Chapter 105: The Son of the Red Emperor

“Lord Lu, may I ask whether the young lady is here?”

Liu Bang was still exceedingly polite, but in contrast to his appearance, that very courtesy only made him more detestable.

Even Lord Lu, who had once held Liu Bang in high regard, now found him truly revolting.

“Liu Bang!”

At that moment, a graceful figure stepped down from the carriage.

The instant Liu Bang saw her, his eyes lit up. The person was none other than Lu Zhi.

“Miss, it has been a long time,” Liu Bang said with a faint smile.

“Yes, it has been a long time,” Lu Zhi replied, her face cold and indifferent. “What surprises me is that you have ended up in such a state.”

“Hmph.” Liu Bang gave a cold snort. “If it weren’t for that damned Zhao Gao and Yi Xiaochuan, I certainly wouldn’t have fallen to this point. And Yang Wenhao must have had a hand in it too.”

“You are not allowed to speak of Young Master Yang like that.”

Seeing Liu Bang slander Yang Wenhao in this way, Lu Zhi flew into a rage.

Liu Bang sneered. “And what if I do? Today, with your whole family in my hands, I’d like to see whether you can still be so arrogant.”

“You—”

Lu Zhi was about to search for Yang Wenhao’s figure, but discovered that there was not a trace of him anywhere among the convoy.

Not only was Yang Wenhao gone, but the soldiers who had followed him had vanished as well. Only the Lu family’s servants remained.

Yet Liu Bang had several dozen bandits armed with vicious weapons. Compared with their own unarmed servants, the difference was overwhelming.

“Where did Young Master Yang go?” Lu Zhi could not help asking Lord Lu.

Lord Lu also shook his head, indicating that he did not know. His expression had turned grave.

Just then, Lu Su also came out of the carriage. Apparently still unsure of what was happening, she asked Lu Zhi what was going on.

Seeing that the entire Lu family had emerged, Liu Bang burst into laughter. “Ha-ha! Heaven truly helps me. Brothers, do not harm Lord Lu or the two young ladies of the Lu family. Just take the gold and silver. With the Lu family’s wealth, we will all have money!”

“Yes!”

The masked bandits under Liu Bang all excitedly raised their weapons, then could no longer restrain themselves as they charged toward the line of carriages below.

Seeing those carriages so close at hand, and the gold and silver treasures within them, the masked bandits’ eyes burned with greed.

“Loose the arrows!”

The cry may have been faint, drowned out by the thunderous shouting.

But what happened next made everyone tense and terrified.

From the cliffs and sheer rock faces on all sides, countless arrows suddenly rained down.

Those masked bandits leading the charge were all struck down, not a single one surviving.

“Bad news, it’s the imperial army. It’s an ambush!”

Liu Bang reacted instantly and tried to lead his men in retreat.

But the exits they needed to escape through had already been sealed off by soldiers of the Great Qin, all of them clad in armor and steel, mounted on warhorses.

Seeing that the last route was blocked as well, Liu Bang shouted, “Everyone back! Take Lord Lu and his family hostage!”

For now, that was the only viable plan.

But when Liu Bang returned to the front of the carriages, the scene was far different from before. Countless imperial soldiers had appeared there, all in black armor with long spears in hand, exuding a chilling, murderous aura.

“Damn it, it really is an ambush.”

Liu Bang’s expression tightened.

“Constable, what do we do? What do we do?”

The people following Liu Bang were nothing more than common folk, men who had only ended up at his side because they had committed capital crimes.

In the end, they were still just ordinary people, lacking courage.

“Shut up, all of you. Let me think of a way,” Liu Bang snapped, his eyes full of hatred.

If not for these people, he might have already escaped alone.

Then Liu Bang looked at the surrounding soldiers of Great Qin and said, “I wonder who your general is, to have brought such a force against Liu Bang. Might I ask him to show himself?”

The next moment, not far from Liu Bang and the others, the Great Qin soldiers forming a wall of men parted to make way.

Lord Lu, Lu Zhi, and Lu Su came into view.

But there was one more person.

When Liu Bang saw that man, his eyes widened instantly.

“It’s you!”

“It’s me. Long time no see, Liu Bang.”

Yang Wenhao smiled faintly.

Liu Bang gave a bitter smile. “Brother Yang, as the saying goes, a family only enters through the same door. To think Brother Yang would marshal such a huge force just to capture me—you certainly think highly of me, Liu Bang.”

Yang Wenhao let out a cold laugh. “Heh. So, Liu Bang, are you planning to fight my armored soldiers to the death, or kneel and surrender?”

At those words, everyone under Liu Bang turned to look at him, wanting to know what choice he would make.

For people like them to go up against Great Qin soldiers was no different from seeking death. With their miserable strength, it would be nothing short of a slaughter.

Kneeling to surrender sounded good, but no one knew what the outcome would be.

“Brother Yang, is there really no chance at all?” Liu Bang said. “I am brothers with Xiaochuan, and you are Xiaochuan’s brother. That makes us brothers too, Brother Yang—”

“Enough, enough.” Yang Wenhao cut him off and would not let him continue. “You and Xiaochuan may be brothers, but ask yourself honestly: have you ever treated him like a brother? If you have, then forget I said anything.”

At that, Liu Bang fell silent.

At this point, he no longer wanted to keep lying.

The reason he had sworn brotherhood with Yi Xiaochuan in the first place was because of Yi Xiaochuan’s connection to Lord Lu, and what happened afterward only proved more clearly that he had been making use of Yi Xiaochuan all along.

Seeing Liu Bang’s expression, Yang Wenhao sneered inwardly. A petty man was still a petty man. Liu Bang may have had the ambition of an emperor, and the so-called light corvée and light taxes were his own words, but for some reason, Yang Wenhao truly disliked him.

Unlike Xiaochuan, who knew full well that Liu Bang was using him, yet still endured and helped him time after time simply because he was the future Emperor Gaozu of Han, the founder of a mighty dynasty.

Liu Bang exhaled softly, as if he had understood something.

He also knew his own flaws.

“Brother Yang, I surrender. But I beg you—can you let them go?” Liu Bang suddenly knelt down. “Brother Yang, I’m kneeling to you.”

“Constable!”

The common folk around him were deeply moved.

Seeing this, Yang Wenhao laughed.

No one around him knew what he was laughing at.

“What a surrender. What a plea for mercy. Liu Bang, do you truly not understand? You were the one who dragged them into this mire. If not for you, their lives might not have been good, but they would not have died. All of this—everything—is your own doing.”

The moment Yang Wenhao spoke, every word seemed to pierce straight into the hearts of those commoners.

They were not fools; no one had simply pointed it out to them before.

Toward Liu Bang, they had only ever felt blind admiration.

But when Yang Wenhao said those words, they seemed to understand everything all at once.

“You’re spouting nonsense. The constable is the Son of the Red Emperor, the one who slew the great serpent. How could a man like you compare?”

One of Liu Bang’s admirers spoke up.