"Chase! Don't let them run, kill them all, kill them, kill ———"

On the mountain road ten miles east of the Xingyang camp, more than 200 horse robbers chased a group of ragged homeless people with their swords, and shouted loudly while galloping on their horses, so frightened that the homeless people fled in a hurry, and did not dare to look back, lest they would be cut off head-on as soon as they turned around.

In the "bang" sound of galloping, the dust is flying, startling the birds and beasts on the edge of the mountains and forests to scream and scurry, and there is a burst of "whooshing" sound of falling leaves in the mountains and forests, so that the timid people do not dare to stay at all, even if they are panting like oxen, they have to run desperately.

I don't know how long I ran, gradually, the shouting and killing on the mountain road behind me became farther and farther, and the shouting became more and more blurred, and only a trace of sound could be faintly heard when the autumn wind blew.

Turning over the three mountain beams in one go, the tired homeless people looked back again and again, repeatedly confirming whether there were any ringing horses chasing behind them. It wasn't until some of the elderly people couldn't move their legs and couldn't breathe and had to stop to breathe that the homeless people stopped in a sparse way. Immediately, they slumped on the grass stalks by the side of the road, gulping greedily, and wiping the sweat from their foreheads as they turned their heads back to look at the mountain road at night. At this moment, they were all frightened, palpitating, and afraid, it was so thrilling that they almost lost their lives.

"Hahaha!" Just as everyone was panting and resting, a slightly immature laughter broke the rapid and mixed gasps, and the wind on the mountain road was stirring, high-pitched and excited, and the laughter was full of endless humiliation and happiness, and full of the taste of raising eyebrows.

"Finally escaped! Heaven will not die, my big man. The ancestors of the Han family blessed my Liu royal family, and I, Liu Xie, was the true son of heaven who was ordered by heaven, what could Li Thief do to me? ”

He shouted these words with all his might. Liu Xie, a tall and thin self-proclaimed Son of Heaven, burst into tears and couldn't cry, then he knelt on his knees, bowed his head in the direction of Luoyang, the eastern capital, and muttered to himself: "Ancestors bless, the ancestors of the past dynasties have spirits, and today I escaped from the cage." It will make great efforts to help the world and rejuvenate the Han Dynasty. If this oath is violated. I am ashamed of the emperors of the past dynasties, I have no shame to see my ancestors, and I will not enter the imperial tomb or set up a tablet after death. Don't let your ancestors be disgraced! ”

"The heavens are above. The first emperor's heroic spirit is not far away, and the ministers pray for the sky and the earth to bless my Han dynasty to reappear in the prosperous world, protect our emperor to sweep away traitors, calm the troubled times, and rebuild the Han Dynasty for another 400 years! Ministers see my emperor, long live my emperor, long live long live! ”

As Liu Xieyao, the Son of Heaven, worshiped the Eastern Capital, more than 100 "homeless people" who were paralyzed in the grass struggled to kneel on the mountain road, and bowed in the direction of the Eastern Capital on the ground, praying for the Emperor and the Queen of Heaven with vigorous words. Bless the young Son of Heaven to work hard and prosper the Han Dynasty.

Fortunately. This scene was not seen by ordinary people or passers-by, otherwise they would have thought that this group of unclothed homeless people were all crazy. I didn't sleep for three days and in the middle of the night, and I actually ran into the barren mountains and mountains to talk nonsense, what kind of worship did Lao Shizi do, is there a brain disease?

Perhaps, people who see this scene can't help but think of the Taiping Road and the Yellow Turban thieves many years ago, trumpeting the good fortune of the world, blessing the heavens at every turn, and often worshipping the emperor and the queen of heaven on a large scale, asking the gods to bless and bless them. The result? The Yellow Turban thieves swept through the eight states of the Han Dynasty, with millions of believers, but they were declared extinct in just eight months, so that the Taiping Immortal Master Zhang Jiao died, but he was ordered by Emperor Ling to dig up and pull out the corpse from the grave and whip the corpse, crush the bones and scatter ashes!

"Everyone hurry up, hold on a little longer, you can't stay in the place of right and wrong for a long time, we must hurry overnight, the farther away from the Xingyang camp, the safer it is." Just when everyone bowed in unison, Dong Cheng, who was in charge of counting the number of people and entangled baggage, was frightened, and kept looking at the mountain road behind him, for fear that the sound of everyone's bowing would attract the Xiliang army, or the ringing horse robbers behind him would catch up again. Therefore, after everyone had vented a little, he immediately beckoned everyone to get up and continue on their way.

When the exhausted people got up with great difficulty, Dong Cheng urged everyone to hurry as hard as possible, and said loudly: "From this moment on, you must remember that His Majesty has the pseudonym 'Dong Hou', and the hundred officials in the court are Dong Hou's clansmen, and the accompanying soldiers are Dong Hou's subordinates. Please remember your respective identities, Xingyang is only more than 100 miles away from Hangu Pass, and there are hundreds of miles from here to Luoyang, the eastern capital, and we can't take the official road, we can only bypass the official road and take the country road, so as to ensure our safety along the way and arrive in Luoyang. As long as I leave the Xingyang camp thirty miles tonight, I will find a safe place to rest for two days after dawn, and then go on my way after I have enough spirits! ”

After everyone heard this, the excited expressions they had just made instantly gloomy, and the irresistible fatigue came to their hearts, pouring into their two legs, which were as heavy as a thousand pounds, making them struggling, supporting each other and hurrying in the dark.

There is nothing to say all the way, it's not that they don't want to talk, but they don't have the strength to speak, they have to use every ounce of strength on the road, and they can't waste the slightest bit of energy. After all, in their minds, the dangerous jungle has come out, and the Xingyang battalion, which has been heavily defended, has gritted their teeth and survived the most difficult journey. Seeing that fame and fortune are in sight, what's the harm in gritting your teeth and persevering?

As long as the group can reach Luoyang safely, then all the people who fled with the Son of Heaven at this moment are the heroes of the rescue, and the addition of officials to the knighthood, position and secretary of state will be just around the corner, and everyone will get extremely rich rewards, and the glory and wealth will be inexhaustible, and fame and fortune will be at your fingertips. With such good things waiting ahead, how can people not have strength? Even if you are tired, as long as you are not tired and lie down, you have to keep walking, otherwise once you dislike the Son of Heaven, the low-hanging glory and wealth may be lost, and you will watch the cooked duck fly away.

As the so-called big waves wash the sand, gold will always shine.

To this day, the hundreds of officials in the DPRK and China who are now fleeing with Liu Xie, the Son of Heaven, are the "elites" who have been screened out countless times, but they are sand in Li Li's eyes. , because the real gold has been successively recruited by Li Liqiao under various names, or entered the Tai Academy to teach, or transferred to the General's Mansion and the Prime Minister's Mansion as a subordinate, or sent to various states and counties as subordinate officials, and many people were directly sent to remote towns to preside over the cultivation and construction of pastures. Became a free farmer.

At the same time, Li Li was also a general and a prime minister, and there were two shogunates under his command. One is the Prime Minister's Mansion, which specializes in handling government affairs, and the other is the General's Mansion, which is in charge of military aircraft and warfare. The two shogunates had clear functions and powers, including all the departments of the DPRK and China, and added the Iron Division, the Forging Division, and the Ore Division?????? The Ordnance Bureau, as well as various workshops, have more than 100 subordinate offices, which are huge in scale and have many subordinates. All of them are unprecedented innovations that have never been made in the 400 years since the founding of the Han Dynasty.

Therefore, the hundred officials who were still serving in the DPRK and the Central Committee three months ago were either the three princes and the nine secretaries. Either they are boastful, flattering, and powerful people, or the Han clan relatives, as well as the royal relatives. For these people, Li Li will not solicit them at all. One trick is useless. Second, he has two ambitions. In addition, all capable and talented officials, whether they are willing to be loyal to Li Li or not, as long as they do have a skill, Li Li will not let them sit idle in the court, and will be hired; As long as they do their own affairs well, allegiance is only a matter of time, and it is not included in the main basis for evaluating political performance.

Yes. In recent years, many officials in the DPRK and China have served under Li Li, and they have successively found positions suitable for themselves. If you can show your talents and get promoted, your rewards and salaries will also rise, and your life will be stable and comfortable. For this reason, many people were reluctant to be loyal to Li Li at first, but as time went by, they got along day and night, and eventually most of them were happy to join Li Li's command.

It is no exaggeration to say that more than seventy percent of the hundreds of officials in the DPRK and China who are still following Liu Xie's side at this moment are officials who are not appreciated and reused by Li Li. They have nothing to do all day long, and their participation in the government is just rhetoric and rhetoric, but the income is reduced year by year, month by month, so that in the end, they are in a high position but receive a meager salary, they can't eat enough and can't starve to death, and they can survive for a long time, and they are miserable. Therefore, they had no choice but to follow the Son of Heaven, and even if they wanted to, no one was willing to take over.

Among them, Li Dao's subordinate Yang Feng is a typical example. At best, this person is just a leader of the Yellow Turban Thieves, who received his account when he was suppressed by Li Dao Hedong, and has been following Li Dao ever since; He wanted to defect under Li Li, but he couldn't do anything, he had neither a general nor the courage of a hundred people, so Li Li didn't look down on him at all.

Yang Feng is like this, and so is Dong Cheng. He was originally a subordinate general of the Niu Auxiliary Account, with mediocre ability but scheming, and good at drilling and scheming; After Dong Zhuo's death, Niu Fu carried a large amount of gold and silver and tried to flee to the Qiang tribe for refuge, but was beheaded by the subordinate generals, and all the money was taken away, and there was Dong Cheng's shadow in it. During the Chang'an Rebellion, it was he who took Niu Fu's head and dedicated it to Wang Yun, so as to get an official and a half position in the court, and then made no achievements, until this time he contacted hundreds of officials to plot Liu Xie's escape, and finally jumped out again, making waves, and taking chestnuts in the fire. However, judging from the current form, Dong Cheng seems to have made the right bet; dedicated his own daughter to Liu Xie, so as to gain Liu Xie's trust, and the Han Emperor and the escape plan of the hundred officials led by him have now succeeded most of them, and the day of success is not far off.

—————————— small dividing lines——————————

After stumbling and walking the mountain road overnight, after the sky was bright, Liu Xie, Dong Cheng and his party of more than 300 people finally found a place to settle in the barren mountains and mountains.

This is an abandoned Taoist temple, but the scale is not small, enough to accommodate two or three hundred people. The adobe walls were in tatters, littered with ruins, and the yard was overgrown with a man's height of artemisia grass, rocks, branches and foliage everywhere, and moss grew between the cracks of the stones. The eaves of the main house of the Taoist temple have collapsed, the rafters are hanging in the air, crumbling, fortunately, the second half of the house is still complete, but a big hole is broken in the roof, like a skylight, so that there is still sunlight shining down in the Taoist temple, but it is not damp, ventilated and bright, very dry.

Unfortunately, it's autumn now, and being too cool isn't necessarily a good thing. The day is fine, but the night is about to suffer; If it is raining, it is a roof leak and overnight rain, and the situation is self-evident.

However, for those of them who have just come out of the jungle, this Taoist temple is no less than the Changle Palace in Chang'an City, and finally has a place to live. Therefore, a group of people worked together and worked for most of the day, finally tidying up the inside and outside of the Taoist temple, and sorting out a magnificent sleeping palace for Liu Xie, the son of heaven, - a relatively complete and open skylight house behind the main house of the Taoist temple.

This house was originally used for twenty or thirty people to rest, but now it is the special dormitory of Liu Xie, Empress Fu, and Dong Guiren, and the main house that collapsed in front is the mansion of hundreds of officials. Compared with the two, it shows that the bedroom of the Son of Heaven is very luxurious and extravagant, ventilated on all sides, plus the skylight above the head, the bedrooms of the emperors of the past dynasties may not be able to compare, and there are more than 300 people outside the palace!

In the afternoon, the inside and outside of the Taoist temple gradually quieted down, and the ruined walls were full of sleeping young and lowly officials, as well as dozens of stewards and cronies of hundreds of officials.

The only people who had no intention of resting were Dong Hong, the middle attendant, and Dong Cheng, the two of them, who sat on the stone steps of the main entrance of the Taoist temple with only the door frame left, looking at the rolling mountains, and sat speechless, looking dazed??????

—————————— To be Continued ———————————— (To be Continued......