Rebirth: The Journey of an Heiress

Sal Khan tightly clutched the jade cicada in his hand, then turned around after a moment and said coldly: "It's nothing more than the Yan Kingdom seeing Zhou surrounding but not attacking, realizing that Zhou wants advantages, and they want a piece of the pie!"

If Zhou is still willing to talk, it means they don't want to fight, so why did Yan approach...? Isn't it just to share the benefits?

Sal Khan's face was grim; when had their Tianfeng Kingdom ever been so frustrated?

Even in winter, their Elephant Army is not incapable of fighting; now being ridden over by vermin-like bastards is due to the necessity of enduring for the oracle.

The punishment sent down by God, making the sand devour their land, brings immense fear into the hearts of everyone in Tianfeng Kingdom. As the monarch of Tianfeng Kingdom, Sal Khan feels not only fear but also anxiety; he is the king of Tianfeng Kingdom, with the responsibility to relieve the people of Tianfeng Kingdom from fear.

He came to this land also to find a suitable place for the people of Tianfeng Kingdom to live, not letting them be submerged every day in the fear that their crops and homes might be devoured by sand at any moment.

The disciple of the Great Shaman knew that Sal Khan was currently quite aggrieved and said kindly: "What Your Majesty said makes sense, but it's still necessary to be cautious. Your Majesty should leave first; I will negotiate with the envoy sent by the Emperor of Zhou, and then leave Li Tianfu behind. Whatever land or city Zhou wants, we will let Li Tianfu give!"

"Report..." A soldier of Tianfeng Kingdom rushed in, "Zhou has started to siege the city!"

The battlefield situation changes in an instant, testing the ability of the general to adapt. Bai Jinzhi received news from Yan Kingdom intending to besiege the city; she then immediately started the battle without delay and sent a message to Bai Qingyu.

"How dare they!" Sal Khan was furious.

The disciple of the Great Shaman looked toward Sal Khan: "Your Majesty, if you still wish to have some leeway with Zhou and search for the jade cicada, then retreat now and let the Xiliang people fight!"

Although for the jade cicada... To establish a foothold on this land, Sal Khan could endure Zhou, but now Zhou is practically running rampant on his neck; his fist tightened, wishing to directly engage Zhou in battle until Zhou couldn't get up... Until the Emperor of Zhou kneeled before him begging for mercy!

The Emperor of Zhou was at this moment inside Pingyang City; as long as he captured the Emperor of Zhou alive, see how Zhou remains arrogant!

Seeing Sal Khan's gradually rising fighting spirit, the disciple of the Great Shaman hurriedly said: "Your Majesty, don't forget that the jade cicada is still in Zhou, and don't forget... the oracle!"

Sal Khan closed his eyes; the oracle must not be defied!

Thinking of the jade cicada still in Zhou, thinking that their Tianfeng Kingdom, after all, extended its line, crossed the snowy mountains to fight on this land, if they were really to fight regardless, if their supply lines were severed, these giant elephants couldn't be sustained.

This was also destiny; earlier, their Tianfeng Kingdom urgently needed various pelts to sew winter garments for the giant elephants to resist the cold, letting Cui Fengnian think of ways to gather animal pelts...

As a result, Tianfeng Kingdom hadn't anticipated that Xiliang, a nation with not much arable land, had its people stop farming, turning to animal pelts and the jade silk favored by Zhou's Imperial Family, completely abandoning what little arable land they had, using earned silver to buy food.

When Tianfeng Kingdom arrived in Xiliang, they hadn't had time to show their strength, only to find... Xiliang lacked food even more than their Tianfeng Kingdom.

Additionally, the Great Shaman said that the owner chosen by God for this land remains; thus, Tianfeng Kingdom could only think of a leasing method, first steady their footing, have food... then kill the owner of this land and sustain war with war.

However, the disciple of the Great Shaman till now doesn't know exactly who the owner of this land is, so for Sal Khan, the monarch of Tianfeng Kingdom who always believes in God, he truly dare not presumptuously defy the oracle.

Sal Khan then closed his eyes; previously, Tianfeng Kingdom incurred God's anger, leading to God letting the desert devour Tianfeng Kingdom's land as punishment. Now if he defies the oracle again, when the land's owner is still present, initiating war land acquisition upon this land, what punishment would God deliver, and could Tianfeng Kingdom withstand it, he could not be sure!

Thinking of this, Sal Khan collapsed onto the chair like a deflated balloon, his face exhausted: "Leave the Xiliang army to guard the city! Tianfeng Kingdom's Elephant Army and soldiers retreat, leave behind a giant elephant and the envoy of Tianfeng Kingdom, once we safely cross the Danshui River, let the envoy ride the giant elephant to personally open the gate and welcome Lord of Gaoyi into the city, showing our sincerity to peacefully coexist and trade for mutual benefit, let the Elephant Army pack up immediately, send someone to negotiate with Yan Kingdom; if Yan doesn't permit... then fight our way out!"

Sal Khan gritted his teeth as he spoke.

"Yes!" The soldier who came to deliver the message immediately went out to issue orders.

Yet unexpectedly for Tianfeng Kingdom, Zhou was not like those siege troops they had encountered before, just relying on ladders to climb the walls.

After Zhou's soldiers with heavy shields approached, squads of light shield units, six men a team, swiftly emerged from the sides of the heavy shields, with only four carrying light shields, four shields interlocked, protecting the two soldiers with backpacks behind them, quickly approaching the corners of the wall.

Tianfeng Kingdom had never seen such strange shields; one carried the most ordinary style shield, while the other three were styled peculiarly; the center was a square field style light shield with four edges symmetrical, and the other two were triangular, a gui field style light shield with three edges symmetrical.

Trained from Shuoyang Niujiao Mountain, these soldiers' shields were crafted by Zeng Shanru with added graphite; those arrows simply couldn't pierce them.

Similar to when they took the Qingxi Mountain Pass, the squad commanded three to interlock shields, hidden clamps connected in the shields, when connected, forming a trinomial shield resisting the wall tightly, allowing the two with backpacks to step forward and embed a rolling pin-thick rivet into the wall seams.

The only one carrying a typical defensive shield soldier of Zhou squeezed into the angle between the wall and shield and wall face, nailing a rivet with a ring at the wall's base, foot stepping onto the rivet, threading one end of the safety rope through the ring and holding it in hand; this was a fighting technique improved upon the Qingxi Mountain Pass battle by Ji Tingyu and Zhao Ran through discussion, greatly enhancing the safety of soldiers climbing walls.

With protective ropes on, the three soldiers holding trinomial shields coordinated seamlessly, stepping rivet by rivet up the giant shield, followed closely by the two embedding rivets steadily upward, embedding a rivet into the wall with each step...

Seeing arrows helpless against the orderly, dense soldiers of Zhou climbing from the wall's base, the soldiers of Tianfeng Kingdom and Xiliang soldiers on the south side panicked.