Chapter 263: Two Princes
Lu Bu ran to the palace with a large group of county soldiers, things were better than expected, before they ran to the palace, Lu Bu's horse gathered thousands of county soldiers, and even many officials from various departments, everyone was armed with knives, guns and sticks, shouting and running, and the louder they screamed, the more people joined on the road!
In the past, it was indeed very troublesome to find more county soldiers, the county soldiers had little food and little salary, and their enthusiasm for errands was naturally not high. But that was when nothing happened normally, isn't there a big incident now, and the active surnames of the county soldiers and even the government officials immediately broke out!
In the feudal era, when the world was in turmoil, the first people who could rise up to rebel and rebel were often the extremely poor, the people who couldn't survive, and there was no other way to live except for rebellion, so they were often the first wave of uprisings, and the second wave was basically the lowest level of petty officials and officials, such as Liu Bangxiao and others, and then there were speculators from all walks of life, these people gathered together to elect a big leader, the big leader's background is not limited, and it is possible for any class, mainly depending on the ability of each person, Then, around this big leader, a relatively complete political system is established, then the rebellion has the possibility of success.
The current situation is just when the desperate poor people began to rebel, the Yellow Turban Army has approached Luoyang, and the lowest-level petty officials found that the original powerful imperial court, there are also times when they can't, their lives belong to being passable, but they are not comfortable, they have a certain amount of power in their hands, they have force, but they lack a leader, if once someone picks the head and fanned the flames against them, then these people do things that take advantage of the fire to rob, which is definitely first-class in this era, and it can be called a scramble!
It is usually difficult to recruit county soldiers, and it is even more difficult to get the officials of various departments to follow them on the street, but now the situation is just the opposite, not only a large number of county soldiers have joined, but also more officials have joined, and even some ruffians and hooligans are also screaming, holding various "weapons" to join Lu Bu's team, and everyone is shouting: "King Qin, Qingjun side!" ”
Before the Yulin army went to the forage field to assemble, Lu Bu first pulled up a team in the city, and when he ran to the back gate of the palace with the team, Lu Bu looked back, okay, the people who followed behind exceeded three thousand, although there was no rule in the mess, but there were too many people!
Lu Bu couldn't collapse anymore, his face was flushed, and he had a posture of drinking too much, he thought to himself: "It's done, it's done, it's so many people, it's completely possible to capture the palace gate!" ”
There is still a distance of dozens of zhang from the back door of the palace, and the little eunuchs in the palace have already seen this miscellaneous army, and they are rushing to report to Zhang Rang, while quickly mobilizing the Yulin army on duty to defend the palace gate.
There is Zhang Rang's power in the Yulin army, but he can't control all the Yulin army, only a part, because he can't control it all, and he is afraid that those Yulin troops who don't listen to his instructions will oppose him, so he only lets the part of the Yulin army that can be commanded enter the palace on duty.
Due to different positions, different ideas, Cao Ying and Wang Yun both think that it is a very stupid thing for the Ten Standing Servants to fail to grasp the Yulin Army in time, but from Zhang Rang's standpoint, it is not stupid, but beyond his power, he can't control it, what else does he control? If you are greedy and chew more, it is better to hold on to it with all your might!
It happened too suddenly, the little eunuchs and Yulin soldiers on the palace wall were not prepared, they looked at the county soldiers and officials who were rushing towards with a roar, they were all at a loss and couldn't deal with it!
A lieutenant of the Yulin Army shouted: "Is there a lieutenant to sit in the town, if we don't come to the lieutenant again, we will also withdraw!" ”
Xiao Huangmen immediately screamed, dragging the lieutenant and preventing them from leaving. Xiao Huangmen begged on his lips, but he was scolding in his heart, these Yulin Army couldn't be counted on at the critical moment, they were all bastards who could only eat and shit, but couldn't lift knives and guns!
In the midst of the chaos, Zhang Rang and the other ten permanent servants all arrived, and there was such a big thing, and the eunuchs were all anxious, they didn't know what happened, was Li Qin coming, or did the ministers gather the army and come back? But no matter which party brings people, it is impossible to rush directly to the palace gate, they have to line up outside, and then talk about the conditions, Li Qin and the ministers have to ask the emperor's safety, and rush directly to the palace gate, are you afraid that the emperor will not die fast enough!
When Zhang Rang and the others arrived, Lu Bu had already arrived with his people. Lu Bu is watching below, although it is the back door of the palace, but the palace gate is thick, the palace wall is towering, higher than the ordinary county city wall, there is no siege equipment, it is difficult to attack it!
Zhang Rang shouted at the bottom: "What is the matter with you? Don't you know that breaking into the forbidden land is to kill your head! ”
The noisy county soldiers below immediately calmed down, their status determined that they did not dare to go against high-ranking officials, this concept was cultivated for many years, and it could not be changed for a while!
Lu Bu has been a bandit in Bingzhou for so long, and he knows too much about the mentality of the county soldiers. If you want them to stop being afraid of the government, follow him to kill people and set fires, and move forward bravely, the best, most effective, and fastest way is to let them have blood on their hands! As long as they are allowed to carry the case, the people who were as timid as mice before will immediately become bold, and they will do it to the end, without saying anything!
Lu Bu took out the bow and arrow from the horse, aimed at Zhang Rang and tore off the bowstring, and it was an arrow with a swish. His archery skills are outstanding, and when he shoots an arrow, the Yulin Army next to Zhang Rang immediately raises a shield to block in front of Zhang Rang, but this arrow is so powerful that it shoots through the shield and through the chest of the Yulin Army, and it hits Zhang Rang's shoulder!
Zhang Rang screamed, fell to the ground on his back facing the sky, and the little eunuch next to him hurriedly stepped forward to help, while the rest of the big eunuchs reacted very quickly and fell to the ground together!
Lu Bu didn't care if he shot Zhang Rang or not, in fact, he didn't know Zhang Rang at all, he only knew that whoever spoke was the leader, as long as the leader was put down, then everything would be done!
He turned around and shouted at the miscellaneous army: "The first evil has been punished, we will serve the king of Qin, and we must not delay!" Brothers, follow me into the palace to save the emperor! As he spoke, he withdrew the bow in his hand, picked up Fang Tian's halberd, shouted, and was the first to rush to the palace gate!
The ragtag army was only quiet for a moment, and roared in unison: "Enter the palace to save the emperor, enter the palace to save the emperor!" ”
The ruffians and hooligans who were mixed in the team shouted: "Enter the palace to move things......
The ragtag army screamed and rushed to the palace gate together. Once these people were instigated, the destructive power was amazing, some people shouted to hug the tree and hit the door, and immediately some people ran to the side of the avenue, cut down a tree, dozens of people picked up the big tree, rushed to the palace gate, and after a few loud bangs, the palace gate was knocked open!
The Yulin Army, which was guarding the palace, was not prepared for the sudden attack, and there were no heavy objects behind the palace gate. After the palace gate was knocked open, the Yulin army was shocked and retreated, and some people even began to run into the palace!
Lu Bu rushed into the palace gate, the excitement in his heart was indescribable, and he wondered a little, why didn't the soldiers guarding the palace release arrows? Of course, he wasn't afraid that the Yulin Army would release arrows and shoot his miscellaneous army, but the miscellaneous army was not his, he didn't care how many people died, he just wondered why the Yulin Army gave up the most useful weapon!
In fact, without advance warning, the Yulin Army is not allowed to use bows and arrows in the palace, bows and arrows can be shot outside, and they can also be shot inside, the emperor is the supreme of the world, the co-lord of the country, how can he live under the threat of bows and arrows, in case the Yulin army on the palace wall rebels, wouldn't it be bad? There is no need for all the Yulin troops to rebel, as long as a few have evil intentions and shoot a few arrows into the palace, it is a fatal matter; So it wasn't at the last moment, not at the emergency moment when it was necessary to guard the palace, the Yulin Army was not equipped with bows and arrows, Lu Bu came suddenly, and picked up a big bargain!
Under the protection of the little eunuch, the ten permanent servants ran to the harem with a rolling belt, shouting loudly, letting the Yulin army resist, a few Yulin soldiers played tricks and refused to contribute, but most of them were still dutiful, whether they could stop it or not, they all rushed forward and fought with the ragtag army!
Lu Bu took the lead, Fang Tian drew a halberd to slash and slash, as if entering a no-man's land, his bravery was fully exerted at this time, opening the way for the miscellaneous army in front, and he actually killed more than a dozen Yulin troops in one go! Yulin Jun didn't have much fighting spirit, but when he saw that he was powerful, he shouted, turned around and fled, and they all ran into the harem, and no one guarded the palace gate!
The county soldiers and officials who followed Lu Bu in, as well as those ruffians and hooligans, saw that the Yulin army had fled, and thought that they had defeated it, they would not analyze all kinds of factors, anyway, as long as they won, no matter what they won, they rushed to the palace even more desperately, smashing and robbing it!
Lu Bu didn't expect this to be the case, and the surprise in his heart was no less than that of those Yulin Army who fled! In fact, he was not born after the Ming Dynasty, if he had watched "Journey to the West", he would have understood that in fact, the more he fought with the most senior generals, the greater his chance of victory. When Sun Wukong made trouble in the Heavenly Palace, the 100,000 heavenly soldiers and generals couldn't take him, why? Because the heavenly soldiers and generals are all mixed and eaten under the Jade Emperor, everyone can't play with their lives, but why does Sun Wukong always encounter powerful monsters on the way to learn the scriptures, so that he always has to move the rescuers? It's very simple, those monsters don't eat mixed rice, they start their own businesses, can they start a business without playing with their lives!
The times in which things happened are different, but the reason is the same, Lu Bu can't beat the entrepreneurial army like the Fujiao Army, but he can beat the Yulin Army, and he can be followed by a large group of entrepreneurial miscellaneous troops, the brothers are making trouble in the palace, do you still expect them to stop?
After the miscellaneous army entered the palace, they saw good things, took what they could pick up, smashed what they couldn't pick up, and quickly stuffed them into their mouths when they saw delicious food and drink, and saw the little palace maids...... Chase! What saves the emperor and doesn't save the emperor, what Qingjun can't clear the side of the monarch, these miscellaneous armies are all thrown out of the clouds!
The palace door is wide open, and many "idlers" outside are snooping, they see that there is a mess inside, and some bold people also rush in, take advantage of the fire to rob, take advantage of the chaos to rob, this kind of thing is not uncommon in any dynasty and generation, and once it is chaotic, the more chaotic it is, the more it will be bigger!
Because Lu Bu was unable to restrain the miscellaneous army, the speed of entering the palace was greatly reduced, and the miscellaneous army broke through the palace for a long time, and did not hit the emperor's bedroom, let alone control the roads everywhere!
Zhang Rang and the other ten attendants ran to the emperor's bedroom.
On the dragon bed, the corpse of Emperor Liu Hong was parked, and the emperor of the Han Empire finally did not escape the catastrophe, and failed to see the Yellow Turban Army being suppressed, but was made sick by his inner servants and relatives, and then he was angry to death in his illness!
Seeing that the emperor died, they blocked the news, kept it secret, and also forged an edict to pass on the throne, abolished the crown prince, changed the prince Liu Xie, and prepared to support Liu Xie to ascend the throne, but all this was still in progress, but it was suddenly disrupted by Lu Bu's miscellaneous army, and the ten permanent servants could no longer act according to the plan, and they couldn't even stay in the palace!
A big eunuch hurriedly said: "Father Zhang, you have something to say, what should I do now?" We are all rootless people, all the glory comes from the emperor's favor, now the first emperor has died, the new monarch has not been established, we have nothing to rely on, what should we do? ”
The other eunuchs also looked at Zhang Rang with blank eyes, waiting for him to make up his mind!
Zhang Rang stomped his feet and said, "The matter has come to this point, it's inappropriate to talk about it, let's take the new prince out of the palace together and go to find Li Qin." Li Lang is the most righteous, this is known to the world, even if we have any misunderstanding with him, but as long as we can see him, he will remember the old feelings, save us, and he will also help the new prince to ascend the throne, after all, the new prince has no power, he can control the government and be a regent prince! ”
"What about the Waste Prince? Do you want to strangle him to death, and what about the queen? It's a scourge to keep her! A great eunuch said.
Zhang Rang thought for a while and said, "Don't care about the abolished prince, and then let the Empress Dowager Dong take care of it, she will have a way to get out of the palace, as for the queen...... Strangled her, she can't fall into the hands of the rebels, lest she say something unfavorable to us and be used as evidence by the rebels against us! ”
A great eunuch said curiously: "Why only kill the queen, but keep the abolished prince?" ”
Zhang Rang said angrily: "Confused, why do you even ask such a thing!" Think about it, if the abolished prince is gone, then with Li Qinzhi's strength, wouldn't he be able to directly control the government, so what else does he want me to do? When the new king ascends the throne, it is when we are destroyed! But if the abolished prince is taken away by others, the people who get him will have the mind to use the abolished prince to oppose Li Qin, and the ministers of the DPRK and China will definitely respond en masse, so that Li Qin's external troubles will not be eliminated, and the internal worries are still there, of course he will rely on us to prove for him that the new monarch was established by the emperor, not by him without authorization, so that our surname can be preserved! ”
The eunuchs exclaimed in unison, yes, if they want to survive, they have to be useful to Li Qin, if they have no use value, why does Li Qin keep them? Maybe they will be buried and go to accompany the emperor!
The shouts outside the hall had already been heard, Zhang Rang didn't care about the injury on his shoulder, he shouted at the little eunuch: "Take the new prince, let's leave the palace immediately!" ”
There is no need for the little eunuchs to do it, the big eunuchs ran in person, and took the new prince Liu Xie under the armpit, regardless of the children's crying, they ran out of the way!
Before leaving, Zhang Rang took one last look at the emperor's corpse, if he wants to talk about feelings, he really has feelings for the emperor, speaking of which, the emperor was raised by him, and the emperor's father Zhang really didn't call in vain, but he didn't expect it in advance when things came to this point.
Zhang Rang came to the emperor, wiped his tears, and thought: "Before the emperor died, I always felt that I was very powerful, one person was above ten thousand people, but the emperor was gone, I really understood that without him, I was nothing, just a rootless eunuch!" ”
He couldn't bear to let the emperor's corpse fall into the hands of the "rebels", in his heart, as long as he didn't deal with him, he was a traitor, whether it was a minister or a relative, he was a bastard!
Throwing a large wax of butter onto the dragon bed, and covering the emperor's corpse with a curtain, he cried three times before leaving!
In the palace, there was already a mess, and the Empress Dowager Dong also heard the shouting of killing, and the little eunuchs reported to the Empress Dowager Dong like a flowing price, saying that something big had happened, and there were rebels attacking the palace, and the Empress Dowager Dong was shocked!
Empress Dowager Dong hurriedly sent someone to ask the emperor, there were rebels entering the palace, the emperor had to come up with an idea, she didn't know that the emperor was dead until now, Zhang Rang blocked the news, and even she hid it. The little eunuchs hurriedly went to the emperor again, but they ran back not long after, saying that the dormitory was on fire, and the Empress Dowager Dong was immediately stupid!
Fortunately, it was the miscellaneous army led by Lu Bu who entered the palace, otherwise Empress Dowager Dong would have entered the palace with another army, and she would have become a prisoner at this time!
The palace is so big, even if you hide, you can hide for a while, as long as Cao Ying's army arrives, in principle, the Empress Dowager Dong will be fine, and the waste prince Liu Wei who stays by her side will be fine. But the problem is that she didn't know that there were reinforcements, so in a panic, this old lady Dong actually escaped from her own palace with the deposed prince Liu Wei and a group of little eunuchs and palace maids, and she was extremely lucky to escape from the palace!
But out of the palace, the Empress Dowager Dong didn't know where to go, a little eunuch told her that Yuan Shao's uncle Yuan Kui lived nearby, it was better to go to the Yuan family first, the fourth and third princes of the Yuan family, tired of the emperor's grace, this kind of time should help them, and the Yuan family will not rebel, more reliable than other ministers!
The Empress Dowager Dong had no choice but to take Liu Wei to Yuan Kui's mansion, and the luck of the old lady Dong broke out again, Yuan Kui really did not join Cao Ying's team, and was very willing to take in the Empress Dowager Dong and protect her from the persecution of the rebels!
But after Empress Dowager Dong entered Yuan's mansion, when Yuan Kui found out that she had come with the crown prince, and knew that the emperor's bedroom was on fire, he immediately changed his mind. Yuan Kui didn't know that Liu Wei was already the "former" prince, and he was abolished by Zhang Rang and others, even if he knew that he didn't care, he wouldn't admit Zhang Rang's fake edict!
Yuan Kui changed his mind, he no longer left the Empress Dowager Dong and Liu Wei in the mansion, but recruited the generals, took the Empress Dowager and the crown prince, and went out of Beijing together, no longer staying in Beijing, and told the Empress Dowager Dong that they were going to find Yuan Shao, Yuan Shao was not dead, and he had gathered the army and was dealing with the Yellow Turban Army.
Empress Dowager Dong didn't know whether it was true or not, but when Yuan Kui said so, she could only believe it.
What kind of person is Yuan Kui, that is an old oilman in officialdom, he found out that the prince took refuge in his house, and he immediately had an idea! The crown prince, the prince of the country, is a strange thing to live in, and if it is not firmly in the hands of the Yuan family, can it be kept and shared with other ministers!
(To be continued)