In April of the sixth year of Zhongping, Han Emperor Liu Hong, who was only 34 years old, became seriously ill and was dying.
However, at this moment, Liu Hong was lying on the bed dying, and there was only a haggard-looking Queen He accompanying him. The entire palace was deserted, and there was not a single maid in the palace.
Since the beginning of the year, the disease has become more and more serious. The famous doctors are at a loss and the medicine has no effect. Liu Hong deliberately issued an edict to return the emperor's eldest son Liu Bian to Beijing.
Although he played absurdly for half his life, he was by no means stupid.
He had previously acquiesced in the exclusion and suppression of Liu Bian by certain people in the court and the palace, causing him to stay in Youzhou for several years without returning to the capital. This was actually because he was somewhat afraid of his overly outstanding son.
However, he had become seriously ill recently and knew that he was about to die soon. Liu Hong also knew that Liu Bian was the best candidate to inherit the throne.
However, the previous intentional connivance has finally led to negative consequences. The ten constant servants who are most trusted by Liu Hong conspired to delay Liu Hong's edict to recall Liu Bian.
When Liu Hong gradually realized that things were out of control, he secretly summoned General He into the palace, intending to order him to lead his troops to kill the Shi Changshi and assist Liu Bian in succeeding to the throne. However, Shi Changshi's ubiquitous spies in the palace noticed in advance. , he planned to ambush He Jin outside Liu Hong's palace.
Afterwards, Shi Changshi Jiao issued an edict announcing that He Jin had rebelled and was executed. He joined forces with Dong Zhuo, who had colluded at some point and led Xiliang's elite troops to Luoyang. On the pretext of eradicating He Jin's gang members, they massacred a group of courtiers.
Dong Zhuo took the opportunity to annex the capital's defenders, including the elite Bingzhou soldiers who held Jinwu Dingyuan and Lu Bu, the most brave general in the world. His strength expanded rapidly and he completely controlled the Luoyang city defense.
The Ten Constant Attendants tightly held the power of the imperial army and tightly controlled the palace.
Liu Hong and He, the originally supreme emperor and queen, were placed under house arrest in the palace by Shi Changshi.
After discontinuing medicine, Liu Hong's already serious condition worsened rapidly, and he was now on his deathbed.
He was already unconscious, and he just whispered to his eldest son who was far away: "Bian'er, Bian'er..."
Queen He was so sad that she could only lie beside Liu Hong and cry bitterly.
Suddenly, a soft sigh came into my ears.
Queen He was startled, and hurriedly stood up and turned around to look, only to see a graceful young Taoist priest standing not far behind her.
"You are... Taoist Hu Yun!"
Empress He recognized at a glance that it was the owner of "Calabash Temple" who had been entrusted by her to raise her son Liu Bian, but who disappeared after Liu Bian returned to the palace. She was immediately surprised and happy.
Hu Long first smiled and nodded to Queen He, then raised his hand and pressed his palm across the void to Liu Hong on the couch, and a faint thunder sounded from his palm.
The "Seal of Life and Death" in his "Eight Seals of Return" should be the thunder aspect of the Zhen Gua. Thunder contains both the power of destruction and the opportunity of creation.
Under his palm, the remaining vitality in Liu Hong's body was stimulated, his eyes suddenly glowed with energy, and his mind returned to clarity.
"His Majesty!"
Queen He was overjoyed and hurriedly stepped forward to explain Hu Long's identity to Liu Hong.
Hu Long didn't wait for Liu Hong to speak, and said first: "Your Majesty, forgive me. Although I have some means, I have no power to save him. Now I can only make your Majesty wake up for a moment or three."
Liu Hong's expression changed slightly, then returned to calm, and sighed with some difficulty: "Manpower is sometimes poor, but I shouldn't have extravagant hopes. It is rare to have these three moments to explain some things."
Hu Long nodded and said, "Your Majesty, please speak."
Liu Hongdao: "After I leave, those people should support Xie'er to succeed him. After all, he is still young and can be considered an easy puppet to control. They have the imperial seal in their hands, and Xie'er's throne is unshakable in terms of justice." Later, the Taoist priest can take the queen out of the palace to meet Bian'er. On the queen's body is the blood edict that I wrote a few days ago, naming Bian'er King of Yan. In this way, Bian'er should have enough status to protect Youzhou. When the time comes in the future, we will rebuild the country of Han Dynasty."
"King Yan..." Hu Yuan thought for a moment, cupped his hands and said, "Your Majesty has thought carefully, and I will definitely escort the queen to see King Yan safely."
At this moment, a shocking cry of death suddenly came from outside the palace.
Liu Hong and Queen He changed their colors together.
Hu Long smiled and said: "Don't worry, you two. This is because Dong Zhuo was dissatisfied with the ten permanent attendants controlling the palace ban, and united with some civil and military officials in the court to enter the palace to hoe for adultery."
Liu Hong smiled miserably and said: "They themselves are not loyal ministers, so how can they deal with traitors? However, there is chaos in the palace at this time, so it is convenient for the Taoist priest to save the queen."
Queen He cried out sadly: "Your Majesty!"
Although Liu Hong had indulged in drinking and sex in recent years, the relationship between them as husband and wife has long been weakened. Seeing him caring about himself so much when he was dying, I couldn't help being moved and saddened.
Hu Yuan didn't waste any more time. He said, "I obey the order," and raised his hand to put Queen He into the jade gourd.
Liu Hong's face showed a look of relief, and he added: "I don't want to be insulted by thieves after my death, so please ask the Taoist priest to burn this palace!"
Hu Long looked at this absurd emperor who had spent his whole life in a state of ignorance and only showed some imperial wisdom and dignity in the end. He suddenly opened his mouth and spit out a red fire dragon, instantly turning the entire palace into a sea of flames.
Then Hu Yun's figure disappeared out of thin air, while Liu Hong closed his eyes calmly in the blazing flames.
When someone discovered the fire and came to rescue it with various purposes, they found that the flame was very strange. It would not be extinguished by pouring water and was about to burn. After losing several lives and more injured people, they could only He watched helplessly as the flames burned the palace into ashes and ashes where people and objects were indistinguishable.
At this time, Dong Zhuo had led his troops to kill all the Shi Changshi and his accomplices. When he learned that Liu Hong and Queen He were buried in the flames, he took advantage of the situation and put the blame on Shi Changshi, who could no longer defend himself. Then he reversed the order of events. They claimed that they killed the emperor and the empress, and they were the messengers of justice who avenged the emperor and empress by hoeing rape for the country.
After that, Dong Zhuo, who had monopolized the power of Luoyang, supported Chenliu King Liu Xie as emperor based on an edict left by the late emperor during his lifetime.
After Liu Xie ascended the throne, he turned around and appointed Dong Zhuo as Prime Minister, taking charge of the world's military and political affairs. He also imitated the story of Xiao He in the former Han Dynasty, allowing him to praise and worship without name, enter the court without following, and go to the palace with swords and shoes.
When Dong Zhuo first came to power, he also showed some wisdom. He used all kinds of soft and hard means to promote many famous people in the world to serve in the court, and gained temporary hope.
But later on, he gradually discovered that these high-ranking celebrities who he paid tribute to were never sincere and effective. Instead, they used various overt and covert means to restrict him at every turn, making it difficult for him to issue government orders to Luoyang, and they also constantly coveted and plotted to remove him from the position of prime minister. The dust fell from his high position, and Dong Zhuo finally took off the disguise of a polite and respectful scholar, revealing his ferocious true face of a butcher on the battlefield.
Dong Zhuona plotted to master Li Ru's plan and deliberately exposed a flaw that others could take advantage of, luring Wu Fu, the captain of the Yue Cavalry School, and others to set up an ambush. However, he set up an ambush in advance to catch Wu Fu and others, and even used this incident to kill Wu Fu and others. , killed many people in Luoyang City, and their heads were rolling, and the blood dyed all the Luoshui River red.
After this incident, the civil and military princes of the Manchu Dynasty remained silent and consciously acted as Dong Zhuo's mascots in the court. No one dared to say a word to disobey Dong Zhuo.
Dong Zhuo felt that he had great power, so he became more arrogant and wanton, even sleeping on the dragon bed at night and humiliating the palace maids. In order to show off their martial arts, they allowed the soldiers to kill good people and rob women. They would often return with heads hanging on horses and women's property in cars, preaching the victory of defeating thieves and killing the enemy.
All kinds of perverse actions made people in the world dare to be angry but dare not speak out. The ambitious heroes and heroes secretly planned and gathered momentum, waiting for the opportunity to take advantage of Dong's name and rise up.
When the storm was about to come, suddenly a messenger from the imperial court came to Youzhou, claiming to have brought the late emperor's edict and asking the prince Liu Bian to accept it.
