

Well, there are really stones, but Hou Junji can't see them.

Hou Junji's words made Li Shimin's forehead wrinkle instantly, and he secretly scolded this thing for not knowing the right way, and just as he wanted to open his mouth to reprimand, Li Yuanji's mocking voice came again.

"Don't you seem stupid?"

"Huh?"

"Who are you? It's Quanjiao County! Who is this king? Take your life as a son of Quanjiao County, in exchange for this king's life? Is it possible for a county uncle to exchange the prince's life? "One life for another, the only one who dies can only be Hou Junji.

But Li Yuanji, who had the chance to win, didn't want to agree directly, it was too bad.

"You ......" Hou Junji gritted his teeth, trembling uncontrollably, he was too special to bully.

"What are you? Don't say that this king bullies you today, if you win, this king of Taiping Fang will give you half. If you lose, all your possessions will go to the king. ”

"Ballista!" Li Shimin's face was full of black lines, and he yelled at the people beside him.

He is also a monarch anyway, how can he let the royal family and his generals make such a bet?

But looking at Li Yuanji's expression, it seems that the victory is in hand, but whether he wins or loses, in terms of the cost of bets, Li Yuanji is still the losing party.

No matter how much property Hou Junji has, he can't buy half of Taipingfang.

Li Jing on one side also kept shaking his head after hearing this bet, Li Shimin secretly guessed that the city gate tower opposite might not be simple, so he immediately stopped the nonsense between the two, he didn't have that time to go to the play, and he didn't want to see Li Yuanji get Hou Junji's family property for no reason.

The crossbow bed was quickly pushed to the Taiping Fang, which was something in the palace, and it was easy to push one out.

The crossbow bed was placed at a place of about a hundred paces, and several soldiers skillfully operated it, a black, white iron arrow, and a crossbow arrow about half a zhang long on the crossbow bed, several people worked together to fill it with a winch, and one person quickly adjusted its position.

'Whoosh! ’

The sound of the crossbow bolt breaking through the air immediately sounded, leaving a black trail, and the body of the arrow rushed towards the city gate tower at a speed almost unreachable to the naked eye under the action of the huge thrust.

The sharp shouting made the soldiers in the city gate tower tremble, it is not easy for crossbow arrows to hit people, the hit rate of this thing is much lower than that of bows and arrows, but in the Tang Dynasty, this thing is equivalent to a strategic weapon, and the deterrent power is far greater than the lethal power.

‘DUANG！ ’

A dull sound sounded, the arrow made close contact with the city wall, and in an instant, a fierce fire flashed, but in broad daylight, no one saw this firelight.

The bolts surged forward, trying to stab their arrows deep into the walls before they could exhaust the last of their strength.

But the concrete fortifications did not show weakness, bravely resisted the invasion of the crossbow arrows, and in an instant, the huge impact force, after the arrow was blocked, the arrow body of the crossbow arrow began to shift, and the arrow still refused to give up on the city wall to leave a one-foot-long white trace, and finally fell to the ground unwillingly.

The place where the collision was previously carried out was only the size of a little finger, and the hole less than a little finger deep was left there lonely and disappointed, showing people that there had been a struggle between aggression and aggression here.

Li Shimin's eyes widened, but he immediately shook his head, this should have been an accident, the crossbow arrow just touched the hard place.

Twenty crossbow arrows were fired one after another, without any deviation, but the deepest trace was only slightly deeper than a little finger, and the twenty crossbow arrows fell to the ground without exception.

Cold sweat wet the entire back, and even the forehead was occupied by beads of sweat the size of beans, Hou Junji quietly wiped the beads of sweat on his forehead, but his arms couldn't help trembling.