Liu Xie watched as a shining ring-handled knife suddenly appeared above Fu Shou's head, ready to chop him down!
His mind went blank and he opened his mouth, but for some reason no sound came out.
At this moment, Zuo Ling, the governor of Nanjun, reacted the fastest and shouted at the man holding the knife, "Who are you?"
Everyone was shocked and turned around to take a closer look, and it turned out to be the commander of the imperial guards, Sun Yan!
Sun Yan saw that the truth was revealed, his face turned grim, and without answering, he chopped at Fu Shou with his knife. Zuo Ling had already drawn his knife, and he swung it with his backhand, and the two knives collided, each deflecting.
Sun Yan's knife was deflected and hit the shoulder of the waiter beside Fu Shou. Blood splattered and sprayed all over Fu Shou. She screamed and her body involuntarily stepped back. If she tried to see more, she would fall off the river bank.
Fu De was quick to pull Fu Shou behind him and shouted to Sun Yan, "Why are you here?"
When Sun Yan realized that he had attacked the wrong person, he drew his sword and retreated several steps, his face changing from gloomy to bright. All the officials moved away from him.
At this time, Dong Cheng spoke up, "He may not have recognized the emperor and empress. He saw someone holding the silk and took it away this time. This was also for the emperor to get on the ship. It was all a misunderstanding."
Liu Xie narrowed his eyes and slowly glanced at everyone. Sun Yan held the knife, lowered his head and remained silent, but Dong Cheng faced them proudly and seemed very honest.
Liu Xie's gaze finally fell on Concubine Dong in the distance and he found that she had a strange expression, as if there was regret on her face.
He also saw that there seemed to be several people in the crowd who were ready to make a move. He knew that this was an extremely sensitive time. If he said something wrong, the officials might start killing each other in the next moment.
In the distance, the shouts of Li Jue and Guo Si's troops could be heard. They saw the fire and chased after them. Yang Feng and Xu Huang were leading their men to try desperately to stop and delay them.
When Liu Xie saw this, he sighed inwardly and winked at Fu De who was standing beside Fu Shou.
Fu De understood and said loudly: "Horse bridles are not suitable for tying up the emperor. Silk cloth is indeed the most suitable!"
"Yuan Ji·Volume 28": Dong Cheng and others thought it was a good idea, and ordered the governor Liu to send Li Le to ferry boats at night and light fires as a signal. The emperor and the ministers walked out of the camp and approached the river to cross the river. The bank was more than ten feet high, so they could not get down.
It was proposed to tie the horse reins to the waist of the emperor. At that time, the queen's brother Fude was supporting the queen, holding ten pieces of silk in one hand. Dong Cheng sent the imperial seal officer Sun Yan to chop the queen from the crowd. Zuo Ling said, "Who are you?" He blocked it with a knife, killing the attendants beside him, and blood splashed on the queen's clothes. Fude said that the horse reins should not be tied to the waist, so he used silk to tie the chariot under the chariot.
Fu Pu pulled over Fu Shou, who was still in a daze, and took out the silk from her arms, handed it to Dong Cheng, and said, "General, we have the silk."
Dong Cheng took the silk cloth calmly and said to the attendant beside him: "Tie the silk cloth around the emperor's waist and let it go. Don't hurt the emperor!"
At this time, the captain Xiang Hong came up and ordered the guards to tear open the silk cloth, tie one end around Liu Xie's waist, and he and several guards held the other end, slowly hanging Liu Xie down.
Liu Xie looked at the rolling river water under his feet and his legs trembled. The height was higher than the city wall of Chang'an!
He knew that he couldn't delay any longer. If he hesitated, many more people would die!
He turned to Fu Shou and said, "Wait until I get on the boat, then you can follow me."
Although Fu Shou had a panicked look on his face, he still suppressed his fear and nodded vigorously.
Lady Dong, who was standing by, looked at this with hatred in her heart and an unusual light in her eyes.
Liu Xie noticed Concubine Dong's expression and felt a chill in his heart. He looked at his feet, gritted his teeth, jumped forward, and his body suddenly fell down. The silk cloth was suddenly stretched straight. The soldiers who were pulling the silk cloth hurriedly exerted force to hold Liu Xie's body.
As the silk cloth was lowered bit by bit, Liu Xie got closer and closer to the boat. Finally, Liu Xie finally stepped onto the deck with both feet. Everyone on the shore cheered and felt relieved.
Then everyone looked at the long silk cloth, and their eyes suddenly became hot.
Fu De pulled the silk back and tied it for Fu Shou immediately. He held the hilt of the knife with one hand and stared at Dong Cheng.
Dong Cheng saw this and knew that if Fu De got angry and cut the silk cloth, Dong Guiren would be unable to stop him, so he could only shout, "How long will it take for everyone to use the silk?"
"Except for the emperor's family, everyone else should crawl down the river bank!"
The officials had no choice but to follow the steep river bank, pulling on weeds and digging into the shallow stone pits on the river wall, and rubbing their way down bit by bit.
From time to time, someone would lose their footing, tumble down, fall into the river with screams, and then be washed away without a trace by the cold and fast current.
Those who were lucky enough to reach the river bank, regardless of the freezing water, waded desperately to get on the boat. Even the most dignified officials looked more miserable than dogs.
Those who were on the boat could not help but burst into laughter. When the officials on the river bank saw this, they became even more anxious and scrambled to climb down.
All of a sudden the river bank was in complete chaos, and all the officials and soldiers formed a stream of people and swept towards the river bank.
On the river bank, Fu De had just hoisted Fu Shou onto the bow of the boat and was about to throw the silk cloth overboard, but Dong Cheng was quick-witted and snatched it away, pulled the silk cloth up and tied it around Concubine Dong's waist.
Fu De cursed inwardly and called Zuo Ling. The two of them inserted their knives into the earth wall by the river and climbed down steadily.
Liu Xie pulled Fu Shou along, and seeing Concubine Dong also on board, he said calmly, "Concubine Dong was frightened."
Concubine Dong's heart skipped a beat, and she quickly whispered, "I dare not."
Liu Xie ignored her and looked up at the people on the river bank rushing down like a flood, as if they were going to submerge his boat.
The shouting and killing sounds in the distance were getting closer and closer, and everyone became more panicked. People fell to the shore and died, and some fell into the water and drowned. There were more and more people on the boat, and it was almost full!
Liu Xie looked around the boat. The boat was not big and there were only a few dozen people on board. He recognized all of them.
There were dozens of officials including Empress Fu Shou, several noble ladies, Guo and Zhao Er, Grand Commandant Yang Biao, Imperial Clan Minister Liu Ai, Prefect of the Imperial Guards Fu Wan, Palace Attendant Zhong Ji... Eunuch Pushe Fu De, Vice Minister Wang Chou, Yu Lin Lang Hou Qi, General Dong Cheng, and Prefect of Nanjun Zuo Ling.
But compared to those who did not board the ship, these people accounted for less than one-tenth of the total.
Seeing the guards about to board the boat, Dong Cheng shouted, "No more. If you board, the boat will capsize!"
But who would listen to him at this time? Hundreds of people desperately grabbed the side of the boat with their hands, trying to climb out. Their strength was so great that the ship suddenly shook violently. A group of nobles fell on the deck in panic.
Dong Cheng and Li Le looked at each other, took out their spears at the same time, stood by the boat, swung their spears, and chopped at the fingers that were holding onto the side of the boat!
Amid screams, countless fingers were chopped off and fell into the cabin.
The soldiers and guards whose fingers were cut off fell into the river with screams. Immediately, someone rushed up from behind, grabbed the side of the boat, and suffered the same fate as the person in front.
The smell of blood filled the cabin, which was filled with fallen fingers. Sticky blood flowed everywhere like streams, staining the deck red, and miserable cries echoed inside and outside the ship.
This scene made Liu Xie want to vomit, and his heart was bleeding. Most of those whose fingers were chopped off were the only remaining Yulin Lang, and that was the end of them!
His lips trembled, as if he wanted to stop it, but in the end he lowered his head weakly.
The soldiers who were holding onto the side of the ship finally realized that it was impossible to get on board, so they had to let go and curse as they watched the ship slowly leave the shore.
Liu Xie just breathed a sigh of relief, looked back at the river bank, and his pupils suddenly contracted.
On the river bank, Li Jue rode a tall horse and led his men to rush up. His soldiers killed indiscriminately in the emperor's convoy that was left behind. The women and palace maids who had not yet escaped were abducted and robbed by the soldiers amid their cries.
Liu Xie clenched his fists in his sleeves. He could only comfort himself that he had no choice but to do so and that it was all Li Jue and Guo Si's fault!
Li Jue raised his whip and shouted, "Where are you guys taking the emperor?"
Dong Cheng was terrified and said to Liu Xie, "Don't pay attention to him. Please ask the emperor to hide in the cabin first."
Seeing Liu Xie come in, Dong Cheng saw Li Jue ordering the soldiers to shoot arrows, so he hurriedly ordered his men to spread out and hang up the quilts to block the arrows. The large ship gradually moved away in the rain of arrows.
In this way, the emperor's convoy finally escaped to the north bank of the Yellow River. At this time, there were only a few hundred people left compared to the team of thousands of people who left Chang'an a year ago.
After landing, the emperor's convoy first went to Yang County, and then at Dong Cheng's suggestion, entered Li Le's military camp.
After that, there was a food shortage for several days in a row. Everyone was hungry and exhausted and was about to be forced to eat wild grass to fill their stomachs.
Liu Xie was sitting in the big tent, enduring hunger in his stomach and thinking about where to go next.
Along the way, he had become accustomed to thinking while hungry. At first, he was so hungry that he was almost going crazy and even wanted to bite the hand of Fu Shou beside him.
Now he pinched his palms, trying hard to stay awake. Now that he had passed Hexi, should he go to Hanei, Hedong, or Jizhou next?
He understood that even though what he said now would not count, it was still possible to direct things in the direction he wanted. Since the situation of being held hostage could not be changed, he would recruit more people and let these people restrain each other from fighting internally, so that he could get a chance to breathe!
Suddenly, there was a commotion outside the camp. When Liu Xie was in doubt, Fu De came in to report that Wang Yi, the prefect of Hedong County, and Zhang Yang, the prefect of Henei County, had come to welcome the emperor with food and clothing!
Fan Shu's "Biography of Dong Zhuo": After arriving in Dayang, he stopped at someone's house, and then visited Li Le's camp. All officials were starving, so Zhang Yang, the governor of Henei, sent thousands of people to carry rice as tribute. The emperor then drove an ox cart and moved the capital to Anyi. Wang Yi, the governor of Hedong, presented cotton and silk, which were all given to officials below the level of officials.
In the following days, Liu Xie sent his imperial coachman Han Rong back to Shan County on the south bank to negotiate with Li Jue and Guo Si, and successfully recovered the palace ladies, ministers and officials and several vehicles that had been looted. The emperor's prestige was thus restored to a great extent.
Liu Xie struck while the iron was hot and conferred titles on his attendant officials and generals in Anyi, the capital of Hedong. Except for Yang Feng, who had been appointed a general before his return to the east, the others were given titles as follows:
Hu Cai was appointed General of the Northern Expedition and Governor of Bingzhou, Li Le was appointed General of the Western Expedition and Governor of Liangzhou, Han Xian was appointed General of the Eastern Expedition and Governor of Youzhou, and Zhang Yang was appointed General of the Safeguarding of the Country and was granted the title of Marquis of Jinyang. These four men were given temporary authority and had their own offices like the Three Dukes.
Wang Yi was appointed General Zhenbei and was granted the title of Marquis of Anyangting.
Not long after, the news reached Jicheng, Youzhou. Yuan Xi was discussing matters with others at the time. After hearing it, he joked to Liu He, "My title as the governor of Youzhou is not legitimate."