Chapter 263: On the front line

At this time it is already three watch days. There is a mighty chariot team beside Shangwen. Only a small part of these chariots are horses, and most of them are still traditional ox carts. The carts are loaded with large quantities of materials. Medicinal materials, weapons, clothing, and a large number of machinery and equipment.

It took Shang Wen to persuade King Qin to let himself go to the northern front. Shang Wen explained many potential factors one after another, and explained that if these factors are not dealt with in a short period of time, they are likely to cause catastrophe. These things may only be solved by yourself.

King Qin strongly disagrees with Shang Wen's going, because the north is extremely cold. And Shang Wen's body is very weak. Shangwen made strong demands on the grounds of pathogens he had resisted. In addition, Wang Jian's heart is hanging on the front line soldiers. Reluctantly agreed, but a letter must be sent every day. Otherwise, withdraw immediately.

So Shangwen organized a large amount of materials to go together. Another purpose of Shangwen's visit this time was to start shipping heavy industrial equipment to Guyang, where Qin's first heavy industrial base would be set up. Therefore, some of the necessary equipment, such as hydraulic presses and stamping machine tools, have to be sent to the front line abruptly.

Old man Wei must be taken away. There are nine students walking with it. The old man's medical skills are really notorious. They mainly poke people's skins, open their stomachs, or knock people's heads to heal. It sounds terrifying. Therefore, many people are unwilling to learn, even though it is free. But staying with the dead all day long, if you are not sick, you must be sick. Able to gather nine people. It's already amazing.

To Shangwen's surprise, Yingyu actually came to see him off in person. Shangwen Nong was moved, but at a loss. This guy actually wants to keep communicating with Shang Wen. The reason is that without him, she couldn't handle the mess of Xianyang's affairs.

In this way, Shang Wen went to the front in a daze. Shangwen doesn't know what happened before.

Just when Shang Wen went there overnight. The Mengtian Ministry in the north was suffering unacceptably.

First of all, those soldiers who failed to treat in a cold environment have begun to show some symptoms of pneumonia. But the military is powerless. The worst part is that due to the dense population, the seriously ill and the normal soldiers still live together. The hidden danger of infection is completely buried.

Then came a lot of frostbite. The wound began to fester. The place where the soldiers live, plus rain and snow, is damp, and related diseases are also spreading.

The worst situation finally happened, the new gun group was suffering from gastrointestinal discomfort and the weather was cold. Some symptoms of dysentery began to appear, vomiting and diarrhea, and the place of excretion was dirty, and they had begun to infect each other.

The number of non-combatants in the Qin Army began to surge.

"Oh," Meng Tian looked at the military newspapers from the battalions sent by the guards. Very helpless.

"Go down." Meng Tian waved helplessly.

"Here." The guard retreated. Meng Tian was holding his head with his hands in a headache, and now he was not worried about the Yue army, because, because of the heavy snow, neither of the two sides was able to launch a large-scale offensive. On my own side, the biggest enemy is a series of illnesses brought about by severe cold. Military doctors simply cannot treat these diseases in time. They can only control this today, and they will be sick tomorrow. This one under control, it relapsed the next day. So repeatedly. Makes military doctors exhausted. In this regard, he can only prescribe some medicines.

And these battle reports on his desk, without exception, were all about the camps unable to fight due to illness. Now the number has surged to more than 10,000. This number is too big. Meng Tian felt that his opponent was not from the Yue family. It's these diseases. If this continues, he will be completely defeated. But as a soldier, not a doctor, there is no way at all.

When the Qin Army in the north was in trouble with disease, Zhao Jun was extremely fierce.

After the last artillery battle, Zhao Jun began to independently ponder the shortcomings of some artillery. The first is that the accuracy of the artillery is very poor. This is the first shortcoming of all the gunners gathered together. They clearly aimed at each other through the aiming camera above, but the artillery shells were wicked and could not be shot.

Then the artillery can only hit the city wall, not the soldiers on the city wall, and bombard the city wall. How many shells would it take to collapse the city wall. Even rammed earth. But it is thick enough. Direct bombardment is not feasible.

So someone proposed to unload the artillery from the gun mount. Placed in a trench, covered by a shield, and bombarded directly near the gate. In this way, the power of the artillery can be increased, and the accuracy can also be greatly improved. The idea was passed at once.

Some people have put forward a bolder idea. They believed that the artillery shells could fly out like a bow and arrow, so that they could fly so far and could bombard the Yan army from above. This idea is also very good. Get the approval of the gunners, so. Two-pronged approach. Zhao Jun launched another artillery battle the next day.

This time, Zhao Jun directly mounted two artillery on the trench and fired. The erection of the artillery is very time-consuming and laborious. The artillery at a far distance was directly mounted on the mound. The Qin Army’s gun mount had a maximum elevation angle of only twenty-five degrees. This angle is far from meeting the requirements of Zhao Jun's shooting. So they unloaded the artillery by themselves. Stand on the mound.

Then started firing. The propellant fired normally pushed the cannonball far away. Although the shells entered the city, the target was too big. The effect is not very obvious.

So the gunner Zhao Jun came up with another way, which is to reduce the use of propellant. And this method is one of the effective ways to reduce the initial velocity of the artillery.

So the Zhao Jun gunner reduced the propellant by nearly half. The artillery fired again. The cannonball fired in the open space in front of the city wall. The power is still insufficient. Have to add a little more. The gunner added 70% of the dose, but the cannonball accidentally grazed the city wall. One click on the middle tower. then. The charge was quickly controlled at 60%. At this time, a cannon was like a mortar, and its curved trajectory finally hit the Yan army on the tower. The morale of the Zhao army increased greatly, and more artillery joined in.

Zhao Jun’s artillery is a cannon, with high initial velocity and straight trajectory. However, the initial velocity of the artillery is greatly reduced by modifying the amount of medicine. Increase the elevation angle of the artillery. As a result, a cannon made Zhao Jun a mortar suitable for siege.

With the addition of mortars. More shells began to lean on the tower. The Yan army suffered heavy casualties and was unable to organize a counterattack.