Under the guidance of four elephant slaves, four elephants about a foot tall entered from an open door of the "castle".
Standing in their designated positions, the four elephant slaves stood next to the elephant's head.
The ears of these elephants are blocked with cloth, and the mahout or elephant slave completes the command by tapping the elephant's trunk.
This is to prevent the elephants from being frightened by unusual sounds.
Only mahouts can train these elephants, but they do not necessarily have to be controlled by mahouts themselves.
Elephant slaves who have been taught by mahouts can also control already tamed elephants.
At this time, the mahout standing at the "city head" gave an order, and the elephant slave then gave the order by slapping the elephant's trunk, and the four elephants knelt on the ground.
Then a craftsman operated the mechanism, and as the machine rotated and moved, a set of shafts was put on the elephant's back.
The mahout gave the instruction again, and the elephants stood up together, carried the entire "castle" of wood, bones, and vines, and walked forward steadily, crossing a rough land.
Following the instructions of the elephant trainer, the elephants can collectively adjust their direction of travel, and can even rotate the castle at an angle while basically maintaining its original position.
When the castle moved to a flat place suitable for driving, the elephants knelt down again under the command of the mahout.
The craftsman pulled the switch again.
The shaft frame placed in the north of the elephant has been unfolded around the elephant's body, and the base frame equipped with universal wheels has already sunk to the ground.
After the elephants get up again, following the mahout's command, the elephants can walk forward, backward, left, and right in unison, thus moving the castle.
However, due to the role of the universal wheel, this movement is basically a translational movement, and the castle itself cannot It will spin again.
The "castle" has a space of about 100 meters.
Excluding the space for the elephant to stand, 20 soldiers can follow in the city.
When it is in the wheel-walking state, soldiers can stand on the top of the city and follow the cart to save leg effort.
Because the elephant's sight is blocked, it is impossible to run fast and can only walk quickly under the control of the mahout.
In addition, the diameter of the "universal wheel" is not large, so it is impossible to run over the layers of corpses on the battlefield.
Therefore, it cannot be used as an "armored combat vehicle" to charge into battle and directly hit and kill enemies.
It is just used as a "castle" that can walk and play a tactical role.
Hua once thought about making a small version without wheels, using an elephant as the power, opening a window for it, and then making a tower for the elephant slave.
It can be used as a "tank".
But he immediately realized that this idea was too naive, and it was no different from the heavily armored elephant cavalry.
It is still easily frightened by fire, foreign objects and other things that scare elephants on the battlefield, and it is far less flexible than the latter.
Even though the elephants placed in the "Elephant Castle" can be well protected and almost impossible to be injured or frightened, just in case, the mahout or elephant slave who drives the "Elephant Castle" always has a bamboo tube ready.
There is a hollow sharp bronze tube about the thickness of a small finger, and inside the bamboo tube is an anesthetic and sedative solution extracted from plants.
As soon as any elephant showed signs of going crazy, he would immediately stop marching, pull out the match from the head of the bronze tube, and give the elephant that was about to go crazy a shot.
Otherwise, at least the "Elephant Fort" will be pulled apart, and at worst, everyone in the fort will die.
Just when the Xia Kingdom was intensifying its military strength, a memorial from the Chong Kingdom reached the desk of Emperor Xin, the king of Chaoge Shang.
This is the third time Emperor Xin has read this memorial.
Lai Yi and Huai Yi in the southeast and Zhou Fang in the west have given him a headache.
Suddenly, in the past two years, another Xia Kingdom has emerged south of Heluo.
In just two years, it occupied the entire Rushui Valley area.
Now the tentacles have extended to the Heluo area.
Although the Xia Kingdom's population, vassal states, and territory are still far behind the two powerful states of Shang and Zhou, it seems to have become the third largest country in the world, accounting for one-third of the world.
The land of Heluo was very important to the Great Shang.
It was once the location of Xishao, the former capital of the Great Shang.
More importantly, it was the choke point from the Zhou Dynasty to the royal territory of the Shang Dynasty.
In the past two years, with the strong support of the Shang Dynasty, Chongguo achieved a decisive victory in the war against Yuguo, expelling Yuguo from Heluo and moving to other places.
I thought that Chong Bohu would be able to dominate Heluo and guard the west gate for the great merchants.
Unexpectedly, something unexpected happened now.
At this time, Emperor Xing was thinking about it and had no idea, so he asked the minister on duty: "How many hours are there before going to court?"
"It will take less than an hour to report back to Your Majesty."
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In the court hall, Emperor Xin and his ministers read out Chong Bohu's memorial.
Then he asked the ministers on both sides: "Now the new country Xia Fang has risen in the south of Heluo, wreaking havoc on Ru River and invading our vassal country.
Now there is a collusion with the Soviet Union to threaten our Heluo vassal country Chongguo.
Sirs, How do you think it should be handled Among the ministers, one person stepped out and said slowly: "This small country threatens our great merchants, so we should attack it."
Emperor Xin took a closer look and saw that it was Wang Shubigan.
Another person said: "I think this is a good thing, not a bad thing."
Di Xin's eyes lit up, and the person speaking was none other than Fei Zhong.
"Oh, what does Fei Qing mean by this?
Let me tell you."
Fei Zhong said calmly: "Today, our great merchants, Huanghuang, have two major problems.
One is the barbarians in the southeast, and the other is the Western Zhou Dynasty."
As soon as he said this, someone shouted loudly.
"It's nonsense.
Zhou Fang is a loyal vassal of our Shang Dynasty, and Uncle Zhou Fang is a loyal and virtuous minister of our great Shang Dynasty.
How come there is such a thing as elbow and armpit problems."
This man was Weizi, the brother of Emperor Xin.
Fei Zhong smiled bitterly and shook his head.
He ignored him and continued to talk to himself: "When I, the Great Shang, conquered the west, I was controlled by the Eastern Yi, and when I conquered the east, I was controlled by the Western Zhou Dynasty.
The trend is that we cannot care about each other.
Now Heluo With the emergence of this powerful Xia Kingdom in the south, I, the great merchant, can rest assured to conquer Dongyi. " Emperor Xin asked: "How can you say this?
Why can I, the great merchant, be confident in conquering Dongyi?"
Fei Zhong continued, "Your Majesty, please think about it, if Xia Fang becomes stronger according to the current momentum and takes over the land of Heluo.
At this time, if Zhou Fang takes advantage of the main force of our merchants to move eastward and attacks my Wangji, he will have to pass through Xia Fang's territory."
Di Wang, Xia Fang can let him live Even if he is allowed to pass or Zhou Fang takes the northern route of crossing Wuxing Mountain, Zhou Fang still has to worry about whether Xia Fang will sneak attack on his empty rear.
And if Xia Fang wants to attack Wang Ji, will Xia Fang also have to worry about Zhou Fang?
Give him a knife in the back."
Emperor Xing stroked his beard and said: "Fei Qing does have some truth to what he said.
I have long planned to use all the troops to defeat the Eastern Yi and solve this problem once and for all.
However, I am worried that some country with different intentions will take advantage of the situation and invade our king." " At this time, Wei Zi said eagerly: "Your Majesty, don't listen to the nonsense of the villain.
This Xia Fang is attacking my country.
If our great merchants sit back and ignore it, how can we make the thousands of subject countries who belong to my great merchants be honest?"
Convinced.
The Western Zhou Dynasty is a loyal vassal state of our great merchants.
Why should we invade our kingdom?
Wang Ji's worried ministers believe that we should immediately send a large army to attack the Xia Kingdom.
I hope your majesty will think twice.
"I second the proposal," Bigan said unhurriedly.
"I also second my opinion," Wang Shu Jizi said.
Emperor Xin frowned slightly, thought for a while, and said, "Let's stop talking about this for the time being and withdraw from the court."
When Fei Zhong put on his shoes and was about to leave the palace, he was stopped by Emperor Xin's young courtiers.
"Doctor Fei, please don't leave.
Your Majesty will leave you to explain
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