At night, lying in his tent, Jieli Khan tossed and turned, unable to sleep. On one side was Chang’an City, impregnable as a fortress, impossible to conquer no matter how they attacked. On the other side were reinforcements that could arrive at any moment. According to the intelligence, if they couldn’t capture Chang’an City before noon tomorrow, they would face being attacked from both front and rear.

But in fact, after today’s fierce assault, he had absolutely no confidence in capturing Chang’an City. What to do? What to do?

Jieli Khan was irritated and restless, especially when he thought about how he had gone to great lengths to rescue Li Jiancheng and the others, yet they had been utterly useless, which made him even more agitated.

After barely enduring half the night, he finally couldn’t contain the anger and hatred in his heart. He turned over and got out of bed, grabbed his curved saber and strode outside, intending to kill Li Jiancheng and Li Yuanji.

Just as he reached outside his tent, he was hit by a strong wind that came from nowhere, making it impossible to open his eyes. After finally waiting for the wind to stop, thinking it was over, suddenly there was a “crackling” sound as something fell from above, hitting his face with not only pain but also a cold sensation.

Jieli Khan caught a piece and examined it closely in front of his eyes. He finally recognized what it was—hail. It was only October, yet hail was falling. This weather was truly bizarre.

However, a mere hailstorm wasn’t enough to make Jieli Khan change his mind. Braving the continuously falling hail, he arrived at the tent where Li Jiancheng and the other were imprisoned.

The two men weren’t sleeping either. Seeing the murderous Jieli Khan, both became tense immediately, their scalps tingling with numbness. Li Yuanji forced himself to remain calm and laughed nervously, “It’s so late, why isn’t the Khan sleeping?”

“Aren’t you two also not sleeping?” Hearing Jieli Khan’s sinister words, Li Jiancheng quickly said, “We… we’re helping the Khan think of ways to attack the city.”

Jieli Khan raised his thick eyebrows and said coldly, “Then have you thought of anything?”

“We… we have thought of something.” Li Jiancheng steeled himself and said while thinking, “Although Chunming Gate is heavily defended, Chang’an City doesn’t have just this one gate. The defenses at other gates certainly won’t be as tight as at Chunming Gate, so… we could try attacking from other gates!”

“Other gates?” Jieli Khan repeated. When Li Jiancheng nodded, he suddenly kicked him hard in the ribs and shouted angrily, “Chang’an City has one hundred thousand troops. The ones defending Chunming Gate today, I’m certain, were absolutely less than half that number. Where did the rest go? Undoubtedly, they must be at the other gates. Perhaps there might be fewer, but they’re all in the same city—reinforcements could arrive within an hour. Are you saying we can break through the gates within an hour?” Without waiting for Li Jiancheng to respond, he kicked him again, “No wonder you’ve been defeated by Li Shimin time and again, you useless thing!”

Li Jiancheng gritted his teeth tightly. Even though the pain made him break out in cold sweat, he refused to let out a single groan. In fact, Jieli Khan’s words hurt more than those two kicks. Being defeated by Li Shimin had always been his greatest pain!

Seeing Li Jiancheng suffer, Li Yuanji said angrily, “Big Brother has already been trying very hard to think of solutions. It’s you who can’t break into Chang’an City—how can you blame us for that?”

“You’re quite bold, but unfortunately, people who are too bold often don’t live long!” With these words, Jieli Khan slowly drew the curved saber he had been gripping in his hand. The saber made of refined iron gleamed coldly even in the dim candlelight, sending chills down one’s spine.

For the first time, Li Jiancheng felt death was so close to him. Jieli Khan approaching step by step was like a death god coming to claim lives in the deep night. He scooted backward and said nervously, “You can’t kill me, you can’t!”

Jieli Khan’s footsteps didn’t stop because of his words. With an expressionless face, he said, “In this world, there’s no one I can’t kill, especially those who have no value!” With these words, he raised his curved saber. Seeing this, Li Yuanji quickly blocked in front of Li Jiancheng. Though they were brothers, he could brave fire and water for Li Jiancheng, yet he wouldn’t show the slightest brotherly affection toward Li Shimin. How ironic.

The sound of hail hitting the ground continuously penetrated through the tent into their ears. Honestly, this sound wasn’t pleasant at all, but for Li Jiancheng and the other, this might be the last sound they would hear in their lives.

Just as the curved saber was about to fall, a flash of inspiration struck Li Jiancheng’s mind. He urgently said, “I’ve thought of a way! I’ve thought of one!”

The curved saber stopped dangerously just one inch from Li Yuanji’s neck. Jieli Khan said with a cold expression, “It better be a real solution, otherwise I guarantee your death won’t be quick!”

Li Jiancheng nodded repeatedly. Both he and Li Yuanji had fine beads of cold sweat on their foreheads. That was truly close—if they had been even a moment later, they would have gone to meet the King of Hell.

After taking a few breaths, Li Jiancheng said, “It’s only early October now, yet hail is falling at night. This is truly bizarre. We might as well use this hailstorm to our advantage.”

Jieli Khan frowned and asked, “What advantage?”

“Back when Wang Shichong occupied Luoyang and was besieged by Li Mi, food and supplies in Luoyang City gradually ran short. Wang Shichong knew that if this continued, they would be starved to death in Luoyang City, so going out to fight Li Mi became the only option. But the prolonged siege had seriously damaged the soldiers’ morale, and with Li Mi commanding hundreds of thousands of troops, they believed this was a path of no return—no one was willing to go.”

“To make those soldiers fight with desperate courage, Wang Shichong had his subordinates falsely claim he had dreamed of the Duke of Zhou, who said that if they didn’t fight Li Mi, he would send down a plague to destroy all of Luoyang City. If only one person said this, naturally no one would believe it.”

Regarding Li Jiancheng’s words, Jieli Khan sneered, “Such a clumsy lie wouldn’t be believed by anyone.”

“If one person says it, or two people say it, naturally no one would believe it. But what if everyone around you is saying the same thing? Would you believe it or not?” When asked this way, Jieli Khan showed a hesitant expression. Indeed, if everyone around was saying the same thing, one would indeed believe it to be true.

“Within a few days, the entire Luoyang City was talking about this matter. Finally, those soldiers, as Wang Shichong wished, displayed the highest morale and drove back Li Mi with his hundreds of thousands of Wagang troops.”

Jieli Khan quickly guessed the meaning behind Li Jiancheng’s words, “You want me to use the same trick?”

“Exactly. The soldiers in Chang’an City are no different from those in Luoyang City back then. What those people believed, they would believe too. And this hailstorm is the most convenient thing for us to exploit.”

“What you’re saying is indeed a method, but you’ve forgotten that we have no way to enter Chang’an. How can we incite them? So…” Jieli Khan raised his curved saber and said icily, “What you’re saying is still worthless nonsense!”