Can I get to the other side?.

Chapter 248 The Emperor's Change of Mindset

This was the second time Liu Xie had traveled far away since his time travel.

As an emperor, he could not leave the palace easily, and the opportunities to go out were very rare. The two times he went out, he led the army in person.

The only difference was that he was coerced by Yuan Shao last time.

And this time it was to defeat Yuan Shao.

Winter was approaching, and the end of the Han Dynasty coincided with the Little Ice Age. The weather was getting colder and colder. As soon as winter came, water in the north would freeze into ice.

Even though it is not yet winter, we can already feel the chill of late autumn.

Sitting on the dragon chariot, Liu Xie closed his eyes and rested.

Two beauties were serving on the side.

It was not because of anything else, but because as an emperor, it was not appropriate to leave his food, clothing, housing and transportation to the hands of the soldiers, so before he left, Zhen Mi specially prepared two beauties for him.

However, with a powerful enemy at the doorstep, and having to lead the army in person, Liu Xie had no intention of having fun at all. His mind was filled with thoughts of the war that would soon come.

"Will you win?"

Liu Xie sighed, feeling heavy-hearted.

The stakes of this battle were too great. Even though he led the army in person and asked Zhen's craftsmen to build catapults, he still couldn't completely relax.

Yuan Shao always manages to do amazing things when he is in desperate situations, so the title of "God Yuan" is not something that comes out of thin air.

Liu Xie is different from Yuan Shao. He has been walking on thin ice since he traveled through time. His previous carelessness almost made him lose everything, so he is now acting more cautiously.

Suppressing all these thoughts in his mind, Liu Xie reached out and opened the car window. The cool wind rushed into the car, dispelling all his fatigue.

"Your Majesty, it's cold outside, you'd better close the window."

Zhao Yun, who was riding a horse beside the carriage, said.

Liu Xie said unconcernedly, "It's nothing, it's just a little wind and frost... How long will it take us to reach Qinghe County?"

This time they set out from Yecheng, passing through Qinghe and Anping counties, and then arrived at the front line of Hejian County to meet up with Lu Bu and his men.

We have been traveling for two days now.

Zhao Yun said, "Your Majesty, we still have about half a day to go and we will definitely reach Qinghe County before dark. Please rest assured, Your Majesty."

Liu Xie nodded slightly and didn't ask any more questions.

The convoy slowly drove towards Qinghe County.

Gradually, pedestrians could be seen on both sides of the official road, but they were basically refugees with pale faces, thin bodies and ragged clothes.

They could not recognize that it was the emperor's carriage. When they saw the army passing by, they all hid aside in fear, looking at the mighty soldiers in armor with fear and envy, swallowing their saliva secretly.

In this era, being a soldier means having food to eat, but not everyone can be a soldier. Refugees like them who have little strength cannot even pass the selection.

As we got closer to Qinghe County, there were more and more refugees. There were also large areas of simple tents on the roadside, which were the homes of the refugees.

Because of the war, they lost their land and were exiled. They could only live outside the city and could not even enter the city.

These refugees were thin and numb, wandering in the wild like zombies, like a group of wandering ghosts.

Once someone falls, a group of people will rush over and drag them away...

Liu Xie knew what being dragged away meant.

He was once one of the refugees.

When living among refugees, you cannot faint or fall down, because falling down means you may never wake up again, and even if you are not dead, you will become someone else's meal.

“Help! Help—!”

Just as Liu Xie was recalling the past, a voice filled with panic and fear came over, bringing his thoughts back.

Liu Xie looked up and saw a woman with disheveled clothes and holding a child, stumbling towards the marching team, chased by three men with sticks.

But she didn't dare to get too close to the team. She stopped when they were still a hundred steps away, knelt on the ground, kowtowed and cried: "My dear soldiers! Please save me, save my child!"

The three men who were chasing her also stopped when they saw this. They wanted to go forward and take the woman away, but they were afraid of the Yulin guards in front of them.

"How dare you! How dare you bump into the emperor's carriage!"

"Take them all down!"

The Yulin Guards didn't care what the reason was, their duty was to protect the emperor's safety. Crashing into the emperor's carriage was a serious crime, so they went straight forward to arrest the person.

“Son of Heaven?!”

The woman and the three men turned pale with fright when they heard this. They never imagined that this team would be protecting the emperor!

The three of them turned around and ran away without saying a word.

But how could they possibly outrun the Yulin Guards?

He was soon caught.

Liu Xie frowned when he saw this and ordered Zhao Yun, "Zilong, go over and see what's going on. What happened?"

"promise!"

Zhao Yun took the order and left.

He rode his horse to the trembling four people, glanced at the three men, and then his eyes fell on the woman and asked, "Why did you run into the emperor's carriage? Do you know that this is a capital crime?"

The woman's face turned pale, and she couldn't stop crying, but she still suppressed her fear and said tremblingly: "General, they wanted to take my child away and cook him for food. I didn't know that this was the emperor's carriage. Please forgive me, please forgive me..."

As he spoke, he kowtowed to Zhao Yun like pounding garlic.

"Snatching children to eat?"

Upon hearing this, Zhao Yun became furious. He glanced at the three men with a cold gaze, and the spear in his hand was ready to move.

Zhao Yun had fought his way out of a sea of ​​blood and corpses, but a look from him almost frightened the three men to death, and one of them even lost control of his bladder on the spot.

Sensing Zhao Yun's murderous intent, the leader quickly said in a trembling voice: "General, her child is already dead. We are not trying to steal her alive and eat her!"

"In this chaotic world, everyone is starving. Last month, my child starved to death. We shared the food with everyone. She even had a bowl of meat soup!"

Zhao Yun was shocked and looked at the woman's arms.

Only then did he notice that the baby's face in the woman's arms had turned purple, and it was obvious that it had been dead for a long time.

"You are talking nonsense, you are talking nonsense!"

The woman screamed like crazy, holding the child tightly, and kept shaking her head, saying, "My child is not dead, my child is not dead! You just want to eat my child!"

"My dear little boy, I won't let them eat you. I won't let them eat you..."

The woman cried and laughed, gently caressing and kissing the dead baby's face, and even wanted to undress her to breastfeed her.

In the carriage, Liu Xie stared at this scene in a daze. He remained silent for a long time, and finally cursed fiercely in his heart:
"What a fucking world!"

At this time, Zhao Yun rode back with a complicated expression. Just as he was about to speak, Liu Xie raised his hand to interrupt him: "Release those three people and leave some dry food for them. As for the woman... take her to Qinghe City."

"promise."

Zhao Yun finally breathed a sigh of relief. Soon after, the team set out again to Qinghe City, and the woman was taken away with them. As for the three men who bumped into the emperor's carriage, they were not punished. Instead, they were given a large bag of dry food and stood there at a loss.

It was a long time before they reacted. They knelt down and kowtowed in the direction Liu Xie left.

……

Outside Qinghe City.

The heads of the major families in the city had all received the news that the emperor was going to lead the army in person and would stay in Qinghe City for one night, so they had been waiting here early.

In order to welcome the arrival of the emperor, they mobilized many people in Qinghe City to line the streets to welcome him. Not only did they prepare a grand ceremonial team, they also sprinkled water to clean the streets. It was an extremely grand ceremony.

Soon, Liu Xie's troops arrived at Qinghe City.

Before the heads of the major families came forward to greet them, Taishi Ci, who was leading the troops in front, said to them: "His Majesty has ordered that you just prepare your accommodations. There is no need to mobilize troops or hold any banquets. Everything should be kept simple. We will leave tomorrow."

Hearing this, all the family heads looked at each other in bewilderment.

They thought that when the emperor came to Qinghe City, he would have to stay for a few days, and they had already thought about how to build relationships. But now, weren't all their preparations in vain?

But since this was the emperor's will, they could not disobey it and could only respectfully agree and make way for the Yulin Guards to enter the city.

Thanks to the publicity given by the heads of various aristocratic families, the common people in Qinghe City also learned the news about the emperor, and both sides of the streets were filled with people who had come to watch.

"His Majesty has come to our Qinghe!"

"Your Majesty will lead the army in person this time, and will surely defeat the traitor Yuan Shao!"

"Is this the famous Yulin Guard? They are so majestic."

"Where is your majesty? Why can't I see him?"

"Long live His Majesty! Long live the Han Dynasty!"

……

The people were very excited. After all, for a long time they had only heard of the emperor's name but had never actually seen him.

Although Liu Xie has not shown up yet, this is enough to make them excited. They cheered and even bowed down in worship on the streets.

Liu Xie in the carriage was also watching this scene.

The mood is very complicated.

The city and outside the city are two completely different worlds. The people inside the city can be called people and have the vitality of "human beings"; while the refugees outside the city are more like walking corpses. The contrast is so strong.

Separated by a wall, there is a world of difference.

Liu Xie had never felt so heavy before. It seemed as if something was blocking his chest and he could hardly exhale the depressed breath.

The scenes he saw outside the city today had a great impact on him psychologically. Ever since he became the emperor, he had forgotten his original intention, his experience as a refugee, and the lives of the people at the bottom of society.

Three years have passed, the world situation has completely changed, and his identity and status have also undergone earth-shaking changes.

But the lives of these refugees outside the city have not changed at all.

Who is in power, or even who is the emperor, is not as important to them as a meal of porridge.

The princes will have to bear the consequences of every conquest and every war.

This is Jizhou, one of the richest and most grain-producing states in the world. If even Jizhou is like this, then what about the other states? How tragic will it be?
"War, all because of war!"

"As long as the world is not unified, the people will not be able to live in peace, and the tragedy of cannibalism will continue to happen! I must put an end to this as soon as possible! I must reform!"

"This is my responsibility as the Son of Heaven!"

Liu Xie clenched his fists tightly, his eyes determined.

He is no longer the refugee who traveled through time just to survive. He has paid homage to the Liu family ancestral temple, he has offered sacrifices to heaven, and now he is the emperor of the Han Dynasty!
He had the responsibility and obligation to end this chaotic world where warlords were fighting each other and human life was as cheap as grass, to bring peace to the world, and then use the knowledge of future generations to try his best to improve the lives of the people.

Whether it is Yuan Shao or Cao Cao, Liu Biao or Liu Zhang, Sun Quan or Zhou Yu, or even Liu Bei, as long as they dare to hinder him from achieving this goal, he will crush them to pieces!
He, Liu Xie, is the destiny and the world!

……

That night, Liu Xie checked into Cui's mansion. He went to bed so early that Jia Xu, Guo Jia and Cui Yan, who wanted to see him, were all turned away.

"Your Majesty, what's wrong? You didn't even have dinner today. Do you think I, Cui, am too neglectful?"

Cui Yan said with some trepidation.

Guo Jia shook his head and sighed, "No, it must be because of the miserable conditions of the refugees he saw on the road during the day that Your Majesty felt sad."

He had recently heard from Zhao Yun about the incident with the woman during the day, and when he thought about Liu Xie's behavior, he made this guess.

"Is it because of this?"

Cui Yan showed a puzzled look on his face. "Now all the states in the world are like this. Jizhou is already relatively good. Why should Your Majesty be sad about this?"

He was accustomed to the miserable plight of the refugees.

Although he also felt sorry for the refugees, this was the general situation in this world and it could not be changed by human power. In his opinion, there was no need for the emperor to feel sentimental about such things. The most important thing at the moment was to defeat Yuan Shao.

Upon hearing this, Jia Xu and Guo Jia frowned, glanced at Cui Yan, each found an excuse to leave, and then took a walk together in the garden of the mansion.

"It is a blessing for the Han Dynasty and the people that there is a monarch like Your Majesty who is ruthless and yet kind-hearted."

Jia Xu said with emotion.

Liu Xie was undoubtedly an emperor with great talent and strategy, which he did not deny, but what was even more commendable was his compassion for the people, which was quite similar to that of Emperor Taizong Xiaowen.

Guo Jia agreed deeply with Jia Xu's words. He had understood this point several years ago when he heard Liu Xie and Zhang He talk about the "Theory of the Country and the People".

"But even if Your Majesty is a wise and sage king rarely seen in history, it is still difficult to pacify the world."

Guo Jia sighed quietly.

Not to mention other separatist princes, just the decisive battle with Yuan Shao soon after, it was unclear who would win or lose in the end, and whether this powerful enemy could be destroyed.

However, his ideals and ambitions can only be realized after the world is unified, and this road is too long.

Jia Xu laughed and said, "Why think so much? Unifying the world is not something that can be accomplished overnight. You and I will do our best to assist Your Majesty."

"Is Fengxiao backing down?"

Hearing Jia Xu's slightly provocative words, although knowing that it was a provocation, Guo Jia still raised his eyebrows and said unhappily:

"The word retreat should be kept by Wenhe and yourself."

"I will definitely help Your Majesty accomplish his great cause!"

Guo Jia's tone was full of unquestionable flavor. When has he ever been afraid? Even if the future is difficult, he will not choose to retreat!
"well said!"

Jia Xu laughed loudly, patted Guo Jia on the shoulder, and strode away.

……

The next morning, Liu Xie set out again from Qinghe County.

This time, after he set off, he did not stay in the counties along the way. He did not stop all the way and soon arrived at Hejian County, where he joined forces with the army of Lu Bu, Zhang Liao and others.

(End of this chapter)