As the steppe tribes had begun to launch a tentative attack, the defenders on the Great Wall had begun to prepare for it.

Now all the supplies have to be transported to the underground cellar for temporary storage.

Looking at the people who were busy in the cellar, Li Yi felt that the atmosphere of the entire defense line was extremely tense.

"Senior brother, why do these people have to transport all the materials to the cellar, isn't it very inconvenient to use them in this way?"

Li Yi asked Jing Zizheng puzzled.

"yes, I'd like to ask that question too!"

Qi Ning didn't quite understand why he had to put the supplies in the cellar, which was obviously a bit thankless.

"You will know when you go up to the wall."

Keiko was not in a hurry to answer, and he led everyone up to the city wall.

Because his brother served in the army and they also captured the night wolves of the night wolf battalion, they were commended by Song Shilong, the deputy general of the Pengzhou army, so they were specially approved to go to the city to participate in the battle, but they had to obey the dispatch.

When standing on the high city wall, Li Yi spontaneously had a feeling that he would be at the top of the mountain, and when he looked at the dense grassland cavalry the size of ants in the distance, he even gave birth to the illusion that he could control all living beings in the world.

"Jing Gongzi, you haven't said why they hide all the supplies in the cellar."

After Qi Ning went up the city wall, she continued to ask.

"Do you see the strange things in the steppe army in the distance?"

Li Yi and Qi Ning looked in the direction of his finger, and sure enough, they found something a little larger in the dense dots.

These things were noticeably taller than the steppe cavalry on their horses.

"Is it a siege machine?"

Li Yi immediately guessed that those things were probably the siege equipment prepared by the grassland tribe for the siege of the city.

"That's right, those things are the siege equipment prepared by the steppe tribes."

"Aren't the steppe tribes only cavalry? They even make siege engines? ”

The Qi Dynasty who followed Qi Ning was very surprised, because in his cognition, the grassland tribes were all uncivilized barbarians, and they should live a life of Ru Mao drinking blood, burning, killing and looting, how could they make siege equipment.

"You also underestimate the tribes of the steppe, although they are famous for their cavalry, but who told you that they don't know how to make siege equipment."

Keiko shook her head and said they were really lonely.

"The grassland tribes have been constantly invading our land of China since ancient times, and all dynasties and dynasties are no exception, and no one can say how many people they have captured from our China for thousands of years, and there will inevitably be some skilled craftsmen among these people."

Keiko is continuing to preach to them.

"These siege engines were made by the craftsmen of Dayu who didn't want to be taken captive?"

Qi Ning had some difficulty accepting that these siege equipment for attacking the border fortress were made by Dayu craftsmen.

"They made these siege engines for the steppe tribes in order to survive, it's really damned."

Qi Ning looked indignantly at the siege equipment in the distance.

"My Dayu Dynasty has no ability to protect them, let them be captive and bullied by foreigners, and now they just want to live, what's the crime?"

Li Yi didn't think that these people were at fault, if he wanted to say anything wrong, he felt that the Dayu Dynasty was sorry for these captive people.

"What you say is not right, since ancient times, literati have said that if you want to eliminate evils for the society, you are willing to humble yourself and cherish your body, and it is our duty for the people to promise the country with their bodies."

Qi Chao angrily refuted Li Yi's statement.

"Ridiculous! You literati spend all day long either boiling rain and cooking tea, burning incense and reading, or admiring stones and arranging flowers, or playing games and playing the piano. Every day is a disease-free moan, every time the country encounters a dilemma, he shouts that he wants to promise the country with his body, and he wants to go into battle to kill the enemy, but how many literati can really do it? ”

Li Yi actually looks down on the current scholars of the Dayu Dynasty, and most of his views on scholars are actually inherited from Taijizi.

Tai Jizi himself does not have much affection for scholars, because he believes that most of the civil officials in the imperial court today are from scholars, and these people either like to intrigue and fight each other, or they are corrupt and bribery to make the people miserable.

When he traveled to the rivers and lakes, he only intersected with a scholar from the Hengqu Academy, who was about to participate in the imperial examination.

The two traveled together, and Taijiko discovered that this man was full of talent and ambition, vowing to make a life for the people.

Then this person was really in high school in that imperial examination, and in the next few years, his official position became higher and higher.

But a few years later, Tai Jizi went down the mountain again to inquire and found out that this person had become a corrupt official who was greedy for money, lustful, and did all kinds of evil, and the young man who swore to fight for the people's lives was like two people.

At this point, Taijizi no longer believes in these readers.

"Senior brother, my brother is also a literati, don't you also talk about me when you say that!"

Jing Zizheng looked helpless, although he was Li Yi's senior brother, he was also a literati.

Li Yi was also a little embarrassed when Jingzi said this, he forgot that his senior brother was also an authentic literati.

And the things he said, his senior brother did a lot of things.

It is said that revealing people does not expose their shortcomings, and they can be regarded as exposing their senior brother's shortcomings.

"Senior brother, tell me what those siege weapons are!"

In order to avoid embarrassment, Li Yi immediately diverted the topic.

"In fact, there are not many types of siege equipment carried by the steppe tribes, and they are still mainly cavalry."

Jingzi saw that Li Yi had turned the topic back to the siege equipment of the grassland tribe, so he explained to a few of them.

"The most important of these are return guns, crossbows, siege vehicles, ladders, etc."

"We've all heard of this siege vehicle, crossbow and ladder, what is this return cannon?"

For the first time, Qi Ning heard that there was a siege weapon called a return cannon.

"It is said that this cannon was invented by people in the west of the Western Regions, and was introduced to the grassland by the Muslims, and it is a siege weapon that can throw boulders hundreds of meters away."

Keiko was carefully explaining the return cannon to a few people.

"You see, the row of guns on our Great Wall is a miniature version of the return cannon, which is used to smash the cavalry attacking below."

"Isn't this what the master said about the trebuchet?"

Li Yi listened to Jing Zizheng's explanation, and then carefully observed the shrunken return cannons on the city wall, and couldn't help but sound in his mind the trebuchet that his master Taijizi had drawn for him.

At the beginning, Taijizi also explained to him in detail the principle of this thing and taught him how to make this thing more accurate through calculations.

"Master knows this?"

Keiko was very surprised, he didn't seem to stop talking about this kind of thing when he was studying in the mountains.

It's just that he didn't know that Tai Jizi saw that his mind was not above these miscellaneous studies, so he didn't teach him these things.

"Of course, it seems that Senior Brother, you must not have studied seriously in the mountains at the beginning, and I also made a miniature version of this thing with Brother Liu Yu at the beginning."

"Don't talk nonsense, senior brother, I have never had a thing that I didn't listen to carefully, I think it was the master who studied this thing later."

Keiko said with a slightly red face.

"Your master still makes these things? Didn't I hear that your master was a member of the Dao Sect? ”

Qi Ning was very curious about what kind of people Li Yi and Jing Zizheng's master were.

According to Li Yi, all his martial arts were taught by his master, originally he thought that his master was a martial arts master, and Li Yi's good cooking skills were also taught by his master, and Jing Zizheng's full of knowledge was also taught by his master.

Now Li Yi says that he can even make siege equipment, what kind of person should this person be?

"What's this, my master is an old man, a pedant, and knows everything."

Li Yi said proudly.

For his master, Li Yi really admires and respects him from the bottom of his heart.

Qi Ning didn't refute either, just pouted his lips to show disdain.

Seeing that the two of them were about to start bulling again, Keiko immediately continued to explain to them.

"These return cannons of the grassland tribe can throw dozens of catties of stones hundreds of meters away, and they can directly cross the city wall and hit the city."

"So, all the supplies in the city were carried to the cellar just to avoid the attack of these return cannons?"

At this time, Qi Ning finally understood why the soldiers in the city had to carry the supplies to the cellar.

"Yes, the steppe tribes don't just throw stones, they throw all sorts of burning things.

In the past, there were cases where fireballs from the back artillery burned the supplies in the city. ”

"You can see that within five miles of the city walls, there is only farmland and no houses!"

When everyone looked back, it was indeed as Jing Zizheng said, there was indeed not a single house within five miles of the city wall, only patches of farmland.

"Originally, there were houses in the area against the city wall, but then every year the houses against the city wall would be damaged by the return shells, and in the end no one wanted to build houses within five miles of the city wall."

"I see, so this time the return cannon is also a sharp weapon for attacking the city!"

Qi Chao couldn't help but sigh.

"This return cannon is also one of the biggest threats to the soldiers guarding the city walls, but this thing is more cumbersome to use, and they have to go through several rounds of test firing before they can shoot accurately."

Keiko continued.

"Test firing? How many more rounds of test firing? ”

Li Yi looked at Jing Zizheng in surprise.

"Of course, this thing has to go through several rounds of test firing adjustments before it can accurately project the stone into the exact position."

Jing Zizheng didn't know why Li Yi asked like this.

"Senior brother, do you mean that row of small trebuchets on our city wall will take several rounds of test firing before they can hit their target?"

"Of course!"

Jing Zizheng felt that what Li Yi was talking about at this time was nonsense

Li Yi suddenly laughed, he felt that his people still didn't understand the real use of this thing.

According to the calculation formula taught by Taijizi in the past, this thing can basically control its projection distance freely as long as it knows the change in the adjustment force after a test shot.

"Senior brother, according to what you said, is this thing only going to hit the same place after the adjustment? Basically no more adjustments in battle? ”

Li Yi asked Jing Zizheng rhetorically.

"That's right, this thing can only hit one designated place in battle, which is the area sprinkled with thistles and triphorses."

Suddenly, a voice sounded behind them.

The crowd turned back to see a man in battle armor and a sword standing behind them.

The man was holding a helmet in his hand, and he should be no more than forty years old, and he had a slender strand of hair on his chest.

It looks a little similar to the Guan Emperor in the painting book.

It's just that Emperor Guan Sheng's face is like a heavy jujube, but this man has a normal complexion, but his face is quite cracked under the erosion of the wind and frost in the north.

Li Yi looked carefully, and saw that this man was six or seven points similar to his senior brother.

"Junior brother Li Yi visits Brother Ziyi!"

Li Yi immediately saluted the man.

"You are the little junior brother that Zizheng said, you are really talented."

The man patted Li Yi heavily on the shoulder.

He was too busy yesterday, so he just saw Jing Zizheng and went to get busy, and he didn't have time to meet Li Yi and them.

However, he heard Jing Zizheng say yesterday that his little junior brother is brave and resourceful in martial arts.

Generally speaking, literati are light, but martial artists are heroes and cherish heroes, so Jing Ziyi's first impression of Li Yi is better.

"Little woman Qi Ning, the boy Qi Chao has seen Jing Sima."

Qi Ning and Qi Chao also immediately visited Jing Zizheng.

"You are General Song's nephew and niece!"

Jing Ziyi smiled and looked at this Qi Ning and Qi Dynasty.

A few days ago, he had heard that the sister of Adjutant General Song Shilong had sent him a letter saying that his niece had sent her younger brother to Biansai to join him in order to escape marriage, hoping that he would be able to send someone to tie up these two lawless fellows after seeing the two children.

At the time, everyone heard about it as an anecdote.

I never thought that these two people really went to the side.

"Uncle Zai Xia is indeed Song Shilong!"

Qi Chao immediately saluted and said respectfully.

"Have you ever visited your uncle?"

"Due to my uncle's busy military affairs, we haven't seen my uncle yet."

Looking at the playful smile on Jing Ziyi's face, Qi Ning instinctively felt that it was not good.

"Go and see your uncle later, he has been waiting for you for a long time."

According to Qi Ning's original idea, as long as he could quickly reach Biansai to meet his uncle, and let him arrange for the two of them to enter the army without knowing it, he would basically be safe.

But now seeing Jing Ziyi's playful smile, it seems that his uncle already knows about his escape from marriage, and he also told this Jing Ziyi about it.

Thinking about it like this, someone in his family must have guessed that he and his younger brother were going to come to Biansai to find his uncle, so they sent a letter to inform him in advance.

"I don't know if my uncle will help me now."

Qi Ning couldn't help but feel a little apprehensive in his heart.

"Xiao Yi, I listened to you just now, can you solve the problem of test firing before firing back to the gun?"

Jing Ziyi, as the Sima in the army, is now about to fight the war, if they can solve the problem of the long test firing time of the return cannon, then these return cannons on the city wall in the next battle will kill and injure more grassland cavalry.

"Yes, the kid can quickly adjust the shooting distance of the trebuchet, basically only need to test fire once."

Li Yi gave an affirmative answer.