After yesterday's siege, all the siege ladders were left under the city and have not yet been cleaned up.

Walking along the city, from one end to the other, Li Mengxi suddenly saw something strange.

There was a siege ladder in front of me. This siege ladder actually did not cross the trench at all, but was built directly from the end of the trench to the top of the city.

With such a large span, the ladder could still reach the top of the city. Li Mengxi was extremely surprised. He did not expect that there would be such a long ladder.

When explaining to the carpenters before the siege, they only mentioned the minimum size, but not the maximum length. As long as the carpenters didn't make it short, it didn't matter if it was long.

Which divine carpenter made such a ladder that could cross a deep trench and reach the top of the city?

This could obviously be a mistake, where a carpenter got the dimensions wrong and made an extra-long ladder.

Then, during the inspection, as long as the ladder is not short, there will be no problem.

When the siege team was carrying the ladder for use, they met the centurion who was quick and resourceful. Seeing that the trench was too deep and the ladder was long enough, the centurion decided to give it a try, and then he directly lowered the ladder.

If you try it, you can really reach the top of the city.

Okay, now there is the fourth way to crack the city moat - make an extended version of the siege ladder, directly across the city moat and build it directly to the city head.

This is a clever method.

But a problem arises from this. There are four methods for breaking trenches: earth filling method, shield bridge filling trench method, trench bridge method, and now the long ladder method.

The first three methods are all methods of turning trenches into smooth roads, but the fourth method does not fall into this category.

Of the four methods of breaking trenches, if you use one, you cannot use the second. If you use the filling method, you cannot and do not need to use shield bridges, trench bridges, and long ladder methods.

In the same way, if trench bridges are used, there is no need to use the other three rules.

So, what are the advantages and disadvantages of the long ladder method and the other three methods?

When attacking a city, the speed at which troops are deployed to the top of the city is the key to breaking the city. The most important core of all ant-based siege methods must be to do everything possible to increase the speed at which manpower is deployed.

Thinking about it this way, maybe the long ladder method has its disadvantages in terms of the speed of deploying troops.

The other three methods are to change the trench into a smooth road. The siege is equivalent to walking on a flat road and then climbing a short ladder.

As for the long ladder method, the siege soldiers had to climb a long ladder, starting from the end of the trench and climbing all the way to the top of the city.

The speed of climbing stairs is much slower than the speed of running.

As a result, the speed of climbing long ladders to put in manpower is much slower.

Therefore, if the four methods of breaking trenches are prioritized, the long ladder method should be the last priority.

The other three methods can ensure the speed of manpower deployment at the top of the city, but the long ladder method is a bit slower than the manpower deployment speed.

The disadvantages of the long ladder method are as follows.

If you think about it carefully, the long ladder method also has its advantages. The operation of the long ladder method is extremely simple. If you encounter a small city with a narrow moat, and the siege ladder is slightly longer than ten feet, you can cross from one end of the moat to the other side of the city.

This saves the time of filling the soil, setting up a shield bridge, and then making a trench bridge, etc.

When time is tight, directly using the long ladder method can save a lot of time.

After taking a serious look at the long ladder, Li Mengxi continued to go down to review.

Walking down, I saw a broken siege ladder by the city wall from time to time. None of these broken siege ladders were broken because they were broken. Instead, they suffered violent damage and were smashed.

.

I carefully looked at all the broken siege ladders one by one. Either the steps were broken or the main shaft was broken. Each one was more damaged than the last. The most seriously damaged one fell apart.

More than half of the steps were scattered, leaving only two shafts, one of which was still broken.

When he reached the end of the road and reached the corner of Beicheng, Li Mengxi calculated that of the fifty siege ladders he had come along, fourteen were damaged. This number was quite astonishing.

Li Mengxi was extremely confused. During the siege of Wen'an County in Japan, only a few of the siege ladders were broken. But this time, a quarter of them were broken.

Could it be that the craftsmen cut corners?

impossible.

During the Wen'an County siege, there was a shortage of tools and wood. The carpenters also lacked experience in making siege ladders, and there were also insufficient manpower at the time. The quality of the siege ladders built during the siege in Wen'an County was simply not as good as those built this time.

Compare.

But why, the quality of siege ladders is obviously better, but there are more bad ones.

Li Mengxi, who was puzzled, moved his eyes upward and looked towards the city head.

Oh, maybe the enemy was well prepared and had many stones prepared, so the ladder was broken. Nanhe City is a big city, and the encounter was with the main force of Zhang Bao's tribe, so it is normal for the Yellow Turbans to be well prepared.

But when I think about it carefully, it doesn't seem right. No matter how many stones he reserves in the Yellow Turban, it can only increase the duration of the stone's continuous attack, but it cannot increase the intensity of the attack.

It's very simple. Although the cities are different in size, they all have battlements. In the city of Wen'an County, two yellow scarves carried stones at the battlements and threw them down. Only one stone could be thrown at a time.

Although Nanhe City is large, at the battlements of Nanhe City, when Huang Jin throws stones down, he still throws one at a time.

When two cities are attacked, the frequency of rocks falling on the city should be the same.

But think carefully about yesterday's siege. Not long after the siege started, ladders were frequently smashed.

When Wen'an County attacked the city, the ladders did not break down so quickly.

The problem doesn't seem to be the stone itself.

Li Mengxi looked up at the city wall, frowning.

Since there are many siege ladders damaged this time, and the reason is not the number of stones in the Yellow Turbans, then what is the key?

What are the differences between Nanhe City and Wen'an County?

There is no doubt that Nanhe City is bigger, Wen'an County is smaller, Nanhe City Wall is taller, and Wen'an County City Wall is shorter...

Suddenly, an idea flashed, and Li Mengxi's eyes widened. He suddenly looked at the towering city wall, then looked sideways, and then looked at a damaged siege ladder not far away. That siege ladder, part of the middle ladder

The steps were smashed.

Yes!

It’s because of height!

Nanhe City is much taller, and the acceleration process takes a long time when stones are dropped, so the kinetic energy is greater and the destructive power is greater. That's why we attacked the city now and a large number of siege ladders were destroyed.

Unexpectedly, the city being two feet high could actually increase the destructive power of falling rocks on the city so much. Li Mengxi looked up at the towering city wall, thoughtfully.

This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! It seems that whether it is a siege ladder or a siege vertebra, these instruments should increase the sturdiness according to the height of the city wall.

In other words, the higher the city, the thicker and stronger the siege ladder should be.

A single oversight resulted in the destruction of a large number of siege ladders during the siege, resulting in numerous casualties. War is a bloody law, and lessons learned from war must be paid in blood.

Walking to the damaged siege ladder, Li Mengxi squatted there, holding a section of the ladder. He weighed the ladder and felt that something was wrong.

It seems like the wood is a little lighter, right?

It might be willow, Li Mengxi thought. According to Li Mengxi's limited knowledge of carpentry, among the commonly used woods, willow is probably the lightest and the least strong.

No wonder this section of the stairs was broken. The willow wood is not strong and naturally breaks easily.

It seems that the production of siege ladders is not rigorous enough. Not only good wood should be used for the steps of siege ladders, but rotten wood and light and brittle willow wood should be avoided as much as possible.

Siege ladders are different from ordinary ladders. An ordinary ladder can only step on people.

The siege ladder also has to withstand the impact of falling rocks from the city head, so it needs to be stronger.

This point is an oversight, and it is also something that Carpenter Camp did not realize.

There is no doubt that the steps should be made of solid wood. As for the main shaft of the siege ladder, Li Mengxi feels that the requirements for wood should not be so high because the force bearing directions are different.

The steps are horizontal, and the main axis of the ladder is slanted and vertical. Naturally, when stones are dropped, the horizontal ones will snap and break, while the vertical ones will snap off some bark.

That’s it, when making a siege ladder, good wood should be used first for the ladder.

Apart from the wrong use of willow wood for the steps, this damaged siege ladder had no other flaws, Li Mengxi thought.

In fact, if you look carefully, this siege ladder is big and wide enough.

Compared with the siege war in Wen'an County, when Wen'an County was short of men, wood, and tools, the siege ladders were narrow.

For this siege, the carpenters were rich in materials and tools. In order to make siege equipment, they brought several carts of good wood. Therefore, the siege ladder was made wide and large.

Take the width as an example, it is two or three times as wide as the siege ladder in Wen'an County, and the steps are also much thicker. The defense should be much stronger, but when encountering a fortified city, the defense has been improved, and there is no damage from falling rocks.

The strength increased a lot, so it fell into disrepair.

The siege ladder obviously needs strength. Li Mengxi believes that the methods to increase the strength are: first, materials, such as not using dead willow wood, but using solid wood as much as possible.

The second is to thicken the workpiece and replace the thin steps with thick steps.

As for the third point, it may be design.

As for how to design it, Li Mengxi fell into deep thought for a while.

The most important part of a siege ladder is the steps, because the steps are horizontal and can easily be broken by falling rocks. The most vulnerable part of the siege ladder is also the steps.

The most useful way to increase the strength of the siege ladder is to increase the strength of the ladder.

Design, how to design, the ladder is as simple as a stick, how can it be designed?

The dome structure can increase the strength. The wooden sticks can be stretched even if they are slightly curved. The steps can be made into arches, but it is too difficult and cost-effective. It is not feasible.
To be continued...