Volume 1 Jiangdong Fengyun Chapter 46: Wolf Fang
"Good! You are worthy of being my general!" Zhang Xun couldn't help but reveal a smug smile as he looked at the ant-like vanguard approaching the city wall.
Although Zhang Xun also knew that even if he attacked, it would be unlikely to win in one battle, but... on the first day of the siege, it only took an hour from the time the battle array was deployed to the top of the city wall. It would probably take less than three to five days to capture Qu'a!
The fact that the attacking army was able to climb the city wall could be considered a sign of increasing casualties among the defenders. Otherwise, no matter how fierce the long-range attack was, it would only suppress the troops that were preventing them from climbing the city wall. After all, they were on the city wall, and if they couldn't shoot them, they could just retreat. How many casualties could they have caused?
If a fierce attack fails to scale the city wall, the attacking side will definitely suffer heavy casualties.
But as long as they can enter the stage of hand-to-hand combat on the city walls, even if they are driven down again in the end, the casualty ratio will be much better, and it will deal a huge blow to the morale of the defenders.
"Pass on my general's order to the front line. The first one to reach the front will be rewarded with a thousand gold coins and promoted three levels!" Zhang Xun said to the messenger.
This kind of encouraging message still needs to be shouted, so there is no need to worry about the enemy hearing it.
However, at this moment, a number of "big guys" appeared from the city wall.
The things covered by the curtain were still in the inner part. After the curtain was removed, there seemed to be rollers underneath the things, which pushed them to the edge of the city wall one by one...
All I saw were large wooden boards that were as wide as the arm span of two or three people, and were square in both directions. They were shining with cold light, and were covered with wolf-tooth spikes as long as forearms. One side of the boards was hanging diagonally downward, with ropes and cantilevers hanging from the back!
"Rolling log? No, it's more tricky than rolling log... It seems we are not completely unprepared! Pass the order, the first one to reach the top will be rewarded with 3,000 gold and a fief of 100 households!" Zhang Xun was a little nervous, but not too anxious.
"Fire!" The messenger on the city wall, under the command of Chen Gong, waved the flag and shouted.
A row of huge wooden boards were thrown horizontally along the city wall. They were wolf-tooth hammers, a kind of city defense equipment. Simply put, they were huge wooden boards with nails. After being thrown down, they were pulled back with a winch and reused to attack the enemy troops and the enemies under the city walls...
However, the wolf-tooth racket in the white picture is somewhat different in style. There is also a slanted template on the back, and the overall shape is similar to a wedge-shaped block that fits the city wall. In this way, under gravity deviation, it will not be shot horizontally, but will be shoveled diagonally along the city wall. The wolf-tooth spikes are also slanted and perpendicular to the ground.
Therefore, Bai Tu called this thing "Wolf Fang". After releasing it, it does not shoot down, but pushes all the way down!
More importantly... what pulls the wolf tooth beater is not a simple windlass, but a "magic gourd" - a combination of pulleys and bearings, a lifting tool.
Pulleys were already in use during the Warring States Period, but they were all fixed pulleys that changed the direction of force. The pulleys at that time were called "pulleys". Bai Tu didn't know when movable pulleys were used, but there was no difference in technology.
Bearings, in fact, are windlasses, and they were used even earlier...
Although the craftsmen did not understand the principle, they still followed Bai Tu's instructions and finally created a "magic gourd" that looked very bulky compared to modern hand-pulled gourds. In order to create mystery, Bai Tu even designed a huge gourd-shaped shell on the outside.
This was also what the Qu'a craftsmen had to do in the beginning to make the modules and experiment for a long time. Otherwise, it would just be large wooden boards nailed together and spiked with wolf teeth. Even if a wedge-shaped structure was added, it was just a matter of ingenuity and would not be considered technically difficult.
However, the normally produced wolf-fang horns are not as neat as these ones in front of us.
After they were installed on the city walls, just like the cold weapons loaded on the generals' armor, they became high-tech. These city defense equipment also changed after being installed on the city walls, but not excessively as the armor and weapons. It is said that this is related to the defense of the city itself. The higher the city defense index, the higher the effect of the same city defense equipment.
The Ji-zao soldiers who had been trained in the use of the equipment, after another round of "collect" flag commands, quickly pushed the millstone-like windlass. At the other end of the windlass was a pulley, which was vertically connected to the magic gourd.
Under this "god-like" power, the originally bulky wolf-tooth bat quickly rose back!
A normal wolf-tooth sling is very heavy when it is pulled back, even with a windlass. Moreover, Bai Tu's wolf-tooth sling has an additional inclined wooden board along the city wall, and a counterweight is added to make it stick to the city wall...
If you use a windlass to pull it up slowly, as long as there are some strong soldiers below, they can cut the rope and even catch up by grabbing the side without the wolf-tooth thorns!
However, the scene before my eyes...
Zhang Xun: !!!?
Zhang Xun was surprised - what happened ? How could such a heavy object go up so quickly?
Bai Tu has just arrived in Qu'a, so the people should be loyal to him. Moreover, Qu'a is just an ordinary city, not a pass that provides great support to the defenders. Even if the people are loyal to him, it shouldn't be such a terrifying bonus to the city defense equipment, right?
The soldiers below didn't react in time either. The queue, which was clinging to the wall like ants and about to reach the edge, was pushed down one by one. Some were stabbed or thrown hard, and most of them died.
As for bows and arrows, their effect on this bulky "Wolf Fang Gou" is really limited. The magic gourd on it is indeed delicate, but the gourd cover outside is not for decoration. Bows and arrows cannot shoot so high and penetrate the baffle.
All they could do was watch helplessly as the wave of "Wolf Fang Attack" they had just reaped was quickly taken back!
"Change the formation! Half-moon style!" Zhang Xun's face turned gloomy.
Zhang Xun was seen standing on the high platform, giving the flag bearer an order to raise a flag. Then the several formations of the army began to rotate and change. The formation originally in the front retreated to the second line, while the left and right wings became more evenly distributed.
Even from the original concave part of the moon, a line of men rushed forward and began to launch a full-scale attack!
However, the morale of Zhang Xun's army had obviously dropped after the previous "wolf fang confrontation"...
Bai Tu also intuitively saw the importance of "morale". The enemy troops attacking the city not only seemed to have less strength and were more slow to respond to orders, but more importantly, they became hesitant when climbing!
Nearly an hour later, Qu'a was forced to use Wolf Fang again.
When Zhang Xun verified he found that it was already noon. When the soldiers raised their heads to attack the city, it was already a bit blinding, so he called off the troops...
Seeing the Huainan Army outside retreating, cheers came from the city wall - the casualties of the defenders were not serious, and most of the soldiers came from Danyang, so the morale did not drop but rose instead.
However, Bai Tu and Chen Gong understood that this was only the first step!
Sure enough, that afternoon, when the sun began to set, Zhang Xun still had no intention of resuming the attack, and scouts reported that the Huainan Army had begun cutting down trees in the foothills outside the city...
"It seems that Zhang Xun has come to his senses and is ready to build a ladder," said Chen Gong.
The ladder is also a siege weapon that existed during the Warring States Period. It is not a simple long ladder. The ladder at that time generally has wheels at the bottom and a folding wooden ladder on the top that can be tilted up and down. The soldiers below can use a winch to pull up the upper half of the ladder that was originally tilted down and place it on the city wall.
Afterwards, the soldiers could climb up using slanted ladders. Although the technology was limited and the attackers were still at a disadvantage, it greatly weakened the advantage of the city wall.
The defenders must sometimes also consider going out of the city to meet the enemy and destroy the ladders, otherwise the risk of the city wall being lost will greatly increase!
Generally, when attacking a city, they would use local materials to build ladders. Anyway, there were plenty of wild trees at that time...
"Will Zhang Xun accept it?" Bai Tu asked curiously as he looked at the letter written by Chen Gong.
"Nine out of ten." Chen Gong said.
Meanwhile, Zhang Xun had just started collecting materials and building a ladder, and had been busy all afternoon when a report came in from outside: "General! The enemy outside has sent a declaration of war..."
