Chapter 673: The Power of Giants

When Feng Yi, the Han "Grand General Who Conquers the West," rushed to the battlements of Ying County upon hearing the news, the Wei army's three monstrous large catapults had already been fully assembled. Their massive timber bases were laid over rolling logs, and under the push and pull of human strength, they were slowly advancing across the plain — like three giants, step by step, drawing closer to Ying County.

"From the look of them, they are indeed the flying-stone chariots, no doubt about it."

As for the specific differences in their construction, Feng Yi could not see them clearly from so far away. What concerned him most was: what was their range?

He glanced at the two types of catapults on his own walls. Compared to the colossal machines the Wei army had built, these weapons, invented by ingenious craftsmen as far back as the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods, seemed pitifully small. They relied on men hauling on ropes to launch, generally using evenly shaped medium stones weighing anywhere from ten jin (Han jin) to twenty jin, and could hurl them up to two hundred paces.

This already equaled the maximum killing range of the army's prized weapon, the "Great Yellow Crossbow," and far surpassed the effective range of ordinary bows and crossbows, which was around a hundred paces. It was especially advantageous for the defender: mounted on the city wall, with the advantage of height, the range could even reach three hundred paces! The attacker, on the other hand, had to push to within about a hundred and fifty paces before his catapults could be effective, making him highly vulnerable to devastating fire from the wall's crossbows and flying stones.

But today, the tacit understanding forged over centuries past had been shattered by the Wei army's new catapults!

They watched as the three giant bombards were pushed closer and closer, finally halting their advance a full li from the city wall. The Wei army engineers removed the rolling logs and used heavy hammers to drive in wooden pegs, securing the giant bombards' frames. Feng Yi and Yao Qi stared at each other in dismay. One li was equivalent to four hundred paces — nearly double the range of the Han catapults!

It was not just the doubled range. One look at the throwing arm, over five zhang long and thicker than a man's thigh, made it clear that what the enemy intended to hurl into Ying County were definitely not small stones of ten or twenty jin…

At this point, the Wei engineers' movements suddenly became unhurried. They reinstalled the crucial winches, metal mechanisms, and other parts that had been made in Xiangyang City and transported here dismantled on multiple carts, greasing them with lard. The hardest part was mounting the counterweight bucket, filled with lead blocks and weighing a hundred jun; it required over a hundred men. These preparations alone took an entire morning…

It was not until the afternoon that the Wei army began its first test-firing. Their winch design was ingenious, much like a human-powered treadmill, with one on each side. Two men walked inside the wooden cylinders, and through iron pulleys, they pulled the counterweight bucket up bit by bit. Meanwhile, at the other end of the lever, the throwing arm was pressed down little by little until it was flush with the ground.

A stone was placed in the leather sling at the end of the arm. With everything ready, the craftsman in charge of the operation, stripped to the waist, spent a long time aiming with some kind of sighting instrument. Still not confident, he extended his thumb, aligned it with the Ying County wall, and gauged the distance by eye based on experience. Only then did he let out a breath and nod to the Engineering Brigade Colonel behind him.

The Colonel reported to Cen Peng for confirmation. After receiving approval, he slowly raised the flag in his hand. As the small flag slashed down, the craftsman cut the securing rope. With the counterweight bucket losing its tension and dropping, the long throwing arm suddenly snapped upright, launching the stone from the sling.

It was as if a giant had abruptly swung its arm, hurling a pellet from its palm into the sky!

Though Feng Yi and Yao Qi feigned composure, the sight of the flying stone truly tearing through the air was still terrifying. Watching the stone in the sky grow larger as it approached, Yao Qi could only cry out, "Grand General, be careful!" and ordered the personal guards beside him to raise their shields for protection.

But Feng Yi did not move. He watched with his own eyes as the stone flew past over ten paces away, cleared the city wall, and landed inside Ying County. Accompanied by a tremendous crash, it struck a brick dwelling with unerring accuracy, piercing the roof and sending tiles flying everywhere. For a moment, chickens scattered and dogs leaped; the soldiers inside the city were thrown into a panic.

The men on the wall also looked terrified. Only Feng Yi calmly gave the order: "Check for casualties immediately, and measure the weight of that stone!"

On the Wei army's side, however, because the shot had missed its intended target, the gate tower, by such a wide margin, they simply treated it as a miss. The soldiers' arms, raised and ready to cheer, were silently lowered. The craftsmen scratched their heads and then began operating the second and third giant bombards.

Before long, a minor clerk from below the wall came up to report to Feng Yi: "Grand General, the damage to the building is severe. Fortunately, no one was inside, so there were no deaths. However, soldiers in the neighboring quarters were terrified, and two were slightly injured in the stampede as they fled. The large stone broke into several pieces; after weighing them, the total is approximately one hundred and fifty jin (Han jin)!"

Upon hearing this, even a brave man like Yao Qi's expression changed. This was the weight of a grown woman. Its destructive power was incomparable to the small flying stones of the past, which could be blocked with a shield. As a defender, Yao Qi knew all too well what this meant!

Before the Han army could recover from its shock, following a shouted warning, the Wei army's two remaining giant bombards also fired.

With a thunderous crack from the leather slings, stone projectiles larger than a pig's head came hurtling through the air. The second shot, before everyone's watching eyes, struck a corner of the gate tower, collapsing a section of the parapet several paces wide; the flying stone shrapnel even blinded one soldier in one eye. The third shot lacked sufficient range, falling just short of the wall and plunging into the moat, sending up a towering splash of water…

The good news was that the enemy's giant bombards had laughable accuracy; they might not hit their mark once in ten shots.

The bad news was that the Wei army had no intention of precisely aiming at targets on the wall. After the test-firing was complete, the craftsmen simply extended the range, and all the stones sailed over Feng Yi and his men's heads, falling into Ying County and destroying over a dozen buildings.

After nightfall, the giant bombards finally ceased their bombardment. Feng Yi turned to look at the devastation in Ying County, then at the terrified faces of his men, and understood Cen Peng's objective.

"What is being thrown into Ying County are not merely giant stones."

He thought to himself, "It is fear!"

Indeed, the giant bombards were powerful, but it would not be so easy for Cen Peng to rely on them alone to directly smash open the city gates or collapse the rammed-earth walls. However, the giant stones that could fall on their heads at any moment had caused Han army morale to plummet. The men whom Feng Yi had inspired to fight for the Great Han's revival were now like rats scurrying across the street, looking over their shoulders as they walked and feeling anxious even when hiding indoors, terrified of sudden, unforeseen disaster.

It was like this on just the first day. If the Wei army kept up the bombardment for a few more days, even if the army's spirit did not disintegrate, the soldiers would be worn down to exhaustion.

General of the Tiger Teeth, Yao Qi, also realized this and immediately requested permission to fight from Feng Yi: "Grand General, the situation now is like facing an opponent with throwing stones who can strike from a hundred paces away, while we have only short weapons. If we just defend passively, we will only be battered and bloodied. It is better to stake everything on one desperate fight."

Feng Yi understood this perfectly, but he still shook his head. "Our army is outnumbered, the enemy is many. Cen Peng is bombarding Ying County with these giant bombards precisely because he wants to force us to come out and fight!"

Under normal circumstances, Feng Yi would certainly have gambled on a desperate fight. But this battle was different.

He had been locked in a standoff with Cen Peng in Jingzhou for years, a true match of equal strength, and a sense of mutual respect had even grown between them. Was it their personal ability that would decide the victor between them?

No. If their troop strengths were equal, and disregarding differences in armor and weaponry, the two could probably fight to a draw. What would truly decide the outcome was whose reinforcements arrived faster!

As early as spring, when the Han Grand Minister of Works, Deng Yu, heard that the Wei army was attacking Hanzhong, he predicted that Cen Peng would invade the Jiang-Han region in the summer. This allowed Feng Yi to make arrangements in advance.

Deng Yu further predicted that this battle would determine the fate of the realm, that Jiangling absolutely must not fall, and that the Great Han should respond with the full might of the state. Liu Xiu agreed to this strategy. In the sixth month, before autumn, the great southeastern army mustered by the Han Emperor could converge on Jiang-Han. Meanwhile, the Wei army was still clashing with the Shu army in Hanzhong. Diwu Lun could, at most, sustain a war on two fronts and could not spare many more troops; reinforcements from Guanzhong and the Central Plains could not enter Jingzhou until the seventh month at the earliest.

This brief, one-month window in between was the final opportunity for the Han revival. At that time, Liu Xiu would lead his naval and land forces to pincer Cen Peng with Feng Yi, striving for total annihilation and to wipe away past humiliations in one sweep!

Feng Yi had originally estimated that he could hold out for at least three months, abandoning Ying County for Jiangling if necessary. But the new giant bombards in Cen Peng's hands had completely changed the situation…

Feng Yi had read the military treatises. Mozi, the master of city defense from the Warring States period, had said: "For all who defend a city, inflicting rapid damage on the enemy is the priority. Protracting the days to await relief shows a lack of understanding of defense. Only by achieving this can one defend a city." Passive defense was no solution; once Han army morale inevitably declined, the city could not be held!

As things stood, Ying County could be defended for a month at most. Once this city fell, Cen Peng's giant bombards would be moved outside Jiangling. With a hundred thousand civilians in the city bombarded by giant stones, chaos would be inevitable, thoughts of surrender would resurface, and he would be unable to suppress them. Those petty tricks of secretly unloading grain at night to deceive the people's hearts would be utterly worthless before the absolute crushing power of the Wei army's giant bombards. At that point, holding out for ten days would be fortunate.

Pure defense was impossible, but a rash sortie would ruin the grand strategy. Feng Yi was caught in a dilemma, his head aching with the problem.

His deputy, Yao Qi, understood Feng Yi's difficulty. Gritting his teeth, he once again volunteered: "Grand General, even if the entire army cannot go into battle, we cannot ignore the Wei army's giant bombards at our gates. They must be destroyed!"

"I request permission to lead three thousand elite troops on a night raid out of the city. The enemy's giant bombards are cumbersome and difficult to move once assembled. They are just one li away; lightly equipped, we can reach them in less than half a quarter-hour. We will bring oil and torches and burn them down. It will take the Wei army time to build new ones, which will at least buy us a few more days. With the enemy's momentum thus checked, the city can then be defended."

"That seems the only way." Feng Yi looked at Yao Qi with gratification. "His Majesty often says, 'It is in the fierce wind that one knows the strength of the grass, and in times of turmoil that one recognizes the loyal.' In this moment of crisis in Jiang-Han, it is indeed men of tiger-like courage who are needed!"

But he then looked outside the city again. The three giant bombards still stood there, shielded and guarded by the Wei army's strict and formidable encampment. "Cen Peng is cunning. Since he dares to place the three giant bombards so close to our outskirts, he must have taken precautions, perhaps even set an ambush, just waiting for us to take the risk and come out. If misfortune strikes, at best our elite troops are wiped out and a general is lost; at worst, the Wei army seizes the moment to break through the gates and enter the city, which would be even more disastrous."

Feng Yi had an idea. "Jia Fu, Governor of Shangyong under the Chengjia regime, previously routed a Wei flanking force and has since sent word that he is willing to serve the Great Han. At present, Jia Fu's force of three thousand men has moved south to the vicinity of Zhijiang County, a hundred li north of Ying County, placing them right on the Wei army's flank. I will immediately send men out by boat to take a roundabout route and try to establish contact, ordering him to harass the Wei army's rear. Only then will you, General, have the opportunity to launch a sortie from the city!"

"The success or failure of the Jiangling campaign hinges on this single move!"