Battlefield of All Sides

Chapter 279 Making Catapult

Li Mu saw some craftsmen with yellowish hair who were good at making siege equipment in the military camp.

Looking at their listless and malnourished condition, Li Mu seemed to know why he was sent here to do construction work.

Relying on such a group of people to build siege equipment in a short period of time, Li Mu's subordinates will have to work hard.

"My lord, the things we need now include siege ladders and battering rams. The general above also said that we will build a cloud car. We absolutely don't have enough time."

A skinny man with a gray beard walked up to Li Mu and said respectfully, but at the moment his face was full of sadness.

The military order must not be violated, either make it or the head will fall to the ground. For these craftsmen, it is not a problem to make it, but how to make so many things in such a short period of time, but also be able to be used for such intense work. battle, this is not so simple.

"You can make requests, but if you want us to do anything, we will do it right away." Li Mu also said with his hands raised, and the expression on his face was as gentle as possible. The foreman looked at Li Mu's expression, and at the same time he also said He was stunned for a moment, but he hurriedly spoke.

"The most important thing is the wood and iron sheet of the battering ram. I have collected some iron materials along the way and can start casting, but the large hardwood needed for the battering ram is really hard to find."

"There is also a huge amount of wood needed for the ladder, but the surrounding wood was basically cut down by the Liao people. It may not be easy to collect these woods."

The head craftsman had a sad face, but Li Mu was unmoved. He just asked him to report the specific quantity to himself, while telling them to start forging iron parts, and on the other hand, he led his team out to find wood.

"The Liao people are also insane. That good big tree was burned, and good materials were wasted for nothing!"

Lao Meng kicked away a stone on the side of the road one after another, his face full of anger, he waited for someone to run into a valley just now, he wanted to cut down some good trees, but found that the inside had turned into a conversation.

Those cunning Liao people seem to have known Song Jun's thoughts for a long time, and they will burn everything along the way.

Li Mu also frowned and walked ahead. He originally thought that the matter of collecting materials would not be difficult, but he did not expect that it would end up like this in the end.

The troops will arrive at the city of Youzhou soon, and the battle will start in no time. If your siege equipment is still not completed, you will be punished at that time, but once the casualties exceed [-], then you will really be a slap in the face up.

A group of soldiers were also unhappy walking on the road, but Li Mu stopped when he saw a small village not far away.

The soldiers looked at Li Mu one after another, but Li Mu squinted his eyes, suddenly thinking about it.

"Go to the deserted village in front, peel off the beams of the house, and tear down the door panels!" Li Mu pointed there and said. The soldiers were confused at first, then they immediately felt sorry for him, and they all responded quickly.

Not long after, several bullock carts were filled with timber, and Li Mu and an accompanying craftsman, Carpenter Lu, walked to the backyard of a collapsed house, where a tall and straight jujube tree grew beside the well.

Maybe it's the arrival of spring, and a green note has already been pulled out.

"Mr. Jun, this jujube tree is fine. It's enough to use it as a battering hammer!" Carpenter Lu said happily, and several soldiers also started to chop down trees with axes, while Li Mu stepped forward. Go, said to him.

"In addition to making ladders and battering rams, do we have other equipment?"

Carpenter Lu was also taken aback when he heard Li Mu's question, then he cupped his hands and hurriedly said, "Of course I can make other equipment, but time is tight, we can only focus on the most important things."

"Then what else do you do?"

"Cloud carts, trebuchets, these are all things that can be done." Carpenter Lu said respectfully, but Lin Mu immediately thought about it, pulled them aside immediately, and then spoke.

"Since this is the case, then you can arrange some people to make some trebuchets."

In Li Mu's memory, the trebuchet was not a difficult thing. After all, the return cannons used by the Yuan army later were almost all obtained from anywhere, which was very convenient and powerful.

But Carpenter Lu who heard what Li Mu said showed bitterness, and suddenly waved his hands and shook his head.

"Master Military, it's not that ordinary people disobey military orders, but the materials used in trebuchets are even worse. Even if we work overtime, it will take three or four days to make one."

"Huh?" Li Mu frowned suddenly when he heard what the other party said. This was completely different from what he knew. Does a trebuchet need such a long process?

"Master Jun, don't believe me. There are drawings here. You can take a look at the situation." The craftsman looked at Li Mu's confused expression and quickly took out a piece of sheepskin from his arms and unfolded it in front of Li Mu.

Li Mu quickly took it, and was surprised when he saw the sketch of the trebuchet drawn on it.

The sketch above is quite different from the return cannon I saw before.

Although they all use the principle of leverage, the place where the rocks were originally used for energy was changed to a rope. In order to run further, a section of the rope was designed to be very long, and the height of the entire trebuchet was also increased a lot.

The drawing was a pleasant surprise. The wheels of the trebuchet were all drawn on it. After reading it, Li Mu shook his head immediately and gave the motivation back to the other party.

"This thing must be heavy and heavy. I'll give you a new trebuchet, and see for yourself whether it works."

Li Mu immediately took a branch, dipped it in wet soil, and drew a picture on a large bluestone.

The craftsman leaned over curiously, and looked at the circle that Li Mu gradually drew. He was very confused at first, but when the whole picture was drawn, the other party's eyes widened immediately.

"Use a stone instead of a rope. Is this feasible?" Carpenter Lu said incredulously, but Li Mu just endured the branch and looked at him.

"This is your task. These days, you and a few craftsmen have time to try after completing the ladder and battering ram."

"As far as I know, it's easy for this thing to hit a distance of a hundred steps."

"150 steps?!" Suddenly, Carpenter Lu exclaimed, then solemnly looked at the sketch on the bluestone board again, swallowed his saliva and said to Li Mu.

"Master, the biggest trebuchet we can build now is only a hundred steps out of the stone. If we can really throw this far, or we can add heavier stones..." Lu Carpenter said this His eyes widened, he immediately unfolded the parchment, took a small pen and began to trace the drawing on the bluestone board.

Li Mu looked at the other party's reaction, but he didn't dare to explain further. After all, this thing was only drawn from his memory. Although it was a very useful siege weapon in the future, he didn't make it. It doesn't help.

Here, Li Mu's troops have collected a large amount of materials, and after dragging them back to the camp, everyone began to make them in full swing.

Li Mu was not sent to the frontline offensive troops, so he naturally devoted himself to the construction of the rear, and made a ladder with the soldiers, and then polished the materials for the battering ram.

Everything went smoothly and tensely.

On this day, Li Mu had just completed the battering ram with a group of craftsmen, and was about to report the progress when Hu Yanzan sent someone to find him.

The reason why he came to him was that the troops were about to attack the city. Although Zhao Guangyi hadn't arrived yet, the first tentative attack was about to begin.

But looking at the troops and horses all mobilized in the camp, and the momentum of the roaring mountains and tsunami, Li Mu felt that this battle was regarded as a big war.

All the siege equipment forged by the Equipment Battalion were taken away, and Li Mu turned around and asked the Lu carpenter about the progress of the trebuchet production.

Li Mu felt a little apprehensive, but since he couldn't go to the front line, he could only order these craftsmen not to relax and continue to manufacture siege equipment, especially trebuchets.

……

(End of this chapter)