The dense flowering shells fired by the Xiangyang artillery and the splitting mountain cannon exploded in front of the front of the Jiaozhi army, and while the artillery fire was attacking, the 40,000 Song army infantry cavalry was ready to attack the Jiaozhi army.

Under the suppression of artillery fire, the Song army approached the position of the Jiaozhi army in an orderly manner, and then quietly waited for the artillery fire to extend.

The positions of the Jiaozhi Army, which had withstood the attack of the Xiangyang artillery and the mountain-splitting artillery, were full of flying mud and wooden splinters, and as the smoke of gunpowder rose from the large regiment, stumps, broken arms, and broken bones flew everywhere.

Especially on the two Jiaozhi army defense lines near the front, the bombardment of the Song army's heavy artillery even changed the entire terrain, the sand dunes turned into dirt pits, and the earth pits became sand dunes, and the gunpowder smoke and explosion fire shrouded the entire Jiaozhi army's forward position.

But at this moment, the sound of drums and horns sounded, and Sun Hui knew that the Jiaozhi army had begun to attack on all fronts.

Probably knowing that if the Jiaozhi army did not attack again, it would completely collapse under the fierce artillery fire of the Song army, and the commander of the Jiaozhi army sent a signal for an all-out attack when the Song army's artillery fire did not touch the middle and rear camps, intending to overwhelm the Song army, which was inferior in numbers, with an absolute superiority in troops.

"They've sent out the elephant troops." Ye Chuchu reminded Sun Huidao, "It's strange that these elephants are not afraid of artillery fire and rush forward. ”

Sun Hui also noticed this strange phenomenon and observed it carefully.

Sun Hui, who is familiar with world history, knows that in addition to Champong, the countries that use more war elephant troops on the Indochina Peninsula include Zhenla, Ailao, Burma, Siam and other countries, and these countries cannot develop or are weak in horse cavalry due to conditions, so the elephant army is naturally the main cavalry army. In the second century A.D., the king of Funan mixed the situation to "teach and practice the elephant" and annexed Zhuyi. At the time of the reign of King Sansentai, there were 700,000 troops (don't be surprised to see this number, the number of armies in ancient Southeast Asian countries was often exaggerated by about ten times, as long as it shrank to one-tenth). In the wars between Chenla and Champa, Champa and Vietnam, and Chenla and Siam, war elephants were often a powerful weapon.

A large-scale elephant war in Burma occurred in 1277 (the fourteenth year of the Yuan Dynasty), the Yuan general Nasuradin led 12,000 cavalry to conquer Burma, and the Burmese king Naroti Habo Emperor gathered 2,000 war elephants (another 800 heads) and 60,000 foot cavalry to meet the battle. Burmese war elephants are heavily armoured and carry 12 to 16 people in the tower. A large bamboo tube is hung outside the war building to place a short thatch, which is convenient for elephant soldiers to stab. The Yuan army saw the war elephant and ran, the Burmese army came to chase, the Yuan army dismounted, led the bow and shot the elephant, so that the Burmese army war elephant casualties more than half, the elephants fled, and the building armor was destroyed. The Yuan army took advantage of the situation to attack, and the Burmese army was defeated. The Yuan army killed and captured more than 200 elephants. After this battle, Naroti Hahapo Emperor was killed, resulting in the collapse of the Bagan Dynasty.

When war elephants are mentioned, they are always reminiscent of other countries such as Rome and India. This gives the impression that the Chinese are far inferior to foreigners in the use of war elephants. But the opposite is true. Various historical materials and modern archaeology prove that China was one of the earliest countries in human history to domesticate and use war elephants. This doesn't just refer to ethnic minority areas in southern China such as Yunnan. The Central Plains Dynasty also has a permanent history of elephant training. Modern archaeology proves that during the Shang Dynasty in China, the climate and geographical environment of today's Henan region were very different from today's. At that time, the Henan region was warm and humid, full of jungles. In the jungle, a large number of wild animals such as Chinese rhinoceros and Chinese elephants flourish. A large number of Chinese elephants belonged to the common species of the time. According to the research of cultural relics and oracle bone inscriptions unearthed from the tomb of the wife of Wu Ding, the king of Shang and other tombs of the Shang Dynasty. During the Shang Dynasty, the people of the Central Plains had mastered a set of mature techniques for capturing, domesticating, and using elephants. Merchants also used fire attacks to disperse herds to capture baby elephants. In the tomb of the woman, there have been unearthed intact jade baby elephant ornaments. At that time, elephants were second only to horses in the Shang Dynasty. According to oracle bone inscriptions, elephants were widely used by merchants in various aspects. They used elephants to carry their belongings and also used elephants to plough the fields. On top of that, the merchants organized the captured bull elephants into elephant formations that were specifically used for warfare. This is the first war elephant unit in Chinese history with clear historical records. Moreover, merchant war elephants were already wearing armor made of rhinoceros or cowhide and hardwood. It belongs to the world's earliest armored war elephant. The Shang Dynasty Elephant Array belonged to the most elite troops in the Shang army. It has played an important role in all wars in the 600-year history of the Shang Dynasty. The greatest king in the history of the Shang Dynasty, Shang King Wuding, once sent an army of 23,000 people, including the elephant array, to attack the Qiang people and won a great victory. The famous Shang king once sent an alliance of his country's most elite troops, the "Tiger Army" and the Elephant Array, to conquer Dongyi (Shandong, Zhejiang and Huai River Valley). It was also because of the expedition to Dongyi that the main force of the Shang army was far away in the east and the country was empty, thus creating an opportunity for Zhou's attack. Later, with the mass hunting of humans and climate change, elephants disappeared from the Central Plains. Since then, the focus of the development of Chinese war elephants has shifted to the south.

Unlike Western countries, China's Central Plains Dynasty rarely organized and used war elephant troops in its history. On the one hand, this is due to the early development of the operational environment. On the other hand, it is also due to the lack of elephants in the Central Plains. The main elephant-producing areas in China are concentrated in the south, especially in Yunnan. Historically, the region has been home to ethnic minorities. The elephants that the Central Plains Dynasty could obtain were all tributed by Yunnan or Southeast Asian countries, and the number was limited. Therefore, it is generally used as a royal honor guard. This reached its climax during the Ming and Qing dynasties, when the royal guard had elephants dedicated to ceremonial ceremonies. In Beijing, there used to be a "elephant washing trench" for bathing royal elephants. Not only did the Central Plains Dynasty rarely use war elephants on a large scale, but it also fought many times in history against the local regimes in the south that used war elephants. Interestingly, in stark contrast to the embarrassment of Westerners in front of war elephants, the Chinese have never missed a hand in front of war elephants. Historically, local political authorities in southern China, including the separatist regime of ethnic minorities in Yunnan, have repeatedly launched attacks against the central government with war elephants as the mainstay. But it never succeeded. The most typical example occurred in the Song Dynasty. At that time, the Southern Tang Dynasty, which was in the south of the Yangtze River, spent a lot of money to buy a batch of war elephants from Dali in order to resist the unification of the Northern Song Dynasty and trained the drivers. But after the start of the war, when the Southern Tang Elephant Array launched an attack, the Song army used the giant bed crossbow, the most powerful long-range weapon in the world at that time, to fire intensively at the Southern Tang Elephant Array. In the face of the fierce long-range fire of the Song army, the Southern Tang elephant array collapsed instantly, most of the war elephants were killed on the spot, and the remaining few were frightened and turned around and rushed into their own positions. As a result, the elephant array that Nantang painstakingly managed did not play any role.