Rebirth: The Journey of an Heiress

After the battle of Pingyang City, the Yan Kingdom also realized... that the massive giant elephants were unable to manage the slippery snowy paths. As soon as the army arrived, they would first compact the snow to make ice paths.

Experienced generals all understood that the most effective countermeasures are those used in the initial attempts; once used multiple times, the opposition will find ways to counteract them. Therefore, Murong Yan's order was... that in this battle, the Tianfeng Kingdom's Elephant Army must be slaughtered with all their might. However many can be slaughtered, so be it.

"Your Majesty! We can't wait any longer, let the Elephant Army charge out!" The Great Shaman's disciple shouted anxiously.

Sal Khan gripped the armrest of the seat on the elephant's back tightly, closed his eyes, and said, "Charge out!"

Now, the Tianfeng Kingdom's Elephant Army was trapped inside the city. The sly Zhou army did not come down from the city walls, while the Yan army stayed outside the city without entering...

The Elephant Army, if charged out, would slip on the pre-trodden and flattened snow, then be attacked by the fearless Zhou and Yan soldiers who would thrust their swords and sabers into the gaps of the Elephant Army's armor or directly pour fire oil on the giant elephants and set them on fire.

This was practically a desperate and fearless massacre by the Zhou and Yan soldiers against the giant elephants.

The massive giant elephants, clad in extremely heavy armor, once fallen, would be swarmed upon like ants by soldiers wielding swords and sabers. It was extremely difficult for the giant elephants to stand up again on this slippery ground.

Sal Khan gritted his teeth: "Break through!"

With a command given, the sound of bone whistles used to command the elephants echoed one after another above Pingdu City.

Bai Jinzhi, covered in bloodstained silver armor, stood on the north gate wall of Pingdu City, forcefully planted the flag. In an instant, the black sail-white python flag fluttered in the wind. She raised her hand to wipe away the blood on her face, the long hair tied atop her head and the red headband were whipped around by the cold wind.

She saw several giant elephants fleeing panickedly from the north gate and slipping, already being impounded by over a dozen fearless Zhou soldiers with iron chains. Hundreds of people were pulling on the chains, roaring to tighten them, determined to subdue the beasts. She then turned her head to look inside the city...

The city was nearly in flames, screams echoed everywhere.

Fortunately, because the Tianfeng Kingdom wanted to make space for the giant elephants, they had driven the people of Pingdu City out early, leaving only those tending to the elephants. Otherwise, who knows how many ordinary civilians would have been killed by the randomly rampaging elephants.

Pingdu City East Gate.

Since Bai Jinzhi first seized the north gate, soldiers had already rushed over. The forces led by Yang Wuce had quickly climbed the city gate, seizing the east gate smoothly.

The giant elephants shook the city walls with their ramming, causing bricks and mortar to fall. The gate, in a severely twisted stance, still stubbornly blocked the east gate archway. From inside the gate came the piercing trumpeting of giant elephants, ready to charge again.

Yang Wuce, mounted outside the east gate of Pingdu City, shouted loudly: "Prepare!"

Cavalry holding iron chains on the north and south sides of the formation immediately sprinted towards the sides of the gate, dragging chains on the slick ice path, ready to restrain the elephants as soon as they slipped.

Pingdu City West Gate.

The first batch of Yan Kingdom soldiers had already stormed the gate. They used the same method previously used by Bai Qingyu, planning to trip any charging elephants with ropes, but for this battle that tested the Rong's army method... rather than ordinary hemp ropes, he replaced them with iron cables to potentially capture any giant elephants coming from the north gate, to probe the weaknesses of the Elephant Army.

Pingdu City South Gate was exceptionally fierce in its fighting.

The Elephant Army was trying at all costs to carve a bloody path through the south gate, cross the Danshui River, and camp at Quanya City.

Sal Khan redirected most of the Xiliang soldiers to the south gate, forcing them out to engage the Yan army, with Tianfeng Kingdom soldiers following closely behind, dragging combustibles set aflame by horses across the snow in hopes of melting it and clearing a viable path for the Elephant Army.

Under the direction of the bone whistles, the giant elephants rapidly charged out from the south gate in an orderly fashion, and the method of dragging burning items with horses to melt trodden snow seemed to work, so fewer slipping accidents occurred with the subsequent elephants.

Murong Yan, wearing a mask, sat on horseback at a distance, feeling the ground shaking violently.

He turned his head and shouted loudly: "Cavalry ready!"

The cavalry immediately covered their mouths and noses with wet towels while standing with soldiers holding torches behind them, who coated thin iron nets dragging wet Sichuan pepper and chili behind the horses with fire oil and set them ablaze. In no time, thick smoke billowed forth.

"Kill!"

At Murong Yan's command, the cavalry, as if dragging a smoking furnace, charged head-on towards the Elephant Army.

The warhorses were agile, weaving between the war elephants. Not to mention the keen-sensed elephants, even the elephant tamers sitting on their backs were overwhelmed to tears by the smoke, while the elephants frantically flailed their trunks and collided randomly in the dense smoke, not knowing where to flee.

Some elephants slipped on the snow, others crashed into each other in the smoke, while some, plagued by the stench, rammed directly into the city walls, trumpeting wildly before collapsing. Once these giant elephants fell... the soldiers swarmed over to slaughter them with a concerted effort in no time.

Below the choking mist at Pingdu City South Gate, blood pooled all around, the ground was a muddy red, and the air reeked with a nauseating mix of blood and spicy scent.

Sal Khan was nearly thrown off the elephant's back by a stimulated elephant. He covered his mouth and nose with a cloth, looked south, and blew on the bone whistle hanging from his neck.

The tamer of the giant elephant Sal Khan rode spurred the elephant to charge southward recklessly, with the madness-soaking trumpeting elephants following closely behind.

At the same time, upon receiving news that the Zhou and Yan had begun attacking Pingdu City, Li Tianjiao ordered Yun Poxing to immediately lead the Huoyun Army to assault Pingyang City.

Yun Poxing believed that although the south gate of Pingyang City must be at its weakest after the collision by the giant elephants, yet... today the Zhou were attacking Pingdu City, and Bai Qingyan needed to guard against the Elephant Army of Pingdu City charging towards Pingyang City, so she would surely deploy whatever little remaining forces she had at the south gate.

If they took the Huoyun Army on a long detour to attack from the north gate, it could delay reinforcements from Pingyang City's defending troops. However, engaging in battle after a long march is military folly, not to mention affecting their ability to grasp the pace of whether the Zhou had started attacking Pingdu City.

The Huoyun Army had limited numbers and was unsuitable for splitting forces, so Yun Poxing decided to make the east gate of Pingyang City the breakthrough point for the Huoyun Army.

Yun Poxing, Yun Lingzhi, Yun Tianao, and several Xiliang commanders sat beside a campfire, holding a map of Pingyang City, discussing attack strategies.

Now that Xiliang already had its "Huying Army," they couldn't use the reckless human wave tactics anymore because the Huoyun soldiers were precious, each one chosen from a thousand others!