Chapter 268 Brothers' Battle (Part 1)

Gao Hu was startled, hastily put away those unrealistic thoughts, dismounted, and walked over to the wine table to sit down.

"Xiao Yuan, you're overthinking it. How could I, your elder brother, have such thoughts?"

"Heh!"

Gao Yuan didn't believe a single punctuation mark of what Gao Hu said, responding directly with a cold sneer and pointing to the seat opposite him.

"Sit. Say what you have to say directly; don't waste my time."

Gao Hu felt Gao Yuan's intense hostility and could only offer a sheepish smile before sitting down opposite him.

While he was sitting down, Gao Yuan quickly used the system to scan both of them.

Gao Hu, an S-rank commander and fierce warrior type, and Gao Bing, an A-rank commander type; they were truly worthy of being the Great Qian Flying Tiger and the second of the Twelve Protectors, opponents not to be underestimated.

"Xiao Yuan, Father, Eldest Brother, and I have our reasons..."

Gao Hu had barely started speaking when Gao Yuan interrupted him again with a wave of his hand.

"I don't care what your reasons are. To put it bluntly, I am now the Duke of Xicheng Commandery of Great Qian, and I am in an adversarial relationship with Northern Liang."

Seeing that all his paths were blocked, Gao Hu gave up on the idea of playing the emotional card and instead began to discuss the issue of Jiannan Circuit with Gao Yuan.

"Both of our sides have been through a major battle and are exhausted. If possible, I hope we can temporarily cease hostilities. As for the land in Jiannan Circuit, we can split it equally. What do you think?"

Truth be told, Gao Yuan was somewhat tempted by this proposal. Having experienced the great battle against Western Kang, the organization of the Central Corps was somewhat incomplete, and it was in urgent need of a respite.

But he was also very clear that while he needed a respite, Gao Hu needed it even more.

One must know that Gao Hu had over twenty thousand prisoners in his hands, all of whom were the elite of the Left Martial Guard and Right Valiant Guard. If given time to assimilate them, the Northern Liang Army would quickly recover its vitality.

Realizing this, Gao Yuan immediately rejected Gao Hu's proposal.

"A ceasefire is possible, but you must withdraw from Jiameng Pass and release some of the prisoners. I can promise not to launch an attack on Hanzhong within three years."

Gao Hu spread his hands.

"It seems you are determined to fight this battle. Do you not care at all about the lives of your soldiers?"

"Heh, stop trying to pin labels on me. If you really cared about your soldiers, you would obediently withdraw from the Sichuan region yourself."

"It seems there's nothing to talk about."

"There was never anything to talk about from the beginning. Both publicly and privately, I must drive you out of Jiannan Circuit."

Gao Hu pretended to be depressed and took a drink of wine. Just as he was about to get up, he was called back by Gao Yuan.

"I have always had a question. I wonder if you can answer it for me?"

"Ask away. As long as it doesn't involve secrets, I will tell you everything I know."

"We are all his sons, all legitimate sons. Why was it me?"

Gao Hu did not expect that this was the question Gao Yuan was concerned about. He was stunned for a moment, hesitated for a long time, and only then lowered his voice to speak.

"Mother developed a chronic illness from giving birth to you. Although Father tried hard to seek medical help, she passed away within a few years."

"So you are a murderer, the murderer who killed Father's beloved wife, the murderer who killed our beloved mother."

As Gao Hu spoke, the expression on his face became ferocious. After finishing, he left without looking back.

Gao Yuan did not expect that this was actually the reason. He thought to himself that this family was truly crazy to transfer their hatred onto a child.

But he suddenly thought of a question.

"System, I remember that according to the original plot line of this world, the one who eventually unified the world and ascended to the throne was The Emperor, right?"

"Yes, Host."

"If the Gao Family father and son faked their deaths to escape, then with their abilities, could that pitfall The Emperor actually defeat them?"

"Host, isn't this all because of you?"

"Because of me? In the original plot, I was a useless weakling who couldn't even truss a chicken. Could I have such a big influence?"

"If you, Host, were still a useless weakling, then the power controlled by The Emperor would be far more than what it is now, and Northern Liang would not have had the chance to grow, and would have been quickly extinguished in Western Liang."

"Understood!"

Because he rose in the Southwest, not only did he take away a portion of The Emperor's power, but he also forced him to disperse part of his military forces to the Jiangnan West Circuit to guard against him.

Most simply, he would not have suffered such a great loss in the Battle of Bo Prefecture, and the imperial court's power would have been much stronger.

"I didn't expect the wings of this little butterfly to be so strong; it's really unexpected!"

Gao Yuan shook his head and sighed, then mounted his horse and took Xia Luqi back to the Mianzhu.

The two sides had failed to reach an agreement, so the next step was to fight. Facing such a formidable opponent, Gao Yuan dared not be careless in the slightest.

He used some of the prisoners to replenish the Baier Soldiers, bringing his core force to full strength, and then mixed them with the Xiaoguo Army, so that he had a Cavalry force of over three thousand men.

Compared to the Cavalry of Western Kang, these Beiliang Cavalry were clearly more ferocious, and because they occupied the Guanzhong and Luoyang, they had obtained a large amount of equipment from the armory, making them better equipped as well.

"If only I had drawn the Modao Army last time. With the Modao Army, would I still be afraid of these Cavalry?"

Thinking this to himself, Gao Yuan pulled his attention back to reality and watched Liu Rengui and the others discuss tactics.

After much discussion, it seemed that no plan could perfectly avoid their disadvantages, which caused everyone to fall into silence.

In the past, they were the ones bullying others with Cavalry; now that they were being suppressed by others' Cavalry, this feeling was as uncomfortable as it could be.

Gao Yuan also began to recall in his mind the classic battles recorded in historical books from his previous life regarding infantry defeating Cavalry.

Immediately, a towering figure appeared in his mind—the national hero, Prince Yue.

In the original timeline, in the Battle of Yancheng commanded by Yue Fei, Yue Fei led the Southern Song army to crush the Jin Kingdom's ace combination of Jin Wuzhu's Iron Pagodas and Iron Cavalry with infantry.

As he thought about it, Gao Yuan couldn't help but recite that phrase.

"Do not look up, just hack at the horses' legs!"

"My Lord, what did you say?"

Hearing Gao Yuan suddenly speak, everyone turned to look at him.

"Ahem."

Gao Yuan cleared his throat and repeated the phrase.

"Do not look up, just hack at the horses' legs—it means having the soldiers crouch low and hack at the horses' legs, causing the Cavalry to lose their mounts and thus their combat effectiveness, and then using heavy weapons like golden maces and iron rods to kill the soldiers who have fallen from their horses."

Everyone was stunned for a moment, and then one by one, they revealed smiles of surprise.

"That's right, that's right. My Lord, this plan is excellent."

Gao Yuan couldn't help but roll his eyes at this group of people.

"I don't believe you wouldn't have thought of it. However, this move might not necessarily be effective; it needs you to verify it, and you need to train the soldiers' reactions well."

Everyone stood up and bowed to Gao Yuan.

"My Lord, rest assured, This humble general and the others will verify it and train the soldiers upon returning."

Various tasks were quickly prepared. This tactic had been verified in real combat in his previous life, so there was definitely no problem. Liu Rengui and the others tried it slightly and knew this move was feasible.

Following this was the training of the soldiers, from the selection of soldiers to the coordination of formations, everything had to be trained.

Especially for those soldiers hacking at the horses' legs, they had to be trained to not fear the momentum of the warhorses' charge, and they also had to skillfully swing their blades to hack at the horses' legs.

The benefit of being elite is that their learning ability and execution ability are very strong. In less than ten days, a well-trained force was formed.

At this time, Gao Hu had also made preparations and sent someone to deliver a battle challenge to Gao Yuan, agreeing to leave the Mianzhu for a decisive battle in three days.

Gao Yuan immediately waved his hand and agreed to Gao Hu's challenge.

The curtain rose on this decisive battle that would determine the fate of Jiannan Circuit.