Chapter 69: Death of the Princes
"Someone, come and catch him!"
At Lu Wan's command, the Yan soldiers rushed forward and pressed the doctor Zhang Sheng to the ground.
Zhang Sheng struggled, but was held down by the armored soldier. His beard rubbed against the ground, and he gasped for breath. "Your Majesty! I am loyal to you! Why do you want to kill me?"
Lu Wan was born on the same day of the same month of the same year as Liu Bang. Now he was no longer young, and his hair had already turned gray.
In terms of military achievements alone, Lu Wan cannot be compared with Cao Shen and Xiahou Ying. To put it bluntly, even Chen Xi, who rebelled earlier, had much more military achievements than Lu Wan. However, Lu Wan was Liu Bang's best brother in his life.
He is a brother closer than Liu Bang's own brothers.
The two of them had been playing together since they were young, and they spent all day together. When Liu Bang was old enough to speak, little Lu Wan would squat in front of Liu Bang and listen to his elder brother, who was born on the same day of the same month as him, bragging loudly.
The young Liu Bang told him in a baby voice, "If you accomplish great things, you will be my most trusted brother! I will not treat you unfairly! I will give you lots of meat to eat!"
He always followed behind his eldest brother, jumping and skipping. Liu Bang took him to steal from his own orchard, and they were chased and beaten by the old man, and they were beaten together.
When he was older, Liu Bang began to take him to fight with people everywhere. He followed Liu Bang with a wooden stick, and the two of them fought so hard that all the children in the county did not dare to challenge them. When they saw Liu Bang, they called him "big brother". Liu Bang boasted in front of them, and Lu Wan always supported him. The two of them sang along, and Liu Bang became the local child king very early on.
Later, Liu Bang began to get into trouble for breaking the law. He always hid in Lu Wan's house. When Lu Wan owed money to others, Liu Bang would steal things from his own home to pay off the debt.
When Liu Bang grew up, he had great ambitions. He planned to sneak away from home and go to join Xinling Jun, whom he had long admired. It was Lu Wan who gathered the money for him to go on the journey. Liu Bang promised Lu Wan that he would take Lu Wan over once he became a successful disciple of Xinling Jun.
Later, when Liu Bang started his army, Lu Wan followed Liu Bang. Although he did not have the administrative talent of Xiao He, nor the fighting ability of Fan Kuai, nor the courage of Xiahou Ying, Liu Bang always took care of him, created opportunities for him to gain military merit, and appointed him as the Grand Marshal. After the former King of Yan rebelled, Liu Bang appointed his best brother as the King of Yan.
Lu Wan looked at his minister angrily and asked, "Why did you want to rebel? Why did you collude with the Xiongnu? Why did you collude with the Chen bandits?"
"I have already reported your case to His Majesty...just wait for your entire family to be executed!"
"Your Majesty! Before I die, I have only one thing to say. Please listen carefully!"
Zhang Sheng shouted, but Lu Wan ignored him. He then said, "Please let me finish my last words, considering that I have followed you for so many years!"
Lu Wan hesitated a little, but he was not a cold-blooded person. He nodded and signaled the soldiers to let go of Zhang Sheng.
Zhang Sheng then said, "Over the years, the King of Chu, the King of Han, the King of Liang, the King of Zhao, and the former King of Yan have all been eliminated one by one. This is enough to prove that your majesty intends to eliminate all the princes of different surnames. Now, only you and the King of Huainan are left. The King of Huainan is going to be killed, and the next person to perish is you, my king!"
"shut up!"
Lu Wan angrily cursed: "How could you know the friendship between me and Your Majesty? Your Majesty would never treat me like this!"
"Your Majesty, please forgive me for what I am going to say. Your contributions are far less than those of the King of Chu and the King of Liang. Your original status was not as good as that of the King of Zhao and the King of Han. Speaking of closeness, the King of Zhao is your Majesty's son-in-law, so what? I know that Your Majesty has no intention of rebelling, but did the original princes have the idea of rebellion?"
"The Prince of Liang's imperial steward falsely accused him. Didn't Your Majesty know about this? Didn't the officials who examined him know about this? Your Majesty pretended to be ignorant of this, and eliminated his country and reduced him to a criminal."
"They said the King of Chu was going to rebel. Did he rebel? He was still caught and put in a prisoner cart and taken back to Chang'an."
"The King of Zhao's subordinates rebelled. If it weren't for the Queen and the Princess pleading for him, would he have survived?"
"Now, His Majesty has sent another letter, saying that someone has accused the King of Huainan of treason, so he is leading troops to attack him..."
"Sooner or later, something like this will happen to you! Who will be able to protect you then?"
Zhang Sheng said with tears in his eyes.
When Lu Wan heard his words, he hesitated for a moment. He wanted to refute something , but he couldn't say anything.
"How dare you! How dare you... How dare you alienate us... He won't do this to me! No! I will never rebel!"
Zhang Sheng said seriously: "I know that the king loves you, and I also know that the king will not rebel. I am not asking you to rebel. I just hope that you can have frequent exchanges with the Xiongnu so that your majesty will not dare to attack you... Just protect yourself, that's all I want."
"I have said all I want to say. Please kill me, my king."
This time, Lu Wan was slow to give the order. He lowered his head, frowned, and looked extremely conflicted.
"I...I will write a letter to His Majesty to save your life and that of your clan, but you must never say such things again...I will not rebel..."
…
"My Lord!! The enemy is attacking the capital!!"
"My Lord!! The enemy has invaded the capital!!"
“Your Majesty!!”
Inside the palace of the six counties, there were corpses everywhere. There was no place to stand. Blood was flowing like water. The strong smell of blood made people feel sick and retched. The palace had long lost its former prosperity. The walls were covered with blood. From the palace gate all the way to the inner hall, there were mountains of corpses and seas of blood. It had long since turned into a purgatory on earth.
When Liu Bang sent out the Han envoy, he had actually already deployed troops around Huainan State, waiting for Ying Bu to kill the Han envoy and then launching an attack immediately.
Historically, after Peng Yue's tragic death, Ying Bu began to worry that Liu Bang would attack him, so he prepared his troops in advance and deployed a solid defense line on the border. The troops deployed by Liu Bang were killed and dispersed by Ying Bu, who defeated the larger force with a smaller one. He even launched a counterattack and killed King Jing Liu Jia, which made Liu Bang frightened and dared not underestimate him .
But this time, Ying Bu did not make any plans for rebellion or self-preservation in advance... On the day after he killed the Han envoy, the army arranged by Liu Bang began to attack, led by generals such as Xiahou Ying and Fan Kuai.
Xiahou Ying took advantage of the fact that Ying Bu's army had not gathered and attacked quickly. He broke through several cities one after another and killed Ying Bu's trusted generals one by one. Then he attacked the palace directly, wanting to capture Ying Bu when he had no army at hand, just like they captured Peng Yue.
The several thousand defenders of Ying Bu in the royal capital were simply unable to stop Xiahou Ying's frenzied attack.
Despite this, Ying Bu's army still made Xiahou Ying pay a huge price.
His soldiers were so fierce that each of them was worth ten of their own, as if they were fed with chicken blood. Xiahou Ying, who usually rushed recklessly, suffered a great loss. He relied entirely on the number of soldiers to fill the gap and break through the capital.
Fortunately, the walls of Ying Bu's capital were not very high. After becoming king, Ying Bu did not strengthen the city defenses and spent the whole day hunting.
To be honest, Huainan became quite wealthy under his rule, because he did not impose corvée labor and did not make unnecessary trouble. His greatest hobby was taking people hunting, and if there were no ferocious beasts, he would fight thieves.
Inside the palace, the Han soldiers lined up, holding up their spears, trembling all over, staring at the figure in the distance.
Ying Bu had disheveled hair and was covered in thick blood that kept dripping, making people feel sick. It was impossible to tell whether he was injured or not. He held a spear in each hand. In front of him lay countless corpses, including his brothers and his enemies.
The corpses were almost piled up into a mountain, but Ying Bu roared like a wild beast. His eyes were red and he rushed towards the soldiers roaring. He swung the spear in his hand and hit a soldier in front of him with such force that the spear broke. The soldier flew up, spun around and fell to the ground. He drew out his sword and rushed directly into the pile of soldiers, slashing left and right, completely ignoring the wounds on his body, and kept attacking and roaring.
At first glance, it looked like he was pushing hundreds of soldiers forward.
"How long has he been fighting?"
"It's been more than half an hour...General...why not just shoot him? "
Xiahou Ying noticed that Che You, who was always very daring, turned pale and trembled all over.
However, Xiahou Ying did not scold him. He looked at the unstoppable general in the distance and shook his head regretfully. Who would not be afraid of such a powerful general?
Xiahou Ying stood up, adjusted his armor and helmet, wiped the blood off his head, and slowly raised his spear, "Everyone, get out of my way!"
The soldiers in front of him heard the order and made way, leaving a bloody path paved with corpses.
Soon, Ying Bu discovered that a road appeared in front of him . The soldiers retreated one after another, not daring to even look at him.
Ying Bu laughed, a loud and piercing laugh.
Xiahou Ying in the distance pointed his spear at him. Ying Bu saw the figure in the distance clearly, with disdain on his face. He picked up a broken spear from the ground and pointed it at him proudly.
"drive!!!"
With a roar from the driver, the chariot charged forward, stepping on the corpses all the way, shaking violently, but never overturning. The speed of the chariot was getting faster and faster, running over the road formed by the corpses, getting closer and closer to the enemy! Xiahou Ying bent down and raised his spear!
"kill!!"
"Ah!!"
Xiahou Ying thrust out the spear in his hand, and Ying Bu also threw out the spear in his hand.
At the moment the two men engaged, the spear in Ying Bu's hand flew out, passed by Xiahou Ying's ear, hit his helmet from the side and changed direction. Xiahou Ying only heard a loud noise and screamed in pain, but Xiahou Ying's spear pierced Ying Bu's chest at that moment. Under the charge of the chariot, Ying Bu was thrown away, flew several circles, and fell heavily to the ground.
Xiahou Ying suddenly jumped off the carriage, holding a dagger, and rushed to Ying Bu's side. He turned him over and put the sword against his throat.
Ying Bu looked at the blood dripping from Xiahou Ying's helmet. He was gasping for breath, with blood bubbles coming out of his mouth.
He whispered something, but Xiahou Ying couldn't hear it at all. He pulled a soldier over and asked loudly, "What is he saying?!?"
The soldier spoke a few words, but Xiahou Ying still couldn't hear them.
Xiahou Ying simply took off his helmet. His left ear was badly injured and dripping with blood. The soldier shouted, "He asked you, if he hadn't been exhausted, would you be his opponent?!"
Xiahou Ying was stunned. He looked at Ying Bu and shouted, "If you don't agree, you can wait for me. Then we can compete again!"
Ying Bu grinned and glared at Xiahou Ying with disdain, staring at him intently. After a long time, he finally stopped moving.
