Chapter 939: First Volume, Chapter 939: Bed Crossbow Debuts

First Volume, Chapter 939: Bed Crossbow Debuts

First, on the front battlefield, according to Qin Feng's conception, even if the Enemy Army had absolute numerical superiority, it would not attack from all four sides simultaneously, because that would amount to directly weakening its own strength.

Even if sixteen thousand men attacked at once, divided into four fronts, each front would have only FourThousandBorderTroops launching the assault, while the Beixi Soldiers defending the City Wall numbered over four hundred.

Although the enemy-to-defender ratio remained tenfold, four hundred holding off four thousand was far easier than one thousand eight hundred holding off sixteen thousand.

Therefore, the most correct tactical arrangement remained concentrating all strength to break through at a single point, a full-scale Siege Warfare that placed immense strain on manpower and troop quality—neither the Di generals nor Qin Feng himself dared attempt it lightly.

Now, shifting perspective: how to spread the Enemy Army's forces from a single point, diluting the force of their final punch, became the core of Qin Feng's tactical thinking.

Reducing enemy numbers on the front, though stretching the DefensiveLine, also effectively widened the Battle Line.

But problems followed: this Battle Line could not be stretched too wide; if the Enemy Army densely spread across the entire City Wall, it would revert to the one thousand eight hundred versus sixteen thousand scenario, which was extremely disadvantageous for Qin Feng.

The ideal state was to split the Enemy Army's strength into two forces, forcing them to divide their attack into two directions.

Of course, the Enemy Army would never act according to Qin Feng's design; thus, how to lure and compel them to disperse their forces became a matter requiring all one's mental effort.

Beyond the contest of thought and tactical command, the hardware must also be absolutely reliable.

Qin Feng planned to place the defense's core on the left and right flanks—the eastern and western City Walls—so that even the dumbest Enemy Army would inevitably focus its main assault on the front and rear, namely the southern and northern City Walls.

The southern City Wall was the primary battlefield; the northern City Wall was the secondary battlefield.

When the Enemy Army launched its assault, only the necessary defensive force would remain on the front, while continuous reinforcements would be drawn from the eastern and western directions to support the front battlefield.

But even this would not stop the Enemy Army's advance.

After all, even if the Enemy Army split into two forces, the force of their final punch remained too great: at least ten thousand Enemy Army troops would strike the front battlefield, while the Rear battlefield faced pressure from six thousand.

Under the premise of avoiding massive casualties, stopping the Enemy Army's frontal assault could no longer be decided by manpower alone.

At this point, the Fire Oil and other Materials and Supplies Qin Feng had stockpiled in the storage depots came into use.

Of course, the most crucial element was the Siege Engineers who had arrived alongside the Beixi Soldiers.

Although there were only Ten Plus Siege Engineers, they needed only to master the core construction techniques; the rest of the laborious tasks could be handed over to conscripted laborers.

The tools assisting front-line defense included one essential item: the Catapult.

Although the Catapult was massive in size, all its component parts were large, with few intricate or time-consuming precision parts, making its construction relatively easier.

The other defensive tool was the Bed Crossbow!

The manufacturing process for the Bed Crossbow was far more complex than that of the Catapult; under no preparation, building one would require at least several months, and the Bow String and Bow Arm alone were troublesome.

But Qin Feng had already solved the two most difficult components in advance.

Among the Military Supplies secretly transported into Changshui County, besides Fire Oil, the most important items were the Bow Strings and Bow Arms, in all sizes, fully available.

Small-sized Bow Strings and Bow Arms could replace and repair those in the soldiers' Step Bows.

After all, bows, under high-intensity use, were extremely prone to "fatigue"; if the Bow Arm fatigued, it would easily snap; if the Bow String fatigued, it would directly break.

This was why, during peacetime, Bow Strings and Bow Arms were always stored separately—to prevent prolonged tension from causing fatigue.

Besides replacing and repairing Step Bow components, the remaining large-sized Bow Strings and Bow Arms were purely for constructing Bed Crossbow parts.

Under Qin Feng's guidance, the Tianji Camp had long mastered the Bed Crossbow's manufacturing method; the reason it had never been produced, and even been absent from Beixi County's arsenal, was not due to military or technical limitations, but political considerations.

After all, the Bed Crossbow did not merely enhance City defense slightly; once this defensive weapon debuted, the Liang Emperor would have no choice but to pressure Qin Feng into reinforcing every major City in Shedynasty.

Neighboring nations, upon learning Shedynasty had equipped Bed Crossbows, would react in a chain reaction.

The Bed Crossbow was no precision instrument; its core components were always the same few parts, and its operating principle was not complex at all.

The reason no nation had invented the Bed Crossbow was not a matter of capability, but of awareness.

No one knew such a defensive weapon existed, so naturally no one thought of it; but once it debuted, skilled artisans across all nations would soon unravel its secrets, and Bed Crossbows would rapidly spread everywhere.

Especially now that Qin Feng and the Di had switched roles: Qin Feng was the attacker, the Di the defender. If the secret of the Bed Crossbow were leaked at the war's outset, Qin Feng's own army, when besieging enemy cities, would be forced to face weapons of their own invention—why lift a stone only to drop it on one's own foot?

Thus, the Bed Crossbow, as one of the Tianji Camp's Jiwei secrets, had been firmly concealed by Qin Feng.

Had it not been for defending a lone city on foreign soil, Qin Feng still would not have revealed the Bed Crossbow so easily.

As long as as many Catapults and Bed Crossbows as possible could be constructed before the Enemy Army launched its assault, Changshui County's defense could be maximally fortified.

Upon learning Qin Feng had concealed such a devastating weapon, Ning Hu was left speechless.

"Brother Qin, you've hidden this too well!"

"To be honest, when you first decided to hold this lone city, I had my doubts—could we possibly withstand it with so few men?"

"Heh, you had this, why didn't you bring it out sooner?"

In response to Ning Hu's complaints, Qin Feng shrugged and said lightly, "You don't know the cost of rice and firewood unless you run a household. Many things require considering every angle—the Bed Crossbow is a political issue, not a military one."

"Forget it, you wouldn't understand."

Ning Hu chuckled, his eyes now brimming with confidence, and quickly asked: "Brother Qin, didn't you say earlier that the front must be solid, but the rear must be flexible?"

"How exactly is it flexible?"

Qin Feng, hands behind his back, gazed at the deep sky beyond the City Wall and said solemnly: "When a great building is about to collapse, all demons and monsters will emerge!"

"The Wild Emperor Party has stirred up chaos in Zhuozhou for so long; Night Owl and the Di King are growing apart—surely something must have come of it?"