Royal Road

Under the hill, 1,500 people were divided into three square formations, and they opened up their positions. This is the villagers in Guantian, Lucheng. After scouring the spring, they were not in a hurry for spring ploughing, but first pulled out the team to organize this military exercise.

All of them were wearing winter clothes, holding wooden shields and wooden knives, as well as wooden spears with their tips removed, and arrow feathers without arrows, forming a battle formation. Their enemy is a cavalry composed of five hundred cavalry. Like these people, they are all new recruits who have just formed an army. Riding against each other and competing in the wild, there must be a victory or defeat.

Li Er was also standing in the team, his heart beating very hard. After several months of training, with an excellent archery skill, he became the captain of the crossbow team. However, no matter how much he practiced on weekdays, this is also his first time on the battlefield. The battalion officer said that even if it is an exercise, there may be casualties. If you want to survive, you must fight to the death to find a chance for yourself. They are facing cavalry, can they win?

The horn blew. The military exercise began.

The two armies did not fight face-to-face as soon as they came up, but arranged randomly in this position with woods, small hills and large empty fields. This is also a way to test the contingency ability of camp officers on both sides of the school. Sun Jiao was extremely calm and did not take risks. He lined up directly next to the hill, using the mountain as a barrier to prevent enemy riders from attacking his stomach and back.

Such a formation, as long as the army formation is not chaotic, can still withstand the five hundred cavalry.

The other party didn't let him wait too long. Soon, the hooves of horses rang, and hundreds of horses rolled up the smoke and rushed towards the army. Sun Jiao commanded loudly: "Archer, prepare!"

As an excellent archer, the proportion of archers among the recruits trained by Sun Jiao is also quite astonishing. There are more than 300 people, reaching one-fifth of the total force. However, because it is a garrison, this team is not equipped with a crossbow, only a longbow. It is still quite difficult to shoot three rounds of arrows before the enemy rider approaches.

Li Er has already set the arrow. Because of the identity of the corps leader, he is at the forefront of the team, with the soldiers next to him. Looking at the fast horse rolling up the smoke, cold sweat oozes from his back, and he can't wait to shoot the arrow in his hand immediately. But training has long been stipulated that you must wait for one hundred and fifty steps before you can release the arrow.

What is the concept of one hundred and five steps? You can rush to the front in less than three breaths! However, any arrows fired in advance will destroy morale and cause unnecessary waste. Even during normal exercises, someone will stand behind them with a whip, and once the arrow is shot early, they will get a whip. So even if his heartbeat was like a drum and his palms were sweating, he gritted his teeth and stared at the enemy army until the horse crossed the dotted line in his mind.

"Shoot!" A roar echoed in his ears. Li Er also roared out, and at the same time, the arrows in his hand and the arrows in the hands of all the soldiers around him flew out.

At this moment, who remembers that those arrow feathers have no arrows? They can only wait for an arrow to shoot the enemy under the horse!

One arrow was shot, and there was a second arrow. The soldiers used a stepped round shooting. After the first row shot the feathers, the second row followed, and then the third row. When the third row finishes shooting, the first row re-arms the bow and shoots another round. If there is no accident, before the enemy cavalry approaches the army, they can shoot three rounds, a total of 900 arrows! This is a number enough to destroy most of the enemies!

However, the enemy had been prepared for a long time, and the cavalry raised their bucklers in front of them. After all, military exercises are not actual combat. As long as the arrow and the white dots on the tip of the gun do not poke the vital parts of the face, chest, etc., it is not considered a death. Therefore, this group of cavalry did not choose to ride and shoot like the Huns did, but put defense in the first place.

This is also the cleverness of Wang Long. The recruits’ cavalry and shooting standards are not very good, it is better to directly rush into the formation and tear the enemy formation with horsepower. With this idea, the group of cavalry never stopped, so they rushed up!

Such an indomitable charge immediately disrupted the archer's rhythm. Seeing that two rounds were shot, not many enemies were "dead". Who could hold his breath and shoot the third round at a critical moment? Sun Jiao knew it was bad at first glance, and said loudly, "Raise the spear! Meet the enemy!"

After a long period of actual combat drills, the spear formation has also undergone slight changes. In addition to a short spear, there is also a long eight spear specifically designed to fight the cavalry. Stand on the shoulders of the shield soldiers before the battle, and when the battle comes, they will shoot the enemy with a spear!

Can such two rows of spearmen stop the enemy's fast horses? !

With a bang, the cavalry slammed into the army formation, and many knights fell off their horses. Even without the spear head, the impact was amazing, not to mention the white spot hitting his chest and abdomen, and he was sentenced to death.

But seeing this scene, Sun Jiao suddenly widened his eyes! The enemy rides fraud! In the cavalry camp, on the backs of more than a hundred horses, sitting on the backs of horses is not a knight, but a straw man made of straw! These grass men are also wearing military uniforms, and they are behind the real cavalry, unable to detect them at all. Only when he rushed forward did he show his horse's feet.

The front enemy is just a decoy!

"Flanks! Beware of flanks!" Sun Jiao shouted loudly.

Unfortunately, it's too late.

A cavalry went around the hill and plunged straight into the flanks of the army formation from the left. All the defensive forces hit the front, and this completely disrupted the formation, allowing the newly formed army to disperse.

On the hill, Liang Feng shook his head: "Ming Jin."

At this point, there is really no need to continue. Sun Jiao's command focuses on the long-range camp, which is also the best way to defend the cavalry. Just three steps of rapid fire from the archer, it is hard work. But the pawn's response is not astute enough, the defense is insufficient against the enemy, and the style of play is somewhat rigid. Wang Long has given full play to the mobility of the cavalry, whether it is rushing into formation or setting up ambushes, it is quite good, it is a good material for cavalry.

But today's battle has even more important significance.

"Using infantry to defend against cavalry is too sacrificed." Liang Feng muttered, "Sun Jiao's crossbow array is good, and the array thickness should be increased."

Yi Yan nodded: "If there are three rows of crossbowmen, the situation will definitely be changed. However, in the current situation, the whole army cannot be equipped with a stubborn crossbow."

The craftsmanship of the crossbow is far more troublesome than the hand crossbow, and the cost is more than three times more expensive. Even the Lucheng government office could not equip soldiers in large numbers.

Liang Feng frowned: "Infantry vs. cavalry, after all, they still have to rely on bows and crossbows. The spear array is okay for cavalry who are less than one's own. If the two armies are equal in number, I'm afraid they will not be able to defeat the enemy."

This is also the combat experience played by thousands of people. Just like Li Ling, a famous general in the Han Dynasty, five thousand pawners who were good at bows and crossbows confronted thirty thousand cavalry. Later, the enemy army increased to 80,000, and Li Ling fought and retreated. After several days, he killed nearly 10,000 Xiongnu. It was not until the bow and arrow reserves were exhausted that he was defeated and captured.

In Han Dynasty, each archer carried fifty bows and arrows. Based on the 10-day reserve calculation, a conservative estimate is that more than 2.5 million arrows will be consumed in this battle. Faced with such an equipment advantage, even the Xiongnu cavalry in their heyday did not dare to be stunned.

Similarly, Da Song was able to resist Liao, Jin, and Mongol for hundreds of years because his armaments were more advanced than ordinary people. The sharp weapons such as the god-arm bow and the eight-niu crossbow, coupled with the use of gunpowder and the use of fortress tactics, made the nomadic dogs bite the hedgehog and couldn't make it.

Now that they have a little manpower to fight against the tens of thousands of powerful Huns, they must also think of some way from long-range warfare.

After thinking for a moment, Liang Feng said: "Maybe we can make some thunderbolt guns, use shotguns or other crossbows, and then make a defensive line."

In ancient times, the artillery referred to the trebuchet, so the word "stone" was used as a radical. The Pili Cannon is a catapult created by Liu Ye Jinxian, Cao Cao's adviser in the Three Kingdoms period. It is named after the sound of a thunderbolt. Later, Ma Jun improved it and produced a whirlwind cannon, which can be called a great weapon for siege.

However, using this thing in the field is something that no one has thought of.

Yi Yan shook his head: "I'm afraid it won't work. It's worrying about the accuracy of the shot. Not to mention the need for multiple people to drag the rope and pull the tip to load the stone. It's too labor-intensive."

These words made Liang Feng startled: "Drag the rope?"

"Thunderbolt guns need to contain stones as bullets. On the other side, people naturally have to pull the tips together to make the stones pop out." Seeing that Liang Feng didn't understand, Yi Yan carefully explained the structure of the catapult.

Hearing what Yiyan said, Liang Feng realized that the ancient Chinese catapults were all driven by humans. While putting the stone bullets, the rope was hanging down, pulled by the young man at the same time, relying on this force to let the stone bullets shoot out. An ordinary single-shot catapult must be pulled by forty people. If it is replaced with a large catapult, it will take hundreds of people to launch. Not to mention the labor intensive, it is not accurate at all. Therefore, it can only be used when the target of siege is extremely large and cannot be moved.

This is the movie and TV drama that made me wrong! Liang Feng couldn't help but smile. In ancient war films, they were all mechanical trebuchets. As soon as the mechanism was turned on, the fireball swished into the enemy's city. How could it be driven by humans? However, this also explained why when the Meng Yuan attacked the Southern Song Dynasty, the return artillery used would make the Song army shocked and unable to resist. Probably it was the counterweight mechanical catapult from the West at that time, and its attack power was far better than that of a human-powered catapult.

But knowing the crux of the matter, the problem will be solved. He has a lot of skilled craftsmen, and there are two direct disciples of the great mathematician Liu Hui, can he not build a mechanical trebuchet that can raise and lower the scale and ensure the accuracy? In the final analysis, it is just a matter of moment arm and moment. It is enough to train a group of shooters who can calibrate the range and form a "cannon" barracks.

"I will improve the Thunderbolt and make it into a small one that does not rely on human drag. The shooting range is about 300 steps. Then you can use the Thunderbolt and the flaming crossbow as the first and second lines of defense, followed by the archer. With such a level of consumption, it will be sure to resist the Huns cavalry." Liang Feng finally agreed.

This is also no way. After getting to know the level of metal manufacturing in this era, Liang Feng discovered that making gunpowder today is simply whimsical. Not to mention the lack of iron and copper, it is impossible to make the inner wall of the barrel smooth. Any modern creation does not fall out of thin air, but requires a variety of different industrial systems to act simultaneously. And crossing this gap is definitely not a matter of slapped your head.

Today, he can indeed be ahead of the times, but at most it is one step or two steps. And this step and two steps can add up, and only then can the scale of victory be dragged to his side.

"If there is a magic weapon with a range of 300 steps, the subordinates will definitely make the enemy ride without melee!" Yi Yan had no doubts about Liang Feng's words. No one can match the master's ingenuity! If he says he can do it, he will definitely do it. During a night attack, a shooting star can be produced to fall into the camp, not to mention a gun wagon.

Faced with the unconditional trust of Yi Yan, Liang Feng couldn't help but smiled: "It's the best."

At this time, the two barracks officer Qi Qi boarded the hill. Wang Long had a good face, while Sun Jiao was indignant, apparently unwilling to lose.

Seeing the expressions of the two men, Liang Feng raised his face: "In this battle, each has its own gains and losses. One person presents a combat report. Analyze the battle cases and then integrate new strategic ideas. Yi Yan, the two new troops, I'll leave it to you."

This immediately calmed the two of them. Seeing the cold-faced boss who took a step forward, he couldn't help but groan secretly, feeling pity for the same illness.

At the foot of the mountain, nurses from the ambulance camp have entered the scene and rescued the wounded soldiers. The horse hissed long and the smoke was wafting, creating a busy scene.

The author has something to say: Shao Liang: Ha ha, I have never seen a trebuchet pulled by people (indifferent face