The Marquis Is Innocent - 161.1
Chapter 161.1
In February of the following year, the temperature of spring was still cold. On this day, within the hidden sound of the waves, in an unknown fishing village on the Yellow River coast, a group of people fled hastily into the mouth of the village.
Years of war had caused this fishing village in the middle of nowhere to have fewer younger people, only a dozen households, all old and weak, women and children, with their faces burnt and ragged clothes.
Suddenly, they saw a crowd of people and horses run to the village. The crowd had fear in their expression as if they were lost dogs. Their hats were crooked, and their hair was disheveled. Some only had one boot on their feet, but looked at their clothing, they were clearly the top class of the noblemen. Among them, there was a woman covered with a gorgeous gold mask. Gold mask woman fell into the eyes of the villagers, and they felt strange. The villagers were terrified, calling for their children, and fled at every turn.
The pursuers behind them got closer, and one could hear the sound of horses’ hooves landing and killing. An official-like person suddenly fell from the traveling horseback. Liang Guan rolled to the side of the road and broke his leg. Zhang Huang called for help, but no one paid attention. People rolled before him like the wind, wiping out his call for help.
On the opposite side came an old fisherman with a rope on his back, who seemed to have just returned from the sea. Watching the scene, the old fisherman turned to escape, but the soldiers coerced him with a knife, forcing him to take them to the docking place.
The sound of the waves carrying chilling salty sea breeze came to their faces. The horse’s hooves were stuck in the mudflats, making it difficult to move forward. Liu Yan and his entourage dismounted and stepped into the mud, stumbling toward the sea where the moored fishing boats were.
Finally, they managed to escape with the boat. They were all barefooted, and the mud staining the corners of their clothes. It was a terrible mess. Their boots stuck in the mud behind them, and one by one, they opened their mouths to the sky, moaning and hooting in vain.
They pushed the fishing boat into the seawater and forced the old fishermen to go onboard together. The boat was not big enough to accommodate the entire group. After Liu Yan, Su E Huang, Liu Fan, Liang Ji, the former governor of Yangdu who had established as a General, and his daughter, who had been made queen by Liu Yan, as well as the last dozen or so soldiers boarded the boat, no more place available.
Wang Ba, Dou Wu, Deng Xun, and others have long lost their usual dignified appearance, barefooted and abandoned their crowns, their body stained with dirt. They all kneeled on the beach, looking toward Liu Yan on the fishing boat, bawling and kowtowing chaotically.
At this moment, Dong Cheng violently pushed Dou Wu, entering the sea to catch up with the fishing boat, struggling to hold the boat’s bow. His face was full of tears: “Your Majesty, do not abandon me! Allow me to get on the boat! I’m loyal and helped you ascend the throne. You can’t abandon me like this …….” The fishing boat had just gone to the sea and was already unstable. His grasp on the boat’s bow and tried to climb it up immediately made it sway.
Liu Fan lay on the bow covered with slippery and greasy stains, desperately stomping on the back of Dong Cheng’s hand. Seeing Dong Cheng gritting his teeth and dragging the fishing boat refused to let go, so he pulled out a belt knife and cut Dong Cheng’s hands.
In the miserable cry, Dong Cheng lost one of his fingers. Instantly, out of survival instincts, his other hand grabbed Liu Fan’s ankles. Liu Fan was originally unsteady, and with Dong Cheng’s tug, together they plunged into the sea.
The tide burst, and they swept away from the fishing boat. Liu Fan did not know how to swim, and while he stomped to break free from Dong Cheng, who bent on dragged him, he shouted for help: “Your Majesty, save me–“
Before the words fell, a wave hit and covered him, and in a flash, the two heads disappeared above the sea.
Liu Yan stood in the boat. The sea breeze blew his robe, and his eyes fixedly looked toward the pursuers that gradually caught up. His expression was wooden.
The fishing boat gradually disappeared with the receding tide amidst the cries of the bereaved ministers on the seashore.
……
In the evening of the second day, Liu Yan and his party, without any supplies, finally boarded a small island under the helm of the old fisherman.
There were traces of human habitation on this island, with some tattered fishing nets drying on the beach and the shadows of a few low thatched huts faintly visible in the distance.
Liang Ji asked Liu Yan to rest and brought his soldiers to seek out the islanders.
As soon as Su E Huang came ashore, she lay down on the reef and vomited. Accidentally, the butterfly mask on her face fell off, and the waves swept it away. Su E Huang screamed, ignoring the waves to chase up, and finally snatched back the mask.
Drenched and pale as a dead person, she tightly grasped the deformed mask, immediately wanting to put it back on her face. However, her hands were trembling terribly, and after a few times, the mask fell off.
Finally, she put it back on with difficulty and almost crawled on her hands and knees to the shore, then sat down on the near side of a reef, gasping for breath.
Liu Yan was beside her, his face emaciated, his lips cracked with blood, motionless, as if he were a clay statue.
Soon, Liang Ji returned with a pot of water and served Liu Yan while saying there were dozens of households on the island. All of them were fishermen who fled to the island from the nearby fishing villages to avoid the war. The soldiers had controlled them, and Liu Yan could rest for a night, and when they were ready, they would change to a safer boat and then think of escaping farther away in the morning.
Su E Huang struggled to stand up from the ground and said: “Your Majesty, the sea road is wide. Wei Rebel witnessed when we left the coastal waters, yet he could do nothing about it! We can go south, wait until we reach the south, we could build up our strength, with our identity as the Han Dynasty’s orthodox emperor, why worry that there are no loyal ministers in the world? In the future, we will return to Luoyang and kill Wei Rebel in pieces!”
The breeze was strong, and her voice buzzed with unrealistic sounds, but even Liang Ji seemed to feel the hope in her words. His disheveled spirit felt a revitalization, and he looked at Liu Yan.
Liu Yan, supported by Queen Liang, slowly stood up from the stone and walked toward the highest terrain on the island.
On a flat piece of the ground, dozens of ragged fishermen, men, and women, young and old, were kneeling. They looked at Liu Yan and Su E Huang’s party with frightened and confused gazes.
Liu Yan entered one of the largest huts, and as soon as he was inside, he lay down on the tattered mat, which was barely a bed, spread on the floor, and closed his eyes, not moving a muscle.
The sky gradually darkened. Outside, the sea wind whistled, making strange sounds, like a ghost, without stopping.
Liu Yan finally felt tired. He fell asleep, scrunching on the ground. The moonlight shone through a hole in the roof of the thatched hut, casting its light on the young and pretty face of Queen Liang, illuminating a remnant of a tear at the corner of her eye.
Suddenly, the sleeping Liu Yan opened his eyes violently and sprang to his feet. His sudden movement awakened Queen Liang. She climbed up, jumped to his side, and said, “Your Majesty, what’s wrong with you?”
Liu Yan opened his eyes wide, staring unblinkingly at the face of Queen Liang in the moonlight, and gradually felt mesmerized.
Queen Liang tried to call him again, but seeing that he did not respond and his gaze was bizarre, her heart was shivering, and she slowly backed away.
Liu Yan suddenly pounced on her.
“…… You are my wife …… say, you have to sleep with me in the same bed and buried in the same hole …….”
Although Queen Liang was the queen, she was not very close to him on weekdays. When she fell into this situation and felt his tight grasp accompanied by slurred voices, her heart thumped chaotically. She slowly closed her eyes and said quiveringly: “Your Majesty, I am already your wife, must sleep with Your Majesty with the same bed, buried in the same hole … …”
Liu Yan kissed her even more frantically.
“I know that they forced you! Your family forced you to marry Wei Rebel! They all deserve to die, deserve to die! But if you change your mind, I will forgive you and make you the queen!”
Liu Yan’s voice became agitated.
Queen Liang opened her eyes in surprise and said, “Your Majesty, Your Majesty, what did you say?”
Liu Yan suddenly froze and slowly opened his eyes, staring dead at Queen Liang underneath him inside the thatched hut.
Queen Liang once again felt scared. She shrunk her body and softly said, “Your Majesty …… just now you said that I was forcibly married off by my family to the Wei Rebel …… and said they deserved to die for their crimes… …My father has always been loyal to you, always. I beg Your Majesty to be clear about this. ……”
Liu Yan’s eyes flashed, his face’s muscles twitched, his breathing became cloudy, and raising his hand to strangle her neck.
Queen Liang couldn’t breathe, her delicate neck deformed under Liu Yan’s hands, her legs stirring, but her struggle was futile. Soon, her eyes became white, and her whole body went loose.
Liu Yan’s hand finally loosened the weak neck. He rose from the ground to sit, staring at Quen Liang’s face and her rolled-over white eyes. He smoothed her eyelids and muttered, “Man Man, you can go first …… Soon, I will follow you …….”
He was crying and laughing like he was in pain but full of satisfaction. He could not stop gasping for breath. Suddenly, together with the breeze outside the thatched hut, sounded killing whistles.
As if stabbed by a needle, Liu Yan jumped up abruptly from the ground, rushed out of that broken door, and saw Liang Ji shout while running: “Your Majesty, it’s not good! The big ship of Wei Rebel has pursued us here, and their men have come ashore!”
Liu Yan looked up and saw that in the direction of the beach where he had landed during the day, a leaping light of fire staffs flashed at the moment, reflecting almost the whole beach in a reddish color. In the twinkling of an eye, fire staffs surround every direction. Under the moonlight, countless shadows of men and women were rushing toward this area.
The sound of killing rose at every turn, even overpowering the sound of the sea breeze whistling across the island.
……