Chapter 523: The Big Monster
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
The young man immediately said, “The son of Antigonus I Monophthalmus, Demetrius I of Macedon, used this to conquer the island Rhodes and many cities. That’s the reason he was called ‘The Besieger.'”
While listening to the history, Li Du asked everyone to begin building the siege tower.
There were many people around the cabin at the old goods site, and he asked everyone to help.
One of the treasure hunters said, “Big Li, what do we get after we help you? Will you provide beer?”
Li Du said, “Drink as much beer as you want. I’ll have a party after we build it. You guys can enjoy your fill later.”
After they heard about the party, the treasure hunters became very excited. Even if there weren’t a party, however, they would still help. After all, the siege tower was a legendary item. They had seen them in movies but they had never touched one in real life.
As the saying went, “Many hands make light work.” Although they didn’t have the blueprint, they managed to build part of the tower quickly as they spoke and worked together.
Li Du also used the little bug’s Relive The Past ability to see what the siege tower looked like in the past. Then he led the others in building the tower.
They first built the protection cell. As the main part of the siege tower, it was a sturdy house made of solid wood.
The protection cell was the foundation of the building; there was a steerable wheel on the ground floor. It was made of wood as well and was as tall as a man, so two men were needed to carry it.
Other than the wheel, the other parts of the protection cell were mainly made of solid wooden planks and strengthened by iron. They were covered by thick layers of cowhide.
Hans touched the thick cowhide and said, “Even if we fail to build the siege tower, we can still earn a profit. This cowhide is very valuable.”
Mr. Martin looked at the cowhide and said, “This is old cowhide—it’s not valuable now. It’s just a layer of protection against arrows.”
“Cowhide is highly flammable, right?” one of the treasure hunters asked. “Why did they use arrows against them? Why didn’t they use fire to attack?”
Mr. Martin laughed, “Of course—that’s why there would be a layer of protection outside the cowhide. It was made of twigs coated with a layer of mud. Therefore, the cowhide could resist arrows and fire at the same time.”
They became exhausted building the protection cell but they felt excited.
The protection cell looked domineering. It was surrounded by steel spikes the shape of lightning bolts. Although they had rusted, they were very lethal.
When a student saw these spikes, he said, “Great! We were correct. This is a Grecian siege tower. Look at those spikes—they are like Zeus’s lightning bolt.”
Mr. Martin shook his head. “No, we can’t deduce that by looking at the spikes. Look carefully—I think this was made by Native Americans.”
Other than the spikes, there were some patterns in the protection cell. He had made this deduction by looking at the patterns.
Li Du silently admitted that the old man had a good eye. He had seen this in the past of the siege tower: it had belonged to Native Americans. They had used it during tribal wars.
They continued to build the tower. They had everything they needed; it was like building a Lego model. Although it was complicated, it was not difficult.
The height of the protection cell was a little over six feet. There were many floors above the protection cell. Each floor was equipped with different weapons, each with a different purpose.
The protection cell itself had two floors.
Mr. Martin explained, “The unskilled workers stood on the first floor. They were strong so their job was to push the siege tower toward the target city’s wall. The warriors gathered on the second floor. They hid and when they were near the city wall, they climbed it and fought.”
On the next floor up there was a crossbow machine. It could be used with four crossbows. Although they had the crossbows, they unfortunately didn’t have the arrows. So, they couldn’t use the crossbow machine on the spot.
There was an archer tower on the highest floor. The soldiers could stand there and shoot arrows and then hide after shooting at the enemy. The archer tower could also be turned into a hanging bridge. The soldiers could use the hanging bridge to climb the city wall—it was amazing.
Under the archer tower were iron tools that looked like an eagle’s claws. They could destroy the enemy’s protective wall and stabilize their own hanging bridge.
More than twenty men worked from morning until evening to build the siege tower.
Although they were very tired, they felt very satisfied. The well-built siege tower looked domineering and great.
The height of the siege tower was over 20 feet. When it had been used to conquer cities, the soldiers hid in the tower. The tower was moved by using wheels and pulling ropes.
Then, the soldiers would move the siege tower towards the weaker part of the enemy’s city wall. Then they could attack. Unless the defender was stronger than the attacker, the siege tower would easily break a big hole in the city wall.
Mr. Martin took a few pictures. Everyone wanted to take pictures with the siege tower.
Apparently, this siege tower was a real weapon, not a simple prop. If they missed this chance, they might not see another siege tower for the rest of their lives.
Mr. Martin exclaimed, “I assume this siege tower belonged to a Native American tribe. It might be an antique with hundreds of years of history.”
“Really?” Hans asked in surprise.
Mr. Martin was very sure about this. “Yes, but I don’t know exactly which tribe it belonged to. Native Americans stopped building siege towers at the end of 19th century. After the government took their land, the tribal wars mostly ended. They didn’t have to build siege towers anymore.”
The Native Americans had used siege towers because they terrified their enemies psychologically. It brought fear and the enemies would lose without a battle. That was the real purpose of a siege tower.
Until one hundred years ago, the Native Americans still had occasional tribal fights. Some of the tribes built their own villages. This meant that the tribes were surrounded by walls.
If the attackers hadn’t used fire weapons, it was difficult for them to conquer these villages. Sometimes the attacker encountered more losses than the defenders. Therefore, before the Europeans had reached North America, the Native Americans used these siege towers to conquer cities and lands.
If Mr. Martin were right, then the siege tower would be very valuable. Nowadays, there were many rich Native Americans. Certainly one would like to buy a siege tower and add it to their collection.
Mr. Martin used this opportunity to teach his students. He talked about historical events related to the siege tower.
“In 363 BC, the Roman expeditionary forces besieged the city of Pirisabora. The Romans convinced them to surrender. After they failed to convince them, the Romans used siege towers to attack. They made a big hole on the city wall and conquered the city…
“During the third Macedonian war, the Romans attacked Greece. In the beginning, the Roman army lost a few battles. In 168 BC their ruler, Paulus, led the army using siege towers. The soldiers and people of Macedonia were terrified, and they lost the war…”
