I did it all for the Han Dynasty!

Chapter 16 Qin's Moon
One of the young men, dressed in a dark brown mourning robe, was likely Sun Ce, the eldest son of Sun Jian.

Liu Miao and Chen Yu alighted from the carriage and came to the two men's side.

"I have met Prefect Liu and Councilor Chen."

Sun Ce, being the eldest son of the Sun family, took the initiative to bow.

At the same time, Sun Ce was the first to apologize to Liu Miao.

"Although I know that the prefect has arrived in Jiangdong, I have a family funeral and dare not go to greet him, for fear of offending the prefect."

Chen Yu, who was standing next to him, looked at Sun Ce and then at Zhou Yu.

Sun Ce's words clearly explained why he and Zhou Yu had not attended Lu Kang's banquet a few days ago, leaving Liu Miao no room for criticism, which was quite clever.

However, Chen Yu himself had lived in Huainan for a long time and had heard of Sun Ce's reputation.

Although Sun Ce was young and ambitious, and had the style of his father Sun Jian, he was somewhat reckless in his speech and actions and could not be considerate in all aspects.

On the contrary, Zhou Yu was known for his "refined and elegant character".

The two of them together are like two tiger tallies placed together, almost perfect.

Chen Yu suddenly felt a headache coming on, wondering if he could achieve his goal this time.

Liu Miao, however, showed no sign of worry. He simply helped Sun Ce to his feet and began to scrutinize the two of them.

“Sun Wentai is a hero. Of course, his affairs should be taken first.”

Hearing that Liu Miao showed no signs of anger, Sun Ce realized that Liu Miao's visit was probably not malicious, and his tense and serious face immediately relaxed a lot!
Zhou Yu, standing beside Liu Miao, also bowed to him, saying, "Greetings, Your Excellency."

"Although I am not required to wear mourning clothes, I am entrusted by the Marquis of Wucheng to leave the Sun family here. Therefore, it is not appropriate for me to participate in joyous events. I hope the magistrate will understand."

"I already said, it's nothing!"

The next moment, something happened that shocked both Sun Ce and Zhou Yu!
Liu Miao acted as if he were an old friend, grabbing one of their arms with one hand, as if he were facing his own nephews and nieces, completely without any awkwardness!

"Although I was not in Jiangdong before, I had heard of your reputations. I know that neither of you are the kind of people who don't follow etiquette!"

"Now that I see you two, one diligently observing mourning for your father and the other fulfilling your friendship by accompanying him, I am overjoyed and have no reason to be angry."

Sun Ce and Zhou Yu were held back by Liu Miao; whether they pulled away or not was also a dilemma...

Both of them were of noble birth, and by all accounts, they should have seen all kinds of people in the world. But today, Liu Miao was someone they had never seen before!
Therefore, the two could only smile awkwardly at Liu Miao, unsure of what to say...

Liu Miao took the initiative and pulled the two of them deeper into the Zhou residence. After a moment of stunned silence, Chen Yu quickly followed!

Upon entering the Zhou residence, one finds that security measures had already been implemented.

In the east wing, there are displays of black and red lacquerware. On a lacquer table with gold cloud patterns, there is a gilded jade burial suit with copper threads. Next to the rhinoceros horn wine vessel are eighty pieces of chariot and horse fittings inlaid with gold and silver.

The west corridor displays a collection of ritual vessels, including a three-legged bronze tripod inscribed with the Classic of Filial Piety, a mirror with four divine guardians inlaid with turquoise for its eyes, and even a Liubo chessboard inlaid with ivory pieces depicting constellations.

The Sun family retainers were all dressed in mourning clothes, holding plain silk ribbons and sashes, and their faces were all filled with sorrow.

Inside the hall, musicians played day and night under the black and red ceremonial guards, while the chime bells and stone chimes played "Summoning the Soul" and "Dew on the Leeks," truly embodying the principle of "treating death as life, the utmost in ritual!"
Deep inside the mourning hall, there was a "Wenming" (a type of ancient Chinese writing implement), clearly intended to conceal Sun Jian's body.

Upon seeing this scene, Liu Miao immediately became solemn.

"The Marquis of Wucheng was brave, resolute, and courageous. He rose from humble beginnings to lead Wen to kill Zhuo, and blocked the mountains and hills. He was loyal and brave!"

"Though I am unworthy, I am still a member of the Han imperial family, and I have come here to mourn!"

After speaking, Liu Miao closed his eyes, as if he were truly heavy-hearted and mourning Sun Jian, which moved Sun Ce deeply.

Chen Yu looked helplessly at Liu Miao, who had closed his eyes. Guests came to pay their respects to the deceased, and there were other rituals to perform.

But now that Liu Miao has Sun Ce in his left hand and Zhou Yu in his right, how can he do anything else?
In the end, it was only Chen Yu who bore all these cumbersome formalities!
Chen Yu took out the eulogy he had already written and the "Letter to the Underworld," knelt on the ground, and read aloud the funeral gifts that Liu Miao and he had sent—

"Two light carriages, one oxcart, four horses, two small horses, four mounted horses, and one hundred bolts of silk!"

Such a generous gesture undoubtedly shocked Sun Ce once again, and he quickly bowed to Liu Miao, saying, "How could I dare to trouble you, my lord, with such a gesture?"

"This is how we should mourn the loyal and brave men of the Han Dynasty."

Sun Ce's gaze toward Liu Miao became much more affectionate at this moment!

The Han Dynasty valued elaborate burials!
Liu Miao's actions clearly demonstrate his genuine respect for Sun Jian, giving him ample face! He also gave the Sun family considerable respect!
Such a generous gift made not only Sun Ce but even Zhou Yu, who was standing nearby, think that Liu Miao had no ill intentions!
At this moment, Liu Miao finally released Zhou Yu's hand.

Seeing this, Sun Ce originally wanted to pull his arm back, but found that Liu Miao had no intention of letting go, so he could only let Liu Miao continue to hold it, and at the same time, he no longer resisted.

"To my shame, it was only after I arrived in Huainan that I heard of the unfortunate passing of the Marquis of Wucheng."

"I am overwhelmed with sorrow and long to compose some beautiful music to bid farewell to the Marquis of Wucheng. But alas, my musical talent is lacking; I can only compose poems, not a complete piece of music... I have long admired your reputation for music, Gongjin. I wonder if you could compose music for me and fulfill my long-cherished wish?"

Zhou Yu looked troubled.

Sun Ce quickly came out to help Zhou Yu out of the predicament.

"My lord, you may not know that although Gongjin loves music, he doesn't often compose for others, because..."

At this point, Sun Ce suddenly froze!
Zhou Yu was unwilling to compose music for others, often because the poems they wrote were so bad that they insulted his own music...

If we don't give Liu Miao any poems now, wouldn't that be a clear statement that Liu Miao's poems are not good enough?
Liu Miao, seemingly oblivious to Sun Ce's awkwardness, continued to forcefully insert the two bamboo slips he had pulled from his robes into Zhou Yu's arms—

"In that case, we'll leave this matter to Gongjin!"

Now that things had come to this, Zhou Yu had no choice but to bite the bullet and take the bamboo slips, while simultaneously wondering if he should just improvise a basic chord to get by...

However, when his gaze fell on the bamboo slips, Zhou Yu froze on the spot.

Unlike other people's nonsensical and lengthy poems.

The poem Liu Miao provided consisted of only four lines.

But these simple four lines somehow stirred something strange within Zhou Yu—

"Qin's moon and Han's gate,"

"The Long March has not yet returned."

"But if the flying general of Dragon City is in command,"

"We will not allow the barbarian horses to cross the Yin Mountains!"

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Note 1:

The Book of Rites, Mourning Garments, states that there are a total of six mourning garments: the *zhancui* skirt, the *juju* cloth, the staff, the headband, the crown tassel, and the straw sandals. Among them, the *zhancui* skirt is a mourning garment made of the coarsest raw hemp cloth. The word *zhan* means to cut the cloth with a knife without sewing the edges.

Note 2:

The "Wenming" is a very special funerary object, shaped like an inverted square bucket, composed of four sides. The top is a gabled roof that extends forward, and both the top and inner sides are inlaid with bronze mirrors or glass discs. Its main purpose was to cover the deceased's face before burial; the Wenming was removed at the time of burial.

(End of this chapter)