Chapter 674: The City Defense Crossbow Comes into Being (Part 2)
After the first version of the city defense crossbow was completed, it was presented to Zhou Xu at the fastest speed.
In order to ensure its power, the crossbow is two meters long, so its size cannot be small, and so is its weight.
It is not easy for a single soldier to carry it and move around freely, but as long as two soldiers are deployed, moving it will not be a problem.
Under this premise, there is also a problem that the original design of the city defense crossbow is to use a bracket to support the outer wall of the wall top to eliminate the recoil generated when the crossbow arrow is fired.
Therefore, on normal ground, this bracket cannot be used at all, which makes this equipment can only be used for wall defense to a large extent.
This also means that the test can only be carried out on the top of the wall.
As for the specific testing location, Zhou Xu directly chose the side of the city wall facing the edge of the world, which was relatively safe and hidden.
They asked people to set up targets outside the city, and the group quickly climbed to the top of the wall.
The three soldiers who were responsible for testing the city defense crossbow at this moment were all substitute members of the crossbow team. Although they had never used the city defense crossbow before, the entire operating principle was basically the same. With the guidance of Zhuang Mengdie, they quickly got the hang of it after a round of familiarity.
"Then we will officially begin the first round of testing. Counting from far to near, we will first aim at the wooden target in the middle of the fourth row outside the city."
Following Zhou Xu's order, the three crossbowmen quickly took action.
After placing the city defense crossbow on the top of the wall and spreading the bracket to press against the outer wall, a soldier standing at the back is responsible for supporting the city defense crossbow to stabilize the center of gravity, while the crossbow soldier standing in the front is responsible for turning the handle above the crossbow to complete the drawing of the bow and aiming in the general direction through the built-in mechanism structure.
Seeing the right moment, the third crossbowman installed the specially customized crossbow arrow.
After further aiming, the arrow of the city defense crossbow was shot out into the air as the trigger was pulled.
The range and power were sufficient, but the accuracy was not good enough, and the crossbow arrow shot directly into the ground half a person's distance away from the wooden target.
Although the operating procedures of this city defense crossbow are the same as those of the three-bow crossbow, the usage experience is somewhat different. It can be regarded as a new weapon.
They haven't mastered it well enough, nor do they have any special talents, so naturally they can't perform accurate strikes right away.
If you can hit the target, it's luck; if you can't hit the target, it's also very normal.
But even so, considering that their king was standing right next to them, the crossbowmen felt nervous after the arrow missed.
But Zhou Xu didn't have any idea at all. After taking a glance, he spoke calmly...
"Change to the wooden target in the middle of the third row."
Without hesitation, the three crossbowmen quickly took action.
In this first round of testing, Zhou Xu asked the crossbowmen to hit the wooden target directly in the middle, and he didn't care whether they hit it or not.
Because the most important thing in this round is to test the effective range of the city defense crossbow.
In the past two years, with the improvement of the internal technology of the Great Zhou and the abundance of resources at hand, the bed crossbows they manufactured have had relatively obvious improvements in range and power compared to the earliest version.
Among them, the three-bow crossbow has a range of 850 to 900 meters while ensuring sufficient lethality.
Taking into account the background of the times, the three-bow crossbow is undoubtedly a super weapon if it has room for development.
This technology was also used when manufacturing city defense crossbows. Taking the entire design into consideration, the power and range would be reduced.
But as of now, while ensuring lethality, its effective killing distance still reaches the range of 450 to 500 meters.
If the distance is further increased, the power will drop too much. In Zhou Xu's opinion, there is no need to conduct a test.
"Next one, the wooden target in the middle of the fifth row."
If Zhou Xu was testing the longest effective range of the city defense crossbow before, then now he began to test the attack range of the city defense crossbow under the wall.
For weapons like this, the area below the city walls is often a blind spot for their attacks, and the city defense crossbow is no exception.
But in comparison, it is not fixed and is relatively light. It is operated by three crossbowmen, so the adjustment of the attack angle is more flexible, and the blind spot of attack below should be smaller.
During the simple testing process, Zhou Xu basically confirmed that the city defense crossbows could be used up to the sixth row. Viewed from the outside, it was an angle of about sixty to seventy degrees. Further inside, the city defense crossbows were not easy to operate, and the attack was in a blind spot.
"Now start shooting to the left and right. The attack position of the city defense crossbows remains unchanged. Start from the farthest row and shoot one by one."
Now is the time to start testing the fan-shaped attack area directly in front of the city defense crossbow.
As a result of this test, the stability of the city defense crossbow was significantly reduced. Zhou Xu and Zhuang Mengdie, who noticed this change, almost simultaneously turned their eyes to the bracket supporting the outer wall.
"It seems that this bracket needs to be adjusted again. I need to think of another way."
While muttering to himself, Zhuang Mengdie quickly wrote down this latest question in the notebook in his hand.
However, after finishing writing, he couldn't help but reveal a look of distress on his face that he couldn't hide.
Obviously, this question gave her a headache.
Previously, when the city defense crossbow was shooting from the front, the bracket could be set up stably because the outer wall of the front was basically flat.
But once the attack angle changes, the angle required for support will also change, and it will be impossible to be as stable as at the beginning.
In response to this situation, Zhou Xu could actually think of some solutions, but considering the context of the times, these solutions probably wouldn't work.
Of course, if he gave up worrying about the bracket problem, he actually had other simpler and more brutal solutions.
For example, let the crossbowmen solve the problem by running.
Under normal circumstances, Zhou Xu would not likely let the city defense crossbow attack the soldiers. The attack targets of the city defense crossbow are basically concentrated on the opponent's siege equipment. It is used to disintegrate the opponent's siege equipment, or the defensive weapons of some special large units.
With this as a premise, the city defense crossbow is relatively light, and two crossbowmen are fully capable of carrying it and running.
When the time comes, wherever siege equipment or large units appear, just let the crossbowmen carry the city defense crossbows and run there to launch an attack.
Or to be more simple and crude, you can win by quantity. Fill up an entire row of walls and there will be no problem of movement.
In fact, in this era, compared to solving the problem of telescopic adjustment of the bracket, it is better to use the two methods mentioned above, which are simpler, more practical and reliable.
Thinking of this, Zhou Xu called Zhuang Mengdie aside and discussed it.
Zhuang Mengdie was already troubled by this problem, and now when she heard Zhou Xu's words, she nodded subconsciously.
"Indeed, this problem is difficult to solve. Even if it can be solved later, the cost will probably be very high. It would be better to let the crossbowmen run a few more steps, or set up a few more city defense crossbows."
(End of this chapter)
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