The dense arrows flying through the sky and the continuous splashing of grey bottles of gold juice are pouring out continuous firepower as if they are endless.

After many days of fierce attack, the walls of Yangping Pass were completely red by blood and flesh, and the sticky glue as asphalt slowly flowed downwards, and every stone was almost patellar.

The Xiliang soldiers who were fighting desperately under the wall were completely suspicious of their lives. Although the enemies on the wall were weak and could not even block a single sword or a single shot, their supplies were too abundant!

Moreover, those melee teams responsible for fire fighting and rescue actually have such a high armor rate! Even if they fall into melee battle, the strengthening of defense is enough to make up for the shortcomings of martial arts. If you cut two swords first, you may not be able to kill them.

What's even more exaggerated is that a considerable number of the Han army's crossbowmen wore iron helmets or even a strange whole piece of armor with a much larger chest than a heart protection mirror, with the color of black iron and black armor.

Under the protection of this kind of armor, the crossbowmen no longer need to rely on crossfire to hide behind the balustrade and shoot on the side as they did when Dasan Pass. Instead, they can expose their upper body openly, aim accurately and then shoot again, which often poses a great threat to the Xiliang Army archers who are throwing archery rains under the city.

This weapon was actually developed by Li Su last year and was prepared to be equipped with a whole piece of iron breastplate for the cavalry in the future. For infantry, wearing iron breastplate will have great constraints on operations and may not be able to bear the burden.

But it is very comfortable for crossbowmen standing on the city wall to output - don't you see that the only steel armor left in the later world during the World War were used for machine gunners in the firepower point, because they don't have to worry about not being able to walk.

The reason why the soldiers of the Western Liang army have not seen clearly what this armor is, can only be described as "suspected". Of course, it is because these new recruits wearing iron-breasted armor have never been in close combat with the Western Liang people, so no one has the opportunity to get close to the level of observation.

Dong Yue and Fan Chou were so frightened that they doubted their lives, and they couldn't understand why Liu Bei specially customized a fine armor for the crossbowman that he could only use when defending the city. Could it be that Liu Bei was already so rich? Then why was he so vulnerable before? It's impossible that everything was performed, right?

Unfortunately, the cost of sunk investment has been too much, and so many people have died, even far exceeding the results of the Battle of Wuzhangyuan more than half a month ago. If all previous efforts are wasted, the previous one will be in vain.

So Dong Yue and Fan Chou were like two guys who had already followed the first four cards to bet on the entire table, and they really couldn't bear to not follow the last card.

Since Liu Bei’s reinforcements have not yet arrived, let’s grit your teeth and fight for a few more days!

Dong Yue’s only back-up deployment was to listen to Jia Xu’s words and at the same time he was working on the key points, he distributed some troops to go to the Xiguan Post to camp near the Xiguan Post south of Yangping Pass and set up ambush on both sides. Because it is said that the reinforcements from the Mamingge Road and even the Jialing River must pass through the Xiguan Post to reach Yangping Pass.

As long as the valley entrance of Xiguan Post is blocked, the troops attacking Yangping Pass will not be cut off. They can attack until the day the enemy reinforcements arrive, and then slowly retreat.

On the other hand, the Xiliang Army had some new difficulties that gradually exposed as the battle progressed, that is, their logistics.

Because the food plunder along the way was far lower than expected, and no city was captured to rob grain. Therefore, at least 80% of the military rations eaten by the Xiliang army were transported from Chencang City. Even if it only lasted for ten days and half a month, the loss was very terrifying.

In fact, even if the Han army did not have reinforcements, the rebels would be assigned a considerable number of soldiers to transport grain for up to one month, and gradually lost their support.

Now, even if the shortage of military rations has not yet completely broken out, the hidden constraints that various military supplies must be saved have been undoubtedly effective: when the key problems were solved, the suppression of the arrow rain of the Xiliang army became shorter and shorter, and it was almost only around the moment the stairs leaned against the city wall, and within a maximum of half a minute, the arrow rain dared to open and shoot.

Other consumables also came to the bottom quickly, so that Dong Yue and Fan Chou tried hard to draw consumables from Jia Xu and Zhang Xiu of the rear army. On the other hand, they had to calculate the time accurately, such as attacking for another three days or five days.

If the enemy reinforcements are coming soon, we should take advantage of this to withdraw the troops, and it is best to shoot the arrows almost all before we withdraw them. It is best to be able to break through. This is the most cost-effective transportation capacity and saves the endless use of transportation back.

...

"Kill! Kill all the rebels and defend your home!"

"Why do you say that you are in the same comrade as me? Wang Yu raised his troops and cultivated my armor and soldiers!"

In contrast, the state above the wall of Yangpingguan is very enthusiastic. Although the soldiers are not good at martial arts, their morale is extremely high.

After all, the size of the arsenal in Hanzhong in Yangping Pass is far from comparable to Dasan Pass. At that time, Li Su suggested that Liu Bei "all the elite soldiers stay in the Chengdu Plain and Nanzhong to train troops and fight for war" with the purpose of saving food.

However, training does not require sufficient weapons. Three soldiers can be trained with a set of weapons, and a wooden stick can be trained. The weapons themselves do not need to consume supplies for food. Therefore, in order to alleviate the pressure of future wartime transportation, Liu Bei, under the coordination of Li Su, has gradually reserved a large amount of weapons needed for the future Northern Expedition in Hanzhong in peacetime.

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Dong Yue and Fan Chou came this time, not that he kicked a rifle with "insufficient elite troops but piled up like mountains of weapons". He didn't have to worry about "the opportunity to clean the battlefield fell into the hands of the enemy, resulting in the capture of weapons and equipment", so of course he should give good weapons to the peasant soldiers.

Of course, because of the excellent weapons, the Han army would never give the Xiliang army the chance to collect corpses under the wall during the Battle of Yangping Pass. The Xiliang army would dare to approach the city wall at any time. The endless rain of arrows would be greeted by the Xiliang army.

Either the Han army collected the corpses and buried them, or the Han army threw large bundles of straw and wheat straw from the city when the battle was paused for a moment, then threw the torch to ignite them, burned the corpses and disinfected them, and prevented the plague from spreading. This completely cut off the opportunity of the Xiliang army to collect corpses and pick up excellent equipment. Jia Xu used the corpse collection tactic once in Dasan Pass, and Dong Yue and Fan Chou could not imitate it.

Liu Bei wore his whole body of armor several times a day, went to the rear of the gate to inspect the battlefield, inspire the troops, and listen to the latest battle situation.

Looking at the victory in the past few days, the haze that had been covered by the almost entire Wuzhangyuan was finally wiped out, and he began to drink some wine every day to relieve fatigue, and a smile on his face was common.

Victory against the outside world is always the best healing medicine. It can bridge internal contradictions and cover up the ruler's occasional mistakes.

Liu Bei showed off in front of Li Su more than once: "I said that victory or defeat is a common thing for military strategists! We have deep roots to control the world. As long as our army is ready, we will win again in the future!"

Li Su also knew this very well, so he didn't go to the front line to command the battle in the city defense in recent days - anyway, defending the city does not require much intelligence, so he just needs to hold on to it. Such a good opportunity to make money, why should people like him join in the fun? Just do a good job of logistics and check for omissions and fill in the gaps.

However, this low-key and decisiveness made some of Li Su's direct confidants, especially those who were worried that Yang Pingguan could not be defended before the war and rushed to help, and felt a little depressed.

It was the day when the siege was about to end again. The setting sun was as bloody as it was gradually sinking. Li Su finished his day's office and was about to leave the office and return to his temporary residence in Mianyang County to rest early. However, at the door of his residence, he was stopped by a visitor.

This visitor was Zhuge Liang, a student who had just arrived in Hanzhong for less than ten days.

When Liu Bei's letter of help from Zhang Fei arrived, Zhang Fei was in Nan'an County, Jianwei, and Zhuge Liang was in Chengdu, and he was a junior in the county magistrate's farming and internal affairs of Shu County.

I heard that Hanzhong was in danger, and Zhuge Liang has been trying to trick the "screw brocade weaving machines" and "hydraulic silk reeling trucks" that Li Su gave him this year, and has been studying the superficial physics and mechanical knowledge that Li Su taught him. He occasionally gained something, and felt that he had improved a new type of military ordnance. So Zhuge Liang begged his brother and brought dozens of guards from Li Suhou's mansion to Hanzhong to present treasures.

Because they were riding horses and were small messengers who didn't have to bring their own food, and the journey was nearly hundreds of miles than Zhang Fei, so Zhuge Liang and his party came much faster than the large army. When Dasan Pass was just abandoned by Lu Su, Zhuge Liang had already entered Nanzheng.

As soon as he met Li Su, Zhuge Liang presented a drawing with a young mind, which was the "Yuanrong Crossbow" improved from the Jizhang Crossbow.

When Li Sugang saw the design drawing of the thing, he was shocked: A Liang... Could it be that I was taken a step apart by me? I have not read the classics and articles of the 12-year-old thirteen years old. I have not read the classics and articles of military arts and government affairs for two years. I have only studied science and engineering for two years? That wouldn't have invented the crossbow in advance at the age of thirteen?

Later, I talked to Zhuge Liang and learned about his ideas. I realized that it was true that when Li Su had pondered the automatic reciprocating shuttle-receiving mechanical structure of the "Flying Shuttle Brocade Weaving Machine" with him, Zhuge Liang accumulated a lot of inspiration and ideas, and then he created a series of crossbows in advance.

After all, the ancients rarely had the opportunity to systematically study physics and machinery. Zhuge Liang was quick to learn things. He was inspired by Li Su and learned basic physics laws. After gaining a understanding of the basic laws of physics, he opened the door to a new world and explored it himself. It was indeed a great idea to concentrate for two years.

After Li Su confiscated the drawings, he just taught him to develop comprehensively - even if he was tired of reading the Four Books and Five Classics, he had basically dabbled in various schools of thought, so he could still look at the political and military tactics. After all, Zhuge Liang has not started learning these two categories yet.

This is also to prevent Zhuge Liang's skill tree from being pointed at by himself.

Zhuge Liang was in high spirits at that time. He didn't wait for the grand praise but only waited for the lessons that allowed him to develop comprehensively. He was a little disappointed, but he still followed the advice.

Because there were only drawings, Li Su asked Nanzheng's military workshop to transfer all the craftsmen who made crossbows and arrows to try to produce new products. When the battle to defend the city of Yangping Pass broke out, the finished products had not yet come out. Even though it has been a bloody battle for many days, it has only been made more than a dozen unqualified semi-finished products. After the craftsmen are familiar with it, the production speed has gradually increased-

The manufacturing cycle of crossbows is still very long. The main reason is that the tendons of the animal as crossbow strings should be repeatedly debugged according to the elastic torsion and shrinkage rate to ensure that the force on the left and right sides of the string is absolutely uniform, so that the arrows shot will not turn to one side at the beginning.

If you are too eager to use it, even if you can use it, the crossbow string will be subjected to uniform force for the time being. After the test of changes in cold, heat, humidity and humidity, the crossbow string will still be scrapped due to the shrinkage rate and you will have to replace it.

Zhuge Liang came today because he heard that the front line had fought for another day, and the peasants in the defenders were also injured and killed, so he couldn't wait to make achievements and persuade his master to take out the Yuanrong Crossbow to fight:

"Sir, I heard that the craftsmen have already made twenty crossbows? Since the fierce battle on the wall is so fierce, why not put these first batch of crossbows into actual combat to help tomorrow?

Although not many, it is worth the speed of hundreds of crossbowmen shooting arrows. The narrow wall is closed and can save the number of crossbowmen standing on the wall. The crossbow arrows do not have the disadvantages of being unstable and difficult to shoot from feathers or far away. If you shoot close to the wall, you can also make up for it."

Zhuge Liang was very eager to explain all the advantages and disadvantages of the crossbow he understood to Li Su. He thought that the reason why Li Su refused to invest was because of his concern for the weaknesses of weapons, so he wanted to teach him to play to his strengths and avoid his weaknesses.

In order to continuously load, the continuous crossbow shoots one and falls one like a magazine, so there is no feather to provide flight balance and it is easy to roll and float around. Other crossbows have lethality at 200 steps, while the power of the continuous crossbow is greatly reduced by fifty steps. To ensure the lethality and accuracy at the same time, it must be closer to more than thirty steps.

Therefore, when this thing is in the field, it will have to retreat after shooting like a storm. However, the overall mechanism of the crossbow machine and arrow cassette is heavy, and it is not convenient to retreat after a field battle. However, all this can be perfectly avoided in occasions such as city defense.

Li Su finished listening patiently, and then continued to explain to Zhuge Liang more patiently: "Don't worry, it's not that you don't understand your ingenuity. I have already figured out when and where this kind of crossbow can exert its power in the past few days.

The reason why they didn't take it out is that the number of more than a dozen units is too small. Secondly, if this thing is taken out, the Xiliang army, who has been working on the key points, will be completely desperate and realize that Yangping Pass will never be able to take it down again - so how can we wait until General Gan Ning encircles reinforcements?

Whether it is Jia Xu, Dong Yue, Fan Chou, they destroyed so many facilities in Sanguan County and Hechi County along the way, causing us to suffer so much damage to the clean-up supplies, so we cannot let them run away in vain. If this thing doesn't come out, it will be because once it is born, the first battle will be large enough, which will catch the enemy off guard against injury.

A Liang, have you ever caught a fish? If not, practice with your teacher when you go back this time - you have to wait until you pick the fish in a net to hold the fish body before you can pull the hook to death. Before that, you have to patiently snatch the fish."

——

PS: Let me give you a little more about the plan for subsequent updates. If nothing unexpected happens, it will be recommended on the 27th. The 6+7 update I promised has been added five times, and there are still eight times left. So the eight days from the 25th to New Year's Day are all tens of thousands of words a day.
Chapter completed!