With a wave from Shen Kunyang, two Great Zhou soldiers immediately stepped forward to seize Li Zhijie…

Knowing he might not survive, Li Zhijie wasn’t particularly afraid. But if he couldn’t accomplish his mission and make Tianfeng Nation and Great Zhou fight each other, he would have failed Xiliang!

Li Zhijie’s eyes reddened as he tried to break free from the Great Zhou soldiers, shouting: “Is Your Majesty truly so afraid of Tianfeng Nation?”

“Bai Qingyan, as long as you obediently send Li Zhijie down, I’ll return these worthless Bai family guards to you…” Li Tianfu smiled coldly. “Otherwise, Tianfeng Nation’s elephant army will surely trample your Pingyang City flat!”

“Li Zhijie, your provocation tactics… are not as clever as Li Tianfu’s!” Bai Qingyan’s eyes were clear and sharp.

The Tianfeng Nation general, hearing Li Tianfu dragging Tianfeng Nation into this, felt uncomfortable in his heart. His lips pressed tightly together as the sense of approaching danger became increasingly obvious.

He didn’t want Li Tianfu to use Tianfeng Nation’s banner to show off her might, so he called out loudly: “Your Majesty, Tianfeng Nation has no intention of going to war with Great Zhou. As long as Great Zhou is willing to hand over the Xiliang traitor, our Tianfeng Nation will not make things difficult for Great Zhou. Please set Your Majesty’s mind at ease!”

Listening to this Tianfeng Nation general’s slightly stilted common tongue, Liu Rushi clenched his teeth, his heart growing ever clearer about Tianfeng Nation’s ambitions. When they had participated in the Four Nations Alliance, Liu Rushi had been surprised that the Tianfeng Nation ruler spoke the common tongue so well, especially since he had researched and found that Tianfeng Nation’s language was different from theirs.

Now, even Tianfeng Nation’s generals could speak the common tongue. Though not entirely pure, it showed Tianfeng Nation’s ambitions for this land. Otherwise… why would even their military generals need to learn the common tongue?!

Soon, Shen Kunyang escorted Li Zhijie down from the city wall.

Pingyang City’s gates slowly opened. Li Tianfu’s eyes were gloomy, extremely unwilling. Her true intention in coming today wasn’t merely to capture Li Zhijie – more importantly, she wanted to make Tianfeng Nation and Great Zhou fight each other!

Shen Kunyang instructed the soldiers behind him: “Go help our people back!”

Seeing the Great Zhou soldiers approach to support and help the Bai family guards walk back, Shen Kunyang also pushed Li Zhijie, sending him toward the Xiliang and Tianfeng Nation camp.

The Xiliang soldiers also bound Li Zhijie tightly and dragged him back…

Just as Li Tianfu was about to speak, she heard the Tianfeng Nation general say, “Today is not suitable for battle! I have received divine inspiration from the gods, so I ask the Xiliang Empress to behave herself…”

“Great Zhou doesn’t dare go to war with Tianfeng Nation – doesn’t this show that Great Zhou fears Tianfeng Nation? They’re already frightened by a mere thirty war elephants. What does Tianfeng Nation have to worry about?”

Li Tianfu glanced at the Tianfeng Nation general, leaning against the armrest of her soft couch seat and covering her legs with a blanket.

She looked at Bai Qingyan with feigned contempt and continued: “I never expected… the Bai family has always been known for their backbone. Once, Bai family Deputy General Bai Qishan personally raised his bow to shoot the fifth son of the Bai family to stabilize military morale and maintain the Jin Nation’s dignity. Yet Great Zhou’s dignity… in the Great Zhou Empress’s heart is less important than a few Bai family guards. The Bai family truly has no worthy successors!”

Bai Qingyan faced Li Tianfu directly and responded: “Yes, in my heart… in the hearts of all Great Zhou people, dignity and such things will never be more important than the lives of our Great Zhou’s loyal and brave soldiers!”

Hearing Bai Qingyan’s words, the Great Zhou soldiers all gripped their bows and crossbows tightly, as if they had drunk a bowl of hot blood in this cold wind and snow, warming them to their very bones.

The Bai family guards, being supported and carried by Great Zhou soldiers, following Shen Kunyang back within Pingyang City’s gates, were already in tears. The Bai family army would never abandon any of their brothers-in-arms!

Li Tianfu’s smile froze on her face. She hadn’t expected her mocking words to instead allow Bai Qingyan to use them to boost Great Zhou’s morale.

The Tianfeng Nation commander who had come to Pingyang City under Li Tianfu’s orders felt the uneasy feeling in his heart growing stronger, so he spoke: “Since the Great Zhou Empress has already handed over the Xiliang traitor, then… we shall take our leave!”

Pingyang City’s gates had already closed.

“Wait!” Bai Qingyan’s voice was calm, yet colder than the howling wind, chilling to the bone. “The borders of my Great Zhou – are they a place you can come and go as you please?”

Hearing these words, Li Tianfu immediately perked up: “What, does Great Zhou want to go to war with Tianfeng Nation? Aren’t you afraid that Tianfeng Nation’s elephant army will trample your Great Zhou’s so-called elite soldiers and lowly people into mincemeat?”

The Tianfeng Nation and Xiliang soldiers immediately became alert.

“Tianfeng Nation and Xiliang capturing the Xiliang traitor is originally Xiliang’s internal politics, and the Great Zhou did not wish to interfere.” Bai Qingyan’s gaze swept over the Tianfeng Nation envoys as she casually drew two feathered arrows from her quiver. “However… Tianfeng Nation and Xiliang attempted to ambush and kill during my fourth sister’s return to the city! Injuring my fourth sister, killing my Bai family guards, torturing my Bai family guards to this extent – this is a new grievance with Tianfeng Nation, and with Xiliang, this is an old hatred… New grievances and old hatreds cannot coexist under the same sky! Since you came today… You can only leave your lives behind as repayment!”

Finishing her words, Bai Qingyan’s eyes darkened as she drew her bow to full draw: “Release arrows!”

At Bai Qingyan’s command, two feathered arrows first cut through the sluggish, icy air at lightning speed, targeting the pitch-black eyes of those two giant elephants…

In just one breath’s time, the Tianfeng Nation general only heard an extremely brief sound. Before he could see what had happened, the elephants beneath him and Li Tianfu suddenly went mad, rearing up and letting out miserable cries, wildly swinging their trunks as their steps staggered and they crashed toward both sides.

The Tianfeng Nation’s general and Li Tianfu, seated on the giant elephants’ backs, nearly fell off.

“Retreat! Retreat quickly!” the Tianfeng Nation general cried out in alarm. The heavy shield soldiers immediately closed ranks, using their heavy shields for protection as they retreated.

Under the rain of fire arrows, the elephant army immediately fell into chaos. The thirty giant elephants crashed into each other, their trumpeting cries endless. Underfoot, any Tianfeng Nation soldiers who got too close to the giant elephants would be trampled carelessly. Many soldiers from the heavy shield battalions were trampled to death.

Li Tianfu gripped the armrests of her seat tightly, her face deathly pale. Before she could cry out in alarm, she saw… flaming arrows rapidly shooting down from the city wall toward the Tianfeng and Xiliang armies below the city tower!

The Tianfeng Nation general, who hadn’t expected Great Zhou to go to war with them, gripped his seat tightly and shouted: “Retreat! Retreat! Retreat! Retreat quickly!”

However, the elephants at this point would no longer obey the commands of the elephant trainers sitting atop their heads. They crashed about in complete chaos, and seeing the overwhelming rain of arrows with streaming fire continuously falling toward them, they reared up and trumpeted, constantly backing away.

The two giant elephants at the front that had been struck in the eyes by Bai Qingyan’s arrows had their eyes tightly closed, with only small sections of bloodied arrow shafts remaining outside their eyes. The elephants curled their trunks, trying to pull the arrows from their bloody eye sockets…