Chương 313: Accidental Killing, North Mangban

Wu Kuang directly incited the troops, saying, "Brothers! The one who killed the General is ostensibly a eunuch, but behind him is He Miao! This traitor is a double-dealer, colluding with the enemy and betraying his master! Can we avenge the General?!"

The soldiers, their eyes bloodshot with rage, roared, "We are willing to fight to the death!"

Wu Kuang immediately joined forces with Dong Min, and the two groups merged and headed directly for He Miao's camp.

He Miao was still pondering "what to do next" when the curtain was lifted and a blade was already in front of her.

Before he could even beg for mercy, He Miao's head fell to the ground with a "thud".

Wu Kuang was still not satisfied, so he ordered his men to drag He Miao's body to the garden and throw it there to be fed to the wild dogs.

Well, now the He brothers are in a perfect state: one head is on the Minister's platform, and the other body is in the mouth of a wild dog.

...

Yuan Shao's side went even more frantically into killing.

He ordered: Close the North Palace Gate, and all soldiers to kill any eunuch they see! Regardless of age, rank, or guilt, if they don't have a penis, just chop them down!

Now things were really messed up. More than two thousand eunuchs, whether they were senior or junior, old or young, were all trapped in the North Palace. They were killed one by one with a knife, their blood splattering on the palace walls, and their screams were deafening.

The most wronged were the young officials who didn't have beards. Some of them were scholars who naturally had sparse body hair and were mistaken by soldiers for eunuchs, who rushed up and killed them.

After chopping him up, he looked at his clothes and realized, oh dear, he was wearing an official's robe, not a eunuch's robe... It was too late; the man was already cold.

......

A minor official was squatting in the latrine when a soldier rushed in, saw he had no beard?

"Chop him down!" the soldier thought. The official, pulling up his trousers, ran away, shouting, "I... I'm a civil official! I do have a beard! It just grows slowly!"

Too late. With a "crack," his head hit the ground.

Hundreds of people were mistakenly killed, and the palace was filled with the spirits of the wronged.

In the end, the soldiers simply climbed onto the rooftops, removed the tiles, threw torches inside, and launched a fierce attack on the palace from above.

The Luoyang Imperial Palace had become a slaughterhouse, with rivers of blood flowing and even the air smelling of rust.

...

August 27th.

Zhang Rang and Duan Gui were chased like stray dogs by Yuan Shao's troops, and escaped from the back gate of the North Palace with only a few dozen defeated soldiers behind them.

They were also holding two children in their hands: the young emperor Liu Bian and Liu Xie, the Prince of Chenliu.

Six imperial jade seals? I didn't bring them.

High-ranking officials? No, I didn't.

These few dozen people, stumbling and struggling, escaped from Gumen in Luoyang on foot, and under the cover of night, they ran north.

By the time I reached Xiaopingjin Ferry, it was already midnight.

Zhang Rang looked back and saw the torches of the pursuers twinkling, getting closer and closer.

Looking around, the young emperor Liu Bian was huddled up in fear, and although Prince Liu Xie of Chenliu wasn't crying, his face was deathly pale.

The old eunuch sighed deeply, knowing that his life was coming to an end.

At that moment, the sound of horses' hooves rang out from the other side of the riverbank. Minister Lu Zhi and Min Gong, the clerk of central Henan, had caught up with them on horseback overnight!

Min Gong dismounted, raised his sword, pointed it at Zhang Rang, and shouted fiercely, "Zhang Rang, you old thief! Surrender now! If you don't surrender, I'll kill you all!"

After saying that, he swung his sword, and with a series of flashes of cold light, several eunuchs around Zhang Rang died on the spot, their blood splattering on the yellow sand.

Zhang Rang did not dodge.

He looked at the surging Yellow River before him, then glanced back at Liu Bian and Liu Xie, and knelt down to kowtow, saying:

"Your Majesty, we... are leaving. Please take care of yourself."

After saying that, he stood up and plopped down!

He plunged headlong into the Yellow River.

Duan Gui and the others followed suit, feeding the fish with a splash.

The old eunuch had lived for decades by flattering, greed, and abusing his power, and in the end, he finally did something "decisive".

Liu Bian stood by the river, staring at the surging Yellow River, completely bewildered.

He's only fourteen years old, and has only been emperor for a few months. First he was taken hostage, then he had to flee for his life, and now he's watching a bunch of people jump into the river and commit suicide right in front of him... What kind of mess is this?!

Min Gong quickly stepped forward and helped the young emperor up, saying, "Your Majesty, I am late in protecting you. Please forgive me!"

Liu Bian opened his mouth, but couldn't utter a single word.

Liu Xie, the nine-year-old Prince of Chenliu, stood beside him, unusually calm.

He looked at the Yellow River, then at Min Gong, and asked softly, "How... how do we get back now?"

Min Gong then realized, "Oh right, how do we get back?"

The carriages and ceremonial guards were all lost, and there weren't even many horses left.

He looked around, but it was pitch black except for the light of a few fireflies in the distance.

"Your Majesty, shall we... walk back?"

Liu Bian had never walked such a long distance before; his legs were weak.

But there was no other way; we had to bite the bullet and keep going.

The group walked several miles in the dark and finally saw a farmhouse by the roadside.

Min Gong went up and knocked on the door, then borrowed a dilapidated open-top cart from the farmer. It was the kind of wooden cart used for transporting hay, and the wheels were still creaking.

The young emperor Liu Bian rode in a rickety cart, bumping all the way to Luoshe.

...

As dawn broke, Liu Bian rode alone on a horse, while Liu Xie and Min Gong rode together on another, heading towards Luoyang.

The ministers only arrived one after another to protect the emperor, each one disheveled and panting, looking as if they were late for work.

Liu Bian looked down at himself; his dragon robe was covered in mud, and there were still tear stains on his face.

He is fourteen years old this year and has only been emperor for four months.

...

At the same time.

Western suburbs of Luoyang, outside Xianyang Garden.

Dong Zhuo stood on the makeshift watchtower, squinting as he gazed at the flames soaring into the sky in the direction of Luoyang.

That's the direction of Nangong; Qing Suo Gate was burned down.

The firelight illuminated half the sky, and thick smoke billowed out, visible from dozens of miles away.

......

"Good, good!" Dong Zhuo clapped his hands and laughed, his face contorted with rage.

"That fool He Jin, he died a good death! A brilliant death! If he hadn't died, how could I have entered Luoyang?"

He turned and shouted, "All troops, listen up! Break camp and march on Luoyang immediately!"

The Xiliang cavalry under Dong Zhuo's command had long been impatient.

With a wave of the command flag, the horses' hooves thundered, and dust billowed, as three thousand cavalrymen surged toward Luoyang like a black torrent.

Before dawn, Dong Zhuo arrived at the west side of Luoyang.

Just as he was about to enter the city, he heard that the young emperor had been found and was now in Beimangban.

"North Mangban?" Dong Zhuo's eyes darted around.

"Perfect, I'll go greet you!"

He led his personal guards and rode swiftly to Beimangban.

From afar, one could see a group of disheveled ministers surrounding a thin horse, on which sat a young man with tear-streaked face and a dazed expression. This was the current emperor, Liu Bian.

Beside him was a horse carrying a child of eight or nine years old, with a calm expression and handsome features; this was Liu Xie, the Prince of Chenliu.

Dong Zhuo dismounted and strode forward.

When Liu Bian saw a large, dark mass of soldiers with gleaming armor and fierce faces rushing towards him, he was so frightened that he cried out "Wow!" and almost fell off his horse. His tongue was tied, and he couldn't utter a complete sentence for a long time.

Several ministers quickly mustered their courage and stepped in front, shouting in trembling voices, "There... there's an imperial edict! Ordering... ordering the general to withdraw his troops!"