Disciplining Emperor Gaozu of Han

Chapter 9 Liu Ying's Special Skills

Liu Bang shamelessly approached Liu Ying, trying to get close to her, but not only did he fail, Liu Ying exposed his past misdeeds, making him furious and humiliated. He roared, "If you have the guts, then never talk to me again!"

"Heh." Liu Ying sneered.

"If I pay any attention to you, I'm your grandson!" Liu Bang turned his face away and ignored Liu Ying.

Liu Ying didn't even glance at Liu Bang, and spurred his horse to gallop away.

Liu Bang glanced at Liu Ying, giving him a look that said, "You definitely can't resist." However, after riding a considerable distance, Liu Ying showed no sign of acknowledging him. Liu Bang was somewhat dumbfounded. Looking at Liu Le in Xiahou Ying's arms, he pulled on the reins and spurred his horse to Xiahou Ying's side: "Le'er, come here, let's get to know each other better!"

Liu Le remained dazed and confused, like a living dead.

It was a devastating blow to her. First, Empress Lü and Liu Taigong were captured alive by Zhongli Mo, and then her home was burned to the ground by Zhongli Mo. When she was desperate, she encountered Liu Bang, and was overjoyed. Little did she expect that her biological father, Liu Bang, would kick her off the carriage and send her to her death.

This blow would be unparalleled even for an adult, let alone for young Liu Le.

"No..." Liu Le turned his head and looked at Liu Bang, screaming as if he had seen a demon.

"..." Liu Bang's face stiffened, but fortunately, he was thick-skinned enough to force a smile and coax, "Le'er, don't take it to heart. I had no choice, did I?"

"Hmph!" Liu Le snorted coldly.

"Le'er, it's been four years. Have you missed your father?" Having failed with his first scheme, Liu Bang tried another, beginning to tempt her: "For four years, I've thought of you every single day. Do you know how much I've missed you?"

Liu Le turned his face around, his ears perked up.

"Come here, let your father hold you and we'll talk as we walk." Liu Bang stretched out his hands.

Liu Le was tempted, but worried that he wouldn't be able to get through, so he turned to look at Xiahou Ying.

Xiahou Ying picked her up and handed her to Liu Bang. Liu Bang took her, held her in his arms, and kissed her profusely, looking every bit the loving father.

"He's got the makings of a movie star!" Liu Ying thought to himself, and had to admit that Liu Bang was a good actor whose talent was wasted on being an emperor.

"Waaaaah..." Liu Le finally calmed down, threw himself into Liu Bang's arms, wrapped his arms around his neck, and cried loudly, "Father, Le'er thought he would never see you again!"

"Le'er, don't talk nonsense." Liu Bang gently patted her back, comforting her, "My good Le'er, you are so lucky, how could you not see your father again?"

"Father: Mother is gone, Father is gone, home is gone..." Liu Le cried bitterly, tears streaming down his face.

Liu Bang asked softly, and Liu Le, while crying, recounted what had happened over the past four years.

Nothing major happened. Not long after Liu Bang left, Empress Lü took Liu Le and Liu Ying, the siblings, back to Zhongyangli and continued to farm and live a simple life.

"When I left, didn't I make arrangements for you? I gave you big houses to live in and people to serve you. How could you know how to farm?" Liu Bang asked, puzzled.

Four years ago, when Liu Bang left Pei County, he made arrangements for his family and sent people to take good care of them.

One of the most famous people who took care of Liu Bang's family was Shen Shiqi.

"Father, not long after you left, people said you were dead, and no one cares about us anymore," Liu Le cried. "Mother had no choice but to take us home to farm, otherwise we would starve to death."

"A bunch of ungrateful scoundrels!" Liu Bang cursed through gritted teeth.

Liu Ying rolled his eyes. Did Liu Bang not consider how much power he had back then? He only had a few thousand men, his strength was incredibly weak. He was gone for four years without a word. In the chaotic world at the end of the Qin Dynasty, such a person would have died long ago.

Once people believe he is dead, who will follow his wishes? Who will take care of Liu Bang's family?

Therefore, Empress Lü had no choice but to take Liu Ying and his siblings back to their hometown in Zhongyangli, where they continued to farm and beg for food.

After questioning Empress Lü and Liu Taigong, Liu Bang was most concerned about Liu Ying: "What about him?"

"Who is he?" Liu Le nestled in Liu Bang's arms, tilting her little face up and asking in confusion.

Liu Bang gritted his teeth, knowing he was bringing up a sore subject, but too embarrassed to say it aloud, he glanced at Liu Ying.

Liu Ying rolled her eyes and didn't respond.

Liu Le looked at Liu Ying again and again before he understood. He raised his head, puffed out his chest, and said with great pride, "My little brother is amazing! He's incredibly good at hunting."

"Hunting?" Liu Bang was astonished.

Xiahou Ying's ears perked up as well.

Liu Ying's performance was amazing. If it weren't for him, they would still be being hunted down, and might even have already fallen into Xiang Yu's hands. Therefore, Xiahou Ying also wanted to know what Liu Ying had been doing for the past four years and why he had such amazing skills.

"Mmm-hmm-hmm." Liu Le nodded repeatedly: "When my younger brother was five years old, he was all grown up and wanted to help Mother with farm work, but Mother wouldn't allow it. Mother said that my brother was a man and didn't need to do such lowly work..."

"At least she has some sense!" Liu Bang was an idle man who never engaged in productive labor. He was extremely opposed to farming, considering it a lowly occupation. He wholeheartedly agreed with Empress Lü's decision not to allow Liu Ying to do this.

"My younger brother tries to help Mother by going hunting, and he's become quite skilled at it." Liu Le gestured with his hands, "He once hunted a wild boar this long, weighing three hundred pounds."

Wild boar is a type of wild boar.

The Qin Dynasty implemented a system of small jin, where one jin was equivalent to half a jin in modern times. Three hundred jin would be equivalent to one hundred and fifty jin in modern times, which is not very large, and would barely be considered medium-sized among wild boars.

However, Liu Ying was just over six years old when he killed the wild boar, which was almost a year ago.

According to modern calculations, Liu Ying was only five years old at the time.

For a five-year-old child, it's really impressive to be able to hunt such a big wild boar.

"A born hunter!" The ex-boyfriend had many memories of hunting and rich experience. Just as Liu Le said, Liu Ying, though young, was already a skilled hunter. Liu Ying's assessment of her ex-boyfriend was that he was a natural-born hunter.

When Liu Ying was five years old, he wanted to help Empress Lü with farm work, but she refused. So he tried to help her by learning to hunt. Perhaps because he had a natural talent for it, he progressed very quickly in hunting. At first, he could only set traps to catch small animals like pheasants and rabbits, but as his experience increased and he grew older, the prey he could hunt became larger and larger.

Liu Ying was not only very talented at hunting, but he also quickly became addicted to it and only wanted to hunt.

As a result, the prey he hunted became larger and larger, the largest being a wild boar weighing 300 jin (150 kg).

The meat in the house was almost all wild game hunted by Liu Ying.

Some of these wild game could be sold for money, but Empress Lü refused to sell them and kept them for her children to eat.

Liu Ying's fondness for hunting is a true historical fact.

The morning Liu Ruyi was poisoned by Empress Lü was because Liu Ying went hunting early in the morning, giving Empress Lü the opportunity to take advantage of the situation.

Empress Lü summoned Liu Ruyi to Chang'an with the intention of killing him. Fearing that Liu Ruyi would be murdered by Empress Lü, Liu Ying personally went to welcome him and took him under his wing, making Liu Ruyi eat, live, and sleep with him, giving Empress Lü no chance whatsoever.

Empress Lü was worried about accidentally hurting Liu Ying, so she endured it and did not move.

As time went by, Liu Ying assumed that Empress Lü's anger had subsided and lowered his guard, going hunting early in the morning. Liu Ruyi, being young, couldn't get up and slept in, so he didn't go with her, and the two parted ways.

Empress Lü seized the opportunity and poisoned Liu Ruyi.

Liu Bang kept trying to steer the conversation towards Liu Ying, hoping to get closer to him. However, Liu Ying completely ignored him.

Finally, Liu Bang couldn't hold back any longer: "Why are you ignoring me?"

"I don't want to be a grandson!" Liu Ying retorted.

"Consider it me speaking to you first. I'm your grandson, okay?" Liu Bang said shamelessly, moving closer again.

"Stay away from me." Liu Ying wouldn't give him a second thought.

"If you're not satisfied, I'll be your great-great-grandson," Liu Ying insisted.

"You..." Liu Ying was a little frantic when she encountered Liu Bang, such a shameless, brazen rogue.