When Shang Rang was feeling relaxed, a boy in charge of serving tea suddenly walked over from outside the tent and quietly handed him a note.

He hurriedly unfolded the note, and saw that it was the handwriting of the military advisor Wang Daozhi, "Where did the Zhangjian Gate come from, and ask General Shang to send someone to investigate and understand." ”

He smiled faintly, put the note into his sleeve, walked to the room, and saluted the king Huang Chao: "King Qiqi, the humble general has heard that the Tang army in Chang'an City is casting iron chains weighing tens of thousands of catties recently. ”

Huang Chao nodded again and again after hearing this, "Although this chain method is simple, it can't be more ruthless. Even if Lone thought about it for a few nights, he didn't think of breaking through its doorway! If we can't successfully break through these chains used to wrap around the city gates, we estimate that tens of thousands of more people will die before we can capture Chang'an City!"

Shang Rang had been prepared for the king's words, he took out a roll of cloth from his bosom, walked to the king, and leaned over to present it.

A personal soldier took the cloth from his hand and spread it out in front of Huang Chao, which turned out to be a drawing of siege equipment, and there were four characters in the upper right corner of the book, "Giant Elephant Cone Car Map".

Shang Rang pointed to the pattern in the picture and explained to the king: "This giant elephant cone cart is a way for the humble general to gather the skilled craftsmen below in one place, and order them to brainstorm and think hard before they came up with it. Huge as a giant elephant, the front of the car is equipped with two extremely hard steel cones, which can be rotated quickly by manpower, and no matter how strong the city gate is, it can be broken in one fell swoop. ”

"Even so, how do you untie the chains wrapped around the door?" Wang Xianzhi couldn't help but ask, standing aside and looking at it.

The general's words were to the point. Shang Rang didn't seem to be the slightest unhappy about Wang Xianzhi's secret assistance to Zhu Wen just now, and smiled and pointed to a place in the drawing, "The mystery of this giant elephant cone car is actually under its belly, where there is a sharp gear steel knife, which can easily twist the iron chain that it touches. ”

"Oh, this giant elephant cone is very good, quickly send out the order, let the craftsmen build it day and night, without the slightest mistake!" Huang Chao was quite excited, and his eyes lit up.

"King Qiqi!" Shang Rang saluted again, "The humble general has ordered people to build six giant elephant cone cars, which can be used to attack the city tomorrow!"

Huang Chao was overjoyed when he heard this, and said with a little regret: "We shouldn't have let the military division go just now, we have such a siege weapon, and breaking the gate of Chang'an is not easy to capture." ”

At this moment, everyone in the tent thought that it didn't matter what the Bahe River broke the embankment, and the crumbling Chang'an City in front of him would be able to break through within three days.

Huang Chao pondered for a moment and ordered: "The former army commander Shang Rang has had it first, and now he has made great contributions. Lone is a person who is good at punishing clearly, and he ordered Shang to be promoted by two ranks, and served as the deputy marshal of the righteous army, commanding the front army and the rear army that originally belonged to Zhu Wen!"

Wang Xianzhi was taken aback when he heard this, there was already a general in this righteous army, who was equivalent to the deputy of the king, and now what did it mean to have a deputy marshal.

He was angry in his heart, and said secretly: "This Huang Chao has inevitably played too much with the means of balance, if there is a chance, I should let him see my methods, don't let him underestimate me!"

Shang Rang secretly felt proud in his heart, now that he has mastered most of the righteous army, he can be called a power. He was originally a humble and low-key person, but after losing his beloved brother and woman in succession, his heart unconsciously changed.

He sighed in his heart: "The so-called honor, compassion and responsibility are just ridiculous playthings in the eyes of others. Only when I have absolute power will others really obey me. If I had understood this earlier, why did I get to this point, my brother would not have died tragically, and Miss Zhang Hui would not have left me. ”

......

In the evening, the sun was setting in the western mountains. On the wilderness outside Chang'an City, the bleak autumn wind became more and more cold to the bone. The water from the Ba River soaked the ground at the foot of the walls, but did not pose a significant threat to the walls.

After nightfall, it gets colder inside and outside the walls. The autumn wind burrowed into the necks of the soldiers on both sides of the war, piercing into the bone marrow like a sharp knife, and the pain went deep into the bones. Fighting in this hell-cold weather, if not killed, will freeze to death.

After the two sides continued to fight for a while, they invariably retreated. After a while, I only heard the sound of gold ringing in the direction of the camp of the righteous army.

Yan Lie stood on the city wall and watched as hundreds of thousands of rebels retreated like a tide, leaving behind a large pile of bloody corpses between the original battled positions.

These corpses were soaked in the water of the Bahe River from afar, gradually freezing into a smooth patch, like a carp trapped in the ice in winter, as delicate, eerie, ingenious, and at the same time one could not help but send a chill from the bottom of one's heart.

Seeing this, Yan Lie lowered his heavy eyelids, and instructed the generals behind him: "Send someone to fetch water and pour it from the city wall." When the walls freeze and become slippery, it will be difficult for the thieves to climb tomorrow, and we will be able to hold on for a few more days. ”

After hearing this, all the generals said that his plan was very good, so they hurriedly sent someone to do it.

"After doing this, you stay at the sentry, and go back to rest yourself!" Yan Lie bowed weakly to the generals and walked towards a small room on the city tower. He hadn't slept for three days, and if he didn't sleep for a while, he probably wouldn't be able to hold on. ”

Tired and tired, he soon fell into a deep sleep, unaware that time was creeping by. When he woke up again, the white light shining through the window was rather blinding.

It's not the golden rays of the sun, it's the cold weather at the turn of autumn and winter. This dazzling white light is mostly caused by the reflection of light from the sky on the hard ice.

Yan Lie found that his son Yan Feng was already kneeling in front of the bed with armor on, as if he was waiting for the moment when he woke up.

Thinking of his son's refusal to transfer troops a few days ago, he felt a little angry in his heart, and couldn't help but say: "Your soldiers and horses refuse to lend me a little, why are you here to do it?"

Yan Feng raised his head, his voice trembled slightly due to excitement, "Father, Lord Liu said that the decisive battle is only for today!"

"What, there's going to be a decisive battle today? Why didn't he tell me!" Yan Lie jumped out of bed.

"It's a secret, and not too many people are allowed to know about it. Yan Feng was embarrassed to explain to Lord Zhengqing in front of his father.

"Okay!" Yan Lie nodded heavily, after all, he was a loyal minister of the Tang Dynasty, and defending Chang'an was the first priority, as for personal honor and disgrace, it was secondary. Since Dali Siqing has made it clear that he will fight a decisive battle with the righteous army today, how can he be slack off in the slightest.

Under Yan Feng's service, he quickly put on his armor and walked towards the outside of the city tower. Looking out from the castle tower, I saw that the ground in the wilderness for dozens of miles was covered with ice shells, like a large sea of ice. The light shining from the cold sky is refracted on the ice, making it look unusually dazzling.