Chapter 229
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Chapter 229: Tank Formation
Taking two deep breaths, Wang Luzong adjusted his mindset, determined to test the opponent’s depth.
Besides, he had brought his siege weapons this time, and military expenses were very costly.
If he retreated without even fighting, wouldn’t he suffer a huge loss?
Thinking this, Wang Luzong immediately waved his hand, signaling his troops to push the siege engines out onto the plains.
Hiding in the forest wouldn’t allow them to set up a proper formation, making a direct siege impossible.
The commotion in the distance obviously caught Luo Ji’s attention.
Using his telescope, he saw the siege engines the opponent was using, and his pupils contracted.
“Bed crossbows…”
Luo Ji wasn’t too surprised that Wang Luzong possessed bed crossbows, because the earliest bed crossbows were siege weapons from their Heavenly Dynasty’s Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods.
It was not uncommon for Bronze Tier players to possess this siege weapon, and his triple-bow bed crossbow was the ultimate enhanced version in the ‘bed crossbow’ series.
The appearance of the opposing bed crossbows undoubtedly proved that his full-scale construction of the city walls was the correct move.
Luo Ji wasn’t afraid of them.
For a siege weapon, boasting about maximum range was useless, effective range was what mattered.
For example, his triple-bow bed crossbow was recorded to have a maximum range of over 1,500 meters, one of the highest range records in the cold weapon era.
It certainly looked impressive, but Luo Ji knew that if it truly flew that far, the heavy crossbow bolt fired would essentially have no power left.
The simplest way to know the effective range was to cut the maximum range in half, and the resulting number would be roughly the limit of the effective range.
Of course, this wasn’t perfectly accurate, but it conveyed the general idea.
The bed crossbows Wang Luzong deployed were at least several eras behind his.
They couldn’t compare to his triple-bow bed crossbow in terms of range and power.
As long as the opponent couldn’t attack him from outside his range, the advantage was undoubtedly on his side!
However, being a Bronze Tier player, the initial display was quite substantial.
They even luxuriously deployed a dedicated unit of large shield soldiers to protect the two bed crossbows as they pushed forward, followed by a siege tower.
Needless to say, this was a fairly typical siege setup.
The troop types following behind were shield-axe soldiers, halberd soldiers, and archers, respectively.
These three troop types formed three neat phalanxes, slowly advancing behind the siege engines.
Their numbers were considerable.
As expected of a Bronze Tier veteran, without knowing his troop composition, they could casually dispatch hundreds of troops to besiege the city right away.
This was indeed different from those unranked newcomers still in the novice village.
Luo Ji was not flustered.
After the population explosion during the previous period, his civilization’s military strength was already far greater than before.
And with the help of this city wall, he could leverage an even greater advantage, height advantage!
Ranged units standing on higher ground or at a higher elevation could achieve greater range and combat power.
This was not only reflected in some games, but also true in reality, due to the principles of projectile motion, which won’t be elaborated on here.
Orders were rapidly issued one after another.
Originally, Luo Ji relied more on his slinger unit in defensive battles, but considering the threat of the two opposing bed crossbows, he also deployed an additional archer unit on the city wall.
If any unforeseen situation arose, he could adapt accordingly.
After all, the archer unit’s equipment had also been upgraded.
The grasslanders’ horn bows had given Ye Xuan inspiration.
After a series of modifications, the archer unit now possessed greater range and stronger power.
Luo Ji already knew the opponent’s strategy.
It was nothing more than first using the two bed crossbows to destroy his city gate and walls.
Once the city gate was completely demolished by the bed crossbows, or all the heavy crossbow bolts specifically for the bed crossbows were used up, they would then have the infantry unit push the siege tower to begin the siege.
This was the most common siege strategy and a classic tactic that had been used for many years.
With a simple raising of a hand, the slinger unit and archer unit, which had already ascended the city wall, entered their ready phases.
Luo Ji continued to observe the opponent’s movements with his monocular telescope.
When the city walls were built, he had already reconfirmed the attack ranges of both troop types.
So, he knew exactly what targets the slinger unit could hit and what targets the archer unit could hit.
He just waited for the opponent to enter attack range before signaling his troops behind him to open fire.
However, the range of the opponent’s early bed crossbows was somewhat beyond his expectation.
At that position, the slinger unit wasn’t unable to hit, but it was a bit strained.
Thinking of this, Luo Ji changed his hand gesture.
“Slinger unit, temporarily retreat!”
“Archer unit, advance!”
“Target, the two bed crossbows outside the city!”
“All-out volley ready!”
“Now fire arrows!!”
At his command, a large shower of arrows flew out!
As the attacking side directly facing this volley of arrows, Wang Luzong’s eyes flashed with surprise.
He clearly hadn’t expected the opponent’s archer unit to have a much longer range than he anticipated.
However, being an old veteran, he wasn’t intimidated by this minor setback.
His reaction was still swift.
He could be heard shouting continuous orders.
“Large shield unit, form a shield formation! Cover the bed crossbows’ firing!”
As Wang Luzong’s order was given, large shields, like door panels, quickly pieced together, forming a solid shield wall that protected both the bed crossbows and the soldiers operating them.
To allow for the bed crossbows to fire, a sufficient opening for heavy crossbow bolts to be shot was deliberately left.
Seeing this, Luo Ji couldn’t help but raise his eyebrows.
This formation was interesting, and it must have been inspired by the design of tanks.
It was surprisingly creative.
Indeed, when combined with modern human knowledge, even on a cold weapon battlefield, many interesting things could be created.
“Bang! Bang!!”
Two consecutive loud thuds.
The heavy crossbow bolts flying through the air directly struck the majestic city walls of Mirror City, creating two small craters on the wall surface while also exposing their weakness.
The earliest bed crossbows, putting aside their power and range, also suffered from a rather vexing flaw, namely their very poor accuracy.
The heavy crossbow bolts themselves were already imprecise.
In this situation, they adopted this tank-like formation that directly protected the bed crossbows and soldiers inside.
This formation almost completely blocked the vision of the soldiers behind, and they could only confirm and adjust the attack angle through the verbal commands of another soldier.
To be honest, this truly was a tank-style combat method, but the result was even worse accuracy!
