I did it all for the Han Dynasty!

Chapter 491 First Snow
Total War!

Yuan Shao was indeed as Chen Yu had predicted that day.

Even if it means losing the entire future of Northern Zhao, we must still firmly grasp the situation in our own hands!

"The army formed ranks and marched slowly toward Pengcheng!"

Having recovered in Dingtao, Yuan's army embarked on its journey anew.

The drums are beating, and the troops are eager to go to war. The country is building a city wall, and I am marching south alone.

Alas, how vast and distant it is! I cannot live on! Alas, how true and unbelievable it is! I cannot believe it!

Yuan's army has mobilized its entire force for this battle!

The massive army, like an inextinguishable flame, charged relentlessly towards Pengcheng.

Yuan Shao has personally ignited the raging fire!

From now on, either let this raging fire spread to Liu Miao, and both he and Liu Miao will perish.

Either let the flames, like poison, completely consume its remains, allowing the world to turn a new page!

The sun and the moon are dark!

The world changes color!

The Han army outposts along the way were constantly being eliminated.

Scouts at the front line were constantly shuttling back and forth around the gates of Pengcheng.

Without even a command from their commander, the Han soldiers, who had been somewhat bored while waiting in Pengcheng, instantly became alert.

"It seems this war is really going to break out!"

Military intelligence was flying around like snowflakes, and Han scouts were like spindles on a loom, constantly shuttling back and forth to deliver Yuan's army's intelligence to the Han army's central command in Pengcheng.

The prefectural governor's mansion in Pengcheng has now been completely transformed into a huge battlefield.

Inside the central tent, there are pillars on all four sides, forming a huge tent large enough for hundreds of people to integrate intelligence and process information.

"There is a vanguard of 10,000 Yuan troops in the direction of Xiaopei, led by Gao Lan, a famous general from Hebei."

News has come from Mangdang Mountain! Yuan's army has outflanked the area from the northwest and set up camp in Juyang!

"General Jiang Qin reported that Yuan's army is preparing boats and seems to intend to force their way across Weishan Lake!"

"..."

One by one, the messages, whether useful or useless, true or false, were filtered by these military clerks and gradually made visible in the hands of Zhang Zhao's son, Zhang Cheng, who is now serving as a court official.

It is impossible for a map to bring together such a large amount of information.

In the center of the large tent, a sand table measuring thirty feet long and twenty feet wide lay quietly.

This sand table was made by Liu Ye after Liu Miao casually mentioned it, with the thought that "since I have nothing better to do," Liu Ye simply did it.

The mountains and rivers depicted above were all modeled after the terrain surrounding Pengcheng.

Even the forests and waterways were marked on it, leaving no stone unturned!
In addition, there are some red and yellow bamboo chess pieces on it.

These are the soldiers from both the Han and Zhao sides gathered here!
The distribution of the red Han troops is clearly visible on this sand table.

The three higher hills to the west—Jiuli Mountain, Yunlong Mountain, and Quanshan Mountain—formed a natural gateway to Pengcheng. The sand table clearly shows that Sun Ce, Zhu Huan, and Xu Sheng each led ten thousand men to garrison these hills.

On the north side of the Dan River, the main force of Jiang Qin, who was in charge of the navy, was stationed.

To the south was Gao Shun's army, totaling another ten thousand men.

The rest remained firmly situated in the Pengcheng Basin, isolated by mountains and rivers, serving as reserve troops for this battle.

Because of the victory on the eastern front in Qingzhou, Zang Ba's troops, who were originally stationed in Langya, have been liberated and are now stationed in Lanling.

Looking at the current model, Pengcheng looks like a bottomless cliff.

While the Yuan army to the west was numerous, more than twice the number of the Han army, it was like a handful of loose sand, powerful yet helpless, entrenched west of Pengcheng, its despair palpable to anyone who looked at it.

"The war has already progressed to this point, why does Yuan Shao still want to fight?"

After Zhang Cheng finished setting up the sand table, he asked a question with a sigh.

"Because the victory or defeat in military strategy is never a real victory or defeat. Before Yuan Shao was truly defeated, he would never admit that he was the loser."

Hearing the familiar voice, Zhang Cheng turned around with a mixture of surprise and trepidation: "Your Majesty?"

The person who came was wearing a crimson cloak, with a Liu-style crown on his head, and was blinking hard at the sleepy eyes, with the sleepy stuff stuck to his eyelashes. Who else could it be but Liu Miao?

Liu Miao yawned: "I just got back from Qingzhou. I was planning to stay in the brothels of Langya for a while longer, but Yuan Shao had to attack at this time. It's so damn annoying! So rude!"

If Zhou Tai were there, he would definitely be laughing out loud.

However, Zhang Cheng clearly didn't see through Liu Miao's nonsense, and instead said seriously, "Your Majesty, have you not heard that Li Ling was defeated because of low morale, and thought, 'Why is it that our morale is low and we can't rally? Are there any women in the army?' Now that we have a formidable enemy at our doorstep, how can we indulge in women?"

"..."

Liu Miao scratched his head somewhat awkwardly.

"You little rascal, you're just like Zhang Gong! Tsk! I knew I shouldn't have brought you along! You're so boring!"

Zhang Cheng pretended not to hear Liu Miao's complaints.

Liu Miao smacked his lips twice.

"Li Ling lost the battle purely because of his own incompetence. How can you blame the soldiers for hiding women?"

Zhang Cheng disagreed: "If there are women in the army, the soldiers' minds will be distracted by them, and they will put all their energy into women. Isn't that the only way to lose the battle?"

Liu Miao shrugged.

"That's why I said it's Li Ling's own fault!"

"To allow one's own soldiers to bring women to the battlefield—isn't that a sign of lax military discipline? And lax military discipline means the general is incompetent?"

Zhang Cheng's face suddenly flushed red, and after a long while, he managed to stammer out, "Your Majesty! That's sophistry! That's not what I wanted to say to Your Majesty!"

"Hahahahaha!"

Liu Miao stepped forward and pinched Zhang Cheng's bright red cheeks: "It seems you haven't reached your father's level after all! If you were my father, you would have already started arguing with me!"

Zhang Cheng, a grown man, felt extremely ashamed that Liu Miao had grabbed his face in public!
Unfortunately, Liu Miao was still the emperor. He was both ashamed and dared not resist, so he could only stand there helplessly, muttering softly, "Your Majesty, no..."

"what!"

Liu Miao finally released Zhang Cheng's face and laughed, "You can't be so thin-skinned! Otherwise, how will you accomplish great things in the future?"

"Learn from your dad. He's unmoved no matter how much people scold him. That's real skill!"

Zhang Cheng was still immersed in that damned shame and completely failed to hear the meaning behind Liu Miao's words.

Only after the blush on his face faded slightly did Zhang Cheng ask in confusion, "Did someone insult my father?"

"Ok!"

Liu Miao put his hands behind his back and strolled around the huge sand table. Then he said casually, "When I returned from Qingzhou, I suddenly received a letter of denunciation, saying that your father was plotting something, that he was an old thief, that he was called the Chancellor of Han but was actually a traitor to Han, and that he planned to rebel in Jinling behind my back. The letter was very detailed."

"?"

Zhang Cheng didn't react at first, but his face turned deathly pale in an instant!
"Your Majesty, this is slander! Your Majesty! Who made this accusation? I demand that they confront me in person!"

Zhang Zhao plotting a rebellion?!
joke!

Zhang Zhao was neither a powerful clan in Jiangdong nor did he have any military power. What reason did he have to rebel?

slander!

Absolutely slander!
Even though he knew it was a slander, Zhang Cheng still couldn't help but tremble.

He knew all too well how weighty these rumors were!

Compared to rumors, even the sharpest arrow in the world seems much thinner!

Zhang Cheng wanted to defend Zhang Zhao.

But for a moment, they didn't know where to begin to defend themselves!
Zhang Cheng stood there dumbfounded, while Liu Miao glanced at Zhang Cheng out of the corner of his eye and suddenly burst into laughter.

"Looking at you just now, you really looked exactly like a frightened chick! It's a pity I can't draw, otherwise I would definitely draw what you looked like just now and send it to your father! Haha!" Zhang Cheng finally realized what was happening and looked at Liu Miao with some confusion, while large tears welled up in his eyes.

Seeing that he was about to ruin the child, Liu Miao finally shook his head and continued looking at the sand table—

"Forget about it! I've sent the letter and the whistleblower to Jinling and told Lord Zhang to handle it himself."

Zhang Cheng stood there stunned: "Your Majesty...Your Majesty, do you not...not even slightly doubt my father?"

"what?"

Liu Miao looked at Zhang Cheng in surprise: "Do you think your father would rebel?"

"will not!"

"Isn't that okay?"

Liu Miao withdrew his gaze and re-examined the sand table in front of him, while Zhang Cheng remained silent.

It wasn't until Liu Miao had walked around the sand table completely and returned to Zhang Cheng that Zhang Cheng's breathing noticeably quickened.

"what you want to say?"

"May I ask Your Majesty, who is the one who accused... no, slandered my father?"

Liu Miao frowned impatiently.

"Who knows?"

"A member of the Yuan family? A member of a powerful family? Or someone your father's enemy? Or simply someone who's wildly speculating about my thoughts, wanting to get rid of your father and seize the throne for themselves? So many people have motives, how could I possibly guess?"

"But……"

When Zhang Cheng pressed for more information, Liu Miao fixed his gaze into his eyes.

"Your father replied last night. Do you know how he dealt with that person?"

Zhang Cheng shook his head.

He said that according to the "Zhangwu Law", if someone slanders or defames an official and the official does not pursue the matter, he will be fined 10,000 coins.

"Tsk! What a pity! When this law was enacted, the penalties should have been higher; the national treasury would have been completely filled!"

Zhang Cheng looked at him as if he had seen a ghost: "A fine of ten thousand coins?"

"That's it?"

The position of Minister of the Imperial Secretariat and Prime Minister of the Han Dynasty was only worth ten thousand coins?

Seeing Zhang Cheng's disappointed expression, Liu Miao was also somewhat displeased: "Don't yell at me! This is your father's decision! If you're so capable, yell at your father!"

"..."

Zhang Cheng stood there dejectedly, while Liu Miao chuckled softly again.

"So you're still far from your father's level! Study hard from now on! Study diligently! Come! I'll ask you one more time, what are you going to do if you find out I'm going to the brothel?"

Zhang Cheng's eyes at this moment were exactly the same as Zhang Zhao's dead fish eyes: "Your subject should remonstrate to the death."

"No! Why are you so stubborn, child?"

Liu Miao felt that education was indeed a long and arduous task!
"Matters between men and women should be discussed openly and honestly! By the way, I heard that you and Ziyu's daughter are engaged?"

When Zhang Cheng heard Liu Miao mention the Zhuge family, a warm smile unconsciously appeared on his lips: "Hmm..."

"Damn!"

Ah, the innocent and sweet love between childhood sweethearts!

Liu Miao put his arm around Zhang Cheng and said, "Not bad! The Zhuge family members are all good-looking! Look at Zhuge Kongming, always so flamboyant! Your future wife will probably be a beauty too?"

"Come, come, tell me, have you ever kissed her little lips?"

Zhang Cheng shook his head.

"So... have you ever held someone's hand?"

Shake his head again.

Liu Miao's eyes widened: "Then you... never mind! You definitely have the desire but not the courage! At such a young age, full of youthful vigor, you're engaged but don't just go through with it. How can you face your Zhang family like this?"

Zhang Cheng was somewhat speechless: "In matters of the heart, arranged marriages should be conducted with mutual respect, shouldn't they?"

"Nonsense! Let me tell you! If they won't let you hold hands on the first date and won't let you kiss on the second, then you'd better find someone else!"

"..."

Zhang Cheng silently ignored Liu Miao's words.

Otherwise, he always felt that he was going to be led astray.

Liu Miao looked Zhang Cheng over with a disappointed expression and said with disdain, "Young people these days... sigh!"

"..."

"what."

Liu Miao laughed again.

"Your stubbornness is just like your father's; you're cut from the same mold."

"You were wondering why I entrusted this matter entirely to your father. Now you probably know the reason, don't you?"

When Liu Miao mentioned his father again, Zhang Cheng hesitated and said, "But His Majesty has been away from Jinling for a long time, I'm afraid..."

"What are you afraid of?"

Liu Miao was rather disdainful.

"Afraid of suspicion between the ruler and his subjects?"

"That's what Yuan Shao and Cao Cao like to do. I'm not as pretentious as they are."

"And since we've chosen this person, we should trust them completely."

"If you have doubts, then it means you don't doubt the other person, but rather you don't even trust your own judgment of people. In the end, it's because you're incompetent!"

Liu Miao patted Zhang Cheng: "Just like Li Ling, when something goes wrong, the blame is always on others, but when something goes well, the credit is all his own... It's not unjust for such a person to be defeated by the Xiongnu and captured by them to be their son-in-law!"

At this moment, Zhang Cheng felt as if something was blocking his throat.

For an instant.

In just a split second!

Zhang Cheng even considered entrusting his life to Liu Miao!
However, this firm belief was quickly shattered by flippant remarks—

"Hehe! Seriously! How about after I get back, I'll find some excuse to call you and Ziyu's daughter together, and then you can just take care of her! The Zhuge family won't even be able to return her! What do you say?"

Zhang Cheng could hardly imagine it.

Just a moment ago, Liu Miao was acting like a hero, so why is he suddenly chatting nonsense with me...?

"how?"

"Not good at all. Also, Your Majesty, you sprayed your saliva on my face."

"No way! Don't talk nonsense! I am very careful about my manners!"

"Ke Chen's face is all wet... Hmm?"

Zhang Cheng then realized that even though Liu Miao had kept his mouth closed, he could still feel a cool sensation on the tip of his nose.

Gently raising his hand to wipe the moisture from the tip of his nose, Zhang Cheng looked up and exclaimed in surprise, "It's snowing?"

This year's snow came much, much later than in previous years.

But then Zhang Cheng frowned: "It's snowing?!"

Liu Miao stood beside the sand table, beside the mountains and rivers, watching the scenery before him gradually become moist and turn snow-white...

"Yuan Shao, we've waited so long, and you've finally arrived."

(End of this chapter)