Chapter 733: Ballista Team (1/2)
Translated by: Hypersheep325
Edited by: Michyrr
”Everyone else, stand aside!”
Thirty-some zhang from the most intense area of fighting, several black-armored soldiers kneeled on the ground, the swords in their hands pointed straight ahead.
”Ready!”
”Fire!”
Twang!
A bowstring vibrated and there was a massive boom as a long black arrow pierced through the air, instantly crossing the thirty-some zhang of distance. It struck a White Brave who had just climbed onto the wall, the enormous power bringing him over the wall and plunging him into the darkness.
A stalwart White Brave on the wall saw the large machine next to the black-armored soldiers and immediately paled. ”Ballistae! Careful!”
On the battlefield, ballistae would always be one of the greatest threats to cavalry. No matter how many toughening or defensive inscriptions were added to their plate armor, they would never be able to stop the nightmarish ballistae.
No one could have imagined that Wang Chong would use these inflexible, direct-firing, and rather inaccurate ballistae to defend the walls.
In contrast to an open battlefield where two armies clashed, the walls of the City of Steel were narrow, with no space to turn around. In addition, the distance of thirty-some zhang was far too little for the White Braves to dodge the bolts.
”Dodge!”
”Careful!”
……
The White Braves were all astonished and startled. Although Wang Chong only had four ballistae on the walls, the terror of these four ballistae was far more than any number of soldiers could bring.
Anyone struck by a bolt was certain to die.
All the White Braves instantly felt a helpless fear and found it difficult to fully utilize their strength.
”Rah! Let me do it! I'll kill them all!” a White Brave growled in Tibetan, his expression savage as he pulled out his scimitar and leapt forward. He wanted to convert his extreme speed into a jump that would bring him to the black-armored soldiers so that he could kill them all and destroy the ballistae.
But the White Brave could only make it several zhang before, boom! A pitch-black bolt thundered through his chest, sending his corpse flying and bringing it down almost one hundred zhang past the wall.
”Next one!”
”Ready!”
The officer commanding the four ballistae had an ashen complexion, but he remained extremely calm. After shooting down that White Brave, he immediately ordered for the next bolt to be loaded and aimed for the next shot.
The soldiers operating the ballistae seemed ordinary, but they were all elites that Wang Chong had selected from the Annan Protectorate. They were also involved in one of Wang Chong's new ballista experiments.
The greatest flaw of ballistae was the fact that they could only fire straight and lacked flexibility, making them very easy to dodge. Moreover, the manufacturing costs for the ballista bolts was extremely high. Thus, Wang Chong was attempting an experiment.
He had selected the soldiers from the army who displayed incredible talent in operating ballistae and formed them into small teams. In this way, he could somewhat resolve the problem of accuracy. In addition, this team of talented ballista operators would be able to display the might of the ballistae to their maximum extent.
From the current situation, it seemed like Wang Chong's experiment was bearing results.
The only problem was that ballistae were still a weapon under the control of the Imperial Court. Wang Chong could construct as many ballista bolts as he wanted, but he could not do the same for ballistae.
Even transferring these four ballistae had required Wang Chong to use King Song's influence in the court and a special application.
Twang!
Boom after boom filled the City of Steel, echoing far into the darkness. There might have been only four ballistae on the walls, but operated by those ballista teams, they fired very frequently.
The frequency of ballista fire made it seem like there were thirty or forty ballistae rather than just four. The White Braves on the wall were almost completely suppressed.
A few of the White Braves attempted to use other soldiers to cover them, but it was clear that all the White Braves had underestimated the accuracy of these four ballistae. Once the ballistae were visually calibrated, the White Braves would be shot the moment they revealed themselves.
The appearance of these four ballistae instantly altered the course of the battle on the walls.
……
”Wonderful! I knew Lord Marquis would have a way!”
”No wonder Lord Marquis didn't move. He already predicted all this!”
”Haha, Lord Marquis is a divine strategist. Not even the Tibetans or Mengshe Zhao were a match for him. I was just saying that these enemies could never stop him!”
”Heheh, and just who was trembling in fear just now?!”
The more than one hundred thousand workmen had been silently observing the battle from within the city this entire time. When they saw this sight, they instantly became confident. Wang Chong was the nail that kept the entire City of Steel firm.
Although they had all been somewhat dissatisfied to see Wang Chong just standing on the wall, by now, no one dared to doubt him.
In the distance, Wang Chong's back was illuminated in the swaying light of the fires, his clothes flapping in the wind. At this moment, the crowd saw Wang Chong's back as a majestic and stable mountain.