Disciplining Emperor Gaozu of Han

Chapter 41 The King of Conspiracy

"Greetings, King of Han!" Lü Shizhi stepped forward quickly, clasped his hands in a fist salute, and bowed to Liu Bang.

"Brother Zhong, no need for that, no need for that." Liu Bang jogged forward, helped Lü Shizhi up, and said with a big smile, "I've finally been waiting for you to come back."

"Thank you for your concern, King Han." Lü Shizhi opened his eyes wide and looked Liu Bang up and down. Seeing that he didn't seem to be lying, a warm feeling flowed through his heart.

"Greetings, King of Han." Liu Fu stepped forward quickly, clasped his hands in greeting, and bowed to Liu Bang.

"Brother-in-law, no need for that." Liu Bang held Liu Fu's hand, stopping him from bowing. "I thought I would never see you again, brother-in-law. I was so worried about you."

"Thank you for your concern, Your Majesty," Liu Fu said.

Duke Lü had two sons and three daughters, a total of five children. In order of birth: Lü Ze, Lü Shizhi, Lü Changxu, Empress Lü, and Lü Xu. Empress Lü had an older sister named Lü Changxu, who married Liu Fu and had a son named Lü Ping.

Her life story is unclear, except that she died young. Empress Lü took good care of her son, Lü Ping, and bestowed upon him the title of Marquis of Fuliu.

Liu Fu married Lü Changxu, thus becoming part of Empress Lü's faction. He joined Liu Bang in the rebellion, fought for the throne, and participated in the Battle of Pengcheng.

"Greetings, Brother Zhong." Fan Kuai rushed over like the wind, his face full of joy. He hugged Lü Shizhi, picked him up, and spun him around.

"Fan Kuai, that's enough, that's enough, you're about to kill me with your hug." Fan Kuai was strong, and his hug made Lü Shizhi feel uncomfortable.

"Brother-in-law." Fan Kuai put down Lü Shizhi, then picked up Liu Fu and spun her around.

"You're going to die! Why are you using so much force? Put me down!" Liu Fu was not as strong as Lü Shizhi and looked quite frail. He couldn't withstand Fan Kuai's rough handling and shouted loudly.

Fan Kuai happily put down Liu Fu, grinning from ear to ear: "Brother Zhong and brother-in-law are back, we must celebrate properly. I'll go catch a dog and stew some dog meat for you."

"This is a good idea!" Lu Shizhi knew how delicious Fan Kuai's stewed dog meat was, and he almost drooled.

The same applies to Liu Fu.

Upon hearing the news, Lü Ze rushed over, and Lü Shizhi met with him. The two brothers had a long talk and shared their joy.

After becoming close to Lü Shizhi for a while, Lü Ze then became close to Liu Fu.

Then, they gathered in Liu Bang's royal tent and recounted what had happened since they last met.

After the defeat at Pengcheng, Lü Shizhi was separated from his generals and could only flee for his life alone. He knew very well that it would be difficult to escape alone, so he rallied the defeated soldiers. Starting from Pengcheng, he continued to gather reinforcements along the way, and the number of defeated soldiers around him grew larger and larger.

Of course, with more people comes greater visibility, and being pursued by the Chu army was inevitable. He remained calm and collected, commanding his defeated troops in battle and repeatedly defeating the Chu army.

Although he defeated the Chu army, his defeated soldiers suffered heavy casualties. Fortunately, he managed to gather more defeated soldiers and prevented them from being scattered by the Chu army.

Later, he met Liu Fu. Liu Fu was similar to Lü Shizhi; he had just begun to gather his defeated troops in Pengcheng. Therefore, when he met Lü Shizhi, he already had more than four hundred defeated soldiers. He was not as good as Lü Shizhi, but not bad either.

The two joined forces and worked together to gather the defeated troops, find supplies, and maneuver against the Chu army, eventually escaping safely.

Thanks to the efforts of the two men, the two thousand defeated soldiers were fully equipped with weapons and supplies, making them the most complete group of returning Han soldiers to date.

After listening to the two recount what had happened, Liu Ying thought to himself, "The people on Empress Lü's side are all quite capable, much better than Zhou Bo and Lu Wan."

Although Fan Kuai escaped danger alone, much like Zhou Bo and Lu Wan, he was Empress Lü's brother-in-law, so he was naturally considered to be on Empress Lü's side.

Liu Ying was not wrong; the people on Empress Lü's side were all quite capable, the most outstanding being Lü Ze, followed by Lü Shizhi. Empress Lü herself was, of course, a very powerful political figure; although her reputation wasn't good, it couldn't overshadow her talent.

Even Lü Xu possessed extraordinary political acumen.

When the court officials plotted to eliminate the Lü clan, Lü Xu saw through their scheme and warned Lü Lu and Lü Chan, but the two refused to believe her. Enraged, Lü Xu threw her family's wealth into the street, letting people take what they wanted, and declared that the Lü clan was doomed.

Later, the Lü family indeed came to an end.

Only Lü Changxu died young, so her abilities are unknown.

Fan Kuai actually caught a fat wild dog, stewed a large pot of dog meat, and everyone ate the dog meat and drank wine together, having a great time.

After enjoying a good meal and drinks, Liu Bang sent Lü Shizhi and Liu Fu to assist Lü Ze with logistical matters. The army had now exceeded 60,000 men, along with over 100,000 civilians; the workload was immense, and Lü Ze was struggling to manage alone. With the two men joining the effort, the situation improved dramatically.

This made Liu Ying exclaim in admiration that Lü Shizhi and Liu Fu were both quite capable. Lü Shizhi, in particular, was both a scholar and a warrior. He was able to assist Lü Ze in handling logistical matters with great success, and he was able to bring back a well-equipped, disciplined, and still-fleecing Han army, demonstrating his exceptional military talent.

On the military front, under Liu Bang's personal supervision and with the assistance of Cao Can, and with the efforts of Fan Kuai, Xiahou Ying, Lu Wan, Zhou Bo, and Guan Ying, much reorganization was carried out, and the fighting strength was rapidly recovering.

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Chen Ping wore a set of gleaming silver armor, looking imposing and awe-inspiring. A hard bow and a regular bow were slung across his back. An iron sword hung at his left hip, a short sword was tucked into his left breast, and a quiver filled with arrows dangled from his right hip. These were not the curved arrows used by the Han army, but rather flat arrows, as these were captured from the Chu army.

Even the silver armor he was wearing wasn't his; he had killed a Chu general and stripped off his silver armor to wear.

The warhorse he rode was tall and magnificent, also a capture of his own.

Riding a warhorse, he walked in the very center of the column, leading more than 5,000 Han soldiers into battle.

Starting from Pengcheng, Chen Ping began to gather the defeated troops, and the number has now exceeded five thousand.

Moreover, these Han soldiers were fully equipped with weapons, although the weapons were somewhat varied, some using Han longswords, some using Chu shortswords, and some even using Wei weapons.

Anyway, at least we have weapons.

The Han army was in good spirits, showing no signs of defeat or despair. They were not pale or malnourished, and certainly did not appear to be starving. This was because they had ample supplies; the army had dedicated supply wagons, and they had no shortage of food.

"I dare to report to General Chen: A cavalry unit has been spotted." A middle-aged man, riding a tall warhorse, galloped over and reported to Chen Ping.

"Liu Jia, have you found out where these cavalrymen came from?" Chen Ping asked the middle-aged man in a deep voice.

"They look like Han soldiers," Liu Jia reported respectfully.

"What do you mean by 'like the Han army'? It is or it isn't." Chen Ping's face darkened, and he shouted, "Liu Jia, don't think that just because you're the King of Han's cousin, I won't dare to apply military law to you!"

"General Chen, please allow me to report in detail." Liu Jia knew that Chen Ping was extremely strict in disciplining his troops. Even though he was Liu Bang's cousin, if he violated military law, Chen Ping would dare to punish him according to military law. Cold sweat broke out on his forehead. He hurriedly said, "I led my men but were driven away before we even got close. I can only come back to report to General Chen."

"Is that all you're reporting back to?" Chen Ping's expression was unfriendly.

"General Chen, I left some men to continue scouting. I saw that these people were coming with great force, so I rushed back to report to you. Please be prepared, General Chen, so that we won't be caught off guard if anything changes," Liu Jia hurriedly said.

"Hmm," Chen Ping agreed.

Rumble, rumble, rumble.

The thunderous sound of hooves rang out as a cavalry force, clad in red and bearing red banners, surged towards the Han army led by Chen Ping like a red tide.

"Prepare to meet the enemy," Chen Ping commanded.

The defeated troops immediately deployed, advancing and retreating in an orderly manner, showing no panic despite the sudden change in circumstances.

Liu Ying, riding on his warhorse, led Li Bi and Luo Jia to surround them. Seeing this, he was quite surprised: "There are capable people here. Be careful."

"Yes, sir." Li Biluo and the others accepted the order.

"A young boy?" Chen Ping's eyes widened as he scrutinized Liu Ying, quite surprised. "Little boy, who are you?"

"Who are you? Why don't you bow down to me when you see me!" Liu Ying was very displeased. Why call him a mere child? Since Chen Ping looked down on him so much, Liu Ying naturally wouldn't say anything nice either.

"You sir?" Chen Ping's face darkened. This little boy had such audacity, daring to take advantage of him.

"Ying...er?" A middle-aged man beside Chen Ping, riding a tall warhorse and fully armored, stared at Liu Ying with wide eyes, becoming more and more shocked as he looked at her, his face full of disbelief.

"Who are you?" Liu Ying asked in surprise.

"Is it really Ying'er?" The middle-aged man was overjoyed. "I am your uncle."