A moment later, several loud noises were heard, accompanied by the roar of more than a dozen war horses. It was obvious that the giant slave still hit the target in the darkness and caused actual damage to the siege troops.

However, the power of the giant slave is huge, but its disadvantage is that it has a slow rate of fire. Even if a skilled soldier operates it, it can only maintain the rhythm of firing one weapon every ten breaths. Originally, this kind of city-defending giant slave was used to deal with the tools of the siege party, such as

Cloud chariots, crash chariots, etc. Such targets are huge and move relatively slowly. They are perfect targets for giants to drop one thing at a time. Unfortunately, the Yan army did not bring any decent siege equipment tonight and directly launched the attack with cavalry.

Without the impact, this giant slave suddenly turned into a big sword to chop grasshoppers. It was useless and only had power.

In the ten breaths before the city-defending giant was about to launch a second attack, the cavalry forwards had already rushed to a place less than thirty feet away from the city wall. Under the light of the city wall, those black-helmeted men with black helmets could be vaguely seen.

The cavalryman in armor had a long sword on his back, but he didn't know when there was something that looked like a slave but not a slave in his hand.

The officer rushing to the front shouted loudly: "Let go!" The black-armored cavalry in the first row raised their weapons, a whooshing sound rang through the air, and dozens of black filaments shot straight towards them like splashed ink.

Under the reflection of lightning, the city wall looks like a dense black spider web, covering the city tower in front. If you look closely, you will see that at the top of each filament is a small dragon claw. The claws are sharp and glow with a faint metallic luster.

.

This is another weapon secretly created by the Yan Palace for this siege, the dragon-climbing lock. This lock is shaped like a crossbow and is launched with a spring to facilitate individual soldier control. The dragon claw on the head of the lock is made of hundreds of refined steel.

Crafted, it can grab rocks and tear through wood within the range, just like a knife cutting through tofu, and it is invincible. The most rare thing is the lock silk, which is more than ten feet long. It is made of the lost silkworm silk in the Western Regions. It is invulnerable to water and fire, not afraid of swords, and has extremely strong toughness.

Monk Daoyan also spent several years and traveled throughout the Western Regions to obtain this secret method. The reason why he went to great lengths to make this kind of lock was for no other reason than that although the Yan army was capable and had hundreds of thousands of people who could control strings, compared with the imperial court, it was still

The scale was too small. If it turned into a head-on siege, not to mention the thousands of miles from Yanjing to Nanjing, how could the heavy siege equipment be transported across thousands of mountains and rivers to the gates of Nanjing? Even if they were lucky enough to arrive, the attack would have been lost.

If the city has the upper hand, it will inevitably end in a tug-of-war, and this is the situation that Monk Dao Yan is most worried about.

But even with Monk Daoyan's ability, he could only obtain hundreds of feet of silk in a few years and make dozens of dragon-climbing locks, so they were used as top-secret magic weapons to defeat enemies. In order to familiarize himself with the use of dragon-climbing locks, Dao Yan

The monk had previously led hundreds of elite cavalrymen to train hard in the mountains west of Yanjing for several months to ensure that they could launch locks on galloping horses, separate the men from the horses, and climb up a twenty-foot-high cliff in one fell swoop.

Today, the dragon-climbing lock finally shows off its skills. With the help of galloping horses, when the dragon-climbing lock penetrates into the wall on the tower, the black-armored cavalry has already rushed within three feet of the city. Just listen to that man

The officer shouted: "Get up!" Dozens of black shadows rose into the air from the horseback. Relying on the extremely strong toughness of the Dragon Climbing Lock, those black shadows leaned on the smooth city wall like dragonflies touching water, and controlled the movement.

He jumped several feet up and quickly approached the crenellations on the city wall.

At this time, the guarding sergeant on the city wall also reacted and quickly drew his knife to chop the thin rope. But the strange thing was that no matter how the sergeant chopped it, even the hard masonry on the city wall was chopped to pieces.

Even though the rope was lowered, it was still unscathed.

And in the blink of an eye, those black shadows had climbed to the top of the city and landed on the city wall like a kite. However, in mid-air, the man had already taken out the long knife on his back and slashed it at the head of the sergeant at the top of the city.

There were hundreds of soldiers guarding the city. If they fought, they would not necessarily lose. It was just that things happened in a hurry. Everyone on the city wall did not expect those black shadows to come so fast. In addition, those black shadows all had sharp sword skills.

As soon as the fierce people climbed onto the city wall, they saw blood with their swords, just like hungry tigers rushing into the flock of sheep. Their momentum actually suppressed the defenders of the city, and they saw that the defenders were retreating steadily.

At this moment, the sound of killing suddenly rang out in the city, and hundreds of forbidden troops rushed towards the city wall. It turned out that the imperial palace had received an emergency report earlier, and the Zhengyang Gate city defense was tight. Emperor Jianwen made a prompt decision and dispatched more troops from the two thousand forbidden troops guarding the imperial city.

Five hundred troops were dispatched and rushed to Zhengyangmen to help defend the enemy.

When the defenders on the city saw that reinforcements were coming to save them, they were stunned and calmed down. Their retreat gradually stopped, and they slowly surrounded the Yan army's forward who was attacking the city wall.

For a moment, the sound of killings on the city wall shook the sky, swords flew in the light of fire, and everyone was red-eyed.

Just as the first group of forwards climbed up the city wall, the second group of hundreds of cavalry also rushed to the city. With a cry of "Let go!", hundreds of fine steel ropes were shot onto the city wall. These are just ordinary ones.

Of course, the Flying Sky Lock cannot be compared with the Dragon Climbing Lock. If there are people on the city wall to resist, even if the steel rope is cut several times, the load-bearing strength will be greatly reduced. However, everyone on the city wall is currently fighting, but not many people have it.

Spare time to pay attention to these people.

This is true, because the steel cable is strong enough but not tough enough. It is difficult to swing upward like a dragon climbing lock. You can only rely on your arm strength to climb up the city wall step by step.

However, the attackers arranged by Monk Dao Yan this time were all warriors with certain skills. With the help of secret training in Yanjing, it only took less than half a moment for several people to cross the crenellations on the city wall first.

, wielding a knife and entering the melee.

At this moment, the reinforcements of the Forbidden Army rushed to the city and were climbing up the stairs.

However, by the time these forbidden troops appeared on the city wall, most of the second batch of hundreds of siege sergeants had already climbed onto the city walls. The situation immediately took a sudden turn, and the two sides who had just been stalemate quickly developed in a one-sided direction.

What's even more frightening is that in the darkness, there are more than a dozen black shadows sliding silently into the city along the flying locks from the city wall, and immediately disappearing into the dark night.

In the chaos, I heard a burst of fighting below the city gate. After a while, a dull voice sounded from below the city, and then a hoarse creaking sound was heard. Someone shouted from somewhere, "The city gate is open."

!The city gate is open!”

The defensive sergeants on the city were still fighting hard, but when they heard the shouting and thought of the familiar dull hoarse voice before, everyone knew in their hearts that the city gate was wide open and Zhengyang Gate was lost.

Unexpectedly, as soon as the shouts landed, a rocket soared into the sky with a whoosh, which looked particularly bright and eye-catching in the dark night sky.

Only a long and thick horn was heard in the distance, and the main cavalry of the Yan army began to attack the city.

The sound of the horn was not only heard clearly by the people fighting on the city wall, but the sound of the horn even broke through the rain and fog, passed through the many palace restrictions, and reached the depths of the palace.

Emperor Jianwen looked pale. He knew that the outer city had been destroyed.

At this time, King Yan and Monk Daoyan were escorted by hundreds of soldiers, following the large group of cavalry in front, and headed straight for Zhengyang Gate.

The city wall had already turned into a one-sided massacre. The soldiers guarding the city had no intention of fighting and fled one after another.

At this time, thousands of cavalry were rushing past the open Zhengyang Gate, heading straight for the palace in the inner city, paying no attention to the ongoing fighting on the city wall.

When King Yan arrived at the Zhengyang Gate, the battle on the city wall had basically ended, with only sporadic wails left, and from the distant direction of the inner city, thunderous killing sounds were heard.

As soon as King Yan reined in the horse, the black horse immediately stood up. At this time, the rain had gradually weakened. King Yan looked up at the three big characters on the Zhengyang Gate with the help of the torches of his troops and the firelight on the city wall, and was speechless for a long time.

.

Hundreds of soldiers were scattered in a fan shape, paying careful attention to the surrounding movements, but no one spoke a word, and not even the horses screamed. This shows that the Yan army has strict military discipline.

Monk Daoyan did not speak, but followed King Yan silently.

"In the thirteenth year of Hongwu's reign, this king established a vassal in Peiping, the capital city that came out of the Zhengyang Gate. He has never stepped foot through this gate since. More than twenty years have passed, and the words on the city gate are somewhat mottled." Yan

Wang Youyou said it as if talking to himself or sighing.

"Your Majesty's great success in appeasement is right in front of you. Zhengyang Gate is easy to defend but difficult to attack. Previously, Your Majesty insisted on abandoning the other gates and concentrated all his efforts on attacking Zhengyang Gate. The poor monk was still a little puzzled. Now that I think about it, Is this the Prince's fault?

Forget your original intention, just go back the way you came and get the great treasure." Monk Daoyan under the cloak said slowly.

King Yan smiled slightly: "I, a warrior, don't have so many ideas. This time I attacked Zhengyang Gate, I thought more from a military perspective. Zhengyang Gate is easy to defend and difficult to attack, so the opponent must have relaxed his vigilance.

The second city did not prepare any defensive materials such as rolling logs, boulders, hot oil, etc. This shows that my judgment is correct. My nephew is indecisive by nature, so he must not dare to put all his bets on Zhengyang Gate. I am afraid that more defensive materials will be lost.

In the other three gates and the Imperial City, I was originally prepared to lose hundreds of siege soldiers, but I didn’t expect that this guy was not willing to put anything at Zhengyang Gate. When I encounter someone like you, I don’t follow the rules.

As a poker player, Jianwen was born at the wrong time."

Monk Dao Yan received this message: "Jianwen doesn't know much about military affairs, but he has torn apart the small defensive force of the city. We are worried that there are gaps everywhere, and there are gaps everywhere."

King Yan shook his head: "How does Jianwen know that this outer city was built with great effort by Taizu? If he defended this place with all his strength, the outcome would not be decided tonight. If the outer city's location is not defended,

But he went to defend the weak imperial city, but my nephew's heart has never changed."

Monk Dao Yan nodded, but did not speak any more.

King Yan waved his right hand: "Enter the city!"

Zhengyang Gate was only five miles away from the Imperial City. At that time, the streets were deserted. Horses galloped and they could reach the Meridian Gate in just one stick of incense.

King Yan and his entourage were not in a hurry. They kept their horses running at a steady speed and walked leisurely on the streets of the capital. The store doors on both sides were closed tightly, the lights were off, and even the barking of dogs seemed inaudible. The entire capital was like a castle.

The empty city is like a giant beast, opening its mouth in the dark night, trying to devour the group of people entering the city with torches.

Suddenly, horse hooves approached in the darkness ahead, and suddenly a fast horse came galloping, still a few feet away from the team. The man on the horse turned over and got down on one knee and shouted: "Your Majesty, Master Zheng has led the vanguard to break through the Meridian Gate."

, are heading towards the inner palace."

King Yan nodded: "I understand. Let Zheng He act as planned."

"Yes!" The man jumped on the horse, turned the horse's head, and the horse quickly disappeared into the darkness at the end of the long street.

The long street fell into silence again. The rain was still falling, but the wind gradually died down.

Suddenly, Monk Dao Yan shouted: "No, the palace seems to be on fire!"

King Yan looked up, and sure enough, there seemed to be fire shooting into the sky to the northwest where the palace was located. The smoke, dust, and rain and fog mixed together, making it confusing and unclear.

"Let's go!" King Yan clamped his horse's belly and rushed out first. Everyone behind him urged the horses to follow King Yan and rushed towards the palace.

After a while, the cavalry rushed to the end of the long street. Turning to the right, the imperial city was not far ahead.

At this time, the imperial city was shrouded in fire and smoke. There was no fire on the Meridian Gate. It was obvious that the fire started from the three main halls or even the harem.

Before the attack on the city, King Yan was most worried about a fire in the palace. After all, this was Taizu's effort. He also spent a happy time in the palace when he was young. Once the palace burned down, he would not be able to explain it to the world, his ancestors, or himself.

.

He had repeatedly deduced with monk Dao Yan to find a strategy to preserve the imperial palace intact. He had also repeatedly told Zheng He not to kill the imperial city if he could, and to destroy it if he could not destroy it. In particular, he strictly prohibited his subordinate soldiers from doing so.

Arson.

King Yan believed in Zheng He and the military discipline of the Yan army, and he would never disobey military orders and cause a fire in the palace.

Then there is only one possibility left, that the people in the palace set the fire themselves. Even if Emperor Jianwen did not light the fire himself, I am afraid it was his intention.

Then why did he set fire to burn the bones so that the golden cicada could escape from its shell?

King Yan and Monk Daoyan once deduced this possibility, and concluded that even if Emperor Jianwen wanted to use the trick, it would be difficult to break through the Yan army's blockade.

While King Yan was deep in thought, suddenly a bright bolt of lightning struck down from the sky in the northwest, as if someone had torn a gap in the chaos formed by the sky and the earth, and the sky suddenly appeared. This lightning was like this.

The bright light made the entire imperial city pale, making people afraid to look directly.
To be continued...