Daqin Engineering Corps

"Maybe he will be repatriated to his hometown and incorporated into the rear army!"

Hearing this, Shen Bing felt relieved.

The so-called rear army of the Qin army is old and weak, and they are engaged in production in the rear.

This may be a good thing for Xun.

But think about it, how can this be any good thing?

He began to serve in the military when he was a teenager. If he was lucky enough to survive the battlefield, he would return to his hometown to work when he was old.

It can be said that it will not stop for a lifetime.

Although this has long been used to by people of this era, it is not the case for Shen Bing.

When the craftsmen around bowed and called Shen Bing an engineer, Shen Bing was thinking in his heart:

One day in the future, will I be like Xun...

Towed away because of old age or injury?

Tossed like a burden by those soldiers?

Will it be as helpless, helpless and desolate as Xun at this time?

It shouldn't be like this.

At this moment, Shen Bing suddenly thought about it.

It's like following the saying "if it comes, it will be safe".

Shen Bing should not escape.

Otherwise, one day, when Shen Bing encounters this situation, he can only be at the mercy of others.

He should face this cruel world, he should control his own destiny, and he should take root here with his own strength.

Chapter 60 Bribery

The reason why Yang Duanhe asked the artillery division to rush for reinforcements was because he was not going well in Handan.

This "unsmooth" is not that the attack was not smooth, but that Wang Jian also hit Handan.

In other words, it can be said that Wang Jian was able to hit Handan because of Shen Bing's blessing.

Because when Li Mu returned to Handan, he left two generals in Jingxing and told them not to hold out.

This is often the case in ancient warfare.

If the two warring parties refuse to accept each other and dare to go out of the city to fight, then they will fight to the death outside the city and the winner will be determined soon.

But if the defenders can't defend the city, even Wang Jian can't take it quickly.

Unless there is Shen Bing's improved trebuchet...

Therefore, Wang Jian's army has been stopped in Jingxing and did not dare to advance an inch, even after hearing the news of Yang Duanhe's siege.

It's not that Wang Jian didn't want to save him, but that Wang Jian saw the danger.

It is not without reason that Li Mu left [-] Zhao soldiers in Jingxing.

If Wang Jian bypassed Jingxing to attack Handan or rescue Yang Duanhe, Jingxing would be a nail in the back.

Zhao Jun can go out of the city to attack Wang Jian's side at any time.

Moreover, these Zhao troops were all Li Mu's northern soldiers, including [-] cavalry.

At this time, if Li Mu strikes back again, Wang Jian will be defeated again.

This Wang Jian can be considered calm, Ren Yangduanhe asked for help several times but did not send troops.

Of course, part of the reason for this is that Wang Jian was afraid of being beaten by Li Mu, otherwise he would have sent troops to rescue him with his personality.

Wang Jian only said that this battle would return without success as in the past, and he even made plans to withdraw his troops.

But one day, I heard a report from the Ministry:

"General, Li Mu is dead, Zhao Jun is in chaos."

Wang Jian suddenly jumped up from the desk and said:

"What? What did you say?"

"Li Mu is dead?"

"How did you die?"

The Ministry will answer:

"It is said that he was killed by General Zhao Cong."

"King Zhao exchanged Zhao Cong for Li Mu, but Li Mu refused, so..."

Wang Jian was dumbfounded after hearing this.

What's the situation?

How could King Zhao exchange Zhao Cong for Li Mu at this time?

Could it be that the brain is broken? !

Isn't Zhao Cong General Zhao?

How could he kill Li Mu, and at this time!

Naturally, Wang Jian would not believe such a bizarre thing, so he asked again:

"Could it be Li Mu's trick!"

"Let me wait to attack Handan?"

"Surround and annihilate them again..."

The Ministry will answer:

"The subordinates think that's not the case."

"Because General Yang led Hanoi troops to attack Handan."

Wang Jian was startled, and only then did he realize that Li Mu might really be dead.

Otherwise, how could Yang Duanhe have been beaten to Handan?

So Wang Jian no longer hesitated, and immediately ordered: "Pass my order, march into Handan!"

Although Zhao Jun's layout is the same as before, and Jingxing is still not captured, the situation is different.

Once Li Mu died, Wang Jian no longer had to worry about the Jingxing Zhao army sneaking up on his rear.

What he was more worried about was that Yang Duan and he would conquer Handan first...

So Wang Jian's army drove to Handan mightily.

When the two armies joined forces, the morale was greatly boosted and the voice was loud.

However, the first thing Wang Jian did after he hit Handan was to give Yang Duanhe an order to attack only the North Gate in the name of the heavy casualties of Hanoi soldiers.

After receiving the order, Yang Duanhe couldn't help but "click":

"If you take into account the heavy casualties of Hanoi soldiers, how can you hand over the most difficult north gate to me?"

"It's clearly because I'm afraid that I'll take the first place in the city..."

But you can't say this casually, even the generals can't say it, Yang Duanhe can only hold it in his heart.

Li Yan was also sensible, and only asked:

"General, the wall at the north gate is more than five feet higher than the walls in other directions."

"The walls of the city are thick and there are many guards. This..."

In the Qin Dynasty, one foot was equivalent to 23.1 centimeters in modern times, and five feet was more than one meter.

Although this height is nothing, but adding more than one meter to the original height of about six meters, it is very impressive. (Note 1)

As the length is increased, the length of the siege ladder must also be increased.

And because the siege ladder is tilted on the wall to attack the city, the siege ladder has to be extended by nearly two meters if the city is increased by one meter...

It's okay to say in terms of production, it just takes a little manpower and time.

What's more troublesome is that the siege ladder is unstable when it is long, and the middle part is easy to be broken by the enemy's thunder wood.

As a result, the difficulty of siege has increased exponentially.

Yang Duanhe thought for a while and felt that there was nothing he could do, so he ordered:

"It's been a few days since the gunner made the cannon."

"Let them bring the guns up!"

After a pause, he added: "There are still fire bombs!"

Li Yan responded with a "promise", and immediately ordered people to prepare to go to the Great Wall to give orders.

In ancient times, there was a saying that "eight hundred miles are expedited", which means that emergency information and orders can travel eight hundred miles a day if there are post stations along the way.

The Qin army has always attached great importance to speed in combat, so every time it advances, it will set up stations along the way.

Post stations are generally set up every [-] miles, because the horses have to rest after running fast for [-] miles.

If you want to run at high speed, you must set up a station every twenty miles.

Yang Duanhe set up a station every [-] miles between Handan and the Great Wall. Each station has horses, soldiers, food and aquatic plants for replacement and rest.

In this way, the eighty li from Handan to the Great Wall was ordered to take just over an hour.

Shen Bing's artillery division and Zhang Xuan's thousand-man team set off urgently.

Strictly speaking, this cannot be regarded as "Shen Bing's artillery division".

The engineers directly commanded only "50 people".

It's just that this engineer is divided into "left engineer" and "right engineer".

The Qin people respected "right" and regarded "right" as great. (Note: 2)

Therefore, the "right engineer" is one level higher than the "left engineer", which is almost equivalent to the modern deputy.

Therefore, Xuncai commanded a hundred artillerymen.

Shen Bing was directly promoted from the position of Gongcheng to Xun to the right engineer, so there were hundreds of people in command.

Only then did he know the Zuo Gongshi, who was called 浍 (kuài).

He is short in stature, thin and dark, and he is clearly malnourished and has been working in the fields for many years.

This surprised Shen Bing.

Because most of the craftsmen work indoors or in the shade, chopping and chopping wood.

Although there are black ones, they are rarely like 浍.

Later I learned that there are many kinds of craftsmen in the craftsman register.

Some are made of various wooden utensils in the main house, and some are built for the main house...

Hui's main business is irrigation of ditches in the field, such as using bamboo tubes to divert water.

浍 means field ditches.

The so-called "ditches and rivers, ten hundred interconnected", refers to this kind of water.

This is why Hui Heicheng is like this. Although he is a craftsman, he runs in the fields.

Shen Bing's deepest impression on this is that he took out a sackcloth bag from his arms when he first took office.

Untie layer by layer, layer by layer...then put it respectfully in front of Shen Bing with both hands, saying:

"Please accept the engineer on the right!"

Shen Bing went up to take a closer look, and there was a piece of jerky the size of a small fingernail on the sackcloth.

Is this... a bribe for me?