Not long after the Tang Army’s siege began, ten crossbow carts arrived at the city gates. They were now positioned alongside the stone-throwing machines. These crossbow carts were supported by eight bows, with crossbow bolts that had arrowheads as large as axes, and a range reaching a full two hundred zhang. It was truly alarming—no wonder the old Luoyang City had been so difficult to capture.

Li Jiancheng looked down at the sparse crowd below. “No rush. We’ll wait until Li Shimin formally attacks the city.”

“Wouldn’t that require waiting another day?” Li Yuanji’s expression wasn’t pleasant. He was impatient by nature and hated waiting most of all, wishing everything could be completed in a single day.

Li Jiancheng gazed through the darkening sky at that distant figure in the middle of the Tang Army, with a half-smile saying: “Perhaps it won’t take a full day. Just watch.”

Li Yuanji glanced at the sky where dusk was gathering from all sides, asking puzzledly: “Don’t tell me Li Shimin plans to attack the city at night?”

To his inquiry, Li Jiancheng smiled without answering. After the sky completely darkened, the Tang Army stopped their siege. Since it was merely probing in nature, casualties weren’t heavy.

After the siege ended, Li Jiancheng also came down from the city wall. Before leaving, he instructed the defending soldiers to take turns watching the Tang Army on the city wall without negligence. Once the Tang Army attacked again, they should immediately report.

This night was a sleepless one for many people, especially Li Yuanji. After hearing Li Jiancheng’s words, he went up to the city wall several times during the night, but the Tang Army outside remained motionless. The other city gates were the same. Could it be… that elder brother had guessed wrong?

The fourth watch was often when a person was most drowsy, especially for those soldiers who stayed up all night defending the city. Even if they pinched their thighs hard, their upper and lower eyelids still kept fighting, refusing to stay open.

After drinking an entire pot of strong tea, Li Yuanji finally dispelled some drowsiness. Braving the cold dew, he came to the city wall once again. As soon as he went up, he saw those soldiers swaying unsteadily, with several even snoring. His heart immediately flared with anger. He went up and slapped each of them, shouting sternly: “I told you to defend the city, and what do you do? You actually doze off here! What if the Tang Army attacks? If Luoyang City is lost, none of you will survive!”

Caught red-handed by him, those soldiers were both shocked and panicked, quickly straightening their bodies. No matter how tired they were, they dared not show it in front of Li Yuanji.

Li Yuanji’s rebuke alarmed Jiang Yuan, who had originally been below the city. He hurried up, and after understanding what had happened, said: “Your Highness, please calm your anger. They haven’t slept all night, so it’s inevitable they’re somewhat drowsy.”

Li Yuanji snorted coldly: “They’re drowsy—am I not drowsy? But since we’re defending the city, no matter how tired, we cannot sleep. Otherwise, we might as well open the city gates and let the Tang Army in. What’s the point of defending?”

“Your Highness speaks truly.” Having responded thus, Jiang Yuan said to those soldiers: “You’ve all heard His Highness’s words. All of you, stay alert and watch the Tang Army below. Don’t be careless. Once the yin hour passes, someone will come to relieve you, and then you can go back for a good sleep!”

As the soldiers responded repeatedly, one of them caught sight of vague figures below the city from the corner of his eye and quickly said: “Your Highness, General, look below the city!”

Hearing this, Li Yuanji quickly looked down and saw a large contingent of Tang Army quietly approaching the city wall under cover of darkness. In places slightly farther away, siege ladders had already been erected, with Tang soldiers quietly climbing up.

“What a Li Shimin, to actually carry out a sneak attack!” Li Yuanji said while grabbing a wooden battering ram as thick as a man could embrace, quickly moving to where the siege ladder was erected. With a great roar, using brute force, he pushed the siege ladder away, causing the Tang soldier who had climbed halfway up to fall from the city wall and die from having nowhere to borrow strength.

Yin Kaishan, who was leading the night assault, saw this and knew their whereabouts were exposed. Raising his sword, he shouted: “Warriors, charge forward with me! Charge!”

Following these words, countless soldiers rushed toward the city wall like dense swarms of ants. At the same time, the horn of enemy attack sounded from the city wall.

Compared to the afternoon, this was a true siege battle, with fighting far more intense than before. Tang soldiers constantly fell from the city head, dead or wounded, while the defending soldiers also had it rough, with Tang soldiers occasionally climbing up the city wall to wound them.

However, for some unknown reason, despite such dire circumstances, the defending army never used the stone-throwing machines and crossbow carts, leaving those dozen or so large-scale killing weapons idle on the side.

In fact, it wasn’t that they didn’t want to use them, but Li Jiancheng had strict orders that without his command, no one was to touch these two weapons. Violators would be executed!

After killing another wave of Tang soldiers who had climbed up, Li Jiancheng’s figure finally appeared on the city wall. Li Yuanji’s heart leaped with joy, and he quickly ran over, saying: “Elder brother, you’ve finally come! Their offensive is fierce—it’s time to use the stone-throwing machines and crossbow carts.”

Li Jiancheng came to the edge of the city wall. By now, a hint of dawn was showing at the horizon, allowing him to clearly see the waves of Tang Army charging below.

Li Jiancheng’s lips curved slightly upward. The next moment, he was already shouting loudly: “Pass my command—use stone-throwing machines and crossbow bolts against the enemy!”

Hearing this, those soldiers immediately became energized. After waiting so long, they could finally use the stone-throwing machines and crossbow bolts. They believed that with these two terrifying weapons joining the battle, it would be enough to force back the Tang Army.

Soon, stones weighing dozens of jin each and crossbow bolts the size of ax heads rained down on the Tang Army like a downpour. Soldiers who couldn’t dodge in time were immediately struck with bloody heads and collapsed to the ground. Some suffered even worse fates, being shot through the head or body by crossbow bolts—a gruesome sight.

For a time, Tang Army casualties greatly increased. By the ke of noon, the casualty count Li Shimin received had risen to over three thousand. Hearing this made his eyelids twitch. He forcefully slapped the table and said through gritted teeth: “Where did they get so many stone-throwing machines and crossbow carts?”

Du Ruhui also furrowed his brows tightly. “It’s indeed very strange. When we captured Luoyang, I was there too. Although the Luoyang military arsenal had these two things, the quantity was small, and they were all damaged. Could it be that after Li Jiancheng arrived in Luoyang, he ordered craftsmen to rush their production?”

“No.” The speaker was Liu Hongji, who shook his head saying: “Back when Wang Shichong was able to hold Luoyang City for so long, it was mainly due to these two weapons. Whether in performance or range, they were far superior to those commonly seen. After the city was broken, unwilling to let these weapons fall into Your Majesty’s hands, he killed those craftsmen first, leaving none alive. So it’s impossible for anyone in Luoyang City who understands how to make these two things to still be alive—at least not capable of making stone-throwing machines and crossbow carts with such terrifying range.”