The Nameless of the Common Clans

Chen Mo only sent a letter to Hanzhong, and he would have to wait for a while for a reply. Although Chen Mo was skeptical about the situation in Shu, he had to take Jingzhou and break the Xiangfan defense line no matter what Liu Bei planned.

Since Zhuge Liang wanted him to aim at Fancheng, Chen Mo chose Fancheng after much consideration. There was no other way. The terrain between Fancheng and Liqiu was difficult to attack. If the Ming army wanted to attack Liqiu, Fancheng could just push the crossbow cart out of the city a hundred steps away and attack the Ming army's rear formation like the day before.

Moreover, with the power of the crossbow cart, ordinary wooden shields could not withstand it. Chen Mo had seen the bodies of the dead. The crossbow arrows could penetrate the human body directly after breaking the shield. Coupled with the speed of continuous firing, the Ming army had no way to attack Jiangdong.

In this way, Fancheng was the only place left to fight.

Zhuge Liang had obviously been preparing for this. Twenty crossbow carts were set up on each wall of Fancheng. Chen Mo tried several times, but the army was demoralized by the enemy's crossbow carts before they could rush to the city.

Twenty crossbow carts can fire two hundred crossbow arrows in a short period of time. The army does not need to adjust at all when attacking the city. In addition, the long range is enough to fire two rounds at this distance. This is not just three or four hundred casualties. The visual shock and impact will scare even the brave and good soldiers of the Ming army. What's more, in addition to the crossbow carts, there are bows and arrows in the distance and crossbows in the near distance. Attacking Fancheng by force is almost like staring at the rain of arrows rushing up.

Chen Mo tried twice and gave up the idea of ​​continuing the attack.

"Your Majesty, this crossbow cart is finely crafted and has a complicated structure." Outside Fancheng, in the Ming army camp, after several days of research, Ma Jun has mastered the structure of the crossbow cart and bowed.

"Can it be made?" Chen Mo looked at Ma Jun. He didn't want to care about how complicated the structure of the crossbow chariot was. What he wanted now was something that could suppress the opponent's crossbow chariot. The army-breaking crossbow was obviously not enough.

"Yes, but this thing is complicated to make, and ordinary craftsmen may not be able to do it. There are less than five craftsmen in the army, including me, who can make a crossbow chariot. Even if we work hard, it will take at least half a month to make a crossbow chariot." Ma Jun bowed.

"Half a month?" Chen Mo frowned: "Too long, can it be faster? Asking for people and money is not a problem."

"This..." Ma Jun was a little embarrassed when he heard this, but finally nodded: "I will try my best!"

This is not a matter of money. The crossbow chariot made by Zhuge Liang is not just about woodworking. The internal mechanism and the combination of components are secretly in line with mathematics. People who have not studied mathematics cannot make it at all.

Ordinary craftsmen are not many who can read, let alone understand mathematics.

Chen Mo naturally knew Ma Jun's difficulties. After thinking for a while, he said, "How about this? Let ordinary craftsmen do some simple polishing first, and those of you who know how to do it will be responsible for the final assembly. Let's see if we can save some time."

"Yes!" Ma Jun thought about it and felt that this method was not bad. He nodded and agreed, and left quickly to prepare.

"Your Majesty!" After Ma Jun left, Xun You looked at Chen Mo and said, "Can we use the method of destroying the enemy's artillery turrets that day to destroy these crossbow carts?"

After all, these crossbows are made of wood. If they are attacked with fire, it may work. Moreover, even though Chen Mo has gathered a large number of craftsmen, it is difficult to make this thing. It is probably the same for Zhuge Liang. Destroying one means one less. With the range of the Ming army's catapults and the use of fire pots, perhaps the crossbow cart can be dealt with.

"That's a way." Chen Mo thought about it carefully. Although he would not use the same method twice against the same enemy, it might work the first time, but not the second time. But he couldn't think of a good solution at the moment. Let's try it and see how Zhuge Liang defends.

He immediately ordered people to prepare catapults and oil bombs. The next morning, dozens of giant catapults were slowly pushed to the front of the battle in the sight of the defenders in the city. Zhang Fei frowned and said, "What are they doing?"

"The enemy intends to attack with fire." Zhuge Liang looked at this scene with a serious face. Zhuge Liang knew very well how his riverside artillery was broken. However, this time, the enemy used this trick to attack the city, and Zhuge Liang was also very difficult. He immediately ordered the crossbows to aim at these catapults and try not to let them get close.

The range of catapults and crossbows is actually similar, and even the crossbows can go farther with the height. Chen Mo obviously understands this, so he pushed out 40 catapults at once and arranged a lot of strong crossbows around. Crossbows have fast shooting speed and strong penetration, but their destructive power is not as good as the army-breaking crossbows. It is difficult to destroy catapults in a short time, but 20 crossbows are fired at the same time. Even with the protection of large shields, no one is shot to death. The iron arrows fall on the catapults and can penetrate three inches deep, which still makes everyone frightened.

However, just as Chen Mo thought, the crossbows have extremely strong penetration, but insufficient destructive power. Although they can hit the catapults, this attack is not enough to destroy the catapults. Under Chen Mo's command, the catapults are gradually pushed to the front line, bringing the city wall within the range.

Just as they were about to attack the city, a cannon shot suddenly sounded from Fancheng in the distance. Chen Mo looked up quickly, only to see dozens of flaming jars falling towards him like meteors. There was no time to react. The flaming jars fell one by one, hit the shields and shattered, instantly igniting a large area. Many Ming army soldiers had kerosene poured on them, and when touched by the fire, their entire bodies were instantly engulfed in flames, and they rolled on the ground in pain.

"Fight back!" Chen Mo saw that the other party used the same method to deal with his catapults. He knew that it would be difficult to achieve victory today. Many catapults were also enveloped in flames and could not be saved. He immediately ordered people to take advantage of the catapults. When it is not completely destroyed, if you fight back against the enemy, although the oil bomb is powerful, it is enough as long as it can burn a few continuous ballistas. In terms of the manufacturing process and cost, this continuous ballista is more troublesome than the catapult. .

Several Ming army soldiers roared and loaded oil bombs and fought back at the city head. In an instant, seas of fire appeared in the direction of the city head, but the next moment, the opponent's oil bombs fell again, and the heat wave near the catapult was overwhelming, even if If it is not damaged, no one can stand around it.

Another round came from the opposite side, and Chen Mo had no choice but to order the army to withdraw. Today's attack on the city was considered a failure, especially when it was defeated by his own methods, which made Chen Mo feel a little aggrieved.

On the city wall, watching the Ming army slowly withdraw, Zhuge Liang breathed a sigh of relief and quickly ordered people to carry earth to put out the fire. The ballistas at the top of the city were even covered with cowhide. Although many places were ignited, they were not burned. It does not affect the use of these continuous ballista vehicles.

"Kong Ming, you still have a way!" Zhang Fei watched the Ming army retreat again and couldn't help but punch Zhuge Liang, almost knocking him down.

"Ahem~" Zhuge Liang rubbed his chest, frowned and glanced at Zhang Fei and said, "This is how the Ming army defeated our forts along the river. However, there is not much fire oil in the city. If it continues to be so big, our army will not be able to hold on for long. We need to Just borrow some kerosene from Jiangdong."

Zhang Fei heard this and said excitedly: "This is good. I have thought of a strategy. If there is enough kerosene, when the Ming army is in a hurry to attack the city, if these kerosene cans are thrown down, a large area of ​​the Ming army will be killed."

"How much kerosene is needed?" Zhuge Liang shook his head: "This method can only be used to destroy enemy crossbows."

If they want to use this method to defeat Chen Mo, even if Chen Mo's 200,000 troops stand and let them burn, they still don't have enough kerosene.

What's more, if someone like Chen Mo suffered a loss once, how could he suffer it again?

Zhang Fei was a little speechless. He always felt that Zhuge Liang was inexplicably afraid of Chen Mo. Wasn't it because there were so many people? So scared!

On the other side, Chen Mo called Ma Jun over after returning to camp.

"What other orders does the king have?" Ma Jun looked at Chen Mo doubtfully, as the people on his side were not ready yet.

"There is no need to build the repeating ballista for the time being." Chen Mo shook his head and said to Ma Jun. Even if the repeating ballista was built, it would not be able to reach the opponent. The opponent has the advantage of the city wall, whether it is a catapult or a ballista. The range is farther than Chen Mo's. Although it's not far, for a large instrument like a catapult, even a dozen steps are fatal.

After thinking for a moment, Chen Mo looked at Ma Jun and said, "Is there any way to make the catapult shoot farther? As long as it can shoot twenty more steps!"

"Twenty steps!?" Ma Jun had a headache after hearing this. He clasped his fists at Chen Mo and said, "Your Majesty, our catapult has been improved several times and its range has almost reached its limit. If you want to increase the range at this time, you can only Two methods.”

"Oh?" Chen Mo's eyes lit up when he heard this and said, "Speak!"

"Here!" Ma Jun thought for a moment and said: "One is to raise the height of the catapult, just like on the city wall. But to do this, we need to set up a high platform, not to mention higher than the Fancheng city wall, but It can’t be too different, and how to send the catapult up is also a problem.”

Chen Mo nodded: "This matter is not difficult. First make a high platform, and then build a catapult on the high platform. You can tell me another way."

"Here!" Ma Jun bowed and said, "The second is to reduce the weight of the projectile, just like using oil cans instead of stone bullets today. The lighter the weight, the farther the projectile will naturally go."

Xun You on the side frowned and said: "But in this case, the weight is not enough. Even if it can be projected to the top of Fancheng, what power will it have?"

The catapult is powerful because it throws stones. Stones the size of millstones will fall down, let alone people. If the city wall is not strong enough, a large area will collapse. If the weight is reduced, even if it can be thrown up, the power If it’s gone, what’s the use of having it?

Ma Jun smiled helplessly, this was the only solution he could think of at the moment.

"Let's not talk about this for now. You go to find the required materials first. As for how to do it, we will discuss it later." Chen Mo waved his hand. This matter is indeed a headache.

"Here!"