Chapter 842 Niu Fu
According to Dong Cheng's narration, Empress Fu was passing by a well to fetch water, and then she lost her strength and fell down.
When Dong Cheng rushed over, he was already dying.
He apologized to the sad emperor, saying that in order to prevent the rebels from catching up and desecrating the queen's body, he sank the queen into the well on his own initiative, and then covered the well with earth and rocks.
Dong Cheng kept kowtowing there, but the emperor remained silent.
It wasn't until Dong Cheng became more and more panicked that the emperor sighed:
"This is life."
After saying that, he asked Dong Cheng where the well was. Maybe he planned to find it and bury it again after he returned to Chang'an again in the future.
Afterwards, Fuwan, who came after hearing the news, did not express much after hearing the bad news about his daughter. Instead, he advised the emperor to continue setting off.
Now that Dong Cheng's team can catch up, the rebel soldiers behind will be very close.
The emperor was so frightened by this loyalty that he didn't even say the words he wanted to comfort He Chengruo.
In this way, the team received Dong Cheng's six or seven hundred people and headed west again.
But this time, the team's hearts have calmed down a lot. Although the situation is difficult, it will definitely get better.
……
After the concubines and maids in the palace were added to the team, there were obviously more cries than before.
None of them have endured such hardship, and they are even more desperate when they think about having to go to the bitter cold in the future.
On the contrary, Dong Guiren, who was crying at the beginning, was pinching her fingers excitedly. Just now, her father told her privately to be prepared.
What to prepare? Of course she’s going to be the queen of a big man!
Although Dong Guiren was uneducated, he was not mindless. A mindless person would not be able to survive in the palace.
After hearing that Queen Fu fell into the well, she knew that the position would belong to her.
Although he is on the road to escape now, and the future of the big man is uncertain, but...but, that is the position of the queen!
Dong Guiren didn't shout out excitedly at this moment, so he was considered a wealthy man.
At this time, she only had one thought in her mind:
"When we get to Liangzhou, life should get better."
Thinking of this, Liangzhou, which was originally vague and even somewhat stigmatized, now became beautiful in Dong Guiren's heart.
……
Set off again, because the convoy was found so easily by Dong Cheng, so this time they did not dare to take the main road, but focused on the trails.
When the convoy was passing through floods, the fleeing team encountered difficulties again.
Fengshui is actually a tributary of the Wei River, flowing from north to south, just across Liu Xie's westward path.
Unfortunately, the amount of water in Fengshui is not small, because there is the largest artificial lake in the world, Kunming Pool, downstream.
Although the Kunming Pond is called a pond, don't think of it as a small pond. It is also a large lake of hundreds of hectares. It was specially dug by Emperor Wu to train the navy.
If the navy can be trained, how small can the lake be?
So crossing this flood has become a problem that Liu Xie and the others have to solve now.
In fact, I have said that it is not difficult. As long as a gourd is tied to it, you can swim across it. Not to mention that with a war horse, you can also cross the river by treading water.
But unfortunately, the ministers asked to drive across the river.
Because the reason is very simple. These are the people riding in the car. If the car is abandoned on the east bank, how will they take the road behind?
The emperor was also in a dilemma. He could ride a horse, but the veterans who followed him around him could not.
If these people can still follow me at this juncture, then who is a loyal minister if they are not loyal ministers?
But we can't let the loyal ministers feel cold.
So he called Jujun from the team over and wanted to ask what he meant.
Why is Jujun here?
Didn't he go to Beigong to contact the four generals Zhang Meng, Qu Guang, Liang Shuang, and Pang Yu? Didn't they already be persuaded to lead the 8,000-strong Northern Army to the Chongliangzhou rebels?
This matter is also a tragedy.
As soon as the eight thousand Northern troops rushed out of the North Palace, they heard the news that the Weiyang Palace ahead had fallen. They immediately dispersed and joined the rebels and started looting.
When the four generals Zhang Meng, Qu Guang, Liang Shuang, and Pang Huo saw that they could not do anything about it, they all went their separate ways. Among them, Zhang Meng and Qu Guang took their remaining soldiers to join the Liangzhou Army.
Liang Shuang and Pang Huo, under the leadership of Ju Jun, took a small number of northern soldiers to chase the emperor, and finally met at the west gate.
The emperor and his ministers almost cried each other when they met again. The young emperor did not blame Ju Jun and asked him to leave the capital together with the remaining soldiers from the north as his retinue.
Afterwards, the emperor thanked Generals Liang Shuang and Pang Zhuo and commended them for their loyalty to the country.
The two generals were frightened and frightened, and they all sacrificed their lives.
At this moment, Ju Jun was just finishing arranging the order for crossing the river when he was called over by the emperor.
Now when the emperor suddenly asked whether the cart could cross the river, Jujun subconsciously disagreed.
Are you kidding me? When driving across a river, if it encounters even a stone, the whole vehicle will overturn. Isn't that a joke about human life?
But as soon as the words came to his mouth, Ju Jun knew that this must be what those ministers meant.
After thinking about it, he finally relaxed his tone:
"The current of this river is a bit fast. If a large car wants to cross the river, it has to throw all the heavy baggage off the car and have people drag the hemp rope across the river. Then it can only cross the river by choosing a first-class driver to control it."
The emperor was overjoyed when he heard this and ordered that this be done accordingly.
When clearing the car here, Jujun and Yulin Lang first rode their war horses and started crossing the river with hemp ropes in their hands.
Although the waterway was fast, Ju Jun and the other knights were very skilled in riding and finally managed to cross the river without any danger.
After crossing the river here, a few people didn't have time to rest, so they began to build rope piles on the bank to guide the team across the river.
After the car was almost cleared, the minister and the team waded into the water on foot.
They grabbed the rope and paced in the water step by step. Some of them fell down because their legs were weak, and there were people behind them who helped them stand up.
Fortunately, there were no pursuers behind, otherwise it would be really worrying to cross the river safely with this little quality.
After spending two quarters of an hour, the team finally crossed the river, and then they just waited for the cart to cross the river.
On the other side, more than a dozen large vehicles had been replaced by the most skilled drivers, and after the river was cleared, they also began to shout at the cattle and start crossing the river.
The cow was very steady and walked towards the other side while treading water, but even so, a car still overturned.
Because of the drag of the cart behind, even if the oxen stepped firmly, it would be in vain if the wheels of the cart behind were jammed by stones.
In the end, after a lot of trouble, three carts were abandoned in the water, and the cattle were brought over.
This is the road to the west, and the road is difficult to pass. The emperor became more and more excited, thinking that his career was just like this road, although it was tortuous, it was bright.
That is to say, after crossing Fengshui, the emperor's team encountered the sentinels sent by Niu Fu in front.
When he heard that Niu Fu's cavalry was not far away, Liu Xie had mixed feelings.
Personally speaking, the emperor not only had no conflict with Niu Fu, but was even kind to Niu Fu.
When Niu Fu first came to Beijing with Dong Zhuo, Liu Xie liked Niu Fu's straightforward appearance and often praised him around Dong Zhuo, saying that among the generals in Liangzhou, Niu Fu was honest and reliable.
Of course, it is not a good thing to praise someone like this in front of Dong Zhuo.
However, Niu Fu was Dong Zhuo's son-in-law and one of his own, so he would not be suspicious because of the emperor's words.
But later on, whenever troops were needed, Dong Zhuo left Niu Fu unused, but guess what, those battles were all with the Taishan Army.
In the end, Niu Fu was a blessing in disguise. When all the generals were lost on the Eastern Front, he became one of the few generals in the army.
Later, when the Liangzhou Qiang on the western front were using troops indiscriminately, Niu Fu became the most suitable candidate.
In short, for Niu Fu to have his current status, his relationship with the emperor is not shallow.
But the emperor was still flustered, because he was frightened by the arrogance and domineering behavior of the Liangzhou general, and was deeply afraid that he had just left Longtan and entered the tiger's den again.
Just when he was worrying about gains and losses, Niu Fu from the opposite side had already rushed over with smoke and dust.
Not bad, Niu Fu's cavalry stopped when they were still thirty steps away from the emperor, and then Liu Xie saw Niu Fu in front of him dismounting his horse, and then hurried over.
Although Liu Xie knew that he looked very embarrassed, he still tried hard to maintain the demeanor of an emperor and held his head high to prevent himself from losing his dignity.
But Liu Xie may not know how embarrassed he is in Niu Fu's eyes.
Niu Fu came over and kept looking at him. He saw that the emperor was really slovenly and embarrassed:
He was wearing a homespun singlet and a large hakama worn by warriors on his legs, but the hakama legs were covered in mud. And what about the emperor's hair? It is not tied with a crown, but with a red belt.
Moreover, because he had been caught in the rain before and had just crossed the river, the emperor was sticky and even his hair was tangled. There were also mosquitoes and flies swarming nearby. Although people were there to chase them away, they still made the emperor impatient. .
Niu Fu had an idea in his mind. When he walked to the emperor, he didn't dare to neglect at all and just kowtowed on the ground.
But because the emperor was afraid, he forced Niu Fu to kneel down to stabilize him.
Fortunately, Niu Fu didn't care about this. After the emperor ordered the petition, he said sadly:
"Your Majesty, that boy Dong Huang is really worse than a beast. I, Niu Fu, must lead the troops to avenge this hatred for Your Majesty."
After Liu Xie heard this, he was obviously happy and asked hurriedly:
"Niu Qing, how many troops did you bring to Beijing?"
Niu Fu slapped his chest, deliberately acting exaggerated, and said to the emperor:
"Your Majesty, I have a thousand cavalry and fierce tigers. You don't need to worry about your majesty. I will protect your majesty and fight back to Chang'an."
But Liu Xie fainted when he heard this number, smiled awkwardly, then patted Niu Fu, and changed the topic deeply:
"How much food do you have in your army? Let me give some to the ministers first. After walking for a long time, everyone is tired."
Niu Fu slapped his forehead, turned around and ordered the people in the army to bring dry food to distribute to the ministers and concubines.
Among them, Niu Fu also noticed that the soles of some Wuling young men who were walking with him were worn out and stained with blood because of running on foot, so he specially asked his men to bring some more boots.
As expected, these actions gained the favor of the emperor and the ministers, and the originally tense atmosphere became much more relaxed.
In fact, Niu Fu didn't bring much. He was just riding a light horse, so he only needed to bring enough dry food to reach Chang'an.
And now, we are almost arriving in Chang'an, and food and other things have been almost consumed.
But this does not trouble Niu Fu. Since the army does not have it, then go to the nearby Qianshou home to grab it.
Feeding Your Majesty your millet is a blessing to your family.
But Niu Fu didn't know that all the nearby residents had already fled due to harassment from defeated troops, bandits, and tax collectors.
The knights under Niu Fu searched in every possible way, and finally seized the rations from the few remaining households, and then mixed them with some wild vegetables and cooked them into porridge for the emperor and his party.
As for this, only the emperor and the ministers can eat it. The other members of the entourage can only pick some fruits and eat them. As for the dry food in the army, forget about those.
Liu Xie took a mouthful of porridge and couldn't help crying. Seeing that Jujun on the side had not eaten yet, he handed the porridge to him to eat.
Ju Jun didn't refuse, took a sip, and then handed the rest to Liang Shuang and Pang Yu.
Liang Shuang still had some emotional intelligence. Although he was hungry, he just took a big sip and handed it to Pang Xuan.
But Pang Chun was young and couldn't hide his troubles. He was already hungry, and seeing that they had all eaten, he finished the remaining porridge in one bite.
Liang Shuang looked at it and couldn't help but licked his lips, then shook his head and said nothing.
Here, the emperor saw that everyone had eaten, and quickly ordered Niu Fu to take everyone back to the army. This place was still too close to Chang'an, so he decided to go to Fufeng to gain a foothold first.
So, the team soon continued on the road.
After Niu Fu gathered Xiliu's cavalry and discussed with the emperor, he began to advance towards Huaili in the west.
Because of the large number of people in the team, they did not rush to Huaili that night, but stayed in the wild.
If the day is hard, then sleeping in the wild at night is torture.
The emperor and the others still had the oxcart to sleep in, but the others could only lie in the wild, enduring the bites of insects. Plus, their stomachs were empty. This night was really difficult.
On a cold night, Liu Xie lay alone in the car, tears streaming from the corners of his eyes.
It was late at night and no one else was present. Liu Xie began to regret it. He regretted that it would have been better if he had taken action earlier.
It was supposed to be the resurgence of the Han Dynasty's career, but in the blink of an eye, the imperial hegemony was gone. How can anyone bear this roller coaster ride?
Liu Xie can remain so calm during the day and can still shoulder the responsibility of the fleeing team. At least from this point of view, his level can be firmly ranked in the middle among the emperors of this dynasty.
Alas, he was not the king of a country that was subjugated, but he was going to suffer the consequences of it. How unfair is this.
The next day it was bright and the emperor was about to continue heading west.
But suddenly he saw Niu Fu walking over with a gloomy face, then secretly pulled the emperor aside and told the emperor this news:
"Your Majesty, the general just met the rebel soldiers who broke out from the city outside. He said that not long after Your Majesty left, the Hedong soldiers entered the city. After that, the Liangzhou soldiers and the Hedong soldiers fought in the city for a day, but they were driven out from behind. The Taishan Army came over and took advantage, and now Chang'an belongs to the Taishan Army."
The amount of information in this news was quite large, and Liu Xie was stunned for a while.
But then, more explosive news was yet to come, but Niu Fu hesitated and continued:
"According to those who broke out, the traitor Dong Huang gathered his troops westward and withdrew from Chang'an after learning that the Taishan Army appeared near Chang'an. And their direction was obviously the same as ours, towards Fufeng."< br>
At this time, Liu Xie's head and feet felt cold.
The cold wind in the early morning is very cold with some moisture hanging on it, but the words coming from Niu Fu's mouth are even colder than the wind.