Chapter 57: Destruction of the Emperor

By the way, Cao Cao, with the help of Wang Yun, disguised himself as his servant, escaped from Luoyang. As soon as he left Luoyang City, he hid in the morning and went out at night until he left Hulao Pass. He ran all the way back to his hometown of Chenliu County, Yanzhou.

Dong Zhuo received a report from his subordinates that Cao Cao had escaped, but he didn't care. In his mind, the brothers Yuan Shao and Yuan Shu were much more important. The troops they controlled were all elite troops. If an attack was launched, Dong Zhuo himself would not be sure to win.

In order to win over Yuan Shao's brothers, Dong Zhuo asked the Shao Emperor to issue an edict to grant Yuan Shu the title of the Empress General. Yuan Shu knew that his strength could not fight against Dong Zhuo, and he was unwilling to rely on Dong Zhuo. In his mind, his family was a wealthy family of four generations and three dukes, and he was also a legitimate family. Unlike Yuan Shao, he was a concubine, and his status was so noble. How could he be able to lean over and obey a small landlord in a wilderness in the northwest?

Yuan Shu had no choice but to flee from Luoyang in panic and flee to Nanyang County, Jingzhou. Nanyang was rich and had a large population, with a large number of industries and fiefs of the Yuan family, and a private equity army. After Yuan Shu arrived in Nanyang, he could still maintain his luxurious life as luxurious as he was in Luoyang.

Before leaving, Yuan Shu left a letter to Dong Zhuo, meaning that his mother was in poor health and needed someone to serve him. All filial piety was the first priority. I would go back to my hometown to accompany my mother. After Dong Zhuo looked at it, he sneered and threw the letter to the ground.

Yuan Shu ran away, and Yuan Shao was there, so Dong Zhuo began to test Yuan Shao again.

That day, after the morning court was over, Yuan Shao was hurried out when he suddenly heard someone calling out behind him: "General Yuan...General Yuan, stay!"

Yuan Shao stopped and looked back at him. Dong Zhuo walked towards him with a big belly.

Yuan Shao bowed his fists and said, "It turns out it's Lord Dong, I don't know what's wrong with calling me?"

Dong Zhuo was tall and had a big belly. Because he had been practicing martial arts for many years, he was very agile. He quickly walked to Yuan Shao, touched the thick beard on his face with his hand, and asked, "What do General Yuan think of the current emperor?"

"This..." Yuan Shao was secretly angry and talked about the emperor behind his back, not what was done by his subjects.

Dong Zhuo seemed not to see Yuan Shao's face, and he said to Yuan Shao arrogantly: "The lord of the world should choose a wise man. Now Liu Bian is ignorant and cowardly and misbehaving, and Liu Xie seems to be okay. I want to make him the emperor. If it doesn't work, there is no need for the descendants of the Liu family to stay."

Yuan Shao was in a state of anger, and he was about to explode. From the corner of his eyes, he saw Lu Bu standing obliquely behind Dong Zhuo, holding a Fangtian Painted Ridge in his hand, majestic and glaring at him, so he had to force himself to suppress the anger in his heart.

Yuan Shao did not answer Dong Zhuo's words, silently held the sword tightly with his hands, then bowed to Dong Zhuo and left.

Yuan Shao returned to the mansion directly, remembered a letter from Zhou Yu not long ago, and hurriedly opened it and looked again. There were only a few words on it, saying: "General Benchu, Dong Zhuo was cruel. If you want to abolish it, you should avoid it quickly. If you have time, you can go to Juchao for a lecture. Zhou Yu."

Yuan Shao sighed, "Oh... I didn't expect Gongjin to be able to predict before he could. He had already withdrawn before me, and Meng De and Gaolu also went away from home. What should I do?"

After thinking about it, Yuan Shao did not sleep all night. When the sky was just white, he decided to give up his family business in Luoyang, simply clean up the gold, silver and fine materials, and ordered his servants to protect their families, use simple cars and horses, and set out from the west gate first and detour to Jizhou.

Yuan Shao pretended to be fine and went to handle official duties. A few days later, before dawn, Yuan Shao took a few personal servants and sneaked out of Luoyang City from the east gate. Before leaving the city gate, Yuan Shao hung the talismans issued by the court on the city gate, fled all the way to Jizhou, and met his family.

After receiving the report of Yuan Shao's escape, Dong Zhuo was furious and thought to himself, "You Cao Cao, You Yuan Shu, You Yuan Shao, you don't go there if you have a way in heaven, but you just want to go against me, and I will make you die ugly!"

Dong Zhuo immediately ordered the wanted to Yuan Shao. Wang Yun was present at that time. Hearing Dong Zhuo's order, he hurriedly stepped forward and persuaded: "Master Dong clearly understands that this is a major matter that ordinary people can understand. Yuan Shao doesn't know the general, because he is afraid of escaping, and it is not of other intentions. Now he is too anxious to want him, which will inevitably cause an incident. The four generations of Yuan's family have a wide range of kindness, disciples, and former officials all over the world. If Yuan Shao recruits heroes and pulls up the team, all the heroes will take advantage of the situation. At that time, Guandong may not be controlled by you."

Since Dong Zhuo entered Beijing, Wang Yun has been deliberately close to Dong Zhuo and willing to be his tyrant, gaining Dong Zhuo's trust. He appears to be gentle and obedient, but in fact he is to protect the young emperor and all officials in the court.

Seeing Wang Yun say this, Dong Zhuo hesitated and said, "What do you think you should do?"

Wang Yun bowed and replied, "Yuan Shao is harsh and brave, he likes to make plans without making decisions, cherishes his life when he does big things, and forgets his life when he sees small profits. Therefore, it is better to pardon him and give him a county magistrate. Then, he will be glad that he will not cause trouble."

"Then... where is it more appropriate for him to be a county magistrate?" Dong Zhuo asked.

Wang Yun rolled his eyes and said hurriedly: "The former prefect of Bohai Gao Hong submitted a letter and said he was ill and resigned. It is located in a remote place, so it is good to place Yuan Shao."

"Okay, then let Yuan Shao be the prefect of Bohai County." Dong Zhuo said disrespectfully.

In addition to excluding dissidents, Dong Zhuo also attracted all officials in the court. Anyone who was willing to obey him was treated as promotion and title. Anyone who was dissatisfied with his intention to be detrimental to him would be led by Lu Bu to slaughter the whole family.

Dong Zhuo loved Lu Bu very much and was very generous to Lu Bu. He went to the horse and went to the horse and silver, and had a small banquet every three days and a big banquet every five days. Soon, he recognized Lu Bu as his adopted son and led the garrison troops in Luoyang - the Hu Ben Army. The two were father and son, and they got along very well.

Cai Yong, the current dynasty, was exiled to Shuofang for writing a letter to the emperor, but later he was pardoned and returned to his hometown. Wang Zhi, a local official, had a personal grudge with Cai Yong, so he impeached Cai Yong for remarks about slandering the Pang government. Cai Yong was forced to leave home and flee and wander around the world for twelve years.

Dong Zhuo had long heard of Cai Yong's reputation and talent, so he specially summoned him to Beijing to serve as an official. Cai Yong did not want to be involved in politics anymore and refused politely.

Dong Zhuo threatened Cai Yong: "If you don't obey orders, I will kill all your clan." Cai Yong was frightened and had to return to Luoyang. Dong Zhuo was overjoyed and appointed him as a sacrificial sacrificial sacrificial sacrificial sacrificial sacrificial sacrificial sacrificial sacrificial sacrificial sacrificial sacrificial sacrificial sacrificial sacrificial sacrificial sacrificial sacrificial sacrificial sacrificial sacrificial sacrificial sacrificial sacrificial sacrificial sacrificial sacrificial sacrificial sacrificial sacrificial sacrificial sacrificial sacrificial sac

Cai Yong had a daughter, Cai Wenji, who was only twelve years old. She was influenced by her since childhood. She was knowledgeable and good at writing, and was good at poetry and prose, and was eloquent and music. Cai Wenji regarded Ban Zhao as her idol since childhood, so she paid attention to classics and read classics and history since childhood. She also had the ambition to continue the Han Dynasty book with her father and leave a name in history.

One autumn night, Dong Zhuo held a banquet in his mansion and hosted a banquet for all the officials of the court. Some of the officials did not want to go, and due to Dong Zhuo's power, they had to bite the bullet and go to the banquet.

After three rounds of dishes and five flavors, Dong Zhuo stood up, hung his sword on his waist, held a wine cup in his hand, and said with a loud voice: "Sir, today the sky is far away and the air is clear, the bright moon is hanging high, I feel very happy. Come on, I wish you a drink!"

After saying that, Dong Zhuo raised the wine cup in his hand high and drank it all in one go.

The officials also raised their glasses unevenly. Some were flattering, some were helpless, some were expressionless, and some were curled and looked at them.

After drinking, Dong Zhuo coughed a few times and said, "I have a discussion and want to hear your opinions."

Everyone replied in a mess: "Please speak with Master Sikong."

"Ming Gong has something to say."

"Mr. Dong, please speak."

Dong Zhuo looked around the audience, glanced sternly across everyone's face, and said in a deep voice: "The current saints are ignorant and cowardly, unable to worship the ancestral temple, and are not qualified to serve as the monarch of the world. For the sake of the country and the Han Dynasty, I want to follow the story of Yi Yin's release of Taijia, Huo Guang abolished Changyi, abolished Liu Bian, and changed the King of Chenliu Liu Xie as the emperor!"

The audience suddenly became silent, and even a needle could be heard falling off.

Suddenly, a man jumped out and pointed at Dong Zhuo and said, "The Han Dynasty's kindness spread all over the world, the people supported it, and the country was prosperous and the people were safe. Although the emperor is young, he has no evil deeds spread to the world. If you want to depose the emperor and establish a new emperor, no one agrees with you."

The man's hair and beard were white, and his expression was not angry and powerful. It was the Minister of Shangshu Lu Zhi.

Seeing that someone was openly opposed to him, Dong Zhuo was furious and ordered the soldiers beheaded Lu Zhi.

Seeing this, the attendant Cai Yong hurriedly stepped forward and bowed: "Stop the anger of Lord Sikong! Stop the anger of Lord Sikong! Tonight's banquet will be peaceful, so it is not appropriate to kill people."

Dong Zhuo said angrily: "Lu Zhibi, I'm so disrespectful to me."

Cai Yong said as he saw the opportunity: "This is indeed Lu Zhi's fault. However, Lu Zhi is a great scholar in the country, with many students and is quite famous among the people. If he is killed because of this incident today, the people will be very afraid of you and hate you very much. The Confucian scholars in the world will not dare to come to join you. This will be a loss for you."

Dong Zhuo calmed down a little. Thinking that what Cai Yong said was indeed reasonable, he said hatefully: "Since Cai Shizhong pleads with mercy, I will spare Lu Zhi tonight. However, the official affairs of the Shangshu will definitely be abolished. Lu Zhi, you will get out of Luoyang tomorrow morning, get out of Luoyang, get away from your hometown Zhuo County."

Lu Zhi stared at Dong Zhuo with his eyes, as if two balls of flames. Without saying a word, he pushed away the soldiers around him, turned around and strode out the door.

The next day was Jiaxu day, Dong Zhuo summoned all officials in Chongde Front Hall and forced Empress Dowager He to issue an edict to depose the Shao Emperor, which read:

"Emperor Xiaoling did not investigate the reign of Emperor Gaozong's Meishou, and abandoned his ministers long ago. The emperor Chengshao, looked at the inside of the sea, but the emperor was frivolous in heaven and was not arrogant, and was in arrogance and laziness, and was as declining as before; the evil virtues were revealed, obscene and humiliating artifacts were heard, and the ancestral temple was defiled. The empress dowager had no mother's etiquette, and the government was in chaos. The Empress Dowager Yongle collapsed and the public was confused. The three pillars of the three pillars, the disciplines of heaven and earth, and there were shortcomings and the crimes were great. The King of Chenliu was ashamed of the sages, with great virtues and rules, and the rich and the lower and Dui were above, with Yao Tu; the mourning and sadness of the living, the words were not as good as evil, and the nature of Qi Li was as good as Zhou Cheng. Don't say good news, what the world heard, it is suitable to inherit the Hongye, and it is for all generations to inherit the ancestral temple. The emperor was abolished as King Hongnong. The Empress Dowager returned to power."

A few days later, Liu Xie ascended the throne and became Emperor Xian of Han, at the age of nine.

After the establishment of Emperor Xian, Dong Zhuo promoted himself to Taiwei and became one of the three dukes, in charge of all the affairs of the generals and the affairs of the former generals. Later, he was appointed as the marquis of the county and the prime minister, and became the leader of the three dukes, and took power as the prime minister.

After the deposed and established the emperor, Dong Zhuo disliked Empress Dowager He, believing that she had hindered her freedom of action and established her prestige in the court. Therefore, Dong Zhuo convened the ministers and criticized the so-called crimes of the empress dowager to the ministers, saying how she forced her mother-in-law, Empress Dowager Yongle, and caused the empress dowager to die in a worried manner. Such teachings that violated the common sense of mother-in-law and daughter-in-law and did not talk about filial etiquette should be severely punished. Afterwards, Dong Zhuo ordered Empress Dowager He to move to Yong'an Palace. Soon, Dong Zhuo thought Empress Dowager He was in trouble and secretly sent someone to poison Empress Dowager He to death.

The poor Empress Dowager, who is quite elegant, ended up with such a miserable ending.
Chapter completed!