I did it all for the Han Dynasty!

Chapter 383 My department is unimpeded!
Zhang Ren slowly regained consciousness.

Liu Miao happened to be standing in front of the couch at that moment. When he saw Zhang Ren wake up, he immediately pulled over a folding chair and sat down in front of him.

"You're very lucky! The doctor told me that you're unlikely to wake up."

Based on the way he was addressed, Zhang Ren quickly determined who the person in front of him was.

Immediately, Zhang Ren wanted to burst into action and kidnap Liu Miao, but he soon discovered that his hands and feet were bound, making it impossible for him to get up suddenly.

"Hey! That's pretty energetic!"

Liu Miao picked up the book "Yang Zhu" from the side and waved it at Zhang Ren.

"We found this in your house. You also like reading Yang Zhu?"

Zhang Ren struggled continuously, but could not break free.

Upon hearing Liu Miao's question, Zhang Ren immediately shouted, "Those who follow Yang Zhu are all selfish and utterly devoid of righteousness! How could I, Zhang Ren, be such a person?"

Liu Miao's ears hurt from the shock, and disregarding his dignity, he disgustedly picked at his ears and then smeared the residue on Zhang Ren, who was at the mercy of others.

"I understand, I understand, it's not yours!"

Zhang Ren's eyes suddenly lit up!
"This book was given to me by Fazheng!"

"I already know that Fazheng secretly colluded with you, which allowed you to attack Baidi City!"

Zhang Ren spoke words that were designed to pierce Liu Miao's heart—

"Liu Miao! If Fa Zheng betrays me today, he will betray you tomorrow! You harbor such a treacherous minister, and you will be harmed by him sooner or later! Even your great Han Dynasty might perish because of someone like Fa Zheng!"

Liu Miao raised an eyebrow: "So, you want me to kill him?"

"Not bad!"

"Um……"

Liu Miao pondered for a long time: "Zhang Ren, guess what request Fa Zheng made to me?"

"It's nothing more than official positions and gold and silver!"

"No, the first thing he asked of me was to spare your life."

Zhang Renyi was stunned.

Liu Miao continued, "Fa Zheng had already guessed that you would insult me ​​after you woke up. He knew you were going to offend me, which is why he begged me not to kill you."

"Pah! What a hypocrite!"

Zhang Ren clearly didn't appreciate it.

To everyone's surprise, Liu Miao also nodded.

"Xiaozhi still feels somewhat guilty towards you. If you were alive, it might make him feel better."

"Then I deserve to die even more!"

"Are you really so eager to die?"

Liu Miao looked at Zhang Ren and saw that Zhang Ren's face was resolute, and even his lips were tightly pursed, so he smiled slightly.

"What will happen to your family if you die?"

"The King of Shu will surely protect my family!"

"Do you really think that once Baidi City falls, Shu can still stop me?"

Zhang Ren was speechless.

It's pointless to be stubborn now.

Zhang Ren knew without even thinking how much turmoil the fall of Baidi City would cause to the entire Shu region.

Liu Miao then quickly stabbed Zhang Ren in the chest again.

“After your defeat that day, I did not idly celebrate my victory, but instead sent Xingba and the others to pursue Yan Yan.”

"I have seen the ships from Shu, and they certainly can't catch up with the ships of the Han Dynasty in terms of speed. Moreover, it rained yesterday, and the waves on the Yangtze River must be quite large, so catching up with them is inevitable."

"Wait two more days, and you might hear news of the fall of Jiangzhou. Once Jiangzhou falls, the army can enter the plains near Chengdu at any time. Do you really think the Shu army, which has not fought for a long time, can defeat the Han army?"

Zhang Ren fell completely silent.

He didn't expect that Liu Miao wouldn't even give him time to celebrate his victory, and immediately ordered his soldiers to attack Jiangzhou.

With the fall of Jiangzhou, the entire flat Shu region was completely exposed to Liu Miao.

The survival of the Shu region seems to be hanging by a thread!
Even Zhang Ren couldn't help but feel a little dejected: "You are the emperor, do you intend to vent your anger on my family?"

"No, that won't happen! Once I find your family, I will definitely treat them well."

Zhang Ren was even more astonished: "Then you..."

"I'm asking you to think about what your family will think of you if you die here. What will they do afterward?"

"I am dying for my country!"

"Fuck your mother's balls!"

Liu Miao finally couldn't hold back and started swearing.

"For the country? For whose country? Liu Zhang? What country did he even have? The Han Dynasty? Then guess who I am?"

Zhang Ren was speechless once again.

As a separatist force, and even a prince of the Liu family, Liu Zhang was at a huge disadvantage when fighting against Liu Miao!
Liu Miao's next words transformed into five fingers reaching into Zhang Ren's chest, as if he wanted to crush his heart.

"At that time, your mother will sit at the door, and the neighbors will point and whisper about her. Because she gave birth to a Han traitor as her son."

"When your wives and concubines walk down the street, other women will mock them to their faces because they married a traitorous Han Chinese."

"At that time, your child will also be ostracized and bullied by others, and other children will defecate and urinate on his head. Because he has a traitor as his father."

“I am not so petty. I will distribute the land to them according to the number of households, and I will not treat them differently because of their relationship with you, Zhang Ren… But I believe they will not live long. Even if I do not kill them, they will be forced to their deaths by others, by the people of Shu, or by people they know.”

With each word Liu Miao spoke, Zhang Ren's face grew paler.

Zhang Ren knew that what Liu Miao said was true.

I didn't kill Boren, but Boren died because of me.

Their own families would be implicated and killed sooner or later. Even if Liu Miao didn't harm them, the malice of those around them would slowly devour them, leaving not even bones behind!

At this moment, Zhang Ren was completely lost.

He not only did not resist dying for his country, but he even hoped to die for his country!

But if I die now, what am I anyway?
Loyal minister? Traitor to the Han? Fool?

The more Zhang Ren pondered, the more confused he became. It was the sound of Liu Miao turning the pages of his book that brought Zhang Ren back to his senses.

"Yang Zhu... You just said that those who read Yang Zhu are all selfish and self-serving people, and that Xiaozhi might rebel against me in the future?"

Liu Miao casually tossed the book, hitting Zhang Ren in the chest, causing Zhang Ren to grimace in pain.

What you said is both right and wrong.

"Take Xiaozhi for example. If he made such a great contribution, but I ignored him and only appointed him as a county magistrate, or only gave him a few strings of cash, do you think he would think? Not to mention him! Even I would rebel against him!"

Liu Miao deliberately patted Zhang Ren's chest, causing Zhang Ren to feel even more pain.

"You say that Xiaozhi rebelled for profit, but I would say that Xiaozhi rebelled because of injustice."

"Those who labor should be rewarded; this was my promise to the people. In truth, this so-called reward boils down to one word—"

Liu Miao held up one finger at Zhang Ren.

"That's fairness! Fairness! It's fucking fair!"

Zhang Ren opened his mouth helplessly, wanting to correct Liu Miao that it wasn't a word, but Liu Miao patted his chest three times in a row, leaving him speechless.

"Do you think Xiaozhi is a fool? To risk so much to surrender a city to me?"

"Doesn't he know that he could live a peaceful life in Shu? With his intelligence, even if Liu Zhang were to treat him as the Chancellor, he would deserve it!"

"But can he get it? Let alone the prime minister, do you think he could even get a prefectural governor?"

Liu Miao shook his head.

"You come from a prominent family, so you might think that promotion is not difficult."

"But what about Xiaozhi? What about the common people of Shu?"

"You've never truly considered their needs. So when they abandon you, you keep calling them 'troublemakers,' isn't that right?"

"In your heart, you might think that 'the poor are enjoying themselves, while the rich are working hard,' right?"

"But do you know that what you can achieve through hard work, what you can enjoy now, may be a threshold that many people cannot reach in their entire lives?"

Liu Miao didn't know if Zhang Ren could understand him, but he still said these words to Zhang Ren.

“It wasn’t just Xiaozhi who abandoned you, but also many more people from Shu.”

"Just because you wrote the history books doesn't mean you're always right."

"The people have a voice too!"

Bang!

Just then, there was a sound of something breaking.

But neither Liu Miao nor Zhang Ren were surprised.

Liu Miao shouted towards the curtain, "Don't hide! Xiaozhi!"

"Your breathing is louder than Youping's snoring when he sleeps! He heard it a long time ago!"

A figure emerged from behind; it was Fazheng.

The moment Zhang Ren saw Fa Zheng, he violently shook the bed, his eyes turning bloodshot.

Just as Zhang Ren was about to berate Fa Zheng, Liu Miao slapped him hard on the chest, causing Zhang Ren's face to contort in pain, and he swallowed the words he was about to say.

Fa Zheng approached Zhang Ren, but Zhang Ren turned his head away, refusing to even glance at Fa Zheng.

"General, His Majesty is right."

"The land of Shu today is a stagnant pool!"

“I, Fa Xiaozhi, am not a traitor to the Lord. All I ask for is justice!”

Zhang Ren finally turned around and looked directly at Fa Zheng: "Bah! Fairness? Who can give you fairness?"

Liu Miao interjected promptly: "It's me!"

Seeing that Zhang Ren's eyes had become somewhat strange, Liu Miao pondered for a moment and said, "At least, I'm willing to give it a try!"

"..."

Liu Miao was not in a hurry in the face of Zhang Ren's silence.

Anyway, many things are already underway, so whether Zhang Ren exists or not is no longer important.

Tap tap tap tap.

Suddenly, footsteps were heard.

Chen Wu quickly approached Liu Miao from behind, cupped his hands in a respectful gesture, and said, "Your Majesty, there is military intelligence!"

"Say it out loud! Use as much volume as you can!"

Liu Miao remained calm and composed, as if he were certain of the outcome of the battle in the south.

Chen Wu glanced at Zhang Ren lying on the couch, immediately understood, and then focused his energy to loudly report the military situation—

"Report from General Gan Ning of Annam!"

"Your subject pursued with all his might and caught up with Yan Yan in the waters of Zhong County, annihilating his entire army!"

"Yan Yan would rather die than surrender! He even put on airs and insulted Your Majesty and your ministers. I couldn't stand his despicable behavior, so I threw him into the river to feed the fish! If Your Majesty punishes him, I will have no complaints!"

"That rascal Ziming (Lu Meng) is full of tricks! He had our troops change into Shu army uniforms and head to Jiangzhou. And that rascal Boyan looks honest, but he's actually cunning! He deliberately pretended to be a defeated army and entered the city under cover of night! The Jiangzhou garrison was caught off guard and our army broke through! Now our army is moving freely! Moving freely!"

"..."

Liu Miao then looked at Zhang Ren, who had a look of despair on his face.

"Did you hear me clearly?"

(End of this chapter)