At this moment, the suspicious Yu Kou stood in the darkness, stared for a moment, and then ordered the flag bearers to light a fire. The drums of war had already sounded, so there was no need to sneak around at night anymore.
Rows of torches stretched out like a long dragon, their tiny, golden flames barely visible on the vast land. The wind was too strong, and the torches whistled westward, making it difficult to clearly illuminate the Ye camp on the other side of the Chaohu Lake.
But that was enough. Upon closer inspection, Yu Kou saw that the gleaming armor at the Ye camp's ramparts reflected a shimmering light—this was indeed a troop of armored soldiers, not some straw imposter. Anything else was difficult to discern due to the distance and lighting.
"Prepare--"
Julu Kingdom prepared to fire a second wave of crossbow bolts, aiming to strike while the enemy was weak and press their advantage, while also smashing down all the unsightly fortifications outside the Ye camp.
"shoot--"
The sound of wind breaking, like the sound of thin silk being torn apart, was amplified countless times. When that powerful, piercing whistle fell heavily, the shockwave it generated would level everything and cause buildings to collapse.
The second round consisted of 600 of these giant arrows, each five feet and three inches long. Though called crossbow bolts, they were more like iron spears. As a result, this multi-bow crossbow was not only large in size, but also required dozens of people working together on a single shaft, using the combined force of several bows to fire the arrows.
These three hundred triple-bow ballistae require at least three thousand people to fire them, including specialists who aim them and strong individuals who use giant axes to launch them.
So don't be fooled by the incredible power of these three hundred bows. When using such large-scale siege weapons for an attack, it's not as simple as just placing them on a machine and completing the task smoothly. The greater the power, the more manpower and resources are required to supply them.
The so-called material resources refer to the considerable cost of the giant arrows, the damage during transportation, and the wear and tear during use. After all, it is no easy task to manufacture such a complex ballista.
Zheng Quchi had only caught a glimpse of the crossbow from afar during the military demonstration in the six states, but he couldn't see it clearly and only got a general idea. Now, with Liu Chaiji's description of the actual arrows' size and weight, he could roughly deduce the relevant data of the ballista.
A three-bow crossbow typically has two bows for firing power and one bow for acceleration. The first two bows have a draw weight of about 100 kilograms, while the second bow has a draw weight of 140-150 kilograms. The crossbow bolts used are 5 feet 3 inches long. The dimensions of the bed frame are currently unknown.
Zheng Quchi tore off a crossbow bolt and went back to observe it carefully. He noticed that the long arrow had an iron ring at the tail to increase its weight. This design was mainly to increase its lethality when fired horizontally.
While she was calculating with her hands, she was also meticulously calculating the range in her mind. She finally concluded that the range was four to six hundred paces, or about five to seven hundred meters. The power was even greater within five hundred meters, and even if it hit a horse, it could send it flying more than three meters away.
After the enemy fired two rounds, Zheng Quchi guessed that they should stop.
In her opinion, two rounds of firing should be the limit they had mentally prepared for. Each crossbow bolt weighs about twenty pounds, and the more thousands of bolts there are, the more difficult it is to transport. Based on her assumption, they certainly didn't have a lot of crossbow bolts prepared.
It's not like they're planning to attack the Northern Abyss Kingdom. Given their contemptuous and disrespectful attitude towards the Ye army, this is the most reasonable guess.
Therefore, every time Julu Kingdom fires its triple-bow crossbows at Ye Camp, it will be of paramount importance, and they will not act recklessly.
Hopefully her guess is correct, because this would give her some time to bottom out and fight back, rather than being easily defeated.
With a deep, muffled boom, the fortifications built by the Ye camp finally succumbed to the pressure and collapsed.
At this moment, several silvery-white chains of electricity flashed across the sky, and the light was so intense that in a very short time, everyone felt as if the darkness had been illuminated, and all the dark corners and nooks in front of them could be seen clearly.
She Kou and Mu Jin glanced at the ground and saw that the "thousands of people" were crushed to the ground by the broken mud. However, despite so many people lying on the ground, not a single drop of blood flowed out. It was as if there were just a pile of armor and helmets scattered on the ground, with no hands or feet in sight, and it didn't look like anyone was wearing them...
Some scenes within sight, after a brief moment of light, were plunged back into the darkness of the polar night, and nothing could be seen clearly anymore.
However, in such a short time, they also noticed something was wrong, and their hearts suddenly skipped a beat, as if they realized something—they had been tricked.
They were all thoroughly fooled by Zheng Quchi!
She Kou did not believe it and immediately sent men to investigate and verify the truth.
"Let's go find out!"
"yes--"
He dispatched a squad of soldiers, who carried torches. As soon as they approached, they saw scattered armor pieces lying on the ground not far away, but beneath the mud and debris, there was not a single corpse in sight…
Damn it, we really fell for their trick!
Upon learning this shocking news, they were stunned. The next second, they rushed back to report the truth.
"Report—there are no Ye troops stationed here. Those are just some armors that have been taken off; no one is wearing them."
Upon hearing this, She Kou's eyes widened: "What?!"
The scout continued, "The Ye army must have used two wooden poles to cover their clothes. Plus, it's cloudy and moonless tonight, so from a distance they look like standing soldiers on defense. But it's all an illusion. Not a single Ye soldier was shot dead; they've all hidden far away!"
She Kou felt a surge of anger rising from his lungs to the top of his head, and he trembled uncontrollably with rage: "That Zheng Quchi, so cunning and deceitful, using such tricks to deceive this general!"
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