Datang: Li Shimin begged me to rebel

Li Daozong simply tested it himself. The crossbow was indeed less forceful than he imagined, but it was not so small. A soldier might have difficulty pulling it apart after pulling it four or five times at most.

But when its power was tested next, its power surprised Li Daozong and the others. Wooden boards several inches thick could penetrate directly, and ordinary shields or armor could not stop its power at all.

Even the steel armor newly developed by His Highness obviously cannot stop its power at all.

When the double crossbow and the class crossbow were brought out, the two of them were completely speechless. The double crossbow was actually the medium-sized bed crossbow that Li Ke had used in Nanyang before, and the class crossbow was a large bed crossbow. There are also in Datang, but the structure and volume of Datang must be bigger and more cumbersome than this one!

Because these bed crossbows all adopt modular design and assembly, in addition, some of its important non-elastic structural parts are cast with fine steel. If wood is used, the wood required must be very thick, but fine Steel doesn't need to be as thick and heavy as wood.

So its size looks very delicate.

But the power of this thing can be seen by looking at the arrow shaft that is almost as thick as an adult's wrist.

"We don't seem to need these things." Li Daozong asked with a wry smile.

"Your Highness said that the main task this time is to test these weapons, and another is to test a brand new method of warfare." He Jin added.

"What tactics?" Li Daozong and the others looked at each other.

"Fire covered." He Jin said.

Fire coverage? !

"Your Highness said that the Qin crossbow is said to be famous all over the world, so my Tang Dynasty must not lag behind, so the number of crossbow arrows in the Tang Dynasty must keep up. Whether it is siege or field battle, you can cover the enemy with arrows." He Jin opened the mouth.

Li Daozong and An Xinggui were a little speechless, well... fire coverage... this word is really appropriate, if the number of arrows is enough, especially if all of them are this kind of iron arrows, it is really difficult for the enemy to hold them. Disaster.

"In addition, the Ordnance Institute has actually researched a lot of ordnance. Your Highness asked everyone to test it, such as the brand new counterweight trebuchet." He Jin said.

"Counterweight trebuchet? What's the difference from the previous trebuchet?" Li Daozong and the others were a little curious, and they naturally knew about the trebuchet.

Catapults were first recorded in the Zhou Dynasty, and have been used in sieges in all dynasties of China. By the Tang Dynasty, the technology of trebuchets had been very mature.

The so-called counterweight trebuchet is actually a returning cannon in the Yuan Dynasty. It is not much different from the original trebuchet, except that the original trebuchet is a net with stones installed on the head of the long pole. When the weight falls, the stone on the head of the pole is thrown out.

For the counterweight trebuchet, two ropes are developed at the head of the long pole, and the ropes are linked to a mesh shawl, which is placed in a groove.

In this way, when the counterweight falls, the rocks inside the shawl will extend the length of the rope again on the length of the long pole, allowing it to move farther, and the centrifugal force it receives will be greater, and the power of throwing it will be greater. And the distance is naturally greater.

"In addition, there are brand-new barbed caltrops to prevent cavalry from rushing into the formation." He Jin asked someone to take out a bag of special things from the warehouse and handed it to the two generals.

When this thing was in his hand, Li Daozong felt a chill. The barbed wire has been around since ancient times. This thing was probably invented during the Warring States period, but the one, Your Highness, is obviously longer, and obviously its power will be greater. There is a hole reserved in the middle of it, and the rope has been threaded into it, which can be conveniently arranged and collected.

This thing has been a sharp weapon of defense since ancient times, but in fact, although it has a small reputation in history, the main reason is... poor and unable to use it.

Ironware was used in too many places in ancient times. Most of these things were used in some important cities or defensive positions to prevent cavalry attacks, but if they were carried by field troops, they could not afford to carry them at all.

A small number of these things is not very useful. If there are a large number, so many irons, it is better to use more to make armor.

But this thing is not difficult at all for Li Ke now.

Li Ke, including the ropes used for the links, can be directly connected with iron wires. After the steam engine was developed, the difficulty of making iron wires plummeted.

"Can your Highness provide a large amount of this stuff?" An Xinggui was a little curious. Although arrows and other items consume iron, they are important strategic equipment after all. In comparison, the price/performance ratio is not high.

But when defending cavalry, it is really invincible.

"Of course, apart from the transportation trouble, there are no other problems." He Jin nodded.

"If this is the case, then Western Turks and the like are not our opponents at all." An Xinggui couldn't help but said, if the number of these things is really enough, no Turkic cavalry will be a concern. position, sprinkle a large amount of this thing on their several important retreat channels in advance, and the opponent will be the turtle in the urn.

Although the prairie is indeed a vast area, in fact, except for a small number of prairie in this world where you can run as you please, most of the other prairie are not really easy for large groups of cavalry to pass through.

"The things will be handed over to the two generals. The next thing is the matter of the two generals."

After Li Daozong and An Xinggui took over all the supplies, they also had a deep impression of Datang's current strength.

"To be honest, I still can't figure out how His Highness conjured these things. Isn't it just three years? Is the change in three years so big?" State, he really can't understand these changes.

Li Daozong's experience is more profound. Three years seems to be a short time, but thinking about the changes in Xizhou, Li Daozong shook his head: "The changes in three years are still very big."

"However, since His Highness has provided so many weapons, I don't think our large troops need to come here. What do you think? Just sending 3000 people to defend the city is enough."

"I don't think it's a problem." An Xinggui said bluntly, "If it's just to defend the city, 5000 people are enough, and we don't even need to dispatch 5000 people, 2000 people at a time is enough. Test your Highness." Speaking of, what it's like to have fire coverage."

"Yes. Anyway, we can contact the army at the rear at any time." Li Daozong nodded.