warring states careerist

Chapter 781 The Siege of Dangshan ([-])

Early the next morning, the engineering brigade had already started operations.

Behind them are almost all the artillery of the siege side, covering them and preventing the soldiers in the city from going out to counterattack.

With such a long distance, there is no need to worry that the copper cannons on the city can hit the engineers.

An infantry division was deployed behind the engineers, also to guard against counterattacks in the city, and a cavalry brigade was also on standby around.

The engineering brigade in Sishang was established very early, and it was the first "point-preparing warriors" who guarded the city during the Mozi era. There were many people from Zhaodi, Zhongshan and other places in it.

At the beginning, the composition of "Acupoint Preparers" was mainly craftsmen who dug wells in Song, Wei, Qi, Lu and other regions. They followed Mozi and used their ancestral skills as many skills in Mozi's "Preparing Acupoints". source of.

Wells appeared very early in Zhuxia. The special impact plain terrain in the Central Plains makes digging wells a very technical job: a little bit of poor digging will lead to subsidence and suffocation in the wells, so those who can dig wells in the Central Plains Everyone has certain skills.

After Mozi's death, he set up a special engineering army based on the acupuncturists, including some of his disciples; old miners from Dayeshan, Lingyang and other places; and some Zhongshan, Zhao and other places. It's... a young man from a family of tomb robbers.

Later generations of Tai Shigong said: Zhongshan is thin and the population is thin, but there are still remnants of the sand dunes.Husbands get together to play games, elegiac songs are generous, when they start, they follow each other, and when they rest, they dig graves and play tricks, so many beautiful things, to promote excellence...

What Tai Shigong means is that the people near Xingtai and Shijiazhuang planted the land during the busy farming season, robbed and murdered together during the slack season, and robbed graves at night...

It can be regarded as a regional characteristic at this time, because there were frequent wars there, and there were many cemeteries there before the Shang Dynasty as a palace, and the grassroots was basically in a state of no jurisdiction.

It is also an important road for horse trade in the north, and a transit point for trade between the north and the Central Plains, so people there gather together to rob and kill people as a sideline during the day, and dig graves to make a fortune at night.

This is an industry that has sprung up since the Spring and Autumn Period. Mohist burials are thin, and those who oppose them are thick burials; tomb robbers are in line with the times. Don’t you have thick burials?I'll dig my grave and get rich.

Speaking of which, the tomb robbers and the Mohists are actually at odds with each other in terms of "concepts": if they are all buried lightly, how can the tomb robbers get rich?

There have also been many conflicts between the two sides.

Later, the Mohists began to go north to Zhao and infiltrate Zhongshan. Gradually, many people joined the Mohism and entered the engineering army.

With well diggers, miners, and tomb robbers as the technical backbone, the engineering brigade helped Sishang win many siege battles after it was formed. array.

There are also many people who participated in the battle of King Chu's pacification of Prince Chen and Cai Ding's separatism, and many of the backbones were veterans who had served over age and were extremely skilled.

Chewing the betel nuts brought from the South China Sea, several veteran engineers leisurely held various tools for digging wells, robbing tombs and mining, waiting for the comrades in front to build a cover.

The engineers in the front used wicker baskets to load the soil, and after the infantry behind sent them, they piled up a bunker with wicker baskets, which was so thick that even if the bronze cannons on the city wall hit dead rats, the iron bullets would not hurt them. The man who dug the hole behind.

Every five steps or so, there is a veteran engineer ready to dig a hole. The 500 engineers in the engineering brigade are divided into three teams, with 500 people in each team.

After the wicker baskets in front were piled up, these engineers and soldiers who dug a lot of earth, camp trenches, crypt passages, graves, wells, mines, and canals began work.

Standing behind the wicker basket, they quickly dug a hole for their body, and followed the white line set by the staff officers to dig at the position of their companion five steps away.

The staff officers need to calculate the distance from the city wall and the height of the city wall to ensure that the depth is enough to avoid the lead and iron bullets shot from the top of the city. As soon as I opened my eyes, I knew how deep I should dig so far.

The shovels were flying extremely fast in the hands of these old pit diggers, and the soil was rustling, but it didn't splash around. Instead, it was all put into the wicker basket carried by the same robe behind.

The company commanders are responsible for using simple protractors to deploy the angle of digging according to the brigade-level orders, so as to ensure that the guns at the top of the city can neither hit the trench and cause longitudinal damage;

An hour of high-load work requires a lot of energy. These engineers are also treated very well. In addition to the normal military rations, they can also have half a catty of fat as a supplement every day.

At the southernmost trench opposite the city gate on the east side, a 12-year-old veteran who had been an engineer for [-] years was digging calmly and quickly. with experience.

Based on his experience, as long as he dug well and dug according to the requirements above, there would be no casualties at all.

If the people in the city had the confidence to fight in the field, these engineers would not be digging zigzag trenches at this time, but would follow behind the artillery to deploy artillery positions.

The old soldier was also interesting, and while digging, he joked with the new engineer behind him: "Tsk tsk, look, the most elite first division in Sishang is squatting behind our ass to protect us; our artillery who spends the most money also protects us." Us. The two most elite troops in the world are protecting us, isn't that a small face?"

The recruits behind laughed, and the veteran spat on his palms, and said, "When you dig, you have to use your strength. You can't dig carelessly. If you dig carelessly, your arms will get sore after a while. live."

"You have to dig like this..."

While talking, he made a few demonstration movements under the shadow of the wicker basket. These seemingly ordinary movements are the experience of these professional diggers who have dug for 12 years. They can only be passed on by precepts and deeds.

With a group of five, the veteran only digs one body, and then the other four people have to widen the hole dug by the veteran to one and a half steps.

After widening, infantry or second-line soldiers enter, and continue to widen to four steps, which is about six meters.

In addition to widening the rear pawns, they also need to use firewood and wicker baskets to place the packed soil on the outside of the trench to prevent bombardment from the city head.

The veterans have rich experience, and they only need to dig a trench of about four steps in an hour. The soil here is very soft, so there is really plenty of time.

He is not in a hurry, he has already passed the age of young people's "competition". Although he will not fall behind, he will not be too ahead.

There are a few young people in the company who are very active. During the drills on weekdays, they are in full swing. They can dig two steps when others dig one step.

Veterans also know that it is worthy of admiration, so naturally they don't feel that those people's publicity is hateful, and there is really no capital to settle down in the Sishang Army if they are not publicized.

It's just that praise is praise, but this veteran won't do that because he's too tired.He will never do less, if the order is given, he will work hard to complete it, but like today, digging four steps in an hour is really too easy, so he doesn't fight or chase, saving a lot of energy.

Twelve years ago, he was a young man with a heart of benefit to the world. Now he just regards being an engineer as a job: it is no different from farming or weaving.Anyway, I have served nine years overage, and I am paid a lot of money every year. It is not a problem to get married and have children.

In his opinion, this is the important point that Sishang will eventually benefit the world. If only relying on benefiting the world and aspiring to the world's ideals and enthusiasm, I am afraid that the Mo family will lose more than half of the people.

But speaking of it, he felt that he had done what he should have done, and he had executed the orders that should be executed, and he was still benefiting the world, but he was just a little behind others, and he was still better than those nobles. .

There are quite a few over-age veterans in the army, some of whom are purely interested in benefiting the world, and some who are used to life in the army and don't want to leave as a profession. The veteran who is digging a hole is the latter.

The old engineer's hands were extremely accurate, and while chatting, he asked the recruits to come up and try their hands.

In the end, he lifted up a ruler in his waist pocket, squinted his eyes to see how flat it was, and made a few shovels to level it out. As soon as he put the ruler back on his waist, the whistle for changing shifts sounded. Almost exactly.

After returning to the back along the widened trench and handing over, their company took a rest behind a soil slope and dispersed on the spot in units of teams. Some of the cooking teams brought rough tea with sugar and salt .

The old engineer raised the earthen pot and gulped half his stomach, took out another rationed brown sugar cube from his arms, threw it into his mouth, and held it in his mouth. There were still two shifts left, so he could take the opportunity to sleep for a while.

The young men in Wooli went to listen to the story told by the company representative, and the old soldier took off his hat and put it over his face to block the blinding sun, thinking about his children going to school.

Just before the start of the war, I received a letter from my family, saying that the child had failed in elementary school, and even failed to meet the mandatory requirement of [-] characters. money.

Thinking of this, the veteran smiled wryly. This was not the first time. He subconsciously touched the belt tied around his waist issued by the overage service, wondering if he should go back and let his son taste the taste of the belt buttocks, but Before, every time I went back and saw the child, I couldn't do anything, and I just scolded a few words and it was over.

"This time, I can't let you off lightly! But this kid really doesn't like to study, so he has to find a way. Xizi was transferred to the South China Sea to build a city before. It really can't be done. After he finishes his service, let him go to the South China Sea to venture."

While he was thinking about it, a few cannon shots were heard from the city wall in the distance.

The recruits who were still listening to the story at the representative of the company before stood up and looked at the partners who were taking over their digging in the distance, wondering if they were injured.

The old engineer didn't even bother to get up, and even the sound of the cannon didn't stop his thinking, as if he didn't hear it at all.

A few recruits came back in a hurry, surrounded him and said, "Chief Sima, did you hear that? The city has been bombarded."

The veteran grabbed the hat covering his face, waved his hand and said, "It's time to listen to stories, drink water, and squint for a while. The pit I dug, let alone seven or eight cannons in the city, Seventy or eighty doors are fine. Go, go, go..."

The old soldier thought to himself, those people in the city are really idle, not to mention that they can't be hit so far, even if they get closer to two hundred steps, what's the use of your bombardment?It might be useful to send people out of the city to harass people, but it really harassed people to rest.

(End of this chapter)