Diqin Designer

Chapter 471 The Qin Army's Mysterious Weapons

Xiong Xin said, "Quickly summon General Douyang to the palace!"

Before long, several generals, their faces covered in sweat and dust, their armor filthy and disheveled, entered the hall and bowed to Xiong Xin: "Douyang (Masui) greets Your Majesty!"

These were the noble generals from the six kingdoms whom Qu Tongrang had chosen to either evacuate or stay behind; they were still in front of Zhaoyue when they evacuated.

"Generals, please rise!" Xiong Xin didn't beat around the bush. After the men stood up, he quickly asked, "You said you have urgent military intelligence. Has something happened in the north?"

The ministers in the hall stared intently at the group, worried that they might reveal the "other reason" they didn't want to hear.

But what you fear most is what will happen, for Dou Yang said in a heavy voice, "Your Majesty, the Qin people have arrived!"

Just eight words made the palace seem as if the coldest wind had swept through it, leaving it eerily quiet and frigid. After a while, someone stood up, pointing at Dou Yang and the others in a fit of anger, and roared in disbelief: "This is impossible! You must have conspired to fabricate lies to deceive us!"

It's no wonder this person lost his composure; they simply didn't want to accept the arrival of the Qin people. They knew all too well how terrifying the Qin people were, and if they were to arrive, they would be utterly unable to withstand them. The scenes of being defeated by the Qin people and reduced to homeless dogs that they had experienced before would be repeated on their lives.

They all fled from the Central Plains and arrived on this island, but the Qin people still wouldn't let them go, insisting on completely annihilating them before they would stop.
Although the others in the hall were also unwilling to accept the news that the Qin people had arrived, they did not break down in their emotions like this man. One of them asked, "What exactly happened? Is it possible that it is indeed the Qin people?"

Dou Yang began to recount: "Actually, I don't know what happened either. I was resting in my room when suddenly there was thunder coming from the north."

The people inside the hall were completely bewildered. Thunder wasn't unusual, was it? What did it have to do with the arrival of the Qin people?

Dou Yang then said, "The thunder was very strange. It wasn't that there was a clap of thunder every now and then, but that it was continuous, and even several claps sounded at the same time, as if there were large areas of thunder rumbling."

"At first, I felt something was strange, but I didn't pay attention to it, thinking it was just ordinary thunder. But after a while, the thunder actually rang out nearby, not far from me in the village, and there were screams. I immediately realized something was wrong and quickly went outside."

"Then I saw something flying in from the north, attacking the water fortress. Wherever it landed, flames would erupt and make a thunderous sound. Nothing could withstand that attack. I saw with my own eyes the boats in the fortress being hit and smashed to pieces, along with the people inside. I saw the arrow towers that had been painstakingly built collapse in the flames..."

The people in the hall looked at each other, their expressions heavy and bewildered. According to Dou Yang, they had no idea what kind of attack the water village had suffered.

It sounds very mysterious, beyond their understanding and imagination. What does it mean that "there will be a burst of fire and a sound like thunder"? What does it mean that "the people and the boat will be smashed together"?
Dou Yang continued, "We haven't even seen the enemy's face, so we don't know what exactly is attacking the village."

This is even more mysterious. They didn't even know who the enemy was, yet they were beaten up? Why not say that the gods were angry and sent down divine lightning to attack the village?
Dou Yang said, "The village was in chaos under that unknown attack. I immediately went to find the general (Qu Tong), who was also outside at that time. The attack came from the north, and to avoid it, we had to hide where it couldn't land. We hid with the general in a house that hadn't been attacked yet."

"The general opened the window of the house, and we saw ships on the northern sea. Those ships were still far away from the village. At that distance, even if there were powerful crossbows on the ships, they would not be able to shoot at the village. Moreover, if they were using powerful crossbows, there would be crossbow bolts left behind, but we did not see any crossbow bolts at all."

They didn't use a powerful crossbow; they attacked the village from an extremely long distance. What kind of weapon did they use?
"Seeing those ships on the sea and hearing that thunderous roar, I realized that the thunder I heard while resting was also caused by these ships, but I was not aware of it at the time."

Who would have thought that the thunder was the sound of the enemy using weapons? And even if we had discovered it was the sound of enemy weapons, what could we have done?

That weapon had a longer attack range than bows and crossbows, and could strike them from an extremely long distance. Even if they knew about it, they couldn't deal with it. They had no way to counter it and could only passively be attacked by the enemy.

At this moment, someone asked, "Could it be a catapult?"

The moment the question was uttered, the person who asked it knew he had made a mistake: firstly, Jing did not have such a long attack range; secondly, if it were Jing, there would be stones left behind after the attack, which Dou Yang and the others could not possibly have missed.

The "Jing" was a relatively simple catapult, which appeared as early as the Spring and Autumn Period and was used on the battlefield. It is said that when Li Xin led his army to attack Chu, the Chu army prepared a large number of catapults and launched them when the Qin army crossed the river, causing the Qin army to be defeated. The First Emperor had no choice but to ask Wang Jian to come out of seclusion and destroy Chu.

Dou Yang shook his head and said, "It's not a banner. Its power far surpasses that of a banner. A watchtower will collapse immediately if it's hit just once. Inside the house, the general ordered us to evacuate and report what happened in the village to the king!"

One of them asked, "Why didn't the general himself retreat with you all?"

Dou Yang was silent for a moment, then said, "The General said he has fled too many times and doesn't want to flee anymore!"

These words silenced everyone in the hall. They had mixed feelings about Qu Tong's choice and didn't know how to judge it.

After a brief silence, another person asked, "You only saw the ships, but you didn't even see what attacked the village. How did you know that it was the Qin people who came?"

In response to this question, Dou Yang simply asked in return, "If it weren't for the Qin people arriving, what kind of enemy do you, Your Majesty and the other gentlemen, think it would be?"

The most obvious evidence is that unknown weapon, which could not possibly have been made by any other country except the Qin people: Could it be that the northern barbarians and the southern barbarians also possessed such skills?
Impossible, absolutely impossible. The northern barbarians and the southern barbarians are not even as good as them. It could only have been built by the Qin people. Moreover, those ships came from the north, and Qin is located in the north!

Xiong Xin and his ministers were heavy-hearted. Dou Yang must not have fabricated lies to deceive them; the Qin people had indeed come to this island!
Xiong Xin's gaze swept over everyone in the hall, and he saw that everyone's expression was heavy and serious, completely unlike the leisurely and bored atmosphere they had when they were chatting just now.

Now they have something to do, and it's something serious and important, so they won't be bored anymore. But if they could, they would definitely choose to stay bored.

Xiong Xin said solemnly, "The Qin people have arrived. Do any of you gentlemen have a good plan to drive them away? I hope you will do your utmost to expel the Qin people, otherwise we will be in grave danger!"

They are now like stray dogs on a ship, and they must try their best to find a way to make the Qin people retreat. However, it is really difficult for them to come up with a good way to make the Qin people retreat. If they really had a way to drive back the Qin people, they wouldn't be here now.

After a while, one of them asked Dou Yang and the others, "The generals said that the Qin people came from the northern sea by boat. Did you see how many ships there were?"

Dou Yang honestly replied, "From what we observed, there were about twenty ships, but the Qin people may have hidden ships behind them, so this number may not be accurate. These ships are not only large, but their style also seems to be different from the Qin ships we know of before."

The man then asked, "How are they different?"

Dou Yang said, "When we left, the Qin ships were far away from us, so we couldn't see their exact appearance. We only saw a little bit..." After listening to Dou Yang's description, the man said, "No wonder the Qin people didn't come to pursue us before. They were building these new warships and setting up their new weapons on them."

Hearing this, the mood of everyone in the hall became even heavier. It turned out that the Qin people had not pursued them before, and had let them escape overseas, because they were making preparations. Now that they were pursuing them, it meant that the Qin people were ready and confident that they could wipe them out.

The man then comforted everyone, saying, "Your Majesty and all of you need not worry too much. Things may not have reached a point where we cannot handle them."

Everyone looked at this man, who continued his analysis: "The Qin people only brought about twenty ships. Since they had to carry both grain and military equipment, the number of soldiers they carried could not be many. Even if each ship carried two hundred men, it would only amount to about four thousand men, and this number would be less than that."

Indeed, if the Qin people had only sent these twenty-odd ships, they might not have been so afraid. With only twenty-odd ships, the Qin people couldn't possibly have many soldiers. With the forces they could muster, they might be able to clash with the Qin people. The only thing to worry about was the unknown weapons the Qin people possessed.

The man continued, "The Qin army that has come this time is not large. Their primary objective is certainly not to engage us in direct combat, but rather to seize the water fortress and hold it, using it as a base to await more Qin troops. This is a Qin army that has come to scout ahead!"

The others understood as well; this Qin army would not attack them proactively, and would most likely hold their position after occupying the water fortress. They should be safe for now.

Of course, they are safe for now, but a greater crisis is yet to come. Once the Qin army establishes a stronghold on the island and more Qin troops arrive, they will be in danger.

This person also mentioned this point: "For now, we are safe, but we cannot be complacent. We still need to find a way to drive these Qin soldiers back, otherwise, when more Qin soldiers arrive, we will be in real danger!"

"Now is the best time to defeat the Qin army. The Qin army is not large, but we are a barbarian army, several times larger than the Qin army. We have the advantage in strength and may be able to fight the Qin army."

Upon hearing this, Dou Yang hesitated for a moment before speaking: "The barbarians are not up to the task and may not be able to fight the Qin people. The Qin people's weapons are incredibly powerful and make a thunderous sound, which makes the barbarians think that the gods are angry. When the Qin people attacked the water fortress, many barbarians fled."

This wasn't a problem with the barbarians; if it were ordinary soldiers from the six states encountering such weapons on the battlefield, they probably wouldn't dare to fight the Qin army.

However, the barbarian soldiers were of poor quality. The soldiers they had brought with them when they fled to the island were no match for the Qin army, and the atmosphere in the hall became heavy and oppressive again.

Just then, the guard who had entered the hall earlier to report entered the hall again. Upon seeing him enter, Xiong Xin and the others felt a chill in their hearts, and their eyes all fell on the guard: What is it this time?
After bowing to Xiong Xin, the guard said, "Your Majesty, the commander of Zhaoyue is outside requesting an audience, saying he has urgent military information to report!"

Another urgent military situation? What important news has been brought back this time?
Xiong Xin said, "Summon Zhao Yue, the captain of the army, to the palace!"

Zhao Yue, covered in dust and dirt, entered the main hall with several soldiers. He was breathing rapidly, clearly having arrived in a hurry and not yet having calmed his breathing.

Zhao Yue noticed that Dou Yang and the others were already inside the hall, knowing that they had retreated earlier than him and returned to the main camp to report the military situation.

After calming his breathing slightly, Zhao Yue bowed to Xiong Xin and said, "Greetings, Your Majesty!"

Xiong Xin said, "No need for formalities! Captain Zhaoyue said he has an urgent military report to deliver. What is it?"

Zhao Yue said, "Your Majesty, we have returned on the orders of the General to report to Your Majesty and the other officials that the Qin people have arrived and have been confirmed as Qin people!"

Although they had basically concluded that the enemy was Qin, they were still reluctant to accept it after hearing Zhao Yue's confirmation, which extinguished their last remaining hope.

One of them immediately asked, "How did you confirm that you are from Qin?"

Zhao Yue replied, "We saw Qin ships approaching the water fortress with our own eyes. Although they were somewhat different from the Qin naval vessels we had seen before, they were clearly Qin ships, and the soldiers on board were also Qin people, not the Northern Hu or Southern Man!"

When the Qin people arrived, their hearts, which had been hanging in suspense, finally died completely, and they no longer had any hope of survival!
The man who had just spoken to comfort everyone looked at Zhao Yue and asked, "Where is the General?"

Zhao Yue shook his head and said, "To cover our retreat, the General deliberately exposed himself to the Qin people. I don't know how the General is doing now."

The crowd fell silent again. If they had revealed themselves to the Qin people, it was highly likely that the person was already dead, with little chance of survival.

After a moment of silence, the man said, "The General is truly righteous!" He then asked Zhao Yue, "The General willingly exposed himself to cover your retreat. Tell me, what important message does the General want you to send back?"

Zhao Yue recounted: "Under the unknown attack of the Qin people, the entire water fortress was almost destroyed. We and the general hid behind a collapsed arrow tower and were spared. After the Qin people had almost destroyed the water fortress, they stopped their attack. We saw six ships sailing from the north sea from behind the arrow tower."

"What are the Qin people doing sending six ships? Do they want to land?"

Zhao Yue shook his head: "No, the Qin people sent six ships not to land immediately, but to get close to the water fortress and clear out anything that might pose a danger to them."

"We only confirmed that the Qin people were coming because their ships were getting close, and we also saw their mysterious weapons!"

They saw the Qin people's mysterious weapons, which invigorated everyone in the hall and piqued their interest.

This is great news. Only by knowing yourself and your enemy can you win every battle. If you don't even know what the enemy's weapons are, how can you find a way to deal with them and win?

Xiong asked, "What kind of weapon is it?"

Under the watchful eyes of everyone in the hall, Zhao Yue said, "Your Majesty, those are thick pipes!"

Upon hearing Zhao Yue's answer, the crowd fell into deep thought, finding it difficult to comprehend the meaning of the Qin people's mysterious weapon being a series of thick pipes.

(End of this chapter)