I did it all for the Han Dynasty!

Chapter 118 Liu Miao
Taihu Lake is shallow, and its waves are not even as strong as those of Chaohu Lake, let alone comparable to those of the Yangtze River.

At this moment, ships from both the east and west sides slowly converged.

Liu Miao stood at the bow of the boat, while Zhou Tai and Chen Wu, two burly warriors, stood with their swords at their sides, carrying banners bearing the character "Liu".

Opposite them was another warship, but it bore fewer signs of wear and tear and the marks of war. The flag it carried also bore the character "Liu".

However, unlike Liu Miao's black flag with red characters, the flag on the west side was white with yellow characters, which looked more luxurious but less imposing.

Liu Miao looked towards the leading ship and saw a man dressed in fish-scale armor, wrapped in a blue robe with gold thread, and sporting a thick beard like steel needles, looking elegant and luxurious.

Behind him stood a military officer who was seven feet seven inches tall, about the same height as Chen Wu, only slightly shorter than Zhou Tai. He had a beautiful beard, and his long arms almost reached his knees. He also carried a longbow on his back!
"Youping, Zilie, be careful of that general with the bow! He's a skilled archer."

"Here!"

Hearing that Liu Miao had not directed their attention to Liu Yao, but instead to Taishi Ci in the rear, the two were extremely vigilant. Even though they were still some distance apart, they gripped their shields tightly, ready to advance at any moment.

At this point, the two ships had come face to face, and Liu Yao's ships finally stopped.

Where is Liu Yangzhou headed?

"I have already issued a proclamation to punish Yan Baihu. Has Zhengli not heard of it?"

Liu Yao feigned surprise: "But I heard that Zhongshan just took Yan Baihu's daughter as a concubine, so why are you attacking him now?"

Liu Miao laughed loudly, his words carrying a hidden meaning: "At first, I wanted to use gentle methods to influence those man-eating jackals, but unexpectedly, these people are shameless. Zhengli, what can I do?"

"Besides, I am, after all, the governor of Yangzhou and the general who conquers the east, appointed by the imperial court. How can I not care about the emergence of such a powerful clan in Jiangdong?"

Whether Liu Yao on the other side didn't understand or pretended not to, he simply ignored it, cupped his hands in a fist and said, "In that case, I am willing to lend Zhongshan a hand in the fight against Yan Baihu!"

"We are extremely grateful for Zhengli's help!"

Liu Miao and Liu Yao exchanged pleasantries for a while before entering their respective cabins and heading towards the shore.

As soon as Liu Yao returned to the cabin, there were already two people waiting there.

Xu Gong and Zhang Yun.

Upon seeing Liu Yao, they immediately asked, "How is he?"

"Liu Zhongshan's three hundred soldiers are all heavily armored! They are truly elite!"

"really!"

Xu Gong immediately clenched his fist and said, "I knew Liu Miao had ill intentions! What kind of bandits would require him to lead three hundred heavily armored soldiers there? He clearly wants to join forces with Yan Baihu and then conspire with Zhou Yu and Cheng Pu in the north to seize my Wu Commandery!"

Xu Gong's loss of composure caused Zhang Yun's eyes to flash with a hint of disdain once again.

Who doesn't know Liu Miao's ostensible intentions?
Could it be that Liu Miao came here just to find a different place to eat and sleep?

Zhang Yun asked proactively, "Does Zhengli think he can defeat Liu Miao?"

Liu Yao frowned deeply.

Xu Gong quickly chimed in, "I have six thousand soldiers under my command, including a hundred sets of heavy armor. I also have several hundred warhorses, which, while not as fine as those from Youzhou or Liangzhou, are still quite usable!"

A hundred heavily armored elite soldiers, plus several hundred cavalrymen, already constitute a formidable fighting force!

However, Liu Yao frowned at this moment, not thinking about the issue of troop strength.

He pondered for a moment, and finally voiced his confusion—

"When I came here, you all said that Liu Miao was a disloyal, unfilial, and morally corrupt scoundrel... But when I met him just now, I felt that he had a heroic spirit in his speech. How could such a person commit such atrocities?"

After Liu Yao arrived in Jiangdong, all the intelligence information was provided by Xu Gong and Zhang Yun.

Liu Miao was accused of disrespecting the elders, seizing land, levying exorbitant taxes, extorting money, and humiliating other men's wives and daughters...

However, upon meeting Liu Miao on the ship today, Liu Yao found that although Liu Miao was not very dignified, he could be described as "chivalrous" rather than a villain whose crimes were too numerous to count, which is why he had this question.

"This……"

Xu Gong was somewhat flustered.

Could it be that we should talk to Liu Yao about Liu Miao?
Tell Liu Yao that Liu Miao's actions actually align with the people's wishes, allowing the people of Danyang to live and work in peace and contentment.

The reason they wanted to be enemies with Liu Miao was because Liu Miao's policies would threaten their interests.

While Xu Gong was still pondering how to respond, Zhang Yun had already begun to continue his deception—

"Zhengli, as the saying goes, you can know a person's face but not their heart."

"Putting everything else aside, you at least spent time in Huainan and should have seen how Yuan Shu treated the people. As Yuan Shu's confidant, would Liu Miao be any different from Yuan Shu?"

"If I weren't worried that Liu Miao might secretly harm you, I would really like to take you to Jinling City right now to see just how far Liu Miao has harmed the people!"

"So that's it."

Liu Yao had never seen the people under his rule, but he had indeed seen the people under Yuan Shu's rule in Huainan!
It was a horrific sight! The thought that Danyang was no different from Huainan filled Liu Yao with rage: "If that's truly the case, my kinsman is guilty of a crime deserving of death!"

Liu Yao stopped dwelling on what kind of person Liu Miao was and turned to ask his generals for their opinions.

Do you think you can kill Liu Miao?

The first to step forward was not Taishi Ci, whom even Liu Miao was somewhat wary of, but Zhang Ying, a general under Liu Yao's command.

Zhang Ying is also from Qingzhou, and has the robust physique typical of people from Qingzhou.

Upon hearing Liu Yao's question, he immediately laughed: "If Cheng Pu and Huang Gai, who are under Sun Jian's command, were here, I might have some reservations. But right now, it's just Liu Miao here. What trouble could there be?"

Zhang Ying again sought confirmation from Xu Gong and Zhang Yun: "Didn't you two also say that Liu Miao actually had no talent in military affairs?"

"exactly."

Xu Gong acknowledged this: "I heard that this is not a rumor, but something Liu Miao himself admitted to his subordinates. It seems that it was precisely because of this that he appointed Zhou Yu, such a greenhorn, as his general!"

"I heard that when Zu Lang was killed last time, it was Zhang Zibu from Xuzhou who mobilized the people and took advantage of the chaos to kill Zu Lang. It had nothing to do with Liu Miao!"

In military affairs, Liu Miao made no significant achievements.

Domestic affairs were also handled by Gu Yong and Zhang Zhao. Especially after the Liu Xun incident, the people of Jiangdong were even more convinced of this.

The only thing that made Liu Miao somewhat famous was his strangely rhymed seven-character poem and his numerous romantic affairs.

Would such a person pose a threat to them?
Even Xu Gong was eager to try: "Liu Miao relied on people like Zhou Yu, Cheng Pu, and Zhang Zhao to achieve military merits, but he still can't recognize his own limitations. He actually dared to come to Wucheng with only three hundred men! How can we give up such a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity? In my opinion, even if I led the troops into battle, I could easily kill Liu Miao!"

"No!"

Before anyone could speak, Taishi Ci jumped out.

"Prefect, Governor".

Taishi Ci's expression was serious: "Just now, I saw that the two people behind Liu Miao both had the bearing of tigers and leopards! They were very similar to Guan Yu and Zhang Fei behind Liu Bei, the governor of Xu Province, when I met him before!"

"Although these two are not as imposing as Guan Yu and Zhang Fei, they are by no means easy opponents! We must not underestimate them!"

As soon as these words were spoken, everyone's expressions changed.

However, the reason for this was not Taishi Ci's reminder, but rather Taishi Ci's own act of reminding him.

Xu Gong's face turned pale and then red, clearly displeased with Taishi Ci's blunt and unforgiving manner.

Liu Yao turned around and scolded, "Ziyi! This isn't some random place; how dare you interrupt?"

Although Taishi Ci was renowned, he had long been hiding in Liaodong to avoid trouble and was not a close confidant of Liu Yao. Now, Taishi Ci's casual interruption had indeed displeased Liu Yao.

Taishi Ci, a man of resolute character, immediately said anxiously, "Governor, it's not that I don't understand etiquette! It's just that as the saying goes: 'He who knows himself and his enemy will never be defeated; he who knows himself but not his enemy will win one and lose one; he who knows neither himself nor his enemy will be defeated in every battle!'"

"We do not yet know the exact strength of Liu Miao, so how can we rashly launch a war? I urge the governor to think carefully!"

Taishi Ci's words were clearly a reminder to Liu Yao that not only were the people unaware of Liu Miao's strength, but they also did not know the situation of Xu Gong's soldiers.

If Xu Gong's soldiers are all good-for-nothings, then the battles against Liu Miao will likely end in defeat every time!
Xu Gong clearly understood what Taishi Ci said, and his face flushed red!
Upon seeing this, Liu Yao immediately flew into a rage and drove Taishi Ci out of the cabin.

"I am truly sorry, Ziyi is a boorish man, but he happens to be from my hometown. He brought his mother to seek refuge with me, how could I possibly refuse? I never expected him to be so rude, please forgive me! Please forgive me!"

Although Xu Gong wanted to retaliate, seeing that Liu Yao had spoken up for Taishi Ci in advance, he simply snorted and let the matter go.

"Defeating Liu Miao now seems to be no problem."

"The difficulty lies in killing Liu Miao in this battle! We absolutely cannot let Liu Miao escape! Otherwise, if Liu Miao manages to escape, we will be the ones in a passive position!"

Xu Gong, Zhang Yun, and others had also suspected Liu Miao's purpose in coming here.

Is it possible that Liu Miao wanted to lure them into attacking him, thereby undermining his own moral principles and allowing Liu Miao to act more freely?

However, when they heard that Liu Miao had come in person, the two were immediately relieved.

Where would anyone risk their own life as bait to lure the enemy?

So the question of whether or not to fight was quickly forgotten by the two of them.

The problem now is that we must win as soon as possible and kill Liu Miao! We must prevent Liu Miao from escaping or receiving support from Yan Baihu!
"Liu Miao's troops are all heavily armored infantry, which are difficult to deal with. The only way is to use cavalry to charge them!"

Based on the characteristics of Liu Miao's soldiers, Liu Yao's generals immediately made corresponding deployments.

"Furthermore, we must block the ferry crossing on the water to prevent Liu Miao from leaving by boat!"

Liu Yao glanced behind him. He had originally intended to entrust this task to Taishi Ci. After all, Taishi Ci was skilled in archery and had experience crossing the sea, so he would certainly be good at naval warfare.

However, now that Taishi Ci has been expelled, Liu Yao can only use other good generals, who are probably not much different from Taishi Ci!
"Fan Neng, Yu Mi, the crucial task of cutting off Liu Miao's retreat is entrusted to you!"

"Here!"

(End of this chapter)