Chapter 272
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Chapter 272: Zhou Dongnan’s Trump Card
Luo Ji’s words clearly startled Zhou Yi.
To beat them back directly?
Did he really think Shangyuan City’s 2,000 strong army and siege weapons were made of paper?
What bewildered him the most was that Zhao Pan, upon hearing this, showed almost no reaction.
He was neither arrogant nor nervous, he simply stood there, composed.
However, as a newcomer, Zhou Yi wouldn’t know that, according to Zhao Pan’s way of thinking, since Luo Ji said he could beat the enemy back, it was most likely true.
If he failed to do so, it would certainly be due to a mistake he made while commanding the battle, his own oversight.
“You brought troops here. Is everything alright at Iron Wall City?”
Luo Ji asked casually as he walked with Zhao Pan towards the General’s Mansion.
“Please rest assured, Chief. Liu Tao and Zhang Lue are now capable generals in their own right. Furthermore, they are familiar with Iron Wall City’s military affairs. Even in my absence, they can handle it. Not to mention Liu Zheng personally stationed there, so there should be no problems.”
“Since you’ve said so, I’m relieved.”
Zhao Pan’s words clearly put Luo Ji at ease because Zhao Pan’s character was always straightforward.
He never exaggerated or pretended.
If he said there was no problem, then there was most likely no problem.
It’s worth mentioning that Liu Tao and Zhang Lue, mentioned by Zhao Pan, were actually the two deputy generals Luo Ji had found for him.
Of course, when finding deputy generals, Luo Ji didn’t just pick anyone.
A deputy general’s position, after all, included the word ‘general.’
Under normal circumstances, they were the second-in-command of an army, so he couldn’t just assign two incompetent people.
Moreover, being Zhao Pan’s deputy generals meant they had an opportunity to learn from Zhao Pan, so he certainly couldn’t be careless!
Therefore, both of them were talented individuals of good general quality.
Liu Tao was a general-type talent with a single leadership stat capped at 4-stars, while Zhang Lue was a strategist-type talent with a single intelligence stat capped at 4-stars. If cultivated well, both were capable of leading troops independently.
With them managing Iron Wall City’s military affairs, and the veteran general Liu Zheng stationed there, Iron Wall City was undoubtedly secure.
“We can reminisce later. Let me first tell you about the current situation, as well as the enemy’s troop deployment and composition.”
Back in the General’s Mansion, Luo Ji spread out a map on the table and directly cut to the chase.
As a highly responsible workaholic, Zhao Pan naturally had no objections.
The overall situation was relatively simple to summarize and could be explained in just a few sentences.
Therefore, Luo Ji focused on the enemy’s siege forces, and the key elements of those forces were undoubtedly the two siege towers and the scaling ladder units.
After all, Luo Ji’s civilization did not possess super-large siege engines like siege towers, nor did it have scaling ladder units like theirs, because he didn’t temporarily need them.
The characteristic of siege equipment like scaling ladder units and siege towers was to avoid head-on confrontation with the opposing city wall and directly achieve the goal of occupation by ascending the enemy’s walls.
For Luo Ji, who possessed triple-bow crossbows, he could simply destroy the enemy’s city gates and push through directly.
There was no need for such indirect methods of attack.
Moreover, the cost of that indirect approach was not small.
The height of each siege tower had to be level with the city wall.
Just imagining it, one should know how much time, resources, and manpower would be required to construct such a super large siege engine.
At the same time, Luo Ji genuinely didn’t know the specific effectiveness of these two siege towers because he had never witnessed them firsthand.
As such, he simply handed over the explanation task to Zhou Yi.
As a former soldier of the Great Zhou, Zhou Yi had clearly witnessed the power of siege towers.
Now, he explained it quite methodically.
“Siege towers usually advance with the infantry units. Their massive size allows these two siege towers to draw a lot of fire for the infantry units, but this is actually a trap.”
“A trap?”
Zhao Pan cast an inquiring look at Zhou Yi.
“Yes.” Zhou Yi nodded.
“A large portion of the siege tower is made of bronze. Archer attacks simply cannot penetrate that layer of bronze plating. Concentrating fire on the siege tower will often be futile.”
“They actually used bronze.”
At that time, the distance was too far, and the siege towers had remained at the back, never pushed forward.
Even with binoculars, it was difficult to see the material of the siege towers’ surfaces in detail.
Now, hearing Zhou Yi say that the siege towers’ surface plating was made of bronze, Luo Ji was clearly surprised.
This was essentially a Bronze Age armored vehicle.
As expected of an experienced player who had developed for at least several decades in the Bronze rank, while consuming bronze to forge weapons and armor, he also managed to accumulate two armored vehicles.
No wonder these two siege towers could be hidden by Zhou Dongnan as a trump card.
After a slight pause, Zhou Yi continued.
“When the siege tower is pushed to the city wall, the vertical bronze plating will be lowered, and the soldiers hiding inside can easily rush onto the city wall.”
“What about the number of soldiers? How many soldiers can one siege tower carry?”
Zhao Pan, with his rich experience in defensive battles, immediately identified the key point and asked.
“A siege tower has two levels, and each level have 40 to 50 people.”
“That means nearly 100 people for two levels, and two siege towers can transport about 200 enemy troops onto the city wall in one go.”
As he spoke, Luo Ji’s voice became slightly more solemn.
200 enemy troops suddenly bursting onto the city wall was a headache just to imagine.
“Arranging the appropriate shield-axe soldiers on the city wall should allow us to handle it.”
Zhao Pan slowly stated, his composed tone making it impossible to discern whether he was confident or uneasy at that moment.
After Luo Ji, Zhou Yi felt that there was another person here whom he couldn’t quite figure out, but no matter what, he still had to remind them of everything that needed to be reminded.
Then, he continued.
“It’s not that simple. The back of the siege tower also has three rows of ladders.”
“In other words, once the siege tower gets close to the city wall, soldiers from the back can continuously climb up the three rows of ladders onto the siege tower, and then ascend the city wall through the siege tower.”
This time, it truly gave both of them a headache. Luo Ji’s brows furrowed instantly.
“Can the crossbows penetrate that bronze plating and destroy the siege tower?”
This kind of thing must have been done by other players in previous siege battles, and Luo Ji needed an answer!
“That depends on the distance.”
“Leaving noticeable dents is possible.”
“The siege towers usually need repairs after each use.”
“As for direct penetration, your subordinate believes it’s unlikely because the bronze plating is very thick.”
As he spoke, Zhou Yi even gestured slightly.
This gesture made Luo Ji and Zhao Pan’s moods even heavier.
Zhou Dongnan had truly gone all out for these two siege towers!
Bronze plating as thick as a brick, it was a wonder he managed to install it.
The cost of these two siege towers was probably several times more exaggerated than Luo Ji had anticipated.
