Sa’er Khan gripped the jade cicada tightly in his hand. After a long while, he turned around and said coldly, “It’s just that Yan saw Great Zhou surrounding without attacking, realized Great Zhou wants benefits, so they also want to get a piece of the pie!”
If the Great Zhou was still willing to negotiate, it meant they didn’t want to fight. Why would Yan come running over… what else could it be for but to get their share?
Sa’er Khan’s expression was ugly. When had their Tianfeng ever been humiliated like this?
Even in winter, their elephant army wasn’t incapable of fighting. Now, being trampled upon by these ant-like lowly breeds was because they had to endure for the sake of the divine oracle.
The punishment sent down by the heavenly god, letting sand devour their lands – this was an enormous fear in every Tianfeng person’s heart. As Tianfeng’s ruler, besides fear, Sa’er Khan felt more anxiety. He was Tianfeng’s king, bearing the responsibility of freeing his people from fear.
He had come to this land also to find suitable living places for Tianfeng’s people, so they wouldn’t live daily immersed in the terror of not knowing when their crops and homes would be swallowed by sand.
The great shaman’s disciple knew Sa’er Khan was extremely frustrated now and spoke consolingly: “Your Majesty’s words are reasonable, but we should still be prepared. Your Majesty should leave first. I’ll negotiate with Great Zhou’s imperial envoy, and we’ll leave Li Tianfu behind. Whatever land or city the Great Zhou wants, we’ll have Li Tianfu give it to them!”
“Report…” A Tianfeng soldier rushed in. “Great Zhou has begun attacking the city!”
Battlefield situations change in an instant, truly testing the adaptability of commanders. When Bai Jinzhi received Yan’s message about surrounding the city, she delayed no longer and immediately began the assault, also sending word to Bai Qingyu.
“How dare they!” Sa’er Khan’s eyes were splitting with rage.
The great shaman’s disciple turned to Sa’er Khan: “Your Majesty, if you still want to leave room for negotiation with Great Zhou to search for jade cicadas, withdraw now and let the Xiliang people stay to fight!”
Although for the jade cicadas… to establish a foothold in this land, Sa’er Khan could tolerate Great Zhou, but now Great Zhou was practically riding on his neck and running wild. He clenched his fists tightly, truly wanting to go to war directly with Great Zhou, to beat Great Zhou until they couldn’t get up… to beat Great Zhou’s emperor until he knelt before him begging for mercy!
Great Zhou’s emperor was right now in Pingyang City. If they could capture Great Zhou’s emperor alive, let’s see how Great Zhou would continue being arrogant!
Seeing Sa’er Khan’s gradually rising battle intent, the great shaman’s disciple hurriedly said: “Your Majesty, don’t forget the jade cicadas are still in Great Zhou, and don’t forget… the divine oracle!”
Sa’er Khan closed his eyes. The divine oracle could not be defied!
Thinking again of the jade cicadas still in Great Zhou, thinking of how their Tianfeng had, after all, extended their battle lines, crossing snow mountains to fight in this land, if they fought without regard for anything, once their supply lines were cut, these giant elephants would be impossible to feed.
This was also heaven’s will. Previously, Tianfeng urgently needed various furs to sew winter clothing for the giant elephants to help them resist the cold, having Cui Fengnian find ways to obtain large quantities of animal furs…
As a result, Tianfeng hadn’t expected that Xiliang, already a nation with limited arable land, would have its people abandon farming entirely, focusing all their efforts on animal furs and the jade brocades favored by Great Zhou’s imperial family, completely abandoning what little farmland they had, using the silver earned to buy grain.
When Tianfeng arrived in Xiliang, before they could flex their muscles, they discovered… Xiliang lacked grain even more than Tianfeng.
Moreover, the great shaman said the heavenly god’s oracle indicated the chosen master of this land still existed, so they couldn’t forcibly seize the land. Therefore, Tianfeng could only devise a leasing method – first establish a foothold, obtain grain… kill this land’s master, then sustain war through war.
However, the great shaman’s disciple still didn’t know who the land’s master was. For Sa’er Khan, Tianfeng’s ruler, who had always worshipped the heavenly god, he truly didn’t dare rashly violate the divine oracle.
Sa’er Khan closed his eyes. Previously, Tianfeng had angered the heavenly god, so the god let the desert swallow Tianfeng’s land as punishment. Now, if he violated the oracle again, launching war to seize this land while its master still lived, what punishment would the heavenly god send down, and whether Tianfeng could bear it, he couldn’t be certain!
Thinking of this, Sa’er Khan slumped defeatedly into his chair, his face full of exhaustion: “Leave Xiliang troops to defend the city! All Tianfeng elephant army and soldiers withdraw. Leave behind one giant elephant and Tianfeng’s envoy. After we safely cross the Danshui River, we have the envoy ride the giant elephant to personally open the gates and welcome Great Zhou’s High Justice into the city, showing them our sincerity in wanting peaceful coexistence and mutually beneficial trade. Have the elephant army immediately pack and prepare. First, send someone to negotiate with Yan. If Yan won’t let us pass… then we’ll fight our way out!”
Sa’er Khan spoke through gritted teeth.
“Yes!” The messenger soldier immediately went out to relay orders.
But beyond Tianfeng’s expectations, the Great Zhou wasn’t like the siege forces they had previously encountered, merely relying on scaling ladders to climb city walls.
After the Great Zhou’s heavy shields protected the main force’s approach, six-man light shield teams continuously emerged from both sides of the heavy shields. Only four carried light shields, with four shields interlocking to protect two soldiers with backpacks behind them, rapidly advancing toward the city wall corners.
Tianfeng people had never seen such strange shields. One person carried the most ordinary style shield, while the other three shields were oddly shaped – the center one was a square field-shaped light shield with four even edges, and the other two were gui field-shaped light shields with three even edges.
These soldiers trained at Shuoyang’s Niujiao Mountain held shields forged by Zeng Shanru with added ink powder – arrows simply couldn’t penetrate them.
Just like when they had taken Qingxi Mountain pass, at the city wall corners, the teams ordered three shields to interlock. The three shields had hidden clasps that, when connected, formed a trinity, creating a ji field-shaped large shield-shaped field pressed against the city wall. The two with packs immediately stepped forward, embedding rolling pin-thick rivets into the city wall’s crevices.
That one soldier holding the normal large defensive shield crouched in the angle between the city wall, shield, and wall surface. Under the city wall, he hammered in ringed rivets, stepped on the rivets, threaded the protective rope through the ring and held it in his hand. This was an improved battle method developed by Ji Tingyu and Zhao Ran after the Qingxi Mountain pass battle, greatly increasing the safety of soldiers climbing city walls.
With protective ropes tied to their bodies, the three soldiers holding ji field shields coordinated seamlessly, stepping on rivets with their giant shields moving upward. The two soldiers embedding rivets followed closely behind. With each steady step upward, they embedded another rivet into the city wall…
Seeing that arrows couldn’t deal with the densely packed Great Zhou soldiers methodically climbing up from the base of the city wall in orderly fashion, both Tianfeng troops and Xiliang soldiers panicked greatly.