I did it all for the Han Dynasty!

Chapter 427 How come I'm so outstanding?

"Zi Jing..."

Guo Tu was puzzled by Lu Su's behavior and quickly reached out to pull Lu Su's sleeve, but Lu Su dodged him.

"Gongze, I am here today as an envoy of the Han Dynasty! How can you pull me like this? Just say what you have to say!"

Guo Tu sighed helplessly, "Zijing! Are you here to curse or to get down to business?"

"His Majesty and his ministers are already waiting in the tent, why are you so unforgiving?"

Lu Su was even more puzzled: "If you're in the right, why forgive others? Wouldn't that mean I got my point for nothing? And Gongze also thinks I'm in the right, right? Tell me, where am I in the right? Do you think I'm right because I said you were disloyal and unjust? Or do you think I'm right because I said you're no different from barbarians?"

Guo Tu: "..."

"Zijing, you weren't like this before."

Guo Tu's eyes gradually became resentful.

"How come you're almost like Liu Miao now?"

"Is it not good?"

Guo Tu felt increasingly powerless to help.

How did the emperor and his ministers of the Han Dynasty become like this?
What terrible things had Liu Miao done to deserve this? He even managed to lead a virtuous gentleman like Lu Su astray!

After much persuasion, Lu Su finally agreed to follow Guo Tu into Yuan's camp.

Throughout the journey, Lu Su's mouth remained restless, as if it were poisoned.

"Why didn't you cook a few pots of oil for me? At the very least, you should have found some executioners to stay near this camp, right?"

Guo Tu maintained a sullen expression throughout.

Because of these reasons, he and the others had indeed discussed this matter in the tent earlier.

However, when he thought of the hundreds of thousands of Yuan troops outside, he privately believed that he could suppress Lu Su, but unexpectedly, Lu Su turned the tables and suppressed him instead...

Guo Tu ignored Lu Su, who was behaving strangely today, and simply led the way, afraid that Lu Su might utter any more lewd words.

Seeing that Guo Tu was ignoring him, Lu Su did not make a fool of himself, but instead kept glancing at the arrangement of Yuan's camp.

The tents appeared to be piled up haphazardly, but the irrigation ditches dug in the ground clearly showed a set of rules and order within the chaos. Once the battle began, these Yuan soldiers could assemble in about a quarter of an hour, forming organized combat units.

Lu Su could often hear the neighing of warhorses in the camp.

The central command tent of Yuan's army is not located in the cavalry camps on the flanks, but the movement of so many warhorses can still be heard, which clearly indicates that Yuan's army has a surplus of warhorses and a unique tactic of combining infantry and cavalry.

Lu Su kept scrutinizing these Yuan soldiers, trying to find some flaws.

However, Lu Su soon discovered that, at least for now, Yuan Jun's only weakness was that his army's formation was too cumbersome.

This Yuan army was, after all, an elite force that had fought its way out of the chaos alongside Yuan Shao! They were the same elite troops who had annihilated the White Horse Cavalry and pacified almost half of the north! Clearly, they were not comparable to the Jingzhou or Yizhou troops who had enjoyed a long period of peace.

Lu Su wanted to see more and see more clearly, but Guo Tu obviously didn't give him the chance and led Lu Su directly to a huge central military tent.

"Zijing, how is the accounting?"

Guo Tu couldn't help but boast.

Yuan Shao's central command tent was a high-end item made of countless layers of leather and silk!

It also contains paintings and jewelry, making it a true treasure!

Even Liu Miao's imperial camp could never have reached this level!
Lu Su's face was full of envy.

“Really good!”

"It looks just like that Xiongnu king's tent!"

"..."

Guo Tu took a deep breath and made up his mind this time that he would never speak another word to Lu Su!
"Please trouble you, Gongze, to deliver this item to Yuan Shao on my behalf."

Guo Tu originally wanted to reprimand Lu Su for addressing the emperor by his name, but now, fearing that Lu Su might say something outrageous again, he quickly took over.

"Ok?"

Guo Tu looked at the object in his hand with some surprise.

"A piece of hoof gold?"

Guo Tu was somewhat confused about Lu Su's intentions.

To call it a gift between nations seems far too meager.

But Guo Tu was too lazy to pay attention to Lu Su, and even wanted to get rid of Lu Su as soon as possible, so he quickly sent the gold unicorn into the tent.

After a while.

Guo Tu reappeared, but the gold ingot he held was gone.

"Zijing, His Majesty is asking you why you presented him with a piece of gold inlaid with a unicorn's hoof?"

Lu Su's lips curled up in a smile. Seeing that smile, Guo Tu suddenly had a bad feeling!
Lu Su gathered his strength and shouted, "I once went to Ye City to pay my respects to the Yuan family! But I was told that I needed to bribe them with ten thousand coins to see them! Today I present a piece of gold in the hope of meeting them!"

Lu Su's voice was extremely loud!

Not only did the soldiers outside hear this and cast puzzled glances, but those inside the tent must have heard it as well!

moment.

Inside the tent, all the ministers' eyes were focused in one direction!
Xu You!

Xu You, who was now being targeted by everyone, lowered his head with an embarrassed expression. At the same time, he cursed inwardly, clearly not expecting that Lu Su would seek revenge for the arrow that had struck him years ago!
Guo Tu outside also had a livid face.

He lowered his voice and whispered, "Zijing! Are you not planning to go back alive today?"

"Have you discovered all this?"

Lu Su stood tall, as if he were facing not a den of dragons and tigers, but a brothel for him to pluck at will!
Having followed Liu Miao to the brothels in Jinling so many times, Lu Su had clearly developed a certain flair and was completely unfazed!

With a flourish of his staff, Lu Su strode into the tent before Yuan Shao could react!
At first, his vision went black due to the loss of sunlight, but then Lu Su was able to see that the huge tent was brightly lit, like a small palace!
There were about twenty people sitting on each side, who should be the high-ranking officials of Northern Zhao. One of them looked at Lu Su with particularly sharp eyes, and Lu Su guessed that this person was probably Xu You, who had intricate connections with the Han Dynasty.

Arriving at the center of the tent, Lu Su stomped his staff heavily, then looked up at the person sitting at the head of the table with a calm expression.

The rising smoke from the Boshan incense burner beside him obscured Yuan Shao's face, making it impossible for Lu Su to see his expression. He could only see wisps of sandalwood incense swirling around the gold-lacquered arm guards with coiled dragon patterns, flowing into the mouth of the fierce-looking, fanged beast, highlighting the crimson brocade inner robe slightly exposed at the collar.

"How dare you! Now that you have seen the Emperor, why do you not bow?"

"A minister of a superior state does not bow to the ruler of a inferior state!"

"The mighty Zhao state extends north to Youyan, south to the Yangtze River, east to the sea, and west to the Western Regions! How dare you call yourself a small country?"

"China is called Xia because of its great etiquette; it is called Hua because of the beauty of its clothing! Whether a country is a great power or not does not depend on its territory, but on its etiquette, morality, and the hearts of its people! If we consider a country to be great simply because of its vast territory, then could the states of Wu and Yue and Zhongshan during the Spring and Autumn Period be considered great powers? Could the Xiongnu during the Han Dynasty be considered great powers?"

Moreover, Lu Su gave the other party a strange look: "When did the Yuan family's territory reach the Yangtze River?"

"After this battle, we will reach the Yangtze River!"

"Hehe! Then I would say that after this battle, the Han Dynasty will be able to pacify the world again, unify the nine provinces, and revive the Han Dynasty for the third time!"

"You dare to presume to call yourselves Han?"

"The Emperor of Han was a fifth-generation descendant of the Prince of Langya, and a direct descendant of Emperor Guangwu! How could he not be called Han?"

"After Liu Miao arrived in the south, he acted perversely, disregarded the laws of his ancestors, abolished the Three Elders and the system of recommendation, and persecuted the gentry! Even Jie of Xia and Zhou of Shang were not as bad as him!"

"Xia Jie and Shang Zhou are far inferior to Your Majesty! Even Xia Qi and Shang Tang are not as good as Your Majesty in restoring the Han Dynasty, stabilizing the country, and bringing blessings to the people. How much more so are those two?"

Lu Su was eloquent and continued speaking directly, following the other person's lead.

"As for the three elders and the good-for-nothings recommended by the officials?"

"These people have been seizing land and acting perversely in the local areas, which is the root cause of the downfall of the Later Han Dynasty! If you don't believe me, you can check the list of filial and incorruptible officials recommended by the north this year and see how many of them come from wealthy and powerful families and how many of them are truly talented and learned."

At this moment, Lu Su looked down upon all the ministers!
Only then did he realize that his confidence did not come solely from the four-hundred-year-old Han Dynasty!

His confidence was built step by step by Liu Miao, and by the people of the Han Dynasty, with their own hands!

The Han Dynasty of today will not compromise with landlords and powerful clans! Nor will it compromise with families of Confucian scholars!
Those who once ravaged the Later Han Dynasty have been slowly eradicated by us working together!

The Han Dynasty of today truly works for the people!
Combined with the influence of traditional Confucianism's emphasis on benevolence and love for the people, Lu Su felt immense pride and superiority when facing the remnants of the old era in Northern Zhao!

Think about what you've done!

Think again about what these people have done!

Lu Su felt that from Yuan Shao down to the local elders, they should all slit their own throats and commit suicide!
Lu Su's imposing manner did indeed intimidate many people.

The study of Confucian classics collapsed during the Later Han Dynasty.

Today's scholars have yet to find a set of universal values ​​similar to the interaction between Heaven and humanity to persuade others, and also to persuade themselves.

Although the Han Dynasty has not found such a thing, at least Liu Miao personally wrote "the people receive" in his enthronement edict when he ascended the throne.

Even now, the scholars of the Southern Han Dynasty still have some ambiguity regarding their own actions and the actions of the state, but this does not prevent a vague concept from already emerging in their minds—

民！
The people are the foundation!

Compared to them, these Northern Zhao scholars, who no longer believe in the interaction between Heaven and Man but force themselves to believe, are simply ignorant and backward to the extreme!

Lu Su proudly surveyed the assembled officials of Northern Zhao.

After the aristocratic families of Hebei joined the smuggling business on a large scale, the scholars of the Han Dynasty completely demystified these hypocrites.

What about morality, what about etiquette, what about classical studies?

They all act so righteous, but in the end, aren't they all after money?

Even if they make money, these aristocratic families in Hebei are still no match for the workshop owners and merchants of the Han Dynasty today; they are simply useless!
Lu Su, gripping the Han imperial staff, was completely oblivious to the world around him!

The sentence above temporarily brought Lu Su back to his senses—

"What is the purpose of Liu Miao's summons?"

Yuan Shao, who had remained silent until now, finally spoke!
(End of this chapter)