Catapult

Field battles no longer took place, but the siege continued. The following month carried an air of calm, with scarcely a ripple.

Rain fell in a steady drizzle, and sunny days were few. Time flew by, and in the blink of an eye, it was the middle of the seventh month—the height of summer, when all things flourished.

Xilotepec's Suiqiu City still had not surrendered. Their food stores could hold out for at least another ten months. Outside the Mexica camp, an endless stream of provisions was hauled in from the lakeshore. The Alliance warriors remained in their tents, competing in martial skills and teaching the young warriors the techniques of battle.

Xolotl stayed with the artisans, painstakingly cutting the hard rosewood. Hundreds labored day after day, building the catapult frames and polishing the long throwing arms. Of course, the most difficult part was the rotating axle. The artisans spent a long time working on the joint between the axle and the frame. Bertad and some of the warriors who followed him helped as assistants.

More than ten days later, the various parts of the catapults were assembled one after another. The carpenters accompanying the army reinforced the frames with costly copper nails. Then came the first test shot. The moment the stone projectile was launched, everyone had just begun to cheer when the ropes linking the throwing arm to the axle instantly came apart. The heavy square throwing arm whistled down from four meters high like a terrifying javelin in a giant's hand, plunging deep into the earth and frightening everyone nearby into a cold sweat.

The test shot had failed, so Xolotl had no choice but to seek out Avet again. Even after leaving office, the king's brother Avet still controlled many resources. For Xolotl's "big toy," he provided the mortar adhesive used to build Pyramids and requisitioned several veteran carpenters from the Mexica city-states to the southeast.

The veteran carpenters were earnest and respectful, offering their wisdom to the young Earth Wolf Priest. After several days of study, they improved the catapult's overall joints with mortise-and-tenon techniques. At last, after a month of effort, a true catapult had been completed!

The day of the second test shot was a rare sunny day. The afternoon sunlight was warm and pleasant, relaxing everyone's spirits.

Avet stood smiling at the edge of the drill ground, watching the catapult four or five meters tall in the distance. A large group of artisans and laborers bustled beneath it, making the final preparations before the test.

"Xolotl, why did you drag me here in such a hurry? Can your big toy finally be played with?"

Xolotl raised his head slightly, his face full of excitement. This was the first time he had brought a change from the "future" into this age.

"Avet, this will be an epoch-making weapon. It will forever change the way we attack city-states! I call it the Human-Powered Catapult Type One. No—without wheels, it should be the Human-Powered Catapult Type One."

"Oh!"

Avet smiled and nodded, interested but noncommittal. Seeing that the artisans had loaded the projectile, Xolotl could no longer wait and shouted the order.

"Fire!"

At the command, more than twenty sturdy laborers heaved on the many ropes connected to the short end of the throwing arm. Then the arm and axle abruptly rotated, letting out a tremendous creak.

When the long end of the throwing arm neared the highest point of its rotation, some ten meters above the ground, a stone weighing over ten jin shot from the sling at its tip with a whoosh! The heavy stone traced an arc and smashed far away at the end of the drill ground, striking the earth with a thud and kicking up a cloud of dust!

"Ah?"

Avet's mouth fell open. Rare shock froze on his face as he watched. A stone the size of a human head had been hurled more than two hundred paces, carrying enough kinetic force to kill any warrior at its landing point in an instant, regardless of martial skill or armor.

"Ha! This is a catapult, a siege weapon never seen before!"

Xolotl grinned, "admiring" Avet's expression. This was the first time he had seen such unguarded shock on Avet's face. An immense sense of achievement surged in his chest—for the first creation that surpassed its age, and for the first change he had brought to history.

At the same time, the young Xolotl came to a realization: compared to the outstanding figures of this era, he possessed neither formidable martial strength nor extraordinary wisdom. He was still learning how to grasp people's hearts and the tides of the times. What he could truly rely on was only his emphasis on science, technology, and productive power; his predictions of future development; and his memories of history's great currents.

"Fine, then!"

He smiled at himself and judged his present self.

"A priest who moonlights as a scientist, artisan, and prophet."

"Main God!"

The shock on Avet's face lasted a full six seconds. This was the longest he had lost control of his expression in recent years.

Once he recovered, he put on a serious expression and walked over to the catapult. He carefully examined its mechanical structure and confirmed that the weapon could fire repeatedly. Then he walked to the stone's impact point and personally measured the projectile's range.

"Fourteen jin, two hundred and twenty paces."

Xolotl heard Avet's voice, filled with solemn and careful calculation.

"Come. Stand on the platform and throw a stone!"

Avet then summoned an experienced hunter and measured the effective killing range of the hunter's sling from a five-meter earthen platform.

"A sling from a city wall can reach nearly one hundred and twenty paces. It does little damage to leather armor, and its accuracy is extremely low."

Only then did Avet turn to Xolotl with excitement on his face and shout.

"Quick! Test how heavy a stone this Wooden Beast can fire at one hundred and twenty paces!"

The two began testing stones of different weights. In the end, they discovered that at one hundred and twenty paces, it could hurl a stone weighing more than forty jin—about nine liters in volume, the size of three human heads.

At that range, a stone weighing more than forty jin, falling from nearly ten meters with its initial kinetic force added in, could leave visible marks on an earthen-and-stone city wall. Of course, against a broad wall, it could not cause structural damage.

In other words, this basic Human-Powered Catapult Type One could not yet bring down a city wall. What it could do was smash the watchtowers and wooden towers atop the walls and within the city—all structures made of wood.

Having obtained the catapult's detailed weapon data, Avet hurried away to report to the main tent.

Before long, the commander-in-chief Totek was forcibly dragged over by Avet. This tall, cold, hard Mexica ace warrior looked displeased as he watched the "big toy" slowly loaded with a forty-jin stone projectile. Then, with a thunderous boom, his rigid, ruthless face went blank with astonishment for more than ten seconds.

"Main God bless us!"

Totek looked at the stone's impact point. The heavy projectile had sunk into the ground a full palm's depth.

"Xolotl, is this a weapon of the gods? Did the giants of the legendary First Era use such weapons to slay The Sun?"

"This is... a siege weapon of the Divine Protection Alliance."

Xolotl answered carefully. Looking at Totek, who seemed ready to prostrate himself beside the catapult, he showed a helpless expression. This catapult was probably comparable in power to the Thunderbolt Chariots of Cao Army during the Battle of Guandu. It was far inferior to the Huihui Cannons of the Song–Yuan Period, and even farther behind the large-caliber short-barreled cannons used by the Spaniards besieging the Moors in this era.

"The peoples of Mesoamerica... have suffered for their lack of knowledge and technological exchange."

Xolotl lowered his head slightly, his thoughts drifting far away. In this era, even the peoples of West Africa and East Africa had learned of thunderous cannons from the wars in North Africa. Yet decades later, Aztec warriors would still mistake the cannons and matchlock muskets of Spanish colonists for terrifying "divine punishment," sinking into fear of the unknown and mysterious.

In truth, the Gunpowder Weapons of this era inflicted far fewer casualties than brutal close combat. But their blow to morale was inversely proportional to an army's understanding of them.

"But now, I am here!"

No matter what, the newly built catapult was Mesoamerica's first large siege weapon, possessing epoch-making power. Totek immediately mobilized village warriors and artisans, then forcibly requisitioned every artisan from the nearby city-states. Under the powerful supervision of the Eagle Warrior Corps, Human-Powered Catapult Type Ones began to be manufactured on a large scale.

The rosewood near the camp immediately suffered a catastrophic fate. To improve logging efficiency, Totek requisitioned every copper axe from the Imperial Guard and used large quantities of sand rope as saws. Soon, the clanging and pounding of construction rang throughout the entire camp.

Before long, Xolotl's "big toy" became famous throughout the army. Alliance officers of every rank came to watch the catapult fire, leaving behind all manner of stunned faces. Even King Tizoc came to inspect it once. Like Avet, he was shocked for six seconds, making Xolotl secretly sigh, As expected of blood brothers.

More than half a month later, outside Xilotepec City's east gate, fifty-odd catapults stood in a row one to two hundred paces from the walls. At Xolotl's command, drums sounded, and a thousand strong men fiercely pulled the ropes slung over their backs. The wooden arms of the catapults rose high!

"Boom! Crash!"

More than fifty huge stones roared through the air, hurtling toward the defenders under their horrified gazes before slamming into the ground amid thunderous blasts! The impact points shook the earth and mountains, shattered houses, and raised clouds of dust.

"Stone Thrower Commander" Xolotl stood on an earthen platform two hundred paces away, observing the results of the bombardment. He had asked Tizoc for this post on the grounds that he could make better use of the catapults. In truth, he merely wanted to assess the power of his own creation up close and gloat a little longer.

"Haaha! The firing angle is sixty degrees straight ahead. Hmm, it can only ensure that the stones land within a sixty-degree arc directly in front. Good, good."

Having calculated this, Xolotl wiped away sweat that did not exist from his brow and muttered softly.

"Perhaps it would be better to grind the stones round! But that would waste too many tools. Forget it. I wasn't expecting precise strikes anyway."

Next, Xolotl assessed the casualties on the other side.

"Many houses were smashed. Maybe three or four shots struck the wall? A five-percent chance of hitting it. Four or five enemy warriors died. I estimate that as the firing continues, they will quickly adapt, and the casualties will become negligible."

"As expected, small catapults are only weapons for crushing morale, suppressing ranged attacks, and creating terror."

At this thought, Xolotl's mind churned, and he reached a conclusion.

"Research and development must continue!"

"Boom! Crash!"

The merciless bombardment continued. Huge stones struck the ground with the sound of thunder. The City-State Warriors on the walls went pale as earth, their powerful bodies trembling. Many Militia sprawled and knelt on the ground, praying to the "Giant Beasts" that thundered and launched stones ahead of them. Even many warriors and Militia on their own side were no exception.

As for the inventor and commander of these "Giant Beasts," Earth Wolf Priest Xolotl, the warriors and Militia in the army developed many strange feelings toward him, akin to reverence for a god. Such feelings would naturally fade over time, but the seeds of respect had been planted, and people's hearts held more recognition and obedience.

The continuous bombardment lasted a full three days! During that time, Otomi nobles and Priests repeatedly climbed the city walls, only to leave in panic with horror written across their faces.

Three days later, Xilotepec City's gates opened once more, and a group of envoys hurried out. This time, they carried chests upon chests of gifts and tribute.

Note: Here, one pace follows the ancient Huaxia standard of 1.3 meters—the combined distance of an ancient man taking one step forward with each foot.