Daqin Engineering Corps

The solution is Huozhezi.

At this time, there is no fire breaker, so fire knives and flints are used to make fire... It will definitely not work to bring these things to the battlefield.

So Shen Bing also invented Huozhezi by the way.

The raw materials for making fire zhezi are all ready-made, that is, paper... No wonder there is no fire zhezi at this time, and it is very difficult to make fire zhezi without paper.

Add some flammable materials such as slate powder and sulfur powder to the paper, of course, spread it evenly in a small amount, so that the paper will become very flammable.

If you wipe too much of this thing, it will become a small gunpowder cartridge.

Then roll the paper into a ball and stuff it tightly into a small bamboo tube or wooden tube, first ignite it, cover it with a lid to isolate it from oxygen, and then extinguish it.

At this time, the paper roll in the bamboo tube still retains many sparks, and because the paper roll is very flammable because of the addition of hydrated stone powder, it is only because there is no oxygen that it cannot burn.

When you need a fire, just take it out, then blow lightly, and the fire pocket will re-ignite the fire head in no time.

It is said that this thing was very expensive in ancient times, and only rich people could afford it.

Shen Bing guessed that it might be because paper was more expensive in ancient times.

But this is nothing to Yunzhong County. Soldiers have one on hand, and cavalrymen can even tie it to their chests. If you need to use it at any time, you just need to take off the cover immediately... and you can use it to light a thunderbolt fireball. fuse.

When this thing is finished, it will make Wang Ben and others very happy. It is even more rare than seeing gunpowder:

"General, how can such a good thing be produced at this time?"

"This thing is interesting, but you can hide the fire in the bamboo tube and blow it on!"

"It's useless to wait for me. In the past, I just used fire knives and flints to start a fire, but now I have this..."

"Huozhezi!" Shen Bing explained.

"Huozhezi! Good name! With this thing, you can start a fire anytime, anywhere!"

The problem of ignition is easily solved.

Then there is the question of the three-bow bed crossbow.

There is no problem with the three-bow bed crossbow itself, and it is no problem to combine it with the "Thunderbolt Fireball". If it is not possible, just tie the "Thunderbolt Fireball" to the iron crossbow.

The problem is that the three-bow bed crossbow is heavy equipment used by infantry and is not suitable for cavalry.

The cavalry can't use a few horses to drag a three-bow bed crossbow and then erect it urgently when it is needed.

In fact, this is not necessary, because the three-bow bed crossbow is too powerful for the "thunderbolt fireball"... The three-bow bed crossbow can shoot iron crossbow arrows weighing tens of catties more than a hundred steps, while the "thunderbolt fireball" has only Ten Qin Jin (about five catties).

So using a three-bow bed crossbow is obviously a waste.

Shen Bing's approach was to make the three-bow bed crossbow smaller...to be exact, it was not to make it smaller, but to design a fixed crossbow for chariot soldiers.

Chariots are a good and mature platform for crossbows, and are as fast as cavalry.

If we talk about the disadvantages, it is that it has higher requirements on terrain and poor off-road ability.

But this problem can be almost ignored in the area where the Hetao Plain is either grassland or desert.

Taking this into consideration, Shen Bing directly refitted with chariots in the spirit of borrowing doctrine.

It's like modern equipment is often modified with some tank chassis and assault guns. As long as it is suitable for the battlefield, there is no need to redesign it, especially the equipment that soldiers are familiar with, because it saves even training.

For example, Shen Bing used chariots... The organization of each chariot can be retained, and the responsibilities of the driver are even the same.

Then any car with a right halberd and a left archer will be completely useless.

A bracket was erected in the middle of the chariot, and a crossbow was erected on the bracket. This crossbow could be rotated, just like a machine gun was hung on a jeep.

And this crossbow is still a crossbow, that is, the crossbow can be opened by stepping on the pedal below.

The reason to use the stepping crossbow is because this method of opening the crossbow is faster and can use its own weight... If you use the arm to open the crossbow, you can't observe the enemy's situation and turn the crossbow to the target while opening the crossbow, you can just step on the crossbow Use hands and feet to save time.

One of the two people on the chariot is a crossbowman and the other is a loader.

The loader is responsible for loading the "Thunderbolt Fireball" on the body of the crossbow and igniting the fuze. The crossbowman is responsible for opening and aiming the crossbow. Then, with a sound of "Teng", a "Thunderbolt Fireball" will fly into the air and take off 120 steps away... a whole cycle The distance of the Huns riding and shooting was twenty paces farther.

Wang Ben was relieved after seeing this equipment, and he said to Shen Bing confidently:

"General, with this crossbow and the 'thunderbolt fireball', we can drive the Xiongnu out of Hetao!"

The only problem is that Shen Bing has no chariots...

This can be said to be Shen Bing's mistake. He always thought that the chariot was a unit that would be eliminated, so he didn't equip it.

What Shen Bing didn't expect was that he didn't dare to equip saddles and stirrups because he was worried about the Huns, but if they were not equipped with saddles and stirrups, it would be impossible to completely eliminate chariots.

It's too late to regret now.

Fortunately, training chariot soldiers is not very difficult.

3 thirty chapters training

In fact, training chariot soldiers is not easy at all, and it can even be said to be difficult.

The reason is that at least one driver who can drive is required.

This driver is not an ordinary driver, he is the commander of the chariot, and is also the target of the enemy... because if the driver of a chariot dies, not only will the chariot lose command, but the chariot may also lose control due to unmanned driving. People are on their backs.

Then there are the right halberd and the left archer, both of whom must be veterans.

Not only that, the drivers, halberds and archers have to practice and cooperate with each other again and again, and the chariot, as a member of the chariot formation, also needs to practice the formation and so on.

It can be said that chariots are the elite of the elite. During the Spring and Autumn and Warring States Periods, the number of chariots owned by a country was judged by whether it was strong or not.

The reason why Shen Bing said that "training chariot soldiers" is not difficult is because the chariot soldiers he mentioned are different from the traditional chariot soldiers.

Traditional chariot soldiers are meant to fight the enemy in close quarters, so the armor and coordination are perfect. Just like the modern tank crew, they almost need to be able to use their arms and fingers freely, otherwise the car will crash and people will die if they are not careful.

Shen Bing's requirements for chariots are not so strict, they just launch "thunderbolt fireballs" at the enemy from a distance...

So the crew does not have the tension and pressure of close combat.

If there is any danger, it is more from the enemy's arrows. For this, it is almost enough to equip a rattan armor.

In terms of coordinated operations, the role of the driver has been reduced exponentially, and he only needs to follow the cavalry team.

Even the command can be transferred to the crossbowman... The crossbowman is also an observer, he can better perceive the change of the enemy's direction and the distance between the enemy and himself, so only he knows how to adjust the direction and speed in order to better control the enemy. "Thunderbolt Fireball" launched into the enemy camp.

Therefore, the difficulty of this training is reduced in series: the driver only needs to know how to drive, the crossbowman can directly choose from the crossbowman, and the loader can deal with any clever one.

If there's anything to watch out for, it's the synergy between the loader and crossbowman.

It will explode, and after the explosion, it will shoot more than a dozen barbed wire with sharp horns on all sides. What's more serious is that each chariot is equipped with fifteen "thunderbolt fireballs"... In ancient chariots, there was not much space, only Can hold fifteen pieces.

In case of suicide, it is not a joke, and it is likely to cause the collapse of one's own troops.

This is not to mention the ancients who have never seen the power of gunpowder, just like modern recruits who throw grenades often fail to throw them out due to various reasons such as nervousness, causing accidents.

Not to mention launching "thunderbolt fireballs" with crossbows, the more links there are, the more mistakes may be made.

For example, the crossbowman loaded and ignited the fireball without opening the string.

Another example is that the crossbow fails to launch normally.

Or the fireball is launched without being clicked... This situation is okay, but it is a waste of a fireball, but it should also be avoided, because at the same time, there is also a waste of fighter opportunities.

Therefore, Shen Bing rigidly stipulated the operation sequence of the crossbowman and the loader during training, and each step should not be bad.

In addition, the fuse is lengthened to prolong the reaction time, and at the same time, the bottom of the fuse is exposed outside the bamboo tube. In case of failure or accident, the fuse can be cut off in time and the fireball will be thrown out of the car...

The operating manual is to throw the fireball out of the car whether or not there is time to cut the fuse.

Although the fireball thrown out of the vehicle may cause casualties of one's own personnel, it is better than causing other ammunition to explode on the tank.

The next step is to use the training bombs over and over again with this operation manual.

The training ammunition was made by Shen Bing's workers. It looked the same as the live ammunition and had a fuse that could be ignited, but the warhead was not packed with gunpowder.

All kinds of accidents and mistakes really happened during the training.

But after practicing over and over again, the hands and feet have been solidified and conditioned reflexes have been formed in the mind, and the mistakes made will become less and less, and there will be almost none in the future.

Therefore, what Shen Bing was most worried about about the "thunderbolt fireball" was not whether it could defeat the enemy.

In fact, it is almost certain that it can defeat the enemy. The key is whether you will be accidentally injured by it... There is a saying called "playing with fire and setting yourself on fire". Using this thing to fight is playing with fire. Of course, you must be cautious.

The production of the chariot is solved by the workers.

For Cang, this was a trivial matter. At this time, he seemed to be the head coach... Batches of workers were trained from him, and batches of workers joined the training team.

Although he was very busy, he enjoyed it.

There are tens of thousands of people under his command, which is much more prestigious than when he was in the artillery division. Everywhere he goes, people respectfully call him "Master".

This made Cang a little complacent.

As for making chariots, Cang patted his chest and replied:

"Don't worry, general, the chariot will be produced within two days."

As a result, it really took only two days to drive out 120 chariots, and the workmanship was very fine.

These 120 chariots were evenly distributed by Shen Bing to the Shenwu Army, and each village was reinforced with 50 chariots.

The chariot soldiers were called from the Daliang Army.

Like the bed crossbowmen before, Shen Bing thinks that it is too wasteful to transform cavalry into chariot soldiers... Cavalry only knows riding skills, and they practice riding and shooting day and night. If all the efforts before turning into chariot soldiers are in vain flow.

At the same time, the infantry of the Daliang Army can be converted into chariot soldiers and they are fully capable. The difficulty is the driver... Not many infantry can drive.

But this is not a big problem. Shen Bing raised his arms in Yunzhong County, and immediately many people who could drive volunteered to fight.

You must know that this battle is going to Jiuyuan, which is their hometown, so of course they are eager to fight for the first place.

Many of the common people are of the handlebar type... Although they cannot afford a horse-drawn carriage, they still need to help dignitaries transport things or drive a horse-drawn carriage, or some of them raise horses for a living, so many of them know how to drive a carriage.

Select some young and strong people from these people, and after a little training, they can act as drivers.

On the other hand, there is the issue of war horses.

In this era, not only people have not seen the "thunderbolt fireball", but war horses have never seen it either, so when the "thunderbolt fireball" explodes, the loud noise will definitely startle the warhorse.

It would be okay if there were saddles and stirrups, and the war horse could be controlled when frightened, but without these, the rider would fall down like a dumpling.

This is not a trivial matter on the battlefield. If you fall off your horse and be stepped on by a war horse, you will either die or be injured, especially if the Shenwu Army is still equipped with light rattan armor, which cannot withstand heavy blows.

The solution is to detonate the "thunderbolt fireball" near the horse again and again.

Once, twice... several times every other day.

After a long time, the war horse gradually got used to it, and occasionally a few people would be startled when one exploded suddenly, but most of them had no reaction.

So Shen Bing knew that the time was almost up.

Chapter 331 Key Points

Finally, I have time to add more, and only after adding more dare to speak, I will drift when I walk...

..............................

Shen Bing did not go straight to Jiuyuan to seek a quick solution.

This was Shen Bing's previous thought...

Jiuyuan is [-] kilometers away from Yunzhong County and the garrison is only [-], so the cavalry can be rushed to Jiuyuan in about three days, and then [-] to [-] can be used in a hurry to defeat the Xiongnu. Before he could react, he captured Jiuyuan.

After capturing Jiuyuan, seize the time to build the city wall and organize defense.

The Huns are not good at attacking cities, and even if the army is assembled, they will have nothing to do with Jiuyuan.

This strategy seems feasible but actually has great risks.

First of all, the [-] Shenwu army attacking Jiuyuan, where the [-] Huns were stationed, may not be able to win the battle quickly.

As long as the [-] Huns guard for a while, the Huns from all directions will gather more and more, and the [-] Shenwu Army will be in danger.

Secondly, even if the [-] Shenwu Army successfully captured Jiuyuan, they might not be able to defend it.

The Xiongnu are indeed not good at defending the city, but the Xiongnu are good at besieging the city... They can besiege without attacking and cut off the external supply line of Jiuyuan.

At that time, Shen Bing's only cavalry army was besieged in Jiuyuan by the Huns and could not move. The infantry was unable to protect the supply line due to insufficient mobility.