Chapter 133 Where are you going, sir?
"What happened?" Dong Zhuo asked sternly to the people around him.
There was no way the noise of the fire in the North Palace could be hidden from the eyes of the Bingzhou troops outside the palace.
At a time when the opponent's attack was so fierce, the fire on his side had no benefit other than giving the opponent an opportunity to take advantage.
This unexpected situation also brought changes to his retreat plan.
Li Ru looked in the direction where the fire was most intense and couldn't help but cry out inwardly, "Oh no!"
That was none other place than Liu Bian's residence.
While Dong Zhuo was mobilizing men to counterattack the Bingzhou army that was attacking the city, he stepped back a few steps to listen to his subordinates' reports on the current situation.
What he didn't expect was that the situation was much worse than he expected.
The first one is that Yuan escaped.
Before he sent people to silence Yuan, who was trapped as a hostage in the North Palace, the other party had already heard the noise of the attack in the north of Luoyang City.
Yuan was not stupid. At least after he cooperated with Dong Zhuo before but was stabbed by him, he should not have had many unrealistic ideas left.
Think about it, if Luoyang was captured and Dong Zhuo came to an end, what would happen to these hostages?
Even if Dong Zhuo successfully escaped, or even took the emperor in Luoyang City away, what should they do?
Why not give it a try now?
While imprisoned in the Beigong Palace, Dong Zhuo withheld the food of the Yuan children, making them look much thinner, which inevitably caused the people guarding them to slack off. At this time, the attack outside the palace wall made the defense tight, so several people were transferred away.
This is a perfect opportunity for them!
Almost at the same time when Dong Zhuo issued an order to liquidate them, Yuan Ji led the Yuan clan members here to attack the guards. After snatching two weapons, they paid the price of two lives to eliminate the guards here and escaped from the place of confinement.
But the question is, what should we do after escaping?
Even though Dong Zhuo and his followers were focusing their attention on the Bingzhou army attacking from the north at this time, they would almost certainly die if they could not escape from Beigong.
Fortunately, they met a helper.
To be precise, this was a helper who came here intentionally.
"You mean, you were able to save your life a few years ago because of the help of my mother, so she asked you to take advantage of the opportunity of Marquis Qiao's attack to lead us? But how can you be sure that we will choose to resist and escape?" Yuan Yida looked at the palace maid in front of him suspiciously.
Even though the maid who called herself Ren was dressed simply and tried to make herself as low-key as possible, one could still vaguely tell that she had an extraordinary appearance. She also had a literary temperament in her conversation, and she did not seem like an ordinary maid. It made sense that she had had contact with Ma Lun before.
When all the Yuan family members were held hostage by Dong Zhuo, only Ma Lun had the opportunity to take action because of his position as Grand Historian.
But as Yuan Yida said, some problems cannot be explained yet.
"This is not the time to say so much. The news was sent to me by Mr. Ciming. Even if you can't get away on your own, the people Mr. Ciming left behind when he sorted out the books in Lantai earlier also received his instructions. They are now in the North Palace. It's just that you have already started, so they are not needed." The maid replied: "Please follow me to find a place to change clothes and hide. When this city is captured, you will be safe."
Mr. Ciming? That's Xun Shuang!
Her words dispelled many of their doubts.
As a Gongzhong promoted by Dong Zhuo, Xun Shuang was the only one who was not stripped of his official position in the previous discussion of moving the capital.
Most people thought that he was only engaged in the work of protecting and organizing books in Lantai. Since he was indeed an expert in scriptures, it was understandable that he would worry about the loss of these precious books during the relocation of the capital.
However, after Xun You and he analyzed that the action of attacking Dong Zhuo would attract hundreds of people's support and a large army was approaching Luoyang, he felt that he could do something, such as -
When suppressing Dong Zhuo's rebellion in Luoyang, he saved some people.
The Xun family of Yingchuan and the Yuan family of Runan were both aristocratic families in Yuzhou, and because of their in-laws, he naturally wanted to save the Yuan family.
It was at this time that Ma Lun, who had received the message from Qiao Yan before the troops were dispatched, came to him.
Ma Lun and Yuan Wei had a child. The eldest son, Yuan Manlai, was, as Cai Yong said in the inscription he wrote for him, "a man of extraordinary talent and good appearance, truly gifted by Heaven" and "able to be recognized by all the families who saw him". Unfortunately, he died at the age of fifteen. The remaining two sons, Yuan Yida and Yuan Renda, were not very talented and only held minor official positions in Luoyang city. 3
Implicated in the struggle between Yuan and Dong Zhuo, the two sons were imprisoned in the North Palace, so Ma Lun naturally had to find a way to rescue them.
Qiao Yan's attack could give her the opportunity to save people. After she had a rough idea of the time and direction, all that was left was for her to find a way herself.
Four years ago, when she entered the palace as the Grand Historian to report on important matters of the Lingtai, she rescued a young palace maid who had broken the rules, named Ren Hongchang. Although she did not like to use this favor to threaten others to do such a troublesome thing for her, she had to make such a choice at this time. 2
It’s because the people arranged by Xun Shuang cannot often move around in the North Palace, so an insider is still needed.
So after she and Xun Shuang finalized the rescue plan, Xun Shuang, who was able to enter and leave Lantai, took on the task of delivering the message.
Fortunately, there are people arranged by Xun Shuang. Once there is unrest in the Luoyang Palace, this little palace maid can be taken out naturally, which is worthy of her efforts at this time.
However, Ma Lun and Xun Shuang probably had not expected that after the Yuan family members changed into palace clothes in the nearby servants' room and ate some dry food, Yuan Wei, who was originally supported by others, suddenly asked: "Why don't we take this opportunity to take the King of Hongnong out as well?"
Yuan Ji frowned and said, "Uncle, forgive me for being blunt. If we had Benchu and Gonglu to help us, we could still do this. But since we can't even protect ourselves, we don't have the extra energy to do this."
Their next move should be according to Xun Shuang's plan, and they should be protected by his men and temporarily hide in Queen He's palace.
After Queen He became Empress Dowager He and was killed by Dong Zhuo, since Liu Xie was still young and had no queen, naturally no one lived here anymore. Dong Zhuo probably also thought this place was a bit unlucky.
But the most dangerous place is the safest place.
Dong Zhuo would never have thought that they would choose this place as their home.
It was a blessing in disguise that the dozens of Yuan family members were able to escape from this disaster. How could they have the extra energy to care about Liu Bian's situation?
But Yuan Wei didn't think so.
The name of Empress He immediately reminded him of Liu Bian.
He replied, "If Dong Zhuo cannot defend Luoyang, he will definitely flee with Your Majesty and King Hongnong. The emperor's decree is the emperor's decree. We escape today, but we will have to accept Dong Zhuo's orders in the future. If Dong Zhuo is given the opportunity to make a comeback, even if we are lucky enough to escape today, it will be difficult to save us tomorrow. Your Majesty must be surrounded by heavy defense. As you said, when Benchu and Gonglu were not around, we had no chance to save him. But it's different for King Hongnong."
There shouldn't be too many people protecting Liu Bian.
Yuan Wei naturally had his own plans. If he could successfully rescue Liu Bian, Dong Zhuo could only take Liu Xie with him if he escaped successfully.
Because they did not want Dong Zhuo to control the government and for the sake of peace and stability in the world, they could have worked together with the court officials who were not taken away to label Dong Zhuo a traitor, label Liu Xie as a false emperor "out of helplessness", and support Liu Bian to ascend the throne.
If Dong Zhuo could not escape, given his temper, he would most likely kill Liu Xie and Liu Bian and bury them with him. Rescuing Liu Bian first would also be beneficial to the Yuan family.
Yuan Wei's statement convinced some people.
Therefore, those who were unwilling to carry out this risky plan followed Ren Hongchang to hide in Queen He's palace, including Yuan Yida and Yuan Renda.
Yuan Ji could not persuade his uncle, so he and other people who supported this suggestion went to rescue King Hongnong. These people happened to run into the people sent by Dong Zhuo to silence them.
This became the second message Dong Zhuo received.
When the two groups met, they immediately started a stalemate. Because Dong Zhuo did not expect that someone would come to disrupt the operation, he sent only a small number of people, so they were able to succeed. However, during the fight, they accidentally knocked over a candlestick, causing the palace where King Hongnong lived to catch fire.
Perhaps inspired by the fire, Yuan Wei immediately ordered people to continue setting fires in the surrounding areas to create enough chaos.
However, the commotion caused by these two parties also caused Guo Si, who was supposed to provide support in the direction of the northern city wall, to change his target.
If the Yuan family and the men left behind by Xun Shuang were to deal with these simple people left behind, they might still have some chance.
But the person he was facing was Guo Si, who was a horse thief and a skilled fighter. It was no different from a child running into an adult with a knife!
Yuan Wei was killed on the spot, and the Yuan family members who followed him also died.
But also——
"The eldest son of the Yuan family, Yuan Ji, dragged the Prince of Hongnong and took the donkey cart of the late emperor that you... regarded as a souvenir, and ran away as a mount."
Guo Si was speechless when talking about this. Even though driving a carriage was one of the six arts of a gentleman, Emperor Ling's four white donkey cart obviously did not obey Yuan Ji's orders. But who made Emperor Ling drive the cart in the inner garden? After Yuan Ji untied the rope of the donkey cart and took Prince Hongnong on the cart, the four donkeys on the donkey cart immediately ran away, making it difficult to catch up.
Facing Dong Zhuo's murderous gaze, Guo Si's voice became lower and lower: "Don't...don't worry. That donkey can never outrun a horse. I shot him with an arrow before I came to help the prime minister defend the city. His chances of survival are not great..."
However, half a cup of tea later they received the news.
Good news, the donkey cart was found.
Bad news, Yuan Ji and Liu Bian are missing.
To make matters worse, this half cup of tea was enough time for the Bingzhou army to gain the upper hand in the battle for the North Palace Wall because of the faith and fighting spirit given by Qiao Yan, and the momentum of breaking through the north wall of Luoyang.
This frightening momentum forced Dong Zhuo to make a decision immediately.
He can't delay any longer!
We must take Liu Xie with us and leave immediately.
Go now!
When Qiao Yan saw Dong Zhuo's retreating back, a look of deep thought flashed across his face.
In Luoyang City, there was Ma Lun who had received her news long ago, and other people who could be considered as philanthropists and patriots. It was not beyond her expectation that Beigong would catch fire as if helped by heaven when she attacked, but Dong Zhuo's overly anxious reaction made her somewhat concerned.
He could have held on to the top of the city wall for a while longer, at least to consume some of her men, instead of giving up so quickly.
It is very likely that it was not as simple as Yuan's escape, but something else happened.
As Dong Zhuo retreated, he completely gave up defending the palace walls. Lu Bu was the first to climb the wall of the North Palace, as if he was determined to kill Dong Zhuo for the Red Hare.
But at this moment, the southeast gate of the North Palace suddenly opened, and a group of cavalrymen galloped out.
It was Dong Zhuo and his generals Guo Si, Zhang Ji, Zhang Xiu and others.
They had already completed the assembly of the cavalry and evacuated Nangong.
However, among all the figures that Qiao Yan saw, the only one who was forced out by Dong Zhuo's generals was Liu Xie, but he did not see anyone who looked like King Hongnong.
No King of Hongnong?
In that split second, she suddenly realized that a situation that was most favorable to her might have emerged.
King Hongnong was not in the team. One possibility was that he had been silenced by Dong Zhuo. But if that was the case, Dong Zhuo would not have to be so anxious.
If he was not silenced, but was the one who made Dong Zhuo escape unexpectedly, then...
Then she has to be careful when pursuing Dong Zhuo!
She might as well give this idea a try.
Anyway, no matter what the situation is, no matter whether Liu Bian is dead or alive, as long as he is not in Dong Zhuo's team, there is no loss for her to let Dong Zhuo go!
After saving Luoyang from the disaster of moving the capital, what she should have done was probably not to kill Dong Zhuo here, resulting in his death along with His Majesty, and then put all the blame on the coalition forces that failed to arrive in Luoyang in time, and then she would no longer have a direct boss!
Instead, Dong Zhuo should be expelled from Luoyang, along with the puppet emperor in his hands!
After all, this matter will not lose money.
It would be even better if Prince Hongnong was still in the capital, or even under the protection of the Yuan family.
The Yuan family would never miss the opportunity to support King Hongnong to ascend the throne and compete with Dong Zhuo.
It’s hard to say whether it’s a bargain for Yuan or not, but it must be a bargain for her!
A man in the east, a man in the west——
This is the situation that allows her to give full play to her abilities!
But she was thinking in a split second, and had no way to communicate with others to make a judgment, nor could she directly tell her subordinates to give Dong Zhuo some relief.
After all, she had told her subordinates before that whoever could kill Dong Zhuo would own the Red Hare.
Even Xu Rong, who had just joined her team, was instilled with this concept.
As to whether he should show some mercy to his former master, or integrate into the collective by participating in the team building to kill Dong Zhuo and seize the horse, he thought about it and chose the latter.
If Dong Zhuo knew what this subordinate who was determined to rebel thoroughly was thinking, he would probably curse Xu Rong while trying to escape.
However, Qiao Yan now seems to be shooting himself in the foot.
Fortunately, as the commander-in-chief who captured Luoyang, it was not difficult for him to control the progress of the pursuit of Dong Zhuo.
It only took her a moment to think about her current situation and the choices she was making.
In the eyes of the Bingzhou soldiers who followed her, when Dong Zhuo led his men to flee from the Beigong City of Luoyang, their young governor looked coldly in the direction where the group of bandits left, and the next moment he led the way in pursuit.
"Chase! Bring His Majesty back! Wenxian and Fengxian stay behind to put out the fire."
When Qiao Yan finished her words, the horse she was riding, Zhu Tan, had already run quite a distance forward.
Zhao Yun and Zhang Liao quickly caught up with the cavalry they commanded.
Lu Bu, who climbed up the city wall first, was the last one to fall behind.
He and Xu Rong, who stayed behind, looked at each other for a long time before they confirmed that although he had gotten the credit for being the first to reach the site, he could not get the credit for chasing Dong Zhuo.
But since this was the order from Lord Qiao, he had no choice but to obey.
"You don't have to be so discouraged," Xu Rong consoled him. "Your bow is in the hands of the Lord. With your archery skills, you probably won't give others the chance to steal the credit. Then we should have other ways to determine who will get the Red Hare."
"It may also be the same as when Marquis Qiao said who killed King Xiu Tu," Dian Wei interrupted, "King Xiu Tu died at the hands of the Marquis, and in the end everyone had a telescope. The Marquis has always been very generous."
Qu Yi stayed where he was without receiving any orders. He heard this conversation and couldn't help rolling his eyes.
If everyone could have a good horse like Red Hare, he would resign from his job with Han Fu when he returned to Bingzhou and work under Qiao Bingzhou.
"..." Lu Bu was silent for a long time, but he decided to trust the friendly comfort of his two colleagues for the time being and go to deal with the burning palace in the North Palace first.
At this time, Qiao Yan had already followed Dong Zhuo's troops into Buguangli and then turned into Buheli.
It has to be said that Li Ru chose a very reliable retreat route for Dong Zhuo.
Since there were many openings in the Luoyang city wall and the Sour Jujube coalition forces were not at the gates of the city, Dong Zhuo could even break through the middle gate and go straight into the horse market, creating enough chaos behind his retreat route.
Or they could go directly out from Kaiyang Gate in the south, rush straight across the Luo River, and first meet up with the defenders at the southern pass.
The Xiliang soldiers who evacuated with Dong Zhuo were really good at riding. While running through the streets, even though several of them were shot down by the pursuers, they still maintained their speed of running forward.
Needless to say, Dong Min, who was stationed in Nan Guo at this time, must have received news of evacuation from Dong Zhuo in this turmoil.
Probably coming to meet him.
From this point of view, if Dong Zhuo could escape successfully, he should first blame the friendly forces for not forming a circle around him, rather than Qiao Yeshu's incompetence.
Very good!
But after following for a while, Qiao Yan realized that something was wrong.
Although the streets were filled with people fleeing and hiding because of the incident in Luoyang, and the Praetorian Guards and Northern Army soldiers did not know who to turn to for help, the noise coming from the front did not seem to be the sound of people being knocked down or the cavalry turning sharply.
But——
The sound of weapons clashing.
Just as Qiao Yan thought of this, she saw a cavalry team rushing towards her from the side, trying to stop her pursuit.
She quickly withdrew her speculation about the situation ahead, drew her bow and gun, and went out.
But before she could make a move, Zhao Yun, who knew full well his duty to protect his lord, had already galloped towards the leading young general.
Seeing that the other party was also using a gun, Qiao Yan had a guess in his mind, and said "capture him alive" and then continued to chase forward, leaving Zhao Yun's troops to fight with him.
If her guess was correct, this person should be Zhang Ji's nephew Zhang Xiu, who was following Dong Zhuo's instructions to stop her pursuers.
But even if that wasn't the case, with Qiao Yan's current ability to judge military commanders, it wasn't difficult to tell that the newcomer's marksmanship was quite high.
Since Dong Zhuo is about to escape anyway, he might as well leave her some more spoils!
Even though he thought so, Qiao Yan did not dare to slack off in his pursuit of Dong Zhuo.
Especially when they passed the mansion and rushed into the east-west long street in front of the Nan Palace, Qiao Yan became more and more certain that her judgment about the noise she had heard before was not wrong.
At this time, it was not a chase between Dong Zhuo and her, but a third force mixed in.
The newly arrived cavalry that broke in from the Pingcheng Gate just blocked Dong Zhuo's troops in the middle, and also engaged in a battle with Guo Si who was following Dong Zhuo to protect him, thus causing a chaotic battle.
Coming from the south?
Qiao Yan made some calculations in his mind.
If she guessed correctly, this was the Luyang coalition force that had entered from Taigu Pass.
If we calculate the situation where we attack at the same time and we don't encounter any trouble when we break through the pass, then the distance from Taigu Pass to Luoyang is exactly ten miles, and it's not a mountain road.
It is indeed time to arrive at this time!
At another glance, the man wearing a red chef's hat and fighting with Guo Si was none other than Sun Jian, whom she had met once in the Battle of Changsha.
But at this time, the neighing of war horses and the clashing of metal had created an overly loud sound, which also drowned out Qiao Yan's attempt to introduce himself.
She suddenly rushed out from the street in front, leading a group of northern cavalry. It was difficult to tell for a moment whether she was chasing Dong Zhuo's troops or coming to support Guo Si.
When Qiao Yan realized that this could easily lead to misunderstanding, a young general with silver armor and a spear had already led his men to attack.
When the spear attacked, it was no less ferocious than Sun Jian's!
After the veteran who was traveling behind him stopped Zhang Liao who was rushing to fight, the young man continued his attack and went straight for Qiao Yan.
What he didn't expect was that the young man, who looked about the same age as him from his figure, whose face he didn't see clearly in his haste, was actually a tough guy!
The opponent's spear was longer than an ordinary gun, but in her hand it was wielded with ease and lightness.
What he had never expected was that at the moment when the opponent's spear tip blocked his spear's sharp thrust, she suddenly pulled out the back half of the spear, turned around in an incredible way, and the former of the two weapons pushed away his spear, while the latter pointed directly at his throat.
Sun Ce, who accompanied his father on the expedition, had rarely seen strange weapons. He thought that he had a sure win, but was defeated by the opponent with this method.
In an instant, half of the pistol came towards him, completing the switch of offense and defense.
Sun Ce had a lot of combat experience. Based on his assessment of the opponent's strength at the moment of fighting, he was sure that there was no way he could catch her spear with one hand. He immediately pulled his horse back, suspended the rope, and twisted his body to avoid the shot.
However, the owner of the pistol seemed to have anticipated his reaction, and the tip of the gun, which followed him like a shadow, turned and formed a gun flower, and in the sunlight, only a snowy light could be seen.
But what was even more scorching than the cold light on the spear was the pair of eyes that Sun Ce saw clearly after the two riders slowed down during the battle.
He accompanied his father to meet Yuan Shu first, and killed Dong Yue at Taigu Pass, and killed Dong Min in the recent attack on Nan Guo. However, only the stern eyes of the man in front of him made Sun Ce feel that this was the image of a commander-in-chief!
What a heroic figure——
Girl?
He had just realized that he seemed to have attacked the wrong person, and that the person with such characteristics should be the legendary Governor of Bingzhou, not Dong Zhuo's accomplice, when he was hit in the chest by the half-broken spear.
"Idiot, can't you tell friend from foe?" Qiao Yan shouted coldly, "Get out of the way!"
After being blocked by Sun Ce, Dong Zhuo's troops had already run forward for a long distance.
Although he wanted to release the tiger back to the mountains, Qiao Yan did not intend to let Dong Zhuo go so easily. He gave him the opportunity to escape because of the misunderstanding caused by the attacks between the two sides.
If you tell this to others, people will laugh out loud.
What compelled her to catch up quickly was that she saw that after Dong Zhuo's team was cut off, the people left at the back clearly did not have typical Xiliang cavalry riding skills.
Because Qiao Yan had previously seen him and Dong Zhuo together on the Beigong city wall, and had also confirmed his identity with Xu Rong.
That was Dong Zhuo’s military advisor Li Ru!
How can you run away with the loot you can get!
This was the first time that Sun Ce was pointed at in the nose and called an idiot. A hint of protest flashed across his already proud and sharp eyebrows, but at this moment he only covered his chest where he was hit by the two spears, and rode his horse with gun in hand to chase after him.
It was indeed his fault for attacking first, so he was scolded, but by chasing Dong Zhuo he had to prove that he was not a fool.
However, before he could catch up with Qiao Yan and ride on par with the other's red sandalwood horse, he saw her put the two long spears in her hands behind her and replaced them with a crossbow.
That is indeed a crossbow!
The tense force from the bowstring when she drew the bow and arrow was enough for Sun Ce to judge this.
He watched as the girl slowly lowered the arrow, and even as she rode her horse at a rapid speed, her hand still remained incredibly steady as she drew the bowstring. Only the strong wind between her running blew up her cloak, indicating that she was not still at all.
He subconsciously looked in the direction of her arrow, and saw the arrow suddenly fly out of her hand, rush forward, and pierce the leg of the Xiliang horse.
The man on the horse was immediately thrown off.
The other party had experience in falling off a horse, and before landing on the ground he quickly curled up into a ball with his hands covering his head.
But even so, it couldn't stop him from crying out in pain the moment he landed.
Sun Ce felt like laughing when he saw this.
And this was obviously not the end of the unfortunate guy's suffering.
The two pieces of the spear that had just been used in the battle with him had returned to a connected state. As Qiao Yan rode her horse and stopped beside the fallen scholar, the spear was held in her hand, pointing at the opponent's head.
All he heard was Qiao Yan asking calmly, "Where are you going, Mr. Wenyou?"
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
