sweeping the world

Chapter 437 The Unexpected Collapse
It can be traced back to primitive man. People first learned to use sticks, and those who simply used sticks and those who learned to tie sharp stones to the sticks always lost. The people who tied ordinary sharp stones and the people who tied obsidian Fighting is still easy to lose.This can be understood as a kind of evolution of human beings as primates in the use of preliminary tools, which is the pursuit of sharpness.

Until the cold weapon period, bronze will be replaced by iron.The progress of material science is no longer just the advantages and disadvantages of materials, but also a kind of progress in material science and engineering, such as the emergence of knives, guns, swords, halberds, shields, bows, crossbows... and other weapons, making the relationship between people Fighting is no longer just about courage and fighting skills, but tends to rely more on organization and coordination.

Even with the emergence of hot weapons, the development of history still talks about whoever masters sharper weapons can gain greater advantages in war, especially the progress of long-range weapons can be more reflected.

It is not an era of hot weapons, whichever army has weapons with a longer range, faster frequency, and greater power will have more and more obvious advantages. The long-range weapons used by the Han army are comprehensively superior to those of the Shijie Zhao army. It may be difficult to reflect in mobile warfare, but in battle, the advantages and disadvantages will be infinitely magnified, and the result is that the disadvantaged side can only be passively beaten.

The Han army led by Ran Min didn't need to launch a melee charge. They simply relied on a large number of powerful long-range weapons to peel off the protective layer of Shijie's Zhao army again and again like peeling oranges.

The war between the two sides is no longer a fierce battle. One side uses the advantages of long-range weapons to attack to its heart's content, while the other side's weapons are not as good as going out and it is difficult to charge effectively.

During the nine days, the Han army advanced step by step, while the Shijie Zhao army could only retreat step by step. The battlefield extended nearly four miles forward with each advance and retreat.

The ever-decreasing space forced Shijie's Zhao army to no longer place so many troops on the south bank, so Ma Qiu had to transfer some of the defenders to the north bank.

No... Ma Qiu didn't simply mobilize the defenders to retreat, he also needed to mobilize the rear troops to replace the people whose morale was extremely low, it seemed that they had reached the critical point of collapse.

It is difficult to counterattack and can only be passively beaten. For the Shijie Zhao army defending the camp, if they have enough organization and obedience, they can still persist, but the Hu people never talk about organization, and usually rely on brutal oppression to force them. I'm really afraid that the soldiers under my command will flee because they can't bear it, or they will riot more simply.

The Han army entered the camp that originally belonged to the Shijie Zhao army, recovered the arrows and stone bullets fired before, and repeatedly used them to attack the Shijie Zhao army.

It was the dead corpses that caused trouble to the Han army. The corpses encountered at a fast advancing speed were still fresh, and some corpses that had not been processed for a long time had already rotted.The Han army had to ask for a group of slaves from the rear to remove the corpses on the battlefield. The corpses would be completely burned later, and finally those slaves were also killed and burned under the order of Ran Min.

It was just killing some slaves. Ran Min didn't think it was such an outrageous thing. He only knew that it was a reasonable way to use "tools", which was much more appropriate than letting his own people bear the risk of possible disease.

No one in the Han army has any objection to what Ran Min did, and even many generals have a greater sense of identity because of what Ran Min did. Ran Min felt happy when he discovered this, which made Ran Min gratified to find more of his kind feel.

"Not everyone can be like us!" Ran Min is actually not satisfied with the ongoing battle. He prefers to fight head-to-head: "The number of crossbow arrows fired in nine days exceeds 40. Which country in today's world Can be like us?"

Ran Min, who is in a good mood, talks a lot recently, and he can chat with anyone he catches.He is even more interested in making friends with Li Tan, who sees a bright future, and will chat for a long time when he meets.

As the troops advanced again and again, although they were being recycled all the time, there were nearly [-] damaged crossbow bolts, not to mention the crossbow bolts that were difficult to reuse after firing.

Li Tan has a good sense of Ran Min, and he said, "The arrows that are fired all fall with strong kinetic energy, and they will break when they are bumped. The more powerful the arrow, the easier it is to break."

If you want to play large-scale and large-scale arrow arrays, not everyone can afford it. What you need is strong productivity support. After all, not only arrows will be consumed, but the repeated use of tools will also cause damage. For example, only In nine days, more than 2000 crossbows of the Han army were damaged due to frequent firing.

A crossbow is made up of various parts. The process and time to manufacture a crossbow are far greater and more difficult than imagined. A small number may be nothing. A large number is a test of national strength and productivity. There are many countries that even Even if you master the manufacturing skills of the crossbow, it is difficult to install it in large quantities.

In fact, the small court of the Eastern Jin Dynasty also mastered the manufacturing technology of crossbows. Although it is incomparable with the crossbows of the Han army in terms of range and power, the small court of the Eastern Jin Dynasty really had this kind of technology, but the crossbowmen of the Jin army did not Not many, only around [-].

Although they have the technology to make strong crossbows, they only have [-] crossbow soldiers. It is not because the small imperial court of the Eastern Jin Dynasty did not know the power of strong crossbows. It is because their limited number of craftsmen cannot be fully used in the production of strong crossbows, and they cannot bear the crossbow. consumption.

The real situation is that in the era of manual manufacturing, technicians need to be used in all aspects, and it is impossible to focus on one place for many years.This involves the utilization of productivity, that is, the pure division of manpower.

"Not every country can have the production capacity of a big man." Li Tan has a more thorough view of this aspect, he said: "The big man is fully inclined to serve the war, and has... well, a batch of production that is hard to explain Personnel, civilians are also organized to be responsible for the production of a certain war material, and other countries, even if they are puppet Jin with mature organizational capabilities, they are not like big men, and they can't learn."

This is what makes Ran Min admire. The Han country is really a machine, serving the war in every way. It seems that the Hu people who don’t even understand the country’s specific operating system belong to the country that doesn’t know how to use manpower. The small court of the Eastern Jin Dynasty with manpower did not have that executive power.

The Han Kingdom under Liu Yan’s rule is attributed to the population registration and division at the beginning, and then it is a system similar to collective communes. Who can do what and what should do has been allocated when they are organized, and the human resources are fully utilized. , coupled with a heaven-defying system, the result is a terrifying and sophisticated war machine.

The war machine of the Han Dynasty has been in operation for three years, supporting the rapid expansion of territory. If it was just a large-scale application in productivity before, it has been in the deployment of military resources in the past year.

"A new batch of troops will be in place soon?" Ran Min looked at the battlefield. His troops fired all kinds of long-range weapons endlessly. Shijie's Zhao army could only bear the blow: "How many? One hundred thousand?"

In fact, Ran Min knew the exact number, he just admired Han Guo's use of human resources.

With the addition of all kinds of people in the Han Dynasty, the number of troops directly involved in the battle has reached 60, and that is still using a base of 300 million people.

If those who had recently expanded their territory were included, the population of Han State would have approached tens of millions. Ran Min thought about Han State's use of manpower, and thought that it was very possible that the population of tens of millions could be mobilized to provide manpower and weapons. With an army of 200 million, goosebumps popped up all over his body involuntarily, and he was panting heavily.

"Ah? 200 million!" Li Tan was a little dumbfounded, he didn't know what was going on in Ran Min's mind and suddenly said this.He is also looking forward to it, but he has to explain the situation that Ran Min doesn't know: "The center doesn't have much to do with local tycoons now, and I'm afraid it won't be able to make full use of the new population in a short time."

"Kill, if you catch a group, kill them. If you are not afraid, kill them until they are afraid." Ran Min felt that there was nothing complicated: "Shijie relies on killing to rule and drive all ethnic groups to obey."

Li Tan couldn't help looking at Shijie and Zhao Jun's side. Those people who were forced to the battlefield by Shijie were trembling and hiding behind various hiding places, thinking: 【This way of using, except Driven to the battlefield to die, what else can you do? 】

Bursts of uproar came from the direction of Shijie Zhao Jun. From a distance, many black spots rushed to the rear. It was Shijie Zhao Jun who couldn't bear the pressure and fled after collapsing, even if there were Jie people supervising the battle. Murder cannot be prevented.

Ran Min originally thought it was another routine collapse of Shi Jie Zhao Jun, and at first he looked at it as a joke.Later he discovered that things didn't seem to be like that. He had no time to chat with Li Tan and ordered his own melee troops to launch an offensive.

Shijie Zhao Jun, who has been passively beaten, can withstand nine days because the Jie people are ruthless enough to supervise the battle, but people's ability to withstand has always been limited, and groups facing real collapse are not only ruthless enough to stop them.

For the first time in nine days, the Han army's long-range attacks stopped. First, the Han army's light cavalry launched a charge from several directions, and then the Han army's infantry rushed into Shi Jie's camp. They did not encounter organized resistance. Shi Jie Zhao Jun was busy escaping to various bridges that could lead to the north bank.

There are people running everywhere, and while running, they will let out wild beast-like roars from their mouths. It is a sound that only appears when they are frightened to a certain extent. People just run and push regardless, even if the front It's the turbulent river, and they are crowded with people like dumplings.

Ma Qiu was the first to evacuate to the camp on the north bank of the Yellow River when something was wrong. At this moment, he was watching the miserable situation ahead with cold hands and feet. The people on the river bank were pushing and falling into the water, and the situation was the same on several bridges. .

"The army on the south bank is over?" Jia Jian is the lieutenant of Zhao State in Shijie, that is, the gatekeeper of Shihu's palace. He came to the Jijin battlefield to convey Shihu's order. He didn't expect to see such a situation when he came. : "You, you... quickly think of a way!"

"There is no way!" Ma Qiu cried, really crying: "The army is completely in chaos, and the Han army took advantage of the situation to launch an offensive, and the south bank is about to be lost."

Shijie Zhao Jun, who was completely passive and beaten, showed signs of collapse two or three days ago. Otherwise, Ma Qiu would not have resorted to changing defenses. To be worse.

Knowing that this is a big deal, Ma Qiu burst into tears. He is in extreme panic now, and he doesn't know how Shi Hu will deal with him, and his mind is completely confused.

Jia Jian looked at Ma Qiu who was having a mental breakdown and sympathized with him, and said something he shouldn't have said: "How about... quickly setting fire to the pontoon bridge, and then blocking the remaining three bridges that cannot be burned?"

"That's right, that's right, that's the way to go." Ma Qiu regained some sense of reason: "The troops in the front have completely collapsed, and the troops in the rear have also been affected and it is difficult to organize a strong counterattack. The most important thing is to prevent the Han army from taking advantage of the situation and attacking the north bank..."

On the south bank of the Yellow River in Jijin, there were about [-] Shijie and Zhao troops. After the Zhao army broke out on their own, their structures and organizations were completely messed up. Everyone was thinking about how to escape to the north bank of the Yellow River. The places where they could cross the river behind were crowded. Those who wanted to escape, but those in front had to face the slaughter of the incoming Han army.

Ran Min and Li Tan had imagined what they would do if Shi Jie Zhao's army collapsed, but when they waited for Shi Jie Zhao's army to collapse, they found that it was far more chaotic than they imagined.

"Our advancing speed...is a bit slow." Li Tan understood the battle situation ahead, and said in a strange way: "There are few enemy troops that resist, but they are too slow to scurry up and kill, and calling them to surrender is ineffective. "

"That's right, not to mention people, even pigs, running around like tens of thousands..." Ran Min was quite excited at first, but he also felt depressed when he found out the truth. Halfway through his speech, he saw a strong black cloud emerging in front of him. Yan: "The enemy set fire to the bridge?"

Under Ma Qiu's order, the Jie people's soldiers could use dense arrows to fight out an open space, and poured kerosene on the pontoon bridge on the river bank regardless, and the torches immediately burned up.

The pontoon bridge originally used boats as buoyancy, and the structure was all wood. The burning speed was not fast, and the fire was not that big. As soon as the slaughtering Jie people's soldiers retreated, the Shijie Zhao army retreated along the pontoon bridge from the south bank. Swelling up, they ran all the way and fell into the water like dumpling, and then rushed into the fire regardless. Before the pontoon bridge was burned, many people rushed to the shore even with burns all over their bodies.

The job of trying to block the other three bridges is a problem. The width of the pontoon bridge is narrow. Using bows and arrows to cover it can clear an open space, but the width of the three bridges is a bit large. Furthermore, these three bridges will not shake when walking. Swinging back and forth, as many dense arrows are emptied, so many will come up, and the bodies of the shot dead will pile up into mountains, and there will be living people crawling and continuing to come up, even if there are tools to block them, they can't be transported up.

Looking down at the battlefield from the sky, the south bank is in complete chaos. The Shijie Zhao army on the north bank is also in chaos. Looking at the turbulent river, it is full of thrashing figures, and there are more corpses floating downstream. , it’s really terrible to look at...

(End of this chapter)