Chapter 1467: Chapter 1468: Great Power
Having cut down many trees and invited numerous carpenters, the soldiers knew what they were to build from the blueprints in the carpenters’ hands, but were still uncertain of the purpose of these structures.
When they saw Qin Er leading a large group to transport huge stones onto the city walls, the soldiers were even more puzzled.
Even Qin Er, who was responsible for moving the stones, was unaware of their purpose. He was merely following orders.
Ye Zhi, however, understood what the carpenters were building. As a modern person with some knowledge of ancient warfare, she could recognize it. Moreover, An Jing had told her. However, she was busy developing explosives with An Jing and had no time to tell others that this thing was a trebuchet.
Yet, because it was Great General Xiao Changyi who issued the orders, no one dared to slack off.
In just five days, more than two thousand trebuchets were constructed.
Due to the large number of people moving the stones, within less than a day, all city towers in Jingye City were filled with boulders.
But Xiao Changyi still did not allow them to stop and ordered many more stones to be transported into the city.
Every time a trebuchet was completed, Xiao Changyi had it transported to the city tower.
When the carpenters made the first trebuchet, Xiao Changyi tested its power.
Upon seeing the trebuchet on the city tower, Xiao Changyi had a large stone placed on it and then had several particularly strong people press hard on the other side, sending the stone flying instantly.
Then with a ‘boom,’ a loud bang startled everyone.
Everyone quickly rushed to the edge of the wall to look down and saw that the boulder had created a large pit on the ground. The power was astonishing, and at that moment, everyone finally understood what it was for, becoming very excited, saying that with these trebuchets, defending the city would be much easier.
Xiao Changyi was very satisfied with the tremendous power of the trebuchets.
However, Xiao Changyi was worried that the enemy could infiltrate Jingye City through the mountains, so he dispatched many elite soldiers there, with Qi Weimeng in charge of that area.
Including the more than 100,000 soldiers who surrendered, Jingye City effectively had over 400,000 troops, while Xilin City still held 100,000. Xiao Changyi did not reposition those 100,000 to Jingye City. Without the trebuchets, perhaps Xiao Changyi would have moved tens of thousands in, but with the trebuchets, he left things as they were, maintaining 100,000 troops in Xilin City for contingencies.
Those 100,000 soldiers were still under Liu Buli’s command.
Xilin City and Jingye City weren’t too far apart. If reinforcements were truly needed, Liu Buli could lead the 100,000 troops there in time.
Five days had passed, and the Chilin army 30 li away had not yet attacked, but because the Chilin army was still out there, Xiao Changyi and the others remained vigilant.
An Jing and Ye Zhi continued to busy themselves with the development of explosives.
An Jing planned to blow up at least ten of the Chilin’s mountains, requiring at least ten large batches of explosives, and so far, An Jing and Ye Zhi had only produced one batch. It would take quite some time to reach their target.
That day, at dusk, An Jing and Ye Zhi came out of the room where they were developing the explosives.
As soon as they stepped out, they saw Gong Juechen squatting at the doorway, holding a branch, writing something on the ground.
When Gong Juechen saw Ye Zhi come out, his peach blossom eyes lit up. He quickly tossed aside the branch and ran to Ye Zhi’s side, grinning mischievously, “Zhizhi, you finally came out. I’ve been waiting for you for so long. You have no idea what we’ve been up to. The guards wouldn’t let me in either. I’ve never seen people so ruthless.”