Tibet

The discussion finally formulated a strategy for attacking the nest car, which mainly focused on three levels of attack: far, middle, and near. The far was trebuchet, the middle was big yellow crossbow, and the near was heavy armored infantry, coupled with fire attack. The specific plan was prepared by Li Ye. Formulated personally.

But now Li Ye still needs some tools to detect the enemy's situation. He realized just now on the city wall that if he had a telescope, he could see more clearly and choose an attack plan early. He didn't have to wait until the chariot arrived at the city to consider what plan to use. .

After the discussion, Li Ye returned to his big account and took out a thick inventory. This was an inventory of items in the inner treasury. It was divided into two volumes: the Treasury Book and the Treasure House Book. He opened the Treasure House Book and searched for various items carefully.

It is not difficult to make telescopes. Crystal convex lenses have been around since the time of Emperor Ming of the Han Dynasty. They were used as magnifying glasses. In the Tang Dynasty, there were also reading glasses for the elderly, called 叆叇.

Since the Han Dynasty had convex lenses, the Tang Dynasty must also have them. Last time he found Donghai crystal to install glass on the carriage of his two wives. At that time, he knew that the crystal grinding technology in the Tang Dynasty was very developed, and it was the most developed place. He was in prison at the imperial court.

Li Ye only needed to find two convex lenses, one as the objective lens and the other as the eyepiece, and he could make a simple monocular telescope.

He suddenly found it, and there was a clear record of it, with a number of rings and lenses.

Li Ye stood up immediately and said: Let's go to Daming Palace!

Not long after, he hurried to the inner treasury of the Daming Palace with a few soldiers. The inner treasury was the treasure house of Emperor Li Longji. It was divided into two parts. One was the treasury, which was the warehouse where gold, silver and copper coins were placed, and the other was the treasury. It is a treasure house that collects all kinds of rare treasures.

Li Longji only took away some of the most precious treasures, mainly calligraphy and paintings. Other treasures and gold, silver and copper coins could not be taken away. They were all inherited by An Lushan and now fell into the hands of Li Ye.

Li Ye inspected the treasury the day after he captured Chang'an, and saw the three million gold coins he donated to Li Longji, intact in a large wooden box, with the seal of the Hezhong Governor's Mansion still attached. It really surprised him.

But he didn't have time to inspect the treasure house and was busy preparing for war all day.

The inner treasury manager was originally An Lushan's confidant, but now Li Ye replaced him with one of his confidants, named Liu Cheng. To be precise, he was his father Li Dai's confidant. He was a ninth-grade official in the Ministry of Revenue and served as the secretary-general.

Now he has been promoted to the seventh rank, Cang Cao Shen Military. Of course, there are several people in Cang Cao Shen Military, and Liu Cheng is in charge of the internal treasury.

Liu Cheng took Li Ye into the treasure house in the inner treasury. There were hundreds of iron shelves in the treasure house, and each shelf was filled with various exquisite treasure boxes.

Your Highness, these three rows are filled with various kinds of jade, and crystal products should be at the front.

Li Ye nodded, Go find it! Call me if you find it. I'll look at the jade and pick out a paperweight!

Liu Cheng walked quickly with a lantern. Li Ye picked up the lantern and looked carefully at the iron frame. Many of the jades were screens. He opened a box and inside was a white jade lion paperweight. This was Kungang jade. That is Qinghai material, which was sent to the court as tribute by the Han Dynasty. He didn't like it too much and wanted to find the raw stone.

Literati in the Tang and Song Dynasties all admired nature, and were very obsessed with the raw stones brought as tribute from Khotan. They played with them directly without carving them. Kungang jade is made from mountain materials, large rocks, and must be divided, carved, and polished before it can be made into a tool. .

Li Ye opened another box, which contained jade-carved stationery, including an inkstone, a pen holder, a pen washer, a pen holder, and a pen holder. They were very delicate.

Li Ye closed the box again, and when he reached the end, he opened a slightly smaller box. His eyes lit up. Inside was a piece of white jade seed material with red skin. It was as warm and moist as mutton fat. It weighed about one kilogram and had a very nice appearance. Like a sweet potato, there is no blemish on the whole body.

Your Highness, we found it! Liu Cheng's voice came from the front.

Li Ye quickly put the suet seed material in the box and walked over with the box. He saw Liu Cheng holding a large brocade box in his hand. When he opened it, it was full of crystal convex lenses, nearly a hundred pieces in large and small sizes.

That's it, register this box too, I'll take both!

Li Ye handed the jade box to Liu Cheng, and the two quickly walked out of the treasure house.

The night was already very deep, and the lanterns were still brightly lit in the Yan Jundong Daying Armory. Two thousand craftsmen were working day and night to build large-scale siege weapons. In just a few days, eight nest chariots had been erected. Twenty trebuchets and twelve ladders were built. Four thousand craftsmen were divided into two shifts and worked twelve hours a day to build large siege engines.

At this time, hundreds of cavalry came to the arsenal in a large carriage.

This was An Lushan dragging the sick body to inspect the progress. The imperial doctor next to him rubbed his hands anxiously. On such a cold night, the emperor had to go out for inspection, which would aggravate the condition.

If it were a normal person, it wouldn't be a problem, but the emperor is too fat, and any slight illness he has will have serious consequences, and may even be life-threatening. That's why the imperial doctor is so worried. If the emperor dies, he won't survive. ah!

The chief steward of the arsenal was brought up, and An Lushan asked sickly: I want twenty chariots. When will they be completed?

Reporting to Your Majesty, it will be completed the day after tomorrow at the latest, and it will be ready for use the day after tomorrow.

Where are the ladders and trebuchets?

Reporting to Your Majesty, the trebuchet has been completed, but it needs one final day of debugging, and the twenty-part plan for the ladder will be completed the day after tomorrow.

An Lushan nodded, Go and see the trebuchet!

The carriage drove forward and stopped in front of a huge trebuchet. The trebuchet was two feet high, the throwing rod was five feet long, and the huge trebuchet could hold a hundred kilograms of boulders.

An Lushan asked again: How far can the trebuchet be thrown?

Reporting to your majesty, a boulder of one hundred kilograms can be thrown three hundred steps away. This is a heavy trebuchet. One requires a hundred people to pull it.

An Lushan nodded, people are not a problem, as long as there is a killing effect.

He came to a chariot again. The chariot was three feet and five feet high, exceeding the city wall of Chang'an. Each chariot had three pairs of huge wooden wheels, which required strong oxen to pull them or hundreds of people to push them.

It is actually a closed siege ladder with soldiers already standing on it. Close to the city wall and put down the overpass, the soldiers inside can directly attack the city. It is the most powerful and effective weapon for siege.

At this time, An Lushan felt a chill all over his body, so he lowered the car window and said, Go back to your account!

The carriage slowly drove out of the armory and headed towards the emperor's tent.

After struggling all night, at dawn, Li Ye finally made an eight-inch long single-tube refracting telescope, which was made of a bamboo tube and a small wooden tube. The small wooden tube contained the eyepiece, and the objective lens was mounted on the bamboo tube.

In fact, a highly skilled carpenter assisted him in completing it. He was only responsible for debugging, and the craftsman helped with the mirror installation.

Li Ye came to the head of the east city and looked at the opponent's military camp with his binoculars. He suddenly pulled it in front of him. Sure enough, it was a chariot. It was at least eight times larger. It was very clear. He even saw the soldiers on the sentry tower.

You all come and see!

Li Ye greeted the generals and looked at them one by one, and all the generals exclaimed.

This is. This is clairvoyance!

Nan Jiyun was even more impressed, Your Highness, this is a weapon for combat!

Li Ye chuckled and said, It's called clairvoyance, and it's especially useful for navy operations. Later I'll ask the craftsmen to grind the crystal so that everyone can have one.

Everyone was overjoyed and asked one after another: Your Highness, when will we also have clairvoyance?

Li Ye smiled slightly and said: Wait until the war is over! After the war is over, I will draw out the drawings and ask the craftsmen to make more and make them more beautifully. Don't be as rough as me.