Chapter 352 The Battle of Guanzhong (Part 5)

"ss-rank life segment overlords little notebook Exclusive Event: Brotherly Love triggered;

As a younger brother, how could the Host give up the chance to deepen his bond with his elder brother? As the victor, how could the Host give up the chance to beat a dog in the water? Move forward, young man, advance toward your brother;

Event Objective: Kill, wound, or capture as many Longxiang Army soldiers as possible;

Event Reward: A number of Mysterious Key based on the Longxiang Army's casualties; a mysterious reward will be triggered if the enemy is completely annihilated;

Failure Penalty: If no pursuit is launched, the event will be considered a failure, and the ss-rank life segment overlords little notebook will enter the settlement phase."

Gao Yuan really wanted to curse. This system was truly a troublemaker. He could have just stayed put peacefully and waited for Gao Long to retreat once he couldn't hold out any longer, which would have been a perfect victory.

Now it was making him give chase; who knew what the outcome would be?

Even a cornered rabbit will bite, let alone Gao Long, who still had over sixty thousand troops. If they were forced into a last-stand battle, his own meager forces wouldn't even be enough to fill the gaps between their teeth.

However, he had already completed several exclusive events in this series. If he settled now, the rating surely wouldn't be high, and the rewards naturally wouldn't be much to look at.

One must remember that this was an SS-rank event. The last SS-rank event was Zhao Xiyao's enthronement, and the rewards from that were unbelievably generous.

Gritting his teeth and preparing his speech, Gao Yuan summoned Xia Luqi and Mu Qing.

"I'm worried that Gao Xianzhi might not be ready yet, so I plan to take Bang Jie and three thousand troops to follow and check things out. Qingqing, you stay and guard Mei County with the rest. No matter what happens, do not leave the city at will;

If the enemy besieges the city, just hold out for three days, and I can return with reinforcements."

Xia Luqi looked delighted, while Mu Qing nodded obediently.

"Husband, you must be careful. If it doesn't work out, retreat; you must not act recklessly. Your safety is what matters most."

Gao Yuan nodded and gave the woman a reassuring smile.

"Don't worry, I know what I'm doing."

Since he had few men and no elites on hand, Gao Yuan delayed for another half-day, not leading his troops out of Mei County until the next morning.

By this time, Gao Long and his Northern Liang Army had already covered nearly fifty li. This time, Gao Long did not choose to split his forces but instead concentrated them and headed straight for Chang'an City.

He had over sixty thousand troops, and with the laborers, there were over eighty thousand people. No single county town could provide enough grain to feed them; the only way was to clear the path back to Chang'an.

Of course, Gao Long wouldn't pin all his hopes on one plan. He had already sent messengers to Hongnong and Hangu Pass, ordering the garrisons to gather grain and come through the Hangu Road to meet them.

Although it wasn't much, this grain would be enough to support the army for another five or six days. Gao Long believed that five or six days would be sufficient for him to break through Gao Xianzhi's defensive line and return to Chang'an.

Once he had the grain and armaments in Chang'an, he could reorganize his morale and fight a decisive battle against Gao Yuan.

However, when he arrived outside Chang'an City, he was dumbfounded. When had a Great Wall been built outside Chang'an?

In Chu Yue's words, Gao Xianzhi didn't have a shred of environmental awareness. He had cut down a massive number of trees to build sturdy, tall encampments on all four sides of Chang'an City, all of which were surrounded by deep trenches and filled with abatis and chevaux-de-frise.

Now Gao Long had only two choices. The first was to ignore these encampments and simply bypass them to return to Chang'an City.

However, doing so would be equivalent to exposing his flank to Gao Xianzhi, who could strike at any time to cut off his troops.

The other choice was to break through one of the encampments and carve out a path of blood back to Chang'an City.

After careful observation, Gao Long confirmed that the difficulty of breaking through such an encampment was no less than capturing a small city. Without siege engines, it would mean filling the gaps with human lives.

Moreover, looking at the soldiers in full iron armor on the camp walls, Gao Long knew that Gao Yuan's elites were all here, just waiting for him to attack.

If Gao Yuan were in front of him now, Gao Long would surely pounce on him, grab him by the neck, and roar fiercely:

"We are born of the same root, why be in such a hurry to fry each other! I am your biological elder brother!"

To Gao Long's eyes, those sturdy encampments now looked like giant beasts with bloody maws wide open, ready to devour the lives of him and his soldiers at any moment.

Gao Long gritted his teeth so hard that the taste of blood filled his mouth. He made the most difficult decision of his life.

"Retreat. Abandon Chang'an. The army will immediately withdraw to the east."

To the east lay Lantian County, followed by the Hangu Road. Passing through the Hangu Road and Hangu Pass would lead into the Hongnong territory. Gao Long was prepared to abandon the entire Guanzhong region.

Everyone knew this was the best choice. Thus, without a word, they simply cast a glance at the majestic Chang'an City before turning around and leaving.

What they didn't know was that as soon as they left, Gao Xianzhi took his Cavalry out of the main camp to meet up with the arriving Gao Yuan.

Gao Yuan was forced by the system to pursue, but he wasn't so brainless as to just charge in with his entire army. That might cause unnecessary casualties.

He planned to take only five thousand Xiaoguo Army and over two thousand Baier Soldiers. These were the Cavalry units that had always followed him. He intended to use the high mobility of the Cavalry to take a vicious bite out of Gao Long.

To put on a show during their retreat, the Northern Liang Army had discarded a large number of tents. Consequently, when they camped at night, more than twenty people had to squeeze into a single tent, and for dinner, each person had only a bowl of porridge. It was as miserable as could be.

Unable to eat enough or sleep well, their spirits were low and they were easily irritated, which planted the seeds of a great disaster.

After walking for two days and bypassing Hu County, the Northern Liang Army was on its way to meet up with reinforcements and grain. It looked as if they could meet the reinforcements in just three more days.

That night, after drinking their increasingly thin rice porridge, the Northern Liang Army soldiers lay down, but they couldn't fall asleep as they smelled the aroma of meat wafting from the officers' tents.

Today, they had looted a village, seizing all the villagers' grain and their only two plow oxen. Even so, their food for the night was still only thin porridge.

Gao Long had distributed all that beef to the officers. Even if they couldn't finish it in one meal, they weren't willing to give the soldiers even a sip of broth or a single bone. This made many of them grit their teeth in hatred.

The more they thought about it, the angrier they became, and the angrier they became, the less they could sleep. They tossed and turned until the latter half of the night when they finally couldn't hold out any longer and fell into a deep sleep.

Just as they fell asleep, the ground suddenly began to vibrate violently.

Gao Long had finally managed to eat his fill today and had vented his frustrations on a delicate village woman; he was now fast asleep.

In his dreams, he dreamt that Gao Wu had passed away and he had ascended the long-coveted throne, sitting on the dragon bed in imperial robes, while Gao Long and Gao Yuan wretchedly knelt on the ground, kowtowing like pounding garlic while begging for mercy.

The violent tremors jolted him from his beautiful dream. Cursing as he scrambled out of bed, he instantly became clear-headed.

As a general who had led Cavalry for years, how could he not know what this vibration meant? It was the sound of a large-scale Cavalry charge.

Last time, Gao Yuan had annihilated five thousand Cavalry in Guanzhong, which caused Northern Liang's Cavalry to become stretched thin. The Longxiang Army's Cavalry had long since been transferred to the Yanmen area to resist the Xiongnu.

While stationed in Guanzhong this time, he only had a few hundred Personal Guards Cavalry with him, which couldn't possibly make such a commotion. Thus, there was only one answer—Gao Yuan's Xiaoguo Army Cavalry.

Gao Long was right, but unfortunately, no one was there to give him a prize.

The hastily established camp had no defensive measures, allowing Gao Yuan to lead his Cavalry into the Northern Liang Army camp without any hindrance.

The slaughter began!