I did it all for the Han Dynasty!

Chapter 78 Seeking refuge
Liu Miao smiled as he looked at Chen Yu above him, but the next moment, the corner of his mouth began to twitch.

Chen Yu, who had been standing steadily just moments before, suddenly swayed and plunged straight into the Dongfei River, creating a huge splash!
"My lord?"

Zhou Tai asked, "Can Chen Yu swim?"

"Definitely! What southerner can't swim? He'll swim up on his own in a minute!"

"Oh."

One breath, two breaths, three breaths...

Twenty breaths later, the water remained still, almost without a ripple.

Liu Miao and Zhou Tai stared at each other, and just as Liu Miao was about to open his mouth, Zhou Tai immediately understood, dove into the water, and pulled Chen Yu out of the water after only a moment.

"Cough cough cough!!!"

Chen Yu knelt on the deck, coughing incessantly, his face deathly pale. Liu Miao said unhappily, "What? You're so unwilling to see me? You want to die the moment you see me?"

Chen Yu wanted to reply, but it seemed that he still had water stuck in his trachea, and he coughed intermittently for a long time before finally looking up and saying, "I died for my country, and it has nothing to do with you, Liu Zhongshan!"

"Nonsense! You're the kind of person who would die for his country? And if you really wanted to die for your country, couldn't you just jump onto the ground next to you? Why did you have to jump into the water?"

Liu Miao rolled his eyes again, put his hands behind his back, and turned away.

However, Liu Miao immediately turned around, squatted down with a smile, and asked, "Gongwei, how do you plan to repay me for saving your life this time?"

"I didn't ask you to save me!"

Seeing that Chen Wei was still being stubborn, Liu Miao scoffed, "You didn't ask me to save you?"

"That's what it is!"

"it is good!"

Liu Miao shouted, "Throw him down!"

While the soldiers on both sides were still looking at each other in confusion, Zhou Tai immediately stepped forward, picked up Chen Yu in one arm, and then threw Chen Yu directly into the water!
"My lord! Throw it away!"

Liu Miao turned around and glared at Zhou Tai: "You really lost it?"

"Didn't you tell me to throw it away?"

"You just throw it away because I tell you to?"

"if not?"

"..."

Liu Miao stared at the chubby-faced Zhou Tai, a defeated expression on his face.

"Alright! You're awesome, Youping! Now go down there and pull him up for me!"

Zhou Tai: "..."

Fortunately, Chen Yu struggled violently after falling into the water, and Zhou Tai easily pulled him out and taught him a very effective self-rescue method.

"After falling into the water, make a fist with one hand, with the knuckles pointing two fingers above your navel. Cover your fist with your other hand and quickly punch your stomach inward and upward to expel the water!"

Heeding Zhou Tai's advice, Chen Yu punched himself twice, and sure enough, he spat out the saliva he had been trying to kowtow to. His face regained some color: "Thank you, General, for saving my life."

Chen Yu preferred to thank Zhou Tai rather than Liu Miao, but even Zhou Tai couldn't stand it anymore.

"What's wrong with you? Can't you see that it was the lord who saved your life? Do you know that the lord was holding a wedding when he came to save you? That Lady Yuan hadn't even had a chance to sleep after being welcomed into the house, and then he led us to pick you up. Aren't you being a little ungrateful for not thanking the lord?"

Chen Yu opened his mouth wide and glanced at Liu Miao, but dared not look closely, his eyes darting around furtively.

Meanwhile, Ji Ling led his troops to attack the area above the city wall.

Seeing the ships below, Ji Ling intended to immediately order his soldiers to fire arrows, but Liu Miao immediately shouted, "General, do not fire arrows! I am Liu Miao, the Governor of Yangzhou and General Who Conquers the East, under the command of the General of the Rear!"

Liu Miao's reputation for presenting the imperial seal was extremely high in Yuan's camp. Ji Ling had naturally heard of Liu Miao's name, so he raised his hand to temporarily stop the soldiers.

Ji Ling shouted at Liu Miao, "Why did you suddenly come here to save Chen Yu, Lord Liu?"

Liu Miao shouted loudly, "We are old friends, and this Chen Gongwei is my matchmaker. He has done me a favor, so I have come to help you!"

"Then do you know that Chen Yu has already betrayed the General of the Rear!"

Liu Miao let out a hearty laugh: "General, you're exaggerating!"

"How could a scholar as weak as him betray the General? Even if he did something, it was probably just a moment of folly. Please forgive him, General and General!"

Ji Ling frowned: "Do you know how much trouble Chen Gongwei, the governor of Yangzhou, has brought upon himself by refusing to defend the city!"

"Many powerful clans in Linhuai, Junqiu, Quyang and other places have followed suit! They have learned from Chen Yu's resistance and forced the General to divide his troops to fight against him! How much manpower and resources have been wasted? Even Zhou Ang has fled to Yinling to raise troops again to rebel against the General. Don't you think Chen Yu deserves to die?"

Liu Miao glanced at Chen Yu sideways, clearly not expecting Chen Yu to have such a significant influence in Huainan...

But yes.

Even if Chen Yu was incompetent, he was still the son of one of the Three Dukes, and his father, Chen Qiu, had died fighting against the powerful eunuch Cao Jie, so his reputation among the gentry was naturally excellent. Furthermore, Chen Yu himself was appointed Governor of Yangzhou by Yuan Shu, yet he openly rebelled. The negative impact this had on Yuan Shu was immeasurable, so it's no wonder that the Yuan family was now determined to kill Chen Yu…

However, he knew in his heart that he couldn't say it like that. Liu Miao shouted again, "How can it be as serious as the general makes it out to be? The General's reputation is illustrious; what are a few petty troublemakers worth mentioning?"

"Besides, Chen Gongwei is utterly useless, so why bother with him, General? In my opinion, we should just let him go like a fart!"

After replying to Ji Ling, Liu Miao gave Zhou Tai, who was still watching the show, a barely perceptible kick: "What are you waiting for? Set sail!"

The oars stirred up waves, and the rammed horn of the warship pushed through the water as it slowly sailed away from Shouchun City.

"General, I have other important matters to attend to today and cannot attend to the full ceremony! If there is an opportunity in the future, I will certainly treat you to a proper banquet!"

Seeing Liu Miao about to leave, Ji Ling hesitated for a moment, but ultimately did not order the arrows to be fired. Instead, he watched the lone ship leave right under his nose.

"Liu Zhongshan...interesting!"

Liu Miao, who had left by boat, dared not delay for a moment. He continued downstream to Shuxian, where he finally dared to catch his breath and was no longer afraid of Yuan Shu's approaching pursuers.

Liu Miao leaned against the boat and felt a little safer after seeing the familiar scenery of Shuxian and some large ships at the dock.

Lu Kang had been waiting there for a long time. When he saw Chen Yu on Liu Miao's boat, he was amazed: "Halfway through the wedding, you threw your wife overboard to save someone else. You, Zhongshan, are probably the only one in history who would do that."

"cut."

Chen Yu was about to step forward to pay his respects when he saw Lu Kang, an old friend, but when he heard what Lu Kang said, he huddled on the boat and dared not get off.

Liu Miao didn't want to be teased by Lu Kang, so he went straight to the important matter.

"The ship has already arrived?"

"They're here! Gongjin has brought all the warships to Ruxukou so that the people can cross the river as soon as possible."

How many households are there in total?

Lu Kang shook his head, and could only give a rough figure—

"Lujiang County is relatively easy to talk about, there should be 100,000 households... Ruxukou has too many refugees from the north, so it can only be a rough estimate, but there should also be tens of thousands of households."

Liu Miao was incredulous and asked Lu Kang again, "There are actually 100,000 households in Lujiang County willing to follow Lu Zhongyi away?"

Lu Kang, however, was dissatisfied with Liu Miao's questioning: "What's so strange about it? Since I took office as the Prefect of Lujiang, I have first pacified the mountain tribes, then repaired water conservancy, reclaimed wasteland, reduced taxes, and recommended filial and incorruptible officials. Shouldn't the people follow me?"

Liu Miao smiled, a very happy smile.

Lu Kang was undoubtedly a good official, a very, very good official.

His goodness was known not only to Liu Miao, but also to the common people, which is why some people were willing to follow him.

If Lu Kang chooses to fight, Liu Miao believes that there will be civilians who will stay and fight to the death with him.

But since Lu Kang chose to leave, he undoubtedly saved these people and allowed them to live.

A single misstep could save the lives of 100,000 people, which would make Liu Miao happier than becoming the governor of Yangzhou or the general who conquered the east!

"Let's get started here in Lujiang as soon as possible, without delay."

Liu Miao stretched, loosening his back which ached from the boat ride, and looked north with some concern.

"Although the population of ordinary people is not as conspicuous as the wealth and grain in the treasury, Yuan Shu will eventually remember to register the common people and check the household registers."

"If he finds out that a large number of people from Huainan are crossing the river, even the most foolish person would know to send troops to block them... If that happens, even we probably won't be able to do anything about it."

Lu Kang immediately became serious as well.

Right now, they are racing against time with Yuan Shu!

They did everything in their power to move as many people as possible from Huainan.

Otherwise, once Yuan Shu reacts, with his military strength, everyone will really be unable to leave!
"By the way, someone gave you a dagger at your wedding, but there were so many guests that you didn't see it in time. It's not too late to give it to you now."

Lu Kang took out a piece of wood and a piece of silk from his bosom and handed them to Liu Miao, who was also a little curious when he took them.

It's normal to use wooden chips to throw spikes, after all, they're cheap.

However, using silk seemed somewhat extravagant, clearly indicating that the person who sent the dagger was quite wealthy!

Liu Miao looked at the wooden piece first and found it amusing: "Another one surnamed Chen? Is there some kind of karmic connection between me and the surname Chen?"

"The State of Chen was a major state during the Spring and Autumn Period, and the surname Chen was also a prominent surname during the Han Dynasty. What's so strange about that?"

Strictly speaking, even the ancestors of the Yuan family in Runan were surnamed Chen, so it is normal that there are many people with the surname Chen in the Yuzhou and Yangzhou areas.

The person who presented the letter to Liu Miao was named Chen Wu... The writing was rough and the language was simple, directly stating the purpose: he wanted to join Liu Miao's army as a halberd-bearer.

"Even the King of Yan knew to spend a thousand pieces of gold to buy a horse's bones, so naturally I have no reason to refuse talented people from coming to me."

Liu Miao decided to meet Chen Wu, and for some reason, Liu Miao felt that Chen Wu's name looked familiar...

He opened the silk handkerchief again. At first, Liu Miao didn't think much of it, assuming that some rich tycoon didn't want to be ridden and rubbed under Yuan Shu's feet, so he wanted to cross the river with him.

Liu Miao was already prepared to extort a hefty sum from this rich scoundrel, but upon seeing the signature, a smirk appeared on his lips:
"It was him? Interesting!"

(End of this chapter)