Even modern times, people still highly praised the power of Xiangyang cannon, thinking that it was a powerful weapon for siege cities and plundering the ground. After all, in the era of cold weapons, it could fire 300 kilograms of projectiles with a range of about a mile and a seven-foot sinking to the ground, which had reached the limit that humans thought at that time. They thought that they would be able to break mountains and crack stones, and the city walls built by rammed earth would be vulnerable.

But just by thinking about it, the Xiangyang city wall is more than three to four meters thick, and there are bricks inside and outside, and the city body and female wall are thick. Even modern artillery cannons cannot completely destroy them with one shot. As long as people sit against the wall, they can avoid being hurt. In fact, the Xiangyang cannon that was blown to the sky happened to hit the Qiao Tower.

What is a watchtower? It is actually a city gate tower. It is used for observation during wartime, and it is used for temptation on weekdays. The building form is also a wooden structure. Thinking about the 300-pound large stone hitting it, it must be a wall falling down and the house collapsed, and the ashes were destroyed. The reason why the Mongolian army destroyed the will of the Xiangyang defenders with this thing. Zhao Bing thought that the Xiangyang cannon was actually just the last straw added to the camel's back. It was trapped for a long time and the defenders were desperate. When the cannon rocks came, it far exceeded the width of the moat and trenches in Xiangyang City, and they finally collapsed.

Of course, Zhao Bing did not deny the power of the Xiangyang cannon. As a giant counterweight catapult, the Xiangyang cannon used a rock weighing 300 kilograms, with a range of nearly 400 meters, and hitting the ground seven feet deep when landing. Such huge power can not only effectively destroy buildings in the city, but also cause a great blow to the city defense. This power is not necessarily comparable to a heavy catapult, after all, it is a large machinery that can throw hundreds of kilograms of stones for hundreds of meters.

However, Zhao Bing believed that what the gunpowder-powered cannon could not do, so the Xiangyang cannon could not do even more. The only advantage of this weapon is that it does not cost gunpowder. He also designed and manufactured crossbows with both hit rate and range than stone throwers, and even made a torsion stone thrower that was heavier than the projectiles fired by the Xiangyang cannon, but it was eliminated after the artillery trial production was successful. It was only an option under special conditions.

First of all, the Xiangyang cannon was too large, with a low hit rate and a slow fire rate. In order to shoot out huge stone bullets, the Xiangyang cannon was several floors high, which was not only difficult to deploy and move, but also because of the low level of Taoism in ancient times, the larger the stone caster, the lower the hit rate. Therefore, although it was known as the stunning power, after the capture of Xiangyang, although the Mongols made large-scale Hui cannons, they completely destroyed the Southern Song Dynasty after six years of hard fighting, and there were many difficult siege battles.

The artillery is above the Xiangyang cannons, both adaptability to the terrain and hit rate. Although most artillery cannons are not as powerful as the Xiangyang cannons that are several stories high, the huge size of the Xiangyang cannon also brings a lot of inconvenience and is restricted by the terrain. Therefore, the Xiangyang cannon cannot conquer a mountain city like Diaoyu City, and the steep terrain cannot be deployed at all, which shows the huge limitations of the use of Xiangyang cannons in the terrain. Therefore, the real history of the exaggerated Xiangyang cannons had become a cost-effective weapon compared to artillery. Of course, the Ming Dynasty was more inclined to use artillery.

In addition, the biggest disadvantage of the catapult is not its small power, but its difficulty in operation. Heavy catapults require hundreds of people to operate together to throw a huge stone. There was a catapult in the Song Dynasty that could throw 90 kilograms of huge stones, requiring 250 people to pull ropes together. In the Middle Ages of Europe, light catapults required twenty people to operate together, and one hundred people to operate heavy catapults. Like the Xiangyang cannon, which throws hundreds of kilograms of stones, it may require 200 people to operate together. If various auxiliary soldiers were added, a heavy catapult would need three or four hundred people to be equipped with.

However, the artillery invented by Zhao Bing can operate with four ordinary light artillery, and there are only eight heavy artillery, so the people who use it to operate a Xiangyang artillery are above his artillery battalion that operates twenty heavy artillery. More importantly, the range of the artillery is farther than that of the catapult, and a catapult that is six or seven meters high is simply the target of the artillery guarding the city.

Therefore, although the catapults were not the first time they appeared on the battlefield and the Song army also had equipment, the catapults of the Song army were incomparable to Hui artillery. After the Battle of Xiangyang, when one side on the battlefield had heavy artillery firepower and battlefield advantages, the Xiangyang artillery became a nightmare for the Song army on the battlefield of Song and Meng. The cities were conquered under its roar. From the Yangtze River to Yashan in the South China Sea, the predominant naval forces of the Song army were also bombarded to pieces under its attack, and were eventually captured like the Asian and European countries.

You're welcome to say that the Xiangyang Cannon was walking sideways on the battlefield at that time, and its influence was far-reaching, becoming a lingering fear of the Song army. It was hard for Zhao Bing to expect everyone to have a clear understanding of it like him, but he didn't expect that the new Song army, which had been equipped with cannons, would still be so scared. It's so ridiculous and pitiful...

Zhao Bing talked with Zhang Jin until the evening. He had already had a relatively comprehensive understanding of the current situation and had already made up his mind. When he walked out of the car, the heavy rain had stopped, and the sky to the west was red, as if a raging flame was ignited. The soldiers used the last light of the sky to dig the ditch and drained the accumulated water in the camp.

"Your Majesty, will you still cross the river tomorrow?" Seeing the emperor coming, Ni Liang immediately met and asked.

"How is the water feeling?" Zhao Bing asked without answering but first.

"The river water leaked very quickly. In just one hour, the flooded floating bridge was exposed!" Ni Liang pointed to the river and said.

"It seems that the drainage downstream is smooth and there is no scene of three waters striking each other!" Zhao Bing stretched out his hand, and Tan Fei, who was accompanying him, immediately handed the telescope. He looked forward and the floating bridge was indeed revealed, trembling under the impact of the river.

"Your Majesty, if you cross the river from now on, it will be Fancheng. Will the Jingxiang Camp be located here?" Ni Liang already knew that a spy from the Bureau of Affairs entered the camp and had been in close consultation with Your Majesty for more than a day, but he was still unclear about the situation.

"The Xiangfan camp is located in Wanshan, south of Xiangyang. The Sixth Army, the Second Cavalry Division and the Second Artillery Division are all stationed here. The Seventh Army is attacking Gucheng, and the Eighth Army has withdrawn from Fancheng to move its troops to Dengcheng Town. Wu Longqi attacked Gucheng but failed. Zhang Ba divided his troops to reinforce. The road ahead has been cut off by the enemy defending Fancheng." Zhao Bing briefly introduced the current situation.

"Why did he give up Fancheng?" Ni Liang said in surprise.

"It makes people laugh at it. Because Shi Bi set up a few Xiangyang cannons, he scared our President Zhang to Dengcheng!" Zhao Bing smiled helplessly.

"It's really damn, I retreated without fighting!" Ni Liang said angrily.

"I didn't expect that it would be so unbearable!" Zhao Bing said.

"Your Majesty shouldn't have been ruthless back then. If you re-activate this rebel general, you will be killed. "Ni Liang said, "Today he is afraid of fighting, and his subordinates ask for an order to kill him to clean up the military discipline and boost the morale of the army."

"At that time, he was saved for the overall situation, and he still could not be killed at the moment!" Zhao Bing sighed. He knew that what Ni Liang said was that during the Battle of Yashan, the camp of Xingchao was broken by Zhang Hongfan, and Zhang Ba and others wanted to surrender. In order to stabilize the hearts of the people, he did not kill him immediately after the war. After arriving in Qiongzhou, Zhang Shijie took the initiative to give up the power of military service, asking him to treat his old subordinates well, so he kept several people back in the army and continued to serve.

"Why?" Ni Liang said in confusion.

"Supervisor Jiang has already wanted to retreat. If I just arrived, he would be beheaded by his generals, and he would be disgraced. How would he deal with himself after returning to the court? The name of loyalty and wise men of the Jiang family will be destroyed. He can only commit suicide by the name of the Jiang family!" Zhao Bing did not hide his thoughts from Ni Liang, and looked at him and said.

"Your Majesty is still soft-hearted." Ni Liang muttered in a low voice after hearing this.

"It's not easy to be an emperor!" Zhao Bing sighed at the red sky.

Why didn't Zhao Bing want to use thunder to purify the three armies? But now he no longer ruled the Caotou King, who had a population of only one million, with a boundary of Anqiongzhou. Instead, he controlled the empire with a population of tens of millions and was no longer willful and willing to avenge his enemies, but he had to consider the overall situation. The first thing any ruler needs is "stability", people's hearts, society, army, and officials.

He knew the Jiang family's status in the court and the public. If he "forced" Jiang Zheng to death, there would inevitably be another storm. And when this old minister retired one after another and readjusted the joints of the official structure, what he needed was stability, but it did not make people feel that the birds were hiding, and the rabbits were dead and cooked by dogs. Therefore, even though he was angry, he had to take action to maintain it, so that even if he wanted to retreat, he would still be more decent.

"What about Your Majesty?" Ni Liang didn't have to consider what the emperor wanted to do. He only knew that all he had to do was to listen to Your Majesty's words, not to interfere with Your Majesty's layout.

"Stable the three armies, boost the morale of the army, and defeat Xiangyang!" Zhao Bing took a deep breath, then slowly exhaled the turbid air, and said nine words.

"What do you do with me? Please tell me!" Ni Liang said.

"Don't worry about the details, don't pursue the details, do your own thing." Zhao Bing looked at Ni Liang's words and said. He knew very well that Ni Liang was his trump card and the only barrier behind him. It was his unconditional and unprincipled obedience, which made the court officials very afraid of him, and when someone wanted to transfer him away from him, he would have been completely rejected.

However, Zhao Bing also knew that his trust was also a burden to Ni Liang, and he had to face the blame and exclusion of all parties. Although he had no desires, he could not turn a blind eye and listen. He had to resolutely safeguard his interests, ensure his life safety, and even the wealth of his descendants, and try to pick it out of the mess.

"Your Majesty is going to cross the river and attack Fancheng?" Ni Liang asked for a moment of stunned silence.

"Yes, if you don't destroy Fancheng, it will not be enough to boost the morale of the army." Zhao Bing nodded and said.

"I understand, I will arrange to cross the river immediately, and I will go to Fancheng within two days!" Ni Liang said after hearing the rituals, and he was almost blindly obedient and followed His Majesty's will.

"Are you afraid?" Zhao Bing turned his face and looked at him and said with a smile.

"I have never been afraid of following His Majesty. What is the Little Fancheng?" Ni Liang smiled honestly and said indifferently...
Chapter completed!