Disciplining Emperor Gaozu of Han

The inn was located in the east of the city. After entering the city, the group, led by Liu Bang, headed straight for the inn.

The post station was established during the Qin Dynasty to provide lodging and food for travelers.

Liu Bang naturally had to stay at the official post station.

According to the Qin system, a county with fewer than 10,000 people was considered a small county. Feng County was a small county with fewer than 10,000 people, so its post station would naturally not be very large, with only twenty or thirty rooms.

There is a plaque at the entrance with the four characters "Fengxian Post Station" written in small seal script.

The side rooms were meant to be guarded, but no one was there to guard the doors.

Only after the group entered the inn did a slightly overweight middle-aged man emerge, glancing sideways at Liu Bang and his party with an indifferent expression: "I am the innkeeper. Are you here to stay, or to have some food?"

Liu Bang's face turned cold, and he shouted, "This is the territory of the King of Han. How can you manage it like this? What is your punishment?"

"King of Han? Bah!" The postmaster spat fiercely, almost spraying a mouthful of saliva onto Liu Bang's face, and sneered, "An army of 560,000 men couldn't defeat Xiang Yu's 30,000 troops, and he dares to call himself King of Han? He's nothing but a bandit!"

The news of Liu Bang's defeat at Pengcheng had already spread throughout the land, and Feng County certainly knew about it long ago. Who would still care about Liu Bang?

Liu Bang gritted his teeth, his right hand resting on the hilt of his sword, truly wanting to chop up the postmaster.

"Cough cough cough." Liu Ying coughed lightly, reminding Liu Bang to hold back.

Xiahou Ying glanced at Liu Bang and shook his head repeatedly.

Liu Bang took a deep breath, suppressing his anger, and asked, "Even so, this kind of laxity is unacceptable!"

"I've done my duty more than enough, haven't I?" the postmaster scoffed. "Everyone else is thinking about how to defect to Xiang Yu."

Xiang Yu earned his great reputation at the Battle of Julu, and in the Battle of Pengcheng, he defeated Liu Bang's army of 560,000 with 30,000 elite cavalry. It was like a myth, and his prestige reached a new level.

Feng County was originally Xiang Yu's fiefdom, so naturally they were thinking about how to rejoin Xiang Yu.

Liu Bang felt a chill run down his spine. Fortunately, he had the foresight to steal the brocade robes and exchange them for the royal robes, and he had no intention of revealing his identity. Otherwise, he would have truly walked into a trap.

"I need lodging and food," Liu Bang instructed.

The postmaster stretched out his right hand: "Give it to me."

Xiahou Ying reached into his robes with his right hand, pulled out a few copper coins, and tossed them to the middle-aged man.

The postmaster glanced at it, too lazy to reach for it, and the copper coin fell to the ground, clinking softly. He then looked at Liu Bang, clearly displeased: "Trying to get rid of a beggar?"

"Wasn't it always priced in copper coins before?" Liu Bang demanded.

"These were the rules of that scoundrel Liu Bang before, but now that this place belongs to Xiang Yu, naturally new rules must be established." The postmaster scoffed, "One gold coin!"

"One gold? That much?" Xiahou Ying's expression changed.

"If you think it's too expensive, you don't have to stay," the postmaster said dismissively.

Liu Bang gave Xiahou Ying a signal, and Xiahou Ying took out a gold ingot from his pocket, shaped like a horseshoe. This was gold, the hard currency for large-scale transactions at the time.

Because of its horseshoe-like shape, it is also known as "horseshoe gold".

Xiahou Ying tossed it to the innkeeper, whose eyes lit up. He caught it, his gaze widening as he examined it. It was gleaming gold, very tempting. He then put it in his mouth and bit into it to confirm its authenticity: "Pure gold!"

He tucked the gold ingot into his pocket and stepped aside, saying, "Lead the horse into the stable and serve it yourself."

The postmaster didn't care about Liu Ying's horses, because after the Battle of Pengcheng, many people fled and stayed here for the night, so he was used to it.

The stable wasn't particularly good, nor was it bad; it was a bit messy, but the horse manure had been cleaned up. Liu Ying and the others tied the horses to the stable, gave them water, and then fed them horse feed.

After tidying up the horses, Liu Ying and the others went to a room not far from the stable.

The four of them only shared one room for safety reasons.

Given the postmaster's attitude towards Liu Bang, the four of them certainly couldn't be separated and needed to stay together so they could escape immediately if anything went wrong.

The postmaster arrived and brought food for Liu Ying and his party: a stack of flatbreads and a bowl of hot soup.

The flatbread was made from unleavened dough; it was cold and hard, almost like a rock when held in your hand. If you were to bite into it, you might break your teeth if you weren't careful.

Hot soup, or simply hot water, is barely boiling, at most around 80 degrees Celsius, in a state of almost boiling but not quite. Experienced people know that this kind of hot water is the worst to drink; the taste is terrible, even worse than cold water.

Liu Bang was a heavy drinker, unable to enjoy life without wine and meat. Upon seeing the food, he was very dissatisfied. His face turned cold, and he shouted, "We gave you a gold coin, and this is the food? Are you feeding a dog?!"

Xiahou Ying nodded heavily.

"Look at you, a defeated soldier fleeing from Pengcheng, aren't you? You're worse than a dog!" The postmaster sneered, "If you were stronger than a dog, you wouldn't have been so soundly defeated by Xiang Yu at Pengcheng!"

"You..." This was tantamount to pointing at Liu Bang's nose and cursing him as being worse than a dog. Liu Bang was furious. He put his right hand on the hilt of his sword, really wanting to draw his sword and chop the postmaster down.

"Cough cough cough." Liu Ying coughed lightly to stop Liu Bang.

Liu Bang took a deep breath, suppressing his anger, and waved his right hand: "Get out."

The postmaster gave Liu Bang a cold glance before turning and leaving without even closing the door.

Xiahou Ying went over and closed the door, stood behind it, pricked up his ears, listened for a while, then opened the door a crack, peeked out to make sure no one was watching, before closing the door again. He strode over and said angrily, "King of Han..."

Liu Bang waved his right hand to stop him from continuing: "Before we are out of danger, do not call me King of Han."

"These scoundrels are such opportunists! When you were powerful, they all worshipped you like a god. But when you were defeated, they treated you like dogs, not like human beings," Xiahou Ying cursed.

Liu Bang was furious, his right hand on the hilt of his sword, eager to draw it and start a massacre.

"A defeated general is not worthy of being called brave, and a fleeing Han king is worse than a dog. This is quite normal." Liu Ying was not surprised at all: "Whether you are angry or not, you have to endure it."

Liu Bang took a deep breath, suppressed his anger, and released the hilt of his sword.

Xiahou Ying was furious for a moment, but suppressed his anger.

Liu Ying is right. If you can bear it, you have to endure it; if you can't, you still have to endure it.

Since Liu Bang had no soldiers or generals by his side, he was a lone commander and had no choice but to endure it.

The unpasteurized bread was unpalatable, cold and hard, and the uncooked water was undrinkable, but no matter how unpleasant it was, Liu Bang had no choice but to endure it. He gritted his teeth and forced it down, swallowing it with great difficulty.

Liu Ying found the food extremely unpalatable, but she was hungry and had no choice but to eat it, gritting her teeth and managing to swallow some with difficulty.

Liu Le didn't find it unpalatable at all; on the contrary, he enjoyed it very much.

Like Liu Le, Xiahou Ying ate heartily, and most of the food ended up in the stomachs of the two of them.

Perhaps he was devastated by the blow. After eating and drinking, Liu Bang was depressed. He kicked off his shoes, got onto the couch, lay down on it, put his hands behind his head, stared at the beams, and didn't even move his eyes.

Xiahou Ying sensed something was wrong, so he quickly came over, stood in front of the bed, and lowered his voice: "Liu Ji..."

Liu Bang remained silent.

"Liu Ji, Liu Ji..." Xiahou Ying called softly, but Liu Bang remained unresponsive. He waved his right hand in front of Liu Bang's eyes, but Liu Bang still didn't move. Xiahou Ying grew anxious and asked, "Liu Ji, what's wrong with you?"

"Am I...am I really that incompetent?" Liu Bang finally spoke, tears welling in his eyes: "An army of 560,000 men couldn't even defeat Xiang Yu's 30,000 troops."

For once, instead of calling him "Xiang the Scoundrel," he was addressed as "King Xiang."

Liu Bang looked down on Xiang Yu, believing that Xiang Yu was all brawn and no brains and only possessed the courage of a brute. Therefore, when Liu Bang mentioned Xiang Yu, he always referred to him as "Xiang the brute."

This is the first time in history that Xiang Yu has been referred to as King Xiang.

"You..." Xiahou Ying was shocked.

"Xiahou Ying, you are a good man. We have known each other for decades. You are loyal and courageous. Even when you were tortured and forced to confess, you did not reveal anything about me. I will give you wealth and honor. Take my head and present it to King Xiang." Liu Bang looked dejected and pointed to the head with his right hand: "A fine head, I give it to you as a reward for our acquaintance."

boom.

Xiahou Ying slammed his right fist heavily on Liu Bang's shoulder and shouted in a deep voice, "Am I that kind of person?"

"I know you're not that kind of person, but I'm in dire straits, with no hope of recovery." Liu Bang finally couldn't hold back his tears, which streamed down his cheeks: "With the defeat at Pengcheng, all 560,000 troops have been wiped out. If Xiang Yu seizes the opportunity to attack again, what can I do to resist? Guanzhong will surely fall to Xiang Yu, and the Han Dynasty will perish!"