Chapter 230 The Battle of the New Year (Part 4)

In Zunyi City, facing the Jiannan Army that had directly taken up positions to besiege the city, Wen Pin was also taken aback; he quickly understood what had happened.

There was no time to return to the government office, so Wen Pin immediately gave the order.

"Quickly send someone to inform the Lord that the plan has failed. The enemy's main force has arrived. Please tell the Lord to proceed with caution."

Outside the city, Meng Zhenshan had also received a report from his Scouts: the main force of the Nanyue Army was approaching.

In order to Scout the movements of the Nanyue Army, Meng Zhenshan had sent out a large number of Scouts, expanding the reconnaissance range to nearly two hundred li, and finally found Gao Yuan's movements.

Hearing that Gao Yuan was personally leading troops and was less than one hundred and fifty li from Zunyi City, Meng Zhenshan immediately adjusted his strategy in his surprise, changing from the initial plan of breaking the city first and then fighting reinforcements to fighting reinforcements first and then breaking the city.

Leaving five thousand troops to watch the defenders inside the city, the main force of the Jiannan Army bypassed Zunyi City and set up camp ten li to the south, preparing to wait at ease to crush the Nanyue Army head-on.

Seeing Meng Zhenshan's movements, Wen Pin was very glad that he had sent a notification to Gao Yuan immediately.

Upon receiving Wen Pin's message, Gao Yuan knew that his wishful thinking had fallen through; not only that, but his second set of plans had also failed.

"I didn't expect Meng Zhenshan to not choose to besiege the city directly. It seems I still underestimated this man!"

Shaking his head and sighing, Gao Yuan immediately ordered.

"Pass down the order: starting tomorrow, slow down the marching speed and send out all Scouts to expand the reconnaissance range, especially in places prone to ambushes."

The confrontation between the two armies officially began from this moment. The total number of Scouts sent out by both sides exceeded three hundred, so much so that skirmishes between Scouts occurred almost every day.

After paying the price of more than a dozen Scouts, Gao Yuan basically determined that Meng Zhenshan wanted to fight an encounter battle with him.

All along, Gao Yuan's strategy was to use schemes whenever possible and fight ambushes when appropriate; he rarely fought large-scale encounter battles.

Even when pacifying Khmer, it was a crushing victory with absolute strength advantage; this was the first time he would line up for a head-on battle against an evenly matched opponent.

Looking at the expectant gazes of everyone in the commanders tent, Gao Yuan pondered for a moment and made a decision.

"Since they have already laid out their pieces to fight us head-on, then we shall accompany them to the end. It's also a good time to test the combat effectiveness of our Central Corps."

When Gao Yuan said these words, his heart was actually bleeding. The Central Corps was his pride and joy; it was an army built with countless funds and provisions, fed with two catties of grain and two catties of meat every day.

If the Central Corps suffered heavy losses here, then he would most likely be unable to launch any active offensive for two or three years.

But he also knew very well that elites should be forged through the clash of blades and spears on the battlefield, baptized in blood, rather than being flowers protected in a greenhouse.

At this moment, seeing the reactions of Xia Luqi, Xue Linfeng, and the others, Gao Yuan knew they shared similar thoughts.

As the core of the Nanyue Army's main force, they had always fought crushing battles and couldn't demonstrate their true strength at all; they also hoped to show what they were capable of.

After confirming their resolve with a look, Gao Yuan began to make arrangements.

"In terms of tactical deployment, I am not as good as Linfeng, so I have decided that command will temporarily be handed over to Linfeng. Zhao Meng, you will stay by Linfeng's side."

"Ah? Lord, what about the Xiaoguo Army?"

"The Xiaoguo Army will be personally commanded by me."

"Hehe, with the Lord personally in command, we will surely be invincible."

"Do not be careless. I estimate there is also Cavalry in the enemy ranks."

As Gao Yuan expected, the next day a Scout reported: the banners of the Left Cavalry Guard had appeared in the Jiannan Army's ranks.

Although he had expected it, Gao Yuan still felt the pressure. The Left Cavalry Guard—this name represented the peak combat power of the Great Gan Cavalry.

Against a powerful army that could grind the fierce Hu Cavalry into the dirt, Gao Yuan really didn't know if the Xiaoguo Army under his command could rival them.

Just as he was thinking about how to defeat the enemy, the system helped him make a decision.

"Since you have the name of an Overlord, you should perform the deeds of an Overlord. A-rank Event: 'The Battle of Testing' triggered:"

"Event Objective: Defeat the Jiannan Army and the Left Cavalry Guard head-on without using any surprise tactics to achieve victory in this great war;"

"Event Reward: One Mysterious Key, and instill a great sense of fear in The Emperor Zhao Gil;"

"Failure Penalty: The Emperor Zhao Gil gains immense confidence, and his will to launch a full-scale suppression of the Host increases significantly."

An A-rank event, it was actually an A-rank event. Gao Yuan had completed quite a few system events; in his view, S-rank events were not that difficult because they were all series events.

But A-rank events were different; they were the ceiling for the difficulty of a single event. It seemed the system also felt the difficulty this time was very high.

For an event with such high difficulty, the rewards and penalties were also exaggerated, almost determining the fate of his regime.

If he could make Zhao Gil feel fear toward him, he could ensure safety for a long time; if Zhao Gil gained confidence, then he would likely face great misfortune.

This event must be completed. Gao Yuan looked at his inventory: one C-rank Summoning Card and one martial soul Trial Card. It seemed he would have to use them all this time.

Although a C-rank card wouldn't draw anyone particularly reliable, it was better than nothing. With a thought, Gao Yuan used the card.

His luck was good; he drew a historical figure, Cao Xing, one of the eight brave generals under Lu Bu, the one who heavily wounded Xiahou Dun with a single arrow.

A C+ rank Cavalry general—it could be said his luck was explosive, which gave Gao Yuan more confidence in this victory.

Twenty-five thousand Jiannan Army troops and two thousand Left Cavalry Guard against twenty thousand Beiwei Army, one thousand Baier Soldiers, plus one thousand eight hundred Xiaoguo Army. Both sides could be said to be evenly matched.

On the morning of the tenth day of the second month in the fourth year of the Shaoxing era of Great Gan, fifteen li south of Zunyi City, the two sides finally formed a confrontation face-to-face. The great war was on the verge of breaking out.

Since it was a proper great war, the necessary procedures still had to be followed, such as the initial war of words.

"Meng Zhenshan, as the Jiedushi of Jiannan Circuit, you do not think of resisting foreign aggression and recovering lost territory, but instead privately raise troops to fight your own countrymen. Are you not afraid that I will submit a memorial to His Majesty to impeach you?"

"Hahaha, Gao Yuan, you brat! Who in the court or the commonality does not know of your wild ambitions? As long as I can kill a rebel like you, what does it matter if I, Meng Zhenshan, bear some infamy!"

"Sophistry! You are merely ambitious and seeking personal gain, disregarding the lives of tens of thousands of soldiers and the safety of the state, doing something that pains your friends and pleases your enemies."

Having his thoughts exposed by Gao Yuan's words, Meng Zhenshan was clearly somewhat exasperated.

"The winner is king and the loser is the bandit. Even if you, Gao Yuan, are skilled with words, in the end, we must see the true results on the battlefield!"

"Hahaha, you are so confident that you will win!"

"Whether we can win or not will only be known after the fight!"

After the war of words, both returned to their ranks. Meng Zhenshan went to the command platform, while Gao Yuan went to the Xiaoguo Army.

"Commander, look, Gao Yuan does not seem to be the one in command."

Reminded by his lieutenant, Meng Zhenshan also noticed this change and couldn't help but sneer.

"This pretty boy actually has some self-awareness. I wonder who my opponent really is this time."

As the Commanders of both armies issued orders, the infantry on both sides began to change their formations. Looking at the orderly changes in the military arrays, one could tell that both sides had excellent Commanders and well-trained soldiers.

They remained in a stalemate for the entire day; neither side found a flaw in the other, and several probing attacks were all repelled.

After a day of maneuvering, both sides sounded the retreat and returned to their respective camps.

This continued for several consecutive days, which made Meng Zhenshan feel increasingly alarmed. He hadn't expected there to be such a capable person in the Nanyue Army.