xymnovel Chapter 401 Marching Through the Snow!
Chapter 401 Marching Through the Snow!
Upon hearing this, Fusu gasped, "In that case, wouldn't our 300,000-strong army be trapped at the foot of this mountain, unable to advance or retreat?"
"What the eldest son says is absolutely right."
Wang Li, standing nearby, couldn't help but interject, his face full of bitterness, "If we force our way over the mountain, the non-combat casualties will likely reach an extremely terrifying number! Even more fatal is the logistics!"
Wang Li looked at Zhang Fan and sighed, "Immortal Master, your invention of the 'ball bearing' is truly a divine artifact. Along our journey, the bearing-powered carts transported grain across flat ground and frozen soil with incredible speed, saving us a tremendous amount of effort!"
"But...this thing doesn't work in the snow!"
Wang Li gestured with his hands, slapping his thigh in frustration, "The thick snow has shoved the wheels into the snow, and the axle is completely blocked! What was originally a carriage pulled by one horse is now stuck in a snow pit, and even five or six strong men pushing from behind can't budge it an inch!"
Without supplies and provisions to keep up, even if the army manages to cross the Yin Mountains by sheer luck, they'll be fighting the Xiongnu on empty stomachs once they reach the grasslands. This battle... is unwinnable!
The entire tent fell into a deathly silence.
The only sound was the crackling of burning charcoal in the brazier.
Snow has blocked the mountain pass.
Foot soldiers struggled to move, warhorses slipped, and supply wagons were paralyzed.
This is simply an unsolvable dead end set up by nature!
Meng Tian and Wang Li stared longingly at Zhang Fan.
In their minds, since this immortal master could create divine objects like trains and bearings, perhaps he could also conjure up some magical treasure to break the deadlock in this icy and snowy world.
Looking at the snow model on the sand table and listening to Meng Tian and Wang Li's complaints, Zhang Fan did not show any panic.
Instead, he smiled slightly.
"I thought it was some serious, desperate situation..."
Zhang Fan chuckled, crossed his arms, and glanced at Meng Tian and Wang Li's astonished faces. "The warhorses are slipping on the ice? The wheels are stuck in the snow? The infantry are struggling to traverse the snow?"
"General Meng, General Wang, if I told you that I could make the army move swiftly across the snow, even faster than they could run on flat ground..."
Moreover, I can make those grain-carrying wagons slide directly across the snow without wheels…”
Zhang Fan tilted his head slightly, his eyes filled with confidence:
Is this problem solvable?
Inside the tent, Meng Tian and Wang Li were both stunned by Zhang Fan's words, "sliding on the snow."
The two stared at each other, their faces filled with disbelief.
"No wheels... gliding across the snow?"
Wang Li scratched his head and said with a wry smile, "Immortal Master, are you joking? A supply wagon loaded with grain weighs a thousand catties. Without wheels, it would just be a huge log pressed firmly against the snow. How could a horse possibly pull it?"
Although Meng Tian did not directly refute him, his furrowed brows revealed his doubts.
Zhang Fan didn't offer any further explanation. He walked directly to the desk, picked up a brush, and began to quickly sketch on the silk scroll.
A moment later, he handed the silk scroll to Meng Tian.
"Commander Meng, please take a look. This item is called a 'sled,' and it also comes with matching 'snowboards.'"
Zhang Fan pointed to the two streamlined long wooden planks with upturned ends on the blueprint and explained, "Remove the wheels from the supply wagon and fix the carriage to these two parallel long wooden planks."
Because the bottom of the wooden planks is smooth and has a large contact area, the weight of the carriage is evenly distributed, preventing it from sinking into the snow.
"Furthermore, the surface of ice and snow is naturally smooth with minimal friction. As long as the horses wear specially made non-slip iron shoes, pulling such a sled requires several times less effort than using wheels on flat ground!"
Meng Tian took the blueprints. As a renowned general, he possessed exceptional military acumen.
He stared intently at the stress structure on the blueprints, frantically imagining the sled gliding across the ice and snow in his mind.
In less than ten breaths, Meng Tian's eyes suddenly lit up, and his breathing became rapid.
"Wonderful! Absolutely wonderful!"
Meng Tian slapped his thigh, his face flushed with excitement, "Increase the contact area and turn the trap into a slippery one!"
Such a simple truth, how could I, a general who has fought all my life, never have thought of it!
Wang Li leaned closer for a look and gasped in surprise: "Where are these 'snowboards'?"
"Snowboards are for infantry. They're woven from bamboo and wood into an oval shape, like a tennis racket, and strapped to the soldier's boots. The principle is the same: distributing weight so soldiers can move swiftly and effortlessly through waist-deep snow!"
Zhang Fan clapped his hands and looked at the two of them. "How about it? With these two things, is the heavy snow in Yinshan still an obstacle?"
"Not only are they not an obstacle, but they are actually an asset to our Great Qin cavalry, like divine soldiers descending from the heavens!"
Meng Tian bowed deeply to Zhang Fan with great excitement, "Master, you are truly a divine being! This humble general will immediately order the entire army to cut down trees and work through the night to make sleds and snowboards!"
At Meng Tian's command, the entire Qin camp on the southern slope of Yinshan Mountain instantly erupted in excitement.
"Commander Meng has ordered! The entire army shall immediately cease setting up camp! Each battalion shall select its strongest men to go into the mountains to cut timber! The rest shall collect bamboo strips, rattan, and animal hides!"
"Unload all the wheels from the supply wagons! Quickly!"
Messengers rode swiftly, shuttling back and forth among the camps stretching for dozens of miles, loudly proclaiming the commander-in-chief's orders.
In the snow-covered camp, hundreds of thousands of Qin soldiers looked at each other in disbelief.
"Cut down trees to make long planks? And remove the wheels from the carriages? In this freezing weather, what is the commander thinking?" An old soldier with a face red from the cold rubbed his hands together, looking at the supply wagon beside him that had been dismantled down to just a carriage, his face full of heartache.
"Exactly! Without wheels, this carriage is just like a giant wooden coffin lying flat on the ground. It's already difficult to walk on this snowy ground, how are we supposed to haul the supplies?"
"And that 'snowboard' thing, they say you have to tie something like a net to your feet. Won't you trip over it and die?"
Whispers spread through the various tents.
These were all veterans who had fought their way through countless battles on the battlefields of the six kingdoms. They were not afraid of death or the Xiongnu, but this kind of military order that defied common sense left them completely baffled.
"Shut up, all of you!"
A loud shout rang out.
Wang Li rode his warhorse, whip in hand, and patrolled the entire camp, surrounded by a group of guards.
His eyes widened as he scanned the soldiers who looked doubtful, and he shouted sternly:
"Military orders are absolute! This is a breakthrough technique personally bestowed by the Imperial Preceptor Zhang Xianshi!"
Anyone who dares to utter even the slightest complaint, disrupting the morale of our troops, will be dealt with according to military law!
"Get to work! Before dawn, we must produce ten thousand snowboards and two thousand sleds!"
Upon hearing that it was a method from a "celestial master," most of the doubts in the hearts of the Qin people immediately dissipated.
After all, they had personally witnessed the "triangular bayonet" and "bearing" invented by the immortal master.
That's absolutely awesome!
Absolutely flawless!
"promise!"