Chapter 836: Palace shortage
Weiyang Palace, outside the gate of Dongguan Palace.
Dong Huang, who proclaimed himself King of Qin, was leading the assembled army to surround Dongguan. While boosting morale, he sent people to various parts of the city to recruit rebels.
At this time, although Dong Huang already had the support of most Liangzhou generals, he was not absolutely sure.
There are quite a few Yulin troops around the emperor, and there are Hedong soldiers outside Ba Ling. He must attack the palace gate as soon as possible and kidnap the emperor to stabilize the chaos.
So, at this moment, he was shouting to the Yulin Army on the gate to negotiate terms.
But it seems that these Yulin troops were not convinced and were still guarding the palace gate.
Dong Huang thought for a while and called Yang Ding over:
"You were on duty in the North Palace before, so you know that there is a road leading to the outside of the palace from the Bailiang Terrace in the north of Changle Palace. You can lead people to block it for me."
Yang Ding nodded, then called on his subordinates to rush north of the palace city.
Here, Yang Ding left with about a thousand Liangzhou soldiers, while a few articulate military officials over there were still shouting at the top.
Over and over again, how much money some Han Dynasties give you, why are you selling your life!
Dong Huang himself was tired of hearing this, so he walked over and kicked away the chattering people, and then shouted at Yu Linlang above:
"Listen, there are villains in the palace. The Prime Minister asked us to enter the palace to rape us. You'd better not stop us. Think about your wives, children, and children in the city."
Here, Dong Huang played a little trick. He claimed to be Dong Zhuo's order, which was natural. At this time, these Yulin troops had to face not the thousands of people outside the palace, but the 30,000 to 40,000 Liangzhou elite soldiers inside and outside Chang'an.
These are elite troops deployed by Dong Zhuo around Chang'an, and they only obey the orders of Dong Zhuo alone.
Sure enough, after hearing that it was Dong Zhuo's order, several Yulin Lang at the Dongguan Palace lost the courage to stand up. One of them stuck his head out and said:
"Regardless of whether there is an order from the Prime Minister, our Yulin Army is ordered to guard the palace gate. No one can enter without His Majesty's order."
But as soon as he said these tough words, the man added:
"General Xiao Dong, is there any misunderstanding here? If there is anything from the Prime Minister's side, we can hand it to His Majesty on your behalf."
In fact, this second half of the sentence is what this Habayashi Lang meant.
They neither wanted to be disloyal nor offend the powerful Dong Zhuo, so they could only act as a guide for both sides.
At this moment, Dong Huang's staff came over and spoke to him. Dong Huang nodded, and then shouted:
"Okay, then bring me some messages. As long as the emperor agrees, I will retreat immediately."
Then Dong Huang opened his mouth and stated four conditions.
After he finished speaking, the people in Liangzhou here cheered endlessly, and there was silence in the palace palace over there.
Seeing that the Yulin Langs above were still dilly-dallying, Dong Huang's face darkened and he cursed:
"Still not going?"
There was no other way. After some discussion, several Yulin Lang decided to pass the four requests made by Dong Huang back to the emperor.
……
Before Habayashi Lang reached the front hall, the monarchs and ministers in the front hall were pacing, extremely anxious.
At this time, the short Dong Cheng was the first to lose his temper.
When he heard that Liangzhou soldiers had surrounded him outside the palace, he cursed in his heart:
"These imperialist bastards, if you insist on attacking those warriors in Liangzhou at this time, if you are all talking loudly here, they will kill you with knives."
Dong Cheng felt ridiculous when he thought about the group of people discussing Yin Huo in the front hall just now.
But when I thought that I was part of this group of ridiculous people, I couldn't laugh anymore.
At this moment, he unconsciously glanced at Fu Wan, who was calm beside him, and sneered in his heart. This old guy was pretending to be calm.
At this time, a minister hesitated and spoke:
"Your Majesty, it's dangerous outside now. Why don't you go up the road and move outside the palace first?"
But as soon as the person finished speaking, Zhao Wen, who was in charge, shook his head and refused:
"No, there are still defenses in the palace, and all the Yulin sects are doing their jobs faithfully. Once transferred, rumors may spread, and the situation will be difficult to deal with."
What Zhao Wen said was indeed reasonable, so the minister nodded and finally retreated.
At this time, Zhao Wen was the backbone, and everyone present subconsciously agreed with what he said. So despite the fact that the emperor still has the most power, everyone understands that it still depends on Zhao Wen to deal with the crisis.
Liu Xie had been silent. He suddenly sighed and asked Zhao Wen:
"Shang Shu, what can we do now?"
When Liu Xie asked this, he actually felt a little regretful in his heart.
He didn't think there was anything wrong with his method of pacifying the outside world first, but he just regretted that he should have done it faster.
Zhao Wendao was still calm. When the emperor sighed, he was silent for a while and said:
"No matter what you do, you still have to have someone go outside to determine what happened."
Then he continued:
"General Julang has sent people out of the palace just now, and news will be sent back soon. If this is just a riot, then it's not bad. We just need to calm it down, and when the chaos is over, we can calmly deal with it."< br>
"And what if..."
The emperor was still a little anxious, so he interrupted and asked:
"What if it's the other way around?"
Zhao Wen shook his head and said nothing, and after a long time he uttered one sentence:
"That's too much to say."
The emperor murmured "It's hard to finish", and his whole soul seemed to have been taken away, and he looked like he was unconscious.
Seeing the emperor like this, everyone felt uncomfortable.
At this time, there were about forty ministers gathered in the front hall. They were divided into several rows and knelt on the mats. Zong Zheng and Prince Zong stood beside them. The other ministers were all kneeling.
Perhaps knowing that he could only continue to wait for news, the emperor couldn't help but ask another question:
"There is a commotion outside the palace and peace outside. The latest military report sent from the Lishan Camp states that the Taishan Army has already arrived at Huayin. Ministers, what are your countermeasures to this matter?"
The ministers present did not expect that the emperor ignored the fire at the city gate in front of him and became concerned about the Taishan Army hundreds of miles away.
In fact, although it seems that the Taishan Army has entered the pass and even reached Huayin, in fact, the distance they broke through did not penetrate the psychological defense lines of these ministers at all.
It must be known that during the Qin Dynasty, the eastern front line was not far away for most of the period, so the Taishan Army was indeed dangerous, but it was not the threat it is now.
But since the emperor asked, all the ministers started to speak one after another. To sum up, they are:
"When soldiers come, they will block it, and when water comes, the earth will cover it up."
Anyway, just to express one idea, we in Kansai don’t need to be too afraid of their Taishan Army. In the words of one of them:
"Our offense may not be enough, but our code is more than enough."
The minister who said this didn't know how long he had been separated from the front line, but he just opened his mouth anyway.
But there were a few people in the crowd who didn't give him any face. They were thinking about their families in the mansion outside the palace, so they had no time to play any self-comfort drama with the emperor, so they immediately hummed:
"My lord is really capable of dreaming. Now there are soldiers outside the palace gate, and there is nothing we can do. What kind of soldiers are there to stop them? Where are they?"
The several ministers who had agreed before had a bit of a bad look on their faces, but they remained silent.
In fact, these few people are a few who are relatively pragmatic. In fact, even now, the rebels have not dispersed, and these few people have already guessed the situation to some extent.
This is not some kind of riot. It is clearly the Dong family that is overturning the table. Therefore, they advised the emperor to be more pragmatic and pay attention to the gap in strength between the two sides.
So naturally, they have this suggestion for the current situation:
"In the past, when we were in the heyday of Guanxi, we were still unable to defeat the Taishan Army in Bingzhou. Now, with the civil strife in Chang'an and the soldiers in disarray, how can it be reasonable to fight against the Taishan Army again?"
Therefore, what these people mean is that Chang'an cannot be stayed and must retreat to the rear immediately.
Of course, these ministers have different views on where to withdraw.
There was talk of going to Yizhou, and then Liu Xie took a look and realized, this person is from a wealthy family in Yizhou.
Then there was talk of going to Chencang, and then Liu Xie took another look, oh, this is a Yongxian family.
In short, everyone has his own little thoughts and calculations. In short, no one cared about what happened to the rebels outside the palace.
In the crowd, Zhao Qian's mind was buzzing. Just now, his heart had been tugging, as if something big had happened.
After he finally calmed down and listened to the words of the rats around him, Zhao Qian's blood suddenly rushed to his forehead again.
While the front hall was still chattering, he shouted loudly:
"Your Majesty, I have something to say, Zhao Qian."
Zhao Qian's voice suddenly shocked the ministers present. Even the emperor, who already felt a little disgusted with Zhao Qian, rarely looked over with expectant eyes.
What is an old minister? This is an old minister.
No matter how annoying he is personally, in times of crisis, he knows that it is these veterans who can serve the country.
Then Zhao Qian asked the emperor first:
"Your Majesty, the ancestors of the Han family are all displayed in the ancestral temple nearby. I want to ask your Majesty a few things. Please give me your answer."
I don't know if it was because he had been with Dong Zhuo for a long time, but Liu Xie didn't feel unhappy at all when he heard this tough tone. Instead, he felt particularly safe.
Liu Xie straightened his body and stretched out his hand:
"It's okay to ask, sir."
Zhao Qian was also polite, and the first question he asked was:
"Your Majesty, you are going to attack Dong Zhuo. If there are Dong Zhuo's troops outside, has your Majesty foreseen any countermeasures?"
Liu Xie thought for a moment and said frankly:
"I have considered Dong Zhuo's desire to rebel, but I'm afraid he won't be able to hold on due to his physical condition. And I have already won over many Liangzhou generals, and they are standing by my side."
Zhao Qian sneered and said something:
"When I first came to court, I saw many Liangzhou soldiers on the road extorting money from door to door. How can such soldiers be relied on?"
Liu Xie was a little embarrassed after hearing this and argued:
"You are talking about rebel soldiers, not good soldiers in Liangzhou. The people of Liangzhou have protected our Han Dynasty for hundreds of years, and there is no shortage of loyal ministers and righteous men."
Zhao Qian let go of these words and directly asked the emperor a few questions:
"If your majesty wants to kill Dong Zhuo, why bother to win over some Liangzhou generals and let some Hedong soldiers enter the pass? Your majesty is the emperor. If you want to kill Dong Zhuo, you only need one or two warriors and one edict to win it in the palace. Your majesty Have you ever heard of an emperor doing something deceitful and achieving success?”
In fact, what Zhao Qian meant was that the emperor himself made things too complicated. The emperor did a good job in the preliminary work, but his mistake was that as the emperor, he took the initiative to launch an armed struggle.
Therefore, after Zhao Qian finished speaking, he immediately said:
"It is true that there is no shortage of loyalty and bravery in Liangzhou, but there must be other rumors about the commotion like this. Your Majesty's immediate task is to personally appease the rebellious soldiers and restore order. Then, with great righteousness, he will punish the Dong family for many crimes, and then punish the first offender and forgive the coercion. ”
Zhao Qian's words were indeed unpleasant to hear, but Liu Xie still thought it made sense.
That is where he currently has the advantage over Dong Zhuo?
It's not that he has more soldiers and horses than Dong Zhuo, but that he is younger than Dong Zhuo and has a natural reputation for righteousness.
Why was he able to win over so many Liangzhou generals during this period? Isn't it because Dong Zhuo was dying?
These people have a benevolent relationship with Dong Zhuo, and they will definitely support Dong Zhuo when Dong Zhuo is here. But why should everyone support you when other Dong family members or generals take over?
Instead of being your dog, wouldn’t it be better for me to be the emperor’s dog?
Therefore, the emperor's advantage lies here.
In fact, the situation in Chang'an is exactly the same now.
How many armed forces are there in the entire Chang'an? There were about 70,000 people, 40,000 of whom were stationed at Wuling near Chang'an, and 30,000 in the city.
Among the more than 30,000 people, there are about 3,000 to 4,000 rebels, about 8,000 to 9,000 people following Dong Huang, 3,000 to 4,000 Yulin troops in the palace, and the remaining more than 10,000 soldiers and horses. Sitting and waiting in various palaces.
These people had been courted by the emperor before, and were therefore blacklisted by the people in the Prime Minister's Mansion, so these people did not dare to join Dong Huang's team.
This is also the reason why Dong Huang has been pulling the team for so long, and when its number swelled to 9,000 people, it could not increase no matter what.
But these people did not dare to join the emperor's team rashly.
It's because until now, the emperor has not come out to show his banner.
Without a banner, how can they follow?
After figuring this out, Liu Xie mustered up the courage to tell everyone that he was ready to go to the palace in person.
It was at this time that Lang Yulin from the East Gate Palace finally ran to the front hall, and then tremblingly brought Dong Huang's four conditions to the emperor.
……
When Yu Linlang tremblingly told Dong Huang's conditions for withdrawing his troops, the entire front hall was deathly quiet.
The light from outside the hall shines into the house from the window lattice, and the light and dark are mixed, making the front hall half dark and half bright.
The emperor, who had still mustered up his courage, gradually leaned on the desk, and then the ministers faintly heard that the emperor was sobbing.
The sobs were quiet at first, but soon became uncontrollable.
At this moment, the ministers present suddenly discovered that the emperor in front of them was actually a child who had not yet reached the crown.
Although the emperor was usually so majestic and calm, he could hide his emotions very well even when he was angry. Even when a domineering minister like Dong Zhuo was by his side, he could easily maintain his dignity.
But with today's crying, this halo was suddenly shattered, and everyone realized that the emperor was just a child.
So what conditions did Dong Huang put forward to make the always calm Liu Xie lose his composure?