Daqin Engineering Corps

More importantly, this transformation is very convenient, and it also prolongs the life of the crossbow...

It is said that the modification is convenient because only a circular or triangular iron ring needs to be added to the front end of the crossbow arm.

Speaking of prolonging the life of the crossbow, it is because the previous method of opening the crossbow requires the foot to be on the crossbow. The process of opening the crossbow is uneven and the crossbow is easily broken.

With an iron ring added to the front end, the main force when the crossbow is opened is on the arm of the crossbow, and the force on the crossbow is even.

All in all, this small change greatly increased the power of the Qin Nu.

Chapter 298 Bed Crossbow

Shen Bing's transformation is actually aimed at Qin Jun's own situation.

First of all, the proportion of crossbows used by the Qin army is quite large. Although only [-]% of the formation of the regular Qin army is crossbow soldiers, the amount of crossbow equipment is as high as [-]%.

Basically, except for infantry who use long weapons, it is inconvenient to use crossbows, all other arms have crossbows.

For example, sword and shield fighters, when they are not charging into battle or standing in the first row, they only need to put their swords and shields on their backs, take out bows and arrows from the quiver, and transform themselves into archers.

Another example is cavalry and chariot soldiers, bows and arrows and crossbows are essential equipment.

In other words, such a change of Shen Bing involved the upgrade of 80.00% of the troops.

Although there will be fewer upgrades for this bow, the arrows have also been changed to iron...

Previously, it was even more difficult to make arrows from bronze... Bronze is brittle and hard, so it is not easy to forge and forge, especially when making arrow cluster tips.

Iron is different after being transformed. Its unique toughness and sharpness are not only easy to make, but also have much stronger penetrating power and lethality than bronze arrows.

So Shen Bing's move immediately raised the troop's crossbow, that is, the long-range equipment, to a higher level.

The reason why Qiao knows this is because he has been trying to do this before.

In fact, not only him, many people in the Warring States Period tried to add a kick ring to the front end of the crossbow so that the crossbowman could stand and fight.

Unfortunately, the previous conditions are almost impossible to achieve:

Both iron and bronze are brittle and easy to break. If a step ring is added to the front end of the crossbow arm, the crossbow will not move without a force of tens or even hundreds of catties, and the step ring will break within a few clicks.

Therefore, it is not that the Qin people did not think of adding a pedal ring, but that there is no necessary condition.

This modification was not possible until Shen Bing smelted new iron.

There is no need for any testing and improvement on arrows, and the molds used to make bronze arrows can be used directly.

Because obviously, it was feasible to use bronze arrowheads before, but now it is naturally feasible to replace them with tougher iron arrowheads, so there is no risk in mass production.

Before the transformation of the crossbow went into mass production, Shen Bing still kept a cautious attitude and tried to produce a few for verification.

Then it turned out that there were some problems.

Qin crossbows can be roughly divided into three types: 200 Qin Jin, 300 Qin Jin, and 350 Qin Jin pulling force.

The reason why there are these three types is because the strength of each soldier is different, and the crossbows that can be opened are also different.

200 Qin Jin is usually used by recruits who have no combat experience.

The reason for using "usually" is because some powerful Qin soldiers who can drive 300 Qin Jin or even 350 Qin Jin crossbows will be deployed to another team.

From this we can see that 200 Qin Jin is the minimum requirement.

This requirement is not high, 200 jin is converted into a modern weight unit of 101 jin, and it is not difficult for ordinary adults to carry a hundred jin with their waist strength.

But if this weight is increased to 150 catties or even 177 catties, it will be difficult for thin people.

People in ancient times had poor food, especially when they joined the army in their teens and had little training, so most of them were in the team that could only drive 200 Qin Jin.

But this is not absolute. After enlisting in the army and training for a few months, the waist strength will become more and more powerful, so it will be transferred to the elite crossbowmen who can drive 300 Qin Jin or even 350 Qin Jin...

The weight of these crossbows is not the maximum weight. You must know that you are in a state of tension during combat, and you will be powerless when your muscles are fatigued when you open them one after another.

In this regard, the situation of Daliang Army is much better than that of other armies.

The reason is that most of the Daliang soldiers are Wei Guojiang's own training experience, and they were selected by Shen Bing. Afterwards, Shen Bing used modern fitness theory to practice. For example, squats focus on strengthening the hips, legs, and waist.

Therefore, most of the crossbowmen of the Daliang Army were concentrated in the 300 Qin Jin and 350 Qin Jin crossbow teams, and only less than 500 people used the 200 Qin Jin crossbows. A considerable part of them were recruits newly recruited in Chu State.

The problem with the crossbow is that there is no problem with the 200 Jin Jin crossbow using the pedal ring...you can only pedal with one foot if you use the pedal ring.

However, if the crossbows of 300 Qin Jin and 350 Qin Jin use circular kick rings, it will be difficult to open the crossbow... Originally, the crossbow was opened with two feet, but now one foot is used, and the strength will inevitably be lost.

So Shen Bing changed the circular kick ring into a triangle.

That is to say, the bottom is wide and the top is narrow, and the feet can just reach into the kick ring to open the crossbow.

In addition, because these crossbows were opened by stepping on the crossbow in the past, now that the crossbow is opened by stepping on the ring, the distance will be slightly lengthened...

This has little effect on soldiers who are tall and strong, but for soldiers who are not tall enough and have just crossed the line, it will be difficult to open the crossbow as before.

This problem is not difficult to solve, just lower the crossbowman by one level, for example, if you can't drive 350 Qin Jin, you can adjust it to 300 Qin Jin.

If you can't even open a 200 Qin Jin crossbow, then you can only go to the archers, and if you can't, you can go to the formation team.

After making a few new crossbows and firing them a few times, he couldn't help praising them repeatedly:

"General, although the range of this crossbow is comparable to that of the original crossbow, its rate of fire is much faster."

"What's more important is that soldiers can stand against the enemy and are no longer passively restrained as before."

"Especially benefited a lot when facing the Huns cavalry."

"My subordinates think this method is very good, we can equip the whole army and use it to fight against the Xiongnu!"

What is owed is.

In the past, if a group of crossbowmen encountered enemy cavalry, they would basically have to wait for death.

Ready for battle?

Preparing for battle means sitting on the ground and firing crossbows.

Isn't that just waiting for the enemy to trample it into mud when riding a war horse?

In particular, the cavalry of the Xiongnu came and went like the wind, because they didn't even bother to use their knives and guns.

run away?

How can escape faster than the Huns cavalry?

Now with this kick ring, although it is still at a disadvantage against the Huns cavalry alone, at least it is not as helpless as before.

The crossbowmen can adopt a guerrilla approach to the enemy, disperse the formation, then maneuver to avoid the enemy cavalry, and shoot the enemy cavalry with their crossbows when they are free, and so on.

After seeing that there was no problem, Shen Bing ordered:

"Just make it like this."

"Be sure to remodel all crossbows within one month."

"In addition, all the arrows have been changed to iron."

Bian and Qiao responded, and then ordered the blacksmiths to start working.

At this time the ironworks had grown to include twenty blast furnaces, and it was foreseeable that these blast furnaces were far from enough.

Because it is obvious that after the crossbow and arrow are transformed, they should be sharp weapons and long spears to stop cavalry.

In addition, it is time to develop the bed crossbow used to prevent the enemy from charging in batches... In the past, bronze was brittle, and it was not realistic to use it to make a whole bronze arrow, and there was no such strong crossbow that could launch it.

But Shen Bingye made new iron, coupled with his knowledge and mechanical knowledge, making a powerful bed crossbow, wouldn't it be a piece of cake? !

Chapter 299

The production of the bed crossbow is very simple, it is actually a bigger crossbow.

To be precise, its production process is much simpler than that of crossbows and bows.

The reason is that crossbows and bows and arrows pay attention to lifespan, range, accuracy, etc... A kind of mass-produced individual equipment, if the production is too simple and rough, it may affect the morale of the troops and even be rejected by the soldiers.

Soldiers are not stupid, they will compare their equipment with that of the enemy, and after a battle or two will see whether it is useful and whether it will save their lives.

Therefore, the production cycle of a good bow and crossbow sometimes lasts for several years: from selecting wood, soaking, drying, pasting beef tendon layer by layer to increase its toughness, etc.

Especially in the production of Qin State equipment, each process is supervised and marked by a special person so that if there is a quality problem, accountability can be pursued.

Therefore, it is not without reason that the Qin army can be invincible on the battlefield. Every Qin army believes that the equipment in his hand is the best, and if he loses the battle, it is a human problem.

The bed crossbow is a little different.

It is not a kind of individual equipment, and it is not as strict as the individual bow and crossbow in terms of accuracy, lifespan and range.

Its bow body is made of superimposed bamboo sheets and then wound with hemp rope in circles.

If one bow body is not enough, add another one... After trying a few times, I found that three bow bodies can almost shoot a hundred steps with an iron crossbow arrow.

This is the "three-bow bed crossbow" in the Song Dynasty. In order to increase the elasticity, there is even a bow body that is recurved.

This kind of "three-bow bed crossbow" cannot be realized before the new iron is smelted.

The difficulties mainly come from three aspects.

One is that the iron crossbow itself is brittle and easy to break, making such a long and thin iron crossbow and shooting it with such a large bow force... I am afraid that the moment the crossbow is released from the bow, it will be broken into several pieces because the quality of the iron is not good enough Flying around and hurting his own people.

The second is that the bed crossbow with such elasticity is difficult to open the crossbow.

Although this problem can be solved, for example, horsepower and cattle power can be used.

The "three-bow bed crossbow" in the early Song Dynasty was also called "eight ox crossbows". The reason is that the crossbows were opened with cattle in the early days.

However, if a bull is used to open a crossbow on the battlefield just to be able to shoot a crossbow arrow, then the only chance is to prepare in advance and then shoot a single shot.

Of course, Shen Bing would not be so stupid and use animal power. He just got on the winch, just like a trebuchet, with four people on the left and right, two pushing and two pulling...they can quickly open the crossbow and reuse it.

The biggest difficulty is actually the crossbow.

The so-called crossbow machine is something like a trigger. The crossbow string must be buckled on it, and the crossbow arrows will be shot at the enemy after being pulled.

The crossbow force of the three-bow bed crossbow is at least several thousand jin of Qin. How can bronze be able to bear such a large force buckled on the crossbow machine?

The trebuchet also needs a similar crossbow, but because of its huge size, the whole log can be used to make the crossbow. If the log is worn out, it is also very convenient to replace one, but the size of the bed crossbow cannot do this.

So this kind of bed crossbow was unthinkable before the new iron, but now it is easily realized.

Most soldiers of the Qin Army welcomed the new series of equipment.

After batches of arrows and new crossbows were equipped, all of them practiced diligently and were full of praise for them, especially the bed crossbow could shoot iron crossbow arrows weighing tens of catties a hundred steps away The bamboo horse was easily nailed to the ground, which made the whole army cheer.

Said less excitedly:

"General, this iron crossbow can easily pierce the Huns."

"With this bed crossbow, why should we be afraid of the Huns?!"

Fusu was even more stunned when he saw this scene, and after a while he said to Shen Bing:

"If the general had made this thing earlier, the countries in the Central Plains would not have to spend time and effort building the Great Wall to defend against the Huns."

Shen Bing just smiled and didn't answer.

He knew that this was not the case. Using crossbows or bed crossbows to counter cavalry, or even using infantry to counter cavalry, was just a stopgap measure. When the cavalry developed to a certain level and the tactics matured, these things would only be a pile of scrap iron.

Don't ask Shen Bing how he knew this, the Song Dynasty had more advanced equipment that could defeat cavalry with infantry, but in the end they were beaten all over the ground by Mongolia.

While everyone was cheering for Shen Bing to make new equipment to improve his combat power, one person remained skeptical.

This person is Wang Ben.

At the beginning, when Shen Bing used new iron to transform the crossbow and arrows, Wang Ben didn't think there was anything wrong.

After all, the number of crossbows equipped by the Qin army is very large, and it is normal to modify the crossbows.

But when Shen Bing made the bed crossbow, Wang Ben felt something was wrong.

That afternoon he found Shen Bing.

He cupped his hands and said to Shen Bing:

"The subordinates saw that the general made a bed crossbow. It seems that he intends to use crossbow cavalry to resist the Xiongnu?"

Shen Bing replied: