September 26, the second year of Taiwu, was also the third day after the White Horse Temple Incident.
On this day, the palace gates were opened wide, and all the officials in Beijing entered the court.
After the sun rose in the east, the Suzaku Gate opened, and the anxious officials walked into the palace.
Going up the steps, there were warriors with soldiers and armors all the way. The officials who had been scared away by the great purge in the capital lowered their heads and did not dare to glance at them.
The clash of swords, the sound of heavy footsteps, and the sound of breathing foreshadowed the depressing nature of this day's meeting.
When everyone arrived at the meeting hall, the door had not yet opened.
Everyone knows what it means to choose the Chao Hui Hall in the North Palace this time.
The daily gatherings of hundreds of officials are held in the Nangong. Only very big events, such as the coronation ceremony or the formulation of major national policies, will be chosen here.
So, everyone was speculating, could He Jin really lose his temper and go crazy? Are you going to depose the little emperor here?
Everyone is speculating and figuring out how to stand in this major event.
Time passed little by little, and it gradually became noisy outside the Chaohui Hall.
On weekdays, these officials would be restrained by the Three Dukes and each would be in his or her place.
But this time, no one from the San Gong was present. This made the officials who were accustomed to being arranged a little at a loss.
When it was three o'clock in the morning and the officials were so hungry that their chests pressed against their backs, the door to the hall creaked open.
Under the leadership of the visitors and regular attendants, all the officials took off their shoes and entered the hall one by one.
But after they finished their customary worship of His Majesty, they suddenly discovered that the emperor on the dragon couch was not there, but instead there was a curtain.
Just when everyone was in shock and doubt, General He Jin actually walked out from behind, and his first sentence was earth-shattering:
"Your Majesty has been unable to see the officials due to the cold weather these days, so the Queen Mother is temporarily in charge of the dynasty."
Everyone looked at each other and finally chose to surrender.
Therefore, all the officials paid homage to the Queen Mother again and began this special court meeting.
After that, He Jin produced confessions from a series of people including Xu Xiang, Guo Hong, Han Fu, etc., and they admitted the fact of their rebellion.
Currently, the most influential person in the court is Shangshu Ling Du An.
The Shangshu Ling from the Du family in Yingchuan came forward to read the confessions carefully and asked in a helpless tone:
"Are these all their handwriting?"
He Jin looked at it strangely and asked:
“If it’s not their handwriting, could it be written by me myself?”
Du An didn't dare to ask anymore and respectfully replied:
"In this case, the crime cannot be punished!"
As a result, the fate of dozens of ministers and hundreds of ministers and attendants was decided.
……
On September 27, the second year of Taiwu, the final purge finally came.
The general and shogunate soldiers sent out five hundred soldiers from the camp to escort seventy-eight ministers with more than a thousand stones, including Xu Xiang, Guo Hong, Han Fu, Lu Shang, and Han Shuo, to the Ancestral Temple.
Afterwards, He Jin personally held a sacrificial ceremony and finally escorted these people to the Western Market against the party.
In order to intimidate all officials, He Jin ordered all officials in Beijing to participate in the imprisonment. Of course these people know that this is killing a chicken to show them. But what can they do?
Among them, Prime Minister Xu was old and highly respected, so he was given some dignity and a piece of white silk was specially given to him to commit suicide.
Guo Hong, Han Fu and others were immediately beheaded and abandoned in the market, and then their heads were hung on Yongmen.
After these seventy-five people were executed, the relatives and family members of these people were immediately followed. Regardless of whether they were close or distant, as long as they were in the mansion at the time, they were all executed.
Therefore, many people were killed unjustly.
Among them was a member of Xu Xiang's tribe, who came hundreds of miles away from his hometown in Runan to join him. This person just saw that Xu Xiang's son and grandson had died, and felt that Xu Xiang had no one left, so he came to divide Xu Xiang's inheritance.
Of course, you can't say that. Naturally, this person came to Beijing to take care of and serve Prime Minister Xu.
But now that he got his wish, he really has to go down and take care of Xu Xiang.
On the execution ground, he cried miserably, but he was not unjust.
On this day, the dust settled in Beijing, but the purge was far from over.
He Jin had a thorn in his heart, and that was Liu Bei. How did Liu Bei take away five hundred people from the front line?
Just thinking about this matter made He Jin uneasy about Huangfu Song.
Later, in the little emperor's letters, He Jin saw Huangfu Song's words admonishing the little emperor to be cautious. Although Huangfu Song was not involved in this matter in theory. But emotionally, Huangfusong obviously knew about this.
Therefore, He Jin could not forgive Huangfu Song, at least he could not bring any more frontline troops to this man.
Therefore, He Jin ordered Fan Zeng to go to the front line of Gucheng and take the imperial edict to deprive Huangfu Song of his military power. Then, deputy commander Zhu Jun commanded the frontline army.
In fact, Huangfu Song was quite aggrieved because the young emperor had only tested him, but he had not been allowed to participate in the matter at all.
Kuai Liang suggested this. He said that if he was really determined to capture He Jin, forty or fifty men would be enough. And allowing foreign soldiers to enter Beijing will cause more troubles.
Therefore, it is clear that Huangfu Song has tens of thousands of elite soldiers and is nearby Gucheng, but the little emperor does not use them.
Previously, Liu Bei suddenly took Zhang Fei and others back to Gucheng day and night to persuade Huangfu Song to lead troops to serve the king. Huangfu Song thought about it left and right, and finally decided to send troops to help the king.
So he set out with his own three thousand cavalry and drove all the way to Henan County. At this time, the county magistrate of Henan was Han Ji, a native of Nanyang.
He was promoted by Liu Biao to Beijing as Xiaolian, and was later appointed by the imperial court as the county magistrate of Henan.
As the western gate of Kyoto, Henan County is certainly a good thing to be in this position. But Han Ji didn't know that he would encounter this problem not long after he took office.
Seeing the Taiwei swaying outside the county town with three thousand cavalry, Han Ji, who was astute, immediately understood what had happened. However, after careful consideration, Han Ji did not dare to get involved in this matter, so after discussing with his subordinates, he took all the officials and officials and ran away with their seals.
In this way, Huangfu Song entered Henan County without any bloodshed, but then, news came from Kyoto that General He Jin had completely taken control of the situation.
At this critical moment of advance and retreat, Huangfu Song unexpectedly exceeded everyone's expectations and retreated to Gucheng with his troops.
At this time, Liu Bei was stunned.
How did he know that for Huangfusong, since order has been established, it must be maintained.
Without the support of Huangfu Song's soldiers and horses, Liu Bei had no choice but to return to the Gucheng camp.
He asked to see Huangfu Song several times, but was rejected. Anxious and helpless, Liu Bei could only stay outside the tent day and night, so anxious that half of his hair turned white.
Until this day, Fan Zeng entered Huangfu Song's camp with his imperial edict and bicycle.
At first, Fan Zeng was very scared after receiving He Jin's order. He thought that Huangfu Song had tens of thousands of troops, and it was a fool's errand for him to take down Huangfu Song with so few people.
But Xu Xun, a counselor in the shogunate, told Fan Zeng that if he went like this, Huangfu Song would definitely not resist.
The confidence of these decision-makers was not only because Zhu Jun, the deputy commander-in-chief, had always been at odds with Huangfu Song, but also because they understood Huangfu Song's personality.
To take a step back, even if Huangfu Song wants to rebel, he has already rebelled. Will he wait until now to turn against the Kansai side? Cut off his only escape route?
So Fan Zeng really entered Huangfu Song's camp.
Not long after, Huangfu Song was put in shackles and escorted out of the camp in a carriage.
At that moment, all the military generals were present, and the carriages were surrounded by excited crowds.
They didn't understand, now that the war was so urgent, why would they take away their coach? Aren't those people afraid of losing the war? Don't care about their life or death?
Fan Zeng was surrounded by these generals and was horrified. In the end, Huangfu Song himself said:
"I brought the blame upon myself, please don't make mistakes on yourselves. After I leave, all matters in the army will be handed over to Vice Admiral Zhu. Fight hard and don't let me be humiliated in Kyoto."
What else did the people present say when they heard this? So I could only shed tears on the spot and see the old officer off for the last time.
From the beginning to the end, Zhu Jun never stepped out of the camp to avoid suspicion.
He just sighed and continued reading his "Spring and Autumn".
Just like that sentence, "Knowing me and sinning me" is the only one in "Spring and Autumn".
……
On the way back to Kyoto, Fan Zeng always felt something was wrong, as if someone was always lurking nearby.
Huangfu Song also felt it, and he also knew who he was.
Sighing, Huangfu Song suddenly said to Fan Zeng:
"Captain Fan, now Kansai soldiers often infiltrate into Sakon, we should have encountered Kansai soldiers. Give me a knife, we all have to be careful."
Of course Fan Zeng did not doubt the judgment of this veteran military commander, and quickly took out the knife and handed it to Huangfu Song.
He was not worried at all that Huangfu Song would resist after taking the knife.
Just kidding, there were tens of thousands of troops in the camp just now, and Huangfu Song didn't even resist. Now that I have a knife, will I still resist?
But what he never expected was that as soon as Huangfusong took the knife, the knife's edge cut open his neck.
Strong blood spurted directly from the wound. Fan Zeng was stunned, and everyone was stunned.
No, old lieutenant, the general has no intention of killing you at all. Why are you thinking about it? Besides, if you die now, how will they communicate?
At that time, public opinion will rise and fall, and everyone will think that this is the handiwork of the general, and the morale of the military will inevitably be shaken.
The more Fan Zeng thought about it, the more frightened he became, and the less he knew what to do.
They all thought about what kind of earthquake would happen after Huangfu Song died, but no one thought about what Huangfu Song was like at this moment.
At this moment, looking up at the sky, Huangfu Song smiled happily. He was so tired, really tired.
At this moment, he felt infinitely relaxed. He seemed to be back to the boy who was racing horses on Longshang, so free and at ease.
Get some sleep, big man, I'm leaving.
In the second year of Taiwu, on September 30th, Huangfu Song, a famous marshal of his generation, died in Wumingpo.
The big Han court pillar collapsed.
……
Fan Zeng didn't know that in the dense forest not far away from him, Liu Bei was lying on the ground with tears streaming down his face.
He saw the old commander die, and he also understood why the old commander committed suicide.
It's all your own fault.
Liu Bei wanted to rob the convoy and save Huangfu Song, but he didn't understand what the old commander wanted. He also didn’t understand what he would lose if Liu Bei really robbed his convoy.
Therefore, Huangfusong chose to die.
Therefore, Huangfu Song was forced to death by Liu Bei.
Liu Bei understood exactly this, and the grief in his heart could no longer be suppressed. He wanted to cry and scream, why the miserable fate always befalled him.
From Hebei to Hanoi, from Hanoi to Henan, and now. He, Liu Bei, was always pushed by fate. Every time he tried to do something, he always made things worse.
Liu Bei was so powerless at this moment.
Zhang Fei, Chen Dao and others were silent, they just continued to stay with him.
After a long time, Liu Bei said calmly:
"Let's go west."