Sima Ping straightened up and patted the ash off his body, couldn’t help but roll his eyes at Lu Yuanpeng, then followed the main force forward: “You’re quite proud of it.”
Lu Yuanpeng chuckled and caught up with Sima Ping, though his eyes were still stinging in waves from the spice: “Do you have a handkerchief? Let me borrow it. My eyes are burning like crazy! But I didn’t bring a handkerchief when I left!”
Sima Ping was about to ask if Lu Yuanpeng was a girl, needing to bring handkerchiefs when going out. Then he suddenly remembered that when they first entered Pingyang City, a little girl of five or six years old, knowing they were Bai Family Army, had specifically wrapped some pastries in a handkerchief for them to share. He had kept the handkerchief with him, originally planning to return it to that girl.
He fumbled around for a long time before finding the handkerchief in his sleeve, casually stuffing it into Lu Yuanpeng’s arms: “I’m going ahead!”
Lu Yuanpeng wrapped some snow from the roadside in a handkerchief and wiped his severely red and swollen eyes, sighing comfortably: “Ah… much better!”
Wang Dong came galloping on horseback, originally to urge the rear troops to speed up. Unexpectedly, he caught sight of Lu Yuanpeng wiping his eyes with a handkerchief. Not recognizing Lu Yuanpeng, he shouted: “What kind of sight is a grown man crying and sniveling?”
Lu Yuanpeng moved the handkerchief from his eyes and looked up, calling out with a heavy nasal voice: “I wasn’t crying! My eyes got irritated by the spice!”
Sima Ping, who had already walked ahead, held back his laughter.
Wang Dong saw it was Lu Yuanpeng and was startled. Even Lu Yuanpeng’s nasal voice seemed quite convincing, so he nodded: “General Bai orders that we don’t need to clean the battlefield for now. Speed up the troops to prevent the Tianfeng elephant army from retreating.”
After delivering the message, Wang Dong turned his horse around and galloped forward, thinking to himself that when this battle was over, he should still mention to his master that they shouldn’t let Lieutenant Lu’s grandson go to the front lines anymore. Maybe make him a head cook instead! Three battlefields had scared the child so much… he was crying like that.
·
Sa’er Khan, galloping with the giant elephants, coughed for a while before noticing that the spicy, choking smell in the air had dissipated. He gasped heavily on the back of the frantically running elephant, and the elephant’s speed gradually slowed down.
Some elephants had only walked a short distance forward before collapsing, breathing heavily. No matter how they blew their bone whistles, the elephants would not stand up again.
But Sa’er Khan and his forces dared not stop. Stopping would mean risking pursuit by enemy troops.
The Great Shaman’s disciple, tears streaming down his face from the smoke, wiped his face with his sleeve and turned back to count their losses: “More than half lost! Most of our war elephants… died in that ambush just now. The Yan and Zhou people are truly shameless! They dare not fight us face to face, only using such underhanded tricks.”
“On the battlefield, there are no underhanded or straightforward tricks. Being able to win is a hard tactic!” Sa’er Khan’s eyes burned with raging fire. “Cross the Danshui River and send word for Akxie to bring the elephant army to rendezvous!”
Heaven’s timing, earth’s advantages, and human harmony—Tianfeng possessed none of these. He had been too overconfident, thinking that dealing with such cold weather only required dressing the giant elephants in fur, and they could still rampage across this land. But he had never seen snow… nor knew that snowy ground would be so slippery.
The giant elephants were massive and wore armor. After slipping and falling, trying to stand up again on the slippery surface was quite difficult.
Add to that the cunning of the Zhou and Yan people, choosing to occupy high ground for fire attacks and using such vicious smoke attacks—the elephant army not only had no place to display their martial prowess but became a burden instead.
At this moment, Sa’er Khan felt somewhat regretful. Tianfeng should not have killed so many slaves back then. If they hadn’t killed so many slaves, they would have not only the elephant army but also troops capable of hand-to-hand combat with the Zhou and Yan people.
By this point, Sa’er Khan finally understood that trying to humble themselves for peace negotiations with the Great Zhou and the Great Yan was impossible. Yan and Zhou were determined to annihilate their elephant army…
He had thought the rulers of Zhou and Yan too simply, also because Tianfeng had relied on the elephant army for years without ever encountering a worthy opponent.
But none of this mattered. No matter how many elephant troops were sacrificed, it didn’t matter. What mattered was finding the jade cicada… As long as time could be reversed, all his elephant army would return.
As long as time was reversed, he would not be hasty again. He would first have the Great Shaman come to this land to find the master chosen by the heavenly gods, kill the master of this land, and then have the Western Liang people properly grow grain for their Tianfeng. Wait until the harsh winter passed, wait until this land warmed up in spring, then lead the elephant army to annihilate the Great Zhou and Yan in one breath, turning this land into Tianfeng’s granary.
Sa’er Khan had never wanted to find that jade cicada lost in Great Zhou more than he did now.
Shen Kunyang, lying in ambush on both sides of Hanwen Mountain valley, could already feel the trembling of the earth beneath his feet—the vibrations caused by the elephants’ running.
Not just Shen Kunyang, but all the Great Zhou soldiers lying in ambush on both sides could feel the mountain’s trembling.
Over ten thousand men were hidden on both sides of this valley, while the valley exit had long been blocked with chevaux-de-frise doused in pine oil and boulders, just waiting for the elephants to arrive before attacking.
Pine oil, fire oil—any oil that could ignite, from Pingyang City and several other neighboring counties, had all been sent here specifically to deal with the giant elephants.
Shen Kunyang’s eyes were calm and steady, waiting only for the elephant army to completely enter their attack range before giving the order.
“Hurry! We’re almost out!” Sa’er Khan shouted. “Quickly cross the Danshui River! Quick!”
Whether it was an illusion left from being ambushed at the entrance to Hanwen Mountain valley, the wind seemed to carry the scent of pine oil and fire oil. The Great Shaman’s disciple gripped tightly to the chair on the elephant’s back and turned to look at Sa’er Khan’s grim expression: “Ahead…”
“Stop!” Sa’er Khan reacted faster than the Great Shaman’s disciple. Before the disciple could speak, he shouted to halt, and the soldiers around Sa’er Khan quickly blew their bone whistles.
The charging elephant army gradually came to a stop. Sa’er Khan raised his wet, reddened eyes, looking back and forth at the top of the valley. Great Zhou had already ambushed them once ahead—they wouldn’t… set another ambush here, would they?
Shen Kunyang held his patience, watching the gradually stopping elephant army without rushing to attack. Currently, half of Tianfeng’s elephant army was within their attack range, while half remained outside. If they attacked now, those behind might retreat. If the Fifth Young Master was leading people to clean the battlefield, these elephant troops returning might inevitably cause them casualties.
Shen Kunyang wanted to annihilate all these elephant troops here at once.
“Perhaps…” The Great Shaman’s disciple could only hear the wind, the elephants, their breathing, and footsteps. Thinking he was being overly suspicious, he looked at Sa’er Khan: “Perhaps it’s the scent from earlier, carried over by the wind!”
“Your Majesty! Pursuers are coming from behind!” The general, bringing up the rear, rode his elephant forward, shouting to Sa’er Khan.