I did it all for the Han Dynasty!

Chapter 151 The Nameless Old Soldier Huang Hansheng

Chen Yu changed into commoners' clothes and, under the cover of night, crossed the mountain path south of Jinling City, heading south towards Yuhang.

During this time, Chen Yu also learned about Baishilei and Xizhou City. After hearing that Huang Zhong and Xu Huang were indeed surrounded by Sun Ben's troops, he quickened his pace to find Zhu Huan.

Having finally reached the outskirts of Yuhang, Chen Yu had no time to feel joy when he heard the sound of horses' hooves coming from the official road.

Chen Yu quickly moved aside and hid by the roadside, only to find that cavalry bearing the Sun family's banner were galloping through the middle of the road. Judging from the direction, where else could it be but Yuhang?
"Did Sun Ben and Sun Fu also know to send people to win over Zhu Huan?"

Chen Yu was immediately filled with fear and hesitated to go and find Zhu Huan.

After hesitating for a moment, Chen Yu still headed towards Yuhang without hesitation.

"Zhongshan, Zhongshan, I'm now entrusting my life to your judgment. You must be sure to choose wisely when you look at people!"

Chen Yu went to Yuhang and identified himself to a servant in Zhu Huan's residence. The servant then led Chen Yu to a small room.

"Why did you bring me here? Where is Zhu Huanren?"

"Please be patient, esteemed guest."

After saying this, the waiter quickly left, leaving Chen Yu alone in the small room, feeling uneasy.

Chen Yu waited for a full half hour before he heard a noise and heard voices coming from next door.

Chen Yu carefully crawled over, quietly squatted down, and looked through the gap at the other side. To his surprise, he discovered that Zhu Huan was hosting a banquet for someone!

Chen Yu dared not be presumptuous and quickly put his ear close to the screen, wanting to hear who Zhu Huan was talking to.

"General Zhu, Liu Miao pressured you so much back then, why did you still serve him?"

"The current emperor of the Zhong family is of noble birth, magnanimous and courteous, and treats scholars well. He is the true enlightened ruler of the world!"

Upon hearing these words, Chen Yu immediately covered his mouth.

They really are Sun Ben and Sun Fu's men!

Their purpose in coming here was indeed to win over Zhu Huan!

Chen Yu lay on the ground, the dampness from the floor constantly being absorbed into his clothes, then turning into beads of sweat that slid down his forehead, soaking his neck, leaving his skin feeling cold.

In the main hall, Zhu Huan ate venison freshly hunted from the mountains, raised his wine cup and drank heartily before asking the other party, "Has Yuan Shu killed Liu Miao yet?"

"Liu Miao is trapped beneath the walls of Wan County; his defeat and death are only a matter of time. Why does the general concern himself with the affairs of a dead man?"

Zhu Huan sneered: "That means Yuan Shu hasn't defeated Liu Miao yet."

The envoy from the Sun family hurriedly said, "It's only a matter of time! Perhaps the general will be able to see Liu Miao's head tomorrow or the day after. The general is a man who can accomplish great things, how can he not even wait for this little bit of time?"

Zhu Huan picked up another piece of venison and glanced thoughtfully at the wall beside him.

"So now, do Sun Ben and Sun Fu control Jinling and kill Lu Kang and Zhang Zhao?"

"They are still in the inner city of Jinling... but I don't think they can hold out for long."

Zhu Huan drank again: "So, have you completely wiped out the troops in Danyang?"

"Only Huang Zhong and Xu Huang, two nameless men, remain to hold Baishilei and Xizhou City. General, there is no need to worry!"

Zhu Huan struck his wine cup with his chopsticks, making a sound: "So, you haven't killed Liu Miao, you haven't controlled Jinling, and you haven't pacified Danyang. Is that right?"

The Sun family envoy was somewhat anxious: "General, why bother with such trivial matters? Perhaps tomorrow morning, you will see the heads of Liu Miao, Lu Kang, Huang Zhong, and others!"

Zhu Huan shook his head speechlessly: "There are no constants in the art of war, and there are even fewer constants in the world."

"Since nothing is certain, what I might see tomorrow morning is still the heads of Sun Ben and Sun Fu!"

The Sun family envoy was furious: "How could the general say such a thing?"

Zhu Huan shook his head: "That's a fact!"

"You have never truly been Liu Miao's enemy; you have no idea how terrifying Liu Miao is!"

"Back then, Liu Miao dared to venture deep into enemy territory with only three hundred men, solely for the sake of a righteous cause that would allow him to mobilize troops! Afterwards, he didn't hesitate at all, directly launching the full force of Jiangdong to besiege Wu County, and the entire operation lasted less than a month!"

"Later, he used the pretext of destroying fortified villages and estates to turn the tables and ruthlessly and decisively brought all the fortified villages in Jiangdong under government control. This was something that even Emperor Guangwu could not do, but Liu Miao accomplished it with lightning speed. Are you really not afraid of Liu Miao?"

"And didn't you all realize that he previously ordered Sun Ce to lead troops to attack the various fortified villages and estates in Wu Commandery? He was using this tactic of using someone else to do his dirty work, so that the Sun family would become enemies with the powerful clans of Jiangdong, and completely destroy the foundation for the Sun family to take control of Jiangdong?"

“A man like Liu Miao, though he almost never appears on the battlefield, once you’ve been his enemy, you can feel his oppressive aura. To be enemies with such a person, you made no preparations, no plans, only thinking about a windfall that would crush him to death. Are there really people as foolish as you in the world?”

Zhu Huan is not only the current magistrate of Yuhang, but also a general with military power, and he is also an enemy who stood on the side of the Jiangdong aristocratic families and truly fought against Liu Miao!

Even now, Zhu Huan still finds that previous battle baffling.

How come it was clear that our side wanted to use righteousness to suppress Liu Miao, but Liu Miao used their own methods against us and ruthlessly trampled on us with righteousness?
The same applies to the cases of the farms and fortified villages.

It was clearly the powerful families who incited the people, trying to use public opinion to protect their private property. However, Liu Miao turned the tables and used the public opinion that the powerful families had created to his own advantage, forcing everyone to hand over their fortified villages to the government, completely disarm them, and lose all right to bargain with Liu Miao.

Being Liu Miao's teammate always makes you feel like you can win inexplicably.

When you're Liu Miao's opponent, you always feel like you're about to lose for no apparent reason.

That's why Zhu Huan used the word "terrifying" to describe Liu Miao.

That kind of bone-chilling cold that doesn't seem like much at the time, but becomes terrifying upon reflection afterward, is something no one wants to experience a second time!

Moreover, Zhu Huan, being born into a powerful and influential family, possessed a far greater understanding of the foundations of rule than other generals.

After Liu Miao's cleansing, the Jiangdong aristocratic families no longer had the ability to support a new master at any time.

Both the Three Chiefs System and the Equal-Field System shattered the originally solid foundation of powerful and wealthy families into dust.

Having lost their land and weapons, the established families were no match for the countless self-cultivating farmers who had already been allocated private land.

In the past, powerful families might have only rebelled against Liu Miao; but now, these powerful families are rebelling against all the people who received land from Liu Miao!
Unless all the scholars in Jiangdong unite as one and fight with all their might to carry out a large-scale massacre and suppression, it is not impossible for the Sun family to replace Liu Miao.

Unfortunately... this last path had long been blocked by Liu Miao.

Sun Ce swept through the houses with his sword, which certainly made his name resound throughout the army, making him as powerful as Zhou Yu for a time. However, it also caused the Sun family to completely lose the basis for cooperation with the scholars of Jiangdong. Therefore, when Zhu Huan heard that Sun Ben and Sun Fu actually wanted to seize Liu Miao's Jiangdong, he could only think "laughable".

"You have no idea what Liu Miao did in Jiangdong. You just thought that while he was away, you could use your pitiful number of troops to seize this land that he had marked with his own mark. You are really... brave but reckless."

In the end, Zhu Huan smashed the wine cup heavily on the ground!
In an instant, dozens of axemen rushed out from the left and right and chopped the Sun family envoy into mincemeat!
After witnessing the meat paste take shape, Zhu Huan approached the wall and respectfully bowed towards the inside, saying, "I apologize for the poor hospitality, Lord Chen."

wow-

The door to the cubicle was opened, revealing Chen Yu's figure to everyone.

"call."

Chen Yu took a deep breath and then looked at the flesh and blood that the Sun family envoy had turned into.

"I already know Hugh Mu's intentions!"

Zhu Huan's words just now were more directed at Chen Yu than at the Sun family's envoy.

It was less for Chen Yu to hear and more for Liu Miao to hear.

Zhu Huan might have had some loyalty towards Liu Miao, but not much.

However, Zhu Huan's fear of Liu Miao was so deeply ingrained that it was etched into his very bones.

Unless Sun Ben and Sun Fu actually throw Liu Miao's head directly in front of him, Zhu Huan will absolutely not be willing to be Liu Miao's enemy again!

Zhu Huan greeted Chen Yu and said, "When I said to Sun Ce that I was unwilling to be subordinate to anyone, I was actually prepared to be killed by our lord. After all, at that time I was not only an enemy of our lord, but also an insignificant minor official, not worthy of our lord's attention."

"I never expected that my lord would actually come to the fortified village to see me in person and let me command the troops alone, without being ordered by anyone else."

"My lord has almost given me a second life! Now that my lord is in trouble, how can I sit idly by?"

"Even if Lord Chen hadn't come, I would have been ready to send troops to quell the rebellion at any time! Now that Lord Chen has arrived, I have even less reason to hold back!"

Chen Yu's gaze drifted back to the lump of minced meat, and his Adam's apple bobbed several times.

"In any case, it's all the better that Humu is willing to send troops!"

Zhu Huan then counted his troops, totaling ten thousand, and immediately headed north towards Jinling!

Chen Yu was surprised that Zhu Huan could muster 10,000 troops and asked curiously, "My lord only left Xiu Mu with 1,000 troops back then, so why do you have more than 10,000 now?"

"They were all obtained by pacifying the mountain tribes!"

Chen Yu did not expect that while others would lose more soldiers the more they fought against the Yue tribes, Zhu Huan's army grew stronger with each battle!
"No wonder Zhongshan sent Xiumu to attack the Shanyue! It's really..."

The fact that Liu Miao actually allowed Zhu Huan to lead troops alone, without being commanded by others, actually caused quite a bit of controversy.

But judging from Zhu Huan's behavior now, it undoubtedly confirms Liu Miao's foresight once again!
"In that case, there's probably nothing to worry about in Jiangdong!"

------

Sun Ben was terrified when he heard that Zhu Huan had killed his envoy and was sending 10,000 troops toward Jinling!
"Liu Miao has vanished without a trace, and Zhu Huan has already headed north. How could this be?"

Sun Ben immediately sensed that something terrible was about to happen.

If Zhu Huan arrives in Jinling and I still can't defeat Xu Huang, Huang Zhong and the others, I'm afraid I'll be the one to lose this battle!

At the same time, Sun Ben's mood became increasingly uneasy.

During this period, Sun Ben did consider consolidating power in other areas into his own hands.

However, Yuan Huan, the governor of Wu Commandery, was originally Yuan Shu's man, so Sun Ben dared not push him too far.

The county magistrates and heads of other cities and towns in Danyang also stayed at home. These officials, who had been promoted by Gu Yong and Zhang Zhao, were extremely uniform in their observance of the city gates, as if they were certain that Sun's rebellion could not succeed.

The setbacks in various aspects made Sun Ben increasingly anxious. He simply stopped sleeping and, under the cover of night, once again gathered his troops and came to Baishi Fortress, which was guarded by Huang Zhong in the northwest.

The Baishilei Dam and the Sangbo Causeway form a continuous line. As the first line of defense for the city of Jinling built by Zhang Zhao, it was undeniably formidable.

Sun Ben attacked several times, but was repelled by Huang Zhong's troops. So this white barrier has become Sun Ben's nightmare!

"Huang Hansheng is just an unknown old soldier from Jingzhou! Why is he so difficult to deal with!"

Sun Ben looked at Bai Shilei, who was still very conspicuous even in the darkness of night.

"Huang Zhong is only relying on the advantage of the city. It would be good if we could get him to take the initiative to attack."

Sun Ben pondered for a moment, then suddenly his eyes lit up.

He then ordered his men to cut off the head of a condemned prisoner, mutilate his facial features, and throw it behind the White Stone Fortress.

"Huang Hansheng! Liu Miao is dead! If you don't believe me, look! This is his head!"

Now that it was dark and visibility was already poor, and the facial features of the head actually resembled Liu Miao's by three or four points, Sun Ben was certain that Huang Zhong would fall for the trick!
Sun Ben ordered his soldiers to shout insults at Liu Miao outside the city and fabricated words to humiliate Liu Miao's female relatives, all in an attempt to provoke Huang Zhong into coming out to fight him!

As dawn broke, and there was still no movement from within the white stone fortress, Sun Ben couldn't help but feel somewhat disappointed.

"I heard that Liu Miao gave Huang Zhong a lot of money, gifts, women, and houses, but unexpectedly, he shows no gratitude whatsoever and still hasn't come out to avenge Liu Miao. Alas~"

Just as Sun Ben was about to order a retreat and try the same method on Xu Huang, the city gate of Baishilei, which had been tightly closed, suddenly burst open!

"opened!"

Sun Ben's face lit up with joy, and he was eager to try his luck, wanting to defeat Huang Zhong in one battle!
But when Sun Ben saw Huang Zhong's appearance clearly, even though he had followed Sun Jian in his campaigns, he still felt a chill in his heart!
Huang Zhong had only a dozen or so riders with him, but each of them was clad in strong armor and wielded a horizontal sword, moving as if they were in an empty place!
Huang Zhong, who was in the lead, had bloodshot eyes. He raised his knife and cut down all the flesh and blood that blocked his way, causing bursts of bloody light to erupt from his body!
"Sun Ben! How dare you plot against our lord! Today I will use your life to atone for our lord's sins in heaven!!!"

Huang Zhong's face was ferocious and his aura was powerful. He did not look like a man in his fifties.

I thought I had only angered a rabbit, but who knew that I had released a tiger!
He had only a few riders by his side, yet he was able to command an entire army all by himself!
Such a general also has a special title—

He is a match for ten thousand men!

　There will be another chapter tonight. I really shouldn't have gone out during the holidays. I went for a walk yesterday and accidentally caught a cold. I woke up this morning with a razor-sharp throat, feeling terrible. However, this time it doesn't seem as serious as last time; I don't have a fever or body aches, so my mind is still relatively clear. I want to remind all my readers to take care of yourselves too. Remember to wear masks when you go out, disinfect frequently, and practice good hygiene.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)