Zhang Fen was whipped by a whip. The soldiers who operated the stone thrower did not dare to be careless anymore. They gathered together and racked their brains to analyze the problem of low hit rate. No wonder Zhang Fen got angry. In more than an hour, he launched more than twenty times, and only hit once, which was indeed a bit ugly.

What if that shot is a coincidence? The cost of developing a giant stone thrower is very high. In order to allow them to train with peace of mind, their usual treatment is more favorable than ordinary soldiers. The village head responsible for a stone thrower is comparable to that of the top-level A-level shooter. I don’t know how many people are red and want to squeeze them out.

After discussing, discussing and analyzing the landing points of more than twenty rounds, I finally found that the problem may not be the stone caster itself, but the ship carrying the stone caster is not stable enough. Although they fixed the building ship as much as possible, it was not as stable as the shore. A slight difference is a thousand miles away, and it is three hundred steps away. Even a little bit of shaking can amplify the error. The reason why the stone caster equipped for the navy can maintain a hit rate of one shot of ten rounds is because the navy uses larger warships, and the cabin is loaded with more iron bombs and they cannot re-moval at any time, so the cargo warehouse will be filled as large as possible, and the ship is full, so the stability is naturally better.

After the three village chiefs unified their opinions, they asked Zhang Fen for instructions and gathered the spare iron bombs from the other two ships on one ship, loaded as much as possible, and then erected wooden stakes on both sides of the straits to anchor the building ship.

Zhang Fen repeatedly reviewed the discussion and thought it made some sense, at least it was worth a try.

While Zhang Fen and others were discussing, Lu Fan kept watching. Whether it was Mu Academy or the logistics camp, he always had a stubborn reputation. In order to compete with others for a irrelevant number, he had the style of a master of mathematics Xu Yue, but he had been guarding all year round and had never seen it with his own eyes. At this moment, he saw Zhang Fen and a group of soldiers huddled together to discuss issues, and he had seen it up close.

Zhang Fen is not an ordinary craftsman, he is from the Zhang family in Pengcheng, and his uncle Zhang Zhao is a Mingshi Qingxu. It is already surprising that such a person has become a Mu Xue priest. Now he discusses issues with these soldiers, laughs, scolds, and turns dirty. Even Lu Fan is a little surprised.

Zhang Fen asked Lu Fan for instructions and started preparing at any time. Some people transferred the iron bullets, some people set up stakes on the shore, and then used ropes to tighten them. The Ji River is very wide and the water level is very high. It is never easy to fix a tower ship in the river, but there are many smart people in the baggage camp. After trying it a few times, a craftsman remembered the most stable principle of Master Xu's triangle and proposed a method: use two ropes at a certain angle for each point, so that after both ropes are tightened, this point is basically stable, except for certain ups and downs, the range of translation is greatly reduced. When the stone caster launches, the main deviation is the horizontal direction, especially backward, that is, deviating from the river bank. A tower ship has more than four such fixed points, which can basically ensure the stability of the horizontal direction and reduce the offset to the lowest.

After working hard for a long time and a night, the next morning, the stone-picker tried again. This time, the hit rate had a significant increase. When the third round of the first round was tested, an iron bullet hit the target. Then, the ninth round hit again, exceeding the task. The other two groups also achieved the requirement of one shot of ten shots.

Wu Lang used the city gate that was repaired overnight to be hit by four iron bullets in half a day, and even the door frame was smashed. He couldn't repair it even if he wanted to repair it, so he had to accept Wu Zhi's suggestion and block the city gate with soil. No matter how powerful the stone thrower is, it cannot directly collapse the city wall. He can only use the city gate as the target and fill it up. What else can the stone thrower have?

Wu Lang felt it was reasonable, so he did not do anything, and he simply sealed all four gates with soil.

Lu Fan could see clearly outside the city, and there was no hurry. Even if the city gate was sealed, the people inside could not come out and could only wait for death. Even so, he ordered his subordinates to strictly follow the tactics to strengthen their vigilance against the city gate, and began the cooperation exercise of siege after the stone thrower basically achieved the predetermined goal.

The county soldiers led by Wei Xun must be trained, and the regular soldiers of the Junyi War Zone led by Lu Fan must also be trained. The giant stone thrower can not only shoot 200 kilograms of iron bullets to score, but also shoot about ten kilograms of projectiles in batches. Dozens of iron bullets fell from the sky, within a radius of ten feet, and even if the thick shield is not allowed to resist it. However, the stone thrower has a slow firing rate. Even if three stone throwers shoot at the same time, they can only attack a relatively limited range. At this time, whether the infantry can follow up in time, tear the opponent's defense and do not give the opponent a chance to make up for defense depends on the infantry's training level.

There are many such problems. New weapons bring new tactics and new requirements for the soldiers. Lu Fan knew very well that this was his opportunity. Not only Ji Ling was envious of him, but Zhu Huan and Man Chong also envied him. They all had to wait for the giant stone thrower to arrive before they could cooperate in combat, and he could start now.

Lu Fan, Zhang Fen and Wei Xun repeatedly discussed and finally formulated a plan. There were two thousand defenders in the city. In addition to the necessary personnel to protect the stone throwing machine, more than 10,000 people could call, including the 5,000 county soldiers brought by Wei Xun. Lu Fan decided to divide the more than 10,000 people into five groups, two groups to guard and monitor the other three city gates. The remaining three groups were at the North Gate and took turns to practice attacking. The next day, they tried to complete at least three drills for each group within three days, and basically master the ability to cooperate with the stone throwing machine to siege the city. When it came to the wrong words, three groups were sent to siege the city at the same time and conduct practical exercises. In this way, after Dingtao, they were well-deserved main forces, and they could even be on par with the central army led by Zhu Huan.

The opportunity to make contributions is right in front of you. The captains of each battalion were almost the same as Lu Fan, ready to beat their hands and their blood was boiling.

On the third day of the siege, Lu Fan launched a real attack on Jiyang. Not only were stone throwers carrying out long-range attacks, tower cars, rushing cars, shooters, heavy armored infantry, and various attack methods took turns to fight, cooperating with each other, making Wu Lang despair several times, thinking that the city was about to break through, but luck came on his head again and again. When the Jiangdong Army was about to climb the city wall several times, a crisp sound of gold would sound from afar, and the Jiangdong Army would retreat like a tide, reorganize the formation, and then launch an attack again. Another battalion of soldiers would be replaced every once in a while.

Just when Wu Lang was very confident and thought that the Jiangdong Army was just like this, Wu Zhi smelled an ominous smell.

With such a huge gap in strength, Lu Fan has been so busy. This is not a siege, but a training force. Lu Fan’s goal is not Jiyang at all, nor is it an unjust sentence east of Jiyang. His goal is a county-level city like Dingtao and Changyi. He is preparing for the final attack.

Wu Zhi felt the situation was serious, but he did not dare to tell Wu Lang, for fear that Jiyang might change hands immediately once the confidence he had just aroused collapsed. He told Wu Lang that the strength of the two sides was too different. Although Jiyang Shishu fought back with all his might, the casualties were increasing day by day. He wanted to rush back to Changyi and ask Dong Zhao to send troops to reinforce. Considering that Zhu Huan and Man Chong were still blocking Dingtao, it would take a lot of effort to come to reinforce Jiyang and he had to prepare in advance.

Although Wu Lang doesn't believe in Wu Zhi very much, he also knows that Wu Zhi is useless here, so if you want to leave, just leave.

Taking advantage of the night, Wu Zhi changed into an ordinary scholar's clothes and quietly left the city. He had already prepared a way out for retreat, and was young and strong, and had good martial arts skills, and had certain self-protection ability. After leaving the city, he did not go east directly, but went west, circled around a large circle, quickly entered the East Dust Realm, before crossing the Ji River, heading north to Pingyuan, and then to Changyi.

Wu Zhi left in time. At noon the next day after he left, Jiyang changed hands. It was not that Lu Fan succeeded in the attack, but that the defenders in the city collapsed. Although the Jiangdong Army had never been able to truly attack the city, round after round of iron bullet rains fell from the sky, completely destroying their originally small confidence. When the Jiangdong Army launched another attack, they were not even willing to go up the city. They hid under the corner of the city wall, chatting and waiting for their own destiny. They actually knew that the head of the family was really going to be beheaded. Their troops would only suffer a little and would not die. At least it was much safer than facing the Jiangdong Army and stone throwing machines outside the city who practiced with them.

Wu Lang knew that the situation was hopeless, so he squatted behind the broken battlements with several songs, looking out of the city without saying a word. He wanted to draw his sword and commit suicide several times, but he still couldn't make up his mind.

The Jiangdong Army went to the city without encountering resistance. Seeing these defenders who gave up on resistance, they were speechless.

Lu Fan was also helpless and was very dissatisfied with Wu Lang. He had a bad attitude when he met. Without saying a word, he asked someone to cut off his head and then sent a large number of soldiers to search the house and gather the tribes in the city according to the list. The heads of the family were beheaded, and the heads were hung on the official road for public display. The family members and subordinates were used as official slaves, waiting for sale, the family property was confiscated, as military funds, land, and real estate were concentrated and booked, waiting for unified allocation. These matters were handled by Zhang Chao, the prefect of Chenliu, and Lu Fan did not need to worry too much.

After resting in Jiyang for two days, Lu Fan led his troops to Wu Ju.

I don't know if I received the news in advance or was frightened by the head hanging on the official road. As soon as Lu Fan entered the territory of Wu Ju, Wu Ju told Zhang Ne to surrender at the suggestion of county magistrate Liang Mao. He not only sent people to surrender to Lu Fan, but also sent Liang Mao to Dingtao to surrender to Zhu Huan. Liang Mao was from Changyi, and he knew Man Chong, had good knowledge and had good ethics, and quoted classics. After saying something, Man Chong was not easy to refuse, so he had to come forward to plead with Zhu Huan. Zhu Huan also realized Lu Fan's little thoughts and was unwilling to let Lu Fan take advantage alone. He accepted Zhang Ne's request to surrender and sent someone to inform Lu Fan, asking him to lead his troops to Dingtao to join the siege.

Lu Fan was so angry that he cursed Zhang Ne, but he had no choice but to lead his troops to Dingtao.

Death crimes can be avoided, but living crimes cannot be escaped. Although the unjust clan surrendered, he was unable to be exempted from punishment. Except for the head of the family who did not need to cut his head and showed it to the public, everything else was handled according to the rules, and it was useless to plead with Man Chong. In fact, these things were not handled at all. Man Chong was the most determined executor. He had been doing this in Yuzhou for several years.
Chapter completed!