Outside the West Mountains.
Piles of stone materials were piled up like mountains. In order to build the city walls, Meton had already placed a huge order with the brick merchants and agreed to deliver it at this time.
However, it was impossible for these merchants and commoners to enter the barracks. To transport them to the valley, they still needed Qin Huaiyu and the other two hundred men.
Qin Huaiyu and the other two took the lead and struggled to pull the cart of bricks into the valley. Although they had the support of the Thousand Catty Arm, the soldiers didn't have to suffer the pain of carrying bricks.
However, the mountain path was difficult to walk on. Meton
Qin Huaiyu and the other two led their own hundred men to transport the piles of bricks and stones outside the barracks into the valley.
"Phew!" Qin Huaiyu and the other two breathed heavily as they pulled the cart of bricks into the valley. They heaved a sigh of relief when they saw Meton standing beside the catapult with nothing to do. Their eyes immediately spat fire.
"Hmph!" The three glared at him and snorted coldly. They turned their heads and went to pull the bricks.
Meton laughed and looked at the catapult in front of him in amazement. The catapults used by the sixteen guards were the most advanced catapults produced by the General Assembly. They were about one zhang tall and were almost entirely made of wood. A long crossbow extended very far.
"This is a catapult. It can throw a hundred catty boulder. Once it hits, it will shatter the bones of people." Xue Rengui introduced.
Meton said excitedly, "Let's try a few."
This kind of huge weapon was not inferior to the huge cannons of the future. Meton was naturally excited.
Immediately, a few hundred men stepped forward and put a hundred catty boulder into the bowl.
"Fire!" Xue Rengui shouted.
Buzz!
Accompanied by the sound of a string being pulled taut, the hundred catty boulder flew out instantly.
The boulder drew an arc and hit a big tree in front of it, instantly destroying it.
"How far is it?" Meton asked.
"Lord Chancellor, a total of 200 steps!" Xue Rengui gestured with his hand and said affirmatively. Soon, a soldier came back to measure the distance. It was almost the same as Xue Rengui's measurement.
Meton waved his hand and said, "Change it to a fifty catty boulder."
Soon, a smaller stone flew out and broke a tree in half, but it didn't break the tree.
"260 steps!" Xue Rengui reported again.
"Change it to a stone that weighs 20 kilograms," Meton said again.
"Hu!" A stone the size of a basket whizzed past and smashed into a tree trunk. Large pieces of leaves and bark fell off.
"Two hundred eighty steps! But its power is too weak. "Xue Rengui shook his head.
Meton frowned and said, "If that's the case, then the best distance is 25kg, which is only 260 steps!!"
Although 260 steps wasn't a short distance, it was still too short. The main purpose of a catapult was to siege a city. If there was a Divine Archer shooting down from above, the range could easily reach 300 meters. Although the arrows couldn't threaten the catapults, the soldiers using the catapults would definitely suffer heavy losses.
"Is Lord Chancellor preparing to replace rocks with gunpowder?" Xue Rengui's eyes flickered with radiance.
He had seen the power of a gunpowder explosion. Once a gunpowder bomb was thrown into the enemy's city wall by a catapult, although it didn't have the impact of a boulder, the power of the explosion would probably make everyone shudder.
Meton nodded and said, "That's right. Therefore, every person in the Firearms Division is the most precious asset. Losing any one of them would be a great loss to the Tang dynasty. Therefore, the location of the catapults must be in a place where the enemy can't attack. "
Generally speaking, when people saw gunpowder, they would think of cannons. The combat effectiveness of cannons in the early days was obviously inferior to the best projectiles in ancient times. Moreover, the cannons in the early days only shot out solid bullets, which didn't have much lethality.
If a catapult was used with gunpowder bombs, the operation would be simple, and the effect would be immediate. It could be said that the power of the cannons in the future was comparable to that of the cannons in the future.
Xue Rengui couldn't help but look at Meton and said, "But even if you throw a stone that weighs 20 kilograms, it will only take 280 steps."
Meton had a flash of inspiration. It occurred to him that in the future, there was a king of catapults, which was the Boomerang.
In the future, the Song Dynasty spent decades to outlast the Jin Dynasty and then fought against the Mongolian cavalry. As a result, under the bombardment of the Boomerang, the strong city of Xiangyang, which had been in a stalemate with the Mongolians for six years, soon fell. Then, under the bombardment of the Boomerang, the city wall could no longer stop the Mongolians, and the whole Song Dynasty collapsed.
Meton picked up a pen and paper and constantly improved the catapult in front of him. Soon, the prototype of the Boomerang in the future slowly appeared under his pen.
"Zhang Mu!" Meton waved his hand to summon Zhang Mu, who was instructing the soldiers of the Right Guard to dig the soil, to come over.
"Young Master, what can I do for you?" Zhang Mu hurried over and said.
Meton handed the blueprint in his hand to Zhang Mu and said, "Give the task of building the city wall to other craftsmen. You go to the Mo Family Village and transport a set of woodworking machinery to the Firearms Division. Make it as soon as possible."
Zhang Mu was Old Zhang's son, so his craftsmanship was naturally not a problem. When he saw Meton's blueprint, he couldn't help but nod. He asked, "How many do you need, Young Master? When do you need them? "
"The more the better! They must be made before the Grand Martial Arts Exhibition, "Meton ordered.
"Yes!" Zhang Mu immediately took the order and left.
"The Grand Martial Arts Exhibition!" Xue Rengui said in surprise.
Meton nodded and said, "The Western Expedition is imminent. His Majesty will naturally hold a Grand Martial Arts Exhibition before the expedition. General Li is going to select the five guards to go to the expedition. At that time, His Majesty will definitely be there in person. That will be the time for our Firearms Division to shine."
Meton turned his eyes to the city wall that was being built in full swing. He spent so much effort not only to test the power of gunpowder, but also to aim at the Grand Martial Arts Exhibition.
"Okay! Continue to test the catapult? "Meton continued.
Xue Rengui couldn't help but be stunned. He said, "Your Excellency, aren't you going to use the new catapult?"
Meton shook his head and said, "The catapult seems to be powerful, but its accuracy is not complimentary. In this way, I'm afraid the effect will be greatly reduced."
Xue Rengui was puzzled and said, "But when the stone flies out, it's not something we can control."
Meton shook his head and said, "We can't control the stone, but we can control the force, direction, and even the landing point of the stone. This is ballistics. It's a very advanced mathematics."
"Mathematics?"
Xue Rengui was dumbfounded. He was good at fighting, but if it was a test, he would have no idea.
Meton suddenly had an idea. He thought of a suitable candidate, Zu Mingjun. When it came to studying ballistics, he was afraid that no one was more suitable than him.
Out of the corner of his eye, he glanced at Qin Huaiyu and the other two who were working hard. A strange smile appeared at the corner of Meton's mouth. He thought to himself that he should also trick Zu Mingjun to come here. Otherwise, how could they say that they were brothers who went through thick and thin together?
Thinking of this, Meton immediately wrote a letter and handed it to Xue Rengui. He said, "Immediately send this letter to Fanyang County at the courier station and give it to Zu Mingjun. Tell him that there is a mathematics that has been passed down for thousands of years that needs to be studied. Ask him if he is interested."
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