(a)

The Yellow Dragon Conference was the last national military conference you attended.

After the meeting, Liu Shen personally sent you north.

He sent you all the way to Yangquan Pass.

You princes spent the last Chinese New Year's Eve and New Year of your life together.

Before the arrival of the New Year, Liu Shen issued a decree to restore your royal title.

During the Huanglong Conference, you proposed various tactics for conquering the 36 cities on the southern front, plus your previous siege examples, which were later compiled and collected by Xu Zaitian into a volume of "Strategies for Breaking the City", which became a classic textbook for the Han Army's exercise center and a very important military classic of that era.

In the hundreds of years since, the tactical thinking of the Han army in the offensive and defensive battles of the city has been profoundly influenced by you.

(b)

On the night of Chinese New Year's Eve, Liu Shen invited you to a banquet and invited you to celebrate the New Year together.

You monarchs and ministers retreated, sat opposite each other, toasted each other, and welcomed the arrival of the new year together.

That's the last New Year of your life.

After you exchanged auspicious wishes for the New Year, Liu Shen asked you about the battle of Dongcheng. You prophesied to him that it would be a very difficult and bloody battle, and that you should be prepared for a large number of casualties in the Northern Han army. You tell him that at the last moment, he must be on the battlefield to boost morale, and he must take all his might and die rather than retreat. You recommended Chen Shouye to assist him in commanding this battle. You said that Chen Shouye's steadiness and patience and tenacity are very suitable for this battle, and you have deliberately let Chen Shouye hone in the southern front war over the years, so that he has accumulated rich combat experience on the southern front and forged him to be mature, which is to prepare Liu Shen for this time.

Liu Shen asked you, if your health allows, can you personally come back and command the decisive battle against Dongcheng after the battle on the Northern Front is over?

You shake your head.

You said. Even if your health allows, you will not return to the south to personally direct the battle against Dongcheng after the battle on the northern front, and you will not give Liu Shen any advice for the final battle to destroy Dongcheng.

Liu Shen was surprised. He asks you why? The battle to destroy the city was the last large-scale battle before the world was settled, did you work hard for these years and pay such a big price? Isn't it just for the final victory in the Battle of Dongcheng? If this battle is won, it will be an unsurpassable immortal feat that the ministers can make! Do you want to give this natural immortality to others?

He doesn't understand why you have to withdraw from the decisive battle at the last minute, and you can't even give tactical advice.

You said frankly to Liu Shen: This is for your father. Although Liu Yan is not a competent king, he is not yet a violent king, and he is a king who is served and loyal by your father. He has always respected your father and treated him very kindly. Your father, until his death, never thought that you would have to change your allegiance to a monarch in the future. I would never have thought that one day, you would help Liu Shen and force Liu Yan to today's desperate situation.

You said to Liu Shen: "Before my father died, he explained a lot of things to Qin'er, but he never explained that he wanted his ministers to be loyal to Dongcheng. Because he thinks it's a self-evident thing, and there is no need to explain it at all. ”

You say, "The minister's present behavior." If my father learned about it under the Nine Springs, he would be shocked and heartbroken. ”

Say, "If the minister goes to destroy the city with his own hands." The minister's father must not forgive the minister. When the minister dies, he will not know how to face his old man. ”

You say, "The previous things were all done by the ministers for the country." This is the only thing that the minister hopes to be able to get involved in. The minister wanted to quit and not participate in the battle of the city for the sake of his father. Please be sympathetic to the minister's unavoidable distress at this point. ”

You say, "The minister knows that such a gesture seems a bit hypocritical, but the minister really has no other way to express filial piety." A minister cannot allow himself to do something wrong because he wants to be filial to his elders, nor can he not show respect to his elders because he wants to do the right thing. ”

You say, "The minister wants to come and go." It seems that this is the only way to do both. ”

You say, "I ask the king of Han to forgive his ministers for their allegiance in this matter, and they cannot finish well." ”

You said: "Wechen has lived in Qingchuan since he was a child, and he has not fulfilled his filial piety by his father's side for many years. After returning home, because of the minister, the family was in turmoil, so that the father was between two sons and a daughter. Very embarrassed, sad in my heart. When the enemy attacked Cui Jiaji and Huang Sangyukou, Chen Youyuan was recuperating in Qingchuan, and failed to help his father cooperate with Yu Wentao to do a good job of joint defense, so that his father was old and had to personally go into battle to command, and finally suffered an arrow wound. If he had been at home, his father would not have suffered the arrow wound, and if he hadn't been wounded, his father would not have died so early. ”

You said, "The minister didn't even rush back to see his father for the last time, so that the father left the world without a son by his side." The father handed over the family business to the minister. But the minister also failed to live up to his father's entrustment, and the minister let them all be buried under the huge mud dragon with the enemy army. ”

You say, "I don't know how many times, the minister dreamed that the night he came home from Qingchuan, the minister watched the flames fly in the house, and the soldiers raised their knives in the courtyard to slaughter, but the minister could not stop them alone. The minister could only weigh the benefits, save Qin'er, and leave the slaughtered Zhuang Town, and even the spiritual position of the ancestor was not rescued in time, and the minister had to watch it and the body of the ancestral father's coffin engulfed in flames. ”

You say, "My father always had high hopes for the minister all his life, but the minister did nothing for him in the end. The minister did not settle his aunt who had been with him for decades, nor did he take care of his other son, failed to get along with Jingyun, failed to save him, moved him, and loved him, and as a result, he was always trapped in loneliness and hatred, and became a nightmare for Mrs. Jun and a sinner who rebelled against the country. ”

You say, "The minister has not even been able to give his father a decent funeral, and he has not even kept the tomb of his deceased mother." Although later in Yantang Pass, the minister set up a mourning hall for his parents and also made a dojo for chasing souls, but this was just a comfort to his own shame. “

You say: "Looking back, in this life, Chen Zhen was an unfilial son, worthy of his high hopes and deep love for his late father. ”

(c)

Liu Shen said: "I understand. ”

He said, "Am I not such a son." Isn't it the same thing to disappoint the first king, and how is it not the same way, after death, I don't know how to face the spirit of the first king in heaven. ”

Liu Shen said: "It's me." Feeling that he was more talented than his younger brother, he often disregarded his face in the court, and openly disagreed with his political opinions, which caused damage to his authority. I also made many friends with the courtiers, which exacerbated his fears and insecurity. ”

Liu Shen said: "As the eldest brother, in fact, I have looked down on his frailty and mediocrity since I was a child. He rarely loved and taught him with the heart of a brother, and he never really respected or understood his mother. ”

He said: "The first king hesitated for a long time on the issue of establishing a long successor, and finally hoped that our brothers would live in harmony and work together. But we still let my father down, and we are so incompatible with each other now. ”

Liu Shen said: "In the dead of night, I often feel guilty. If you want to talk about unfilial sons, I can be regarded as one of them. ”

"I may have done the right thing," Liu said. But it was not done in a loving way. In the end, I still put the right thing on the basis of cruelty. ”

Liu Shen said: "Every time I have overcome an important pass on the southern front, I feel very happy in my heart. I never thought about my brother's feelings, and I never sympathized with his feelings. I didn't even have any compassion for him. I was surprised to find this. How could I be such a person? ”

Liu Shen said: "When I was a child, after seeing those cases of cannibalism in the history books, I once said to the former kings, how could their hearts be so cold. How could they do such a thing to their own families. When the first king heard this, he was deeply moved. I have praised my benevolence and filial piety to people countless times. Maybe because I said such things, the first king thought that I would never become such a person when I grew up. ”

Liu Shen said: "But, it's really scary, I now find that I have become this kind of person." ”

(iv)

You say, "King Han." The minister knew that he asked not to participate in the battle of Dongcheng, this kind of words. Not a courtier can say. The minister is well aware of the capital crime. ”

Liu Shen said, "No, no, General. You only said it to me if you saw me as a friend who could take care of each other, a brother who could live and die together. ”

You say, "King Xie Han is magnanimous." ”

Liu Shen said, "I have granted your request. ”

He said, "The Battle of the City. It was the last war between our brothers. I'll go and end it myself. I will take up my destiny, my responsibility. ”

He said to you, "General, you can concentrate on the war on the Northern Front. ”

Liu Shen didn't know, as early as after you returned home from the first visit to the city, you told me all the weaknesses of the city's defense, the breakthrough of the city, and the tactics of breaking the city. Because I was surprised that you had only been in Dongcheng for one day and had seen it so thoroughly, I must have remembered your words, and when Liu Shen personally went to the decisive battle in Dongcheng, because I cared about Liu Shen, I would definitely tell Liu Shen your siege suggestion.

You know Liu Shen's military abilities too well. You know, his military ability is not only far weaker than yours, but also far weaker than many generals in the Han army. After you die, as time goes by, it is inevitable that some people will look down on Liu Shen because of his poor military ability, or they will have different aspirations because of this.

Therefore, in the final stage of the war, in the most critical battle, you must give Liu Shen a chance to show his military talent to the whole army, so that the whole army will be impressed by him, and shock these generals and troops, so that they will not dare to act rashly for a long time afterward.

In this way, you expressed your respect and apologies to your father for the last time, and gave Liu Shen a precious gift.

Later, before Liu Shen left, I told him your siege ideas, and Liu Shen won the battle according to your ideas.

Liu Shen's foresight, foresight and insight in this battle amazed the Han army, and they never imagined that Liu Shen would sometimes have such a high level of performance in battle. It was this "sometimes super-level performance" that played an important role in maintaining the Han army's obedience to Liu Shen.

(5)

At that last Chinese New Year's Eve banquet, Liu Shen repeatedly persuaded you that after ending the war on the northern front, he earnestly hoped that you would definitely return to Yunjing to recuperate, and that you would no longer be able to do state and military affairs.

This time, you promised Liu Shen.

You didn't tell him that it couldn't have happened.

If you don't die of illness on the way, you also plan to die with the war on the northern front. When the war stops, you will not live in this world, you will not return from the Northern Front alive.

You will help Liu Shen eliminate the last scruple he had about establishing a new dynasty: yourself.

You'll give him the confidence and boldness to start a new centralized unified dynasty without anyone else to stand up to.

You said to the old subordinates who remained in the rear in Yunjing that you would be the last step in front of Liu Shen's throne, and that's what it meant.

You later said to Xie Shuangcheng: "Because of my war, so many people have died in all sides of the world, and they are all unable to enter the era of peace because of me." I should be with them. I deserve to die in war. I can't enjoy it alone in the peaceful era. Otherwise, it's just too unfair. ”

You silently pray in your heart: "Qin'er, you and the King of Han, everything will protect those who are alive." I'm going to accompany those who are dead. (To be continued.) )