Fang Shao spoke wildly, and everyone was shocked.

You must know that Wu was born in the south with dense rivers, no training, since he was a child, he was familiar with the surname of water, and he made a living from boats, so it can be said that they were born water warriors.

Although most of Jingzhou is located south of the Yangtze River, its center of gravity is still the Hanshui basin in the north, and the distribution of the water network in the Hanshui basin is far less dense than that of the Yangtze River.

There is such a big gap in the quality of the soldiers, which is also an important factor in the repeated defeats of the Jingzhou naval army to the Wu people back then. Therefore, although Guan Yu has a powerful naval army, he can only consider himself second-rate, and he does not dare to compare with the world-leading Eastern Wu naval army.

And Pang Tong, Zhuge Liang and others are mostly from Jingxiang, so they naturally know more about the power of the Eastern Wu Naval Army, so when Fang Shao claimed to have a strategy to break the enemy, even Zhuge Liang, who had always trusted him very much, had great doubts.

Liu Bei was very interested, and hurriedly said: "Zhongzheng has a good strategy to break the enemy, but it doesn't hurt to say it." ”

Fang Shao said calmly: "The strength of the Dongwu naval army is that its soldiers are born to be good at water warfare, and the other is that the shipbuilding skills of Dongwu are very superb, especially its building ships and fighting ships, which are both strong and huge, and it is difficult for our army to build such a good giant ship." And every time the Wu people fought, they relied on the advantages of these giant ships to suppress the enemy's archers and easily break through the enemy's formation, and then they could calmly engage in broadside battles. Therefore, if you want to break the Wu people's naval army, you must first break its giant ship. ”

Liu Bei nodded and agreed with Fang Shao's analysis, and said: "The Wu people's naval tactics are indeed like this, when Chibi fought the first water battle, Cao Ying's Jingzhou naval army was broken apart because it couldn't withstand the impact of the Wu people's giant ships, so it was defeated, which is also an important reason why Cao Ying had to choose the iron lock boat later." It's just that it's not easy to break the giant ship of Dongwu, unless we can build a ship as big, but with such superb skills, with the ability of Jingzhou shipbuilders, I'm afraid it will be difficult to do so. ”

Fang Shao said: "We can't build a big ship like the Wu people, but we can find a way to destroy their big ship." ”

At this time, Pang Tong couldn't help but laugh and said: "Zhongzheng, it's easier said than done, such a huge ship, you can't hit it, is it possible that you plan to sink them with a strong bow and a hard crossbow?" ”

Fang Shao smiled indifferently and said, "The bow and crossbow are naturally unsinkable, but this weapon will definitely work." ”

Fang Shao said, took out a drawing from his sleeve, spread it in front of Liu Zheng, and said: "During the battle of Guandu, Cao Ying once broke the Yuan Shao arrow tower with a thunderbolt car, Shao was inspired by it, and after several thoughts, he specially invented this thing, and I gave it a name, called 'Shenwei Cannon'." ”

"Divine Cannon!"

The crowd was struck by the majestic name, and they all gathered around to see the pattern.

Don't look at the name of the weapon, in fact, what Fang Shao drew was just the design drawings of the "Huihui Cannon" first used by the Mongols in later generations. And the so-called return cannon is actually just a kind of trebuchet.

In the history of later generations, the first appearance of the Huihui Cannon was in the Mongol invasion of the Southern Song Dynasty, when Xiangyang, which was known as the strong city of the world, was returned to the cannon "in a cannon in its tower, the sound is like thunder, the city is turbulent, and the generals are more than those who surrender to the city."

The Song people are good at defending the city, and there is a specially compiled textbook for defending the city, but after facing the Mongolian army equipped with the return artillery, the advantage of defending the city is gone, so since the city of Xiangyang was broken, where the Mongols passed, the Song people all opened the city and surrendered, which is inseparable from the large-scale application of the return artillery.

In the battle of Guandu, the so-called "thunderbolt" that Liu Ye presented to Cao Ying was actually a simple manpower trebuchet. This kind of trebuchet needs to be used by dozens of people, or hundreds of people to pull the rope, which is not only complicated to use, inefficient, but also has a low crosshair and bomb weight.

The key difference between the return cannon and the ordinary trebuchet is that the return gun adds a counterweight device, so that the counterweight can be used instead of human towing, on the one hand, it can be convenient to estimate the firing range and trajectory according to the weight and height of the counterweight, on the other hand, it can use a ratchet, carrying rod, etc. for energy storage, so that the required manpower is greatly reduced. The traditional trebuchet, whether it is a single tip or a multi-tip, is very accurate because it relies on the concerted efforts of dozens or even hundreds of people.

The most powerful counterweight trebuchet can even shoot a projectile weighing nearly 1,000 pounds at a distance of more than 300 meters, and it can also accurately hit the target. In the era of cold weapons, such a terrifying attack power can be imagined as a deterrent to the defending side.

Of course, the Shenwei cannon designed by Fang Shao was far smaller than the heavy return cannon used by the Mongols to attack Xiangyang, and he designed the Shenwei cannon to be installed on a large fighting ship, so that the range and weight of the Shenwei cannon could easily destroy the giant building ship of Soochow with the help of the range and weight of the projectile.

Some people say that it is people, not weapons, that decide the war, this sentence of course has its truth, but it is not entirely true, for example, in the history of that year, if Cao Wei did not have an iron cavalry army, if Shu Han did not have a strong crossbow army, if the Wu army did not have a giant naval warship...... How exactly history will evolve is still unknown.

Of course, Fang Shao wanted to invent the gunpowder cannon, but he knew that with the metallurgical level of the current era, even if he moved the gunpowder formula and cannon casting technology, he would not be able to create a cannon that could be used in actual combat. As an engineering graduate and a history buff, it is obviously more realistic to invent such an easy-to-manufacture but skillful weapon of war as the return cannon.

When Fang Shao explained the ability of this divine power cannon in detail, everyone present was amazed, and Zhuge Liang even patted Fang Shao and said: "Zhongzheng, your divine power cannon is really a sharp weapon to break the giant ship of Dongwu, with this artifact, we can calmly adjust the strategy of Dongwu." ”

Historically, the Shu Han regime was not as strong as the Wei army and had no advantage of cavalry, so in the construction of the army, it attached great importance to the use of advanced technology, such as the crossbow troops that made the Wei army fearful, and the Pu Yuan knife that could be sharpened like clay, which seemed to be related to Zhuge Liang and other Jingxiang scholars who attached more importance to the skill of the machine, so Fang Shao only explained the truth of the divine cannon, and Zhuge Liang and others could understand the essence.

Pang Tong also nodded and said: "If this divine power cannon really has the effect of Zhongzheng as you say, then we may be able to boldly punish Dongwu's provocation." ”

Liu Bei then patted the case and said: "Okay, then Zhongzheng, you can try to make a few of these divine cannons first, if it really has a magic effect, then teach Sun Quan's blue-eyed child a good lesson." ”

So, with Liu Bei's authorization, Fang Shao was able to mobilize the best group of blacksmiths and carpenters in the capital, and it took three days to produce two Shenwei cannons. Then, at a secret venue outside Chengdu, Fang Shao demonstrated his secret weapon in front of Liu Bei and others.

The power of the Shenwei cannon was really strong, and the two cannons combined with a hit rate of three out of ten shots successfully smashed a cow two hundred paces away into meat sauce. Such a high hit rate was quite high in the eyes of Liu Bei and others, and the terrifying lethality made Liu Bei strengthen his confidence in the water war with Dongwu.

On the day of the successful demonstration, Liu Bei secretly ordered all the craftsmen near Shu County to gather and work in shifts around the stars, and in less than a month, they successfully manufactured about 100 Shenwei cannons.

Then, on this day in early April, a group of 10,000 horses with Huang Zhong as the main commander, Huang Quan and Meng Da as the deputy commanders, and Fang Shao as the mastermind, set off from Chengdu and sailed down the Yangtze River by boat to Jingzhou.

Liu Bei sent such a combination, obviously there is another deep meaning, the coach Huang Zhong is Liu Biao's old department, the old is heavy, known as prestige, Huang Quan is a famous scholar in Yizhou, Meng Da is the arrogant among the scholars in Dongzhou, and Fang Shao is a direct cronie of Liu Bei's Jingzhou scholars, and most of the 10,000 horses are soldiers from Yizhou.

Liu Bei sent such a mixed army, obviously to show the world that he had successfully twisted Jingyi Erzhou into a rope.

This task force went smoothly all the way, crossing Gangneung, crossing the Three Gorges, and Yueyidu, and arrived at Gangneung smoothly after 15 days.

After a year, Fang Shao finally returned to Jiangling again, the day he left, he was just a small engagement, and when he returned, he was already in charge of the army, and he was one of the most trusted strategists in Liu Bei's mansion, and his status was high, second only to Xu Shu who stayed in Jingzhou.

The moment I landed on the land of Gangneung, I felt a sense of returning home.

"The land of Jiangling is really the key point that extends in all directions, no wonder Dongwu has been thinking about it." Then Huang Quan, who landed on the shore, looked at the majestic Jiangling City and sighed, this is every time he left Shu in his life and came to this city Jiangling, it seems that looking at the boundless scenery of Jianghan, his horizons have also broadened a lot.

Fang Shao smiled and said with great interest: "I don't know if my former residence is occupied, I remember that there are still more than a dozen jars of old wine hidden in the wine cellar at home, if it is still there, please take a good taste of our Jingxiang's good wine tonight." ”

Huang Quan laughed and said, "Okay, Zhongzheng, don't regret it." ”

While the two of them were talking, they saw a group of people coming, but it was Nanjun Taishou Miwei who came to greet him with Jiangling civil and military officials.

Although Mi Wei is young, his words and deeds are quite calm, and after he stepped forward, he calmly and generously greeted everyone.

When he greeted Fang Shao, Mi Wei's face suddenly changed to a look of relief as if he had met an old friend, and said excitedly: "Brother Zhongzheng, Chengdu is different, I haven't had time to thank you, we must have a drunk tonight." ”

Mi Wei's meaning was obviously that Fang Shao was grateful for recommending him as the Taishou of Nanjun, and Fang Shao was also quite cordial to this calm young man, and when he was about to answer with a smile, he suddenly saw a horse galloping, rolled the saddle and dismounted, and reported on the ground: "Qi Yu Taishou, General Guan has sent an urgent order, the Dongwu Navy has poured out of the nest and blocked the Xiangshui Pass, and General Guan ordered Taishou to quickly put Nanjun into the highest state of alert." ”

"It's coming so fast!"

When everyone heard this, they were all shocked.

(To be continued)