After hearing the messenger's words, everyone present changed their expressions. Now that the Shu people were approaching the city, people were caught off guard, and the emperor actually came out of the palace at this time. It was obvious that the two had premeditated it. How could this not be shocking?
The emperor's departure from the palace this time is different from the last coup plan. At this time, he no longer has many cronies and power in the capital, let alone dispatching troops to kill important ministers. However, when he leaves the palace in person with a sword, it is obviously to do something. I'm ready to fight to the death. It should be noted that the Han Dynasty was founded four hundred years ago. Since Emperor Gaozu established the system and established rituals and music, in order to maintain the emperor's majesty, the emperors of the past dynasties never personally held a sword to kill people. Even though they were famous for their prowess in war, they rarely went on personal expeditions after they ascended the throne. There were many in Luoyang. In the palace, I just draw up strategies to order the generals. And now that the emperor has taken to the streets to kill people, he has put such a difficult problem in front of the officials of the two governments: either kill the emperor in the street and confirm his reputation as a rebellious minister, or allow him to go south with the Shu people, which will also lose the ability to respect the king and fight against the barbarians. Righteousness.
There was a commotion in the city, and everyone had different opinions on this. Some said they would lead troops to stop the emperor, others said they would go out of the city first to repel the Shu soldiers, and some even hinted to Liu Xie that they were willing to bear the charge of regicide. , but immediately caused an uproar among the crowd, making the scene even more chaotic.
Seeing such a scene, Liu Xie felt as if he was listening to the croaking of frogs and the buzzing of flies, and he felt very bored. Seeing that the argument was going on for a long time, he simply drew his sword in public, chopped off a flag beside him like a thunderbolt, and shouted to his staff: "The only way to cut through the mess is a sharp sword! If you behave like this, the Sichuan thieves under the city will also laugh at the incompetence of the two houses." people!"
As soon as he finished speaking, the city fell silent. Liu Xie scanned the crowd around him and found Zhuge Liang, who was bowing his head in deep thought. He walked up to him, patted him on the shoulder and said, "Brother Kong Ming, I plan to let the emperor leave the city. What do you think?"
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Everyone was frightened after hearing this, but Zhuge Liang raised his head and agreed and said, "I have the same idea. Now that the emperor has revealed his intention to die in public, even if the emperor is stopped, there is no guarantee that he will not commit suicide by imitating Xiang Jui and frighten everyone. It is better to be more generous." , just let him go, this will be considered as fulfilling the duty of a minister." At this point, Zhuge Liang paused, then pointed to the city and said: "But considering the dignity of the country, we cannot let the Shu people leave easily."
Liu Xie was very pleased to see that Zhuge Liang was completely consistent with what he thought. He immediately said: "I will delay the emperor's time, and you go and deal with this matter. Since the south side only plans to pick up people, it must not have many soldiers." , If you still want to scare Nai Gong, I will make them homeless!"
After that, he no longer looked at the others, but walked quickly downstairs alone, and then strolled towards Taichang Street. Yu Fan and others followed Liu Xie hurriedly as if they had just woken up from a dream. After a while, they saw in front of them There were about forty soldiers crowded in the street, walking slowly backwards as if forced by some extremely terrifying monster.
When Liu Xie's followers saw this, they shouted loudly: "Your Majesty is here, make way for Your Majesty! Make way for Your Majesty!" When the soldiers in front heard this, they felt as if they had been granted an amnesty, and spread out on both sides in cold sweat. open. Liu Xie squinted his eyes and looked up and down, and saw the emperor in military uniform standing in the center, holding a three-foot long sword dripping with blood in his right hand, followed by seven or eight palace servants who were trying to show their courage, and they were approaching him more. Looking behind him, he could see the corpses of four or five soldiers lying on the street, apparently all killed by him.
The emperor had never killed anyone before, but today he had killed eight people in a row. At first, his arms were trembling and his heartbeat was timid, but at this moment, he just felt tired and numb. He simply took off his turban and robe, leaving only a military uniform outside. When he heard the footsteps approaching, he Recognizing Liu Xie's voice, he quickly raised his head to observe. In the streets and alleys, he squinted his eyes, and his handsome face suddenly looked like a ferocious beast. Seeing Liu Xie standing in the middle of the crowd, he couldn't help but sneered, walked forward, pointed his sword at him and said, "Do you want to block my way too, Prince Dai?"
Liu Xie looked at the emperor playfully, as if he was looking at some strange object, and he quickly said: "What are you talking about, your majesty? The whole world is not the king's land, your majesty can go wherever he wants, since the south is coming The royal ministers are welcoming you, and your majesty intends to hunt south, how dare I not let you go?"
After that, he waved to the soldiers, took the initiative to make way for the emperor, and then slowly led the way, as if the two were not fighting for life and death, but were inviting the emperor to be a guest.
This made the emperor at a loss. He was not a murderous person. Although he didn't know what Liu Xie had planned, it was always a good thing to be able to leave the city easily, so he followed behind without saying a word with his sword. The soldiers who had previously stopped the emperor hurriedly reported to Liu Xie: "Just now, His Majesty came out of the palace with a sword. Sun Shaofu and Chen Lingjun tried to stop him, but His Majesty did not miss the old friendship and slashed the Shaofu with his sword in public. You couldn't stop him, so you had to ask us to stop him first and take the young master to treat his injuries."
Liu Xie nodded slightly, then turned to ask the emperor: "Does Your Majesty intend to leave the palace alone this time?"
The emperor stopped immediately when he heard this, his face was uncertain, and he didn't know how to answer. When Liu Xie saw three cautions in his eyes, he also knew that he was thinking wrongly, so he said in public: "The so-called family happiness is inseparable from flesh and blood. This is a truth that even a three-year-old child knows. Since Your Majesty is determined to travel far, how can you Can I not bring my family with me? If Your Majesty is interested, I will immediately send someone to pick up the concubine from the harem, prepare a car and drive the oxen and horses, and I have exhausted the love between the monarch and his subjects for more than ten years."
After saying that, he ignored the emperor and still held the blade, walked about a foot in front of the emperor, and then took out a sachet from his chest, which was slightly smaller than a human fist. He opened the sachet and took out an extremely large and round snow-white bead. Even in the daytime, everyone felt that the object was sparkling. It was obviously an extremely precious night-light pearl.
Liu Xie said: "Your Majesty, please don't laugh. I just hope that we will meet on the battlefield in the future, and please be considerate."
Seeing that Liu Xie was so knowledgeable, the emperor couldn't help but secretly thought: "It seems that this person also knows how to take care of everyone's interests, so I can save a lot of trivial matters when I go south this time." Thinking of this, his face couldn't help but relax a little. , nodded slightly to Liu Xie and said "good". Then Liu Xie opened the gate of Xi'an majestically, walked to the gate with the emperor, and sent envoys to negotiate with the Shu people.
Previously, when Wu Ban and others saw no response from the city for a long time, they went back to report to Dong Zhao. Then the Shu cavalry in the south of the city began to advance forward, openly cutting down trees and building ladders on Longshou Plain, as if they were about to attack the city. At this time, Dong Zhao suddenly received news from the city. He was very surprised. Zhang Liao also asked: "Is there any fraud in it?" But seeing that the city gate was wide open in the distance, it didn't look like a fraud, so Dong Zhao ordered Zhang Liao to take care of him. He led more than 20 people on horseback to the city to take a closer look. He recognized the emperor immediately, and the two met again after more than ten years, and both felt sad for a moment.
Then Liu Xie came forward and said, "I have heard of Dong Gongren's name a long time ago. Today, he traveled thousands of miles over the mountains and came to this humble place. I really admire him." Dong Zhao heard the introduction from others and learned that he was the current representative. Prince Wang. Seeing how calm Liu Xie was among his enemies, Dong Zhao couldn't help but admire him secretly.
He originally wanted to take the emperor and leave directly, but just as he made a move, he heard Liu Xie say: "But please wait a moment, I am sending someone to pick up the queen and the prince, as well as the emperor's ceremonial car." This reason is irreproachable. Dong Zhao glanced at the emperor and saw that he looked eager, so he had to stop and wait while calling Zhang Liao and other knights to come closer.
Zhang Liao led about 500 cavalry into the arrow range, but still did not dismount, and the archers on the city did not withdraw. The two armies were handed over in a state of half confrontation and half cooperation. About two-quarters of an hour later, people from the palace came to the door one after another carrying things. Donkeys and horses were also led out in groups, occasionally mixed with the cries of women, creating a mess. It can be seen that Liu Xie brought a lot of things to the emperor.
Zhang Liaoming knew that the other party was stalling for time, but he didn't show it on his face. He just kept looking around to see if he could capture the acting prince alive. Liu Xie leaned quietly next to the emperor and explained to Dong Zhao: "Your Majesty is the emperor after all, so it is better not to lose some things. Speaking of which, when your Majesty goes to Shu, how does the King of Shu plan to receive him?"
Dong Zhao didn't want Liu Xie to see his anxiety, so he actually chatted with him for a while. Speaking of the situation in Nanyang, he crossed his arms and smiled and said: "Although Longshou is good at planning, he is getting older and is no longer what he used to be. The King of Shu not only prepared a palace for His Majesty in Mianzhu, but also prepared a palace for the King of Dai and Sili Xiao. The captain has prepared the mansion and is waiting for the second Duke to accommodate him."
Dong Zhao talked about his acquaintance in Xijing again and asked about the current situation of Cui Yan and others. Liu Xie replied: "Cui Gong is a scholar of Qingjie. He just relied on your high reputation and could not be used for many years." Dong Zhao laughed after hearing this, obviously Not too concerned about this.
About half an hour later, people such as Queen Fushou, Imperial Concubine Dong Man, Prince Liu Qi, Princess Liu Miao and others also came out. Seeing that most of the people had come outside, Zhang Liao discussed with Dong Zhao that it would be better to take the emperor, queen and princes with him first, and let the rear team load the goods on the auxiliary horses. The donkeys and chariots could not keep up with the main team, so they were all left behind.
Soon, the Shu people under the city began to unload the belongings from the donkeys and load them on the auxiliary horses they brought. The emperor's family, as well as his close relatives and palace officials, also began to get on their horses and follow the Shu people out of the city. After a while, there was a sound of women scolding in the team. The emperor heard this and looked back from the city. It turned out that Concubine Dong was dissatisfied with several palace people and was scolding them. He immediately chased after him and shouted at the imperial concubine: "What time is it? Why are you arguing? If you don't want to leave, just stay here and wait to see your father!"
This sentence made Concubine Dong blush, and she wanted to argue with him, but she held back. The emperor was usually very polite to Concubine Dong, but his sudden change of attitude confused her. She was a little scared, so she just murmured a few words, and then she was helped by someone to get on her horse and leave the city. After all the family members left, the emperor was ready to go on his way. Unexpectedly, Liu Xie suddenly asked: "When Your Majesty leaves, do you have anything to say to your aunt?" The aunt Liu Xie mentioned was Chen Chong's wife, Princess Wannian.
The emperor's face suddenly became embarrassed. He thought about it for a long time, and finally sighed, turned his head without saying a word, and disappeared into the green mountains of the south surrounded by hundreds of Shu riders.
