I am not Yuan Shu

Chapter 261: Trebuchet Attack

On the 16th day of the first lunar month, Duan Xing sent someone to find Yuan Shu and asked him to discuss matters. Yuan Shu thought it was someone sent by the court to urge him, but it turned out not to be the case. It was news of war.

The prime minister of Chen and the prefect of Chenliu County respectively sent news that the armies of Chen and Chenliu County, with the help of the imperial army, defeated the armies of Zhang Hao, prime minister of Liang, and Jiong Fei, the governor of Yuzhou, and won the victory respectively.

The battle report said that the imperial army fought bravely, defeated the rebels with a smaller force, and Liang's prime minister Zhang Hao was beheaded in battle. Jiong Fei first escaped and was then captured alive in Runan County and was about to be taken to Luoyang for trial.

This is certainly good news.

But there was an interesting part that made Duan Ying laugh again and again.

"Before, the two rebel armies were relatively cautious in their actions in Chen State and Chenliu County. They occupied cities, but the two sides rarely engaged in battles, almost in a state of confrontation. For some reason, in the past half month, the rebels have repeatedly taken the initiative to attack. They are a mob and are no match for our army in the wild, so they were defeated.

According to the prisoners captured after the war, we learned that the two rebel armies took the initiative to attack because they received orders from Liu He to attack northwards and cut off our army's food supply in order to force our army to retreat and relieve the siege of Puyang. I wondered why they were so tenacious, it turns out that they were waiting for our army to retreat!"

All the generals burst into laughter, mocking the rebels for overestimating their own capabilities.

He is so useless in field combat, yet he still wants to cut off the food supply?

Is this something you can do?
Now that the two foreign reinforcements were defeated, the Han army of Chen State and Chenliu County began to take the initiative and advanced towards Pei State and Liang State, starting to recover the areas previously occupied by the rebels, and preparing to carry out a wave of liquidation, dragging out and killing all the local people who had close relations with the eunuchs.

They will not let go of such a good opportunity to kill people and make money in a fair and open manner.

After everyone laughed for a while, Duan Ying turned his gaze to Yuan Shu.

"Captain Yuan, how is the construction of the catapult going?"

Yuan Shu bowed.

"General Duan, I have followed your instructions and made every effort to build the trebuchets. Currently, the craftsmen in the camp have built 66 man-powered trebuchets and 13 counterweight trebuchets. The soldiers are also undergoing intensive training. The results are remarkable, but there is one thing that is not quite right."

"Which point?"

"According to the craftsmen, the materials used in the construction here are not of high quality. The trebuchet can be manufactured and used, but it may break down after long-term use and will not be able to be used for a long time."

"This...is not important. As long as there are enough of them, it doesn't matter if they are broken or not. We can rebuild them anyway."

Duan Yu thought for a moment and said slowly, "Captain Yuan, I'll give you two more days. On the 18th of the first lunar month, the entire army will attack the city. No matter how many trebuchets we have, use them all and try to completely capture the city within two days!"

"Here!"

Yuan Shu took the order.

Duan Ying nodded, then looked at the generals and scanned the area.

"Our army has been gathering strength for ten days. The soldiers have eaten and drunk enough and are full of energy. When we attack the city, we must fight with all our might. If there are those who are afraid to fight, military law will not show mercy! In addition, I warn all the soldiers that after the city is captured, those who throw down their weapons and surrender will not be killed, and those who are unarmed will not be killed. If there are those who disobey, military law will not show mercy!"

"Here!"

All the generals obeyed the order.

This time, they seemed much calmer.

Because just as Yuan Shu had promised before, although the siege had lasted for more than half a month, the Han army had suffered very little losses. They had been recuperating most of the time, and the soldiers were not tense. In addition, with the use of powerful weapons such as catapults, there was probably no need to massacre the city.

Moreover, Yuan Shu often builds up his reputation in the wounded soldiers' camp, and now he enjoys a great reputation throughout the army. The soldiers are spontaneously spreading Yuan Shu's benevolence, and it is unlikely that they will violate the previous agreement and massacre the city.

As long as Yuan Shu keeps his word and gives sufficient compensation to the recruits in Sanhe, there is no need to worry about them causing trouble later.

Anyway, right now, it's a situation where everyone is happy.

Everything will be settled in two days.

Two days later, on the 18th day of the first lunar month in the second year of Zhengshi, Duan Xing personally led his troops to the city. At the same time, Yuan Shu commanded the soldiers to place the 78 human-powered catapults and 15 counterweight catapults that had been successfully made at the designated shooting positions under the city.

Because enough manpower and material resources were invested, and the assistance provided by Yuan Shu was very successful, the Han army successfully produced 93 catapults, prepared a large number of stone bombs, and urgently trained a large number of soldiers who could use catapults.

Yuan Shu commanded them to complete the previously planned tactical settings and brought them to the battlefield, allowing the catapults that had not appeared on the battlefield for a long time to reappear on the real battlefield and announcing the official return of the catapults with a hearty victory.

Although this seems a bit regrettable to Yuan Shu.

But no matter how regretful he was, it would not stop him from giving the order. The battlefield was right in front of him, and the opportunity to end the war was right in front of him. How could he stand still?

Yuan Shu drew his sword and gave the order decisively. "Reload!"

According to the results of the intensive training during this period, a trebuchet is a combat team. A human-powered trebuchet combat team is arranged to have thirty people for combat, and a counterweight trebuchet combat team is arranged to have fifteen people for combat. Each position has a clear division of labor.

Those who are responsible for loading, calibration, confirming that the gun can be fired, and those who are the strongest and responsible for pulling the rope to fire, each have their own duties.

As the commander, Yuan Shu gave the order and the soldiers in charge of loading immediately began loading.

The operation of the human-powered catapult is relatively simple. They deftly put the stone bullets weighing about 50 to 60 kilograms into the net bag and prepared to launch them.

Twenty strong soldiers came to one end of the rope together, each holding a rope, ready to pull.

The counterweight trebuchet does not require too many people to operate, but it requires relatively higher technical skills and is difficult to train familiar soldiers in a short period of time.

So Yuan Shu even arranged some craftsmen into the combat team, making them responsible for calibration and final launch.

Finally, the command to launch is given.

Twenty soldiers worked together, roared loudly, and pulled the ropes in their hands with all their might. The muzzle of the gun was pulled up hard, and the stone bullet in the holster was thrown out.

The craftsmen also followed the instructions and operated the trigger mechanism, causing the counterweight to fall with a bang and the stone bullet to fly out smoothly.

The launching process was different, but the result was the same. The heavy stone bullet flew in the air, drew a beautiful arc, and rushed towards the nearby Puyang County.

Before that, when Yuan Shu commanded the catapult troops to place and prepare for shooting, this series of operations made the rebel soldiers on the city wall feel a little strange. The officers also felt very strange and didn't know what they were doing, so they reported the matter to Liu He and others who were in a safe area.

Liu He and others were also surprised to learn that the Han army was operating a siege weapon that they had never seen before.

Didn't the Han army use earth walls to shoot at the city walls before? Why did they use new weapons again?
Liu He then arranged for Wen Mu to climb up the city wall to see what was going on.

Wen Mu didn't want to go because he felt it was dangerous on the city wall, but since Liu He had called him, he felt embarrassed to not go. So he put on his helmet and armor, turning himself into an "Iron Man", and then climbed to the top of the city wall to look at the situation of the Han army from afar.

He also saw the catapults, and his timing of climbing the city wall was very coincidental, just in time for Yuan Shu to order the loading of stone shells and prepare for firing.

The series of actions of the catapult troops made Wen Mu on the city wall somewhat confused.

When he saw the larger stones next to those large machines, a question suddenly popped up in his mind: "Are they going to throw these stones into the city?"

Soon, his doubts became a reality. Those large machines suddenly vibrated, and the long large spoon suddenly rose up, throwing out those huge stones. The huge stones flew in the air, drawing beautiful arcs, and rushed straight towards where he was.

At first it looked like just a small black stone, and then the stone quickly grew bigger and bigger.

It's not getting bigger, it's just getting closer.

Wen Mu, who had not studied seriously, could not figure out how they did it, how they could make such a big stone fly so high and hit the city wall.

Dozens of huge stones fell from the sky, smashing heavily on the city towers and walls, and even flew over the walls and smashed into the city.

The soldiers on the city wall were caught off guard by the sudden attack of flying stones.

Some people were unlucky and were smashed to death on the top of the city wall, turning into a pool of meat paste.

Some people were shaken off the city wall by the aftermath of the earthquake and fell to their deaths.

Some people trampled others to death in their panic, or were knocked to the ground and trampled to death by others.

Some people hurriedly ran down the city wall, trying to save their lives, but they missed a step and rolled down the city wall and died.

Some officers also shouted at the soldiers not to panic and to find shelter, but all this was of little use because soon the second wave of stone-throwing attacks arrived.

After a new round of reloading was completed, dozens of huge flying stones drew a deadly arc and fell on the city walls, towers, and in the city.

A loud and noisy sound came from the city, and the defenders on the city wall were shaken violently. Facing the flying stones, they felt extremely frightened and could hardly stand on the city wall.

Of course, there are also some people who are physically unable to gain a foothold on the city wall.

For example, Wenmu.

(End of this chapter)