Chapter 285 Planning in Hanzhong

Gao Yuan was never stingy when it came to rewarding the officers and soldiers under his command.

In the original timeline, the most formidable armies were always those that enjoyed the best treatment.

Armies like the Qin Army, the Tang Army, and even the Yue Family Army were the most ruthless when it came to distributing land.

There is a school of thought that the Yue Family Army was targeted largely because their land distribution encroached upon the interests of the Powerful Families.

The soldiers under Gao Yuan did not receive land, but they never lacked for money or grain.

As for the women from enemy states, Gao Yuan never touched them himself, distributing them all among his officers and soldiers.

Following Gao Yuan all these years, men like Zhao Meng each had at least eight or ten foreign concubines.

And for these women, being able to become the concubines of these men was the best possible arrangement.

Their lives had support, their status was decent, and it was certainly better than becoming the lowest of the low, or even prostitutes.

Just as Gao Yuan was quietly making a fortune, the transition of power within the Capital City had already been completed.

The most obvious change was the replacement of power within the military.

As The Emperor's most loyal subordinate, Song Ren was the first to suffer, being transferred to the position of Vice Minister of the Right in the Ministry of War.

Next was Mao Biao; his position as Military Governor of the Jiangnan West Circuit was stripped, and he was enfeoffed as the General-in-Chief of the Left Gate Guard.

According to the military system of the Great Qian, the highest commander of a Guard was the General-in-Chief, followed by the Great General.

However, for a long time, the General-in-Chief had merely been an honorary position, with actual military power residing in the hands of the Great General.

Coupled with Jiang Huaizhen, who was currently idle at home, the three disillusioned men gathered together every day to sigh and lament.

Song Ren downed the wine in his cup in one gulp, picked up some food with his chopsticks, and complained while chewing slowly:

"This Capital City is truly boring; I can't even find a place to go hunting."

Jiang Huaizhen also drank a cup of wine:

"At least you're better off than me; I've been idle for so long that fat has started growing on the insides of my thighs."

Mao Biao said nothing, just quietly drinking his wine; he was the most disheartened of them all right now.

Seeing him like this, Song Ren reached out and patted his shoulder:

"Old Mao, don't be disheartened; who knows, maybe one day we'll have work to do again."

Jiang Huaizhen also chimed in:

"That's right, the idiots they've chosen would probably have their legs trembling the moment a real battle started."

Mao Biao drank another cup of wine and said in a hoarse voice:

"In the current situation, the imperial court should be united against the enemy, striving to recover our lost territory; but look at them? They are petty and opportunistic, thinking of nothing but calculating their own interests all day long; I am not disheartened because I have been idled, but because I cannot see a future for the Great Qian."

The other two stopped speaking, and the three of them just drank their wine in silence.

After a long while, a somewhat intoxicated Song Ren suddenly spoke up:

"Who says our Great Qian has no hope? Isn't the south flourishing? Hahaha!"

Jiang Huaizhen and Mao Biao did not speak; they knew that the south Song Ren referred to was Southern Yue.

But could Southern Yue really still be considered part of the Great Qian?

It seemed no one believed that Gao Yuan, having fought north and south all these years, would be able to resist taking that throne in the end.

With the three famous generals idle at home, some of the old military households in the army were subsequently discharged.

The purpose was naturally very simple: to reduce the army's massive expenses.

When The Emperor moved south, he took the main force of the Sixteen Guards, along with the main forces of The two Jiangnan Circuits and the Jiannan Circuit, totaling nearly three hundred thousand troops.

After repeated turmoil, the Jiannan Circuit army was long gone, and the Left Martial Guard and the Right Valiant Guard had been annexed by Gao Yuan.

Coupled with other combat losses and the previous round of discharges, the total strength of the Great Qian Army was left with only about one hundred and fifty thousand men.

Now, after another round of discharges, the entire Great Qian Army had less than one hundred and twenty thousand men left.

For units like the Left Martial Guard that had been completely wiped out, Xiao Yu and Cui You had no intention of rebuilding them at all.

Once the order to discharge was issued, the most obvious result was the fluctuation in military morale and spirit.

General Ma Zhiyuan and the others, who had been advancing irresistibly in their northern expedition, immediately found that they could no longer push forward.

Helpless, they had to give up this golden opportunity and came to a halt.

With the Great Qian Army having halted its advance, the situation in the north finally gave Lu Heng a chance to breathe.

After reading the intelligence in his hand, Lu Heng laughed wantonly:

"Hahaha, this Zhao Changluo is truly an idiot, hahaha. Pass the order to General Zhang Su, commanding him to lead the main force back to defend."

"Understood!"

After the messenger left, Lu Heng's gaze gradually became determined:

"Longxiang, Flying Tiger, this time I want to test whether the two of you are living up to your reputations or just wasting fame."

The previous disastrous defeat had shaken Lu Heng's once unshakeable position as heir.

Many people around Lu Kuan suggested that Lu Heng was fond of grand achievements and bellicose.

Although Lu Kuan just listened to these words, he couldn't stand them being said every single day.

Coupled with the fact that Lu Kuan's second wife was whispering in his ear every day, his younger son, Lu Yong, was clever and very much favored by Lu Kuan.

This made Lu Heng feel an unprecedented crisis.

If Lu Kuan were seventy or eighty, it would be fine, but Lu Kuan was just over fifty and in good health.

In a few years, it was inevitable that Lu Kuan would develop thoughts of deposing the elder and establishing the younger.

What he needed most right now was a great victory to establish his own prestige.

Besides that, he also needed to build up sufficient power, lest he be forced to surrender without a fight in the future.

Ever since they took advantage of the Yellow River ice flood to infiltrate and break through several prefectures, Gao Long and Gao Hu had begun to divide their troops into two routes.

Gao Long led his troops to attack the line from Yanzhou to Laizhou and Dengzhou in Shandong in the southeast.

Gao Hu led his troops to attack the line of Xingzhou and Jizhou in Hebei, preparing to drive the forces of the Yan State back to the Youzhou and Yunzhou regions.

Realizing the ambition of the Northern Liang Gao Family father and son, Lu Kuan finally let go of all his guard.

Facing his son's increasingly expanding power, coupled with the slanders of those around him, Lu Kuan inevitably developed some wariness.

The most obvious sign was that the support given to Lu Heng was insufficient, which was one of the reasons for Lu Heng's defeat.

But now, realizing the ambition of the Northern Liang people, Lu Kuan brought out a large amount of resources to support his son.

Fifty thousand reinforcements, a large amount of newly forged armor and weapons, and a large quantity of grain and fodder.

In particular, among these fifty thousand reinforcements, there was a large number of Youzhou Cavalry.

These Cavalry were mixed with many Xianbei, Khitan, and Heishui Mohe people, and their combat effectiveness was extremely formidable.

Coupled with the halt of the Great Qian side due to unstable morale, this allowed Lu Heng to once again possess massive strength.

It was precisely because he had the strength that Lu Heng dared to arm-wrestle with Gao Long and Gao Hu.

The situation in the northern border became tense again, which was a golden opportunity for Gao Yuan.

With Hanzhong not in his own hands, he always felt as if there was a fish bone stuck in his throat.

As his vision improved, Gao Yuan increasingly felt the importance of Hanzhong.

He also understood why Imperial Uncle Liu and Prime Minister Cao would personally lead troops to fight to the death in Hanzhong.

Therefore, ever since the campaign against the Mughal ended, Gao Yuan had recalled his main force and began planning for Hanzhong.

Now, Gao Long and Gao Hu, as well as the main force of Northern Liang, were all bogged down in Shandong and Hebei.

The entire Hanzhong was only guarded by Gao Geng, one of the Twelve Protectors of the Gao Family, with over ten thousand troops.

The entire Guanzhong only had Gao Bing and less than twenty thousand troops; one could say this opportunity was once in a lifetime.

Gao Yuan believed that with the strength of the Nanyue Army, they would definitely be able to take Hanzhong before Gao Wu could call back reinforcements.

Gao Yuan even thought that if Gao Wu's reaction was slow, it was not impossible for him to take the Guanzhong directly.

Just as he was thinking about this, a system voice suddenly came into his mind:

"S-rank temporary event: The Ambition of the Martial Marquis triggered; as a fan of Martial Marquis Zhuge, the Host should strive to complete the unfinished business of the Martial Marquis; Event Goal One: Occupy Hanzhong within six months; Time Goal Two: Occupy Chang'an within one year; Event Reward: Completing Goal One rewards one Mysterious Key, completing Goal Two rewards a random A-rank or above talent summoning card from the Shu Han faction; Failure Penalty: Permanently lose the opportunity to trigger the series event 'The Might of the Strong Qin'."