Disciplining Emperor Gaozu of Han

"Can we really kill that scoundrel Zhongli Mo?" Liu Bang asked, his face full of surprise as he stared intently at Liu Ying.

"Really?" Xiahou Ying asked expectantly.

"Yes!" Liu Ying nodded emphatically.

"If you can really kill that scoundrel Zhongli Mo, then you will be my father!" Liu Bang said shamelessly, looking at Liu Ying.

"Uh...you did this on purpose, didn't you? You want me to be struck by lightning!" Liu Ying made a strange sound, his face full of astonishment, and turned to stare at Liu Bang.

"I'm serious!" Liu Bang said with utmost earnestness, "I'd do anything to kill that treacherous Zhongli Mo, even be your grandson!"

The more they talked, the more absurd it became, leaving Liu Ying speechless.

Liu Bang gritted his teeth, his resentment soaring: "That treacherous Zhongli Mo chased me like a dog! I've hated him for ages!"

Being relentlessly pursued by Zhongli Mo, Liu Bang had no choice but to kick Liu Ying and his siblings off the chariot in order to survive. Liu Bang's hatred for Zhongli Mo was like a raging river, flowing endlessly.

If he could really kill Zhongli Mo, he would be willing to be Liu Ying's grandson.

"Excellent!" Xiahou Ying gritted his teeth, his hatred soaring to the heavens.

Seeing the expressions of hatred in the two men's eyes, Liu Ying said no more, took the reins, left the main road, and headed straight for the fields.

"Why not take the main road?" Liu Bang asked, puzzled.

"Shut up if you want to kill Zhong Li Mo!" Liu Ying shouted, raising her small face.

"You..." Liu Bang really wanted to slap Liu Ying, but he decided to endure it in order to kill Zhongli Mo.

Xiahou Ying was also puzzled, but he didn't ask and spurred his horse to follow.

Zhongli Mo, who was relentlessly pursuing them, saw that Liu Bang and his men had left the main road, so he commanded the Chu army to change direction and chase after them from behind.

The Chu army pursued and fired arrows, but Liu Ying controlled his horse and successfully dodged several rounds. He arrived at a small hill and spurred his horse straight up the hill.

This mountain plateau is not large, only about five miles long and nearly a hundred meters high.

"Has that scoundrel Liu Bang lost his mind? He's actually courting death!" Zhongli Mo, seeing this, curled his lip in disdain and shouted, "You lead your troops to flank from the left! You lead your troops to flank from the right!"

The two military academies received their orders and each led a cavalry unit to flank the enemy from the left and right sides.

Zhongli Mo personally chased after him from behind.

"You unfilial son, you're trying to kill me!" Liu Bang, seeing this, slapped Liu Ying on the back of the head and cursed, "If we go up the mountain, we'll have to walk a lot. Isn't this giving that scoundrel Zhongli Mo a perfect opportunity to surround us and cut off our path?"

"Excellent!" Xiahou Ying nodded heavily. "Liu Ying, don't do anything reckless. Quickly, get down there, there's still time."

"What's the point of going down there!" Liu Ying shouted. "We outnumber the Chu army. They don't need to be accurate shooters; they just need to surround us with their arrow nets. Eventually, they'll kill us all."

"You unfilial son..." Liu Bang opened his mouth to scold, but then thought it made sense and swallowed the words back down.

Xiahou Ying had intended to offer some advice, but after hearing Liu Ying's words, he fell silent.

Liu Ying is right. The Chu army has a large number of soldiers and is powerful. They don't need to be very accurate with their shots; they just need to provide "fire coverage." Once they start firing upwards, their range will be sufficient. By repeatedly providing fire coverage, they will eventually kill Liu Ying and his men.

Although Liu Ying and his men dodged multiple volleys of fire, they weren't always so lucky; there were times when they couldn't escape.

If they couldn't escape it even once, it would be a catastrophic disaster for Liu Ying and his group.

"What are you doing up the mountain plateau?" Liu Bang asked, puzzled.

"Of course, it's about increasing your range and limiting Zhongli Mo's range so he can't interfere with you, and you can shoot him down," Liu Ying explained.

"Does going up the mountain increase the range?" Liu Bang was completely puzzled.

Xiahou Ying was equally puzzled.

"I told you to study, but you insisted on hitting your teacher. Now you know you're uneducated?" Liu Ying mocked Liu Bang.

"Who says I'm uneducated? Who is more educated than me?" Liu Bang kept hitting Liu Ying on the back of the head, cursing and swearing, extremely angry.

"If you hit me again, I'll make you stupid!" Liu Ying hurriedly protected the back of her head with her left hand, somewhat confused, and looked at Liu Bang, asking, "What's wrong with you?"

"So what if I don't study? I still became the King of Han!" Liu Bang said arrogantly.

Liu Ying finally understood. Liu Bang was a rogue by birth, uneducated and unskilled, and he hated nothing more than anyone saying he was unlearned. Liu Ying had inadvertently touched a nerve with Liu Bang.

Even in such a critical situation, Liu Bang only slapped Liu Ying on the back of the head a few times. If conditions allowed, Liu Bang would have skinned Liu Ying alive.

How did Liu Bang treat those scholars who mocked him for being uneducated?

He would take off the hats of scholars and urinate in public, that is, he would urinate into the hats.

Upon reaching the summit, Liu Ying pulled on the reins, stopping the horse, and said to Liu Bang, "Shoot Zhongli Mo dead!"

"You treacherous dog Zhongli Mo, you're going to die!" Liu Bang was overjoyed. He held a bow in his left hand and drew an arrow from the quiver with his right, nocked it, and looked at Liu Ying: "How do I shoot?"

"Raise your left hand up a little, and your right arm out a little... Okay, like that... Wait, what kind of arrow are you using?" Liu Ying adjusted Liu Bang's posture and was about to let Liu Bang draw his bow and release the arrow when he discovered that the arrow Liu Bang was using was different from the previous one.

"Arrows? What does that have to do with anything?" Liu Bang asked, puzzled.

Liu Ying drew an arrow from the quiver and examined it closely. He noticed that this arrow was different from the original: it still had three sides, but all three sides were flat and without any curves, and it was not bullet-shaped.

Moreover, it has no barbs.

"This is extremely serious!" Liu Ying looked at Liu Bang and asked, "What's going on with these arrows? Why are they different from the previous ones?"

"Those were my arrows before, these are Chu army arrows, so of course they're different," Liu Bang said matter-of-factly.

"The Chu army uses these arrows?" Liu Ying scoffed. "Qin Shi Huang destroyed the Chu state once, and Xiang Yu, after restoring his kingdom, didn't he learn from Qin Shi Huang's strengths?"

"Xiang Yu is just a coward with nothing but brute force; he wouldn't care about such things." Liu Bang sneered at Xiang Yu, "He thinks everything from the tyrannical Qin Dynasty is bad and not worth learning, so he takes everything from the Chu Kingdom as the standard."

"Qin fought against six states and destroyed them all. It must have its own extraordinary abilities. Why not learn from it?" Liu Ying was utterly speechless.

"Excellent!" Liu Bang wholeheartedly agreed: "I curse the Qin Dynasty as a tyrannical dynasty and Qin Shi Huang as a tyrant every day, yet I have learned all their strengths. I know that Qin Dynasty arrows are effective, more accurate, and farther-reaching, so I adopted them. Unlike Xiang Yu, who knew that Qin Dynasty arrows were effective but refused to use them simply because they were from a tyrannical Qin Dynasty."

"You criticize Qin Shi Huang and imitate him, aren't you ashamed?" Liu Ying asked with a strange look.

"Calling Qin Shi Huang a tyrant doesn't stop me from learning from his strengths, so what's there to be ashamed of?" Liu Bang said smugly.

"You are this!" Liu Ying raised her right thumb, her lips curling up in a mocking smile.

"Stop talking nonsense, tell me how to shoot!" Liu Bang watched as Zhongli Mo rushed down the mountain, nocked an arrow, and shot it at him.

The arrow pierced the air like lightning, but it fell to the ground exhausted when it was still more than a hundred meters away from Liu Bang.

"It really can limit the range of that scoundrel Zhongli Mo!" Liu Bang exclaimed in surprise.

"It really works!" Xiahou Ying was overjoyed to see this, and looking at Liu Ying, he felt even more hopeful.

Liu Ying opened his eyes wide, examining the arrows, while scratching his head repeatedly with his left hand.

In his previous life, Liu Ying taught people archery and horsemanship, using bullet-shaped arrows. He had never even seen a flat arrow, let alone used one.

Bullet-shaped arrows are aerodynamically efficient, allowing them to travel farther and more accurately. Flat arrows, on the other hand, are not aerodynamically efficient, resulting in shorter and less accurate travels.

In modern society, with advanced technology and hypersonic missiles flying at speeds of tens of Mach, there's no way we would manufacture flat arrows; all arrows are bullet-shaped.

This was Liu Ying's first time using this type of arrow, and he didn't know how to instruct Liu Bang.

If given some time, he can adjust and revise until he finds the right feeling.

The problem is, what he lacks most is time. Zhongli Mo is already very close, and he doesn't have much time left. He only has the time it takes to shoot an arrow; if he fails, it will be utterly annihilated.

A small error can lead to a huge mistake.

Even the slightest deviation would have greatly reduced the chance of the arrow reaching Zhongli Mo, preventing him from being killed and instead resulting in Liu Ying's death.

"Are there still those kinds of arrows?" Liu Ying asked Liu Bang.

"If I were here, would we need Xiang Yu?" Liu Bang said irritably.

Zhongli Mo led the Chu army up the mountain ridge, firing arrows as they pursued. The arrows, exhausted, fell, and they drew ever closer to Liu Ying and his men.

There is no time.

Liu Ying gritted his teeth, placed his right index finger on the center of the arrow, which veered slightly to the right. After adjusting the fulcrum, it veered slightly to the left. It took him quite a while to finally balance the arrow.

"What are you doing?" Liu Bang urged, "That treacherous Zhongli Mo is charging at us!"

"Excellent!" Xiahou Ying was also extremely anxious.

If only he had a bow he could draw himself, he could practice shooting and get a feel for it. Unfortunately, Liu Bang couldn't draw the bow himself, so he could only roughly get a feel for it. The rest was up to fate. Liu Ying instructed Liu Bang: "Move a little to the left, raise your right arm a little higher, like that, shoot!"

Upon hearing the sound, Liu Bang released the bowstring, and the arrow flew diagonally upwards and disappeared.