Chapter 279 Third Brother's Envoy

In the battle of the Jiannan Circuit, Gao Yuan was purely a bystander; aside from intercepting Ye Cijian at the very end to charge into battle, he spent almost the entire time watching from the sidelines.

However, it wasn't without gains; on the battlefield, his armor took two hits, which was just enough to accumulate the required number of damage instances, and Gao Yuan's armor upgraded.

Coupled with his use of the Random Equipment Upgrade Card, which happened to land on his armor, his armor upgraded directly from C-rank to A-rank.

Qin Qiong's mingguang armor (A): Greatly increases the Host's defense, significantly boosts the Host's strength and agility attributes, and when the Host uses a spear or mace as a weapon, it can significantly reduce stamina consumption.

A-rank equipment is truly powerful; a single piece of armor brings improvements to several attributes, equivalent to several years of his own hard training.

"I wonder what the effect of S-rank would be. What a pity!"

Gao Yuan knew that as his status grew higher and his abilities stronger, the opportunities to obtain upgrades for this equipment would likely become fewer and fewer.

For the past two years, Gao Yuan had been spending more and more time reading military books; although he was still somewhat struggling to grasp the methods, he had gained some insights by combining them with reality.

Now, he had deliberately begun to transition himself towards a commander-type role, though this path seemed quite long.

Of course, if there were an opportunity in the future, he would still be unable to resist charging into battle.

He suddenly understood why Emperor Taizong of Tang, Li Shimin, despite having a large group of ruthless men, still insisted on leading the expedition to Goguryeo himself.

Time passed quickly, and soon it was October of the seventh year of the new era name.

On this day, a special group arrived in Panyu City.

Short in stature with dark skin, this group attracted the gazes of the commoners the moment they entered the city.

Soon, someone learned the exact news from the mouths of the soldiers escorting this group.

In the eatery early in the morning, the discussion about this group began in full swing.

"Did you hear? That is an envoy sent by the Mughal Empire to the west."

"What do you think they are here for? They aren't here to declare war, are they?"

"Heh, they wouldn't dare. Aren't they afraid the Commandery Duke will lead his troops to beat the crap out of them?"

"I heard from merchants that this Mughal Empire is only stronger, not weaker, than our Southern Yue."

"Pfft, back then Toungoo also claimed to be the hegemon of the South. And the result? Wasn't it still wiped out by the Commandery Duke?"

"That's true. With the Commandery Duke around, any hegemon is just nonsense; in the end, they have to obediently submit."

The commoners didn't even notice it themselves, but they had developed a blind confidence in Gao Yuan and the military strength of the Southern Yue.

Gao Yuan looked at the state credentials in his hand, then looked at the Mughal envoy standing in the middle of the grand hall, full of confidence, and felt that the Third Brother was truly a miraculous race.

Resisting the urge to throw the curry-smelling document in his hand into Modi's face, Gao Yuan sneered.

"Heh, where do you get the confidence to ask us to cede Chittagong and demand we accept your investiture?"

"Respected General, I think you may not know the greatness of our Mughal Empire; our Mughal Empire has vast territories, fertile land, and a million troops..."

Without giving Modi time to continue bragging, Gao Yuan interrupted him.

"Alright, alright. If you are so blindly confident, then I have nothing to say; as for your conditions and investiture, I'm sorry, my Celestial Empire cannot bow to foreign barbarians, so you may leave."

"Respected General..."

"Get lost. If you don't leave, I will send men to throw you out..."

After Modi left sullenly for a while, Gao Yuan still felt the grand hall was full of the smell of curry and felt completely uncomfortable.

"Someone, come! Clean everywhere that guy touched or came into contact with thoroughly."

Although he had driven Modi away and had confidence in the strength of his own army, Gao Yuan felt he still needed to make some preparations.

The Pugan Circuit corps now possessed six main divisions, with a total strength of 51,000 troops.

However, once a war with the Mughal began, these forces would only be enough for defense and could not organize a counterattack.

But if he continued to expand the army, the Pugan Circuit was still in recovery and could not support it.

Thinking about it, Gao Yuan picked up his pen and wrote a letter to Gao Yao, explaining the situation and his concerns.

He suggested that Gao Yao make all preparations, send more troops to key passes and thoroughfares, and train reserve personnel to be prepared for any emergencies.

The honey-flavored operation of the Mughal envoy naturally reached the ears of the women quickly.

When the family was eating dinner that night, Gao Yuan felt seven pairs of beautiful eyes cast inquiring glances at him.

Handing the child in his arms to the wet nurse, Gao Yuan smiled.

"Don't worry, even if we go to war with the Mughal this time, I won't be going."

This time, Gao Yuan was not lying; he really didn't want to go to that land.

Although he coveted that fertile land, he really didn't want to go.

Who knew what was in the water there, and who knew if he would step on a pile of crap as soon as he entered the city in high spirits.

In short, unless he had controlled the place for ten or twenty years and completely changed the sanitary conditions there.

Otherwise, whether it was Gao Yuan himself or the wives and children around him, he was not prepared to set foot on that land.

Anyway, there were plenty of capable people under his command.

The women stared at Gao Yuan's eyes for a while, finally confirming he was not lying, and then they felt relieved.

After notifying Gao Yao to make preparations on that side, Gao Yuan also began to make some necessary preparations himself.

They had captured over 4,000 warhorses in the battle against Western Kang, so the first thing was naturally to expand the Cavalry.

He expanded the number of the Xiaoguo Army from 2,500 to 3,000.

At the same time, he equipped the 2,150 Baier Soldiers with two horses each.

In this way, Gao Yuan held a powerful rapid-mobility force of over 5,000 men.

Even for Chittagong, which was furthest from Panyu, this Cavalry unit could arrive within a month.

Unable to lead troops into battle, Gao Yuan would take the Cavalry out for training every few days.

At this moment, on the vast northern land far from Panyu City, a bloody battle had just ended.

Gao Long and Gao Hu, brothers of the Northern Liang, had joined forces to defeat the army led by Lu Heng of the Yan State.

At this moment, on the wide battlefield, the Yan Army was in full rout, and the Northern Liang Army was in pursuit.

Having actively abandoned the four prefectures of the Jiannan Circuit, Gao Wu was determined to take back even more from the Yan State.

This decisive battle that took place in Weizhou almost determined the ownership of five or six prefectures along the way, from Weizhou and Xiangzhou to Yanzhou.

Seeing that a great victory was imminent, Gao Long smiled and patted Gao Hu on the shoulder.

"Second brother, do you still think Father and I were wrong to give up the Jiannan Circuit?"

Looking at Gao Long's smug look, Gao Hu squeezed a compliment out through his teeth.

"Yes, yes, yes, big brother, you truly have great foresight."

Gao Long saw Gao Hu's reluctance but didn't say much, got up, and walked down the high platform.

He was going to enjoy the fruits of his victory up close.

On the other side, The Emperor, who had awakened and was striving for prosperity, was not idle either.

Taking advantage of the battle in Weizhou, the Qian Army once again increased troops to the north bank of the Huai River, launching an attack on the remaining territory of Xuzhou, Sizhou, and Haizhou.

This time, Lu Kuan also enjoyed a taste of Chang Xingrong's helplessness, facing a feeling of being surrounded on all sides.

However, it seemed that heaven played a huge joke on The Emperor.

Just as the Qian Army was advancing victoriously, recovering lost territory, and everything was looking good.

The Emperor suddenly fell ill, and it was a sudden onset that immediately plunged him into a coma.

The Capital City instantly fell into chaos.