Winning people's hearts

  Yesterday, I had something to do and couldn't return to the unit. Today, I went out to buy vegetables and updated three chapters. Although there have been many social engagements in recent days, I still managed to write over 50,000 words. Tomorrow is the end of the holiday, and I will definitely return to the unit. The updates will be stable from then on.

  The leader of the hundred-man squad guarding Liu Bian was a man named Qian Ming, who was one of General He Jin's personal bodyguards. It was Empress He who had specifically asked General He Jin to send his most trusted men to guard Liu Bian. But today, an assassin had managed to sneak into Liu Bian's chambers. If it hadn't been for Liu Bian's quick thinking in discovering the assassin beforehand, their assassination plot might have succeeded. As a result, Qian Ming was extremely uneasy in front of Liu Bian.

  "General Qian, what is the casualty situation of the Imperial Guards? How are the three personal bodyguards of the Marquis?"

  Liu Bian, however, did not ask about the assassins and did not send anyone to chase after the two escaped assassins. Instead, he first inquired about the safety of the imperial guards, which moved many of them to tears.

  "Reporting to Master Hou, six members of the Imperial Guard died in battle and twenty-three were injured. Zhou Yuanfang, Mao Zuohua, and Cao Zhibin charged into Master Hou's chambers to rescue him. Zhou Yuanfang and Mao Zuohua died in combat, while Cao Zhibin had his right arm and left leg severed."

  "Bring over the bodies of the dead Youlin Army officers as well, and Cao Zhibin, bring him over too, and immediately treat his wounds."

  Liu Bian gave a low order, at this time he once again displayed his innate ability to be steady and majestic, with a strong sense of dignity emanating from his body, making people dare not look up to him. As a result, Qian Ming sent someone to bring over the bodies of the dead Youlin Army officers and Cao Zhibin.

  Several bodies of the Imperial Guards had gruesome wounds all over, some with a bloody hole in their chest, others with their throat cut open by a single slash, and others with their abdomen ripped apart by steel blades, dying extremely miserably.

  However, the most pathetic ones among them were Liu Bian's two personal guards Zhou Yuanfang and Mao Zuohua. They, along with Cao Zhibin, were the first to rush into Liu Bian's room to rescue him, but at that time there were seven or eight black-clad men gathered in Liu Bian's room, so they encountered these black-clad men's siege.

  They risked their lives to save Liu Bian, fighting desperately and killing two black-clad men in the counterattack, delaying the retreat of the black-clad men.

  Liu Bian walked forward and arrived at the side of the two corpses, but saw that they were all over their bodies with blood and flesh blurred, Zhou Yuanfang's half face was cut off, Mao Zhuohua's neck was cut off, leaving only a layer of skin stuck.

  Moreover, both of their bodies were covered with countless wounds, including the front chest, back, abdomen, arms, and thighs, with scars all over, without a single piece of intact skin, shocking to behold.

  Liu Bian came to their side, one by one looking at the wounds on their bodies, his face darkening, tears silently falling, until finally he came to Cao Zhi Bin's side, seeing that Cao Zhi Bin not only lost his left leg and right arm, but also had more than a dozen wounds on his body, with fresh blood flowing all over, and now his breathing was extremely weak.

  "Cao Zhibin, hold on a bit longer, the military doctor will be here soon."

  Liu Bian crouched down, tightly grasping Cao ZhiBin's remaining left hand, feeling his left hand was icy cold, but Cao ZhiBin's face revealed a smile, and in a hoarse voice he said to Liu Bian:

  "Master Hou, as long as you're alright."

  He had only said a few words when Cao Zhibin smiled and left with his head tilted, Liu Bian tightly hugged his head to his chest, buried his face, and sobbing sounds gradually emerged.

  All the surrounding Youlin Army soldiers, as well as Liu, Guan and Zhang, were silent, with tears streaming down their eyes, filled with mourning for their fallen comrades.

  "Gentlemen of the Feathered Forest Army, you have fought to the death and been injured to save me. I will never forget this kindness and affection. I will treat your families with generosity. If I can ascend to the throne in the future, you will be the loyal souls of the Great Han."

  Liu Bian wept for a while, then lifted his head and made three solemn bows to the several dead Yulin Army soldiers. His words caused the surrounding Yulin Army officers to shed even more tears.

  "General Qian, after you come down, give a generous burial to several of the Imperial Guards' brothers and send their families a condolence payment. Later, arrange for someone to specifically look in on their families and help resolve any difficulties they may have. If you can't resolve them, then come find me, got it?"

  "Your Lordship, I, the subordinate, will remember."

  "A few of you brothers won't die in vain. I want to use the heads of these assassins to make an offering to their loyal souls, and have their black-clad heads cut off for me."

  At Liu Bian's order, the Youlin Army soldiers stepped forward and beheaded the 15 black-clad men. The 15 heads were piled up in front of several Youlin Army soldiers, the thick smell of blood making Liu Bian want to vomit, but he gritted his teeth and endured it.

  "Bring these three assassins here, I want to offer a blood sacrifice to the loyal souls with their hot blood to mourn the loyal souls who have not gone far."

  Liu Bian took a long sword from Qian Ming's hand and walked towards the three assassins who were being pressed to the ground by the imperial guards. This thirteen or fourteen year old boy, whose not very tall figure, at this moment appeared majestic as a mountain in the eyes of the imperial guards.

  "..."

  Liu Bian arrived in front of an assassin, a sword pierced his heart, but because his strength was not great, he couldn't pierce the heart at once. The assassin let out a miserable cry, but Liu Bian gritted his teeth, grasped the hilt with both hands, and made a mighty thrust, finally piercing the long sword into the assassin's heart. Then, with a sudden withdrawal of the sword, fresh blood spurted several feet away, splashing onto the bodies of several dead Imperial Guards.

  "Lord Hou, why not leave some alive and hand them over to the Temple of Justice for interrogation? Perhaps we can still find out who sent them to assassinate you." Seeing Liu Bian walking towards the second black-clad man, Guan Yu couldn't help but remind him.

  "General Guan, the identities of these black-clad men are crystal clear. They employ the Jing Tong War Array's combined strike tactics, which must be from the Great Han army. Since the mastermind has sent them out, it's likely that all information about their identities has been erased. Moreover, those who want to put me to death can only be a few individuals, so there's no need for interrogation to know who they are. I said we'll use them as human sacrifices to appease these soldiers of the Imperial Guard who died for me, and it's imperative that we don't leave any survivors. Only by personally killing them can we let our fallen brothers from the Imperial Guard rest in peace."

  Liu Bian shook his head, stepped forward and resolutely killed two black-clad men in a row, splashing their blood on the bodies of the dead, then threw away his long sword, raised his head and gazed southward for a long time, no one knew what he was thinking.

  "Please, Your Excellency, grieve no more. We, your humble servants, vow to defend you with our lives and never falter." Qian Ming's face flushed with shame as he suddenly knelt down and loudly addressed Liu Bian.

  "Please, Your Excellency, we are willing to swear to protect you with our lives and never betray you."

  At that moment, the surrounding feathered forest soldiers also knelt down at the same time. They had been moved by what Liu Bian had done for several comrades who died in battle earlier. Each of their hearts was surging with hot blood, and they made up their minds to protect this great prince like their comrades and not spare their lives.