I did it all for the Han Dynasty!

Chapter 54 Yuan Family Highway
Chen Yu watched Lü Meng and his group leave, and then two generals rode up behind them.

It turns out that the previous scarred leader, thinking that Chen Yu's status might be noble and fearing that he could not handle him, took the opportunity to summon his superior, Lei Bo.

Along with Lei Bo was another Yuan army general, Chen Lan.

Upon their arrival, the two men, without saying a word, first whipped several of Yuan's scouts severely: "How dare you offend the Imperial Secretary? You're courting death!"

The whip lashed out extremely hard, and bloodstains quickly appeared on the faces and bodies of several cavalrymen.

After drawing the names of the men, Chen Lan and Lei Bo dismounted and apologized to Chen Yu: "It was all our fault for not managing our subordinates properly and disturbing you, sir. Please forgive us!"

Seeing that Chen Lan and Lei Bo both had triangular eyes and slanted eyebrows, Chen Yu knew that they were just putting on an act for him. He immediately rebuked them, "Is this merely a matter of lax management? By allowing your soldiers to harass the people, aren't you two tarnishing the reputation of the General and the Yuan family of Runan?"

Chen Lan said with a grin, "It's not as exaggerated as the Imperial Secretary makes it out to be."

"As you probably know, I've suffered some defeats in the north, and our army is out of food. That's why we sent our soldiers out to borrow grain."

Chen Yu glared at the other person, veins bulging on his neck: "You call this a loan?"

"Alas...the common people are ignorant of righteousness, what can we do?"

Lei Bo, who was standing next to him, also had his own set of fallacies.

He held up one finger with each hand: "We only have this much food now. Either a soldier will starve to death, or a civilian will starve to death."

"We soldiers have fought in the north and south to uphold the Han Dynasty and punish the traitors. If the people starve to death, this land still belongs to the Han Dynasty; but if the soldiers all starve to death, then this land will belong to the traitors!"

"My lies are deceiving the public!"

Chen Yu flew into a rage: "I want to see the General of the Rear! I want to see the General of the Rear!!!"

Chen Lan and Lei Bo laughed heartily and immediately brought Chen Yu a warhorse.

"Please proceed, Mr. Chen!"

"However, let me make this clear to Chen Yilang first: the order to borrow grain from all over the country was personally issued by the General of the Rear! Chen Yilang, please don't offend the General of the Rear!"

……

Yuan Shu's army had reached a point twenty li north of Xia Cai.

Tens of thousands of troops were stationed here, like a mobile city slowly advancing.

As they ventured deeper into the military camp, they increasingly realized that it was more like a marketplace than a disciplined military camp!

Chen Yu rode his horse into the gate and saw that the Yuan soldiers were not wary at all. After glancing at Chen Yu, they took out what they were holding and exchanged it with others.

The items included pottery jars, cattle and horses, gold and silver, grain, and even many jade burial objects and jade grips intended only for burial. Clearly, these soldiers of Yuan's army had not only looted the belongings of the living along the way, but also disturbed the peace of the dead, who were thus offended.

Chen Yu felt a tightness in his chest and quickened his pace, wanting to go to the central command tent to see Yuan Shu!

"Please wait here, Your Excellency. The General is currently in his tent discussing military matters with the officers and soldiers."

The first person they met was not Yuan Shu, but Yang Hong, Yuan Shu's chief secretary.

Chen Yu had met Yang Hong before, so they weren't strangers. He grabbed Yang Hong and questioned him directly: "Now that the army's discipline is so lax, and they keep plundering the surrounding people, are you just going to ignore it all?"

Yang Hong sounded tired in both his voice and movements.

He slapped Chen Yu's hand away: "What can we do?" "Doesn't Gong Wei know that we just suffered a crushing defeat in the north?"

"Not only did we suffer a crushing defeat, but Liu Biao also cut off our supply lines to Nanyang. We fled all the way and went hungry the whole way. Are we supposed to starve to death instead of plundering from the surrounding people?"

However, Yang Hong comforted Chen Yu, saying, "Fortunately, Huainan is prosperous. Once we go to Huainan, such a thing will naturally not happen again."

Instead of feeling relieved, Chen Yu's hands and feet became even colder.

Predation!

If Yang Hong, a close associate of Yuan Shu, uses such blunt language, how can Yuan Shu himself be innocent?

What troubled Chen Yu the most was that Yang Hong made no attempt to hide the fact that he intended to take action against Huainan! He wanted to cut flesh from the bodies of the people of Huainan!
If all these tens of thousands of troops were to go to Huainan, could the Huainan treasury alone support them?
Even if they could actually afford to feed them, would those who were used to plundering the people really behave themselves and obey military discipline once they arrived in Huainan?
Chen Yu had a dry mouth and throat.

It was at this moment that Chen Yu finally had a slight understanding of why Liu Miao was unwilling to serve Yuan Shu and welcome him into Huainan.

Yuan Shu's troops are like a walking gluttonous beast! Wherever they go, they devour everything in their path, leaving only a desolate wasteland!
The more Chen Yu understood Liu Miao, the more regret he felt.

But it's too late to turn back now.

After waiting outside for half an hour, Yang Hong finally came out again and invited Chen Yu in.

Although it was daytime, the tent was brightly lit, with a hundred precious South China Sea honey candles burning, making the tent shine brilliantly.

Yuan Shu's beard was short and thick, neatly trimmed as if cut by a knife, which made his jawline appear even sharper. His noble phoenix eyes were slightly upturned, gleaming with a sharp light, yet also revealing a hint of superficiality.

At this moment, he sat upright behind a sandalwood table carved with dragons, dressed in a magnificent black robe. The lapel was embroidered with coiled dragon patterns in red gold thread, the collar was adorned with dark red agate, and the jade belt at his waist was also inlaid with pearls.

"Gong Wei!"

When Yuan Shu saw Chen Yu, he was still very enthusiastic and called him by name.

Having witnessed everything he had seen and heard along the way, Chen Yu had grown cold-hearted and no longer wanted to question Yuan Shu. He simply bowed respectfully.

Yuan Shu clearly valued Chen Yu, the son of one of the Three Dukes, and immediately ordered a banquet to be prepared.

Seeing that rice, millet, sorghum, wheat, and beans were all readily available, as were bamboo shoots, lotus roots, sunflowers, mustard, leeks, and water spinach, and peaches, pears, dates, apricots, and plums, and even luxurious dishes like roasted pork, mashed delicacies, and liver, Chen Yu felt increasingly distressed. Even the most fragrant delicacies tasted bland in his mouth, as if they were not as delicious as the pickled fish he had eaten on the boat a few days ago.

Seeing that Chen Yu seemed to have no appetite, Yuan Shu assumed that Chen Yu disliked the level of the banquet and immediately promised, "The army is short of supplies. After we arrive in Huainan, we will have a grand feast for Gongwei!"

Chen Yu casually agreed, but his thoughts had already drifted elsewhere.

At this moment, Yuan Shu narrowed his eyes and asked Chen Yu indirectly, "I heard that Gongwei has made many friends in Huainan?"

“Many scholars in Huainan are magnanimous and generous, so I am naturally willing to befriend them.”

Yuan Shu stroked his short beard, his eyes fixed on Chen Yu: "Since Huainan has many famous scholars, why does Gongwei insist on getting close to Liu Miao and Liu Zhongshan? He even went so far as to arrange a marriage between them, Wu, Sun Jian's first wife?"

Chen Yu didn't know why Yuan Shu specifically brought up Liu Miao, but he still answered truthfully.

“Zhongshan is a descendant of the Prince of Langya and is close to Lu Kang. I originally went to find him to ask him to support the General of the Rear in entering Huai... However, Zhongshan told me that he “likes beautiful women” and wants to marry Sun Jian’s widow. For the sake of the General of the Rear’s great cause, I took the initiative to agree to this matter.”

Seeing Chen Yu's sincere gaze, Yuan Shu realized he was telling the truth, yet he still couldn't help but continue asking—

"Was Liu Miao merely attracted to Wu's beauty, or was he after something she possessed?"

(End of this chapter)