Chapter 39: Ballista

The pathetic barbarian leader had barely run a few steps away when he heard a tooth-aching sound of Peng Peng behind him, and he knew that the Han army was shooting. It's officially begun. With the incessant sound of the bowstring vibrating, more than 100,000 sharp arrows were shot into the sky, and after reaching the very top of the parabola, they suddenly tilted, and then fell towards the barbarians. At this moment, even the light scattered by the sun in the sky was temporarily obscured by the arrows shot by Luo Bin's department, leaving the barbarians in a dark place, just like their mood at the moment, there was no hope in sight.

The unresponsive barbarian leader, with a scream, was pierced through the back of the heart by a sharp arrow that fell from the sky, and the tip of the arrow pierced through his chest, cutting off all his life. He was fortunate to be the witness of the highest status under the first run of the Qin Wu army. With his own blood and life, he witnessed the terrifying power of Qin Wu's army.

After the first round of shooting, the Qin Wu cavalry led by Wang Feng had already completed one-third of the sprint, and the remaining distance could still allow them to carry out a round of shooting. As a result, the tooth-souring sound of strings crunched again, and another 100,000 wolf's tooth arrows took the bowstring, showing a life-threatening cold glow towards the barbarians. Then, with the second sound of Peng Peng's vibration, the wolf's tooth arrows shot into the air again, and then turned sharply, effectively inflicting damage on the barbarian cavalry.

After three rounds of shooting by the Guards Battalion and Luo Bin's troops, the barbarian cavalry suddenly fell into incomparable chaos, and under these three rounds of arrow rain, the barbarian casualties had reached more than 100,000 people, and almost every third arrow would take away the life of a barbarian! This shows how accurate Qin Wuling's archery skills were. Of course, one of the reasons for such brilliant results is that most of these barbarian soldiers were summoned temporarily, and there was not much armor on their bodies, and some did not even have leather armor, and they went to the battlefield in cloth clothes.

The dozen or so barbarian leaders who had fled to the center of the barbarian army began to be angry! They had an army of nearly 2 million, but they were pressed and beaten by an army of 100,000 people, and they also lost the lives of more than 100,000 people in an instant, which was simply a great shame! Therefore, they began to order their own tribe's soldiers and horses to meet them and tear the human race in front of them to pieces with their superiority in numbers.

Soon, the 500,000 cavalry of the standing army, which was in the rear of the barbarian camp and did not suffer from the chaos, which was also the only remaining standing army of the entire Blood Eagle Tribe, bypassed the chaotic front army one after another, galloped to the front of the battlefield in a roundabout way, and launched a fierce attack towards Ye Qing's department. Facing the onslaught of 100,000 barbarian cavalry, Yang Fan and Wang Feng once again made a move that surprised the barbarians, they even led their subordinate cavalry, and after turning an arc, they ran towards Ye Jun's camp, without the slightest intention of confronting the barbarian cavalry.

At the same time as the retreat of Yang Fan and Luo Bin's armies, a group of nearly 100,000 infantry troops, under the leadership of Deputy Commander Zhou Wei, had come to the forefront of the battle formation, and each pair of 100 people escorted a huge object covered with red cloth. After Zhou Wei's order, the infantry army lifted the red cloth on it, revealing the terrifying ballistas inside! That's right, it was the ballista that had been improved several times by the craftsman battalion, and it was transformed from a bed crossbow!

On the red-coated ballista, five crossbow bolts have been erected, two long and three short, scattering a desperate light, arranged on the tension wings of the red-coated ballista. Seeing these crossbow arrows, the bloodthirsty madness in the eyes of the surrounding soldiers became even more intense. The corners of Zhou Wei's mouth lifted a grim smile, and he loudly ordered the first salvo of the red-clothed ballista since it came out!

There are nearly 1,000 red-clothed ballistas carried to the battlefield by Zhou Wei's soldiers, but each ballista only has five crossbow arrows, and the total is only 5,000 crossbow arrows, which sounds far less shocking than 100,000 people rushing to shoot, but the actual situation is not like this. With Zhou Wei's order, the ballista Zhou Wei's hundred-man soldiers sent ten people to operate quickly, while the rest of the people were guarding near the red-clothed ballista, and took out the spare crossbow arrows, ready to change the guard with the companions who operated the ballista.

The sound of the red-clothed ballista firing crossbow bolts was like thunder. Five thousand crossbow arrows shot out with strong force, and in an instant, in the direction where the red-coated ballista was fired, it immediately turned into a vacuum, and the barbarian cavalry, even men and horses, were pierced into pieces by the powerful crossbow arrows, and they didn't even let out a few screams, and they were taken away by the crossbows of the red-coated ballistas. Those javelin-like crossbow arrows, which were as thick as children's arms, often pierced the bodies of a dozen barbarian cavalrymen in a row, until the crossbow arrows were loaded with too many corpses, and the piercing stopped due to the consumption of strength. Those crossbow arrows the size of a long sword could also pass through the bodies of four or five barbarian cavalrymen one after another, causing significant killing effects to the barbarian cavalry.

A round of artillery fires caused tens of thousands of casualties among the barbarian cavalry, and more importantly, the barbarian cavalry who were launching a charge, how could they have ever seen such a powerful and terrifying battlefield killing weapon? Their courage was heavily chiseled by the red-clothed ballista, and the sprinting war horses, under their fear, collectively slowed down the speed of the sprint.

The barbarian cavalry slowed down, giving the Tiger Army more time. The Tiger Army, which had completed a cannon, immediately retreated, gave up the operation of the red-clothed ballista to his comrades, and went to prepare new crossbow arrows. The comrades who had been waiting for a long time immediately filled in as their teammates retreated, loaded the bolts in their hands onto the ballista's wings, and then quickly completed the process of loading, winding, and aiming.

The red-coated ballista is extremely powerful, and the operation process is relatively simple, only ten people are needed to complete it, but due to the limitations of the environment, it is impossible for the ballista of this era to fire at will without restrictions like the real artillery. Between each firing, there needs to be a pause process, which is also the only thing that Ye Qing is not satisfied with with the red-clothed ballista. After hard work, the firing interval of the red-clothed ballista was shortened to between a hundred breaths, which is equivalent to about two minutes in later generations, two minutes sounds very short, but in the ever-changing battlefield, it is possible to turn around in one second, let alone two minutes? But Ye Qing also knew that it was impossible for him to ask for too much, and to reach the current level was already a certain limit.

Of course, Ye Qing also had his own way, he asked Zhou Wei to lead the Tiger Army after familiarizing himself with the performance of the ballista, and decided to let the Tiger Ben Army operating the ballista be divided into two teams and take turns firing the cannons. While one team is operating the ballista, the other team needs to prepare the next round of crossbow arrows, so as to shorten the time from loading to launch, Ye Qing's decision makes the launch interval of the red-clothed ballista shorten by thirty breaths!

Soon, the second team of soldiers finished loading and skillfully operated the redcoat ballista for a second round of shelling. Another five thousand crossbow arrows of different thicknesses roared out of the crossbow wings, inflicting considerable damage on the barbarian cavalry in the other direction, and on the battlefield, another vacuum area strangely appeared.

The dozen or so barbarian leaders behind the barbarian cavalry were shocked after witnessing the power of the red-clothed ballista in horror. If there were more such big killing weapons, Ye Qing would not have to fight with his own people at all, and he would be able to shoot himself and others into a hornet's nest directly hundreds of steps away.

After the shock, more than a dozen barbarian leaders shouted hysterically: "Rush all of them! Rush up! Destroy those big guys!" Obviously, the impression left by the red-clothed ballistae on them was too terrifying, forcing them to make a crazy decision, even if they filled it with human lives, they must destroy those formidable red-clothed ballistas. But they forgot that the red-clothed ballistas were made by the Han Chinese, and even if they could destroy this batch of ballistas, could they still prevent the Terrans from continuing to produce such ballistas?

Following the 500,000 cavalry of the standing army that had been put into the battlefield before, uh, it should be said that 400,000 people, under the repeated blows, the barbarians lost nearly 100,000 men in a short period of time. Following these 400,000 people, the remaining barbarians, also under the urging of their respective leaders, instigated their war horses to rush out, leaving only more than 100,000 people as guards, staying in the rear to guard more than a dozen barbarian leaders.

The sound of Zheng Zheng was loud, and the third shelling came as promised. The barbarian cavalry once again fell like wheat. After three rounds of loading and shelling, Zhou Wei's soldiers had no chance to reload again, because the first batch of barbarian cavalry was about to be killed.

Although the red-clothed ballista is hugely powerful, its real effect, in Ye Qing's opinion, is not to kill the enemy, after all, the firing interval of the red-clothed ballista is a hard wound that cannot be ignored. Therefore, Ye Qing's positioning of the red-clothed ballista is on the basis of deterring the enemy. A weapon of mass destruction like the redcoat ballista. Once it is put into the battlefield, it will immediately have the effect of taking the lead and greatly damaging the morale of the opponent. Laying the groundwork for victory, this. is where the true value of the red-coated ballista lies. Of course, if Ye Qing has tens of thousands of red-clothed ballistas in the future, it will be a different matter, and he can easily deal with the opponent with two direct rounds of salvos. However, this may be too small, not to mention that the cost of the red-clothed ballista is extremely high, and it is impossible for the craftsmen of the craftsman camp to put all their time and energy. All of them are invested in the production of ballistas, otherwise, they will not have to do anything else.

Raising the dragon spear, Ye Qing's roar resounded between heaven and earth: "Array!