Early the next morning, as soon as Li Mengxi opened his eyes and looked at the sky, he knew that he had woken up late again.

I don’t even have a clock, so I just rely on waking up naturally.

Looking to the side, he saw his younger brother looking at him with wide eyes, as if he had woken up early.

"Brick, wake up!" After sleeping all night, Li Mengxi still felt sleepy. He yawned and asked his brother to get up while getting dressed.

After breakfast in a hurry, Li Mengxi went to the city under the morning glow.

When he approached the city wall, Li Mengxi was stunned when he looked at the huge thing that was four meters high, three meters wide, with a roof like a spire, and almost as wide and tall as the city gate.

This thing is as big as a house.

Arriving at the top of the city tower, Li Mengxi saw Liu Bei who looked exhausted.

"Erxi, what do you think of this siege spine?" Liu Bei pointed at the siege spine under the city and asked Li Mengxi for credit.

Such a huge thing looks solid.

It exceeded Li Mengxi’s expectations.

Li Mengxi nodded and asked, "Maybe it can block a heavy stone roof attack?"

"Yes." Liu Bei said with certainty.

"Maybe ten times?"

"Yes." Liu Bei still said with certainty.

"How about the mobility? Can such a heavy car pass if there are rocks blocking the road in front?"

"Um," Liu Bei scratched his head, "I don't know."

"In addition to wood, what else can be used to reinforce the roof of the shed? If gold juice and hot oil are poured down on the city, there will be many gaps in the wood. How to cover it? Should it be made of cowhide or solid wood?"

"...I don't know." Liu Bei scratched his head until his hair almost fell off.

He originally thought that after a night of hard work, the carpenters had changed the siege spine no less than twenty times, thinking that the siege spine was already perfect.

Liu Bei smiled bitterly, "Erxi, you already knew, why didn't you tell me earlier? My hard work all night was in vain."

Li Mengxi was speechless, how did I know that the siege spine could be so abnormal and so big?

It was when he saw this thing that was as big as a house that Li Mengxi thought of mobility.

I don’t know how the village warriors transformed a small cart into such a big thing.

Liu Bei invited Li Mengxi to the general city to take a closer look, and Li Mengxi had exactly what he wanted.

The two siege cones have similar shapes, both with pointed tops.

The entire siege cone can only be entered from the rear. Except for the observation hole, the front is sealed tightly, just like a carriage.

Walking in from behind the siege vertebra, Li Mengxi found that the siege vertebra was higher than expected, and Liu Bei could easily stand down at such a height.

Inside, Li Mengxi was able to carefully observe the structure of this giant siege vertebra.

The chassis of the siege vertebra is still a cart, which has been widened a lot. Extending from the cart to both sides, there are many horizontal bars. These horizontal bars fix and support the wooden boards on both sides.

Therefore, it is inconvenient to move inside the siege vertebra. You have to lower your head and bend down to pass the crossbar when walking forward.

The first thing that puzzled Li Mengxi was that the siege vertebra did not seem to be a centrally symmetrical structure. If the attack stump of the siege vertebra was the center, the space on the left side would be much larger than the right side.

There is enough space for people to stand on the left side, but only enough room for people to stand sideways on the right side.

Li Mengxi wondered why the siege vertebra had such a strange structure.

Liu Bei explained that the city gate opening in Wen'an County was too small, and in order to reinforce the siege vertebra, the reinforcement structure inside the siege vertebra took up a lot of space. If two rows of people stood, they would not be able to stand, so it was a trade-off.

Such a strange structure.

Li Mengxi reluctantly accepted this statement.

Li Mengxi looked up again and looked at the rafters supporting the rafters above his head like roof beams. Li Mengxi was surprised.

The siege cone looks like a roof, but the structure inside is really similar to a roof.

However, even though the structure of the siege vertebra was so powerful, Li Mengxi still saw its shortcomings. He saw the light coming from above through the cracks in the wood on the roof.

If there are seams, the hot oil can flow down the seams.

With the sanitary conditions of this era, if a small bit of skin is scalded with hot oil and becomes ulcerated, it can easily lead to infection and death.

Although it is a small flaw, it may be a matter of life or death for a soldier.

"You can put a layer of leather on top to prevent the hot oil from seeping down." Li Mengxi said.

Liu Bei also got in. He raised his head and looked at the ceiling, "Three or two pieces of leather are enough."

Apart from this minor problem, Li Mengxi didn't find any major problems.

The working part of the siege vertebra was the most carefully crafted part of the siege vertebra. The wooden stakes were hung flat by ropes and constrained by the left and right wooden bars, they could only swing back and forth within a small range of movement.

There is an empty observation hole in the middle of the wooden board that is blocked in front of the siege vertebra. The observation hole is a rectangular vertical shape an arm's length wide. It can be used by the soldiers inside to observe the road conditions while the siege vertebra swings. It can also be used under inertia.

Follow this hole and smash into the enemy wall.

Li Mengxi looked at the observation hole that he could walk through by turning slightly sideways. With such a big gap, a crossbow arrow would still get through.

Maybe you can nail a movable baffle. When you haven't reached your destination, the baffle can block arrows. When you get to the city gate, you can take down the baffle.

Li Mengxi expressed his thoughts to Liu Bei.

A happy smile appeared on Liu Bei's face, "In the early morning, I mentioned this to the carpenter, haha! Xi'er, this time I was more thoughtful than you!"

No wonder Liu Bei was so excited. Li Mengxi has always been extremely cautious. When thinking about problems, he can always think of other people's unexpected oversights. Liu Bei felt very accomplished if he could find the problem before Li Mengxi.

This small problem seems to be no longer a problem.

There is only one question left. The defensive power of such a huge siege vertebra is not a problem, but if the road is blocked by the big rocks left from the top of the city, can the small wheels of the siege vertebra be able to hold down the stones?

past?

Otherwise, you will not be able to climb up a small slope. No matter how strong the siege spine is, it will still be a target.

The carpenter worked all night and went back to eat.

In order to wait for Li Mengxi to arrive, Liu Bei did not eat. He said goodbye to Li Mengxi first, and Liu Bei hurried to eat.

Arriving early and having to wait for someone, Li Mengxi climbed up the city wall and lay down on the battlements in boredom, watching the rising sun.

About a moment later, the carpenters came one after another. The heads of the country warriors who had suffered from bruises and swollen faces during yesterday's practice had become as swollen as pig heads overnight. Although they were very unkind, Li Mengxi couldn't help it even though it was because of himself.

Want to laugh.

The village warriors had already gone to practice the tactics of attacking and defending the city. Li Mengxi asked the carpenters to go to the city to find big stones and pile them at the gate of the city.

After the obstacles were set up, eight or nine carpenters walked into the siege spine, bent down, and pushed the horizontal bars to push the siege spine forward.

Stones blocked the road, and a piece of limestone as big as a basin blocked the road. The baffle in front of the siege vertebra hit the stone, causing the siege vertebra to stop.

If someone can come out and move the stone a little, we can continue walking.

Do you need to remove all the baffles in front of the siege spine?

Maybe it's not necessary. Just dismantle half of it and make the "chassis" of the siege cone a little higher, and it will be passable.

But if it is dismantled in half, there will be loopholes in the defense.

Perhaps the responsibility can be given to the accompanying sword and shield soldiers, who are responsible for clearing small obstacles for the siege spine.

Maybe this method is better. Li Mengxi's slightly frowned brows relaxed a little.

It suddenly occurred to him that not all obstacles are easy to clear.

Take the millstone for example. The enemy defenders moved the large millstone to the city and then pushed it down.

Large angular stones can still be pushed, and even a millstone weighing several hundred kilograms can't be pushed flat against the ground.

The large millstone is thirty to forty centimeters thick, which is equivalent to a steep step thirty to forty centimeters high. If the city gate hole is really blocked, the siege spine will not be able to push it in.

Li Mengxi looked at the small wheel on the siege vertebra and fell into deep thought.

Li Mengxi thought of tank tracks. Unlike wheeled vehicles, tracked vehicles have a strong ability to overcome obstacles.

But is it necessary to make crawler wheels in the Han Dynasty? Impossible.

There is only one way to improve the siege spine's ability to cope with complex road conditions, and that is to build large wheels.

Generally speaking, if the height of the obstacle does not exceed one-third of the diameter of the wheel, it will be easier for the wheel to drive over the obstacle.

Similarly, the larger the diameter of the wheel, the smaller the obstacle is, making it easier to pass the obstacle.

There are many carpenters in the army, and the technical content of wheels is not very high. Wheels twice as big can be made.
Chapter completed!