My younger brother Zhuge Liang

Chapter 250 You Have Fallen into General Fubo's Trap
The Ge Gongche drawings and technologies that Cao Cao provided to Sun Ce were still very different from Zhuge Liang's original ones.

Leaving aside the performance aspect, the construction speed and difficulty alone are far behind - Cao Cao has not yet figured out the advanced experience of standardized thinking and prefabricated parts assembly.

So even if they learned how to make a kudzu bus, in actual combat, they would first move the army to the vicinity of a city, set up camps to surround it, and then slowly cut down trees and build them. This kind of large-scale equipment would take ten days or half a month to be put into battle. If the distance to cut down trees was far and the wood needed to be transported, it would be even more troublesome.

However, this natural defect of Cao Cao was hastily corrected by Zhou Yu.

On the day when Hua Xin just arrived in Moling to lobby Sun Ce, Zhou Yu, after getting the blueprint, gathered craftsmen in Moling, cut down trees, processed wood, and built it. He also specially unified the sizes of mortise and tenon joints to ensure that the final assembly would be easier.

However, Zhou Yu's reform was not because he was smarter than Cao Cao, but because he had no choice:

He had imagined from the beginning that he was going to attack the empty Guangling. He also knew that after Zhuge Liang's transformation of the Han Canal, the Guangling City was an "island" surrounded by water. Moreover, Guangling had developed commerce, and there were no trees on this "island" for the attackers to cut down.

Therefore, the wood for the siege equipment needed to storm Guangling City had to be prepared and transported from somewhere else in advance, and there was no way to get it locally. Since there was no way to escape, Zhou Yu simply processed the wood in Moling and then transported it here, which was a lucky coincidence.

The scouts and preparations took nearly ten days, and Zhou Yu was busy too, asking the craftsmen to work overtime. From this alone, we can see that Zhou Yu's ability to coordinate war preparations was good, and he knew that long-term tasks should be started in advance.

That is why he decided to assemble the Ge Bus within three or four days after the violent attack.

Before this, Zhou Yu was not idle. After setting up camp and besieging the city, he sent people to destroy the pits and antler barriers in the south of the city. He also organized several tentative attacks to find out the strength of Liu Bei's army's defense.

However, Chen Deng, the defender of Guangling, was very patient. During Zhou Yu's initial exploratory attack, he was too lazy to even show up to boost his own morale or undermine the enemy's morale. He just wanted to let Zhou Yu sink deeper into the quagmire so that he could expose him later.

……

It was not until the third day of Zhou Yu's siege of the southern city of Guangling that the prototype of Ge Gongche had been gradually built up, and those tower-like siege weapons could be vaguely seen from a mile or two away.

Chen Dao, who was in charge of guarding the South Gate, reported the situation to Chen Deng, who then rode his horse to the South City Tower to check it out with his own eyes.

"Ge Gongche? When did Sun the thief learn how to make a Ge Gongche? Could it be that he relied on the bits and pieces of description leaked by the fleeing enemy soldiers when our army was fighting against Yuan Shu's army? But Sun the thief has never received Yuan Shu's fleeing soldiers, and he has never participated in the war to destroy Yuan Shu... Could it be that Cao the thief and Sun the thief exchanged what they had?"

After a little nervousness at first, Chen Deng soon thought of the answer.

It’s not that Chen Deng is so smart, but after excluding all other reasonable doubts, there is no choice but to choose the remaining answer, no matter how unreasonable it seems.

After accepting this fact, Chen Deng was soon relieved. This weapon had been used openly by his own camp for more than two years. So many enemies had seen it up close, and it was inevitable that someone would learn the appearance of it. It had been kept secret for long enough.

Moreover, this thing was invented by the Zhuge brothers. After Chen Deng officially joined Liu last year, he worked with Zhuge Jin for a long time.

Since Chen Deng knew that he would be responsible for the defense of Guangling and hold the easternmost defense zone, the two would often exchange tactical experiences. Chen Deng once specifically asked Zhuge Jin how to defend if they encountered an enemy who had learned to use Ge Gongche to attack the city.

Zhuge Jin didn't even hesitate at the time, and immediately gave some answers with great familiarity. They were nothing more than clever tricks used in later siege technology to deal with equipment such as siege towers.

When Chen Deng saw that Zhou Yu used Ge Gongche, he immediately made preparations in advance and asked the soldiers defending the city to adjust the deployment of catapults and giant crossbows to prepare to give Zhou Yu a surprise.

"Move all the crossbows to the firing range on the side of the horse, and prepare for side-firing! Replace them with iron feather arrows with hooks at the tail, tie up thick hemp ropes, set up the pulley rack, and hang huge stones weighing thousands of pounds! Move the catapults to the front of the horse!"

The series of commands was very complicated and required at least a day and a half of preparation time, but compared to the speed of assembling the Ge Gongche on Zhou Yu's side, it was still fast. It was not until the next day that Zhou Yu finished assembling the Ge Gongche, and Chen Deng had already made arrangements for the backup plan.

……

The next morning, after assembling four Ge buses with amazing defensive capabilities, the Jiangdong Army finally launched a general attack.

The Ge bus that the Zhuge brothers had originally built was made of fine wooden boards. This time, Zhou Yu used many parts made of trees that were roughly flattened into square cross-sections. It was a bit more crude than the original, but similar in appearance.

From the perspective of defense, Zhou Yu's model is more resistant to attack because the wood is thicker in many places. However, in terms of center of gravity ratio and stability, it is obviously inferior.

As the Jiangdong army clamored for attack, ladders and flying ladders, pushed and carried by the cannon fodder soldiers, rapidly approached the city wall; archers also approached the city wall under the cover of rattan shields and long shields, and fired at and suppressed the defenders.

The quality of the archers of the Jiangdong Army is quite good. Although they do not have an advantage in weapons, they have strong skills and a large number of people.

After all, Zhou Yu assembled more than 20,000 siege troops on the front battlefield, while Chen Deng had less than 5,000 people defending the city. The number of bows and crossbows was several times less, and the defenders relied on the geographical advantage and could only shoot at a 50-50 ratio.

After a bloody battle, the slow and clumsy Ge Gongche of the Jiangdong Army finally gradually approached the city wall.

Eighty steps, sixty steps, every few dozen steps forward, there would often be some minor trouble, trembling and swaying, and if the ground was slightly uneven, it would almost lead to danger.

In contrast, although Liu Bei's army's catapults were also throwing stones to block the attack, it was difficult to hit such a moving target, and it was also difficult to reload the catapults. After three or four rounds of missing, the enemy's Ge Gongche was within the minimum range.

The catapult is a weapon with a high trajectory, not a direct-fire weapon like the crossbow. If the enemy gets too close, it will be in a blind spot.

But Chen Deng was on the city wall, watching all these tiny details, but he was not worried at all.

He had been trained by Zhuge Jin to counter these moves, and his understanding of these principles was much deeper than Zhou Yu's. He couldn't help but sneer secretly:
"It seems that using the crossbow as the final trump card against Ge Gongche is really the right choice. The catapult cannot accurately aim at an enemy that is too close, but the crossbow can just shoot straight. I wonder how Ziyu came up with such a wonderful idea." Seeing that the Jiangdong Army's Ge Gongche had approached the city wall and stopped steadily, the soldiers below began to swarm into the car, rushed up along the internal spiral staircase, and finally the planks buckled on the top of the city were heavily lowered. Chen Deng finally gave an order:
"Order the crossbows deployed on both sides of the horse-front to fire hook arrows tied with hemp ropes at the already full Ge Gongche! Aim for the top of the Ge Gongche! The wooden planks there are thin! They can be pierced easily!"

While Chen Deng was giving the order, Zhou Yu, hundreds of steps away, was grinning from ear to ear.

"People say Zhuge Jin is a man of great foresight, but today I have used his own tactics against him! Let Liu Bei's army have a taste of the power of their own invention, the Ge Gongche, in attacking the city! It's really retribution! The first time it was pushed up, it successfully reached the city wall. Is there any siege in the world that could be smoother than this! Chen Wu, Ling Cao, lead the charge! Tell the soldiers to fight with their lives!"

Zhou Yu gave the order with high spirits.

Soon, from his angle, he could clearly see that on the side of the tower without armor protection, rows of Jiangdong soldiers had already rushed up along the spiral staircase inside the tower. The soldiers at the front had already engaged in a fight with the spearmen of Liu Bei's army on the top of the city wall.

At this moment, a sudden change occurred.

With a few "buzzing" sounds, several huge arrows shaped like spears and made of iron suddenly flew out from the protruding parts of the city walls on the left and right sides of the Ge Gongche, which were the lateral battlements of the "horse face". With a "crack", they pierced through the wooden boards and penetrated the upper part of the Ge Gongche. Some of them even pierced through the left wooden board and then got nailed to the right wooden board.

The penetrating power of a three-bow heavy crossbow within dozens of steps is extremely terrifying. The heaviest crossbow in the late Han Dynasty could even use the manpower of seventy people or the pulling force of eight oxen to twist the string. Even a half-foot thick wooden board could not withstand such kinetic energy.

Zhou Yu was frightened by the huge steel arrow even though he was far away, and then he calmed down a little.

"What the hell is Chen Deng doing? Just now he used a catapult in the hope of knocking down Ge Gongche, which is understandable. But now he uses iron arrows to release the power of heavy equipment, so what? It's nothing more than making a hole in Ge Gongche. If he's unlucky and kills someone, then so be it. It's no big deal. What else can you do?"

Zhou Yu calmed down a little, thinking that only a few soldiers were killed or injured. If he was really hit by such a terrifying weapon, he could only blame his bad luck, it was all God's will.

However, he soon discovered that there were some even more peculiar details.

"What are these arrows dragging behind them? Why are there such thick ropes? Ah! Could it be that the defenders are hoping to use giant crossbow arrows to pierce the Ge Gongche, and then have many people drag it sideways to bring the car down?"

Just as Zhou Yu was in doubt and thinking about the defenders' actions, the crossbow soldiers on the city wall had already completed the final step under the command of Chen Deng.

"Put the rope on the arrow onto the pulley next to the wall, and push the heavy stone on the other end of the rope directly down the inside of the wall!"

The guards completed the operation quickly, and with a "bang" they pushed the heavy stone tied to the other end of the rope off the city wall. The rope was dragged down by the stone, and it was completely taut after only a few feet.

The boulder was still one or two feet away from the ground. After the rope was tightened, the iron crossbow arrow that pierced the Ge bus was subjected to a severe lateral pulling force, and the force acting on the point on the roof with the highest torque was the highest. The Ge bus, which was already top-heavy and shaky, was directly pulled sideways.

The weight of the Ge Gongche itself, plus the dozens of fully armed soldiers on the three or four-story stairs, the total weight is more than ten thousand kilograms, which is several times heavier than the big rock that fell from the top of the wall, or even ten times heavier.

But anyone who has built with building blocks knows that adding a horizontal vertical moment to the top of a very high and dangerous building can have a very effective effect.

What's more, the force exerted by this boulder through the pulley and rope is not a static force, but a pre-accelerated impact force.

Let me tell you a truth that everyone who likes Thai massage will understand: It's like you can withstand an 80-pound girl walking around and stepping on your back, but if this 80-pound girl jumps down from the second floor and steps on your back, then no matter how fat you are or how much you can withstand it, it won't help.

With a loud bang, one of the four Ge buses was instantly pulled to the ground by this huge lateral torque. In fact, after the center of gravity of the Ge bus deviated from its base, the rest of the work could be completed by its own weight. The heavier it is, the heavier it will fall.

Dozens of soldiers on the spiral staircase inside the vehicle fell down with the vehicle without any ability to resist and died inside the vehicle.

This scene instantly stunned Zhou Yu.

But Chen Deng on the city wall was still not satisfied.

He was a little angrily scolding, "What's going on? Why didn't the other three fall down? Keep shooting, and tie another thick hemp rope on them! All soldiers, pull the hemp ropes and add strength! If it doesn't work, tighten the ropes and jump off the city! Anyway, you won't die if you hold on to the ropes! Make sure to pull down the other three Ge buses that were hit by arrows!"

After a hasty remedial command, hundreds of guards took up their positions and pulled hard like a tug-of-war, adding extra force, and finally forced the other three shaky Ge buses to collapse.

The Jiangdong Army's vanguard soldiers who were unable to escape in time were also thrown to the ground along with the collapsed tower car and died. Even if they were not killed by the falls, they would have been crushed to death.

Seeing this, Chen Deng finally heaved a sigh of relief, patted the battlement and laughed: "You didn't even understand the essence of Ge Gongche, yet you dare to use it recklessly! You really won't die a good death! If you build this top-heavy thing, who else can it bring down if not you!

Do you think that Tzuyu's repeated instructions that the upper part of the car body should be made of thin wooden boards even if it is less effective in protecting against arrows and that it should be strong enough to bear the weight are aimless?

It is to lower the center of gravity! And if the top is hooked, it can't bear the force. If it is pulled hard by thousands of pounds, the hooked part will break by itself and will not cause the whole car to fall over. For such an unstable car, the roof is still built so solid, it's courting death!"

A group of people who haven't understood the principle of lever, pulley and torque calculation, are still imitating others to build the Ge bus. Isn't this courting death?
While Chen Deng was feeling proud, Zhou Yu in the distance was dumbfounded. He had worked so hard to make a weapon that Cao Cao had copied from Zhuge Brothers, but it was instantly broken. There were more than 100 or 200 soldiers in the four cars who were directly crushed to death. More importantly, the morale of the Jiangdong Army in attacking the city was completely destroyed.

The siege weapons that our side had placed high hopes on were destroyed in an instant. Who could withstand such a blow to morale?

The other siege workers of the Jiangdong Army soon began to cower and fall into confusion. As casualties grew heavier, Zhou Yu had no choice but to grit his teeth and call back his troops.

"How can Chen Deng be so good at defense? Why do I always suffer such a heavy defeat when I attack?" Zhou Yu couldn't help but start to doubt his life.

(End of this chapter)