A family of loyal martyrs, starting with nine wives to continue the family line.

The ground began to shake, and the commotion of the sixty giant elephants running was like a small earthquake, with sand and soil flying everywhere as they were trampled by their four thick legs.

The southern barbarian infantrymen surged forward with the elephant herd, like a tide.

The warhorses behind Wei Zhao were all restless. They smelled the elephant, pawing the ground with their front hooves, breathing heavily with their trunks, and several horses even backed away.

The cavalrymen gripped the reins tightly, their faces pale.

They can't stop them.

One hundred thousand cavalrymen, facing head-on the charge of sixty giant elephants—could not stop them.

Wei Zhao did not order his cavalry to engage in battle.

He looked at Shang Wanqing.

Shang Wanqing crouched behind the crossbow, one eye closed, the other pressed against the copper ruler, aiming at the giant elephant charging at the front.

Shang Wanqing's lips moved.

"put."

Shang Wanqing pronounced the word very lightly, as if she were saying something insignificant.

But the sound of ten ballistae releasing their strings at the same time was as heavy as the sky collapsing.

"Buzz—"

The crossbow string snapped back, the crossbow arm trembled violently, and ten iron spear-like bolts shot out with a sharp whistle.

Wei Zhao stared ahead.

The first crossbow bolt hit the forehead of the giant elephant in the front row.

It didn't get stuck, it didn't bounce off, and it wasn't blocked by the forehead armor.

I just put it on.

The crossbow bolt pierced through the center of the forehead, penetrating the entire skull cavity. The three barbs at the fletching of the bolt burst out from the back of the head, carrying grayish-white brain matter and a cloud of blood mist.

The giant elephant's four legs were locked at the same time.

It didn't neigh, struggle, or even sway; it just plummeted straight down, like a tulou (earthen building) whose foundation had been breached.

"boom!"

The ground shook.

The wooden platform on the elephant's back collapsed, and the archers and spearmen were thrown out like broken sacks, falling to the ground motionless.

The Nanman infantrymen following behind were unable to dodge in time, and three of them were crushed by the giant elephant's corpse. Their screams were cut short.

This is just one.

Ten crossbow bolts, ten giant elephants—the front row was almost wiped out in one round.

Wei Zhao clenched his fists.

Shang Wanqing is right—if the front row falls, the elephants in the back row will step on it.

The giant elephants in the second row are charging forward, their speed already picking up, their bodies, weighing several thousand kilograms, propelling them forward with inertia.

Suddenly, ten enormous corpses appeared in front of them, blocking the way completely.

The first elephant tripped over the corpse with its front leg, bent its knee, and its whole body tilted to the side.

The elephant driver desperately tried to stab its head with iron hooks to make it go around, but it was too fast and couldn't turn around in time.

It stepped on the belly of the dead elephant in front of it.

The intestines were ruptured, and blood and internal organs sprayed all over the ground, filling the air with a stench.

The living giant elephant smelled the blood and entrails of its kind, and its pupils suddenly contracted into slits.

Then—it exploded.

He's not dead, he's gone mad.

A giant elephant raised its trunk and let out a deafening roar. Its four legs thrashed wildly out of control, throwing the elephant driver off its back. The iron hook was still hanging on the elephant's head, drawing an arc in the air with a line of blood on it.

The elephants nearby were also startled.

When a giant elephant is startled, it won't stop; it will run. Where it runs is unknown, but it certainly won't obey anyone.

His several-thousand-pound body charged wildly, trampling not enemies, but the Southern Barbarians' own infantry.

Wei Zhao watched as the elephant formation in the distance collapsed like dominoes, and a slow smile spread across his face.

Shang Wanqing squatted beside the crossbow, her face expressionless. Her fingers rested on the winch, making a soft sound.

"Upward movement, second cycle."

The old soldier operating the crossbow was trembling—not from fear, but from excitement.

They had never seen anything like it in their lives: a crossbow bolt piercing through a giant elephant, something that could shatter city walls!

"quick!"

Shang Wanqing urged.

The winch turned, and the crossbow string was tightened again.

When the second volley of crossbow bolts was fired, the main force of the Southern Barbarians was already in complete chaos.

The frightened elephant rampaged through its own infantry ranks, trampling and injuring more soldiers than the Wei family army had killed.

Some of them crashed into the grain convoy of the southern barbarians, sending the supplies flying everywhere;

Some elephants turned back and ran headlong into the advancing rear guard, crushing them and leaving a bloody trail in their wake.

The southern barbarian soldiers began to panic.

They were not afraid of people. They fought their way from Jianmen Pass to Jiangnan. In their eyes, the Wei garrison was no different from sheep.

But now, it's not people killing them, it's their own elephants.

Those war elephants they were so proud of, those invincible warriors, became the weapons that slaughtered them.

Wei Zhao did not give them time to recover.

"All troops, charge!"

The moment the white wax spears were raised, 100,000 cavalrymen spurred their horses at the same time.

The sound of horses' hooves rose like muffled thunder from the ground, with ten thousand rattan-armored cavalrymen charging forward, pushing through the loose stones.

Ninety thousand cavalry followed closely behind, a rolling torrent of iron.

Wei Zhao took the lead, the bloodstains on his white robe fluttering in the wind.

He didn't rush into the elephant herd—the elephants were already trampling each other and didn't need him.

He was charging at the Southern Barbarian infantry.

Those Southern Barbarian infantrymen, who had lost the cover of the elephant cavalry and the support of the poison soldiers, were now a disorganized mess.

The white wax spear thrust out, piercing the chest of the first Nanman soldier. With a backhand sweep, two Nanman soldiers who were running away with their heads in their hands were sent flying by the spear shaft.

Kill them to death.

Wei Zhao had seen the scene of 100,000 cavalrymen crushing into the rear of the Southern Barbarians' ranks—similar to that night at Yumen Pass.

People are like grass under a horse's hooves; once stepped on, they fall over and can't get up.

But this time it was even worse.

Because the Southern Barbarian soldiers had nowhere to run.

Ahead lies Jiangnan City, where Liu Jingshuang commands an army of 200,000. Behind them are Wei Zhao's 100,000 cavalry, and on either side are frightened, chaotic giant elephants.

It was sealed off on all sides.

Wei Zhao stabbed a Nanman centurion holding a shield to the ground with one spear thrust, and the deduction machine in his mind finally started running smoothly.

We can't let them escape through the side door.

Jiangnan City has three gates, the main gate is on the west side, and it has been blocked.

There is a side gate on both the south and north sides. If the Southern Barbarian soldiers flee in those two directions—

"Pass on the order!"

Wei Zhao turned and roared at his personal guards.

"Deploy two thousand cavalry to block the south gate, and two thousand cavalry to block the north gate. Whoever lets anyone escape, I'll kill them!"

The guards responded and rode away.

But Wei Zhao knew that it couldn't be completely blocked.

Two thousand cavalrymen blocked a city gate. Facing hundreds of thousands of fleeing soldiers, there were bound to be some who escaped, but they would kill as many as they could and block as many as they could.

There is no perfection on the battlefield.

……

In Jiangnan City.

Upon hearing the commotion of the elephant herd collapsing outside the city, Liu Jingshuang's phoenix eyes widened suddenly.

The sound was so loud—the roar of the giant elephant, the muffled sound of bones breaking, and the screams of the southern barbarian soldiers were all mixed together, and could be heard clearly even across half the city.

"Wei Zhao has made his move."

She drew her long sword.

"A full-scale counterattack!"

Two hundred thousand of the Wei family's troops simultaneously charged out from the streets, rooftops, and cellar entrances.

Previously, they feigned defeat and retreated; now they are pushing forward with real force.

Huo Qingluan pressed her command flag forward, and the pre-arranged formation instantly unfolded.

The streets and alleys were narrow, making it impossible to deploy large formations, but small teams could cooperate and advance alley by alley—this was precisely what Huo Qingluan excelled at.

The 30,000 remnants of the Western Qiang and 10,000 Southern Barbarian elephant troops left behind by Tuoba Ye, without their commander and with no way to retreat, were squeezed from all sides by the Wei family army.

The elephant cavalry couldn't maneuver properly in the streets and alleys. The giant elephants were too big to turn around, and they were blocked in front and behind, so they were anxiously spinning around in circles.

The archers on the city wall shot at the elephants' backs, but they couldn't kill the elephants; instead, they could kill the elephant drivers.

Without the elephant charioteers, the giant elephants were just like the ones outside—they started trampling wildly.

They trampled on their own people, the Southern Barbarians.

Liu Jingshuang led her personal guards through the main street, slicing through a barbarian soldier blocking her path with her long sword, without stopping.

She is looking for Tuoba Ye.

But Tuoba Ye is gone.

That mad dog has run away again.

……

Three days later, the city of Jiangnan was still filled with the stench of blood, and corpses littered the ground!

The city's residents had long been moved to the inner city, and for three days, they did one thing—serve as logistics support for the Wei family army.

The old men carried arrows and logs, the women cooked porridge and baked pancakes to send to the front lines, and even the children were helping to pass water.

No one is organizing them.

Zhao Yue later said that he originally wanted to arrange manpower to coordinate the work, but he found that the people started doing it on their own.

Su Qingyun did only one thing—open the granaries, ensuring a sufficient supply of grain, and the people would take care of the rest themselves.