My younger brother Zhuge Liang

Chapter 792: Enter Luoyang City and Avenge His Majesty

Many years later, facing his sinking boat and Cao's soldiers who were trying to catch him with spears stretched out,

The Han Emperor Liu Huihui recalled that distant afternoon eighteen years ago when he summoned Zhuge Jin to the Shiqu Pavilion in Xudu.

It was on that afternoon that Zhuge Jin helped him review a historical event that seemed as fateful as an oracle, and told him that the Mandate of Heaven that Emperor Gaozu had obtained was the legacy of the fight between Emperor Yi and Xiang Yu.

If Xiang Yu had not killed the Righteous Emperor, and if Xiang Yu had not taken the lead and been punished by heaven, how could Emperor Gaozu have avenged the Righteous Emperor and taken advantage of the opportunity of "the prosperity of the palace"? How could he have obtained the righteous title of "legitimate defense"?

In that case, even if Gaozu could still achieve great achievements, he would ultimately not be able to reach the pinnacle of the emperor.

That afternoon, Liu Xie was very confused. At that time, he didn't know who was Xiang Yu and who was Gaozu in the world, but he had vaguely guessed that he might be the current Emperor Yi.

He just didn't want to face the reality and kept deceiving himself, struggling and escaping like this for eighteen years.

But at this moment, the cool and turbulent water of the Yellow River finally woke him up.

As the boat was sinking, Liu Xie drew out the Emperor's Sword and swung it to cut off a spear shaft that had just reached his armpit. He preferred to fall back into the water rather than let the soldiers catch him back on the big boat next to him.

Some Cao army soldiers also jumped into the Yellow River, trying to capture Liu Xie alive, but they were forced away by Liu Xie's sword, and two sailors were chopped and injured.

"You villains! Don't even think about capturing me alive! Eighteen years ago, Zhuge Ziyu said those words to me in Shiqu Pavilion, and I have been running away for eighteen years! In the end, I didn't escape!

Zhuge Ziyu's words are indeed a divine oracle! I'm tired! I give up! I'm going to do it with a bang today and follow Shou'er!
I am the Righteous Emperor today. Cao Cao, the Xiang Yu today, will surely come down to accompany me soon, gulu! The Great Master of the Imperial Clan, the Gaozu today, will avenge me, gulu..."

Liu Xie was completely submerged by the waves before he could finish his last few words.

……

As Liu Xie's ship sank completely, the scene was chaotic for a while.

The morale of Sun Quan's sailors was very low and their hearts were confused because the emperor had sunk into the river.

Zhao Yun on the shore did not dare to shoot arrows at the accident scene, so he could only shoot at other surrounding enemy warships.

In this kind of shooting match, cavalry is actually at a disadvantage, as they can only use horse bows and not crossbows.

The sailors on the ship could use their powerful crossbows at their leisure, and the side masts of the ship could also shield the arrows, allowing the archers to shoot arrows through the shooting holes.

If it weren't for the mission of protecting the emperor, Zhao Yun wouldn't have suffered such a disadvantage by running and shooting on the shore and fighting against the warships.

After fighting for a while, Zhao Yun's cavalry suffered some casualties. In addition, there was no hope of picking up any escapees ashore. Zhao Yun had to reluctantly order his cavalry to leave the river bank and retreat at least an arrow's distance, then slowly confront the enemy and look for an opportunity.

The most important thing is that Zhao Yun himself was actually shot by the crossbow arrows of the enemy ship, and suffered some minor flesh injuries - the steel-forged armor on Zhao Yun's body was naturally the most sophisticated, and it was completely immune to ordinary bow and arrow damage. If a strong crossbow hit directly, it would form a "ricochet" most of the time.

In addition, Zhao Yun himself had superb martial arts and was quick-eyed and quick-handed when blocking, so he could block at least 70% to 80% of the crossbow arrows shot at him, and at least 80% of those that were not blocked were bounced off by his armor. In the end, very few of them could barely cause Zhao Yun some minor injuries.

Zhao Yun had fought in battles for more than 20 years and had hardly ever been injured. This time, he suffered two minor injuries in an attempt to save the emperor, which was already very respectful and dedicated.

As Zhao Yun retreated slightly, the scene of the shipwreck gradually became quiet.

It seems that all the people who fell into the water and could be rescued were rescued by Sun Quan's men. Those who were not rescued were probably sunk to the bottom of the Yellow River and died.

But Sun Quan's men still did not stop the salvage search. Even if there was someone dead, they wanted to see the body.

Geng Ji, who was shot and fell into the water, was fished out, looking dying and in a very bad condition. Wei Huang was not found, and finally Liu Xie, who had drowned, was found.

The officer in charge of the salvage was terrified. After discovering the body that was suspected to be the emperor's, he immediately returned to the boat and headed towards the south bank to report the situation to Sun Quan.

Sun Quan was also quite worried. He had never dealt with such a matter before, and he didn't want to be involved in such a mess. But now he was the highest-ranking official on the scene, so he had to deal with it on the spot.

"What should we do? His Majesty drowned, which at least wasn't regicide. I asked them to stop him and bring His Majesty back alive, but I didn't let them make such a mistake! If this matter is not resolved, how can I explain it to the Prime Minister..."

When Sun Quan saw Liu Xie's body, he broke out in a cold sweat.

Of course he had seen Liu Xie before. After all, he was the emperor's brother-in-law and had recently met him in court, so he recognized the identity of the corpse at a glance.

To be honest, Sun Quan's performance today is very different from that of Jia Chong in history.

Jia Chong directly ordered Cheng Ji in the street and told him, "Sima Gong has ordered that you must be killed." This was tantamount to directly and explicitly ordering the regicide.

Sun Quan didn't say a word about regicide today. It wasn't because Sun Quan had a good conscience, but he was better at protecting himself than Jia Chong. He knew that such treasonous words must not be said, otherwise even if he succeeded, Cao Cao would not spare his life.

Sun Quan's orders from beginning to end were to "bring His Majesty back alive" to prevent Him from falling into the hands of the kidnappers.

So in his own opinion, his position was at best just that "improper means of rescuing the hostages led to His Majesty being killed by the hijackers."

Even though everyone saw that it was an officer under Sun Quan who drove the boat and capsized His Majesty, he only thought it was an accident caused by improper operation during the "interception".

The driver should have been stopped at the head, but due to poor driving skills and distorted operation, the car ended up being hit in the waist.

If Jia Chong was guilty of intentional homicide, then Sun Quan would be guilty of traffic accident.

Of course, if a traffic accident killed the emperor, it would be very serious. After all, the laws of the Han Dynasty were completely different from those of later generations.

As long as the emperor died, even if it was not intentional but negligent, the specific executor would still die. In this case, the officer who directly commanded the ship to sail and the sailor who stopped the ship would definitely be killed, and if they were unlucky, their entire family might be exterminated.

Just like when Sima Zhao killed the emperor, Cheng Ji could not escape death no matter what, but Sima Zhao could find a way to save Jia Chong.

Sun Quan's crime was much smaller than Jia Chong's, so he could attribute it to "negligence" and Cao Cao would not have killed his son-in-law.

As for the emperor's final refusal to be captured and his personal sword-wielding resistance after falling into the water, Sun Quan would of course filter it out and not publicize it.

At this moment, Sun Quan felt the blood rushing to his head and his brain was blank for a long time before he figured out how to defend himself and how to characterize the matter.

After he figured it out, he immediately shouted, "Arrest the rebel Geng Ji and his gang! No matter if they are dead or alive! These thieves colluded with Liu Bei and wanted to kidnap the emperor and offer him to Liu Bei! When they were intercepted by the imperial reinforcements, they killed the emperor out of their rage. Their crimes are so heinous that they are hated by both humans and gods!"

With just a few words, Sun Quan labeled Geng Ji, Wei Huang and others as "murderers". As for how many people in the world would believe it, that depends on one's own opinion. At this time, the ship escorting Geng Ji had also approached the south bank. The soldiers unloaded the emperor's body and Geng Ji, who was fished out of the water and tied up.

Geng Ji heard Sun Quan's evaluation of him with his own ears, and he did not seem angry. Instead, he laughed wildly:

"Sun Quan, you bastard! Do you think anyone in the world will believe you when you confuse right and wrong like this? Will anyone believe Cao? I kidnapped the emperor? After the emperor fell into the water, he still swung his sword himself to prevent you from taking him prisoner. Are you blind?
I'm just going to die a few days earlier. When I get to the Lord of Mount Tai, I'll wait and see how you and Cao the thief get down! General Guan is almost at Hulao Pass! General Zhao is on the other side of the river! How many more days can you traitors run rampant! The punishment you used on me today, I want to see General Guan use ten times as much on you within a month!"

Even though Sun Quan had a good psychological quality, he couldn't help feeling chilled by Geng Ji's rampant scolding.

When I think about the fact that Guan Yu has already fought outside Hulao Pass, if the news of the emperor's death causes a huge shock to the court controlled by Cao Cao, it is indeed possible that Guan Yu and Zhao Yun will attack immediately.

Sun Quan couldn't help but feel a chill on the back of his neck.

But he had no choice at the moment. In order to avoid being annoyed, he immediately ordered Geng Ji to be gagged and taken back to see Cao Cao.

While Sun Quan was handling these trivial matters, a noisy sound suddenly came from the downstream direction of the Yellow River.

Sun Quan immediately sent someone to investigate, but soon received a reply:

"Report to the general! It was Liu Bei's Yellow River navy, led by Zhou Yu, who broke through our river blockade north of Hulao Pass and rushed upstream. Our navy's defeated soldiers were the first to send light warships back to report the news!"

After hearing this, Sun Quan nodded blankly, knowing that this must be the water support arranged by Liu Bei after Geng Ji and Wei Huang contacted Liu Bei.

If the emperor's escape plan had not been exposed today, and the emperor had been allowed to run for a few more hours, he might have been successfully picked up by Zhou Yu's fleet.

As for Liu Bei's army's land support, it came even faster than expected. Fortunately, Zhao Yun only rode his horse along the north bank and could not go down the river, otherwise Zhao Yun would have been able to pick up the people on his own.

"It turned out to be Gongjin... Gongjin's ability in naval warfare is not as good as mine. Let's withdraw our troops and go ashore. Let the cavalry first send your Majesty's corpse and these guilty officials back to Luoyang. Please let the Prime Minister make the decision."

Sun Quan was wise enough to withdraw his troops.

Not long after, Zhou Yu arrived with his navy. He did not slack off, but went according to the agreed time. He did not dare to attack Cao's patrol team on the Yellow River north of Hulao Pass too early.

Zhou Yu was also afraid of alerting the enemy in advance, so he ordered Cao's army to be on high alert, making it more difficult for the emperor to escape.

After Zhou Yu arrived this time, he contacted Zhao Yun on the north bank as soon as possible and learned that the emperor's body was suspected to have been chased back by the enemy and that the emperor's boat was suspected to have been overturned and his life or death was unknown.

Zhou Yu naturally had to try his best to chase them again to see if he could get something back.

By this time, Sun Quan had already led his troops away, but the Cao army's rear warships on the river were still flying the flag with the word "Sun" on it.

Zhou Yu was terrified and engaged in a battle with Sun Quan's rearguard warships for no apparent reason, killing dozens of Cao's warships and capturing five or six of them.

Zhou Yu asked the captives who were forced to surrender, and found out that the emperor was actually dead, having drowned when the boat capsized just now.

After confirming the news, Zhou Yu was also very confused.

He was forced to surrender to Liu Bei because Liu Bei promised him to let Sun Quan go.

To this day, Zhou Yu still has a life-threatening friendship with Sun Ce in his heart, and he has never wanted to fight with the Sun family.

When he learned that Sun Quan was actually involved in such a matter and committed such a heinous crime, he was very confused and didn't know what to do for a while.

Zhou Yu could only withdraw his troops and move to the north bank, and synchronize the news with Zhao Yun. Zhao Yun could naturally send a light cavalry and fast horse messenger back to inform the lord and the prime minister.

Then Zhou Yu searched the battlefield several times.

Because Sun Quan left in a hurry after fishing out the emperor's body and did not clean up the battlefield thoroughly, Zhou Yu was able to catch some fish that had slipped through the net.

For example, he rescued Wei Huang, who was washed ashore after falling into the water, and Liu Xie's close followers and guards, who also fell into the water but survived.

However, there were very few such people. When Liu Xie's ship sank, the bodies of those who fell into the water and those who drowned were estimated to be more than a dozen. In the end, Zhou Yu only saved three people alive.

After all, by the time Zhou Yu came to salvage the boat, it had been sunk for a while. Given the depth and volume of the Yellow River, it was already very good for one tenth of the people to survive in the water for that long, and they had to be lucky enough to be washed ashore in the shallow water.

But three are enough. As long as they are treated well, these people can be taken back as witnesses and roughly explain what happened at that time.

……

Sun Quan, Zhao Yun and Zhou Yu each finished their work and went back. Within a day, Cao Cao knew what had happened at Chenggao.

Liu Bei, who was in Guandong, would know the truth at most one or two days later than Cao Cao.

In Luoyang City, in the Prime Minister's Mansion, when Cao Cao heard that the emperor had drowned, he screamed and fainted from shock.

I don't know if he was really so shocked that he had a headache, or if he was just acting to cover up his embarrassment and shame.

It took a long time before Cao Cao recovered under the treatment of the imperial physician.
"Your Majesty... Your Majesty! Why do you have to do this? Let's quickly set up a coffin and hold a funeral for Your Majesty! Although Your Majesty died at the hands of the kidnappers, as a minister, I am also guilty for not being able to protect you."

After Cao Cao finished giving his orders, he pretended to faint again to take some time off. He still had a lot of headaches ahead of him.

……

More than a day after Cao Cao fainted, Liu Bei himself learned all this at the front line in Chenliu County.

At that time, Liu Bei was personally with Guan Yu, and the two brothers were planning whether to attack Hulao Pass by force.

After hearing the news from Zhao Yun and Zhou Yu that the emperor was pursued by Cao Cao and his boat was sunk and drowned, Liu Bei was also shocked.

"Your Majesty! Your Majesty! You have been patient for so many years, why are you so stubborn all of a sudden! Even if you are kidnapped by Cao Cao halfway, I will have a chance to rescue you once I have entered Hulao Pass!

No! This must be Cao's conspiracy! Your Majesty swore to die rather than surrender, so Cao's troops killed the king! Your Majesty, I will mobilize the troops right now, break through Hulao Pass, enter Luoyang City, and kill Cao to avenge you!

"I have ordered that white cloth headbands be prepared for the entire army as soon as possible, and that the troops attacking Hulao Pass wear mourning for His Majesty! All units should also prepare for the assault as soon as possible! Charge into Luoyang City! Avenge His Majesty!"

(End of this chapter)