Line Town is here

West City and Menge are adjacent, and Menge City is only over two hundred li away from Dehong City.

If performing a forced march with light equipment and no logistics, it would only take six or seven days to arrive.

However, an army on a campaign must bring logistics; in an area filled with mountains and jungles like this, logistics cannot rely on ox or horse carts.

Therefore, logistics mainly rely on pack horses and manual labor.

Thus, although Xian Zhen's military strength was only five thousand, he had nearly a thousand pack horses and four to five thousand young Laborers.

It could be said that to take Dehong, Xian Zhen was also exerting his full strength.

Such a grand procession would inevitably march slowly, covering only twenty li a day.

This gave Gao Yuan time to make arrangements leisurely.

During these days, through his own hard practice, his saber technique had broken through a minor tier to reach D+, and his endurance had broken through a major bottleneck to reach B-.

So this time, Gao Yuan prepared to take the field personally to test the results of his hard training.

Having prepared the battle plan, Gao Yuan summoned Xia Luqi, Mu Sheng, and Gao Fu.

Although Gao Fu was the steward of the Gao Family, he had also gone through life and death with Gao Wu in the past.

It was only later, because he injured his hand tendons and could no longer hold a blade, that he had to retire from the military.

Now, at a time when they were short on people, Gao Yuan decided to let this old steward come out of retirement to cooperate with Mu Sheng in defending the city.

Everyone took their seats, and Gao Yuan got straight to the point.

"Everyone, now that Xian Zhen's army is pressing down on our borders, I have considered it repeatedly; rather than defending to the death, it is better to take the initiative and attack."

Mu Sheng immediately stood up to object.

"You must not, County Duke Gao. Now Xian Zhen's military strength is double our own. Defending the city still offers a glimmer of hope, but taking the initiative to attack..."

Gao Yuan waved his hand at Mu Sheng.

"Local Chieftain Mu, do not be anxious. The active attack I speak of is not a head-on field battle with the opponent, but a plan to win through surprise."

"I am all ears!"

"Uncle Fu, you will cooperate with Local Chieftain Mu to lead fifteen hundred troops to defend the city. Remember, you are only allowed to defend the city and must not go out to battle."

"Yes!"

"Bang Jie, you and I will lead a thousand elites out of the city tonight. I want to throw Xian Zhen into unrest."

"Yes!"

Without giving Mu Sheng a chance to discuss, Gao Yuan announced his decision and began to prepare.

Seeing this, although Mu Sheng grumbled inwardly, he could only brace himself and begin preparing for the city's defense.

Dehong could not be considered a fortified city, and the walls were not high, so they could only prepare more rolling logs and stones.

While Xian Zhen's main army had not yet arrived, Mu Sheng led people out of the city to fell timber and transport stones.

Meanwhile, Gao Yuan returned to the side courtyard and began to silently prepare for the campaign.

Speaking of which, this was the first time he truly had to face a battlefield, a battlefield led by him.

That clash with The Emperor was purely a head-on encounter with no strategy or tactics to speak of.

In the end, they had also relied on Xia Luqi's fierce charge to narrowly win.

But this time was completely different.

After finishing dinner with feigned calmness, under the cover of night, Gao Yuan changed into tight-fitting clothes, put on leather armor with Gao Fu's assistance, buckled on his broadsword, and quietly stepped out.

He didn't notice that just as he walked out the main gate, three graceful figures emerged from the shadows.

Gao Fu was startled and hurriedly bowed.

"Greetings, Your Highness. Greetings, the two Young Mistresses."

Zhao Xiyao nodded slightly, her voice soft.

"Uncle Fu, do not be nervous. We just wanted to come and see him off."

Gao Fu stood up and murmured as he looked in the direction Gao Yuan had gone.

"Please do not take offense, Your Highness. The Third Young Master did not leave without saying goodbye out of disrespect, but because he was afraid that Your Highness and the two Young Mistresses would worry."

"We know!"

The four of them watched the direction Gao Yuan had departed into the night for a long time before each leaving.

Gao Yuan arrived outside the city gate and saw Xia Luqi leading a thousand elites without lighting torches, standing quietly in the night like that.

Without shouting slogans or giving a pep talk, Gao Yuan just nodded.

"Let's set out."

"Set out!"

The thousand men began to move, lighting torches only after walking a distance, and their pace quickened slightly.

After walking over ten li, Gao Yuan announced that the whole army would rest on the spot.

Xia Luqi came to Gao Yuan's side and directly delivered a wave of flattery.

"My Lord is far-sighted. If you hadn't insisted on doing that 'Armed Cross-Country' thing, how could these rascals have walked over ten li in one breath while carrying armor?"

Many people are misled by movies and TV shows, thinking that ancient armies also wore armor while marching.

In fact, that was not the case. In ancient times, a set of leather armor weighed over thirty catties, iron armor weighed as much as fifty catties, and the Northern Song's three-layered Infantry Armor even weighed seventy catties.

Marching while wearing such heavy things, let alone walking for a day, one would be exhausted within an hour.

Therefore, in ancient marches, armor was removed and given to Laborers to carry or loaded onto horses.

Armor would only be put on before the start of a battle.

This is why losses from surprise attacks were so heavy, because there was simply no time to put on armor.

During a rout, armor would also become a burden, and soldiers would generally discard it while fleeing.

This is why the phrase 'throwing away helmets and abandoning armor' is commonly used to describe a defeat.

But this time, because they were a surprise force, there were no Laborers at all, and not many pack horses; they mainly carried food and water skins.

Therefore, all weapons and armor had to be carried by themselves. The only one in the whole army with a privilege was Gao Yuan, who had a pony to ride.

Gao Yuan cheerfully accepted Xia Luqi's flattery.

"Rest for an hour, then the whole army will continue forward. Find a hidden spot to camp before dawn."

"Yes!"

That night, Gao Yuan's unit walked over twenty li and found a valley to set up camp before dawn.

After eating breakfast and arranging sentries, the soldiers, who were tired from the day, soon fell into dreamland, with snoring echoing through the valley.

In this manner, hiding by day and moving by night, Gao Yuan led the thousand troops over sixty or seventy li and then stopped.

The distance was sufficient; he needed to start building up strength for the upcoming battle.

On the afternoon of the second day of rest—specifically at dusk—a scout ran quickly into the valley.

He arrived before Gao Yuan, panting heavily.

"Re... Report, General! A 'Xian' character flag has appeared on the mountain path, with about a thousand people."

Hearing that there were only a thousand people on the other side, Xia Luqi began to rub his palms together.

"My Lord, it should be Xian Zhen's vanguard. Should we strike?"

However, Gao Yuan directly shook his head.

"Even if we wipe out these thousand people, it won't be a crippling blow to Xian Zhen. Wait a bit longer."

Seeing that Xia Luqi was somewhat disappointed, Gao Yuan patted his shoulder firmly.

"Bang Jie, as the saying goes, when hitting a snake, hit its seven-inch mark. We have come all this way precisely to hit Xian Zhen's seven-inch mark."

Although he didn't understand Gao Yuan's thoughts, Xia Luqi chose to accept it and even explained it very seriously to his subordinates.

"My Lord has his own brilliant plan. Everyone, please wait patiently."

Although he said to wait longer, Gao Yuan was also becoming a bit impatient.

Since the enemy's vanguard had already passed, the main force of the enemy army was likely not far off.

Sure enough, as expected, at noon on the third day, Xian Zhen's Central Army marched past this place in a grand procession.

And the opportunity Gao Yuan had been waiting for so painstakingly was about to arrive.

Xian Zhen had studied some military strategy, but not much, so his arrangements were very conventional.

A thousand-man vanguard, a Central Army of three thousand five hundred, and the Rear Army, besides five hundred Combat Soldiers, consisted entirely of Laborers.

However, he was also careful; the distance between the central and rear armies was only ten li. In case of any change, five hundred troops would be enough to hold out until the Central Army came to the rescue.

But that was on the premise of it being daytime; if it were night, they would be beyond help.

And what Gao Yuan was waiting for was the night.

Compared to Xian Zhen's army, which only ate grain, Gao Yuan's thousand elites had a meat meal every five days and had no trouble with night blindness at all.

In the darkness of the night, Gao Yuan and Xia Luqi led a thousand fully armed elites, each biting a wooden stick, and quietly approached Xian Zhen's Rear Army camp.