It rained for a few days, and the sky suddenly cleared. Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 ｉｎfo

The sapphire-like dome is high, and a few white clouds float gently, which is beautiful and makes people's hearts feel like a pool of clear water.

Yesterday I taught in the Armament Division, and today the Armament Division will officially try to produce artillery.

Seeing that the date for the barbarians to go south was approaching, there was not much time left for him.

And Li San and Wang Xuan have been investigating the movements on the grassland these days, and today the two of them went to the palace together to report the information they got to Xiao Mingyu.

"Your Highness, we have received news that the barbarians and the Ottomans seem to have reached some kind of reconciliation, and three months ago, the barbarians returned to Shengdu with the slaves and craftsmen who had been plundered from the Ottomans." Li San said.

"So the barbarians' westward crusade is over?" Xiao Ming asked.

"I'm afraid so." Wang Xuan's expression was solemn.

This was indeed very bad news for Xiao Ming, the barbarians had become the most powerful empire in the northern lands after conquering the steppe tribes.

Under the premise of the decline of the Great Yu Kingdom and passive defense, the barbarians thought that they had no worries, so they began to conquer the west.

After wiping out a series of small western states, the barbarians encountered the Ottoman Empire, which was in its heyday.

After three years of hostile conquest, the two sides finally understood that the other side was a behemoth, so they called off their troops and returned to the court.

In this way, the pressure on the Great Chongqing State will increase sharply.

Recalling the western expedition of modern Mongolia, it seems that after the completion of the western expedition, Mongolia easily destroyed the Southern Song Dynasty.

"Is there any worse news?" Xiao Ming smiled bitterly, "What do you know about the barbarian population, army, weapons and equipment?" ”

Wang Xuan said: "There is bad news, the barbarians seem to have found a siege weapon during their westward expedition, called the Huihui Cannon, which is said to be able to throw a three-hundred-pound boulder five hundred meters away. ”

"Return to the gun?" Xiao Ming asked, "Are you sure he threw the stone?" ”

"I'm sure the traders of the steppes have described it as if it were an advanced catapult." Wang Xuan said.

Xiao Ming breathed a sigh of relief, as long as the barbarians haven't gotten the artillery technology yet, it's fine, but before there is no artillery, if there is really this kind of stone thrower, it is indeed a huge threat to Cangzhou City.

He remembered that in modern times Mongolia seemed to be using a similar lithorub, which also came from that place in the Western Regions.

Li San said at this time: "Your Highness, if the barbarians use this kind of thing to attack Cangzhou City, I am afraid that this city wall will not be able to hold it." ”

For Xiao Ming, it is fortunate that the barbarians do not have artillery, this kind of giant catapult with a range of 500 meters is far inferior to the range of artillery, and it can be destroyed in advance within the range of artillery, so there is nothing to be afraid of.

"This is not worth worrying about, is there any other information?" Xiao Ming asked.

Li San hurriedly said at this time: "The population of the barbarians cannot be accurately determined, but overall, there are still two million households. ”

"So much?" Xiao Ming was taken aback.

"Over the years, some barbarians have settled down in Changbai Mountain, and the population has increased a lot." Li San said.

Now Xiao Ming finally understands what a headache is.

The current barbarian tribe is no longer a pure nomadic people, but a half-farming and half-pastoral people, and such a nation is even more deadly to the Great Chongqing State.

Because half-farming and half-pasture means that the logistics of the barbarians will be better guaranteed, making it easier for the barbarians to expand.

And Wang Xuan's next sentence made Xiao Ming even more headache, "This is only the population of the barbarians, the barbarians have always been used to robbing slaves, and now the ratio of the regular army of the barbarians to the slave army has reached one to five." ”

"The merchants said that every time the barbarians marched westward, there would be a large number of slave armies, and when these slave armies were finished and the enemy was sleepy and lacking horses, the barbarian cavalry would attack."

Li San said: "We have been exploring the grassland these days, and we found that the cavalry of the barbarians is capturing the people north of Cangzhou City, these people used to be the people of the Great Yu Kingdom, so it seems that the barbarians probably want to use the method of dealing with the people of the Western Regions to deal with us. ”

After a pause, Li San clenched his fists and said, "Your Highness, when the people of the Great Yu Kingdom are forced to walk in front of the barbarians to attack the city, what should we do?" ”

"This barbarian is so shameless that there is no humanity at all." Wang Xuan said angrily.

Such despicable tactics as arresting the common people as meat shields abound in history, especially the Mongolian and Qing tribes.

It is precisely by skillfully using the puppet army and the common people that a sparsely numerous nation will defeat a country with a population dozens of times its own.

And now the population of this barbarian tribe is only ten to one compared to the Great Yu Kingdom.

"What to do? If Cangzhou City is captured, this king will be the next King Kang. Xiao Ming said in a deep voice.

Li San and Wang Xuan glanced at each other, they seemed to understand Xiao Ming's thoughts.

The two of them told Xiao Ming some things about the barbarians, which were nothing more than the barbarians' way of fighting.

At present, the barbarians use a compound bow made of animal tendons, which has a long range, and the barbarian cavalry will also have a technique of turning around and shooting arrows while fleeing.

It was this method that allowed the people of the Western Regions to be repeatedly defeated at the hands of the barbarians.

However, the people of the Great Yu State have already understood the characteristics of the barbarians, and because of this, the army of the Great Yu State will not go out of the city to fight the barbarians on the grassland.

Because it's pure death.

In addition to the bow and arrow range can reach more than 180 meters, the most lethal thing about the barbarian army is that the discipline is very strict, and this is far more dangerous than the bow and arrow.

An army that is not afraid of death is truly terrifying.

Now Xiao Ming could already imagine the barbarian infantry still climbing up from the pile of corpses under the fire of artillery.

"In addition to arresting the people, the merchants on the grassland said that the barbarian army has been trained very frequently recently, and they are very wary of the barbarians of the Dayu people who travel to and from the grassland, and many merchants have been arrested by the barbarians." Li San finally said.

Xiao Ming nodded, the barbarians' many movements were obviously abnormal, and it seemed that it was only a matter of time before they attacked the Great Yu Kingdom.

He said: "Continue to keep an eye on the dynamics of the barbarians, especially the dynamics of the barbarian army, and report to me in a timely manner." ”

Li San and Wang Xuan nodded and turned to leave.

At this time, Xiao Ming got up and went to the Instrument Division, fortunately he asked the Instrument Division to produce artillery with all its might, otherwise he would not be able to resist this kind of return artillery catapult from a distance of 500 meters.

A three-hundred-pound stone on the walls was not much weaker than the bombardment of artillery.

After all, artillery also shoots solid bullets, and he doesn't have the ability to produce such a thing as flowering bullets now.

Thinking of this, he quickened his pace, and a deep sense of crisis enveloped him. (To be continued.) )