Chapter 80 3. Blood-stained escape route

In July of the second year of Xingping (195), around the time when Cao Cao and Lv Bu fought fiercely in Shanyang County, Rencheng State and other places, and finally drove Lv Bu out of Yanzhou, Emperor Xian Liu Xie left under the escort of Zhang Ji with all the civil and military officials. Chang'an, heading to Hongnong County, the route is roughly equivalent to going east along the Longhai Railway from Xi'an City, and the destination is Hongnong County to the west of Luoyang. In addition to Zhang Ji, Yang Ding, Yang Feng, Dong Cheng and other generals who held military power supported the emperor's eastward move.Yang Ding's position in the Liangzhou Army was second only to the "three-member group", and he was named General Anxi.Yang Ding and Fan Chou were very good friends. After Fan Chou was killed, Yang Ding had always been uneasy. On the issue of Emperor Xian's eastward relocation, he tried his best to support him and was willing to go eastward together.Yang Feng was originally Li's general, and he turned his back on the battlefield, so he naturally didn't want to stay and wait for Li to settle the score with him.

Dong Cheng is a special character. He is the nephew of Empress Dowager Dong, the mother of Emperor Ling Liu Hong, and he can be regarded as Liu Xie's cousin.Because Dong Zhuo once had a relationship with the Empress Dowager Dong, Dong Cheng became Dong Zhuo's family. For this reason, Dong Zhuo gave Dong Cheng special care and asked him to lead troops in his son-in-law Niu Fujun. Someone who is related by blood (although it is far away) and who can talk to the Liangzhou army. Emperor Xian is very fond of Dong Cheng, and Dong Cheng is also loyal to Emperor Xian. Emperor Xian accepts Dong Cheng's daughter as a nobleman, and Dong Cheng becomes Emperor Xian's father-in-law.

Emperor Xian issued an edict to promote Yang Ding to be the rear general, Yang Feng to be the general of Xingyi, and Dong Cheng to be the general of Anji.In order to let Guo Si go quickly, he promoted Guo Si to be the general of chariots and cavalry. As soon as Emperor Xian and his party left Chang'an, Guo Bang regretted it. He didn't want to lose control of the emperor, and wanted to get the emperor to Gaoling (now Gaoling, Shaanxi), not far north of Chang'an, which was his territory.However, the emperor and all the officials really didn't want to stay in this ghostly place of Chang'an, and unanimously demanded to go to Hongnong County, and Zhang Ji and others also expressed their support.

The two sides were at a stalemate, and Liu Xie resorted to the last trick: a hunger strike.Liu Xie hadn't eaten all day. Guo Si heard the report and was worried that the situation would get worse. He agreed to let the emperor's team go forward and discuss it later. In this way, the emperor and his party arrived at Xinfeng (now Lintong, Shaanxi).Guo Si thought for a few days, but still wanted to keep the emperor in Guanzhong, so he proposed the idea of ​​Dingduwu.Wu is located in Meixian County, Shaanxi Province today. It was a super fortress built by Dong Zhuo before. Dong Zhuo originally planned to retreat here for a long time.Guo Si's plan was known in advance by Shizhong Zhongji. He secretly notified Yang Ding, Yang Feng, Dong Cheng and others to gather his troops quietly and prepare to fight Guo Si recklessly.According to the "Book of the Later Han Dynasty", in Xinfeng, Guo Si was not superior in strength. He was afraid of accidents, so he left the army and fled to Zhongnan Mountain in a hurry, and then returned to Li.

"Three Kingdoms" further added that the emperor had already been taken to his barracks by Guo Si at first, and Yang Feng led his troops to attack and snatched the emperor back.Guo Bang fled to Zhongnan Mountain, and later fled to Li's camp. The Son of Heaven and his party lived in Xinfeng for two months, and at the beginning of October, they marched to Huayin (now Huayin, Shaanxi Province) at the foot of Mount Hua. They were greeted here by Duan Yao, General Ning Ji, who had already prepared for the arrival of the Son of Heaven and his party. Sufficient food, clothing and various utensils.

Where did this Duan Simmer come from?This person is the younger brother of the former Taiwei and famous general Duan, who later became one of the important generals of the Dong Zhuo Group and the old leader of Jia Xu. At this time, he was stationed near Tongguan.After being a famous general of the empire, Duan Yan's affection for the emperor is much deeper than that of the general Liangzhou warlord, so his attitude towards the emperor is very positive.However, Yang Ding once had conflicts with Duan Yan. He spread rumors that Duan Yan was in the same group as Li and Guo Si. Under the influence of Yang Ding, Zhang Ji, Yang Feng, and Dong Cheng all expressed their feelings towards Duan Yan. distrust.

Taiwei Yang Biao, Situ Zhao Wen and others persuaded them, and were willing to use their lives to guarantee that Duan Yan would not rebel, but Yang Ding and others did not believe it. They reported to Emperor Xian that there was information showing that Guo Si had secretly entered Duan Yan's barracks. Subject to change. Emperor Xian had no choice but to go out of the city and camp outside the city.Yang Ding and others asked Emperor Xian for an order to crusade against Duan Yan.Emperor Xian said that Duan Yan had no signs of rebellion, so why did he attack him?The people sent by Yang Ding were not reconciled, they were still entangled, and they didn't leave until midnight, Emperor Xian still didn't let go.

Yang Ding, Yang Feng, and Dong Cheng didn't care, and directly attacked Duan Yan. The two sides were evenly matched, and there was no winner for more than ten days.Duan Yan continued to provide food and daily life for the emperor and all the officials without any second thoughts. Emperor Xian sent someone to mediate, but Yang Ding and others reluctantly accepted and temporarily suspended their troops.This commotion delayed Dongjin's time, and at the same time reminded Li and Guo Si in Chang'an.The two have now let go of their past suspicions and are reconciled as before.They suddenly realized that they were so stupid that they let the emperor out of their control, so they sent troops to Huayin to recapture the emperor.

Li and Guo Si's banner was to rescue Duan Yao, which was a bit of a loss, because they were not with Duan Yan at all, and by creating this momentum, Duan Yan was more suspicious and could muddy the water even more. Yang Ding had a feud with Li, and when he saw Li approaching aggressively, he was a little scared, so he simply ran away, left the army and went to Jingzhou to join Liu Biao.Yang Feng and Dong Cheng protected the Son of Heaven and hurried eastward. For some reason, Zhang Ji had another conflict with Yang Feng and Dong Cheng, and at this time he sided with Li and Guo Si.In this way, Yang Feng and Dong Cheng guarded the emperor and his party ran in front, and Li, Guo Si, and Zhang Ji led troops to chase after them.After chasing to a mountain stream in Hongnong County, I finally caught up. The two sides fought fiercely. Dong Cheng and Yang Feng were defeated. Civil and military officials and soldiers died countless times. Both are.

The Son of Heaven and his party fled to nearby Caoyang (in today's Shan County, Henan Province) and slept in the fields. Dong Cheng and Yang Feng pretended to reconcile with Li, Guo Si and Zhang Ji to buy time, and secretly sent people across the Yellow River to report to the leader of the Baibo Army. Li Le, Han Xian, Hu Cai, and Luanti, the right sage king of the Southern Huns, went to Beibei to ask for help. This is the most unbearable scene in the history of the empire. The majestic king of a country had to ask for help from the leader of the peasant uprising who was once regarded as a bandit and bandit, because there was no other better way.

Li Le, Han Xian, and Hu Cai are somewhat similar to Zhang Yan, Yu Du, and Sui Gu of the Black Mountain Army. They have been fighting guerrillas in Tongguan, Zhongtiao Mountain, and Taihang Mountain all the year round. Now that they heard that the emperor was desperate and came to the gate, they quickly brought troops to respond. .They may not have such a good heart, but they all have a simple idea: the emperor is a rare commodity, so get it first and then talk. Li Le and others led thousands of troops across the Yellow River, and fought against the coalition forces of Li, Guo Si and Zhang Ji, and defeated Li and others.Dong Cheng proposed to move forward while withdrawing, Li Le and Dong Cheng guarded the emperor in front, Yang Feng, Hu Cai and others stopped and began to retreat. Li and the others rearranged their troops and killed them again. This time, Yang Feng and the others were defeated, with heavy casualties.Guanglu Xunqing Deng Yuan, Ting Weixuan, Shaofu Qing Tian Fen, Da Sinonong Qing Zhang Yi and other senior court officials died in battle. Situ Zhao Wen, Taichang Qing Wang Jiang, Wei Wei Zhou Zhong, and Sili Xiaowei Guan were captured Li originally planned to execute them all, but after Jia Xu's persuasion, he gave up.Zhou Zhong is Zhou Yu's uncle. The emperor and his party fled to Shan County (now Shan County, Henan Province), which was closer to the Yellow River, in a panic, and their pursuers followed.At this time, the emperor's Huben and Habayashi guards added up to less than a hundred people, and Li Le and Dong Cheng's troops lost a lot.The Liangzhou army kept clamoring outside the city day and night, and the people in the city were terrified and just wanted to escape as soon as possible. When discussing how to escape, most people advocated going east along the Yellow River to Mengjin, a famous ferry on the river, and from there to the Baibo Army-controlled area north of the Yellow River.It looks like a shortcut on the map, but in fact it is a dead end, full of dangers. Fortunately, Taiwei Yang Biao is from Hongnong County and is very familiar with the terrain here. He said: "From here to the east, there is a place called 'Thirty-six Beach'. It is very dangerous and impossible to pass through." Ai used to work in this area and said it was too dangerous.In the end, it was decided to forcibly cross the Yellow River near Shan County, and Li Le was ordered to explore the road first and prepare the boats. Afterwards, Emperor Xian and the officials quietly left the city and began to walk on foot to the banks of the Yellow River.Everyone was in a hurry, and they were afraid that they would die if they left late, so they didn't bring any extra things.The only exception was Queen Fushou's older brother, Fu De, who supported his sister with one hand, and held a dozen bolts of silk and satin with the other.Everyone was a little puzzled: this guy is greedy for money, when is this, and he still can't let go of this little cloth? But soon everyone will understand that these silks and satins are so important and become the straw that saved many lives. A group of people rushed to the bank of the Yellow River, and the road was extremely crowded. Even the queen's guards just ran forward, and everyone blocked the road.Fu Jie made Sun Hui anxious, and waved a knife in the crowd, chopping randomly, and the queen's clothes were spattered with blood.However, finally came to the Yellow River. When we arrived, everyone was dumbfounded: the embankment of the Yellow River was too high, more than ten feet from the bottom, equivalent to the height of a six or seven-story building, and it was impossible to go down.At this time, Fude brought over the silks and satins that he carried with him, and Dong Cheng got some horse bridles, and tied them together to form a simple "sitting chariot".Shang Hong, the captain of the marching army, was so strong that he sat on the back of Xiandi Liu Xie, and was pulled down by the people on the top. The others tied up Fude's remaining silk and satin and slid down one after another. Those who couldn't rank up simply jumped down, some fell to their deaths on the spot, and some were injured. The boats that Li Le got were limited, and they couldn't hold so many people. Everyone rushed on board, wanting to squeeze up.Dong Cheng and Li Le had no choice but to use violence to stop them, but they were still unwilling to give up. They jumped into the water and clung to the side of the boat. Only a few people made it to the boat and saved their lives.The people who stayed on the bank were robbed and killed by the soldiers who came to chase after them. Fortunately, they were not killed, and their clothes were also stripped by the rebels. It was the end of December, when the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River were the coldest. Ice, but it was so cold that some people were frozen to death. Li personally came to the bank and saw that the emperor had already crossed the river, so he sent scouts to chase after him. Dong Cheng was afraid that they would shoot arrows, so he found a quilt on the boat as a shield to protect the emperor.After such a thrilling experience, the emperor and his party finally reached the north bank of the Yellow River and stationed in Li Le's military camp in Dayang (now Pinglu, Shanxi). Although it has temporarily stabilized, food has become a problem.Li Le's place is not rich in the first place, and it is even more helpless to provide food for the emperor and all the officials.At this moment, the person who delivered the food came. Zhang Yang, the prefect of Hanoi County, heard that the emperor was returning to the east, so he sent an army to meet him.He estimated that the biggest problem facing the emperor and his party might be that there was no food, so he asked each of the thousands of people to carry enough military rations (making thousands of people pay rice tribute), which was really a timely help. This is the territory of Hedong County, Wang Yi, the prefect of Hedong County, also rushed to send some cloth to make clothes for everyone.Emperor Xian issued an imperial edict to confer the title of Liehou on Wangyi, Bai Han Xian as the general who conquered the east, Li Le as the general who conquered the north, Hu Cai as the general who conquered the west, and Zhang Yang as the general who conquered the east. In this way, the emperor and his party temporarily stopped in Hedong County on the north bank of the Yellow River under the protection of Dong Cheng, Yang Feng, Li Le, Hu Cai, Han Xian, Zhang Yang, Wang Yi and others.On the other side of the river is the coalition army of Li, Guo Si and Zhang Ji. They have all the officials and palace people captured on the bank of the Yellow River, as well as Situ Zhaowen and others who were previously captured by the mountain stream of Hongnong County.Emperor Xian was very concerned about their safety, so he sent envoys to the opposite bank to negotiate with Li and others. Li accepted the peace talks, released the captured officials including Zhao Wen and the palace people, and returned some of the captured imperial artifacts. Although Zhang Yang sent a lot of food, more and more troops gathered in this area at this time, and the logistics supply soon became a big problem. Dayang is a small place, and the emperor's daily life and office had to be simple.According to the "Book of Wei", the place where Emperor Xiandi discussed affairs was only surrounded by fences. When he discussed with ministers, the soldiers crowded outside to watch. Most of these soldiers were peasant rebels not long ago, they had just been recruited, and they were not used to military discipline. , laughing and laughing while watching. Sili Xiaowei Guan may look a little weird, and he became the object of fun for the soldiers and civilians. Every time he went in to report to Emperor Xian, the people at the door threw things at him to make him happy.In the past, what a majestic position was the captain of Sili, and the ordinary people were frightened by raising their eyelids.Emperor Xian wanted to return to Luoyang as soon as possible, but the situation of these people in front of him was very complicated, and they all had different ideas. No one cared about the emperor's thoughts. Even the illegitimate doctors, grooms, and guards of the generals became high-ranking officials like school captains in the blink of an eye. The censors who were in charge of engraving official seals were so busy that they worked overtime day and night and were still in short supply. The awl is used to draw characters (the engraving of the imperial censor is not available, but the awl is used to draw).This is not enough, these people have been thinking about how to fight all day long, how to get rid of others and make themselves the ultimate beneficiary, and finally broke out in internal strife.