Promotion and fortune in Song Dynasty

The improved bed crossbows that Lu Ci humorously named 'Opening Smile', although it was their first appearance, did not prevent them from shooting the Tubo army all over their heads in the slightest.

Seeing that the cavalry were like living targets, who could unceremoniously shoot dozens of arrows with the 'open mouth', all of which were terrifying enough to easily pierce even armor, Li Lizun used all sorts of tricks against him. The magistrate of Qinzhou gritted his teeth with hatred, and had to choose to die down and withdraw to the back camp.

After two days of confrontation, relying on the lives of the soldiers, he seemed to have consumed most of Qinzhou City's arrow reserves, but it turned out that there was a turning point, and the road turned... It was a far cry.

Li Lizun, who thought that Lu Ci would have nothing to do after the arrows were exhausted, now looked at the bed crossbows with a cold light, felt his head ache, and completely lost his previous confidence.

Who can guarantee that the scheming, despicable and shameless Song people will not come up with new tricks after the bed crossbow?

——What even Li Lizun didn't expect was that his worries were indeed confirmed during the re-attack after a few days of rest.

However, when Lu Ci took out the newly improved 'Open Smile', he didn't actually expect them to be very powerful, nor was it a deliberately hidden killer, as Li Lizun thought.

But it's purely because after the finished product came out, we haven't found a suitable time to verify the effect, so we use the Tubo soldiers as ready-made test objects.

Seeing that the improved bed crossbows have greatly improved in terms of range and power, Lu Ci praised the craftsmen with satisfaction, and then ordered someone to put them away properly.

After all, there were not many arrows left, so leaving the bed crossbow on the city wall was just a decoration.

Even because it is too big to move, it may be destroyed by the catapults in the Tubo army at any time.

Even Lu Ci didn't expect that it was just a simple one-off, but miraculously tricked Li Lizun again, who was trying to figure out his mind and control the enemy's strategy.

——After staying in the camp for three days, when Li Lizun regained his strength and majesticly led the Tubo cavalry to approach the city wall again, and proudly showed off the trebuchet, he was shocked to find that the guards at the top of the city had already There are no traces of those bulky bed crossbows, but there are more weird long bamboo tubes.

What the hell is that?

Li Lizun squinted his eyes, because he was too far away, he couldn't see the specific appearance of the bamboo tube clearly, and he couldn't imagine its use, but his heart skipped involuntarily.

The more you don't understand, the more dangerous you feel.

After suffering two big losses, although Li Lizun was unwilling to admit from the bottom of his heart that he had become a frightened bird, subconsciously, he no longer dared to take lightly any strange things that appeared on the Qinzhou Wall.

He immediately ordered the soldiers below to slow down, stay outside the shooting area, and observe carefully.

However, they were too far away, even with eagle eyes, it was absolutely impossible to see clearly, so he could only order the elites wearing the hardest armor to stand at the front, tentatively approaching.

The guards on the wall watched them approaching blankly, and at the same time adjusted the direction of the long bamboo tube in their hands, and quickly aimed at them.

Li Lizun's heart trembled, and he said decisively: "Retreat immediately!"

Frightened by the rain of arrows and crossbows on the bed a few times ago, the row of Tubo soldiers who had to bite the bullet and move forward only because of the military order, ran back quickly after hearing the order.

I was afraid that as long as I took half a step at night, I would be overtaken by the thing shot out of the strange-shaped bamboo tube and make a big hole in my chest.

Seeing that the Tubo soldiers were so savage and ran away at the first try, the Qinzhou defenders almost couldn't hold back the serious look on their faces, and they were about to burst out laughing.

Conscience of heaven and earth, they didn't intend to scare people, but simply because they first came into contact with the bamboo tube that must be controlled by two people at the same time to calibrate, they couldn't help but use the Tubo soldiers in the distance as training objects.

Li Chaole said: "Lu Qinzhou's continuous ingenious tricks, the false and the real, really made the monk bitten by a snake once, and afraid of the well rope for ten years."

Seeing the pitiful appearance of the Tubo soldiers who were cautiously "testing on the edge of danger", Lu Ci couldn't help laughing: "Li Junwei is ridiculous. I really just did it unintentionally, thanks to the other party looking up to me."

If Li Lizun, who wasted most of the day's effort and frightened people to get closer and finally got to the city wall, will be pissed off when he knows Lu Ci's hateful words of "getting cheap and being good-looking" leaning backwards.

But at present, he has no time to think about the shameless face of Song Guan, the city guard.

Especially when he finally realized that the bamboo tube that looked like a bluff was just playing tricks on the other side. In fact, it was just a display with no lethal power at all, but it made him make a false alarm in front of countless soldiers, his face was so angry Close to purple black.

Those old and cunning soldiers of the Song Dynasty were also pretending to be good players - whenever they got closer, the defenders would point the mouth of the bamboo tube at them with a serious face, making them sweat and hurriedly set up their defensive shields.

However, after waiting in cold sweat for a long time, the bamboo tube was still silent, without any movement at all.

Purely to scare them!

Li Lizun was still suspicious at first, and always felt that things were not that simple. Later, except for the chilling aiming action, he never even shot half an arrow, and he completely realized Lu Ci's trickery.

He gritted his sour teeth tightly, and in order to hide his anger, he quickly ordered people to set up heavy siege equipment, and moved forward boldly.

Sure enough, even if they finally got close to the city wall that hadn't been scratched at all for many days, the guards couldn't do any other resistance except to continue pointing the weird bamboo tube at them in vain.

After Li Lizun was stunned for a while, he felt that his eyes suddenly opened up.

——That's right, the Song army is just bluffing, and it is indeed at the end of its battle!

It's hard for a clever woman to cook without rice. When the arrows have been completely exhausted, the bed crossbow can't create things out of thin air. How can it show off its power?

In vain he was deceived by the empty city plan sung by the other party, wasting most of the day's effort in vain.

Otherwise, I am afraid that the city is already broken at this time, how can they continue to play with themselves?

Li Lizun forcibly suppressed the impatience in his heart, and looked up at the top of the city. Although he couldn't catch the most hateful figure, there was still a murderous look in his eyes.

Pity the eight thousand cavalry he filled in...

When the city is broken, the lives and blood sacrifices of all the people in the city, especially the cunning Song official, must be sacrificed to relieve his great hatred!

Dazed by the eagerness for revenge, Li Lizun couldn't help urging his horse forward, and unknowingly entered the shooting spot.

Even though he realized that he accidentally got a little closer, he didn't pay much attention to it: Song Jun obviously had no arrows, and he was surrounded by his own soldiers tightly, so there was no way he could take advantage of it.

Coupled with a solid armor that is invulnerable to swords and guns, and a golden helmet on his head, what is exposed all over his body is only a small section of neck no more than half a knuckle wide, so he is not afraid of arrows at all.

What he didn't know was that when he took these few steps involuntarily, the only young man on the city wall who hadn't joined forces with the soldiers around him to operate the bamboo gun, with a youthful look and a thin figure, looked at him for this. Suddenly it burst into light.

calm.

Calm down.

No hurry.

Di Qing, who had been staring closely at the enemy general who was wearing the most heroic clothes, could hardly believe that the moment he was looking forward to came so suddenly.

He tried his best to suppress the slightly trembling fingers due to excitement, took several deep breaths, and rubbed his fingers vigorously a few times before he regained his composure.

He quickly put aside the strong bow that he had been using for the past few days, and replaced it with the god arm crossbow that he had prepared before without any hesitation, and without blinking, he directly took the last three remaining in the quiver, Take it out all at once.

He is very clear that there is only one chance - if he misses once, Li Lizun will not be able to encounter such a flaw again after he is prepared.

Di Qing's chest was beating like a drum, but his face was as calm as water. No matter how noisy the surroundings were, he turned a deaf ear to them.

He turned his head slightly, squinted his eyes, and his eyes even ached from excessive concentration, but it didn't affect him in the slightest to pull the Flying Eagle crossbow that no one in the Flying Eagle camp could pull except Li Chao. Fully opened, loaded, and then breathlessly and carefully aimed at Li Lizun who was still giving orders...

If Li Lizun hadn't been dazzled by his eagerness for quick success, he wouldn't have approached the city wall easily, and he wouldn't have ignored the strange reaction of the Song soldiers at the head of the city.

If it is really a mystery, and there is actually nothing to do, how can you not panic in the face of the Tubo soldiers climbing up neatly with equipment on the rack?

Seeing that the enemy army was getting closer and the Tubo soldiers gathered under the city wall were unprecedentedly dense, Li Chao quickly looked at Lu Ci.

Lu Ci nodded slightly, and Li Chao raised his voice without even thinking about it: "The whole army obeys the order! Qi-shoot-!!!"

What are you shouting about?

Li Lizun was quite far away, and Li Chao roared so loudly that he couldn't hear clearly.

But after a short moment of astonishment, what hadn't been reflected in his brain was clearly fed back through his eyes——

The two Song soldiers on the city wall held the tube together. After listening to the order, one of them still held the barrel to ensure that the front sight remained unchanged, while the other lit the gunpowder mixed with broken porcelain in the gun.

"Boom--"

The moment the flames shot at the city wall, Li Lizun's eardrums seemed to be hit with a hammer. After being shaken by the loud waves with a loud buzz, his headache seemed to burst!

However, the physical pain was far less desperate than the scene in front of him that made him despair: the "overpass" that he had worked so hard to build had become a "fire bridge" that was blazing with flames and quickly ruptured.

The Tubo soldiers who were closest to the bamboo gun were the first to be hit, and were blasted to bloody blood on the spot, dying; those who were a little farther away, still on the flyover, either turned into burning men screaming in pain, rolled down the flyover, or As the bridge body broke, they fell on the ground a few feet away, dying; and further away, the soldiers who had just arrived under the city wall were either hit by the bodies of their comrades who were covered in fire, or were shocked by the shock. Terrified by the terrifying transformation, he retreated desperately...

His hard work, his hard work!

After Li Lizun was in a trance for a while, his eyes were tearing apart, and his hatred for Lu Ci reached its peak in an instant!

He must, must personally kill the extremely hateful Song official...

Li Lizun, who was preoccupied with how to tear Lu Ci into pieces, subconsciously clamped the horse's belly, and urged the horse to move forward a few steps.

No mess.

Li Lizun forcibly calmed down, swallowing bloody breath.

In any case, in the face of this tragic casualty, he needs to withdraw his troops immediately.

He turned sideways slightly, inadvertently exposed more of his neck, and ordered to the lieutenant general: "Quickly order the whole army—"

As soon as the conversation started, it stopped abruptly.

Li Lizun's ears were still buzzing, and he couldn't hear the tiny sound of strings that was drowned out in the turmoil, and neither could the deputy generals around him.

It was too late and then quickly, three dazzling meteors pierced through the air, hitting the gap in the exposed neck.

The crossbow, which is strong enough to pierce half a pole of elm wood a hundred paces away, is also worthy of its name as a 'divine arm' at this time. Under the control of a skilled archer, the three arrows almost hit the same place, and went straight through the crossbow. Not to mention a small part of the neck, it was almost shot off the neck directly.

The rest of the strong impact actually knocked Li Lizun off the horse and fell straight to the ground.

Li Lizun's eyes were wide open, and he felt an indescribable sharp pain, and there was an earth-shattering chaos in front of his eyes.

In a cloud of dust, he was lying on his back, his throat was clogged by the unceasingly gushing blood, he only had time to utter a few 'ho ho's of unknown meaning, and then fell silent.

The author has something to say: Notes:

1. The emergence of tubular firearms in the Song Dynasty.In the second year of Shaoxing, Emperor Gaozong of the Southern Song Dynasty (1132), when Chen Gui, who had a lot of research on military technology, was in Shou De'an (now Anlu, Hubei), he used "more than 1259 long bamboo guns" made of "cannon powder". ].When fighting, two soldiers use one together, one holds a gun, and the other ignites the gunpowder in the gun, which is used to burn the enemy or burn the "overpass" (siege equipment).In the first year of Kaiqing ([-]) of Emperor Lizong of the Southern Song Dynasty, Shouchun Prefecture (now Shouxian County, Anhui Province) manufactured a burst gun, which made a big step forward in tubular shooting firearms.The bursting fire gun "uses a giant bamboo as a tube, and puts a nest in it, like burning it, and the flame dies, and then the nest emits, like the sound of a cannon, heard from a distance of more than [-] steps."Zike, that is, the bullet, is ejected by the thrust of the gas generated after the gunpowder in the barrel burns, which is the initial application of the shooting principle. The appearance of "long bamboo guns" and "burst guns" is a major breakthrough in the history of weapon development. It announced the official birth of tubular shooting firearms and laid a preliminary foundation for the further development of future generations of firearms and the emergence of modern guns. Base. ("Cultural History of the Song Dynasty")

2. God Arm Bow

In terms of long-range weapons, the Song Dynasty produced a large number of bows and crossbows. Among them, the God Arm Bow was used in a wider range and for a longer period of time. Shen Kuo said that it "can be re-wrapped, and is the most powerful weapon." "Song History? Bingzhi", "Rongzhai Three Strikes", "Quwei Old News" and so on also called it a sharp weapon that "other weapons can't reach", which shows that the god arm bow was a well-known long-range weapon at that time.