Last night, Xiang Yu had a long conversation with Fan Zeng by candlelight and they didn't go to bed until daybreak.
Unlike his father, who was old and physically exhausted and slept until noon, he was in his prime and full of energy.
Even though he had experienced many ups and downs yesterday, he only took a nap for two hours and regained his energy. He even went to the parade ground and personally accompanied his generals in martial arts practice.
He was in a rare mood, so he called Zhongli Mei, Long Ju and Ying Bu to come forward one by one. However, with his tremendous strength, even though the moves he used were not sophisticated at all, the other generals were unable to resist him and were defeated by him within ten rounds.
Seeing with their own eyes the capable, brave and mighty generals being defeated one by one by the Overlord, and even with three of them together, they were no match for Xiang Yu, the soldiers who were watching felt their blood boiling and their passion boiling. They gathered around involuntarily, watching attentively, clapping and cheering loudly!
After fighting for more than half an hour, the three generals could not hold on any longer. Seeing them panting, sweating profusely, and collapsing on the ground without caring about their image, Xiang Yu, who had just warmed up his body, withdrew his attack.
He took the towel handed to him by his personal attendant and wiped his sweat. He looked around and couldn't help asking, "Is Fengxian still hungover?"
Somehow, he always had a strange intuition that for many years he had been looking for someone who was qualified to be his opponent and could fight him one-on-one. The person who completely aroused his strong desire for war was none other than Lu Bu.
Not knowing the King's secret expectations, the attendant was startled when asked, his heart beating fast, and he replied nervously: "General Lu left the camp this morning, riding the King's black horse, saying that he was ordered by the King to chase someone..."
He did not dare to think, either, whether it was that Lu Bu, who was just appointed as a general and destined to have a promising future, was so audacious that he forged the king's decree and became a deserter, and even took away the king's beloved mount, Wuzhui Horse... or whether the king had a bad memory and forgot the order he had just issued in a blink of an eye.
Xiang Yu was stunned, and a hint of confusion flashed in his pupils.
...Did he give such an order to the drunkard
Too many things happened yesterday, and his emotions fluctuated too much in one day, so Xiang Yu's first suspicion was not whether Lu Bu had the audacity to fabricate a royal decree and steal a horse to escape, but whether he had issued a royal decree and accidentally forgot it.
Xiang Yu pondered quietly for a moment, but failed to find an answer from his memory, so he just said "hmm" nonchalantly, threw the handkerchief back to his attendant as if nothing had happened, strode back to the palace, and ordered people to prepare water for bathing.
When he was bathing, he was still searching his memory; when he was changing his clothes, he was still searching his memory; when he was sitting at his desk, preparing to meet with his staff to discuss matters and decide on the punishment for Xiang Bo's rebellion against Chu, he was still searching his memory...
When others saw him, they still saw the familiar overlord with a stern face, deep eyes, and a commanding aura that made people tremble in their hearts and dare not offend him lightly.
It was not until his staff explained one by one the matters concerning the relocation of the capital that had been roughly decided upon during the past two days' court discussions that Xiang Yu finally shifted his focus from the inexplicably missing Lu Bu and began to listen carefully.
What Xiang Yu deliberately ignored, and what his ministers tacitly did not remind him of, was that at noon that day, Xiang Bo was tied up and dragged to the platform by Ying Bu himself, and then had his crimes read out in public by Fan Zeng and beheaded as a warning to all.
Xiang Bo, who had never thought that he would be thrown into the Chu army prison in his lifetime, had never thought that Xiang Yu was so cold-blooded and cruel that he would not care about blood ties and wanted to execute him according to military law, was completely shocked when he heard Fan Zeng read out the beheading penalty.
"Impossible!!!" After being stunned for a moment, he screamed in despair: "I don't believe it!!! It must be you, old man, who is causing all this trouble. I want to see the king, let me see the king!!! How could the king be so ruthless!!!"
He roared without caring about his manners, but he knew very well in his heart that Fan Zeng and Ying Bu would never dare to treat him like this if it was not for Xiang Yu's instruction.
But Xiang Yu has always been a sentimental man, how could he be so cruel
The moment he realized that he was doomed to die, he truly regretted his previous hopeless situation.
I regretted going to the Han camp at night to repay Zhang Liang for saving my life and telling him about Cao Wushang's betrayal and Xiang Yu's anger; I regretted listening to Zhang Liang's words and meeting Liu Bang; I regretted accepting Liu Bang's bribe of a lot of money and pearls to intercede for him; I regretted accepting Zhang Liang's big money again and openly covering for Liu Bang at the banquet; I regretted overestimating my uncle's weight in front of Xiang Yu after Zhang Liang was imprisoned by the Chu army and raiding the prison to release him...
What kind of evil spirit bewitched him, to leave the high and mighty Zuo Yin aside and embark on such a dead end
Looking at his old rival who was about to die and with whom he had been confronting each other for many years, Fan Zeng, knowing that everything was settled, looked coldly and snorted.
Although he did not care about Xiang Bo's slander, seeing the other party in such a miserable state, he still could not arouse the slightest sympathy in his heart, let alone the grief of the rabbit's death.
Although he was a stranger with no relatives or friends, he was extremely loyal to King Xiang and worked hard to provide advice to the Chu army.
And this man, who was the Zuo Yin, the head of the Xiang clan, and the most trusted relative of King Xiang, shamelessly acted as a poisonous insect that eroded the morale of the Chu army. Even when he was dying, he was still biting randomly, showing no shame or remorse.
If it weren't for the fact that God had mercy on Xiang Bo and didn't want to see his evil deeds succeed, and sent Lu Bu, a godly general, to help, then after a while, it would not be Xiang Bo who was tied up and beheaded, but them.
Fan Zeng sneered and said mercilessly: "If you had any sense of shame, you would have stabbed yourself with a sword long ago after committing such a big mistake. How could you have the face to ask to see the king? Moreover, if you were not a blood relative of the king, given your numerous crimes, boiling you alive would not be enough to satisfy your hatred. Why would I just chop off your head and let you die quickly?"
Xiang Bo's face turned red and white, and finally he roared as if he could not bear the humiliation anymore, with tears streaming down his eyes.
But from then on he lowered his head, and even though he was trembling all over, he never begged for his life again.
Fan Zeng frowned and watched the executioner's hands shaking for a long time. Finally, under his watchful gaze, he made up his mind, exerted his strength, swung the axe, and cleanly chopped off Xiang Bo's tearful head.
As soon as the head fell to the ground, Ying Bu quickly wrapped it with the cloth he had prepared in advance, hugged it to his chest, and said to Fan Zeng politely: "The king has ordered that I will go and take charge." He paused and swallowed the title of "Zuo Yin" that came to his lips out of habit, but because he didn't know how to address it, he simply skipped it and said: "Find a place to bury him."
Since the person was dead and the disaster was eliminated, Fan Zeng would not be aggressive. He nodded to Ying Bu and walked towards the main hall where Xiang Yu was, wondering whether he should appease him.
However, he had done a lot of things like scolding Xiang Yu, but had never done delicate work like comforting him. The more he thought about it, the more troubled Fan Zeng became.
By the time he reached the main hall and was let in by the guards, he had not yet finished choosing his words.
Just at this moment, he raised his eyes and saw Xiang Yu sitting in the main seat as if nothing had happened, listening attentively to what his staff said.
"… "
Seems everything is fine
Fan Zeng thought about it and couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. Then, under the guidance of the halberd-bearing doctor, he sat down in the second seat reserved for him by Xiang Yu.
As soon as he sat down, he was keenly aware of something. He could not help but glance at the halberd bearers standing behind Xiang Yu. He lowered his voice and asked, "It seems... one person is missing?"
He learned from Xiang Yu last night that he was going to promote Lu Bu to the rank of general.
In his opinion, no matter the talents demonstrated by Lu Bu or the actual achievements he had made, it would be enough even if he was granted the title of king.
Since Xiang Yu had this intention, he naturally would not object.
If I give him the position of general now, it will not be too unfair for him to lead an army alone in the future.
He did not count Lu Bu as one of the halberd-bearing doctors, but he could still see that there was definitely one person missing in the team.
Xiang Yu glanced at it indifferently and said casually: "Oh?"
When Xiang Yu and Fan Zeng asked about it, the doctors holding the halberds looked at each other, pushed one of them out of the line, and replied stiffly, "My king, my father-in-law, we haven't seen Han Xin since early this morning... He must have escaped from the camp."
When these words were spoken, Fan Zeng just nodded slightly to show that he understood, but it was like a thunderbolt that instantly split the cloud of doubt that shrouded Xiang Yu's heart!
It turned out that Han Xin had run away.
Xiang Yu frowned slightly and changed his sitting position.
No wonder Fengxian wanted to chase him—wait, was he really going to chase him? Could he have just run away
Xiang Yu frowned a little more and changed his sitting position again.
If he had listened to Han Xin's instigation and ran away, then Han Xin, who had kidnapped his most valued general and favorite horse, would be extremely hateful and must be caught and cooked.
If Fengxian just wanted to get his friend back, then he... could help to make up the lie and cover up the past.
But after that, Fengxian had to be reprimanded a few words, so as not to let him continue to be bold and act on his own due to his youthful vigor.
Especially since he is the commander of an army, if he always acts impulsively, even if he has strategies, he will easily get into trouble.
Xiang Yu thought silently.
Because he always had a tense face, even though he was full of thoughts at this moment, his expression did not change at all.
As a result, everyone present had no idea of his change of thoughts from beginning to end.
As night fell and there was still no news about Lu Bu, Xiang Yu could not help but frown.
Logically speaking, Han Xin escaped from the camp secretly, taking only a few bags with him and without a horse to ride, so no matter how fast he walked, he couldn't get very fast.
How come Fengxian rode on his black horse that could travel a thousand miles a day to chase someone, but after chasing for a whole day, there was still no sign of him
Xiang Yu was in a daze, wondering whether he should send more people to look for his missing General Lu, when he finally heard a noise outside, followed by a guard reporting: "Your Majesty, General Lu is back riding on his black horse, along with Han Xin!"
Hearing this, Xiang Yu said indifferently, "Bring them here immediately."
“Yes!”
The guard serving in the main hall actually guessed the truth to some extent.
He couldn't help thinking that this General Lu was really daring. Not only did he fabricate the king's order, he also dared to ride the king's favorite horse Wuzhui and leave the camp without permission. The most amazing thing was that he even dared to come back so carelessly!
Now, no matter how highly regarded General Lu is, he will certainly be punished. Can't you see that the king has looked unhappy all day
He quickly accepted the order and was about to summon the two men, but the king suddenly stopped him and said, "Wait a minute."
His expression suddenly changed and he leaned forward to respond.
The Overlord was silent for a moment before he slowly gave the order: "... Send two more dinners."
Guard: “…”
He was stunned for a long time before he recovered from his shock. He responded stiffly and left in a trance.