But compared to the bow, the advantages of the crossbow are also obvious, its long range, strong penetration, strong accuracy, and more importantly, it can fire more than three arrows at a time, which has extremely significant lethality against a large area of enemies.

The bowstring is a problem, in later generations, most of the bowstrings used in crossbows are composite materials, fiber materials, but with the current technology, Rand simply cannot manufacture a qualified bowstring, if a higher purity steel wire can be used instead of composite materials?

"Use a mixture of raw cowhide, hemp rope and beef tendon, remember to prepare more bowstrings, and if they break, they can be replaced in time. Rand licked his lips, so far, the best material is like this, and in terms of strength, this material is far inferior to the metal wire bowstring used in later generations, but the time period for making metal bowstrings is too long, Rand made a rough calculation, I am afraid that it will not be completed before the beast tide, so he has to give up this idea.

The shape of the ballista has been roughly completed, but the most critical part - the crossbow machine has not yet been baked, a qualified ballista is mainly composed of three parts, bow, crossbow arm, crossbow machine, of which the main role of the bow and crossbow arm is to support the bow and the string, and the most critical control launch part, is the ballista machine, it is the heart of a ballista, the workmanship requirements are extremely fine, can not have half a point of stagnation or loosening, is a ballista on the highest level of technical requirements.

It took Rand a full five days to present the drawings of the crossbow machine in the form of sections.

"My lord, all the tar and coal from the villages and towns have been transported to the town of the wooden house, except for the share that is necessary for the winter. Payne walked in from outside, shaking off the dust and cinders all over his body, and suddenly there was a splash of flying ash.

"Where's the portion?"

"The amount of tar is about 8,000 catties, and the coal is more, more than 100,000 catties, but the color is a little unsatisfactory, and it is even mixed with stones, and the burning speed is likely to not achieve the expected effect. Payne sighed, he had offended many nobles in his realm in order to get all this coal.

"This amount should be enough, the flames are far more intimidating to the beasts than cold weapons, they are naturally afraid of fire. Rand crouched in front of the smelting furnace, not too hot, holding a polished armor-piercing heavy arrow in his hand, feeling its sharpness with his fingers.

"Come, Payne. You try the power of this arrow. Rand took off a longbow hanging from the wall and handed it to Payne.

The length and weight of this armor-piercing heavy arrow are the most perfect proportions that Rand has calculated repeatedly.

Outside the smelting plant was an open space, not far away was a mountain forest, Rand walked to a place less than one hundred and fifty steps away from the mountain forest and stopped, pointed to the nearest pine tree, and said: "Payne, do you see that pine tree? It should be about a hundred meters away from here, now pick up the bow and arrow in your hand and shoot it!"

One hundred and fifty meters is the most extreme range of the longbow, and at a distance of one hundred meters in front of you, what kind of strength can the armor-piercing heavy arrow play?

Considering Payne's excellent physical fitness, Rand decided to hand over the task to him.

Payne was a knight, he had practiced horse archery, and he knew the bow and arrow very thoroughly, whether it was the light and wind speed or the control of the distance, he visually measured the distance, and his hand lightly tested the weight of the armor-piercing heavy arrow, and said: "The arrow is a bit heavy, and the strength of this bow should not be enough to shoot it to one hundred and fifty meters." ”

"What about the lethality within a hundred meters?" Rand asked.

"I think I'll have to give it a try. Payne shrugged his shoulders, put the base of the arrow on the bowstring, and pulled hard to aim.

"The weight of the arrows was beyond my expectations, and I needed to pull the bowstring with more force. Payne's eyes narrowed, and the longbow was almost drawn by him into the shape of a full moon, and it was still deforming, and the bow creaked overwhelmingly under Payne's pull.

"That's enough, Payne, the bow has reached its limit, and if you keep pulling, the bow will break. Rand saw that the longbow could no longer withstand any more power, and reminded him.

"......" Payne was calm, he wouldn't have any distractions when it came to aiming.

"Collapse!!" Payne let go of his fingers, and the longbow in his hand transmitted powerful potential energy to the arrow in an instant, and the pitch-black armor-piercing arrow turned into a black light and flew out.

"Duh!" A second later, there was the sound of heavy blades slamming into the wood from the front, and the heavy armor-piercing arrow pierced the pine tree's torso impartially.

Payne carried the longbow and Rand to the pine tree, and saw that the arrow of the armor-piercing arrow had completely submerged into the pine wood, piercing into it for nearly five centimeters, if it was replaced by human flesh and blood, I was afraid that it would be penetrated through the chest or abdomen in an instant, this result made Payne and Rand gasp, you must know that the pull of this ordinary longbow is only thirty catties, it can cause such a terrifying lethality, if you change to a repeating ballista with a pull of 100 catties, the attack power of the armor-piercing heavy arrow is absolutely unimaginable.

No matter how thick the flesh of the barbarians is, it will not be stronger than steel, and if the ballista uses this kind of armor-piercing heavy arrow, even the plate armor that claims to be the strongest defense on the continent will be easily penetrated!

With an effective range of nearly two hundred meters, such a terrifying penetrating force, three arrows in a row, coupled with accurate strikes, the ballista is simply a weapon beyond an era, with this sharp weapon, Rand has absolute confidence that he can hold the wooden house town!

"The sharpness of the armor-piercing arrows is beyond my imagination!Lord Lord, if the ballista really has the power you say, then the barbarians' proud defensive power is not worth mentioning at all, and we can keep the barbarians at bay a hundred meters away. The joy on Payne's face was hard to hide.

"Payne, you remember one sentence. At all times, science and technology are the primary productive forces. With an extremely cheerful smile on his face, Rand raised his fist fiercely at the north, and said, "This time, I'm going to beat these wild cubs to the point that his mother doesn't even recognize them." ”

The weather is getting colder and colder, and the food that the beasts can find in the Arctic mountains is gradually starting to fill their stomachs, and when the first snow falls, the snow will cover everything up, and the foraging will become more difficult, and at that time, the desperate beasts and monsters will turn their eyes to the wooden house town dozens of kilometers away at the foot of the mountain.