Chapter 22 Chapter Three

He Jin's head is okay, his eyes are wide open, as if angry at Zhang Rang. After Zhang Rang and Duan Gui killed He Jin, they discussed the next move.Without further ado, the two immediately passed the imperial decree, announcing the reorganization of Luoyang's military, political and personnel affairs, with Taiwei Fan Ling serving as Sili Xiaowei and Shaofu Xu Xiang serving as Henan Yin.He also sent an order to the Minister of Situ's Mansion to issue personnel orders immediately. When the edict was passed to Situ's mansion, the minister on duty was puzzled by the sudden personnel order, so he went to the door of the meeting room and shouted loudly in the direction of the Jiade Hall, "Please come out to discuss matters!"

Zhang Rang then cut off He Jin's head, had someone throw it out of the hall, and replied loudly: "He Jin has been executed for rebellion, and the rest of the people who belong to the coerced followers will be pardoned!" The people outside the door saw that bloody head, it was indeed He Jin, and they cried out in shock. Yuan Shao and Cao Cao rushed to Situ's Mansion after receiving the urgent notice. At this time, it was around four o'clock in the afternoon, and Yuan Shao said to Cao Cao: "That's the case, it's only because the general didn't listen to the advice. We can only concentrate our superior forces, fight our way into the palace, rescue the emperor and the dowager, and then make sense."

Cao Cao expressed concern after hearing this, and said: "I think the situation may be more serious. I think Zhang Rang and the others have a plan. At present, the emperor and the queen mother are being held hostage by them. I guess they are sticking to the palace on the one hand, and on the other. On the one hand, they will try to break into the houses in the city and the outskirts of the city, and set fire to the city there, causing chaos, so that the troops near Gyeonggi have an excuse to attack Luoyang. At that time, Marshal Huangfu may not be able to suppress them, and a serious civil war may break out .”

Hearing what Cao Cao said, Yuan Shao, the captain of the Sili school in charge of the security of the capital, panicked and asked, "General Cao, what do you think should be done?" Cao Cao was very calm at this time, and carefully analyzed: "The easiest place for them to break through is to enter the city from the southwest of the North Palace and the northwest of the South Palace, and then enter the western and southern suburbs from Yongmen and Guangyangmen. You can rest assured in this area. I have ordered Cao Ren and Cao Hong to strengthen the defense. However, the Buguangli and Yonghe Gate in the east of the palace, as well as the residential area outside the upper east gate, are relatively weak. Additional troops. In addition, we must send someone to inform Marshal Huangfusong as soon as possible, asking him to increase the defense of the west and south of Luoyang City, preventing the Sili District and the foreign army from entering, so that we have enough time to deal with the chaos in Luoyang City."

After hearing Cao Cao's words, Yuan Shao said repeatedly: "General Cao is really thoughtful. With your troops defending in the west of the palace, the eunuchs can't fight out. In addition, Yuan Shu and the general's headquarters are attacking from the south of Nangong. I personally lead the attack." The troops cut off the eunuchs' retreat route from the east, and then went around to the vicinity of Beiman Mountain, surrounded the eunuchs, and drove them all to death, leaving no one behind." Cao Cao immediately said: "The art of war says: 'There must be a shortage of troops when encircling'. The encirclement is too large. If they are tight, they will make a fatal counterattack. That may hurt the emperor and the queen mother. The North Palace Gate is close to Beiman Mountain, and there is a river in front of it. It is difficult to walk on the mountain road. It is very easy to go to any army in the Sili District from here. Therefore, it is better to loosen the defense on the north side and intentionally leave an exit to relax the fighting spirit of the rebels in the palace, so that they can fight out from here, so as to reduce the casualties in the palace."

At this time, the guards of He Jin's General's Mansion, who were staying outside the gate of the Nangong Palace, had already received the news of He Jin's death. The palace asked them to hand over Zhang. When Yuan Shao and Cao Cao heard about it, they immediately stopped the discussion. Now that the soldiers had started to quarrel, they had to organize action quickly. Yuan Shao hurriedly returned to Yuan Shu's headquarters outside the Qingdian Gate, took command, and arranged for the defense work in the east and north of the city. Cao Cao rushed to Nangong and the positions defended by Cao Ren to strengthen the defense, and urgently sent someone to report the changes in the palace to Marshal Huangfu who was stationed outside the city.

However, He Jin's headquarters was led by Wu Kuang, Zhang Zhang, etc., and without waiting for Yuan Shao's instructions, he advocated attacking the main gate of the Nangong.He Jin's troops were already furious, and now they all responded, and they all attacked with all their strength, regardless of their own safety. The eunuch's imperial guards, relying on the gate wall to defend, although the number of attacking troops has an absolute advantage, they can't take advantage of it for a while. The two sides were deadlocked outside the Nangong Gate, and there was still no progress until dusk.

The sky gradually dimmed, Yuan Shao was also very anxious seeing this situation, and urged Yuan Shu to strengthen the offensive.Yuan Shunai of the Qingdian Gate ordered the Qingdian Gate to be set on fire.The fire was so fierce that it burned the gate, and the eunuch troops inside had to retreat.Yuan Shu ordered the soldiers to carry the wooden pillars to break down the gate, and took the lead in attacking Nangong. The gate of Nangong was broken. Zhang Rang, Duan Gui and others panicked. They hurried to see the queen mother and reported that the army of the general had rebelled and invaded Nangong. run away.

The Empress Dowager did not know the real situation, but she heard the noise and saw the flames soaring into the sky, and her expression changed drastically. In an emergency situation, the Empress Dowager, the Emperor, and his younger brother, King Chen Liu, had to be held hostage by Zhang, Duan and others. Then, he walked into the North Palace from Fudao, intending to join Zhao Zhong's troops guarding the North Palace there, and then withdraw through the North Gate. The assault force led by the eunuch Guo Sheng saw the Qingdian gate was on fire, and knew the situation changed, so they attacked with torches as planned, trying to set fire to the city.

But Cao Cao had already ordered Cao Ren to deploy archers and 500 elite troops to guard the palace and the roads of the city, and gave the order "shoot to kill".As soon as Guo Sheng's assault troops arrived, bows and arrows came like a torrential rain, and Guo Sheng's troops were blocked immediately. Guo Sheng was about to lead his troops back when Cao Hongling's elite sabers appeared from the sky and blocked all Guo Sheng's men.After a burst of sprinting and massacres, Guo Sheng and his commando team were all chopped into minced meat in a short time. At this time, the troops led by Cao Cao also entered Nangong from the northwest corner.

Duan Gui hijacked the queen mother and lost Zhang Rang and others at the northern end of Fudao. In order to escape for his life, he didn't bother to look for it, so he decided to leave the east gate from Yong'an Palace. It happened that Lu Zhi in Qingzhou was packing his luggage at the Yongheli mansion, and was about to abandon his official position and return home. When he saw the palace was on fire, he was fully armed and led several cronies, and stood under the pavilion at the east gate of the North Palace. Empress Dowager He turned from the Pavilion Road to Yong'an Palace. Lu Zhi raised his bell-like voice and shouted loudly, "Duan Gui is a traitor, how dare you kidnap the Queen Mother?" Duan Guiwan didn't expect that there were guards here, so he was so frightened that he immediately turned around and retreated into the North Palace. Empress Dowager He jumped from the window of the pavilion in Duan Gui's panic. Lu Zhi rushed to the rescue, but Empress Dowager He was in tears and said, "Shangshu saved me, Shangshu saved me!" Lu Zhi protected Empress Dowager He and retreated to a safe place for temporary shelter.