Under the guidance of four elephant slaves, four elephants, about one battle, stepped into an open door of the "castle". Standing at their designated locations, the four elephant slaves stood next to the elephant's head.

The ears of these elephants are blocked by cloth, and the elephant trainer or elephant slave completes the instructions by slapping the elephant's trunk. This is to prevent the elephants from being frightened by abnormal sounds.

Only elephant trainers can train these elephants, but they do not necessarily have to be driven by the elephant trainer. Elephant slaves taught by the elephant trainer can also control elephants that have been tamed.

At this time, the elephant trainer standing on the top of the city gave the order, and the elephant slave then issued an order by slapping the elephant's trunk, and the four elephants knelt on the ground.

Then a craftsman operates the mechanism, and the mechanical rotation movement, and the elephant put a set of shafts on the back. The elephant trainer issued another command, and the elephants stood up together, carried the entire "castle" of wooden bones and vines, walked steadily, and crossed a trench and uneven land. With the instructions of the elephant trainer, the elephant can collectively adjust the direction of travel, and even carry the castle to rotate at an angle while basically maintaining its original position.

When the castle moved to a flat terrain and suitable for driving, the elephants fell to the ground again under the instructions of the elephant trainer. The craftsman once again pulled the mechanism. The shaft placed in the north of the elephant had spread around the elephant's body, and the base frame equipped with a universal wheel had already sunk to the ground.

After the elephant stood up again, with the order of the elephant trainer, the elephant could walk forward and backward and left and right in one step, thereby driving the castle to move. However, due to the universal wheel, this movement is basically a translation, and the castle itself will not rotate anymore.

The "castle" has about 100 meters of space. Apart from the space where the elephant stands, the city can follow 20 soldiers. When it is in a wheeled state, soldiers can pedal the front of the city and follow the car to save their feet.

Because the elephant's vision is blocked, it is impossible to run quickly, and can only walk in small steps under the elephant trainer's control. In addition, the diameter of the "universal wheel" is not large, and it is impossible to run over the layers of corpses on the battlefield.

Therefore, it cannot be used as a "armored chariot" that charges and directly hits the enemy. It is just regarded as a "castle" that can walk and plays a tactical role.

Hua once thought of making a small wheelless version, using an elephant as power, opening a window for it, and then making a tower for the elephant slave. He could use it as a "tank". But he immediately realized that this idea was too naive, and it was no essential difference from heavy armored elephant cavalry. He was still easily frightened by firelights, foreign objects and other things on the battlefield that could make the elephant scare, and it was far less flexible than the latter.

Even if the elephant placed in the "Elephant Castle" is well protected and almost impossible to be injured or frightened, just in case, the elephant trainer or elephant slave who is driving the "Elephant Castle" always prepares a bamboo tube with a hollow sharp bronze tube as thick as a small finger. The bamboo tube is an anesthetic tranquilizer solution extracted from the plants. As long as any elephant shows signs of madness, it will stop immediately, pull out the sapienza on the head of the bronze tube, and give the elephant that is about to go crazy. Otherwise, the "Elephant Castle" will be pulled apart, and the people in the castle will have to hang up.

...

Just as the Xia Kingdom was preparing for war, a memorial from Chong Kingdom was passed on to the desk of Emperor Xin of Chaoge.

This is the third time I read this. The Laiyi and Huaiyi in the southeast, and the Zhou side in the west, had already given him a headache. Suddenly, in the past two years, another Xia Kingdom emerged from the south of Heluo. In just two years, it occupied the entire Rushui Valley area. Now the tentacles extend to the Heluo area. Although the population, vassal state, and territory of the Xia Kingdom are still far from the two powerful countries, Shang and Zhou, it has become the third most powerful country in the world, with the momentum of three parts of the world.

The land of Heluo was very important to the Shang Dynasty. It was once the place of Xihao, the former capital of Dashang. What is more important is that this place was the key to the Zhou Dynasty's throat to the Shang Dynasty's royal capital. In the past two years, with the strong support of the Shang Dynasty, the Chong Kingdom's war against Yu State achieved a decisive victory, expelling Yu State from Heluo and moving far away to other places. I thought that Chong Bohu could dominate Heluo and guard the western gate for the Shang Dynasty, but I didn't expect that there would be more troubles in the future.

At this time, Di Xing was thinking about it for no reason and asked the minister on duty: "How many hours are there before you go to court."

"Report to Your Majesty, it's less than an hour."

...

In the court, the emperor read Chongbohu's memorial in court. Then he asked the ministers on both sides: "Now, the new country Xia is rising south of Heluo, raging the Rushui River, and invading our vassal state. Now he colluded with the Su tribe to threaten our Heluo vassal state Chongguo. What should the ministers think they should do?

Among all the officials, one of them left the line and said slowly: "A small country is threatening our great merchants, so he should attack them." Emperor Xin looked closely and found that it was Wang Shubian.

Another person said, "I think this is a good thing, not a bad thing."

Emperor Xin's eyes lit up, and the person who spoke was Fei Zhong.

"Oh, what does Fei Qing mean? Let me tell you about it."

Fei Zhong said calmly: "Today, my great Shang Dynasty has two major problems, one is the Yi in the southeast, and the other is the Zhou side of the west...."

As soon as he said this, he was shouted loudly by a man.

"Nothing nonsense, Zhou Fang is my Shang Dynasty loyal to the country, and Zhou Fangbo is my loyal minister of the Shang Dynasty. How could he have the trouble of elbows and armpits?" This person is the brother Wei Zi of Emperor Xin.

Fei Zhong shook his head with a wry smile, ignored him, and continued to say to himself: "Our big Shang attacks the west, he was controlled by the Eastern Yi, and when he attacks the east, he was controlled by the Western Zhou Dynasty. He showed that he could not look after each other at the beginning and end. Now, this Xia Kingdom with tigers and wolves appeared south of Heluo, and our big Shang could be at ease to conquer the Eastern Yi."

Emperor Xin asked, "How can we say this? Why can we, the big Shang Dynasty, be assured to conquer the Dongyi?"

Fei Zhong continued, "Your Majesty, please think, if Xia Fang becomes stronger according to the current momentum and occupy the land of Heluo. At this time, if Zhou Fang takes advantage of our main force of Shang to move eastward and attack my royal capital, he will have to pass by Xia Fang's land. Can Xia Fang let him pass? Even if he is asked to pass or Zhou Fang crosses the northern road of the Five Elements Mountain, Zhou Fang will have to worry about whether Xia Fang will sneak attack his empty rear. If Xia Fang wants to attack my royal capital, will Xia Fang also worry about Zhou Fang taking a knife behind him? "

Emperor Xing stroked his beard and said, "Fei Qing did make some sense. Yu Yiren had long planned to conquer the country's troops and attack the Dongyi to solve the problem once and for all, but he was worried that a country with a different intention would take advantage of the situation to invade our royal capital."

At this time, Weizi said anxiously again: "Your Majesty, don't listen to the villain's nonsense. This Xia side attacks our vassal state. If my Da Shang sits aside, how can we convince the vassal states that surrender to our Da Shang? The Western Zhou Dynasty is my Da Shang's loyal vassal state, so how can we worry about invading my royal capital? I believe that we should immediately send a large army to attack and destroy the Xia country. I hope Your Majesty think twice."

"I'm asking for advice," Bigan said slowly.

"I also commented on it," said Wang Shujizi.

Emperor Xin frowned slightly, thought for a while, and said, "You guys will stop talking about this for now, and retreat to the court."

When Fei Zhong was wearing his shoes and was about to leave the palace, he was stopped by Emperor Xin's little servant.
Chapter completed!