Chapter 298: Chapter 173: Yue’Er Has Gone to Find Our Nephew

And then he got surrounded!

Of course, on the phone, Gu Gaoxu didn’t forget to spend some time talking himself up.

Spouting things about his heroic spirit, how he dared to fight to the death to protect his country, and how he wasn’t afraid of dying... only that he couldn’t bear the thought of never seeing Lu Yuan again.

Lu Yuan didn’t believe a word of it. He knew exactly what Gu Gaoxu was like.

Lu Yuan just replied, "Hold on. No matter how far it is, I’ll come pull you out."

Lu Yuan’s words moved Gu Gaoxu to the point of tears, and he thought to himself, ’I haven’t been calling him Brother Lu for nothing.’

Lu Yuan figured it had to be Gu Gaoxu. The guy was careless and had gotten greedy for glory, rushing ahead recklessly.

That kid never could sit still. After King Yan’s Army laid siege for a few days, he probably thought the Beastman Race was a spent force.

After all, when the Beastmen got desperate, they were known to treat their own kind as food.

It was still early autumn, and there was no shortage of fruit in the mountains to serve as food.

Taiping City was eight or nine hundred kilometers from the northern battlefield. Even spurring a fast horse, it would take at least four or five days to get there.

’Even a bicycle wouldn’t be much faster than a horse.’

Right now, Gu Gaoxu was trapped in a ravine. Of the two thousand soldiers he had led out days ago, fewer than five hundred remained.

When a unit suffers fifty percent casualties, morale plummets. They should retreat, or they risk total annihilation.

"That little bastard, daring to take troops up there on his own initiative! When this is over, we’ll see how I deal with him." King Yan was so furious with his second son that he paced back and forth inside his command tent.

Gu Gaoxu was still too young and impulsive.

If it hadn’t been for the Ancient Poison Scorpion, Gu Gaoxu wouldn’t have suffered such heavy losses. Fortunately, he had retreated in time; he was merely surrounded by the Beastmen.

The situation was this: the Beastmen had Gu Gaoxu surrounded in a ravine, and King Yan’s Army had the Beastmen surrounded within a range of several mountains.

If played well, Gu Gaoxu’s move could be called a central breakthrough. If played poorly, it was a case of throwing a meat bun at a dog—a total loss.

The infamous Yamazaki Battalion from a certain war drama, who thought they were having a fine time, were a perfect example of such a meat bun!

"Order the reserves to charge! Rip open their lines and find that boy for me! I want him found, dead or alive!" After careful consideration, King Yan decided to have his troops charge one more time.

At the mountain pass, the Ancient Poison Scorpion was locked in a fierce struggle with King Yan’s Army.

Since King Yan had few soldiers capable of subduing Xingzis and other fierce beasts, they couldn’t inflict any fatal damage on the Ancient Poison Scorpion.

The Ancient Poison Scorpion continued to fight like a cornered beast. After all, it had eaten its fair share of the Beastman Race’s provisions over the years.

"You take their money, you do their work!"

"You give food, I give fight."

Even a giant scorpion understood such principles.

Speaking of which, the cannons and firearms were much more effective.

With a new barrage from a dozen or so Red Coat Cannons and over thirty mortars...

Under the cover of the artillery shells, King Yan’s Army charged forward once more...

Gu Gaoxu was relying on the firearms his soldiers carried to hold his ground against the Beastmen in the ravine.

"Damn it! Hold the line, men! Someone will come for us!" Gu Gaoxu was hunkered down in a ditch, looking as pathetic as could be.

In Taiping City, Lu Yuan received Gu Gaoxu’s call and rushed back to the Zhao Mansion.

Lu Yuan sent his Personal Guards to pass the word: everyone was to prepare luggage for a long journey, along with their weapons and combat gear.

Back at the mansion, Lu Yuan got to work by himself. A dozen or so bicycles lay upside down in the front courtyard.

Lu Yuan bustled about his work, and the racket he made was naturally loud enough for Su Liyan to hear.

Su Liyan and her mother both had hearing that far surpassed ordinary people’s, but only Su Liyan came out.

Su Liyan handed Bengbeng to her mother and ran out to the front courtyard to see what was going on.

Su Liyan asked, "What are you so busy with?"

Lu Yuan’s hands never stopped moving. He held his tools, tinkering with the bicycles—dismantling, reassembling, and installing new components.

Lu Yuan said, "That buddy of mine, Gu Gaoxu, got pinned down by the Beastmen. He’s asking me to go rescue him."

Su Liyan heard this and said, "But it’s so far away. By the time you get there, won’t Gu Gaoxu already be a goner?"

As he kept tinkering, Lu Yuan said, "That can’t happen. The factory in Yandu is huge, an income of several million a year. If he croaks, how am I supposed to get my money back!"

’If I’d known this partner was going to kick the bucket, I definitely wouldn’t have gone into business with him to build that factory.’

’I put in so much effort, from guiding the setup of the production lines to assigning technical experts.’

’The factory is up and running, and I haven’t seen a single cent.’

’And now my partner’s about to croak!’

No matter what, Lu Yuan had to go!

"I’m going with you!" Su Liyan declared, her tone firm.

"It’s a long, hard journey. How could you possibly go? Besides, Bengbeng still needs to be nursed," Lu Yuan said, trying to dissuade her.

"Well, you could pump enough milk to last Bengbeng for ten or twelve hours. But on this trip, who knows when we’ll be back," Lu Yuan continued.

Su Liyan, worried that Lu Yuan couldn’t handle things on his own, was dead set on going with him.

She sidled up to Lu Yuan and said in a wheedling tone, "I don’t care, I just want to go! We can leave Bengbeng with Mom, and we don’t have to worry about his feedings. I’ll ask Aunt Zhao to help feed him."

Seeing how determined she was, Lu Yuan stopped arguing. "Alright then, go talk to Aunt Zhao first."

Seeing that he had relented, Su Liyan happily scampered off to find Aunt Zhao.

Meanwhile, Lu Yuan continued tinkering with the dozen or so bicycles in the front courtyard.

A short while later, Su Liyan came bouncing back.

As Su Liyan ran, her hips swayed from side to side, and her chest bounced with a motion reminiscent of a slithering snake.

Before she even reached him, Su Liyan called out, "Aunt Zhao said we can leave our Bengbeng with her and not worry about a thing!

She promised she won’t let Bengbeng go hungry. Right now, he and Huanhuan are on her left and right, their little hands holding up Aunt Zhao’s ’big, soft buns’ as they eat happily."

Since that was settled, Lu Yuan told Su Liyan to pack their bags. They would head for the northern battlefield after lunch.

At lunch, Lu Yuan announced at the table that he was going on a long trip. He didn’t tell Zhao Qiao’Er and Song Meiqin the details, not wanting to worry them.

Gu Ziye, however, clamored to go along.

Lu Yuan refused.

After lunch, Lu Yuan’s Personal Guards were already assembled in the front courtyard.

Each person had a Treasure Sword at their waist, a rifle wrapped in cloth slung over their back, and a bandolier of ammunition around their middle.

Behind the main group, another seven or eight men stood with wooden crates containing mortars at their feet.

Lu Yuan stood before them and said, "This is urgent. About a dozen of you will come with me on bicycles. We’ll go on ahead. The rest of you will follow on horseback."

Lu Yuan slipped a piece of paper to one of his Personal Guards; it had the address written on it.

The guard unfolded the paper, understood immediately, and nodded in acknowledgment.

Lu Yuan didn’t want anyone else to know their destination.

Of course, seeing this display, Aunt Zhao and the others knew this was no simple matter.

However, they never interfered when Lu Yuan had business to attend to. That was a man’s affair, after all.

Lu Yuan and Su Liyan stood at the head of the group, where Lu Yuan demonstrated the modified bicycle.

Lu Yuan gave a hard push on the pedal with his right foot, and the Spirit Stone under the seat began to emit an eerie green glow.

Driven by the Spirit Stone’s power, the bicycle’s chain began to turn, propelling the entire vehicle forward.

Su Liyan had started learning to ride a bicycle as soon as they were invented.

Back when she was just starting, Lu Yuan would hold on to the back of the bike for her.

She fell a few times and nearly scraped her skin off. At the time, she had even complained, "This thing is much harder to learn than Daoist Skills..."

But now, she could ride a bike just fine.

As Lu Yuan pedaled a few more times, the Spirit Stone’s green glow brightened, the whirring of the chain grew louder, and the wheels began to spin faster.

The bicycle’s speed now far surpassed that of a galloping horse.

Sharpening the axe doesn’t delay the woodcutting. Though Lu Yuan had spent time modifying these dozen or so bikes, it would cut their travel time by two-thirds.

A journey that might have originally taken five days could now be completed in less than two.

Under the watchful eyes of his mother-in-law, the aunts, and Gu Ziye, the group rode out of the city.

Once Lu Yuan’s group was a good distance away, Gu Ziye’s eyes darted about before she said to Aunt Zhao and the others, "Aunts, Yue’Er is planning a trip to Yandu, so I’ll be taking my leave now."

Song Meiqin took Zhao Qiao’Er’s hand and said, "In that case, Miss Yue’Er, please be careful on your journey."

Gu Ziye bid farewell to each of them. Her Personal Guard brought her prized steed, and she vaulted into the saddle, galloping away in a cloud of dust with four guards following behind her.

After Gu Ziye had gone, Zhao Qiao’Er looked at Song Meiqin. "Why did you grab my hand just now?"

Song Meiqin giggled. "You couldn’t tell? Yue’Er is going after our nephew!"