Chapter 280: Catapult |
At the end of the urban village, in a courtyard, a massive, transparent black ship's anchor, like a leviathan emerging from the deep sea, lay across the ground.
In front of the anchor was a door.
"This is the Anchor Point. Speaking of which, if we travel to the next map, can this Anchor Point continue to exist? How long can it last?"
Qin Ziwen circled the Anchor Point once. He discovered that, at least within the same map, the Anchor Point seemed to have no time limit, just like the node.
Once a target was locked by the Anchor Point, the Anchor Point would fix itself in place, transforming into a giant ship's anchor.
Then, through the Anchor Point, a door would be generated.
The people from the Alliance entered through this door.
As for the other side of the Anchor Point, it was located within his Home.
Now, the teleportation function had mostly cooled down.
Qin Ziwen circled the Anchor Point again and even reached out to touch it. His palm passed right through the surface of the giant black anchor upon contact.
This ship's anchor was a phantom, lacking physical substance.
Through the huge door in the middle, he could see the scenery on the other side, which was precisely the interior of his Home. Unlike the blue elliptical passage of the node, the Anchor Point was like poking a hole through a sheet of paper. Through the hole, both sides could directly see the opposite.
Footsteps sounded from outside the door. "Guild Leader."
"What was Yang Long's reaction?"
"His attitude was quite good, no particularly special reaction."
"Mmm." Qin Ziwen nodded. "Let's deal with Blood Script first."
Three consecutive days passed.
The wooden stake fence surrounding Red Cauldron Tower had begun to take shape.
Simultaneously, tools like cheval de frise, wooden spikes, and trailers were continuously delivered through the Armory Department.
Trees on the island were constantly being felled and hauled away in batches.
Red Cauldron Tower remained quiet; the people inside seemed dead set on defending.
Qin Ziwu gave a thumbs-up. "A bunch of stubborn mules."
"No matter. We just need to do our job well." Qin Ziwen returned to his Home via the Anchor Point and arrived at the Yanwu Military Arsenal.
Thanks to working overnight shifts, Li Yue and the others had successfully developed a prototype of a new type of catapult.
"Guild Leader, this is a heavy-duty human-powered catapult we designed based on modern mechanics."
Qin Ziwen looked at the large machine before him, with an arm span exceeding eight meters and a self-weight of three tons.
Just the sight of it gave one a sense of the beauty of large machinery.
"How heavy a stone can it launch?"
Li Yue said proudly, "It can launch a maximum of a hundred jin stone, with a range of about two hundred meters. If we use many small pebbles, it can also create a scattering strike effect."
A craftsman beside him added, "Guild Leader, if we optimize it later, the catapult's performance can be further enhanced. But at this stage, this level is pretty much the limit."
"Mmm, good. That's enough for now." Qin Ziwen nodded.
He didn't expect this catapult to collapse the tower building in a short time anyway.
It might be possible against the small, flat-roofed houses of the urban village, but against a tower building, its intimidation function was greater.
This thing was different from the vehicle-mounted crossbow.
Crossbow bolts were too precise. The manpower and time required to make one bolt were greater than digging up a stone.
Stones could be collected nearby, and you didn't feel bad about throwing them away. Using crossbow bolts to shoot at cold, lifeless buildings felt somewhat extravagant.
Two days later, three catapults were transported to the urban village via the Anchor Point.
Upon hearing the news, Yang Long hurried over.
Looking at these three massive catapults, he was dumbfounded.
You guys can make this stuff too?
"Guild Leader Qin, this is..."
Yang Long asked cautiously.
"A catapult." Qin Ziwen found it strange. Was this thing hard to recognize?
Watching the huge machine being slowly pushed past him, Yang Long subconsciously reached out and gently touched it.
Feeling the cold machinery, he suddenly felt a sense of relief.
Good thing he had surrendered early, otherwise, this thing would have been used to bombard them.
When the people upstairs in Red Cauldron Tower saw the catapults being transported into the distance below, they were stunned.
This was treating them like the Japanese!
"Quick, get back inside!" Li Zecheng's face changed drastically.
He hurried to the other side of the building.
No wonder they had stopped firing the ballistae a few days ago—they were cooking up something big!
The three catapults were lined up in a row about a hundred meters away from Red Cauldron Tower, their sturdy wooden frames driven into the muddy ground.
Operators beside them pulled on iron chains, yanking them back forcefully.
The wooden frames ground against the earth, emitting a dull creaking sound.
At the command.
The catapult on the far left released its catch. The taut wooden arm snapped forward, and a large stone whistled through the air like a meteor, tracing an arc across the sky.
Bang!
A deafening roar exploded.
The few remaining curtain walls on the top floor instantly shattered, countless glass fragments cascading down like a torrential rain.
After smashing through the curtain wall, the boulder slammed hard into the interior of the floor. The dull impact was clearly audible even from hundreds of meters away.
Immediately after, the other two catapults fired in succession.
A section of the exterior wall on the twentieth floor violently cracked, the outer layer of concrete crumbling.
Large chunks of rubble, mixed with dust, fell away, leaving a shallow but sizable dent on the wall's surface.
The third catapult launched a load of small crushed stones gathered from the beach.
Like scattered blossoms from a heavenly maiden, the sounds of shattering were dense and incessant.
With the catapults firing, the previously quiet Red Cauldron Tower became thoroughly lively.
The three catapults were like tireless behemoths, continuously launching.
Boulders, crushed stones, one after another soared into the air.
Soon, the surface of Red Cauldron Tower's walls became pockmarked, and almost no glass remained intact.
Dust and smoke billowed out through the broken holes; the building took on a Syrian warzone aesthetic.
Although the internal load-bearing wall structure was largely fine, the external walls and facade were severely damaged. Both wind protection and safety were significantly compromised.
Under the relentless bombardment, the people inside the building finally couldn't take it anymore.
A tide of people surged out from the first-floor lobby, a dark, dense mass of heads.
These people held various weapons, some even raising homemade shields.
With battle cries, they swarmed toward the direction of the catapults.
"Burn their catapults!"
"Kill them!"
The winch drums of the catapults slowly ground to a halt.
Almost simultaneously, a large force poured out from the direction of the urban village.
Like a tidal wave.
A rough glance estimated their numbers at no less than a thousand. They spread out to both flanks like floodwaters, protecting the wings.
At the center was an elite force of three hundred.
At the front, a hundred men held long spears, wore armor, and formed two iron walls behind the wooden stake fence. Sharp spear points thrust out from between the gaps in the fence stakes.
Behind the spear formation was a two-hundred-strong archer and crossbowman unit.
Thirty hand crossbows were leveled at the front. Behind them, short bows were arranged in four rows. Holding the rear, fifty longbows had their bowstrings fully drawn.
"Fire!"
At Du Yu's command.
Instantly, a curtain of projectiles soared into the sky; arrows fell like rain.
Just like cutting down wheat, the front ranks of the force charging from Red Cauldron Tower fell in waves.