I did it all for the Han Dynasty!

Chapter 496 The Battle of Pengcheng (Part 3)

Should we inform the soldiers about this?
The soldiers knew the advantages and disadvantages of this matter.

The advantage is that it can strengthen the morale of the soldiers. No matter how fierce Yuan army is, the Han army now has a reason to persevere.

The downside is that nobody knows where Zhang Liao and his men are now.

With so many people and eyes in the military camp, once this news spreads, it will be difficult for the Yuan army on the other side not to know, even if they wanted to.

If Yuan Shao learns of this and sends his army to surround and intercept Zhang Liao and his men, preventing Zhang Liao from reaching the battlefield in time, the Han cavalry will be in a very difficult situation.

This decision wasn't easy to make.

Wow.

But all the people waiting for an answer saw Liu Miao suddenly stand up and walk straight out.

"His Majesty?"

"His Majesty?"

Some people followed Liu Miao with their eyes, but kept asking him questions, wondering what Liu Miao was going to do.

Zhou Tai, who was hurriedly chasing after Liu Miao with his crimson cloak, turned around and glared at the group: "Damn it! Are you all stuffed with weights in your asses? Why are you sitting cross-legged like that? The soldiers outside have been fighting for so long, don't you go check on them first?"

The assembled Han officials looked at each other in bewilderment.

"Cough cough."

It was Jia Xu, the oldest among them, who was the first to get up and then followed without saying a word.

Then came Liu Ye, Sima Yi, Fa Zheng...

Pang Tong initially wanted to pretend he hadn't heard, but seeing that there were fewer and fewer people around him, until only he and Zhou Yu were left sitting, he gave a sheepish smile.

"Gongjin, shall we skip it? We still need people here."

Zhou Yu watched Liu Miao and his entourage leave in a grand procession, and shook his head slightly.

"I believe that His Majesty will not act impulsively again, except for the time when he saved Chen Gongwei."

However, Zhou Yu quickly rallied.

"Shiyuan need not go. You help me organize these official documents and accounts!"

"..."

Liu Miao put his hands inside his sleeves.

Pengcheng was actually two or three miles away from the front line, but Liu Miao neither took a carriage nor a horse. He simply strode straight there, forcing the officials behind him to hurry forward and follow him.

Even so, they were still far behind Liu Miao, and the first to arrive at the battlefield were still Liu Miao, Zhou Tai, and Chen Wu.

On the other side of the mountain, there was a group of Han soldiers who had just been relieved from the front line.

Bloodstains are fundamental.

Being covered in dust and dirt is also a given.

When the captain of the army saw the imperial banner of the Han emperor and the few lonely people under it, he rubbed his eyes in disbelief and then rushed over with his exhausted legs.

"Your subject Dong Xi greets the Emperor!"

However, whether it was due to excessive nervousness or because Dong Xi had no strength left, she suddenly stumbled and nearly fell to the ground when she reached Liu Miao.

"Oh!"

With a loud crash, Dong Xi hurriedly stood up from Chen Wu's embrace and quickly apologized to him.

"I am truly exhausted today, and I have offended Your Majesty."

"You exhausted yourself to defend your country, and you are a hero worthy of admiration in all dynasties. You have nothing to apologize for."

After confirming that the words were indeed spoken by the Emperor himself, Dong Xi's pupils suddenly dilated, as if he were about to awaken to something.

"Where to go now?"

"Go back to camp."

"where?"

“In the northeast, about one mile from here.”

"Come, you lead the way, I'll follow you."

During the brief pause in Liu Miao's conversation with Dong Xi, the Han officials, who had been exhausted from catching up, were astonished to see Liu Miao turning back. They dared not utter a word of complaint and continued to follow him.

On the road.

Dong Xi's soldiers kept looking in Liu Miao's direction.

Even though Dong Xi reprimanded them repeatedly, he could not dispel the soldiers' "offenses" and made Dong Xi apologize to Liu Miao again, feeling terrified.

“I am a crude person, ignorant of etiquette, and I hope Your Majesty will forgive me.”

"It's fine. If they want to watch, then let them watch. It won't hurt them to take a few more glances!"

Liu Miao didn't care at all.

"Moreover, the emperor is a rare object for them. When the First Emperor toured the world, didn't Emperor Gaozu and Xiang Yu also love to stare at him from among the crowd?"

Faced with Liu Miao, a genius at giving examples, Dong Xi was stumped and had no idea how to respond.

Fortunately, Liu Miao took the initiative to chat with Dong Xi.

Moreover, Liu Miao soon discovered to his surprise: "Yuan Dai was truly a military genius! How come he's still only a captain now?"

Dong Xi said embarrassedly, "I previously served under Minister Wang in suppressing the mountain tribes, but I didn't achieve many merits, so I wasted some years."

Liu Miao suddenly realized why he had never heard of Dong Xi's reputation before.

When Wang Lang served as the governor of Kuaiji, his troops were not part of the imperial army's establishment, so he could not go on campaigns in the south and north. As a result, he made fewer military achievements, so it is not hard to understand why he was promoted slowly.

But Dong Xi was unusually excited at this moment.

"After such a battle, my merits should be sufficient for me to serve as a Lieutenant General!"

Liu Miao looked at Dong Xi strangely: "Did Yuan Dai ever think about what would happen if he died?"

"..." It was only because it was the emperor who said this, otherwise Dong Xi would have already lashed him with a whip.

Where do you find people cursing others to die during wartime?
However, precisely because he was the emperor, and because the question came so suddenly, Dong Xi, after some thought, gave his answer—

"If I can die in battle to defend my country, then I will die without regret!"

"..."

Liu Miao suddenly laughed.

The laughter made Dong Xi somewhat uncomfortable: "Why is Your Majesty laughing?"

"It's nothing. I just feel that we Han people seem to be born only to die. If we can die gloriously, that would be the best."

There was no time to savor Liu Miao's words; the group had already arrived at Dong Xi's camp.

The soldiers who remained in the area had already added charcoal braziers to their tents.

At the same time, the kitchen staff also bring the food to the table.

The staple food consisted of large quantities of cheap Champa rice mixed with coarse grains like millet, along with a porridge-like main dish made from vinegar, salt, pickled vegetables, and bones, and a piece of offal or meat the size of a baby's fist for each soldier. This was what the Han soldiers, who had been fighting all day, ate.

For an official like Dong Xi, his plate contained three pieces of meat, along with a pot of very strong-colored tea.

On the contrary, the sudden arrival of Liu Miao and others threw the camp's cooks into a panic, leaving them unsure of what to prepare.

"Anything will do."

Liu Miao casually entered a military tent, and the smell inside seemed to materialize, so strong that he couldn't open his eyes for a moment. It took him a long time to adjust to the stale air.

Inside the tent, many soldiers who had just taken off their armor, their feet still steaming, looked at Liu Miao awkwardly, unsure whether to put it back on or take it off.

Liu Miao walked up to him, plopped down on the other person's couch, and then took off his boots.

Similarly, two plumes of white smoke immediately emerged from Liu Miao's toes, causing the surrounding soldiers to widen their eyes in disbelief.

"Why are you all staring at my feet? Do you think they smell good?"

"..."

Liu Miao crossed his legs and said with a grin to the crowd, "Now that I'm here, your big, thick-necked cooks will surely prepare some delicious food for us! You should take advantage of this opportunity to eat your fill!"

Upon hearing Liu Miao's words, the soldiers, who had been somewhat uneasy, instantly became lively.

"Your Majesty saw it too? Those cooks are all burly and strong, they must have eaten plenty of good food!"

"I've heard there are two big fat pigs hiding in the camp! Looks like I'll be able to eat them today!"

"Thank you, Your Majesty! Thank you, Your Majesty!"

"..."

Liu Miao looked at the soldiers who were thanking him and expressing their gratitude, and laughed: "Why are you thanking me? I didn't make this meat for you."

The other party clearly did not expect Liu Miao to suddenly turn his "spear" on him, and stammered for a moment, not knowing what to say.

In the end, he could only manage to utter, "All the land under heaven belongs to the emperor... We eat and use everything that belongs to Your Majesty, so of course we must thank Your Majesty."

The other soldiers echoed his sentiments.

"Ah."

Liu Miao seemed to laugh in exasperation.

"Everything belongs to me? Let me ask you, if I hadn't come here today, would those two fat pigs in your camp have ended up in my belly?"

The soldiers fell silent for a moment.

Although it's unknown who would have eaten the pork if Liu Miao hadn't come... there's no doubt that Liu Miao, as the emperor, would definitely not have gotten a bite of that pork.

"So, it's a fool not to take advantage of a good deal! Stop worrying about everything for me."

Liu Miao sat in the tent. Although there was a brazier, his hands were still cold, so he followed Zhou Tai's example and put his hands in it.

Zhou Tai, standing nearby, stammered, "Huh? Your Majesty? Huh? This? You? Fine..."

"Whoo~~~"

Before long, a hint of merriment crept into his words.

How could Liu Miao possibly miss out on this kind of topic?

In an instant, the distinctions of status and rank vanished within the tent, replaced only by intermittent, menacing laughter.

Everyone was so engrossed in their conversation that they didn't even realize how quickly time had passed, and the cook had already prepared the meal.

Not surprisingly.

It really is fatty pork.

The snow-white, plump flesh was about half the width of a hand, and it shone like jade in the bowl.

"See what I told you!"

Liu Miao handed his bowl to the soldier closest to him.

The soldier looked to be in his thirties, but Liu Miao already knew from what he had just said that the man was only in his early twenties.

"Your Majesty, this... how can this be allowed?"

"I'm used to eating lean meat, so I can't swallow fatty meat."

Liu Miao's single sentence inadvertently attracted a lot of envious, jealous, and hateful comments.

Listen! Is this human language?

Liu Miao laughed again as he watched these people wolfing down their food: "I often hear people say that it's better to live a miserable life than to die a good death."

"It's better to be alive after all, otherwise how can we eat our next meal?"

But the tent was much quieter.

Suddenly, a voice emerged from the depths: "That's not necessarily true."

(End of this chapter)