Chapter 320 The Most Ridiculous Lottery in History

In the territory of Xu Prefecture, at the Northern Liang Army camp, a deputy general walked quickly into the commanders tent and cupped his hands in a salute to Gao Hu and the others who were discussing matters.

"Reporting to the Commander, a letter has arrived from His Highness the Crown Prince. Zhao Prefecture has been attacked, and he orders you to immediately lead the troops to return north and annihilate Lu Heng. Please take a look, Commander!"

Everyone cast their gaze toward Gao Hu, but no one dared to speak.

The situation could be said to be excellent now; it looked like they would be able to take the entire Xu Prefecture in another two or three months. Returning north at this time would mean all their previous efforts would be wasted.

On the surface, Gao Hu appeared calm and indifferent, but in his heart, he was actually burning with rage.

"Hmph, just because you were born a year or two earlier and occupy the position of the eldest son, you dare to boss me around? As long as you haven't sat on that throne, you have no right to give me orders."

Narrowing his eyes to ponder for a while, and then reading the letter over and over again several times, Gao Hu finally came up with a good idea. He slapped his thigh and said with feigned heartache:

"Big Brother is confused. The enemy situation is still unclear, yet he orders me to lead the troops back north just because Zhao Prefecture was attacked. If this is Lu Heng's feint, wouldn't all the fruits of our southern expedition these past few days be handed over to others?"

His trusted aides understood his intent and immediately chimed in to support him.

"The Commander is wise. That Lu Heng has always been cunning, and This humble general believes that what appeared in Zhao Prefecture must be a feint."

"This humble general believes we should immediately send people to Zhao Prefecture to investigate the enemy situation. Before that, the army should continue to march south according to the plan."

"That's right, the southern expedition is the grand strategy; we must not lose sight of the big picture because of a minor issue, Commander!"

Under the unanimous request of everyone, Gao Hu dispatched two teams of elite Scouts to immediately return north to investigate the news.

After everyone left, a scholar walked to Gao Hu's side.

"Commander, how should we reply to His Highness the Crown Prince?"

This scholar was Chen Moyan from the Chen family of Yanzhou; he could be considered a pawn the Chen family had bet on by Gao Hu's side.

Gao Hu thought for a moment, then suddenly revealed a knowing smile.

"In matters like this, I am certainly not as thoughtful as Mr. Chen. Why don't I trouble Mr. Chen to reply to Big Brother on my behalf?"

Chen Moyan also gave a knowing smile, and just like that, he backed away into the shadows.

A few days later, in the main hall of the Prefectural Office in Xindu, Jizhou, a messenger rushed quickly into the hall and reported to the overwhelmed Gao Long:

"Reporting to His Highness the Crown Prince, the Second Prince has replied!"

"As expected of my own brother, he responded so quickly!"

Gao Long was overjoyed; he walked quickly down from the main seat, snatched the letter tube from the messenger's hand, and tore it open in a few swift motions.

It is often said that the greater the hope, the greater the disappointment. Gao Long's expression grew increasingly dark and terrifying. A moment later, he tore the letter in his hand to shreds and threw it away fiercely.

Fragments of the letter paper fluttered everywhere, accompanied by Gao Long's angry roar.

"Good, very good, 'unclear enemy situation.' He is refusing to help in a crisis. You won't help, is that it? Just you wait!"

As the saying goes, if you do the first day, I will do the fifteenth. Since Gao Hu delayed the rescue, Gao Long also had countermeasures. He soon ordered that because Zhao Prefecture was attacked and it was difficult to collect grain and fodder, the food supplies sent to the south would be reduced by thirty percent.

Gao Hu was no fool; he immediately knew this was a warning from Gao Long. While furious, he also had to face the predicament of insufficient grain and fodder.

Seeing Gao Hu full of worry, Chen Moyan stepped forward at the right time and advised:

"Commander, this subordinate has a plan that can solve the army's urgent need."

Hearing Chen Moyan say this, Gao Hu was overjoyed.

"Mr. Chen, what brilliant plan do you have? Tell me quickly!"

"Before the Commander set out on the expedition, the King gave you the authority to make decisions on the spot. The Commander can issue an order in the name of the Grand Commander of the Army to requisition grain, fodder, and troops from nearby places like Bozhou, Songzhou, and Chenzhou."

Gao Hu's eyes lit up, but then he looked somewhat dejected.

"I'm afraid that water from afar cannot quench a thirst close by."

"Before that, the Commander can take grain from the people nearby…"

Once these words were spoken, the commanders tent suddenly fell silent. Gao Hu pondered for a moment before scanning his trusted aides and saying:

"Do as Mr. Chen says!"

Following Gao Hu's order, the common people of Xu Prefecture suffered. Every town and village was thrown into chaos; the wolf-like and tiger-like Beiliang soldiers broke into private homes to loot and plunder, and the entire Xu Prefecture was filled with wails of misery.

With the grain and fodder replenished, the Northern Liang Army continued to march south, soon approaching Pengcheng, the capital of Xu Prefecture.

At this moment, Zhu Song finally determined that Northern Yan had no intention of marching south. Therefore, he mobilized forty thousand elite troops from Hai State and Sizhou, plus ten thousand reinforcements that had moved north, totaling fifty thousand troops. Led by him and General Ma Zhiyuan, they marched west toward Pengcheng.

To support the great battle in the north, Xiao Yu, Cui You, and others also steeled themselves. They raided more than a dozen small and medium-sized Powerful Families on charges of corruption and took some money and grain from their treasuries to recruit more than twenty thousand troops.

With reinforcements and sufficient money and grain support, Zhu Song was finally able to guard against a sneak attack by Northern Yan while sending troops to assist in the west.

Just as things were heating up here, in Nanchang City, Gao Yuan was comfortably leaning in a bathtub with his eyes closed, enjoying himself.

Another mysterious key was in hand. Gao Yuan specifically chose an auspicious day before refreshing the shop.

It was the familiar interface again. Hundreds of items appeared before Gao Yuan's eyes all at once, but unfortunately, even after looking through it repeatedly three times, he did not find a single golden, glittering item.

Without any S-rank items, Gao Yuan could only cast his gaze toward the purple A-rank items.

After looking for a long time, he only saw two items that he was relatively pleased with: the A-rank Random Talent Summoning Card and the Random Equipment Upgrade Card.

Both of his pieces of equipment had already reached A-rank; upgrading either one would bring it to S-rank, which would surely bring a huge improvement.

After struggling for a long time, Gao Yuan gritted his teeth and chose the Talent Summoning Card.

It is said that it is easy to find a thousand soldiers but hard to find one general. What he lacked most right now was talent. As for equipment, the gap between A-rank and S-rank surely wouldn't be that large.

"Host has redeemed A-rank Random Talent Summoning Card X2. One hundred million shop coins deducted, remaining shop coins: 4.13528 billion."

Reminded by the system, Gao Yuan noticed a small "X2" under the item. He initially thought there were two cards available for purchase; he didn't expect it to buy two at once. This was truly an unexpected joy!

Without hesitation, Gao Yuan used both cards all at once. With a thought, the familiar card-drawing interface appeared before him again.

This time, Gao Yuan was not as excited; after all, no matter how bad an A-rank card was, it couldn't be that terrible. Then, he was fiercely slapped in the face by the system.

"Congratulations to the Host for drawing A+ rank talents: Cai Jing and Qin Hui."

Gao Yuan almost spat out a mouthful of blood. He sprang directly out of the bathtub.

"System, get out here! What is the deal with these two treacherous scoundrels? Are you messing with me?"

"Host, don't get excited. Although these two are not good people, you have to admit that both are people of top-tier ability. Don't think that being a treacherous official doesn't require ability;"

"Moreover, as a great ruler of a generation, making the best use of everyone's talents is the true path. If you can use these two talents well, it shows your wisdom and martial prowess."

"You just want to scam me. I don't care, give me back my keys and shop coins! That was a reward I risked my life to get!"

"Once a reward has been redeemed, it cannot be returned or exchanged!"

This system had a bit of the face of a Bank from later generations, which made Gao Yuan truly furious.

When eating dinner that evening, the women noticed that Gao Yuan's face was exceptionally foul. Thinking that something major had happened, they were all cautious, making the atmosphere in the house exceptionally stifling.

Gao Yuan noticed it too, but he couldn't explain it, so he could only continue to sulk by himself.