"Cherry wine glow-in-the-dark glass, if you want to drink the pipa, urge immediately. Drunk and lying on the battlefield, Jun Mo smiled, and a few people came back to fight in ancient times. Uh...... "The chubby eunuch of the Eastern Roman army unashamedly read a Latin poem in front of the Great Song Dynasty instructor, and after burping a big wine, he raised the silver cup with great interest and drank the cherry shochu inside.

Although the young science and engineering men of the Great Song Dynasty were not as poor and exquisite as Jinshi, they were even more happy because of the victory during the day, and they also raised their glasses. Immediately, the traditional hobbies of the men in science and engineering began, and they began to discuss.

"The pikemen should be equipped with paper armor."

"That's right, the chain mail is still too uncut."

"Although the paper armor is good, the one-handed axe can still cut it."

"Calculate the cost. Besides, I didn't say anything about equipping the axe men with paper armor. Paper armor is most suitable for gunmen. ”

"The most suitable is still steel armor!"

"I said, you calculate the cost!"

……

Ulysses, the commander of the Eastern Roman Empire, did not drink alcohol, and according to the discipline of the army, the generals were to be sober at all times, and they were not allowed to drink soju during the march and battle. The wine is also limited. Ulysses himself willingly obeyed military discipline, and as the commander of the largest central regular army in the Eastern Roman Empire for three hundred years, he was thinking about the next battle.

During the day, they defeated the Serbian barbarian army on the battlefield, but the barbarians held the pass with their bravery. Ulysses did not want more losses and chose to stop and occupy the battlefield. Tomorrow there will be a battle to seize the pass, and he is faintly uneasy. If he could, he wanted to be able to fight the enemy head-on, and attacking the pass would be too advantageous for the defending side.

A loud voice sounded in front of Ulysses, "Lord Ulysses, don't worry. Our counterweight catapults made the Serbs feel great. ”

Looking up, it was a member of the Great Song Teaching Group. Ulysses laughed, "I hope so." ”

Looking at the face that was still worried, the young man of the teaching group said confidently: "I really don't have to worry! ”

"Don't brag about it! It doesn't have to go that way. "There are also people in the teaching group who don't drink much. After counting his teammates, he apologized to Ulysses again, and dragged the drunk away with interest in his mind.

Looking at these elated guys, Ulysses could only sigh in his heart. These Song people, who were able to sail thousands of miles, did not understand the suffering of the Eastern Roman Empire, which had been deteriorating for three hundred years. In the past thirty years, the Roman Empire in the Middle East has even been destroyed and forced to submit to the so-called Latin Empire.

Over the years, through the commercial network of the Quadripartite Alliance, the Eastern Roman Empire received a large amount of grain, which was used to pay the inhabitants of the cities controlled by the emperor to raise an army of 40,000. Before taking command of half of the empire's army, Ulysses couldn't believe that the emperor could be so decisive. After receiving the Eagle Banner, Ulysses listened to the emperor say in a heavy tone: "Ulysses, I believe in your loyalty. The Empire's Army...... It's all up to you. Try to get as many people back alive as possible! ”

The army left Constantinople in a mighty way, and the women who saw them off had tears in their eyes, and some even wept loudly. For more than a hundred years, the Eastern Roman emperors relied on mercenaries to fight, and death did not make the Eastern Romans sad. Now these Eastern Roman women saw their husbands fighting for their country, and their strongest feelings were not honorable.

The pressure weighed down Ulysses, and the cheerful feast seemed to him like a different world.

In the Serbian camp, seven or eight miles away, His Excellency Dušan tried to regain the courage of a group of discouraged generals. However, it was too difficult, and he watched the daytime battle from beginning to end from the heights, and the Greeks did not use trickery, nor the Greek fire for which they had become famous. What he saw was a well-equipped, well-trained, battle-willed, and physically unusually physical Greek.

The Serbian army showed its greatest strength in every detail, and they were defeated either by the enemy's tricks and by the stronger Greeks. How to defeat such an enemy head-on, His Excellency Duchamp has not yet figured out a way.

"Iron Bull must have rebelled! Otherwise, why hasn't he shown up until now! The werewolf general roared angrily.

Hearing this, His Excellency Duchamp couldn't help but have a glimmer of hope in his heart. Not the hope of finding an excuse for defeat, but the hope that General Iron Bull did not fight the enemy. With the combat effectiveness and prudence shown by the Greeks during the day, it is not uncommon for the Iron Bull General, who claims to be two thousand, but actually five or six hundred, to be wiped out if he rashly engages in battle. Iron Bull's army was considered a good battle among the Serbian army, and His Excellency Dušan needed his strength very much.

It's just that the other generals didn't have the thoughts of His Excellency Duchamp, and with this outlet, everyone scolded General Tie Niu, who commanded less than 1,000 soldiers, for his evil deeds of escaping from battle and even defecting to the enemy, not mentioning the ugly state of the Serbian army, which was 30 times the number of General Tie Niu, being defeated head-on.

After scolding for a while, General Stone shouted: "Tomorrow we will charge the battle with axe soldiers and crush the Greeks at the beginning!" ”

Hearing this, many generals responded loudly. However, the werewolf general in charge of the axe soldier battle couldn't help but show a hesitant look. There is a world of difference between shouting and doing things, if it is an axe soldier charging into battle, he has to rush to the front. During the day's fighting, the axe men did their best, and the casualties were not small. If it were to do it again, the war-hardened werewolf general had a gut feeling that he would not break the formation easily. If they had fought to exhaustion as during the day, and had been counterattacked by the Greeks' axemen, the axemen, who had already suffered a lot of losses, would have suffered miserably.

In the Serbian army, not only His Excellency Dušan fought many battles, but also many generals with a bit of brains. As the discussion deepened, they could not find the weaknesses of the Greeks, and various methods of sneak attacks were proposed. It was simply suggested that the Serbian army pin down the Greeks with a small number of troops, and that the main force go around behind the Greeks to cut off the Greeks' road.

This suggestion looked good and received a lot of support, but it was rejected by His Excellency Duchamp. The Greeks advanced along the main road, which could not be cut off by small forces. Large forces of thousands of men walked the trails too slowly, and supplies were very difficult. Moreover, the Greeks are now three days away from the important fortress of Lord Duchamp, and if they fail to hold the current pass, the Greeks can attack the important fortress of Lord Duchamp. There are not only a large number of people in the old nest, but also a large number of materials. When the time comes, the Greeks will be able to set off safely with the supplies of Lord Duchamp, and the starving interception force will not hold out for long.

When it comes to the late night, when everyone's sleepy eyelids fight, the military meeting can only end without a problem.

Before dawn the next day, the Serbian army found that the 'Greeks' were approaching the pass, and the reconnaissance troops went out to meet the battle, and found that the Eastern Roman army was using a large shield as a wall, and the crossbowmen were shooting arrows from inside. Serbian scouts, who had suffered more than a dozen casualties, retreated back to the pass, and by the time the generals who had learned the news had gathered, it was already dawn.

Looking down at the pass, I saw that the Greeks were lined up more than 70 meters away from the pass, with a large shield one person high in the front row, and the Greeks behind the shield wall were assembling some strange wooden equipment. A general said uneasily: "Could it be Greek fire?" ”

Lord Duchamp shook his head. According to what he knew, the device of Greek fire did not look like this. It should be something else. Although Serbian crossbows were very ordinary, Lord Dušan still mobilized archers to shoot at the Greeks. The Greeks immediately raised their great shields, and the rain of arrows hit the shields and fell weakly.

"The axe men are ready to strike!" His Excellency Duchamp ordered. The Greeks were so close that they couldn't afford to build the equipment they wanted.

"We...... I haven't eaten yet. The werewolf general replied.

It takes a lot of force to swing the battle axe, and His Excellency Duchamp ordered: "Then hurry up!" ”

The Eastern Roman army here had an early meal, and all the counterweight trebuchets were reserves, which only needed to be assembled according to the drawings on the battlefield. The trained sappers did not look at the drawings at all, and the assembly was quick with their hands and feet. General Ulysses, dressed in steel armor, also went to the front with axe men, who were also wearing steel armor. Seeing that the trebuchet was quickly assembled, he finally breathed a sigh of relief. The heaviest part of the disassembled parts can be carried by six people, but the entire trebuchet can be dragged by a dozen people. In this kind of mountainous area, where is there room for a dozen people.

Seeing the sun rising little by little, General Ulysses, who had been hit by several lost armours, became more and more anxious. Fortunately, the Serbs did not directly send troops to raid, and the trebuchet group was finally installed. Seeing the pass more than seventy meters away, Ulysses breathed a sigh of relief and shouted: "Start attacking!" ”

The counterweight compartment in front of the Eastern Roman trebuchet was made of iron. There are no walls on the front and sides of the chest. There are two manual lifts on each side, which rely on manpower to lift the weight of the iron shell and lead core to a certain height. When the lever arm behind the ground is fixed, the iron box in front rises to a certain height, and the lift table is a whole row of rolling rods, and the heavy objects on the table are pushed into the box by manpower.

The shooters let go of the rope of the rear arm and relied on the principle of the lever to drop the weight on the short arm in front and pull the throwing arm to throw the weight pulled by the long arm behind. The iron box in front of it fell to the ground, and the sapper team quickly stabilized the lever and pulled the heavy object out of the iron box with the rolling rod. The lift table has lifted additional heavy objects with a lift table during this time. When the lever resumes its throwing position, the counterweight is sent into the iron box again.

In this way, each trebuchet can be fired once every two minutes. Fifty trebuchets continued to fire heavy objects, and one projectile after another in the air seemed to fly towards the pass without stopping.

Here, the axe soldier had just finished breakfast, and he stretched his limbs in satisfaction, ready to attack. All of a sudden, there was a flying disaster. Some of the projectiles were stones, breaking bones and tendons from the Serbian axemen, and blood splattered. These weights are not entirely stones, but mostly gravel and dirt made of sisal linen. was hit by this thing, and it didn't look so miserable, but a weight of more than 20 catties flew like this, as long as it was hit in a more important part, it wouldn't survive.

The pass, which was originally full of guards, quickly collapsed under the onslaught of counterweight trebuchets, and was either stoned to death or took refuge in a safe place to avoid the deadly attack.

Seeing this, General Ulysses gave the order to advance. The Eastern Roman steel-armored axe soldiers held their battle axes in their hands, and when the last heavy objects were thrown into the air, they shouted and killed towards the pass.

The captain who rushed to the front was armed with two one-handed axes, and the pass had been built by the Serbian army with a low barrier. The captain uses his left hand tomahawk to hook a borrowing point and climb two steps upwards, and the one-handed axe in his right hand hooks another place and uses the strength to climb two more steps upward. After several alternations, he climbed the ramparts. In front was a sharpened wooden stick, and the captain turned over, and the steel armor was not only not pierced by the stick, but was crushed by the captain wearing the steel armor.

As soon as they stood up, the Serbs, who rushed to the rampart, swung their axes and slashed at them. The captain leaned slightly sideways and swung his right tomahawk out. Unexpectedly, the Serbian axe soldier was extremely brave, and his strength in his hands was undiminished. The axe hit the captain's helmet and knocked the helmet flying. The warrior also paid the price, and the captain's tomahawk slashed deep into his ribs, and the warrior fell to the ground, pawn.

The sun shone brightly, and the captain's swarthy face reflected the oil. He shook his head a little dazed and smiled. A mouthful of white teeth on his dark face stands out. At this time, another enemy rushed up and fought desperately, the captain's right hand tomahawk was raised, blocked, and the left hand tomahawk was under the command, with a scream, the Serbian warrior had another person, pawn.

Guarding the pass behind him, the captain used the two battle axes with great skill, and cut down five or six people in a moment. At this time, Serbian spearmen on both sides stabbed with spears, and an Eastern Roman axe soldier wearing steel armor was killed in the right rear, blocking the spur on the right with a shield, and the captain threw out his right hand battle axe, and the pikeman on the left was slashed in the chest, and immediately turned his back to the end. The captain turned his head and saw three or four of his men coming up from behind, and he strode forward, pulling his tomahawk from the chest of the fallen pikeman. The pikemen let out a scream. The captain didn't pay attention to him, and the team members behind him had already picked up the helmet dropped by the captain and buckled him up again.

The captain shook his neck from side to side,

As soon as they stood up, the Serbs, who rushed to the rampart, swung their axes and slashed at them. The captain leaned slightly sideways and swung his right tomahawk out. Unexpectedly, the Serbian axe soldier was extremely brave, and his strength in his hands was undiminished. The axe hit the captain's helmet and knocked the helmet flying. The warrior also paid the price, and the captain's tomahawk slashed deep into his ribs, and the warrior fell to the ground, pawn.

The sun shone brightly, and the captain's swarthy face reflected the oil. He shook his head a little dazed and smiled. A mouthful of white teeth on his dark face stands out. At this time, another enemy rushed up and fought desperately, the captain's right hand tomahawk was raised, blocked, and the left hand tomahawk was under the command, with a scream, the Serbian warrior had another person, pawn.

Guarding the pass behind him, the captain used the two battle axes with great skill, and cut down five or six people in a moment. At this time, Serbian spearmen on both sides stabbed with spears, and an Eastern Roman axe soldier wearing steel armor was killed in the right rear, blocking the spur on the right with a shield, and the captain threw out his right hand battle axe, and the pikeman on the left was slashed in the chest, and immediately turned his back to the end. The captain turned his head and saw three or four of his men coming up from behind, and he strode forward, pulling his tomahawk from the chest of the fallen pikeman. The pikemen let out a scream. The captain didn't pay attention to him, and the team members behind him had already picked up the helmet dropped by the captain and buckled him up again.

The captain shook his neck from side to side,

(Tianjin)