Iron Dynasty

After a few days of cloudy and rainy days, the sky suddenly cleared up.

The sapphire-like dome is high and far, and a few white clouds float gently, and the beauty is like a pool of water.

Yesterday, I taught in the equipment department, and today the equipment department will officially try to produce artillery.

Seeing that the date for the barbarians to go south is approaching, there is not much time left for him.

And Li San and Wang Xuan have been inquiring about the movement on the grassland these days. Today, the two went to the palace together to report the information they got to Xiao Ming.

His Royal Highness, we have heard that the barbarians and the Ottomans seem to have reached some kind of reconciliation. Three months ago, the barbarians returned to Shengdu with the slaves and craftsmen they brought back from the Ottomans, Li San said.

In other words, the barbarians' westward expedition is over? Xiao Ming asked.

I'm afraid that's the case. Wang Xuan looked solemn.

This is indeed very bad news for Xiao Ming. After conquering the grassland tribes, the barbarians have become the most powerful empire in the northern land.

Under the premise that the Great Yu Kingdom was declining day by day and passively defended, the barbarians thought they had no worries, so they began their expedition to the west.

After wiping out a series of small western states, the barbarians encountered the Ottoman Empire at its peak.

After three years of hostile expeditions, the two sides finally realized that the other side was a behemoth, so they stopped their troops and returned to the court.

As a result, the pressure on the Great Yu Kingdom will suddenly increase.

Recalling the western expedition of modern Mongolia, it seems that after the western expedition was completed, Mongolia easily destroyed the Southern Song Dynasty.

Is there any worse news? Xiao Ming smiled bitterly, What do you know about the barbarian population, army, weapons and equipment?

Wang Xuan said: The bad news is that the barbarians seem to have acquired a siege weapon during their western expedition, called the Huihui Cannon, which is said to be able to throw a three-hundred-pound boulder five hundred meters away.

Back to the gun? Xiao Ming asked, Are you sure he was thrown a stone?

I'm sure that the merchants on the grassland have described that this kind of back-and-forth seems to be an advanced stone throwing tool. Wang Xuan said.

Xiao Ming let out a light sigh of relief, as long as the barbarians have not acquired the artillery technology, but before there are no artillery, if there is such a stone throwing tool, it is indeed a huge threat to Cangzhou City.

He remembered that Mongolia seemed to be using a similar stone throwing tool in modern times, and this stone throwing tool also came from that part of the Western Regions.

Li San said at this time: Your Highness, if the barbarians use this kind of thing to attack Cangzhou City, the city wall may not be able to hold up.

For Xiao Ming, it is fortunate that the barbarians do not have artillery. This kind of giant rock-throwing machine with a range of 500 meters is far less than the range of artillery. It can be destroyed in advance within the range of artillery, so there is nothing to be afraid of.

It's not worth worrying about, is there any other information? Xiao Ming asked.

Li San hurriedly said at this time: The population of the barbarians cannot be accurately determined, but in general, there are still two million households.

So much? Xiao Ming was startled.

In recent years, some barbarians have settled in Changbai Mountain, and the population has grown a lot. Li San said.

Now Xiao Ming finally understands what a headache is.

Today's barbarians are no longer a pure nomadic people, but a half-farming and half-pastoral nation, and such a nation is even more deadly to the Great Yu Kingdom.

Because half-farming and half-grazing means that the logistics of the barbarians will be better guaranteed, making it easier for the barbarians to expand.

And the following sentence from Wang Xuan gave Xiao Ming a headache, This is just the population of the barbarians. The barbarians have always been used to looting slaves. Now the ratio of the regular army to the slave army has reached one to five.

The merchants said that every time the barbarians marched in front of the western expedition, a large number of slave troops would march. When these slave troops were finished fighting, and the enemy was exhausted, the barbarian cavalry would attack.

Li San said: We have been exploring on the grassland these days and found that the barbarian cavalry is arresting the people north of Cangzhou City. These people used to be the people of the Great Yu Kingdom. It seems that the barbarians are trying to use it against the people of the Western Regions. way to deal with us.”

After a pause, Li San clenched his fists and said, His Royal Highness, when the people of Dayu Kingdom are forced to walk in front of the barbarians to attack the city, what should we do?

This barbarian is extremely shameless and has no humanity at all. Wang Xuan said angrily.

The despicable tactics of catching the common people as meat shields abound in history, among which the Meng and Qing clans played the most eloquently.

It is precisely because of the clever use of the puppet army and the common people that a small ethnic group will conquer a country with a population dozens of times its own.

And now the population of this barbarian nation is only ten to one with that of the Great Yu Kingdom.

What should I do? If Cangzhou City is captured, this king will be the next King Kang. Xiao Ming said in a deep voice.

Li San and Wang Xuan looked at each other, and they seemed to understand Xiao Ming's thoughts.

The two told Xiao Ming about the barbarian race, which was nothing more than the way the barbarian race fought.

At present, the barbarians use a compound bow made of animal tendons. This kind of bow and arrow has a long range, and the barbarian cavalry can also turn around and shoot arrows while escaping.

It is this method that makes the people of the Western Regions repeatedly defeated by the barbarians.

However, the people of the Great Yu Kingdom have already learned about the characteristics of the barbarians. Because of this, the army of the Great Yu Kingdom will not go out of the city to fight against the barbarians on the grasslands.

Because this is purely courting death.

In addition to the bow and arrow can reach a range of more than 180 meters, the most deadly part of the barbarian army is that the discipline is very strict, which is far more dangerous than the bow and arrow.

An army that is not afraid of death is truly terrifying.

Now Xiao Ming can imagine the situation where the barbarian infantry still climbed up from the corpse pile under the fire of the artillery.

In addition to arresting the common people, the merchants on the grassland said that the barbarian army has been training very frequently recently, and they are very vigilant about the barbarians of Dayu who travel to and from the grasslands. Many merchants have been arrested by the barbarians. Li San said finally.

Xiao Ming nodded, the barbarian race was obviously abnormal, and it seemed that it was only a matter of time before they attacked the Great Yu Kingdom.

He said: Continue to keep an eye on the dynamics of the barbarians, especially the dynamics of the barbarian army, and report to me in time.

Li San and Wang Xuan nodded and turned to leave.

At this time, Xiao Ming got up and went to the equipment department. Fortunately, he let the equipment department produce artillery with all his strength, otherwise he would not be able to resist the return of the artillery catapult 500 meters away.

A three-hundred-pound stone against a city wall is not much weaker than an artillery bombardment.

After all, the artillery also shoots solid bullets, and he doesn't have the ability to produce such things as explosive bullets.

Thinking of this, he quickened his pace, and a deep sense of crisis enveloped him.