The Three Kingdoms: Home Travel

Chapter 113 Jiang Zhe devises a plan to force Gongsun!

A trebuchet was an ancient military vehicle used to launch stones at the enemy. It had a large wooden platform with four wheels underneath, a single log in the center, and a shovel at the front to hold stones. People would pull it and throw the stones. Because of the deafening sound of the stones, it was also called a thunderbolt or lightning trebuchet.

This chariot was first invented as early as the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods.

Lord Xinling of Wei had a secret book called "The Secret Records of Duke Lu," which contained various siege weapons and war machines. Unfortunately, when the powerful Qin unified the six states, these were scattered among the people and their whereabouts are unknown.

Regardless of whether the "Secret Records of Duke Lu" was destroyed in the war, there is still a book that records most of the information in the "Secret Records of Duke Lu", namely the "Hundred Strategies for Battle" in the Earth Volume of the "Taiping Heavenly Book".

"The Hundred Strategies for War" focuses on conquering cities and territories, military strategy, tactics and formations, and includes various ingenious plans and powerful siege weapons. This book has now fallen into Guo Jia's hands.

After obtaining the book, Guo Jia studied it diligently every night, but only out of interest. He only glanced at the parts about the equipment that he was not interested in. Otherwise, when Jiang Zhe mentioned it, Guo Jia was just as clueless as Xi Zhicai.

The catapult, sometimes called the ancient "nuclear bomb," consists of a horizontal axle mounted on a wooden frame. A long, flexible wooden lever is threaded through the middle of the axle, with a leather bag attached to one end of the lever and dozens to hundreds of ropes attached to the other end. On a command, all the ropes are pulled together to launch the giant stone using the lever principle and centrifugal force.

Of course, what is thrown does not necessarily have to be a stone; it can also be a fireball or other objects.

During the Battle of Guandu, Cao Cao's army used catapults to destroy Yuan Shao's watchtowers. Because the catapults made a sound as they flew through the air, they were called "thunderbolt carts" at the time.

Of course, this refers to the finished catapult, which is incomparable to the fifteen prototypes Jiang Zhe currently possesses.

More than ten days later, Gongsun Zan suddenly saw more than ten very strange things on a high slope in the distance. He and his soldiers watched them from afar inside the camp gate, both surprised and curious.

These dozen or so catapults underwent a joint "review" by Jiang Zhe and Guo Jia, and they were indeed usable, but their appearance...

In short, none of the fifteen catapults were alike. Many parts were reinforced with wooden planks, making them extremely bulky and patched up one after another, a truly pitiful sight.

"Ahem!" Jiang Zhe coughed slightly, looking a little embarrassed, and said to Cao Cao beside him, "Mengde, this is the catapult I was talking about. We'll use it to force Gongsun Zan out!"

"Oh?" Cao Cao didn't care how miserable the fifteen catapults looked. He kept marveling at them and looked them over with great interest.

"How...how do I use this?" Cao Cao asked, both surprised and doubtful.

Jiang Zhe, positioned on a high slope, estimated the distance between the slope and Gongsun Zan's camp, then used a small twig to mark the ground with his name.

"Formula... the square of the height plus the square of the length equals... wait, something seems wrong..." Jiang Zhe ignored everyone else and carefully worked out the formula on his own.

Cao Cao scratched his forehead with his finger, glanced at the stunned crowd, coughed, and said, "Shouyi, what are you doing?"

"Don't rush!" Jiang Zhe said, "Just one more moment, the lever is about thirteen meters long... the weight of the stone is x, and the distance to Gongsun Zan is y..."

Guo Jia glanced speechlessly at Jiang Zhe, then looked at Gongsun Zan's camp in the distance, and said to Li Dian beside him, "Move it to this position, and have the soldiers place the projectiles on it. They can only release it on my command! Let's test it out first!"

"Yes, sir!" Li Dian bowed and accepted the order, then turned and shouted, "All soldiers, listen to my command! Pull!"

Using the lever principle, with an extremely heavy boulder placed at the front, the launching port for projectiles was naturally positioned high up. Dozens of Cao Cao's soldiers exerted all their strength, pulling down the thick rope tied to the launching port. Immediately, two Cao Cao soldiers, panting heavily, placed a boulder as large as a millstone at the launching port. Cao Cao's eyelids twitched, and he thought to himself, "Are we going to use this stone to smash it?"

Guo Jia nodded. "One, two, release!"

Dozens of Cao soldiers suddenly released their grip, and with a loud bang, the other end, laden with heavy stones, crashed heavily to the ground, raising a cloud of dust.

"Pah! Pah!" Cao Cao, his face covered in dust, glanced at the catapult in astonishment and said, "Then...the stones, no, the projectiles, where are they?"

"My lord, please look!" Guo Jia pointed in a direction.

Cao Cao followed Guo Jia's gaze and gasped. The millstone-sized boulder had become a black dot, flying straight toward Gongsun Zan's camp.

Meanwhile, Gongsun Zan's side also witnessed this scene. Gongsun Zan was so shocked that he stood there dumbfounded, letting the boulder fly straight towards him.

"My lord, be careful!" Upon seeing the critical situation, the two guards quickly pushed Gongsun Zan aside.

"Bang!" A boulder the size of a millstone slammed into the two guards, sending dust flying and carrying a faint smell of blood.

Gongsun Zan then came to his senses, brushed the dust away from his face, glanced at where he had just been, and his heart suddenly raced.

The two guards collapsed to the ground, the boulder pressing down on them. One guard had been struck on the head, his skull splitting open with a mixture of blood and white matter slowly oozing out; he was clearly beyond dead. The other guard had been struck in the body, his abdomen and below smashed by the boulder, his flesh mangled and his intestines spilling out; he was also clearly not long for this world…

"My lord..." the guard struggled to say, "I have suffered so much... I beg you, my lord, to give me a... a quick and painless end!" His tone was filled with sorrow.

Gongsun Zan's eyes were slightly red. He gently lowered his head and sighed, saying, "Go in peace. I will take good care of your family..."

"Thank you... my lord!" The guard smiled slightly.

Gongsun Zan slowly rose, glanced at Yan Gang, who understood and stepped forward, slowly drawing his waist knife...

A muffled thud followed, and then complete silence.

"…Impressive!" Cao Cao exclaimed in astonishment, his face filled with delight. He stepped forward and stroked the catapult, marveling, "Such a siege weapon exists in the world! Fengxiao, I bow to Cao Mengde!"

"Not at all!" Guo Jia laughed and jumped aside, not daring to accept Cao Cao's bow. He glanced at Jiang Zhe, who was staring at him without saying a word, and said with a grin, "If Shouyi hadn't brought it up, I wouldn't have thought of it..."

"Yes, yes, yes!" Cao Cao nodded repeatedly, then turned around and suddenly saw Jiang Zhe standing there with an unfriendly expression. He hesitated and asked, "Shouyi, what happened?"

"..." I painstakingly awakened the knowledge that had been dormant within me for years, and you... Jiang Zhe's expression was so mournful...

Back in high school, Jiang Zhe scored over 90 in Physics and Math! Ah, it's so nice to sit next to the class monitor, who has such excellent grades…

Jiang Zhe snatched the wine flask from Guo Jia's ingratiating hand, took a sip, and said, "This catapult isn't quite perfect yet, Mengde, look!" Jiang Zhe pointed to the reinforced parts on the catapult, frowning, and said, "Although it's incredibly powerful, it's unfortunately short-lived and wears out very quickly!"

Cao Cao nodded, his brow furrowing. Having such a powerful siege weapon, yet being told it wouldn't last long, filled Cao Cao with a complex mix of emotions…

Suddenly, Xi Zhicai beside him chuckled and said, "Making it sturdy is easy. Why not just wrap these crucial parts with sheet metal? Wouldn't that make it sturdy?"

Jiang Zhe shrugged. Cao Cao and Guo Jia exchanged a glance, then exclaimed with delight, "Zhi Cai's intentions are exactly what I'm looking for!"

Satisfied with the sight of these catapults, Cao Cao suddenly remembered something and said to his advisors, "These things are called catapults?"

Jiang Zhe shrugged and said, "Yeah!"

Guo Jia frowned slightly and hesitated before saying, "Although the book contains the method of manufacturing, it unfortunately lacks a name. How about calling it the Throwing Chariot?"

"No, no!" Cao Cao stepped forward, lowered his head in thought, then looked up again and said, "I see that when this chariot fires its projectiles, the booming sound is like thunder in the sky. How about replacing it with a trebuchet? Shouyi, Fengxiao, Zhicai, what do you think?"

"So that's how the name 'Thunderbolt Cart' came about?" Jiang Zhe glanced strangely at the fifteen catapults—no, 'Thunderbolt Carts'—and gave an embarrassed smile. He had originally thought the carts were called Thunderbolt Carts because of their power, but it turned out to be because of the noise...

"Thunderbolt chariot! Hey, thunderbolt chariot!" Cao Cao was overjoyed, and his three generals, Cao Chun, Li Dian, and Yue Jin, also smiled. With such a powerful weapon, why should they fear Gongsun Zan's iron wall?

"Cao Mengde!" A loud shout suddenly came from Gongsun Zan's camp in the distance. "I have no grudge against you, yet you aid that shameless villain Yuan Shao, repeatedly ruining my plans. Now that I have set up camp here, you dare not lead your troops to attack, but instead resort to underhanded tactics to kill my soldiers. I, Gongsun Bogui, am sworn to be your enemy! If you have the ability, then lead your troops to attack. My fine head awaits your take! If you are too afraid to come, I will not make things difficult for you. Retreat quickly, lest you regret it on your deathbed!"

"That old scoundrel!" Cao Cao felt a surge of anger and was about to shout back when Jiang Zhe grabbed him.

Jiang Zhe smiled and said, "Gongsun Zan has run out of ideas. What use would a thousand curses be? Mengde, you should save your energy to kill him; it only takes one strike!"

After hearing Jiang Zhe's words, Cao Cao calmed his anger and laughed, saying, "Shouyi's words are excellent! Even if I said a thousand more now, it would be useless. Later, when I capture this old scoundrel, let's see how he curses me then!"

"It is our good fortune, and the good fortune of the world, that our lord can endure what ordinary people cannot!" Guo Jia said with a smile, cupping his hands in greeting to Xi Zhicai.

Cao Chun and Li Dianyue also clasped their hands in a gesture of praise.

Cao Cao felt a little smug and returned the greeting with a smile and a cupped fist salute.

"Hmm?" Gongsun Zan was very puzzled. Why did Cao Mengde remain silent after he insulted him? Could it be that Cao Cao's cunning was even greater than Yuan Shao's?

Just as Gongsun Zan was about to speak again, several loud booms were heard, just like before, but this time there were more than ten boulders being thrown...

With a loud bang, the gate of Gongsun Zan's camp was filled with noise and chaos.

"Good!" Cao Cao, with his sharp eyes, saw that one of the dozen or so bullets fired hit the gate of Gongsun Zan's camp squarely. Watching the gate collapse with a crash, and the Gongsun Zan soldiers on it fall with cries of alarm, Cao Cao felt a surge of satisfaction.

Shouyi is right! What's the point of hurling a few angry words at each other? It's all in vain!

Cao Cao roared, "Smash it! Smash it hard! I don't believe that old bastard Gongsun Zan won't come out!"

"Yes, sir!" the hundreds of Cao soldiers shouted.

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