My name is Huang Tian, ​​what the hell is this "Heaven is dead" nonsense?

Chapter 15 I think highly of you and call you Lord Lu

Seeing Lu Zhi's unusually serious expression, yet hearing him utter absurd words, Zuo Feng's face stiffened.

"You mean, the gods from heaven have descended to earth?" he repeated.

Lu Zhi nodded.

Zuo Feng stared wide-eyed, slightly hunched over, and walked around Lu Zhi as if looking at something unbelievable.

"Lord Lu, do you think I'd believe such a thing?" Zuo Feng sneered.

He addressed Lu Zhi as "Lord Lu" only because Lu Zhi held a high position. Although he had the support of Zhang Rang, a high-ranking official, he could not easily offend such a powerful official as Lu Zhi.

However, it would be truly laughable if Lu Zhi thought he could fool himself and the emperor with the absurd claim of divine intervention after the defeat.

If he really angers me, I might as well call him Lu Zhi a scoundrel!

Lu Zhi said helplessly, "Every word is true, there is absolutely no falsehood."

Zuo Feng frowned deeply as he stood in front of Lu Zhi and said cautiously, "Lord Lu, I advise you to be careful with your words. Although you are a defeated general, you are still a veteran of the court with considerable military achievements. His Majesty will not be too harsh on you. But if you intend to deceive or fool His Majesty, well, the outcome will be hard to predict."

Lu Zhi said sincerely, "Am I the kind of person who likes to talk about ghosts and gods? My defeat this time was indeed because the Yellow Heaven God, who protected the Yellow Turban rebels, stepped on the dust. Tens of thousands of elite Han soldiers were intimidated by the divine power and dared not resist, so they knelt down and surrendered."

Seeing Lu Zhi's exceptionally sincere expression, Zuo Feng was somewhat skeptical.

Lu Zhi was a great Confucian scholar of the dynasty, and he always kept his distance from talk of ghosts and gods. Moreover, Lu Zhi's character was among the best of all the princes and ministers, so it was unlikely that he would fabricate a story about immortals and gods to shirk responsibility for the defeat.

However, he still couldn't believe it. Zuo Feng hesitated for a moment and said, "Please have Lord Lu summon several military officers. I want to question them one by one."

Lu Zhi breathed a sigh of relief. "That's the right thing to do. I'll go and call them over right away."

A quarter of an hour later, Zong Yuan and five other military officers stood below the hall, while Lu Zhi was "driven" out by Zuo Feng.

Zuo Feng stood in front of the five men, his expression solemn, and said, "Tell me in detail about your defeat this time."

The official looked around, and seeing that no one else spoke, he immediately spoke first: "Reporting to the envoy, this battle was truly not a fault of our own, our army..."

He said something that was almost entirely consistent with what Lu Zhi had said.

Zuo Feng gave a noncommittal reply, then casually pointed to the next person and asked him to repeat.

The next person's answer perfectly matched that of the clan member, and even added some details.

Then another person answered, and after all five people had answered, Zuo Feng was already inclined to believe that the Yellow Turban Army was indeed protected by gods.

He waved for the five men to leave, then paced alone in the hall, lost in thought.

He didn't know whether he should report the military situation to the emperor truthfully. If he did, it would be too absurd, and he was afraid that Emperor Liu Hong would severely scold and whip him.

If we don't report the truth, how should we report back to the emperor?

After much deliberation, he finally decided to tell the truth. After all, the story of the descent of the Yellow Emperor Taiyi came from Lu Zhi's mouth, and he was just a messenger.

If Liu Hong were truly angry, it would be directed at Lu Zhi and Zong Yuan, among others.

Zuo Feng clapped his hands lightly, “I still need to see those soldiers who escaped back with Lu Zhi and the others. They don’t have the same high rank as Lu Zhi and Zong Yuan. They will definitely be trembling with fear in front of me, their angel, and will not dare to lie.”

Thinking of this, Zuo Feng found a servant and asked him to bring over twenty of the remaining soldiers. Before long, twenty somewhat timid men stood below the hall, heads bowed, not daring to look at the angel who was high above them in their hearts.

Zuo Feng was quite satisfied with their appearance, and nodded slightly, deliberately drawing out his voice, which sounded somewhat high-pitched.

"As you all know, I am an envoy sent by the imperial court, deeply trusted by His Majesty. I have summoned you here today to inquire about the details of the Battle of Guangzong. You must answer truthfully. If you dare to conceal anything, you will be executed without mercy. Do you understand?!"

"Understood, understood!" everyone answered hastily.

Zuo Feng paced back and forth in front of them with his hands behind his back. Suddenly, he raised his hand and pointed at one of them, startling the man so much that he trembled.

"You tell me!"

"Yes, yes!" the man said hurriedly, head bowed. "In the Battle of Guangzong, under the leadership of General Lu, we drove the enemy back again and again. Just when we saw the enemy's morale plummeting and their formation about to collapse, and we were about to win, suddenly, suddenly..."

"What suddenly? Look at me!" Zuo Feng grabbed his shoulders, bringing his face close to his, his eyes fierce.

The man instinctively took two steps back, stammering, "God! The Holy Infant has been born!!"

Zuo Feng felt a chill in his heart and deliberately feigned, "You dare to deceive me? I just asked Lord Lu, and he said it was because of his poor command that he was defeated by the Moth Bandits. There has never been any god!"

The man was dumbfounded. "How is that possible? It was clearly the Yellow Heavenly Holy Infant descending to earth. I saw the Holy Infant flying in the sky, taking five steps, and then turning into a five-year-old child..."

As a eunuch serving the emperor, Zuo Feng was very good at reading people. He carefully observed the man's expression and could easily tell that the man was telling the truth.

Zuo Feng glared at the other person with a fierce look, "You tell me!"

The person whose name was called cried out, "Angel, angel, I don't know how to explain this! The Moth Bandits really did have a Holy Infant descended to earth, that's why we were defeated. Otherwise, how could the mere Yellow Turban bandits have defeated my Great Han Heavenly Army?"

Zuo Feng looked around and saw that everyone had the same expression. His heart skipped a beat. He waved his hand, dismissing everyone, and stood alone in the hall, lost in thought.

"Yellow Heavenly Holy Infant, Central Yellow Taiyi..."

He muttered to himself, then suddenly slapped his forehead. "Whether it's true or not, it's best to escape Lie Ren first and return to Luoyang. The Han army has suffered a great defeat, and the Yellow Turban rebels are now unchecked. The vast Ji Province is a dangerous place."

After making the decision, he hurriedly led a group of soldiers who were with him out of Lieren County and headed towards Luoyang, without even having time to solicit bribes, which he loved most.

Historically, after arriving at the Han army camp outside Guangzong City, he demanded money and silk from Lu Zhi, but Lu Zhi, being an upright man, refused to give it to him.

Zuo Feng harbored resentment and reported to the emperor that Lu Zhi had easily surrounded the Yellow Turban rebels, but was delaying his attack, waiting for Heaven to punish the Yellow Turban rebels. This meant that Lu Zhi was nurturing the rebels to enhance his own power.

Liu Hong was furious when he heard this, and immediately ordered that "Lu Zhi be taken to the capital in a prison cart, with his death sentence reduced by one degree." The poor Lu Zhi was then escorted to the capital.

This time, however, Lu Zhi was truly defeated, and Zuo Feng was so frightened that he forgot all about soliciting bribes and hurriedly fled back to Luoyang...

Ten days later.

After a long and arduous journey, Zuo Feng returned to the familiar Luoyang Imperial Palace and met with Emperor Liu Hong.

Liu Hong was in a good mood because of the good news Lu Zhi had sent one after another, but Zuo Feng's words completely stunned him.

"What did you say? The entire Han army was wiped out?!"

"What?! The Moth Thief has a Holy Infant descended to earth, protected by the gods?!"

(End of this chapter)