The Three Kingdoms began with island farming

Chapter 605 Mobile Fortress
In Liu Fan's army, Wu Yi and Yan Yan watched Zhang Ren fiddling with the special crossbow brought from Da Qi on the elephant soldier, their eyes full of amazement.

The huge war elephant clad in iron armor swung its trunk and let out a low roar, causing the ground to tremble slightly.

"Heber, this crossbow is really powerful. Although it is much larger than an ordinary crossbow, its range has increased by nearly twice."

Wu Yi took two steps closer, staring at the special crossbow in Zhang Ren's hand that was glowing with a cold light, and said to Yan Yan.

Yan Yan stroked his beard and exclaimed in amazement: "The craftsmen of Da Qi are really amazing. The range is almost comparable to that of a small crossbow. This thing can actually be operated by one person?"

Zhang Ren did not even raise his head, and skillfully adjusted the slot and calibration knob of the crossbow, and said with a smile: "It's not that simple."

"This special crossbow was specially designed for elephant soldiers by the master craftsmen of the Mohist and Gongshu schools who were invited from Da Qi at great expense."

"Although it looks like one person can operate it, in fact, the crossbow is stuck to the elephant using a mechanism, and the elephant's muscle power can be used to pull the crossbow. Otherwise, one person alone cannot pull this thing."

Upon hearing this, Wu Yi could not help but sigh: "Zi Bu, you are indeed a genius in the army. We all thought that elephant soldiers were suitable for charging, but we never thought of using their power to turn them into mobile fire points."

As an expert in commanding elephant soldiers, Sindhu had always used elephant soldiers only for charging on the battlefield.

The elephants were organized to charge in dense formations, using their weight and impact to crush infantry phalanxes and disperse cavalry. After all, their size and weight, as well as their thick skin and flesh, made them perfect.

However, there are also major flaws in using elephant soldiers in this way.

If the other party is unprepared, it will be fine, and the effect will be excellent. But once the other party is prepared and takes some targeted measures, it will be troublesome.

Although elephants are docile by nature, they are not as organized as war horses, and they are timid and easily irritated by noise and fire. Once targeted by the enemy, they are likely to recoil at their own formation.

Other training and logistical costs are nothing compared to the three kings today.

This shortcoming alone is enough to be fatal.

However, Zhang Ren solved this problem in a different way by directly using the elephant soldiers as long-range firepower points.

As long as they don't engage in close combat, it won't be easy for the enemy to deal with the elephants. Noise, strong light, and fire attacks won't be very effective when the distance is far and the enemy's own soldiers are entangled.

What's more, we only need to use elephants as chariots, and there is no need for head-on charge. Some difficult training and command are not necessary at all. We only need to control the movement. It is not impossible to block the hearing and vision for part of the time.

Although they look similar to chariots, elephants are more flexible than chariots and can adapt to the complex terrain such as jungles, hills, rivers, etc. around Sindhu.

Moreover, the deterrence, survivability, impact and sustainable combat capabilities are much stronger.

When the Persian Empire and Alexander's army encountered elephant soldiers for the first time on the Indian battlefield, the chariot soldiers were directly crushed by the elephant soldiers and suffered heavy losses.

The countries in Sindhu and the southeast that had elephant soldiers almost crushed the small countries that relied on chariots in jungle warfare.

Overall, elephant soldiers are the "strategic-level troops" on complex battlefields, while chariot soldiers are the "mobile main force" on plains.

Zhang Ren smiled faintly upon hearing this: "Most of my skills are in archery. And the elephant soldiers themselves have the ability to be equipped with archers and slingers."

Zhang Ren's talent of charging the arrow can greatly increase the range of the arrow, but it takes a certain amount of time to charge, and the soldiers cannot move during the charging period.

This talent was not very effective in a direct battle between two armies. After all, it sacrificed firing rate in exchange for range, and it could not move. Even with a chariot, it was easy for the enemy to rush in.

It is not necessary in an advantageous situation, and has great flaws in a disadvantageous situation. It is not very effective in a situation where the two sides are evenly matched. It is only effective when defending a city or ambushing, and you can give the opponent a severe blow right away.

However, after learning about the characteristics of elephant soldiers and thinking about the current bow and crossbow technology of the Great Qi, Zhang Ren had a new idea.

The main reason why his talent had mediocre effects before was that although the range increased, the accuracy and lethality did not increase accordingly, and the firing rate was also reduced.

But what if the basic range is doubled?

As long as the range is long enough, so long that the enemy cannot touch you when your bow and arrow can cause enough damage, then it is possible to play with it.

He couldn't do this before, because even if the range was increased and his arrows could cause effective damage, the enemy could barely reach him with their arrows.

However, with the new powerful crossbow, this situation has undergone a qualitative change.

The presence of elephant soldiers, who are in a commanding position, provide a boost to their range and field of vision. Combined with their own strong defense and sustained combat capability, they are not afraid even if the enemy suddenly attacks.

It is simply the most suitable choice.

"Actually, I wanted to build a batch of them using chariots." Zhang Ren sighed.

"But the terrain here makes it inconvenient to use chariots. Most of the time, they can't move. Moreover, chariots are not as tall as elephants, so their close combat capabilities are also a problem."

"The appearance of elephant soldiers just solved this problem. Unfortunately, there are too few of them, only 3,000."

Wu Yi's mouth twitched slightly when he heard this.

"Three thousand elephant soldiers is already a lot!"

As the top general under Liu Fan, although Wu Yi's strength is not very strong, he has rich combat experience.

Having fought in the southeast and Sindhu frontlines for a long time, he had also experienced the power of elephant soldiers.

With just a cursory thought, he realized what these three thousand elephant soldiers meant on the battlefield.

This means that when the two armies engage in close combat, the enemy will be shot at from behind by these three thousand elephant soldiers without any pressure, and the enemy will not be able to fight back.

If the enemy rushed over, the three thousand elephant soldiers were at least five hundred steps away. How much would it cost for the enemy to get to them? Besides, these three thousand elephant soldiers were not incapable of retreating.

Even if they caught up, the three thousand elephant soldiers, who were two meters tall and fully armored, were like a mobile tower fortress. The opponent would have to pay a huge price to win if they fought.

Although he had not experienced the test of actual combat, Wu Yi had already anticipated the pain that the enemy would feel when they "couldn't stop".

After all, the range of this group of elephant soldiers is really too far, and they have huge operating space and tolerance, so there is no need to worry about coordination issues at all.

The tactics he envisioned were not difficult to adopt in actual combat, as long as the elephant soldiers led by Zhang Ren could reach the target and could be commanded to retreat.

(End of this chapter)