Second-hand time travel: Liu Bei, the big-eared bandit

Chapter 420 The Death of Dong Zhuo
After killing Liu Hui, Liu Bei encountered no further resistance.

The Liu clan of Zhongshan will be dealt with by Qu Yi, and Liu Bei and Zhang Liao have already rushed to Zhuojun.

The Tian family of Julu has also been completely eradicated by Qu Yi.

Qu Yi captured several fortified villages in Julu County, slaughtered more than a thousand members of the Tian clan, and took the surviving servants of the Tian family to Lunu, where he used them to continue to eliminate the next family.

Qu Yi's task was to cleanse.

All the families he knew that had colluded with the enemy and betrayed the country included, of course, the Liu family of Zhongshan.

Unlike Zhao Yun, Qu Yi was extremely ruthless.

Because he had already realized his role in Liu Bei's life.

There were no longer any obstacles in Jizhou, and news from all sides began to arrive.

Guan Yu had already left Changshan Jingxing and arrived at Zhending.

Xu Huang is also leading his troops rapidly northward, and has now reached the Gaoyi area. Accompanying Xu Huang are several thousand cavalrymen sent by Zhang Yan as reinforcements.

Zhang Yan and Xu Huang acquired many horses from the Xiongnu, while Guan Yu had even more livestock, all of which were very fast.

Zhang Fei's troops had already reached the northern part of the plain, not far from Zhao Yun.

All the main forces have already headed north.

Meanwhile, news from the south also reached Liu Bei.

Empress Dowager Dong died, Luoyang was burned, and chaos reigned throughout Henan.

The White Wave Army split into three parts. Li Le and Hu Cai crossed the Songshan Mountains, plundered and looted along the way through Yangcheng and Yangdi, and entered Yingchuan.

After Cao Cao incorporated the Southern Xiongnu, he learned that the White Wave Yellow Turbans had appeared in Yingchuan. He immediately led his army to suppress them and defeated Li Le's troops in Yangcheng Mountain.

Yang Feng led his troops eastward and defeated Niu Fu, but soon encountered an ambush in the Yuanwu area.

Lü Bu was the one who ambushed Yang Feng.

Lü Bu seized the grain and warhorses that Yang Feng had obtained from Niu Fu, incorporated many of his followers, and led his army into Chenliu Junyi.

However, the Junyi area was plundered by Lü Bu. Lü Bu's troops did not stop and, taking advantage of Cao Cao's main force being in Yingchuan, headed towards Pei State along the imperial road.

In addition, Jia Xu sent back important news from Chang'an.

Dong Zhuo is dead.

Moreover, it was actually Li Ru and Liu Bei who were blamed for killing Dong Zhuo.

……

……

Half a month ago.

While Liu Bei was fighting at Jieqiao, an incident occurred in Chang'an.

Dong Zhuo had already sent troops to welcome the emperor, but after being assassinated by Lü Bu, he withdrew his troops and returned to Chang'an to purge the Bingzhou faction.

Meanwhile, Dong Zhuo ordered Fan Chou to garrison Shanxian County and Guo Si to lead troops to conscript laborers to build a city gate in Tongting, Huayin County.

On his way back to Chang'an, Dong Zhuo encountered Huangfu Song at the city gate.

It was customary for officials in Chang'an to greet Dong Zhuo at the city gate. At that time, there were hundreds of officials at the city gate, including Feng Xun and Han Fu.

Because Huangfu Song was traveling with Yang Biao and others, Dong Zhuo learned that Huangfu Song had abandoned Luoyang and fled. Dong Zhuo was displeased with him, and because of past grudges, he ordered Huangfu Song to kneel down and confess his crimes.

Huangfu Song immediately knelt down and admitted his mistake, expressing his willingness to resign and return to his hometown in the north.

Dong Zhuo mocked, "Huangfu Yizhen is a General of Chariots and Cavalry, whose rank is above Dong Zhongying. How can you just resign like that? If you can't guard the gates of Luoyang, do you know if you can guard the gates of Chang'an? Why don't you become the Commandant of the Gates of Chang'an?"

The city gate commander in Chang'an is different from the one in Luoyang. The city gate commander in Luoyang is the chief officer of the city guard, a position with real power.

But in Chang'an, they were really just gatekeepers.

Huangfu Song knew that Dong Zhuo intended to humiliate him, but he had no choice but to kneel down and accept the order, thus providing ample emotional support.

But not long after Dong Zhuo returned to Chang'an, trouble struck.

The officials and soldiers of Bingzhou who were originally imprisoned in Chang'an prison suddenly escaped and appeared at Dong Zhuo's residence in the North Mansion of Chang'an.

The northern residence, called "Da Di," was the official residence of the Three Dukes and Marquises, located north of the former site of Weiyang Palace.

There was also an Eastern Residence, called 'Xiao Di', east of Chang'an City, similar to the Bai Jun Di in Luoyang.

Dong Zhuo did not live in the palace when he was in Chang'an because the palace in Chang'an was not suitable for living.

Chang'an was several times larger than Luoyang, and its palace complex far surpassed that of Luoyang.

The former Weiyang Palace, Changle Palace, and Jianzhang Palace—any one of these three palaces occupied an area exceeding the combined area of ​​the entire northern and southern palace districts of Luoyang. The grand aesthetic and magnificent national power that swept across the land during the height of the Han Dynasty (Western Han) were extremely grand and extravagant.

In Luoyang, the emphasis is on balance and compromise, on etiquette and restraint, and even the royal family must exercise restraint.

But right now, all the palaces in Chang'an are unfinished buildings.

The palace was destroyed in the war during the Xin Dynasty. Emperor Guangwu rebuilt it, but it was not fully completed. Now it has fallen into disrepair again.

Destruction is easy, but reconstruction is difficult.

After Emperor Guangwu, no emperor in successive Han dynasties was able to fully repair the Western Capital Palace. They could only send people to maintain the exterior decorations, while the interior remained a mess, barely maintaining the dignity of the royal family.

Liu Hong also tried to repair the palaces in Chang'an, but he simply couldn't afford it.

It is indeed very difficult to take over a large-scale unfinished building project covering more than 40,000 Han mu (the three palaces together cover about 20 square kilometers, and one Han mu is about 460 square meters).

Dong Zhuo had no intention of taking over the property. He simply rented out the North Residence for living and working purposes, and had all the marquises who originally lived in Chang'an move to the East Residence.

The Imperial Guard camp in the north of Chang'an was right next to the North Residence. Dong Zhuo's main force was originally inside the Imperial Guard camp, so it was originally very safe.

But suddenly surrounded, Dong Zhuo didn't even have time to mobilize his troops.

After the Bingzhou soldiers stormed into Dong Zhuo's residence, they shouted, "What crime have we committed? Why are we being executed?!"

"We, the people of Bingzhou, are innocent!"

"By imperial decree, we are to punish the traitors!"

Dong Zhuo summoned his guards for reinforcements, but only a few dozen responded.

The chief clerk, Tian Jing, came and said that the chief clerk, Liu Ai, had used Dong Zhuo's orders to transfer most of the guards under the pretext of investigating the rebels from Bingzhou in the army. At this moment, only a few dozen guards and servants remained at the northern residence.

This was indeed Dong Zhuo's military order, but of the Bingzhou soldiers who were originally imprisoned, only Li Ru, the Minister of Works, and Liu Ai, the Chief Clerk, were able to release them.

However, Li Ru was the one ordered to investigate Chang'an, while Liu Ai did not receive such an order.

Dong Zhuo immediately exclaimed in anger: "I trusted him as much as my right arm and limb, and he actually killed me?!"

Then Dong Zhuo went out with his halberd, intending to fight to the death with dozens of his guards.

But as soon as he stepped out of the inner courtyard, he was stabbed with a spear.

After all, he's getting old and has gained too much weight, so his eyesight and reflexes aren't what they used to be.

"Who leads this army? Dare to come out and see me?!"

Dong Zhuo looked around and saw that everyone there was a soldier, but he didn't know who was leading the troops.

"Kill the traitor Dong Zhuo and go join General Wei!"

There were voices stirring things up in the crowd, but it was unclear who was speaking.

A large group of people, armed with spears, charged toward Dong Zhuo.

"You fools, manipulated by others, you will all die here..."

Dong Zhuo brandished his short halberd and killed two people, then was stabbed by several long spears. He died with his eyes still wide open in anger.

After Dong Zhuo fell, the rebel army that was besieging him still intended to mutilate his corpse. Dong Zhuo's chief clerk, Tian Jing, and two servants stood in front of him and were all stabbed to death by spears.

The other guards and servants dared not move.

Instead of killing the remaining guards and servants, the rebels dragged Dong Zhuo's body out of the northern residence and threw it into the East Market of Chang'an, attempting to break out of Chang'an.

At this time, Liu Ai, Huangfu Song, Shi Sunrui, Feng Xun and others had already led their troops into the city.

It looked as if they had planned this in advance, entering the city from four directions...

None of the Bingzhou soldiers who had just successfully killed Dong Zhuo escaped; they were all slaughtered.

Indeed, as Dong Zhuo said, they all died here.

The officials of Chang'an held an emergency meeting. Feng Xun and Liu Ai claimed that this matter must have been instigated by Liu Bei, and they brought the surviving guards and servants of the Northern Residence to corroborate their claims.

Liu Ai and Feng Xun proposed that Situ Yang Biao support Tang Ji's son as emperor, and sent proclamations to various prefectures, inviting them to support the new emperor.

Tang Ji's child is two years old this year, and is said to be named 'Liu Mai', but no one knows who named him.

The proclamation claimed that Liu Xie was not Liu Hong's biological son, but that Liu Bei had forged a will to install a false emperor, and that Empress Dowager Dong revealed the truth on her deathbed: only Liu Bian was Liu Hong's son.

Subsequently, Feng Xun ordered Han Fu to conduct a thorough search of Chang'an, and Liu Ai to pursue the 'thief within the Sikong Mansion'.

When Li Ru, the Grand Master of Ceremonies, went missing, Feng Xun claimed that Li Ru was the murderer of Liu Bian. Liu Ai also claimed that Li Ru was the one who 'colluded with Liu Bei to murder Dong Zhuo,' and issued an arrest warrant to track down Li Ru's whereabouts.

At the time, Jia Xu and Li Jue were both in Meiyang. After learning of this, Jia Xu ordered Li Jue to station troops in Mei County to protect Dong Zhuo's relatives and immediately sent someone to inform Liu Bei.

(End of this chapter)