Chapter 269 Among Brothers (Part 2)

The opponent this time was Gao Hu, long known as the Flying Tiger of Great Qian. This caused Liu Rengui, Xue Linfeng, and the others to rub their palms together in anticipation, eager to test themselves.

Gao Yuan and Gao Yang were also very excited. By right, they should call Gao Hu their elder brother and Gao Bing their uncle.

This made the two of them even more determined to prove their strength, to prove the saying "the student surpasses the master," and to show that "the new generation excels the old."

To prevent any lingering doubts, Gao Yuan specially hosted a banquet and invited Zhao Meng and a group of other generals who had risen from the ranks of family retainers.

The battle would begin tomorrow, so there was no alcohol tonight. After the meal was well underway, Gao Yuan finally spoke.

"We face Gao Hu tomorrow. I wonder if any of you have misgivings. If you do, speak up, and I can arrange for others to take the field."

Zhao Meng was the first to stand, looking at Gao Yuan with a firm gaze.

"The Family Head's words are correct. Since they abandoned us without a care for our lives, then any past sentiment is gone."

"Our current prosperity and status are entirely thanks to the Family Head. From now on, as long as I, Zhao Meng, draw breath, I will only recognize you as the head of the Gao Family."

With Zhao Meng taking the lead, others immediately stood up and cupped their fists.

"Commander Zhao is right. Since they treated us as disposable pawns, the sentiment is dead. This humble general will follow the Family Head to the death from this day forth."

The crowd shouted in unison.

"We follow the Family Head to the death!"

Gao Yuan also rose, cupping his fists to the crowd and saying loudly,

"No matter what heights I, Gao Yuan, reach in the future, I will never forget the brotherhood of everyone here!"

Early the next morning, everyone rose at dawn. Served by his maidservants, Gao Yuan donned his war robe and armor, then casually opened the system panel to check his attributes.

"Host: Gao Yuan. Character Attributes: Gentle Face but Strong Heart, Ruthless and Merciless. Comprehensive Evaluation: A."

"Strength: A+, Agility: A, Endurance: A+, Intelligence: B+, Leadership: A-, Internal Affairs: C, Charisma: S."

"Martial Skills: saber technique: A-, Spearmanship: A-, Horsemanship: A-, Mounted Archery: A+, Foot Archery: A+."

"Skills: Leaders Aura (C), Pursue and Attack, One-Strike Kill."

"First Life Mentor: First Life Mentor;"

"Equipment: Gao Su's Liangdang Armor (C), Zhao Yun's bright silver spear (B), lingbao bow (S);"

"Items: Random Equipment Upgrade Card, s-rank lottery card."

Having experienced the great war with Western Kang, Gao Yuan's Strength had increased by a small margin to A+, and his Spearmanship had broken through its bottleneck to reach A-rank.

This gave him a bit more confidence in victory; in this battle, he intended to settle the fate of Jiannan in one go.

However, he recalled the letters he had received from Song Yehong and Zheng Ting a few days ago. Someone wanted to pick the fruits of victory while he, Western Kang, and Northern Liang were exhausted from fighting each other, which he had to guard against.

But he had already sent word long ago, ordering Xian Xing and Mu Shun to lead three thousand troops to garrison the Baidicheng area of Yuzhou, which was enough to stall until he finished this battle.

Bolstering his spirit internally, Gao Yuan went out, mounted his warhorse, and led his men out of the city.

Watching Gao Yuan's departing figure, Wang Mian stood atop the city walls with a heart filled with extreme complexity.

He both wanted Gao Yuan to win so he could drive away the wolf that was Gao Hu, yet he also feared a Gao Yuan victory.

After these days of interaction, he had already seen clearly that Gao Yuan intended to stay in Chengdu—or rather, stay in the Jiannan Circuit—and never leave.

The sound of horns and war drums echoed through the sky, shattering the tranquility of the Chengdu Plain.

Nearly a hundred thousand elites from both sides were arrayed in formation, giving this summer morning the desolate feeling of winter.

Knowing where his advantage lay, Gao Hu was also determined to win with his Cavalry.

Today, he acted contrary to his usual style, choosing not to use heavy infantry as the center with Cavalry flanking on the wings in a conventional tactic.

Instead, he chose to use the Cavalry as the center with infantry following on the wings, intending to crush Gao Yuan in one breath with sheer momentum.

As the low drone of the horns ended, the beats of the war drums grew denser, and the Northern Liang Cavalry began to slowly accelerate.

"One hundred and fifty paces..."

"One hundred paces..."

"Raise shields!"

Facing heavy Cavalry, archers and crossbowmen could not play much of a role. Today, Gao Yuan hadn't even let the infantry bring bows or crossbows.

At the command, the heavy shield-bearers planted their shields, forming small steel fortresses.

Paths were left open between them, as if they intended to let the Cavalry pass through.

Within the gaps, soldiers gripped their broadswords with both hands, their eyes fixed firmly on the ground.

As the sound of hooves approached, horse legs soon appeared in the soldiers' line of sight.

*Slash... slash...*

*Whinny!*

The horses whose legs were cut let out screams of agony, their bodies pitching forward and throwing the riders onto the ground.

Before they could even stand up, they were trampled by the horses following behind them.

Some fell into the Nanyue Army's square formations and were then beaten into critical condition by the Nanyue soldiers using blunt weapons.

Of course, there were also those unafraid of death who charged forcefully into the great shield formations, only to end up just as tumbled and broken.

The momentum of the Northern Liang Army's Cavalry charge was checked, and their speed slowed.

Once they slowed, the probability of horse legs being cut became even higher, and horses constantly collapsed with agonizing cries.

At this moment, the advance of the infantry behind them was also blocked, making it impossible for them to form a combined force with the Cavalry.

For today's battle, Gao Yuan had gone all out. He had two thousand mounted crossbows, each equipped with four arrow magazines.

The remaining thousand-plus Cavalry were equipped with a recurve bow and two quivers of arrows.

Gao Yuan led the Cavalry but did not charge the enemy formations; instead, they circled the perimeter of the infantry, attacking the crossbowmen and spearmen who wore only leather armor.

The killing efficiency wasn't high. After several rounds of shooting, the casualties caused were at most a thousand or so.

But this was already enough. Gao Yuan's goal from the start was to slice up the enemy's formation.

By now, the Northern Liang Cavalry had come to a complete halt, trapped in a melee with the Beiwei Army.

Gao Bing had realized something was wrong and immediately ordered a breakout, preparing to rush out and reorganize the formation.

However, it was only then that he discovered those small square formations were now like millstones.

They were moving slowly, drawing closer to each other, and compressing the Cavalry's room for maneuver step by step.

Seeing that these formations were about to form a massive encirclement, Gao Bing suddenly panicked.

"Charge with me! We must break out, or it will be our certain death!"

Gao Hu also noticed this situation. In his anxiety, he could no longer remain seated and immediately stepped down from the high platform.

"Personal Guard Battalion, follow me! We must rescue the Cavalry!"

Seeing Gao Hu personally leading his men into the fray, Gao Yuan revealed a smirk of satisfaction.

"Change direction. Avoid the brunt of the enemy's force."

Gao Yuan was not the kind of fool who would stubbornly try to prove himself when he knew he couldn't win a head-on clash.

He led the Cavalry directly away from the front, circling to the side to reorganize his formation, allowing Gao Hu to lead his men to rendezvous with the trapped Cavalry.

Seeing Gao Yuan avoid him, Gao Hu thought his reputation had played a role, and he couldn't help but feel a surge of pride.

"Haha! You talked tough, but you still have to retreat three miles when you see me!"

What he failed to notice was that his anxious state of mind had affected the entire army.

Seeing their commander rush forward in such a hurry, the infantry—who had been advancing steadily—began to quicken their pace.

Advancing at a controlled speed was something they had practiced in daily training, which naturally allowed them to maintain synchronization and coordination.

But when their steps involuntarily quickened, that coordination vanished.

The Northern Liang Army's infantry formation began to show signs of disorder, and gaps appeared.

Gao Yuan had been waiting for this very moment. He donned his iron face mask again, raised his spear, and shouted,

"Soldiers, charge the formation with me! Kill!"

He was the first to charge out.