Chapter 270 Brothers' Battle (Part 2)

The Cavalry lance, carrying immense kinetic energy, pierced through the body of a soldier.

Gao Yuan shook off the corpse hanging from his spear and stabbed two more soldiers. Then, with a sweep of his silver spear, he struck two shields, knocking two Sword and Shield Soldiers to the ground.

The cavalrymen behind him discarded their lances, which were already weighted down with corpses, and switched to long-handled Golden Gourd Maces.

"Thump... Thump... Thump..."

The Golden Gourd Maces smashed against the soldiers' shields or iron armor, producing a sound like blacksmithing, followed by an endless stream of miserable screams.

The panicked infantry began to give way, especially some qiang people soldiers, who turned and fled immediately.

These qiang people soldiers were exceptionally brutal and fierce when dealing with unarmed civilians.

However, once they encountered a tough opponent, these foreigners would become unusually cowardly.

To save their lives, they would ignore their formation and even turn their blades against their own people.

With the "assistance" of these qiang people, Gao Yuan successfully pierced through the Northern Liang Army's formation.

Turning his horse around, he took a brief breath, gathered his soldiers to adjust their formation, and charged out once more.

Before the Northern Liang Army infantry could regroup, Gao Yuan attacked again.

After another chaotic charge, the Northern Liang Army finally began to buckle.

Gao Hu led his men into the Nanyue Army's formation, forcibly tearing a gap through his own sheer bravery.

Gao Hu was not stubborn; he immediately began to shout,

"Retreat! Retreat quickly!"

Relying on the gap Gao Hu had torn open, the Beiliang Cavalry began a rapid retreat.

Xia Luqi naturally saw Gao Hu and the gap that had been torn, and he immediately spurred his horse to lead his men over.

"Just in time!"

Seeing Xia Luqi charging toward him, Gao Hu was not afraid at all; he even thought of turning the tide by slaying the enemy's great general.

Clang!

The two weapons collided, producing a piercing sound of metal on metal.

With just this one exchange, both men understood each other's strength; this was definitely one of the strongest opponents they had ever encountered.

The two fought with full concentration in the midst of the battlefield, battling for over thirty rounds without a clear victor.

Knowing that Gao Hu was a fierce general, how could Gao Yuan not be prepared?

In the crowd, an unremarkable-looking general had already set his sights on Gao Hu.

Cao Xing drew his bow and notched an arrow, firing it at Gao Hu while no one was paying attention, aiming straight for his face.

"Second Prince, watch out!"

Gao C noticed the sudden cold arrow and hurriedly shouted a warning.

It was precisely this shout that alerted Gao Hu; he tilted his head slightly, dodging the fatal arrow, but breaking into a cold sweat from the fright.

But before he could breathe a sigh of relief, another arrow flew in, striking him right in the mouth.

Instantly, Gao Hu slumped onto his horse's back, spitting out a mouthful of blood mixed with several teeth.

Gao C was shocked and hurriedly turned his horse to rescue Gao Hu, only to run right into Xue Linfeng and Gao Yang.

In less than twenty rounds, the two of them worked together to capture Gao C alive.

With Gao Hu wounded, his retreat was only possible because his Personal Guards fought desperately to protect him.

Aside from the two thousand-plus Beiliang Cavalry who followed him out of the encirclement, all the rest were lost within the Nanyue Army's formation.

With Gao Hu having fled and Gao C captured, the Northern Liang Army was suddenly leaderless and fell into chaos. Facing the repeated charges of the Xiaoguo Army and the gradually advancing Beiwei Army, the Northern Liang Army was momentarily unable to hold their ground.

This great battle lasted until dusk. The Northern Liang Army suffered a total defeat, retreating nearly fifty li before they could stabilize their position.

Seeing the enemy retreat, the adrenaline in his body quickly receded, and Gao Yuan felt his limbs go weak and limp.

Many officers and soldiers felt the same; they dropped their weapons and sat paralyzed on the ground, unable to be pulled up. This kept Wang Mian and the assisting laborers very busy.

They not only had to clean up the battlefield but were also responsible for bringing food and drink to Gao Yuan and the others, as well as carrying back the burly men wearing iron armor.

By the time Gao Yuan and the others recovered the next day, the laborers were all exhausted. Wang Mian lay on his bed, groaning and moaning incessantly.

Gao Hu was lucky this time to have encountered the eye-shooting demon Cao Xing and ended up only losing a few teeth, which was a blessing in disguise. However, Gao Hu didn't see it that way; his hatred for Gao Yuan had reached its peak.

"That bastard... a bastard is indeed a bastard. Not only did he cause his own mother's death, but he also turned his blades against his own elder brother. I will remember this grudge today."

Seeing that although Gao Hu's speech whistled through the gaps in his teeth, his voice was still full of vigor, his subordinates felt much more relieved and stepped forward to ask for instructions.

"Second Prince, now that General Bing has been captured and the army's morale is low, what do you think..."

Gao Hu never expected that he, the grand Flying Tiger, would one day become a stepping stone for someone else's fame. But no matter how frustrated he felt, he knew he couldn't continue to hesitate.

"Pass the order: the army is to retreat immediately to the Wulian area to regroup."

"Understood!"

Gao Yuan's side also suffered heavy losses in this battle, which gave Gao Hu enough time to retreat to Wulian. Otherwise, given Gao Yuan's usual habits, he would have already pressed forward with his army.

After breakfast that day, Liu Rengui brought the final compiled results of the battle to report to Gao Yuan.

"Reporting to My Lord, the battle results have been compiled. Please have a look."

Gao Yuan waved his hand.

"Zhengze, just read it to me. I'm afraid my heart will ache if I see it."

Liu Rengui also sighed helplessly and opened the memorial in his hand.

"In this battle, our army lost a total of over 2,700 men killed, over 3,200 seriously wounded, and over 4,000 slightly wounded. We lost over 400 warhorses and countless other military supplies."

"We beheaded over 6,700 of the Northern Liang Army and captured over 23,800 prisoners. Among them, over 4,000 are seriously wounded and have been arranged for treatment. We captured over 1,000 warhorses, over 5,000 horse carcasses, over 10,000 sets of iron armor, and countless other military supplies."

"My Lord, because the weather is getting hot, to avoid waste, I took the liberty of distributing most of the horse carcasses to the people in the city."

"Mm, you did well. By the way, make a list of all the losses from the two major battles. I want to seek reimbursement from the Imperial Court..."

"Ah? Reimbursement? My Lord, didn't you say you wanted to..."

"Hehe, Zhengze, do you think with the Imperial Court's current strength, they can afford to repay us for so much money and grain?"

Liu Rengui understood and bowed to Gao Yuan.

"My Lord is wise."

"By the way, where has my second brother retreated to? He's not dead, is he?"

"According to intelligence from the Secret Guards, Gao Hu is not dead, he just lost a few teeth. They have now retreated to the Wulian area. Do you think we should continue to advance our troops?"

"Tsk, tsk, tsk, what a pity. To think that arrow didn't kill that fellow!"

Gao Yuan lamented for a moment, his fingers tapping rhythmically on his knee.

"Pass the order for the army to rest for now. Send someone to Wulian to find Gao Hu; I want to exchange prisoners."

"Understood!"

Just as Liu Rengui stood up to leave, Gao Yuan called him back again.

"Zhengze, how about it? Are you interested in having a contest with these people in the Jiannan Circuit?"

With the fall of Toungoo, the situation in the Pugan Circuit had nearly stabilized, and things had suddenly become quiet, which made Liu Rengui feel restless all over.

Seeing Gao Yuan ask this now, he immediately beamed with joy and clasped his hands in a salute to Gao Yuan.

"This humble general will certainly not fail My Lord's heavy trust."

"Good, good. Come, come over and look at this intelligence."

As Gao Yuan spoke, he pulled a piece of intelligence from his robe and handed it to Liu Rengui. It was the report from Xian Xing that had just arrived yesterday.

While Gao Yuan and the others were in fierce combat with Western Kang and Northern Liang, the Imperial Court's four armies had also quietly assembled in the area east of Yuzhou, seemingly preparing to be the fisherman who reaps the rewards.