My older brother is Gao Huan.

Chapter 185 He Doesn't Look Like a Human Lord
Du Luozhou had his personal guards summon Gao Huan to his residence.

Upon learning of Gao Huan's arrival, Du Luozhou stepped forward to greet him with a broad smile, treating Gao Huan with the utmost respect.

"We've finally got Gao Lang here."

"I wonder if Your Majesty has summoned me here for some reason?"

"Let's drink first, there's no rush."

Du Luozhou personally poured Gao Huan a full glass of wine, and Gao Huan looked flattered and surprised, saying, "Your Majesty is of noble status, how could I possibly be worthy of such a favor?"

"Without Gao Lang's help, how could I have taken over Yan and You provinces so quickly? Not only should I offer him wine, but when it comes to rewarding his merits, Gao Lang should be made a king!"

"Once I have taken Ping and Ying prefectures, I will change the era name and ascend the throne. I have heard that Gao Lang is from the Gao clan of Bohai. At that time, I will issue an edict to enfeoff Gao Lang as the King of Bohai."

Gao Huan was filled with fear and immediately rose and bowed, saying, "Your Majesty's kindness is beyond repayment in this lifetime. I will do my utmost to serve Your Majesty!"

Du Luozhou had been staring at Gao Huan, and then he laughed loudly, "I summoned Gao Lang here today because I have something I'd like to ask you."

"Your Majesty, please speak. I will answer all your questions without reservation."

"De Xing has already sent his personal guards with a handwritten letter, stating that he intends to surrender to me. What should I do with him?"

Gao Huan calmly countered with a question, "What are Your Majesty's thoughts?"

Du Luozhou shook his head and sighed, "I'm just unsure, which is why I wanted to ask you for advice. I hope you will be kind enough to give me your guidance."

"Your Majesty is too kind."

Gao Huan paused for a moment before speaking, "In my opinion, we cannot accept their request to surrender. I have already told the King that the reason we were able to take over Yan and You provinces so smoothly is because the King used both kindness and power, which made the people of the two provinces support the King."

“The bandits led by Dexing started their rebellion in Pingzhou and committed rape and plunder along the way. The people of Pingzhou and Yingzhou hated these bandits so much that they wanted to eat their flesh alive.”

"If Your Majesty accepts their surrender, how can you appease the people of Ping and Ying prefectures?"

Du Luozhou nodded, but then asked, "But if we were to fight Dexing head-on, we would probably lose many brothers, which would also weaken our own strength."

Gao Huan shook his head and retorted, "Although the people's hearts are with Your Majesty at the moment, there are a large number of powerful clans hiding in fortified villages within the four prefectures of Yan, You, Ping, and Ying."

"This battle is unavoidable. Your Majesty must use the momentum of a great victory to intimidate the powerful clans within the territory and force them to provide financial and material support. Only then can Your Majesty further control the four states and use them for your own purposes."

"Gao Liang is a great talent!"

Du Luozhou couldn't help but laugh and praise him repeatedly.

A glint of light flashed in his eyes, and he immediately stood up again, took Gao Huan's arm affectionately, and said, "Then let's fight Dexing as Gao Lang wishes!"

Gao Huan was overjoyed, but on the surface he remained calm and composed, saying, "Your Majesty is wise!"

"but……"

Du Luozhou suddenly changed the subject, his face showing a hint of 'difficulty', "Many people in the army feel that we should accept Judexing's surrender. Most of them are just military men and don't understand the far-sightedness of Gaolang's strategy."

"If we force them to fight, I'm afraid their morale will be unstable and things could easily go wrong."

"Under Gao Lang's command, Lou Zhao, Hou Jing, and Huli Jin are all exceptionally brave. Let Gao Lang personally lead the troops into battle in this campaign."

"Your Majesty... it is me."

Du Luozhou quickly interrupted Gao Huan, his smile still on his face, but his tone turned cold. "Such a good plan! Dexing and his gang are just refugees. This is a perfect opportunity to make a name for ourselves. I wouldn't even go if others wanted to. Why is Gao Lang hesitating and refusing? Could it be... that Gao Lang is deceiving me?"

Gao Huan repeatedly denied it, saying, "How dare I deceive Your Majesty? It's just that I have few soldiers under my command. Even if De Xing and his group are refugees, they are numerous and powerful."

"There is no need for Gao Lang to worry about that. I will personally dispatch soldiers to be incorporated into Gao Lang's command to help him fight the enemy."

"Thank you, Your Majesty, for giving me this excellent opportunity to distinguish myself! I will never let you down!"

"Alright! Gao Lang, you should start preparing in the next few days."

Gao Huan's face remained expressionless as he quickly left Du Luozhou's side and returned to his own residence.

Seeing his furrowed brows, Lou Zhaojun couldn't help but ask, "Husband, what happened?"

Gao Huan sighed and recounted what had just happened. Lou Zhaojun was shocked, exclaiming, "That Du Luozhou is truly vicious!"

"Yes, I thought I had gained his trust, but I never expected him to be so wary..."

Du Luozhou's actions were a calculated scheme.

The plan was devised by Gao Huan, who used the excuse that most of his soldiers were unwilling to fight against Jiu Dexing to lead his troops to meet Jiu Dexing.

Although Du Luozhou would send soldiers to help, Gao Huan had no way to command these people.
Gao Huan pondered this along the way.

For Du Luozhou.

Whether Gao Huan can lead his soldiers to defeat Dexing is not important; what is most important is to wipe out Gao Huan's private troops!

Once Gao Huan loses his main force, he's like a tiger without teeth and claws.

reject?

Du Luozhou's attitude was quite clear.

Gao Huan proposed such a good plan, yet he himself refused to lead his troops to carry it out.

Was the plan not good enough? Or was there a trap set for Du Luozhou in the plan?
Without the support of his own troops, Gao Huan could not possibly take over the throne. Even if he found an opportunity to kill Du Luozhou, it would only be a favor to someone else.

"Damn..."

Gao Huan was unusually angry. "Why would he suddenly suspect me? Could it be that someone leaked the information?"

Lou Zhaojun shook her head in denial, saying, "If someone close to me had leaked the information, then Du Luozhou would not have been testing me this time, but rather setting up a trap to capture my husband on the spot."

Gao Huan thought about it carefully and realized that this made sense.

He didn't know what had happened to make Du Luozhou, who had always trusted him completely, suddenly become suspicious, but he had no choice at the moment.

"If I had known, I should have planned ahead when we first took Yanzhou..."

Gao Huan sighed. Ultimately, the situation was developing much faster than he had imagined.

"My husband, what are your plans now?"

"First, we must prepare the army for war. Let me think about it for a moment."

Two days later.

Gao Huan summoned Hou Jing, Lou Zhao, and others to leave the city and begin mobilizing soldiers, preparing for battle.

Hou Jing, however, provided him with a crucial piece of information.

“He Liuhun, I was drinking with some people yesterday and I heard that there has been a change in the rebel army in Dingzhou. Xianyu Xiuli is dead.”

"what?"

Gao Huan was taken aback and quickly asked, "Xianyu Xiuli is dead?"

"You didn't know about this?"

"Quickly, tell me."

"An internal strife broke out among the rebels in Dingzhou. Yuan Hongye lured Xianyu Xiuli to his residence and killed him. Ge Rong then led Xianyu Xiuli's personal guards to slaughter Yuan Hongye's entire family. Now, Ge Rong has become the new leader of the Dingzhou rebels." "No wonder..."

Gao Huan finally found the reason why Du Luozhou suddenly became suspicious. It was because he had learned about the internal strife in the Dingzhou rebels and thus became wary of him.

That's why I thought of using this method to deplete Gao Huan's main force.

Without his own troops, Gao Huan could only rely on Du Luozhou from then on.

Gao Huan also told Hou Jing and others about Du Luozhou's private meeting with him.

"Damn it! I should have killed this bastard back in Yanzhou!"

Hou Jing and his group were also aware of this.

Their main force was their greatest asset under Du Luozhou. The main force consisted of private soldiers who only obeyed his orders. If they were lost, they could not be trained again in a short period of time. Without a foundation, Du Luozhou could easily control them in the future.

"How about... we go all the way and lure them into the camp to kill them?"

Hou Jing was very decisive, and Lou Zhao shared the same view.

Gao Huan shook his head. "Du Luozhou is already suspicious of us. Why would he come to keep the appointment?"

Once doubt takes root, it will grow deep in your heart.

Du Luozhou is now determined to wipe out Gao Huan's main force before he can feel at ease. Before Gao Huan completely loses the strength to launch a rebellion, Du Luozhou will not easily trust him again.

"Are we really going to fight Dexing to the death? Even if we win, our strength will be greatly reduced..."

Gao Huan looked south and gritted his teeth, saying, "Let's run."

"Run? Where to?"

"Let's head south and seek refuge with Ge Rong. Ge Rong and we are old friends, and we are familiar with Du Luozhou's situation, which will be of great use to Ge Rong... There will definitely be a battle between Ge Rong and Du Luozhou."

"But how can we escape in front of everyone right now?"

"That's all for now..."

Gao Huan told everyone his plans, and then returned to Fanyang City. He specially brought back a set of armor for Lou Zhaojun to wear.

After nightfall, he took Lou Zhaojun out of the city, just like Duan Rong and Cai Jun did.

Inside the military camp.

Hou Jing had already ordered all his soldiers to carry fifteen days' worth of rations.

After Gao Huan and the others returned to camp, they didn't have time to think about anything else.

"Hurry up and leave! We all leave the city at night, and Du Luozhou must already be suspicious."

Hou Jing immediately issued the order.

The Shesheng Army, along with the troops of the Lou and Duan families, all mounted their horses lightly and, led by Gao Huan, galloped towards Yanzhou without daring to stop for a moment.

Sure enough, the sound of horses' hooves soon came from behind, indicating that someone was already chasing after them.

"By order of the King, He Liuhun is plotting a rebellion; all his subordinates are to be executed!!"

"By order of the King, whoever kills He Liuhun will be rewarded with a thousand pieces of gold and a thousand head of cattle and sheep!"

"Kill!!"

Under the cover of night, countless rebel troops surrounded Gao Huan's forces, their shouts of battle deafening, their torches illuminating the darkness as if it were daytime.

"Breakout!"

Gao Huan gritted his teeth and immediately gave the order.

He just finished speaking.

A volley of arrows rained down, and screams of agony rose and fell as soldiers, struck by arrows, fell from their horses and lay on the ground groaning in pain.

But Gao Huan could no longer care about them and could only urge his warhorse to gallop wildly westward.

The fallen soldiers and horses became obstacles on the ground, giving Gao Huan a glimmer of hope.

I don’t know how long it took.

As dawn broke, no matter how much Gao Huan whipped his horse, it refused to run anymore, so Gao Huan had no choice but to give up.

He dismounted and sat down under a tree in a very disheveled state, leaning against the tree trunk.

Looking back.

Hou Jing, Lou Zhao, Cai Jun, Duan Rong, and others were all present, and Lou Zhaojun also escaped.

However, the original troop of nearly three thousand people is now sparsely populated, with a rough estimate of less than six hundred remaining.

The casualties were devastating.

Hou Jing and the others approached, all looking exhausted and extremely disheveled.

"After a short rest, we will continue westward, first to the territory of Yanzhou, and then southward."

Not knowing when the pursuers would catch up, Gao Huan dared not be careless. After a short rest, he immediately ordered another escape.

I've been traveling for nearly twenty days.

During this time, Hou Jing led his men to plunder a village in Yanzhou, managing to seize enough food to support Gao Huan's southward march to Dingzhou.

There is always a way out.

The Dingzhou rebels, led by Xianyu Xiuli, had been fighting fiercely against Zhongshan City.

But after Ge Rong became the supreme ruler, he was not as headstrong as Xianyu Xiuli. On the flat Hebei Plain, he wanted to seize everything and fight to the death for cities, which was meaningless.

Ge Rong decided to lead his troops eastward, invade Yingzhou, and continue his plundering!
Gao Huan and his men ran into Ge Rong's army. After identifying themselves, they were taken back to the camp by the scouts and met Ge Rong.

"Gao Liang!"

Upon seeing that it was indeed Gao Huan, Ge Rong couldn't help but smile and quickly stood up to greet him, saying, "I never imagined that after parting in Huai Shuo, I would actually have the day to see Gao Lang again."

"Meet the general."

Gao Huan and the others quickly bowed and said, "Having learned that the general is here, we have come to seek refuge."

While others addressed Ge Rong as "King," Gao Huan and others called him "General."

This is the advantage that Gao Huan and others had as fellow townsmen of Huai Shuo.

Gao Huan did not hide anything, "We originally served under Du Luozhou."

"Oh? Then why did you come looking for me?"

Gao Huan, however, said without changing his expression, "That Du Luozhou has no tolerance for others. He suppresses those of us who are not his confidants in every way. He is not like a ruler at all. He only knows how to let his troops plunder, but he does not know how to win people's hearts. How can we achieve anything by following such a worm?"

(End of this chapter)