Bend Over [ 折腰 ] - Chapter 137

[Chapter 135]

The cold mansion on the western outskirts of Luoyang, named Wuyan Palace, was once a royal garden, but now it has long been destroyed. The palace is barren of smoke and vines, spider silk dust webs.

Poor Emperor Liu Tong of the Han Dynasty, who was put on the puppet throne since he was seven years old, has not yet gained a day of peace of mind. In the past, he was forced to be arrogant and arrogant, and he trembled all day long. Now forced to zen position, and then transferred to this cold palace, Zhi Xingxun still has his own life, but it is just a cover for the world to see, sooner or later he will have to kill himself, and the few remaining close attendants around him will be afraid all day long, sad and miserable, not long after coming here, he fell ill, and why ask the doctor for medicine? It’s just self-destruction.

In the blink of an eye, in the first month of the following year, the weather was cold and frozen, Liu Tong was imprisoned here for several months, and the shape of the illness was pinned down, and the outside world did not know anything. On this day, he was in tears with the close attendant Song Qing, overheard a chaotic cry coming from outside the palace, mixed with the sound of swords and halberds intersecting, thinking that Xingxun had sent someone to kill himself, the frightened shivered, the close attendant Song Qing carried him to the back garden and fled, did not escape a few steps, heard the sound of chasing behind him, the two fell to the ground, closed their eyes and waited for the sword to fight, but heard a voice shouting: “Your Majesty do not be afraid!” I am waiting to save Your Majesty from the cage!” Liu Tong opened

his eyes and recognized that the people were Wang Ba, the Marquis of Zuodu, and Dong Cheng, the chief of the capital.

Fortunately, Xun usurped the throne as emperor last year, butcher’s knife was carried out in a big way, and Wang Ba dared to be angry and did not dare to speak, and could only bow down to the crowd. Subsequently, he learned that the deposed emperor was imprisoned in the Wuyan Palace, and there were only three or two close attendants left around him, and his heart was even more depressed. He has always been friends with The Elder Dong Cheng. A few days ago, Dong Cheng received a secret appointment, the two met, Dong Cheng said that he had learned that Xingxun would soon depose the emperor, tears flowing, begging Wang Ba to rescue the deposed emperor in order to protect the glimmer of the Han room. Wang Ba, determined, secretly and quietly dismissed his family, and today led dozens of guards loyal to him, broke into the Cold Palace, killed the Cold Palace guards, and came to the rescue.

Wang Ba, Dong Cheng, and Dong Cheng knelt down and prayed, “Fortunately, the old thief went against the heavens, and the people and gods were indignant!” Knowing that the old thief wants to harm His Majesty, take the opportunity to kill and save His Majesty from the cage, but first go to Yongdi to defect to the clan room, and then send a letter to summon the princes of the world to qin wang and protect our Han Dynasty!

Liu Tongcai was only a ten-year-old teenager, at this moment his hands and feet were weak, where he still had to move, and he had no idea of his own, he was carried out of the cold palace by Wang Ba, and he saw more than a dozen corpses of palace guards guarding him on the ground, bloody, knowing that Wang Badong Cheng was a loyal servant of the Han Dynasty, he was indeed protecting himself, and his heart was slightly fixed.

Without thinking of a single arrow, the direction of Luoyang came to pursue the soldiers. It was actually the news that was leaked out, and the Beigong guard Xu Jian personally led two hundred pursuing soldiers and came to catch up.

Wang Badong Cheng escorted Liu Tong along the wild path to flee west, escaping only a few tens of miles, and the pursuing soldiers behind him had arrived. Although Wang Ba’s entourage of guards desperately resisted, they were outnumbered, and finally they were blocked in the wilderness, seeing that there was no way to escape, Xu Jian raised his knife, and came with murderous spirits, Wang Ba was not afraid, and he protected Liu Tong, who was crying loudly, behind him, angrily rebuked Xu Jiangan as a running dog, and cried: “I have been in the Han Dynasty for four hundred years, and I have died so much at the hands of old thieves!” Although I have lost my life here today, I can also be regarded as a lonely heart! When

Xu Jian was crying, Dong Cheng looked anxious and looked left and right, as if he was waiting for someone.

Where Xu Jian managed so much, he lifted the knife and grabbed Wang Ba’s collar, and when he raised the knife and fell, a Yan Lingyu arrow suddenly shot from behind him, which hit Xu Jian’s heart, and Xu Jian fell to the ground and died on the spot.

Wang Ba, who had thought that his life had been lost here today, suddenly encountered a turning point, and saw a group of soldiers and horses without a banner coming out of the oblique direction, when the first one, twenty-four and five years old, wearing a red helmet, wearing the eight treasures of the dragon armor, under the body of a healthy horse, like a crown jade, brilliant, galloping in this direction. Couldn’t help but freeze.

Those Nangong guards who came with Xu Jian saw that Xu Jian was shot to death, and such a group of people and horses were killed in the oblique side, resisting for a while, and fled one after another.

The man dismounted and strode toward Wang Badong Cheng.

Wang Ba escaped from death, still in disbelief, and even more did not recognize this person, and was uncertain. Seeing that the young general had come closer, he bowed to Liu Tong, who was still sitting paralyzed on the ground, and said, “Minister Lang Lang Liu Yan, it is too late to save the driver!” Your Majesty is frightened, and his sins deserve to die!

Wang Ba did not expect that Liu Yan, the king of Langya, would be like a god descending from the sky to save himself from danger.

Rush forward to see you.

Liu Yan said, “Zuo Duhou is a minister of the Han Dynasty, and although I live in Langya, I have already heard about it.” Don’t bother me. I only wanted to be meticulous and steal peace, but fortunately I went against the sky and the people’s resentment boiled over. When I learned that His Majesty was imprisoned in the Cold Palace, I was really sad and indignant, and as a disciple of the Han Dynasty, I could turn a blind eye! Take this opportunity to come to the rescue, God has eyes, and they have met here like this! Wang

Ba was overjoyed. Over there, Dong Cheng also got up to see Liu Yan. Several people hurriedly deliberated.

Liu Yan sighed and said, “The old thief has left guards in Luoyang. Knowing that His Majesty has escaped, he will surely pursue him. It is not advisable to stay here for a long time, so if you go on the road as quickly as I can, first go to Langya to settle down, and then consider the long term.

Wang Badong Cheng did not allow it, took Liu Tong, and the group hurried to the east. Dressing up all the way, dodging the pursuit of soldiers, eating wind and dew, and changing lanes, it is inevitable that there will be a lot of hardship.

Liu Tong had been ill for a long time, and he was frightened again, and after getting on the road, he was seriously ill.

This day finally arrived in Yangdu, only a few days away from Langya, in the morning, Liu Yan Wang Badong Cheng waited outside the room waiting for Liu Tong to get up on the road, waited for a long time, and only when he entered the room did he see that the young emperor did not know when last night, his breathing was cut off, and he had died.

The crowd was horrified, looked at each other, and cried.

Yang Du ling Liang Ji, whose grandfather was a loyal servant of the Han Dynasty, heard the news and rushed to the funeral.

After the mourning, everyone deliberated and unanimously elected Liu Yan to succeed to the throne.

Liu Yan initially refused to accept it, saying that Wude could not sit on this throne. Wang Ba, Dong Cheng, Liang Ji, and others knelt down one after another, pleading bitterly, and Liu Yanfang had no choice but to agree.

At present, Langya is temporarily set as the capital of the accompaniment, the emperor is sacrificed, the provincial platform is set up, the edict is issued, and the world is announced.

When the news came out, the nearby Muping, Donglai, Xiami and other places were too defensive to vote. In the Luoyang imperial court, taking advantage of the fact that Xingxun had not returned, there were more than twenty people, including Taishi Douwu and Doctor Deng Xun, who successively defected to Langya and supported Liu Yan as emperor.

The small imperial court established by Langya was once regarded as the orthodox Han Dynasty by the world, and Luoyang became the capital of rebellion.

On this day, the group of courtiers met with Liu Yan to discuss the matter of requisitioning Xingxun.

Wang Ba, Dou Wu, and others strongly advocated that While Xingxun was fighting Wei Shao, send troops as soon as possible to restore Luoyang.

When it comes to excitement, everyone is in tears.

Liu Yan verbally promised to appease the crowd.

Everyone else went, leaving Dong Cheng to ask, “What is Qing’s opinion?” Since

Dong Cheng started two years ago, he secretly became Liu Yan’s dead soldier.

Dao: “Wang Badou Wu is just the ability to speak with his tongue.” Although His Majesty now has too many guards everywhere to vote, they are only small forces, and they should not be of great use. The strength of the troops available to His Majesty is limited. Even if Luoyang is restored, how can it resist if the lucky sun returns? Your Majesty must not listen! Liu Yan was

stunned for a moment and asked, “How does Qing see the victory or defeat in this battle between Xingxun and Wei Shao?” At

the end of last year, after Xingxun lost two defeats, he received help from Le Zhenggong. At the beginning of the year, taking advantage of the freezing of the Yellow River, the coalition forces crossed the river in a big way.

At that time, the two sides fought a big battle against Gao Tang. Wei Shao judged the situation, retreated the defense line to Makino, and then counterattacked, using the horned defense line previously constructed to suppress the fierce attack of the coalition forces.

Then the weather was bad, encountered a once-in-a-decade blizzard, soldiers and horses on both sides, froze to death, temporarily stopped the frontal fighting, the two sides in the field, each building a camp, and now it is facing each other.

Dong Cheng sighed and said, “The old thief was already half a million to three hundred thousand, and his troops were superior, and now he invited Le Zhenggong to join forces in battle, and the fangs were great, and the army crossed the Yellow River, in my opinion, Wei Shao did not have much chance of winning.” I am troubled by the fact that if this beast wins the victory of the Class, he will surely lead a great army to attack His Majesty, and with His Majesty’s present situation, I am afraid that it will be difficult to resist.

Liu Yan was silent. Suddenly asked, “Yuan Ochre, is there any news?”
Soon after
Liu Yan declared himself emperor, he sent people to Qingzhou to meet Yuan Ochre.

Yuan has not replied so far.

Dong Cheng was about to shake his head when Liu Fan walked inside, holding a letter holder in his hand, and knelt down to say that Yuan Ochre’s emissary had arrived and was waiting outside the palace for His Majesty to receive him.

Liu Yan received the letter and hurriedly browsed it.

Yuan Ochre said in his letter that the Yuan family had been deeply favored by the emperor for generations and had always hated and thought of repaying the favor. Now that the Han Dynasty has risen to the throne of Zhongxing, he is glad to tears, willing to lead 200,000 troops and horses to serve, and listen to the drive to restore the society.

After Liu Yan read it, his eyes moved slightly, and he forwarded the letter to Dong Cheng.

Dong Cheng looked at it, first ecstatic, then worried, and said: “Your Majesty, Yuan Ochre came to take effect, I am afraid that there is another plan, and Your Majesty has to guard against it.”

Liu Yan walked to the window and looked out the window, his back seemed indifferent and motionless.

His hands, which were clutched over the window ledge, gradually tightened, getting tighter and tighter. The bone joints are white and the green tendons are exposed.

As his heart at this moment, a terrifying wave was set off.

After Yuan Ochre’s defeat at Xingxun the year before, his reputation was discredited, and he has been raising obscurity.

But even so, the skinny camel was bigger than the horse. His current strength is still far beyond his own painstaking management.

Now that he had accepted his own persuasion and was willing to come to his aid, he must have other plans, and he naturally knew in his heart.

But what does it matter?

With so many people around him now embracing him as emperor, which one of them did not have their own thoughts?

Or for the sake of a loyal martyr for thousands of years, or for the sake of glory and wealth, let alone the people who see the wind and make the rudder and cling to the grass and trees.

He desperately needed Yuan Ochre, just as Yuan Ochre now needed to borrow his identity to regain his prestige.

If so, why didn’t he use it?

As for whose hand the deer dies in the end, it depends on the individual’s ability.

He had been waiting for this day for a long time.

He would never let go of such an opportunity, once missed, and perhaps never a second chance in his lifetime.

The hatred of the homeland, the humiliation of taking his wife, and the desperate face of the beloved woman who would emerge from the bottom of her heart every night when she couldn’t sleep, said to herself that the past could no longer be traced, at this moment, it seemed as if it turned into a fiery fire in unison, burning from the bottom of his heart, burning his blood veins, and his soul almost turned into ashes.

“Proposed purpose, yuan zhao is made the grand sima and the great general, the golden seal purple silk, and the king of Qin.”

He turned slowly and said in a calm tone.

……

Above the wilderness of Makino, the north wind whistled, the snow flew everywhere, and the flags that were planted above the tents of the military camp were crumbling by the fierce wind, as if they were about to break free at the next moment.

In this place, which is only seventy miles away from Chaoge, there was a legend of the White Dragon Yellow Cymbal and the Red Bird Flow house.

And today it’s freezing cold.

The sky is endless, and the snow is all over the eyes.

It was a cold, harsh winter that had been rare in decades.

Although the season has entered spring and entered February, the weather shows no signs of warming.

Bad weather has seriously hindered the progress of the war.

Every day, news of soldiers and horses freezing to death was reported.

The number of frostbitten people is even more numerous.

This situation made it impossible for Wei Shao to smoothly organize a frontal battle against the xingxun Le Zhenggong coalition army.

The problems that plagued him also bothered Xingsun Lezhenggong.

After the last Battle of Gaotang, the two sides did not engage in large-scale frontal combat.

It was just a few painless encounters.

No one can easily take the initiative to attack, but they are not willing to retreat.

Now, across the Yellow River’s hometown, each of them has set up camp and camped, looking at each other from a distance, waiting for the weather to improve, and waiting to seize the opportunity to give each other a fatal blow.

This confrontation has been going on for more than half a month.

……

When it was time to unite, the sky began to darken.

Wei Shao’s boots stepped on the thick calf-thick snow, making a creaking sound, leaving a deep footprint in the snow.

He returned from inspecting the terrain on the Yellow River Old Road. Fast-forwarding to the gate, by the last bit of daylight, I saw a soldier standing straight in the corner of the camp wall, clutching a spear in his hand, motionless.

On his helmet and shoulders, a layer of falling snow fell.

Wei Shao stopped.

Lei Yan ran over quickly.

When he returned, he looked heavy and whispered, “It’s dead.” Wei Shao

stared at the soldier who was standing dead, was silent for a moment, and turned to enter the gate.

He entered the big tent of the Chinese army, and had just taken off his snow-stained pocket and dagger, when he heard a series of footsteps outside the tent, and Gongsun Yang and Wei Quan came.

Gongsun Yang recently coughed badly again.

Wei Shao was afraid that he would not be able to withstand the severe cold, and specially ordered him to add twice as much heating charcoal to his tent.

When he saw him come in, he didn’t open his mouth, he coughed a few times before he said, “The weather is cold, Sir has something to do, someone will pass on a word, I can go to Mr. Tent.”

Gongsun Yang waved his hand and said, “There is news in the daytime that the deposed emperor has died, Liu Yan has been supported by Wang Badong Cheng and others as emperor, and Yuan Ochre has joined forces and has been named the Grand Sima (大司馬). Wei Shao

sat behind the case, his figure did not move, just a pair of eyes, slightly squinting.

Wei Quan said, “It is reasonable to say that Liu Yan is called emperor, and since he has the help of Yuan Ochre’s 200,000 soldiers and horses, it is only natural to take this opportunity to send troops to occupy Luoyang.” Only the spies returned, but he did not move, as if he had no intention of capturing Luoyang. Wei Shao

said lightly, “What’s so confusing about this?” If Liu Yan sent an army to attack Luoyang at this time, Xingxun would definitely return to save himself, so wouldn’t it be for me?Handle? All he was thinking was that I and Xingsun Le Zhenggong would lose both first, and he would try to gain the benefit of the fisherman.

Wei Quan said, “What the Lord said is reasonable. Although the weather is harsh today, once the snowstorm is stopped, the war can be waged, and it is expected that it will not be later than the end of the month. Liu Yan and Yuan Ochre and the like were not afraid, and the lord should first go all out to fight the xingxun Le Zhenggong coalition army. Wei Shao

got up from his seat, paced in the chinese army tent for a moment, and stopped: “What do mr. and Changshi have on the situation of the battle now?”

Gongsun Yang and Wei Quan looked at each other and said, “Fortunately, with the help of Le Zhenggong, now the people and horses are far superior to me, and the soldiers are proud.” This battle is not a city seizure, and a strong attack is by no means the best strategy.

Wei Shao sighed and said, “What Sir thinks coincides with mine.” Today I went to the Yellow River Old Road and ascended to the opposite enemy camp. The military tents of the two armies of Xingxun and Le Zhenggong were densely packed throughout the wilderness, but they were clearly divided into barriers and barriers. A few days ago, there was a fight between the non-commissioned officers of the two armies…”

He stopped. Hurriedly walking to the front of the case, he took chopsticks and dipped the wine into the wine bottle, drew a trace on the surface of the case, and cut it in two.

“Fortunately, If Youxun and Le Zhenggong can unite, I will ask him to separate!”

Wei Quan clapped his hands and smiled, “The Lord is wise! I came with the military master to see the lord, and that was precisely for this purpose. I heard that Le Zhenggong had obtained a counselor named Zhu Zeng, who was highly respected by him, but this person was once a fortunate staff member. This Zhu Zeng, there is a lot of article to do! ”

[End of This Chapter]