Zhang Xi received Liu Bei's letter, learned that Liu Zhang sent people to attack Jiameng Pass, and also learned of Liu Bei's decision to storm Luocheng.

At this time, Pang Tong was on Zhang Xi's side, and when he heard that Liu Bei made such a decision, he was shocked.

"Huo Zhongmiao only has 1,000 people, the north must defend against Zhang Lu, and the south must defend against Liu Zhang, under the attack of both sides, how can he hold the grain road?!" Pang Tongyi said as he prepared to write a letter to persuade Liu Bei to at least send Meng Da, who stayed in Zitong, to lead an army of 5,000 to rescue Jiameng Pass.

But Zhang Xi is not in a hurry at all, really.

If Liu Xun is good at guarding, then Huo Jun is a strengthened version of Liu Xun.

Besides, Zhang Lu and Liu Zhang have a grudge against their mother, how could they help Liu Zhang attack Huo Jun on both sides.

Zhang Xi persuaded Pang Tong and asked him not to write such useless letters.

Don't you know what kind of temper our lord has, he has made a decision, let's be subordinates, just try our best to help him do a good job.

Therefore, Zhang Xi didn't play any psychological warfare with Liu Xun, and began to build siege equipment and siege the city.

As a result, Liu Xun's pressure suddenly increased sharply.

Liu Bei's siege equipment is nothing more than a ladder, a well, and a rushing car.

But Zhang Xi's side, in addition to these conventional siege equipment, is also experimenting with catapults.

Unlike Zhou Yu, Zhang Xi knew the evolution process of some catapults, so he quickly built a prototype car.

But this catapult, Pang Tong looks fresh.

At this time, the catapult basically set a rotatable shaft horizontally at the top of the car, and then put a "tip" on this axle.

This "tip" is a wooden pole fixed on the horizontal axis.

Tie a leather bag at one end of the "tip", which is used to hold the projectile stone, and the other end is pulled by manpower, using the principle of lever and inertia, to throw the stone out.

It is said that a catapult with only one wooden pole is called a "single-tip" catapult, and a catapult with multiple wooden poles is called a "multi-tip" catapult, and the more "pins" there are, the heavier and farther the stone projectiles can be thrown.

Zhang Xi didn't have time to study the more advanced "multi-tip" catapult, so he engaged in a "single-tip" catapult.

It's just that it's not a human-pulled catapult, it's a counterweight catapult.

Well, colloquially called, back to the cannon.

In fact, the principle of the counterweight catapult is the same as that of the catapult commonly used now, and it uses the principle of leverage.

It's just that the counterweight catapult uses the gravity of the counterweight stone instead of the manpower to pull the lever, which can improve the stability of the range.

After all, there are large and small manpower, and if people pull the pins for a long time, the strength will become smaller and smaller, the natural projection distance is getting closer and closer, and the accuracy is getting worse and worse.

This is also the reason why catapults cannot be put into siege on a large scale in this era. The stones thrown by the catapult are not accurate, the catapult operated by the strong person can cross the city wall and smash directly into the city, and the catapult operated by the small person can be smashed on the mud ground, and the fart is useless.

But the counterweight catapult does not have this concern, gravity, as long as it is not in some special places, the probability is the same, and after the counterweight, as long as the size of the stone is controlled, then the range and accuracy can be guaranteed enough.

Even the more daring ones can launch an ant-attached siege at the same time as they throw stones.

The prototype car made by Zhang Xi, in the first test, hit a distance of 100 steps.

Pang Tong was suddenly shocked.

It's not that I haven't seen a catapult, but I haven't seen a catapult that doesn't use human power to pull the "tip".

You must know that even if it is a small catapult, there must be at least three or four people to pull the "tip", and if there are more "shoots" in that kind of large catapult, then it will have to be operated by hundreds of people.

Whatever is like now, just tie it with a stone.

Even Pang Tong couldn't wait to put this catapult into practice, but Zhang Xi stopped him.

Engage in wool, a hundred paces, and it's still within the range of the bed crossbow Well, even some strong bows and hard crossbows can reach this range.

What if there is an unlucky guy who is shot in the neck by an arrow while visiting the catapult?!

So, to be on the safe side, we have to change it.

Adjust the lever torque, test slowly, and fire a few cannons in the direction of the south gate of the city, and try the effect to always find the torque ratio with the longest range.

Zhang Xi can experiment slowly, but Liu Xun is worried every day when he looks at it.

The range of this catapult is getting farther and farther, and the farthest projectile is already close to one hundred and fifty paces, right?!

At this distance, there is already nothing left to threaten the catapult except for the bed crossbow, and the bed crossbow . Although Yucheng is equipped with bed crossbows, after holding on for such a long time, there are not many crossbow arrows left for bed crossbows.

There are fewer and fewer crossbow arrows on my side, but the catapult on the other side can be made with trees and stones.

Liu Xun hadn't yet appreciated the power of the new catapult, so he was just a little worried now.

As for Zhang Xi, after trying for a long time, he finally determined that the maximum range of the "single-tip" catapult was about 150 steps.

It seems that the catapult recorded in ancient books can have 300 steps, which should be a "multi-tip" catapult.

Zhang Xi also wanted to continue to study this "multi-tip" catapult, but was stopped by Pang Tong.

This Zhang Yuanchang, have you forgotten that our back road is being attacked by Liu Zhang's army, and now is the time for you to engage in this kind of ordnance test?!

Pang Tong persuaded Zhang Xi, and then ordered the craftsmen of the whole army to quickly build a new type of catapult.

In fact, the shafts and tips of the really powerful catapults must be specially made of special wood, otherwise they will crack if they can't throw dozens of stones, and finally they will break.

But now it's in a hurry to attack the city, there is not so much attention, anyway, it's just a consumable, Pang Tongcai doesn't matter if it's practical or not, just use it.

Pang Tong ordered people to spend 20 days to build 15 catapults, and then according to the counterweights of Zhang Xi's experiment, a large number of stones were selected, and the line was set up at a distance of 120 steps, and the catapults were placed at a distance of 140 steps.

And then the projection begins.

Originally, Pang Tong still wanted to go forward to observe the actual effect, but Zhang Xi refused to let him, so he let Pang Tong watch the battle with him on the small hillside five hundred steps away, and did not let this guy go forward for a single step.

Pang Tong was very helpless, but he was not angry with Zhang Xi for this matter, and Zhang Xi was right, after all, it was a battlefield, and he had no eyes.

Therefore, Pang Tong had to follow Zhang Xi to observe the actual effect of the new trebuchet.

Well. That's a miserable one.

It's about the defenders of the south gate of the city.

At first, when Liu Beijun set up the front, Liu Xun didn't care, but when Liu Beijun launched the catapult, he immediately realized that it was not good.

After all, Zhang Xi's catapult, the test data is all used as a target, Liu Xun looks at it almost every day, and he still doesn't know that this thing is used to throw stones.

Liu Xun immediately ordered the bed crossbow to attack the catapult, but as soon as his order was given, before the bed crossbow was ready, Liu Beijun's stone had already flown over.

Fortunately, Liu Xun's personal guards were not slow to react, and grabbed Liu Xun and pressed him under him, which allowed Liu Xun to avoid the first round of stone throwing.

But those soldiers who didn't dodge were really unlucky.

At first, I didn't know what it was for, but when I found the stones flying over, the guards didn't even have time to hide.

Luckily, it didn't matter, after all, fifteen catapults, the first launch, were all fired stones.

But if you are unlucky, you will be hit in the head by a stone. Well, the head is gone, and the ground is red and white, I can't describe it.

Liu Xun was disgusted when he saw it.

But Liu Xun is a city general, seeing this situation, he still wants to say something to boost morale, and the second round of stones is here again.

Liu Xun was held alive by the guards and left the city wall, and the soldiers on the city wall could not walk, so they could only squat under the female wall and shiver, praying that they would not be so unlucky to be smashed.

The second batch of stones did not hit a few people, but the walls suffered a severe impact.

Of course, it wasn't enough for a few stones to collapse the city wall, but a corner of the female wall was hit by two stones in a row, and there was an obvious crack.

After that, the third round, the fourth round, the fifth round. One morning, Liu Beijun didn't do anything else, so he threw stones at the south gate of the city.

On the south gate of the city now, the soldiers defending the city are slowly getting used to it.

Anyway, fifteen stones were thrown at a time, and most of them were smashed on the city walls, occasionally killing a handful of unlucky ghosts. As long as it's not me.

But Liu Xun was going crazy.

The soldiers didn't know it, but Liu Xun knew it very well.

Yes, they are just throwing stones today, but their goal is not the soldiers, but the city wall.

No matter how strong the city wall is, if Liu Beijun smashes it down for so many years, the city wall will eventually be unable to hold on.

Again, if you are stupid, will you only smash stones one by one?!

Sure enough, Liu Xun had just finished turning his brain, and what Liu Beijun threw over at the south gate in the afternoon was not a stone, but countless small stones.

Although many small stones fell down with all their strength on the way, and failed to hit the soldiers on the city wall, as long as one of them hit the tower, the lethality of the small stones was huge.

At least seven or eight casualties at a time.

There's no way, defending the city these years, there must be people on the city wall, I'm afraid that there are not enough people, how can it be like filming a TV series, there is only one person to defend a few meters.

Liu Xun really had no choice, so he had to evacuate the arrangement of the south gate, arrange half of the soldiers in the city gate hole, and once he found that Liu Beijun was attacking the city, let the soldiers go up to the city wall.

But there is another question - why should I be beaten on the city tower, but he can squat in the hole of the city gate and hide?!

Liu Xun also has no good way to deal with this, on the one hand, he grabs the lots, and on the other hand, he suppresses it forcefully - whoever is verbose again, the military law will serve.

In this way, Liu Xun thought that he had made the best response, but after being thrown for seven or eight days, Liu Xun really couldn't bear it anymore.

Cracks had appeared in some parts of the city walls, which could be seen inside the city, which seriously affected the morale of the defenders in the city.

And the soldiers, in just seven or eight days, have already suffered more than 200 casualties, which is already more than the casualties of the last siege.

You must know that Liu Beijun, who was outside the south gate, just went to the mountain to get some stones, and spent some effort to smash the stones into stones.

I can't go on like this, and if I continue like this, I'm just waiting for death.

Liu Xun blackened his face and found Zhang Ren.

Although his opinion of Zhang Ren has changed now, Liu Xun still doesn't think that Zhang Ren can play much of a role in the defense of the city.

Therefore, Liu Xun found Zhang Ren and gave him a task - waiting for an opportunity to go out of the city and assault the main camp of Zhang Xi.

It is useless to burn the siege equipment, at most it is to delay a little time.

But if he can kill that Zhang Xi, Liu Beijun can't build a catapult, then he has the capital to continue to hold on.

And Zhang Ren happily accepted the order.

(End of chapter)