Chapter 55: Counterweight Trebuchet

It has been three years since the last orc invasion. Seeing that the war is approaching, in order to strengthen the armament, Richard found Sophia and Wendy, commanded some slave craftsmen, and successfully made a counterweight trebuchet.

When the main army of the Grant Kingdom is fighting, it usually temporarily trains several auxiliary battalions, one of which will be equipped with trebuchets and crossbows.

The trebuchet manufacturing process is very mature in the Dawn Continent. However, the craftsmen who are good at making trebuchets are basically controlled by the army and the nobles.

When Richard served in the Mad Lion Legion, he saw the trebuchet equipped by the heavy equipment brigade.

This trebuchet is a torsion trebuchet, which relies on twisted ropes to generate power to eject stone bullets.

The ejection rod is usually upright, with a leather bullet bag for projectiles at the top of the rod, and a tightly twisted horizontal rope inserted at the bottom of the rod.

When ejecting, first use a winch to pull the ejection rod to a nearly horizontal position, and put the projectiles in the leather bullet bag.

When the winch rope is released, the catapult rod returns to the vertical position to shoot the projectile.

This type of trebuchet can launch a weight of more than ten kilograms, with a range of about 200 meters.

However, this type of trebuchet has a disadvantage, which is that its accuracy is very low.

The elasticity of the rope is difficult to control, and the trajectory of each projection is different. It is difficult to use it to attack the enemy by calculating the trajectory.

The operation of this trebuchet depends entirely on the experience of the soldiers. Even if it is projected dozens of times, it may not hit the enemy.

In addition, the ten-kilogram stone bullet is slightly less powerful.

The main enemy of the northern lord is the orcs. The orcs are generally in good physical condition and march very fast. After several shots, the orcs have already approached the city wall and exceeded the range of the trebuchet.

Therefore, in the battle of defending the city, this type of trebuchet is not very useful.

Richard is going to make a counterweight trebuchet.

This trebuchet uses the principle of a lever, with a heavy object at one end and a stone bullet to be launched at the other end.

Before launching, the end where the ammunition is placed must be pulled down by a winch, pulley or directly by manpower, and the other end with the weight attached also rises at this time. After placing the stone bullet, release or cut the rope, let one end of the weight fall, and the stone bullet is also thrown out.

The counterweight trebuchet is not complicated to manufacture, and the principle is also very simple.

The projection force of this device comes from the gravity of the heavy counterweight, not from the torsion of the rope like the trebuchet equipped by the legion.

As long as the mass of the counterweight and the weight of the projectile are determined, the stone bullet can be thrown to a fixed area more accurately.

According to the principle of lever, the trajectory can be calculated and the shooting table can be made.

Even if the soldier operating the trebuchet has no mathematical knowledge, as long as he operates according to the shooting table, sets the weight of the counterweight and the weight of the stone bullet, he can accurately project the stone bullet to a fixed area.

In addition, the counterweight trebuchet is very powerful and can project a stone bullet weighing 200 kilograms to 300 meters away.

200-jin stone bullets fell from the sky. Even a level 6 orc would be reduced to a meat pie if hit by one.

The counterweight trebuchet also has its disadvantages. This type of trebuchet is very large and heavy. The wood alone needs to fill 30 carriages, which is very inconvenient to move.

But it is very suitable for defending the city.

Richard and Sofia carefully measured the height of various parts of Fort William, calculated the most suitable trajectory, determined the weight of the counterweight and the weight of the stone bullet, and then began to make sixteen counterweight trebuchets and placed them on the top of Fort William.

With these sixteen counterweight trebuchets, it is enough to block the valley of Harland Canyon.

If the orcs invade from here, they will inevitably be hit and bloody. Without paying a huge price, they will not be able to pass this road of death.

Seeing the outstanding effect of the counterweight trebuchet, Sofia also prepared to make a few in Fort Wick.

Unfortunately, Fort Wick did not have enough wood in stock, so only two counterweight trebuchets were made.

Now that the war is approaching, wood is also a very important strategic resource. Even if Sofia wants to buy wood, the wood near Black River Fort has already been taken.

Harland's territory is not short of wood. Richard's important job in the past two years is to command slaves to cut wood.

The cut wood has filled the warehouse.

However, the two places are dozens of kilometers apart, and transporting wood requires a lot of manpower and livestock.

After all, there are no rivers between the two places, and the roads are mainly mountainous terrain.

In the end, Richard sent troops to participate in the transportation, and only then did he replenish some wood for Vickburg, and Sofia's counterweight catapults were also equipped with six units.

In addition to the counterweight catapults, Richard also installed a part of the bed crossbow on the top of William Castle.

After killing the rhinoceros, the Harland family obtained a large amount of animal tendons.

The tendons of the magic beast are very tough and can be used to make bowstrings for enchanted crossbows.

It's a pity that I can't find the bow arm material for a while, otherwise I can make a few enchanted crossbows.

Since enchanted crossbows cannot be built now, Richard simply made four crossbows with rhinoceros tendons.

The crossbow made of Warcraft tendons has a very long range and can project spears two kilometers away.

Even if a strong Tauren professional is shot by a crossbow, his body will be penetrated instantly. Without the treatment of a priest, it is difficult to save his life.

The disadvantage of the Warcraft crossbow is that it is difficult to string it. It requires the cooperation of sixteen soldiers to pull the bowstring.

Nevertheless, the addition of four crossbows on the top of the city can greatly strengthen the defense of Fort William.

Just as Richard was preparing for the battle step by step.

In mid-March of the 3255th year of the Dawn Calendar, a squadron of orcs appeared at the entrance of the Harland Valley.

After receiving the news from the scouts, Richard immediately sent soldiers to Black River Castle to inform the enemy situation, and also informed the relatives and friends of the Harland family.

Sophia and Soros received the intelligence one after another, and Richard also wrote a letter to Soros, hoping that he would bring his mercenaries to William Castle to garrison.

In the northern region, mercenaries are cannon fodder to cooperate with the regular army.

If it weren't for William's secret care, Soros would probably have been assigned a difficult task.

Despite this, the mercenary group under Soros's command has a much faster renewal rate than the regular army.

Even if some mercenaries can survive the war, these mercenaries who have experienced the war will be recruited by the regular army.

If it weren't for his brother Baron Dark's interference, Soros might have served as the captain of the Grizzly Legion.

Although the mercenary leader has more freedom, his social status is far inferior to that of the captain of the regular army.

Now the Harland family has become a hereditary noble family, and Soros is very envious of this achievement.

After years of hard work in the establishment of the mercenary group, Soros's military achievements are still far from being awarded the title of nobility.

Now he has the intention of leading the mercenary group to serve the Harland family.