Chapter Eighty-Four: Respective Heroes

  "Hero?!" Liu was taken aback for a moment. What is a hero anyway? In this world, the one who laughs last is considered a hero?

  Lü Bu did not say a word, perhaps in Lü Bu's heart, only he himself is the hero!

  "It's not that I'm afraid of being laughed at by Gong Jing, but in this vast world, I've only been to Xuzhou and Yuzhou! How can people who don't know the world possibly know who is a hero?" Liu Mang refused to say, what is a hero? Doesn't everyone have their own definition of a hero in their heart?

  "Your Highness, just say whatever you want!" Zhou Yu replied.

  "I think Gongsun Zan is a hero!" Liu Meng's words were not surprising, but he was determined to die for his cause. Gongsun Zan? The White Horse General Gongsun Zan? This defeated and ruined man is a hero? Is Liu Meng joking?

  "A young whippersnapper recognizes a hero!" A middle-aged scholar below the seat sneered.

  "What a title this gentleman has!" Liu Mang glanced sideways at the middle-aged scholar, had all the strategists of Jiangdong been injected with chicken blood today?

  "Don't be surprised, this is Chen Rui, Chen Zizheng, a friend of Wen Tabelle!" Zhou Yu introduced, Chen Rui was also from Guangling and had a very good relationship with Qin Song. As a friend, he naturally stood up after Qin Song was scolded by Liu Mang.

  "It turned out to be Mr. Chen, does Mr. Chen think that what Ben Wang said is wrong?!" Liu Mang asked back.

  "Foolish, foolish beyond measure!" Chen Rui stood up. "Not to mention that Gong Sun Bo Yu has already become a withered bone in his tomb, even if he were alive, he would not be able to become a hero!"

  "Gongsun Zan was fond of war but lacked strategy. Having experienced the Yellow Turban and Dong Zhuo's chaos, he occupied the four sides of the north, with an army of 100,000 and countless war horses. He also had the world's number one white horse, Baima Zhenyi, under his command. He should have swept across the northern regions, but instead, he became muddle-headed and killed Liu Yu, causing unrest throughout Youzhou. When fighting against Yuan Shao, he initially held the upper hand, but failed to seize the opportunity to deliver a crushing blow, allowing Yuan Shao to catch his breath. The Battle of Longzhong further dampened his morale. Originally, with Baima Zhenyi by his side, he still had a chance to compete with Yuan Shao, but this man was short-sighted and prepared to defend himself? How could he not be defeated in the end? It's no wonder that he ended up..." Chen Rui spoke with disdain whenever he mentioned Gongsun Zan's battles against Yuan Shao.

  "Bravo! Bravo!" Liu Mao applauded with his hands "Excellent, excellent!" No wonder he was one of the five great strategists under Sun Ce's command, and he could analyze Gongsun Zan so thoroughly.

  "How can this man be considered a hero?!" Chen Rui sneered at Liu Mao, he didn't think much of Gongsun Zan.

  "Can Mr. Chen Rui understand heroes?!" Liu Meng asked Chen Rui with a questioning expression.

  "I don't understand, do you?!"

  "A hero has the ambition to soar through the clouds, the momentum to swallow mountains and rivers, the capacity to hold the nine states in his belly, and the broad-mindedness to encompass the four seas! He shoulders justice, rescues the common people from water and fire, and saves the people from hanging upside down. This is a hero! I don't know if Mr. Chen Rui agrees with what I said!"

  "Hmm!" Liu Mang actually interpreted the term "hero" a bit, even Chen Rui couldn't jump out of trouble.

  "Gongsun Zan! Also known as the White Horse General! Mr. Chen Rui, do you know where his title of White Horse General comes from!" Liu Mao kept asking back, these were all things that Chen Rui could not possibly know.

  "It wasn't you who took it, nor was it something I said casually, nor was it taken by our great Han people, but rather by the people from beyond the borders, those barbarians, those bandits who knocked on the gates, and were given to General Gongsun Zan!" Liu Mao looked at the large group of scholars below him, all of whom were from south of the Huai River. Although they too lived in a time of chaos, they couldn't truly understand the hardships faced by the people living on the borders. Not only did they have to endure the chaos and domestic disasters, but also the invasions from foreign tribes.

  Every invasion by foreign tribes brought to the Great Han only pain and endless death.

  The appearance of Gongsun Zan, however, gave the border people a kind of hope.

  Gongsun Zan used iron and blood, his iron cavalry warning those foreign tribes that the Central Plains were not a place they could come to at will.

  Gongsun Zan was fond of riding white horses, so whenever the Xiongnu saw a white horse, they would immediately retreat. This is how he got the nickname "White Horse General".

  "Guarding the country and resisting foreign invasion, is such a person considered a hero?" Liu Mang asked Chen Rui.

  "Hmph!" Chen Rui retorted coldly, "Even the dead can be called heroes, huh?"

  "The White Horse General is dead, but he lives on in people's hearts. You, a living man, are not even as good as a dead one!" Gong Sun Zan also had many faults, but what he brought to the border town was decades of intimidation, making foreign tribes dare not take a single step.

  "You, you!" Liu Mang's disdain made Chen Rui's anger surge up.

  "Sir, don't get angry, it's bad for your health!" Liu Mang most admired those who fought against foreign enemies for the country, from Huo Qubing to Wei Qing and Li Guang, to Gongsun Zan, and even his cheap father-in-law. But now, such a person was slapped by a scholar and didn't even dare to fight back.

  "Go on, young man! What other heroes have you got to say?" The atmosphere gradually shifted from Zhou Yu's discussion of heroes to the duel between Chen Rui and Liu Mao.

  "I say Yuan Shu is a hero!" Liu Mao said once again.

  "Hahaha!" Liu Mang burst out laughing as soon as he opened his mouth. "You foolish child, you still consider yourself a member of the Han imperial family, yet now you're actually calling that treacherous subject a hero! How ridiculous! How laughable!"

  "Yuan Shu?!" Sun Ce and Zhou Yu both looked at each other sideways. If Gong Sun Zan could be considered a hero, it was understandable since he guarded the borders after all. But Yuan Shu? He didn't care about the country or its people, basically doing nothing but despicable things!

  "Traitorous ministers and villainous sons?! Please enlighten me, Mr. Chen Rui, what is the meaning of 'traitorous ministers and villainous sons'?" Liu Mang did not immediately confront Chen Rui but instead slowly boiled him in lukewarm water.

  "Those who do not follow the way of ruler and subject, father and son, are considered rebellious ministers and treacherous sons. What more can be said about Yuan Shu, who falsely claims to be emperor?"

  "So you're saying Mr. Chen Rui is also a treacherous minister and a rebellious son!" Liu Mao said with a smile to Chen Rui.

  "You want me to spit blood at you?!"

  "Now that you've mentioned the monarch and his subjects, I'm the king of Shu, and as your younger brother, I govern Jing, Yi, Yu, and Yang four states. Lujiang is right under Yu state, so Chen Rui should have knelt down quickly when he saw me!" Liu Mang suddenly roared with anger. Currently, Chen Rui holds the position of Long History of Wan City, which actually makes him Liu Mang's subordinate.

  "You, you, you!" Chen Rui pointed at Liu Mang, unable to say a word.

  "Traitorous ministers and treacherous sons, humph! Mr. Chen Rui, the traitorous ministers and treacherous sons you spoke of, which one in this world is not?! Cao Mengde holds the Son of Heaven to command the vassals, Yuan Shao takes the position of Grand General for himself, now Yuan Gonglu wants to give him the Imperial Seal, Jingzhou Liu Biao, Yizhou Liu Zhang, when the Son of Heaven was humiliated, where were they? Xuzhou Liu Bei, waving the banner of the Imperial Uncle, has he ever done anything like an Imperial Uncle?! Even if it's your master..." Liu Mao coldly smiled.

  Chen Rui was indeed left speechless by Liu Mao's questioning. If according to Chen Rui's logic, his lord Sun Ce would be a treacherous minister and a rebellious son.

  "I say that Yuan Shu is a hero, not because he did it for the country or the people! To be honest, I've been to Shouchun and also seen Huainan! Along the way, there were corpses everywhere, Yuan Shu was truly deserving of death, but why do I still think he's a hero? Because I admire his courage, he dared to speak out what he thought in his heart, while others, on the surface they seem kind but actually are just thieves and prostitutes! Am I right, Mr. Chen Rui?"

  Chen Rui couldn't possibly not hear Liu Mao's veiled insult, but there was no way he could retort.

  Liu Mang's hero in his heart is not the last one to laugh in other people's hearts, but those who bring dazzling colors to this era and can leave a heavy stroke in history.

  For example, Liu Biao, Cao Cao's evaluation of him is that his reputation exceeds his actual ability, he has no intention of making progress and is only a dog who guards the status quo. However, he did not see that in the chaotic world, there was only Jingzhou as a clean land, and only this place where people could eat enough to have hope for life.

  There is also Zhang Lu, whose Five Pecks of Rice Tao was a place for the living, and Hanzhong under his rule was also prosperous.

  The hero is in your heart, everyone has their own hero in their heart, why bother to bring it out and comment on it!