In a sense, since a kind of concrete was made that passed the standard, and even after many tests, the concrete met the requirements, Zhang Jiashi should naturally use these technologies to strengthen the defense system of the Great Qin Empire.

But Bai Qi once again advised Zhang Jiashi: "You should have heard of a sentence, that is, to attack the shield of the son with the spear of the son, if there is no means to easily break this shield, and the choice is to strengthen this shield, then this shield is taken away by someone or is known by others, then how to solve it?"

Zhang Jiashi heard Bai Qi's advice and had to be silent. Because I have to say that Bai Qi's exhortation is very reasonable.

The use of concrete buildings is certainly a great improvement in defense capabilities, but once there is no effective means to demolish these concrete buildings, if the way the concrete is made is revealed, then in the absence of high-power firearms, these concrete buildings will cause great trouble to the Great Qin Empire.

Because these concrete buildings were not built by the Qin Empire itself, but by hostile forces, this problem will not be avoided.

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After the concrete was made, many defensive buildings for the Qin Empire were greatly reduced in difficulty to build, and it can even be said that the overall defense capability was improved.

As far as the corresponding system of the city wall is concerned, once concrete is used as the main adhesive material, then whether it is the city wall or the city gate tower, it can completely avoid the attack method of fire attack.

After all, no one would be stupid enough to use stone or masonry to build quickly, and use wood that is relatively easy to burn as the pillar or layout of the main building.

Of course, as a kind of supporting beam, the stone pillars made of concrete are not necessarily more cost-effective than the wooden pillars.

However, if the layout of the gate tower is changed to a miniaturized castle in the Western style, then to a large extent, concrete can greatly help this construction method, and even effectively improve the overall defense ability of the city wall.

In the original case, this method of construction was actually quite problematic, as the walls could not have been able to support heavier smaller castles.

Because Western-style castles are actually more built of stone, it is undoubtedly quite dangerous to use more stone to build these castles if the city wall is used as the base.

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In many castles in Europe in later generations, stone was used as the main building material.

But there is a wrong view, that is, if you travel to Europe, you will see many castles, some of which may be intact, some of which are completely deserted, and the time and people who built them are also different, but they must have one thing in common - they are all made of stone. This modern landscape can give the false impression that the castles of ancient Europe were all made of stone.

In fact, this is not the case, stone is naturally easy to preserve as a solid material, which is the same principle as the main part of the Great Wall is only bricks, and many sand and wooden structures have long since ceased to exist.

In fact, the vast majority of castles in the Middle Ages in Europe were made of wood and rammed earth, and very few castles could be built of stone. Even with many of the magnificent castles seen today, most of their outer defenses are made of wood.

In addition, most of the castles that remain today are magnificent, but in fact, in the Middle Ages, a large number of defenses were made of rammed earth, which could not have been built so tall, and the weak military forces of the European lords also made the castle not have to be built very tall to achieve the purpose of defense.

It is recorded in the Western Wars of the Crusaders: "For a long time, any structure that could be defended would cause great trouble for the army. In 1003, Robert II of France and his ally, Normandy II, failed to capture Auxer because he had taken refuge in a monastery. In 1128, the Count of Flanders also used a fortified barracks as a fortification".

This description is actually very easy to understand, because with the situation in Europe at that time, the forces invested in a war were at most tens of thousands, and there was no need to build any powerful fortifications, while China's fortifications had to face hundreds of thousands of attacks, so they were naturally not on the same level; in addition, European countries were small and produced very limited resources, and not every country could find so many stones to build castles.

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And throughout the history of the castle, people have been using fortifications and civil engineering works since the Stone Age. Before the 9th century, there were no real castles in Europe. However, due to the resistance to the Viking invasion and the formation of an overly dispersed feudal political power, thousands of castles spread across Europe between the 9th and 15th centuries AD. In 1905, the statistics of France showed that there were more than 10,000 castles in the territory.

In the process of the development of the architectural art of the castle, two representative styles were formed: Romanesque and Gothic.

Romanesque, also known as Romanesque, meaning "shadow of Rome", was popular in Western Europe in the 11th and 12th centuries. The barrel arch is a representative of the architecture of this period, which is generally applied to pilasters and closed arcades, which is both solid and artistic. There are also circular towers, which make the towers less susceptible to destruction.

Other architectural features include the use of narrow windows, semicircular arches, low cupolas, and doorframes that protrude from each other. Due to the extensive use of columns and vaults of various shapes, the whole building achieves a solid, heavy, balanced and stable aesthetic effect, and the narrow windows form a strong contrast with the vast space inside, making the interior of the castle dim and deep, giving people a sense of mystery and darkness.

Gothic architecture gives a sense of rising upwards. The whole building has almost no walls, and between the main surface of the skeleton is a tall and large window, and the internal skeleton structure of this kind of building is naked with vertical lines and sharp scrolls, making its interior wide, tall and bright; for the Gothic sense of ascension, it can make people have a strange feeling of reverence in the psyche, and will cause a sense of spiritual collision and piety. This was very conducive to the expression of religious themes, so it was widely used in churches, and the castle's use of Gothic architecture was entirely due to its beauty.

The sophistication of the Gothic castle also lies in its lavish interiors, which are mainly reflected in these two points - glass mosaic windows and sculptures. Glass mosaic windows are an iconic feature of Gothic architecture. As the sun shines through the mosaic windows, the coloured light creates a surprising beauty on the mottled and bizarre walls.

During the feudal period, the local aristocracy provided law and order and protection from raiders such as the Vikings. The purpose of the nobles to build the castle was to protect it and provide a safe base controlled by military force. In fact, it is generally believed that the castle was used for defense, which is a factual view, since it was originally built to be used as an instrument of attack.

Its function was to serve as a base for professional soldiers, especially knights, and to control the surrounding countryside. When the king's central power declined for various reasons, the network of castles and the military force they supported provided relative political stability.

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From the ninth century onwards, the great local feudal powers began to occupy various regions of Europe with castles.

These early castles were mostly simple in design and construction, but slowly developed into solid stone construction. They mostly belonged to kings or vassals of kings, and although the nobles argued that they were threatened by barbarians to build castles, they actually used them to establish control over the region. This often happened because there was no strategically defended terrain in the European region and there was no strong centralized government at the time.

The Poitol region of France is the best example of a castle that is dotted throughout Europe. Before the Viking invasion in the 9th century, there were only three castles, but by the 11th century there were 39 castles. This model can be found in other parts of Europe, as castles can be built quickly. Before the advent of artillery, the defenders of the castle had a greater advantage over the siege.

The castles scattered and the large numbers of soldiers maintained for the sake of defense did not bring peace or defend each other against the invaders, but instead contributed to the constant wars.

The basic point of castle defense is to expose the besiegers to the highest danger and the most enemies possible, and to minimize the risks to the defenders. A well-designed castle can be effectively defended for a long time with a small number of troops. Having a strong defense allows the defender to hold on to the advantage of being well supplied until the besieger is driven back by the army that came to relieve the siege, or the attacker is forced to evacuate if they are depleted of ammunition and disease. The castle contains the following fortifications:

A fortress is a small castle, usually compounded inside a large castle. The main function of the fortress is to be used for defense, and it is usually defended by the subjects of the castle. If the outer city is attacked by an enemy, the defenders can be scattered into the fortress as a final defense. In many famous castle cases, this composite structure was built from the fortress and was originally the fortification of the site. Over time, the complex will gradually expand to include the outer walls and arrow towers to serve as the first line of defense for the fort.

Stone walls are fireproof and resistant to attacks from arrows and other projectiles, making it impossible for enemies to climb steep walls without equipment such as ladders and siege towers. Defenders at the top of the walls can shoot arrows downward or throw objects at the besiegers. The besiegers were thus completely exposed to open space, and were at a disadvantage when shooting upwards compared to the defenders, who had the advantage of strong protection and shooting downwards. If a wall is built on a cliff or other high cliff, its effectiveness and defensive value will be greatly increased. The gates and entrances to the walls will be reduced as much as possible to provide greater defense.

Arrow towers were built on the corners or walls of the city at regular intervals to serve as a fortified stronghold. The tower protrudes from the level wall, allowing defenders in the tower to shoot in the direction the wall is facing. The arrows at the corner of the city allow the defenders to expand the direction of their attacks and shoot at different angles. The Arrow Tower allows the defenders to defend the gates from all sides. Several castles started as simple turrets and were later expanded into larger composite castles with walls, internal forts, and additional turrets.

Walls and turrets are constantly strengthened to provide greater protection for defenders. A platform behind the top of the wall allows defenders to stand and fight. A pass above the wall allows defenders to shoot outwards or partially cover up during battle. These passes can be added with wooden flaps for additional protection. Narrow firing ports can be set up in the city walls, allowing archers to be completely protected when firing.

During an attack, a wooden platform protrudes from the top of a wall or turret, allowing defenders to shoot directly at enemies outside the walls, and if they come prepared, defenders can drop stones or boiling liquids at them. The wooden platform hidden above would keep it moist to prevent fire, and the stone arches that had a similar function were called moats and were placed above the gates or other important strongholds.

To accentuate the height of the walls, a trench was dug at the base of the wall, surrounding the entire castle and filling the trench with running water as much as possible to create a moat. Trenches and moats make it more difficult to attack walls directly. If an armored soldier falls into the water, he can easily drown, even if the water is shallow. The presence of the moat also makes it more difficult for enemies to dig tunnels under the castle, as diggers can easily drown in the moat's water if the tunnels collapse during the excavation. In some siege cases, the besiegers would try to drain the water from the moat before attacking, then fill in the dry moat, and then use siege towers or ladders to storm the walls.

Drawbridges can span moats or moats, making it easy for the castle's inhabitants to get in and out if needed. In times of crisis, the drawbridge would be hoisted to restore the function of the trench and close the walls. The drawbridge was lifted by machinery inside the castle to protect it from the siegers.

Gates are sturdy fences that sit on the passage of the gates and can be lowered if necessary to block the doorways. The castle's gate was a gatehouse with an interior space, which was a fortified stronghold for the castle's defense. The gatehouse could be reached through a tunnel from the passage of the city gates. In the middle or at both ends of the tunnel, there will be one or more layers of gates. The rolling mechanical action can be used to lift or lower the gate above the gatehouse for solid protection. The gates themselves were usually heavy wooden or iron fences, with defenders and siegers shooting or stabbing on either side of the gates.

A fortified castle has an outer gate and an inner gate, and the open area between the two gates is called the outer fort. It was surrounded by walls and was designed to be used to trap intruders who passed through the outer gates. Once the besiegers reached the outer fort, they had no choice but to retreat through the outer gates or continue their attacks on the inner gates, often becoming targets for bows and arrows and other projectile weapons.

In times of peace, only a few soldiers are needed to defend the castle. At night, all the drawbridges are hoisted and the gates are lowered to close the doorways. Under the threat of siege, it is natural that more troops will be needed to defend the castle.

When the besiegers attacked, or attempted to drain the moat, or fill in the trenches, they needed to have enough archers and crossbowmen to shoot at the besiegers from the walls or turrets. As long as an attack causes casualties, it can demoralize the besiegers and reduce their combat strength. If you can fire with a projectile weapon and deal a heavy blow to the besiegers, you are more likely to drive them away.

If the besiegers engage in close hand-to-hand combat, they will need strong swordsmen to fight them. Soldiers must drop stones or pour boiling liquids from platforms, and must also repair damaged walls or throw flames at enemies with burning projectile weapons. Active defenders will look for opportunities to storm out of the castle and surprise the besieging army. A quick raid can mainly burn siege towers or trebuchets under the walls to delay the siege and demoralize the besiegers.

In times of crisis, local peasants would be called up for service. Although they are not trained in bows and swords, they can take on many other tasks.

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