12dz Chapter 290 Sound Resonance
Chapter 290 Sound Resonance
“Yes! The sound of these war drums is the source of the earth trembling.” Zhuge Liang nodded, confirming Lemateng’s question.
Several senior officers of the third rank looked at each other, utterly bewildered, hardly believing it was real. Xun Yu turned and walked towards the drum formation, seemingly wanting to figure out what was going on.
Zhuge Liang was greatly alarmed and quickly grabbed him, saying, "Stop now, don't disturb them! The secret to this method lies in beating the war drums at a steady pace. The matter is not yet successful, we cannot stop!"
Zhao Yun and the others found it all very unbelievable. Seeing that Zhuge Liang wouldn't allow them to see the secrets of the drum formation, they immediately surrounded Zhuge Liang and demanded that he explain the principles, or they wouldn't let him have lunch that day.
By this time, the earth had already shaken, and Zhuge Liang was now 100% confident. He could also explain it to them based on the facts, and of course, he didn't hesitate to show off: "This principle is called sound resonance!"
Seeing the expressions on their faces as if they were listening to gibberish, Zhuge Liang knew they didn't understand at all, so he continued to explain: "This is a story from my physics textbook when I was in school that inspired me. The gist of the story is that there was a bridge in a foreign country, and when a group of cavalrymen ran across the bridge in neat steps and in the same rhythm..."
"The bridge suddenly collapsed, causing hundreds of cavalrymen to fall into the river. The cavalry commander's original intention was to keep his soldiers in a neat and orderly formation to make the cavalry organization look more imposing, but he did not expect that this would happen. The principle was that when the cavalrymen stepped across the bridge, their hooves lifted up together."
"They all fell down at almost the same time. Originally, the bridge surface was made of stationary stones, but after the rhythm of the horses' hooves trampling on it for a long time, the stones began to tremble. When the critical point was reached, the bridge collapsed with the sound of the horses' hooves hitting the surface."
Zhao Yun and the others understood the meaning a little, but they still didn't quite understand. Dong Zhao frowned and asked, "You mean that you used the rhythmic sound of war drums for three days to make the earth tremble with the drumbeats, and then those two cliffs would collapse?"
Seeing that the few people were still a bit confused, Zhuge Liang thought for a moment and gave them an example: "You've all seen carriage wheels get stuck in the mud and can't get out, right?" The few people nodded, and Zhuge Liang continued: "Sometimes when the cargo on the carriage is too heavy, or it goes into the mud pit too deep, and the horses can't pull it out, don't the soldiers come to help?"
The group nodded in agreement, and Zhuge Liang continued, “You must have seen or done this before, right? Sometimes you can’t push it up right away, so you have to use a synchronized rhythm to push it back and forth several times, making the swaying arc of the carriage bigger and bigger, and finally pull it up with a sudden jerk.”
The group started to understand, but the leap from pushing a cart to causing a mountain to collapse seemed too great, leaving them feeling like they were listening to gibberish. Zhuge Liang continued with another example: "Let me give you another one. When our logistics soldiers cut down trees, they don't just fell them, right?"
"They would cut the tree in half first, and then push it down. Sometimes they couldn't push it down in one, two, or three pushes, so they would shout slogans and push the trunk at a fixed frequency. A tree that couldn't be pushed down in one or two pushes might finally give way after a dozen or twenty pushes and fall to the other side."
"The principle of sound resonance is similar to this, but it is not easy to make the earth move. If the cliffs on both sides of the canyon were not so steep that they would collapse on their own if they trembled, I would not have thought of this method. Since the canyon cliffs are formed like this, it means that heaven is going to kill the people of Dayuan."
Although the group didn't yet understand what sound resonance was, they basically grasped the origin of Zhuge Liang's strange tactic. Looking at the sheer cliff face of the canyon and the hundreds of drummers striking the war drums every five seconds, the group's eyes practically gleamed with greed as they looked at Zhuge Liang.
"Are you sure this method will work?" Zhao Yun was still unsure about this far-fetched idea and asked uncertainly.
“It will definitely work. Didn’t you feel the ground shaking? If we hold on for another day or two, the earth will shake more and more violently, and the cliffs on both sides of the canyon will not be able to support it and will naturally collapse!” Zhuge Liang nodded vigorously and answered with absolute certainty.
Several people shook their heads in disbelief, looking as if they hadn't woken up from a dream. Xun Yuyu sighed and praised, "No wonder the Emperor values you so much. To be able to come up with such an unbelievable method is truly unprecedented and unparalleled. I think it won't be long before you take over Xi Zhicai's position as the head of the Imperial Advisory Office!"
The others also expressed their admiration, marveling that Zhuge Liang was a genius rarely seen in a thousand years, capable of coming up with such ingenious and unconventional strategies to defeat the enemy.
The high-ranking officials understood Zhuge Liang's strategy and were greatly excited, refusing to return to their camp to rest. So they set up a simple, open-sided rain shelter behind the drum formation and sat there, determined to witness firsthand how this unprecedented miracle would take place.
Time passed slowly. After Zhao Yun and his men understood the principle, they strictly ordered their leaders at all levels to do their best to appease the irritable Hua soldiers and ordinary soldiers, and to tell them to wait and see the big show.
Zhuge Liang knew he couldn't afford to be careless, so he increased the number of troops protecting the drum formation to ensure the drummers wouldn't be disturbed in the slightest. He also personally entered the drum formation to encourage all the drummers to stay focused and concentrate on beating the drums. He told them that if they persisted, the resonance between the war drums and the earth would grow stronger and stronger, eventually shaking the mountains.
By this time, the Dayuan soldiers on the mountaintops on both sides of the canyon were no longer surprised. The Hua soldiers had been beating drums for more than three days, and now they were no longer bothered by the drumming. Since they couldn't break through the Hua soldiers' formation even if they went down the mountain, they were content to stay on the mountain and entertain themselves. They wished that Zhao Yun's troops would never attack, saving them the effort of throwing stones and rolling logs.
The drummer beats the drum continuously, following a set rhythm of 5 seconds per beat, 5 seconds per beat, 5 seconds per beat.
By the end of the day on March 10th, the earth had been completely resonated by the drumbeats, and the tremors were becoming increasingly noticeable. Now, advisors Xun Yuyu and Xiang Lang could also feel the earth shaking, and their admiration for Zhuge Liang grew even stronger.
In the middle of the night on March 10, every soldier in the Hua Zu camp could sense that something was wrong, but thanks to the reassurance of their superiors, no disturbances occurred. They simply left the dangerous mountainside and forest on Zhuge Liang's orders.