Han Dynasty Achievements

Chapter 29 Mess

They started killing people!

As soon as the guard finished speaking, everyone was shocked!

The Sili Xiaowei killed someone? Who did he kill? Was he going to break into the palace and kill someone again?

Empress Dowager He panicked. She looked at the red flames outside the palace and the shouts of killing as if they were right before her eyes. She pulled Liu Bian and asked anxiously, "Bian'er, is it, is it your uncle?"

Liu Bian's face was as gloomy as water, and he knew nothing about the situation outside.

But now is not the time to pursue this. He took a deep breath, held down one of Empress Dowager He's hands, looked at Pan Yin and said, "You must issue an order immediately. No one in the palace is allowed to move. Stay in place. Order Cao Cao to come to see me immediately! All palace gates are closed. No one is allowed to enter or leave without an order!"

Liu Bian said, "Send someone to bring the King of Bohai here. Jian Shuo, you escort me and my mother to the Jiade Hall."

"Yes." Everyone responded and hurriedly escorted Liu Bian to the Jiade Hall.

Empress Dowager He was extremely flustered and followed Liu Bian closely.

When they arrived at the Jiade Hall, Cao Cao came up to them wearing armor and leading his troops. He said with a stern look, "Your Majesty, I, Cao Cao, pay my respects to you!"

When Liu Bian saw him, he felt a little relieved. He sat on a chair, looked out of the palace gate, and said, "No need to be polite. Do you know what happened?"

Cao Cao stood up and said, "Your Majesty, I inquired before I came here. It was the Inspector General of the Imperial Guards who gave the order, but the specific reason is unknown. There is chaos outside the palace, and the Yulin Army is arresting and killing people everywhere."

"Where is the general?" Empress Dowager He became anxious when she heard it.

Cao Cao bowed and said, "I don't know."

Liu Bian sat on the chair. Although his face was still a little stiff, he had calmed down a lot in his heart.

With Cao Cao and Jian Shuo's imperial guards around, he was confident that he could handle it no matter what happened outside.

He took the teacup handed over by Pan Yin, handed it to Queen Mother He, and said with a smile: "Don't worry, Queen Mother. With me here, the sky will not fall!"

Empress Dowager He took Liu Bian's teacup and watched him nod reluctantly, her face full of worry.

Cao Cao observed Liu Bian quietly with his narrow eyes and was quite surprised at his calmness.

"Your Majesty, Your Majesty, Your Majesty the Queen Mother."

At this time, a group of guards escorted Liu Xie in from the side door.

The eight-year-old Liu Xie, with a childish face, calmly saluted Liu Bian and Empress Dowager He.

Liu Bian looked at him and said, "Come here, bring a chair for my brother."

"Thank you, Your Majesty."

Liu Xie responded neither humbly nor arrogantly, while secretly observing Liu Bian out of the corner of his eye.

He and Liu Bian were both in the palace, and although they did not meet many times, they knew each other well.

He detained Zhang Rang and others, drove away his grandmother, and repeatedly overpowered He Jin... These actions were completely different from the timid and cowardly emperor brother he knew.

The shouting and screaming outside the palace was deafening, but he was still so calm?

Liu Bian sat on a chair, looking outside the palace. The flames shot up into the sky, coming and going, turning and moving, like a fire dragon swimming quickly.

"What on earth is He Jin going to do?"

He thought to himself, and suddenly looked at Cao Cao who was not far in front of him, and smiled and said: "I heard that the general and the general had some quarrels today?"

Cao Cao bowed and said, "I offended the general. Please forgive me, Your Majesty."

Liu Bian nodded and said, "We should still show some respect to the general."

"Yes." Cao Cao said, but there was no emotion on his face.

Liu Bian narrowed his eyes and stared at Cao Cao. It was said in the capital that Cao Cao was a dissolute, lustful, and reckless person.

He glanced at Jian Shuo on his left again. The man lowered his head respectfully, and his expression was visibly nervous.

Empress Dowager He seemed to sense that something was wrong with the atmosphere. She took Liu Bian's hand and whispered, "Bian'er, what happened outside?"

Liu Bian smiled and said, "I want to know this, too."

The corners of Empress Dowager He's mouth twitched. She grabbed Liu Bian and looked outside the palace gate anxiously.

Liu Bian looked around and saw that everyone was there, so he waved to Pan Yin.

Pan Yin took small steps forward and said, "Your Majesty."

"Give me the Records of the Grand Historian." Liu Bian said.

Pan Yin responded, turned around and asked someone to get it.

It was found soon. Liu Bian took it and looked at it carefully.

"Taishiji", better known as "Shiji", was compiled by Sima Qian, a historian of the Western Han Dynasty.

In addition to practicing calligraphy, Liu Bian has been reading this book recently, especially the part about Emperor Wu of Han, which he particularly likes.

The "Records of the Grand Historian" in his hands is much more detailed than that of later generations, and is an unabridged version.

At that time, paper was still a rare commodity that only wealthy families could afford. The nobles despised the use of paper and mostly used silk.

As time passed, Liu Bian read each page carefully and seriously.

It's not that he didn't want to read faster, there were really a lot of "uncommon characters" and some of the words had hidden meanings, so he had to figure them out carefully.

The shouting and screaming outside continued, and the guards even reported that people kept breaking into the palace.

Liu Bian remained motionless, touched his lower lip with his index finger, and turned the page to continue reading.

Cao Cao, Jian Shuo, Pan Yin and others saw that Liu Bian was as still as a mountain, and their originally tense mood unconsciously relaxed.

After two hours, the sound of cocks crowing could be heard faintly, the flames outside the palace dimmed, and the shouting and killing gradually stopped.

Pan Yin could no longer hold back and stepped forward and whispered, "Your Majesty, should we open the palace gates and send someone to investigate?"

Liu Bian turned the pages of the book and said, "Wait a little longer."

"Yes." Pan Yin stepped back cautiously.

Cao Cao looked at Liu Bian, frowning and thinking.

At this time, the Yulin Army outside the palace began to reorganize and return to the established system.

Outside the Nangong Palace, not far from the Xuanwu Gate.

Many soldiers gathered together, holding torches high.

In the center, He Jin was wearing armor, his face full of flesh, his eyes fiercely staring at the court judge Xuan Fan who was kneeling on the ground in front of him. He raised his right hand holding the knife and wiped the blood off his helmet.

Xuan Fan was so frightened that he collapsed to the ground, and said in a trembling voice: "General, I have nothing to do with the Twelve Eunuchs, why did you arrest me?"

He Jin's eyes were bloodshot, and he was murderous. He said, "Do you really think I don't know your relationship with that eunuch Zhao Zhong? Tell me, who ordered you to come to the palace and falsely accuse me last night?"

Xuan Fan's face was pale without a trace of blood. He looked at He Jin with a cold body and extreme fear. He said, "No, no, no one instructed us to do this. Yes, yes, yes, they reported us. As the Minister of Justice, I should..."

puff

Before Xuan Fan could finish his words, Yuan Shu, who was behind him, glanced at He Jin, swung his sword fiercely, and chopped off Xuan Fan's head!

Heads rolled, eyes widened, faces full of horror.

Yuan Shu kicked him away, stepped forward covered in blood, and said fiercely, "General."

He Jin looked at Xuan Fan's body, wiped the sword in his hand, and asked, "Who else?"

Yuan Shu looked towards the east of the city and said, "General, according to your list, only the General of Cavalry is left."

"Dong Zhong!"

He Jin's eyes were filled with coldness, and he said, "He is not unrelated to what happened today. Let's go!"

Yuan Shu followed him and asked, "General, are you saying that it was the General of the Cavalry who sent someone to assassinate you?"

He Jin climbed onto his horse, the flesh on his face twitching constantly. He stared at the direction of Dong Zhong's residence and said, "Who else could it be except him!"

Yuan Shu followed and mounted his horse, saying, "General, he is the General of Cavalry, we..."

He Jin ignored him and rode his horse straight to the General of Cavalry's residence.

Huangfu Song’s residence is not far away.

Huangfu Jianchang hid inside the door, looking out through a crack, listening to the sound of horse hooves gradually approaching. His heart was trembling with fear and his fingers were shaking.

A servant hurried over and whispered, "Second Master, these are the soldiers of the Yulin Army, the general's troops."

Huangfu Jian looked at the fire outside the wall and asked, "Where's Dad?"

The servant said, "The master left the city yesterday, so he should not be in the city."

Huangfu Jian let out a long sigh of relief and said, "That's good, that's good."

He still didn't dare to be careless. Seeing the fire gradually approaching, he shrank his neck and his body seemed to be shaking and trembling.

It was not until the torch passed through the gate and gradually faded away that he slowly collapsed to the ground, muttering: "How many people are they going to kill..."

Hussar General's Mansion.

The Yulin Army surrounded them tightly, and the torches were as bright as day.

The door was closed tightly. Behind the door, Dong Zhong was wearing heavy armor and looked terrified. He held the knife tightly in both hands, raised it above his head, and stared at the door.

Behind him were more than thirty servants, also holding knives, ready for battle.

A servant behind Dong Zhong stepped forward in fear and said, "Master, I heard from my brothers who came back from outside that the Yulin Army killed General Zhao, Master Ma and more than ten other people, along with their entire families, leaving no one alive..."

Dong Zhong gritted his teeth, panicking to the extreme, but he managed to speak: "Even if He Jin is bloodthirsty, he dare not kill me! I am the nephew of Empress Dowager Dong, and the General of the Cavalry appointed by His Majesty. If he kills me without His Majesty's order, it would be treason!"

After hearing what Dong Zhong said, the uneasy expressions of the servants eased a little.

"Dong Chong, thief, come out!"

At this moment, He Jin's loud shout suddenly rang out outside the gate!

Dong Zhong was startled, and immediately stiffened his neck and shouted through the door: "General, I am the General of Cavalry appointed by His Majesty. You are not allowed to surround my mansion without His Majesty's order!"

"Dong Zhong, you plotted to assassinate the general, you deserve to be killed! You colluded with the eunuch party and disrupted the government, your crime is grave!"

Yuan Shu drew his sword and shouted, "If you surrender, your sentence may be reduced, but if you dare to gather a crowd to disobey my order, you will be executed on the spot!"

Dong Zhong felt a chill on his neck when he heard the sound of the sword being drawn. He immediately shouted, "Bullshit! He Jin, if you dare to kill me without permission, His Majesty will not forgive you!"

Outside the door, He Jin was sitting on a tall horse. His face under the firelight had no expression, but looked even more ferocious.

Yuan Shu glanced at him, strode forward with a knife in hand, and said, "Dong Zhong plotted to assassinate the general, colluded with the eunuch party, and disobeyed the emperor's order. His crime is unforgivable!"

The Yulin guards received the order and began to knock on the door, and some soldiers even climbed over the wall and jumped into the yard.

The guards who jumped into the yard didn't waste any time, they killed anyone they saw and swarmed towards Dong Zhong.

Dong Zhong saw that he was surrounded and the door was about to be broken open. He was so frightened that he could hardly hold the knife. He was in a panic and defended himself left, right, front and back.

His servants tried to resist, but they were no match for the increasing number of Yulin soldiers, and in a blink of an eye, there were corpses everywhere.

砰

A big door was knocked open, and Yuan Shu was covered in blood, with a cold murderous look on his face. He walked straight towards Dong Zhong with a knife in hand.

Dong Zhong was shaking all over, angry and grief-stricken. Seeing that he could not escape, he looked up to the sky and roared, "He Jin, you will not die well!"

After saying that, he put the knife across his neck, gritted his teeth, closed his eyes suddenly, and touched his neck with the knife in his hand.

The knife fell to the ground, and Dong Zhong fell to the ground with a strong sense of unwillingness.

The Yulin Army dealt with the rest of the servants in the blink of an eye, and then rushed into the courtyard, killing everyone they saw without leaving a single one alive. The screams echoed in the dark night, extremely harsh.

Yuan Shu looked at Dong Zhong's body, turned to He Jin and said, "General, Dong Zhong committed suicide out of fear of punishment."

He Jin snorted coldly, his eyes were cold, he looked up and saw the sky was getting light, after a moment of silence, he turned his horse around and said, "Enter the palace!"

Yuan Shu's expression suddenly changed. He quickly chased after him and asked, "General, are you coming into the palace?"

Yuan Shao has not been released from the last palace coup. Is it going to happen again?

He Jin rode his horse and said, "Go to the palace and report back."

Yuan Shu breathed a sigh of relief, mounted his horse and followed He Jin.

As the two men turned towards the palace, the Yulin Army began to withdraw, and the soldiers on the street returned to their teams one after another, leaving only blood and corpses everywhere.

The huge city of Luoyang was like hell that night.

Inside the Palace of the Guardian.

Liu Bian was still slowly turning the pages of the book. This was the second time he had read it.

As time went by, he could no longer concentrate on reading, as his mind was filled with thoughts about the situation outside and the situations he might face.

"How far will He Jin go?" Liu Bian thought silently. His response would depend on how far He Jin went.

"Your Majesty, the Yulin Army has withdrawn." A guard of the imperial army ran in hurriedly and knelt on one knee.

The oppressive silence in the hall suddenly relaxed. Empress Dowager He looked at the guard and asked anxiously, "Where is the general?"

The guard said, "I don't know yet."

Liu Bian remained motionless, his eyes fixed on the pages of the book, and said, "Cao Cao, Jian Shuo, send someone out of the palace to investigate."

"Yes." Cao Cao and Jian Shuo responded.

In fact, they had been unable to hold back their anger for a long time, but their Emperor was too patient and was reading a book, so they had to force themselves to endure it.

Empress Dowager He was unconsciously a little nervous. She looked at Liu Bian and said, "Bian'er, tell me, what is your uncle going to do?"

Even if one wants to arrest the eunuch party's followers, there is no need for such a large scale deployment.

Liu Bian didn't know the whole story yet, but He Jin's act of using troops without prior permission and acting recklessly made him very angry!

He put down the book, took the teacup handed to him by Pan Yin, looked quietly outside the door, and said, "I don't know either. The last time was a palace coup, and this time it was a city closure and killing."

Empress Dowager He was no longer ignorant, but she also realized that something was wrong. She looked at Liu Bian with a hesitant expression and said, "Bian'er, he is your uncle after all. We have to rely on him when we are outside the palace."

Liu Bian nodded silently and thought to himself: It's only temporary.

He had not yet held the coronation ceremony, and he needed He Jin to stabilize the situation and give him time so that the court officials and the world would know and accept him as the new emperor.

Not long after, Jian Shuo came back in a hurry. His face was pale and his legs were shaking. He couldn't even stand steadily. He stumbled and fell to the ground with a thud. He rolled forward and said in a trembling voice: "Your Majesty, the general, no, the general Zhao, the general Ma, the general of the cavalry, the general Xuan Tingwei... and Zhao Zhong, Zhang Rang, etc. They were all exterminated. Not a single one was left alive..."

Liu Bian's face turned pale, he stood up suddenly and shouted: "You said, extermination of the clan? The Grand Commandant, the Grand Tutor, Dong Zhong, and Xuan Fan were all exterminated... How many people died?"

Jian Shuo knelt on the ground, his shoulders hunched together, trembling, and said: "I don't know for now, but I estimate that there are at least 5,000 people..."

A wealthy family often has several generations living in one courtyard, with at least a dozen and sometimes hundreds of family members, and several times more maids and servants.

The annihilation of an entire family could easily result in the deaths of hundreds of people!

"Five thousand..."

Liu Bian couldn't believe it. He Jin slaughtered more than 5,000 people overnight!

Liu Bian felt angry, panicked, and a little terrified.

Five thousand people!

He had never seen such a situation before, let alone imagined it!

Liu Bian suppressed his inner shock, took a deep breath, and asked, "Where is the general?"

Jian Shuo said, "The general and the lieutenant of the imperial court, Yuan Shu, are already on their way to the palace."

Upon hearing this, Liu Bian slowly sat back, his face as hard as steel, and he was anxiously thinking about how to deal with the current situation.

He Jin killed so many people, including the former Three Dukes, Nine Ministers, the current Chief Justice, and the General of Cavalry. All of them were important officials of the court. How could they be dealt with arbitrarily, let alone exterminate their entire clan!

The most important thing is that He Jin was so ruthless. After dawn, when the news spread out of Luoyang City, how would the governors, provincial governors, and generals who were in cahoots with the Twelve Eunuchs and held heavy troops react?

Thanks to the boss of 'Only See the Essence' for the generous reward. The boss has nine wives!

On Tuesday, there will be another big chapter, please read it~~