Late Han Zhao Tang

Chapter 305 The show is on
In February, the situation in the world changed due to Yuan Shu's expedition to the capital.

Yuan Shao and Zhang Yu each dispatched troops to the capital, and the people in Luoyang were particularly sensitive to turmoil because of their experience of the war against Dong Zhuo. When they heard the news that Yuan Shu had sent troops to the capital, they were terrified and fled.

Yuan Shu's reputation was as bad as ever, which could be seen from the fact that he asked Zhang Yu for horses. After all, he dared to write to Zhang Yu, who was competing for supremacy in the world, to ask for horses, let alone the scholars and people under his rule.

When Yuan Shu was in Nanyang, he not only acted in a dissolute manner, but also had a lax governance and often allowed his soldiers to plunder. The oppressed people of Nanyang either fled north to Mount Song or south to the waters of southern Jing.

After Liu Xie moved east to Luoyang, in order to rebuild the capital, Liu Xie sent officials to Songshan to recruit many people and moved them to Luoyang to settle and farm. Now Yuan Shu came, in order to avoid being persecuted by him, the people of the capital fled again and took their families to Guanzhong.

Although Guanzhong was in chaos before, since it was occupied by Zhang Yu, we cannot say that the government is clean and honest, and we cannot ensure that people do not steal on the roads, but we can say that there is no persecution by war, and all refugees can be allocated 100 acres of wasteland to cultivate.

Liu Xie stood on the top of the palace city. Looking at the people of the capital who had fled west to Guanzhong, recalling the prosperity of Luoyang when he was young, and thinking of the hard work he and other officials had put in to restore the population of Luoyang, Liu Xie could not help but sigh in loneliness.

"The war has started now, and all our efforts have been wasted. After this war, Luoyang may be deserted."

"Since Your Majesty is worried about the lack of people in Luoyang, why not send troops to stop the people from fleeing!" Tai Liang said.

"I don't even know the future, let alone the people?"

“People’s livelihood is difficult, why make it difficult!”

Liu Xie slapped the parapet and sighed, saying, "If I flee west to Guanzhong, I still have a chance of survival, but if I stay in Luoyang, I am unsure of my life or death."

"Your Majesty is benevolent and righteous!" Tai Liang praised.

Liu Xie shook his head and said nothing, feeling sad. As the emperor of the Han Dynasty, he was nominally the ruler of the world, but he couldn't even control his own fate, so why should he make things difficult for the people who were struggling to survive?
"His Majesty!"

Liu Bei, wearing armor and holding a memorial, walked with a tiger's gait. When he came to Liu Xie, he presented the memorial with both hands and said, "Yuan Shao of Hebei sent Yan Liang to the south. Now Yan Liang is stationed at the ferry in Hebei. I am sending Yuan Shao's memorial to Your Majesty!"

Liu Xie opened the memorial and frowned when he saw Yuan Shao advising him to cross the Yellow River to the north to seek refuge.

Seeing this, Liu Bei asked carefully: "May I ask your Majesty, when will Yuan Shao lead his army south?"

Liu Xie showed the memorial to Liu Bei and said, "Yuan Shao said that the army was slow to move, but now Yuan Shu's army has set out, so he wants me to lead you to cross the river to Henei first, and then he will defeat Yuan Shu and recover the palace in Luoyang."

"What is Xuande's opinion?" Liu Xie asked.

"Your Majesty, I think that compared with Yuan Shao, it is better for us to go west to Hongnong and seek protection from Zhang Yu."

Liu Bei's expression became serious, and he said, "Zhang Yu has his heart set on the Han Dynasty, so he defeated Li Jue, assisted the Han Dynasty, and moved east to Luoyang. Yuan Shao watched the court in danger and expelled the court governors. He even had the intention of supporting another court. So if you want to seek refuge now, why not go to Zhang Yu's camp?"

Zhang Yu's previous character was so good that Liu Bei thought it would be better to seek Zhang Yu's protection than to seek Yuan Shao's help.

"Will Zhang Yu send troops now?" Liu Xie asked.

"According to Feng Fang's letter, Zhang Yu suffers from a headache and cannot lead the troops to the battle. Now I have asked Xu Huang, the commander of the Southern Expedition, to lead the troops to meet Zhang Yang in Heyang." Liu Bei said, "If Your Majesty wishes to leave Luo and seek refuge, I am willing to lead the troops to do my best to protect Your Majesty."

"Can you hold the city?" Liu Xie asked.

“It may be difficult!”

Liu Bei shook his head and said, "I have few soldiers and little food, and General Wei has no intention of defending the city. In addition, the city is not easy to defend. If it is surrounded by Yuan Shu's heavy troops, it may be difficult to defend for long. Besides, Your Majesty is worth a lot of money, how can you face the war?"

Liu Xie showed hesitation. He had previously wanted to hold on to Luoyang and order Yuan Shao and Zhang Yu to lead troops to rescue him. But now Liu Bei thought that he could not hold on for long, so he really had to abandon Luoyang and leave.

"Call Dong, Yang, Shisun and other officials to discuss whether to hold on to Luoyang. If they cannot hold on, where to flee to?" Liu Xie ordered.

"As ordered!"

Soon, Dong Cheng, Yang Biao, Kong Rong, Shisun Rui and others came to the palace wall, bowed to Liu Xie and asked about matters.

Seeing all the ministers gathered, Liu Xie handed Yuan Shao's memorial to everyone for circulation and asked, "You are all senior officials of the court. Now Yuan Shu has raised his army to attack Luo, and Yuan Shao has also submitted a memorial asking me to flee to Henei. Xuande thinks we can go to Guanzhong. I wonder what you think?"

Hearing this, Dong Cheng said quickly: "Your Majesty, Yuan Shao and Yuan Shu are brothers. Now Yuan Shu is raising an army to attack us. It is hard to predict whether Yuan Shao is in collusion with him. In my opinion, Your Majesty should flee to Guanzhong to avoid the Yuan family's invasion for the time being."

"General Wei's words are different!"

Kong Rong sneered and said, "Your Majesty is the emperor and is stationed in Luoyang. How dare Yuan Shu invade you? In my opinion, the best strategy is to stay in Luoyang and wait for the troops of the princes to come to your aid. If you flee to the vassal state in a hurry, won't you be ridiculed by the world?" "Since you are upholding justice, why do you leave Beihai and rush to the capital?" Dong Cheng asked in return.

Kong Rong looked unhappy and said, "Yuan Tan besieged Beihai with tens of thousands of soldiers, while I held Beihai for several months with only thousands of old and weak soldiers. It was not a crime of war that I fled when the city was broken, but I had no reinforcements. I am not like General Dong, who had soldiers but did not dare to fight Yuan Shu."

"The soldiers in my command are here to protect the emperor. If the soldiers are gone, Your Majesty will be left without any soldiers to defend the country." Dong Cheng bowed to Liu Xie and said righteously, "It is a small matter to endure the humiliation for a while. If the emperor has no soldiers to protect him, how can he revive the world?"

Although Dong Cheng was the emperor's uncle, he still had a warlord mentality, holding on to his troops tightly and unwilling to fight for Liu Xie. Now Zhang Yu sent a letter asking him not to surrender to Yuan Shao, he would naturally lean towards Zhang Yu whom he had supported before.

"Where is Yang Gong?" Liu Xie asked.

Yang Biao hesitated for a moment and said, "Although Yuan Shao and Yuan Shu are brothers, they are enemies, so Yuan Shao will never help Yuan Shu. And judging from the current situation, Biao thinks Yuan Shao can be trusted. Henei is shared by Zhang Yu and Yuan Shao, and the two are mutually restrained, so it is safer to take refuge in Henei!"

"otherwise!"

Wu Shuo said: "Feng Fang was sent as an envoy to Zhang Yu. Although Zhang Yu suffered from a headache, he still sent his generals and troops and did not talk about welcoming the emperor. Yuan Shao was afraid that Your Majesty would be captured by Zhang Yu and Yuan Shu, so he asked Your Majesty to come to Henei. According to Shuo's prediction, once Yuan Shu withdrew his troops, Yuan Shao would think of welcoming the emperor to Xindu."

"In order to welcome and save the emperor, Zhang Yu did not hesitate to honor Yuan Shu and welcomed the emperor to move east to Luoyang. During the famine in autumn and winter, Zhang Yu did not hesitate to transport grain to the court. Therefore, if Zhang Yu cannot be trusted, no prince in the world may be trustworthy."

Upon hearing this, Liu Xie recalled that he had listened to Liang Shao's words and let Zhu Jun send troops to attack Zhang Yu, and he immediately felt ashamed.

Looking at the princes of the world today, apart from Zhang Yu and Liu He, no one else can be trusted. And Liu He is far away in Youzhou. If he doesn't seek help from Zhang Yu in this crisis, how can he go to Yuan Shao?
"I want to cross Heyang to the north and seek refuge in Guanzhong. What do you think?" Liu Xie looked at Shisun Rui and asked.

Shi Sun Rui stroked his beard and thought for a long time, then said: "Your Majesty, it is feasible to seek refuge in Guanzhong in the west, but I am afraid that Yuan Shao will be dissatisfied. If Yuan Shao is dissatisfied, the situation will be unpredictable!"

"Then in your opinion, why should we seek refuge in Xiuwu now?"

"As Minister Wu said, when Yuan Shu retreats to Nanyang, Zhang Yu and Yuan Shao will surely have a dispute."

Shi Sunrui hesitated and said, "Your Majesty, please consider the pros and cons!"

"Go to Heyang first!"

Liu Xie hesitated for a moment and said, "Heyang is an important town in Henei. If the situation changes, it will not be too late to appease Yuan Shao!"

Yang Biao opened his mouth, wanting to persuade Liu Xie to go to Xiuwu, but when he saw that Dong Cheng and Liu Bei, who had troops in charge, supported seeking refuge under Zhang Yu, he could only sigh and said no more.

Yang Biao favored Yuan Shao, not only because he was related to Yuan Shao by marriage, but more importantly, he felt that Zhang Yu was inconsistent in both his internal and external affairs. Now that the court was in Zhang Yu's hands, he was not sure what kind of twists and turns would occur.

Let alone the fact that Liu Xie sent an envoy to inform Zhang Yang that the court intended to move east to Heyang. Now, through the tip-off from Luoyang officials, Yuan generals such as Chunyu Qiong, Yan Liang, and Zhang He received the news that Liu Xie intended to lead the civil and military officials to move west to Zhangyu.

"How to do?"

Yan Liang looked fierce, and asked Chunyu Qiong and Zhang He, "Your Excellency has asked you and me to welcome the emperor to the junction of Chaoge and Henei, but the emperor wants to lead his civil and military officials to cross to Heyang in the north. If we fail to welcome the emperor, you and I are afraid that you will punish us. I want to send troops to welcome the emperor to Chaoge. What do you think?"

Zhang He hesitated for a moment and said, "If we send troops to welcome the emperor to Chaoge, it may anger Zhang Yu. Then Zhang Yu and Yuan Shu will join forces to attack, and you may find it difficult to deal with them. It is better to send someone to ask you first, and then make a decision."

Zhang He was unsure of Yuan Shao's intentions, and in order to shirk responsibility, he could only use universal rhetoric to deal with Yan Liang.

Yan Liang was not happy and said, "Your Excellency has entrusted us with this task, how can we shirk this important matter?"

Yan Liang was unable to think so much. He only knew that Yuan Shao had asked him to send troops south to welcome the emperor. If he allowed Zhang Yu to welcome the emperor, he would definitely be punished.

Chunyu Qiong's cheeks were slightly red, because he was pulled over by Yan Liang when they were drinking. He was upset and said, "My Lord, you asked me to welcome the emperor. If we let the emperor fall into Zhang Yu's hands, I will be blamed by you. Besides, you and Zhang Yu have many conflicts, and the two armies will fight sooner or later. You will make the final decision on major issues, and you and I will just wait for the military orders!"

Seeing Zhang He remained silent, Yan Liang said, "Since there is no objection, I will immediately mobilize the troops to attack and see if we can rescue the emperor at Mangshan. You two will lead the troops to provide backup."

"promise!"

When Yan Liang led his cavalry to cross the Yellow River overnight, because Chang Nu occupied Xuanyuan Pass, Yuan Shu's army was unimpeded and headed straight for Luoyang. Fearing that Liu Xie might escape, Yuan Shu sent the fierce general Huang Zhong from Nanyang to lead the cavalry as the vanguard, marching 200 miles day and night, and now they are only a few dozen miles away from Luoyang.

On the other hand, when Yuan Shu and Yuan Shao were competing to seize the emperor, Zhang Yang's troops pushed the emperor away. In order to prevent the emperor from crossing Heyang to the north, Zhang Yang discussed with Xu Huang and Guo Tu and decided to hide the boats for crossing the river and pretend that Yuan Shao's soldiers burned the ferry to delay Liu Xie's crossing and buy time for Yuan Shu's troops.

Of course, in order to prevent Yuan Shao from seizing the emperor, Xu Huang's troops were on standby, observing the movements in Luoyang before sending out troops.

(End of this chapter)