Chapter 142: The Passionate Eunuch's Heartless Arrow

Seeing Fan Xian walking in with a calm face, Hong Zhu, who was in a state of dismay, got up from the ground, knelt in front of him, lowered his head, and said nothing.

At this time, there were no other people around the room in the East Palace, only Fan Xian, who was standing and Hong Zhu, who was kneeling, and the faint light from the outside came in, knocking the shadows of the two on the wall, which looked a little weird.

Fan Xian stared at Hong Zhu's dazed face, clenched his hands hanging from his sleeves into fists, and slowly let go, saying tiredly: "I need an explanation for this matter."

Hong Zhu looked up at him, his eyes full of guilt and deep self-blame, but he just lowered his head and kowtowed without explaining anything.

Yes, Hong Zhu is Fan Xian's greatest help in the palace. The reason why Fan Xian dared to break into the harem with two hundred people and control the Hanguang Palace in one fell swoop was his complete grasp of the situation in the harem, his understanding of the distribution of the great inner guards and the details of the life of the nobles from all sides.

All of this was all about the information that Hong Zhugan took a strange risk to the outside of the palace during these two days. The eunuch who was rising straight up in Qingyun was originally transferred to Hanguang Hall, but later the prince returned to the Eastern Palace and asked him back very reluctantly.

Since the empress dowager was willing to succeed the prince, he would naturally not stop his small request. So Hong Zhu became the most unique person in the palace. He once held memorials in the imperial study room, served the empress dowager in the Hanguang Hall, and lived with the empress in the East Palace for two months.

Surprisingly, all the nobles appreciated him and loved him, and Fan Xian was no exception.

But no one knew that Hong Zhu was Fan Xian's eyeliner in the palace. The reason why the C-level guards on the way from the palace gate to Hanguang Hall was accidentally poisoned and unable to take the warning was all due to the eunuch.

Fan Xian was able to succeed in rushing to the palace. Hong Zhu made great contributions, but at this time Fan Xian looked at him not very gentle, and he needed an explanation.

In the Eastern Palace, under Hong Zhu's eyelids, how could they react in such a thunderous palace-breaking action, and escape before Fan Xian's sword arrived?

Fan Xian's fists clenched. A gloomy voice oozed out from the cracks of his teeth, and he sneered: "Is it your letter of venting?"

Hong Zhu didn't dare to look at Fan Xian's cold eyes and nodded heavily.

Fan Xian took a breath, looked at him in disbelief, and said, "Do you know what you are doing? We are rebelling, not playing house!"

In order to avoid the people next to the East Palace hearing it, his voice did not increase, but his emotions gradually became crazy.

"What's wrong with you? You're soft-hearted?" Fan Xian frowned very tightly. He said with great speed and cold words: "Your soft-hearted will harm the entire Qing Kingdom!"

He spat on the ground at his feet and cursed hatefully: "I went through a lot of hardships to enter the palace. As a result, you played like this, it would be fine if you didn't want to survive, but what should these people in the palace do? You are forcing me to be ready to run away before dawn!"

Fan Xian became angry very rarely. Because he could not understand such a careful plan, he mobilized himself to spend countless time hiding the nail in the palace, but because he could not figure out such a big leak!

Why? Why! Fan Xian stared at Hong Zhu's face, with a gloomy fire flashing in his eyes.

"The prince is very good to the servants." Hong Zhu knelt in front of Fan Xian, and suddenly cried, tears flowing from the corners of his eyes, and entered his clothes along his young face. "The Queen is very pitiful. I thought about it and then, but in the end I couldn't help it."

Hong Zhu cried loudly, and tears were snot on his face: "Sir, kill me, I don't want to live anymore. Xiu'er was killed by myself. I don't know how many more people I will kill... it's all my sins... my sins."

Fan Xian took a breath of air. Although he had already cursed before, he never expected that the reason why Hong Zhu let the prince and the queen go to the ground was actually... soft-hearted!

"What's going on over Guangxin Palace?"

"I have no idea."

Fan Xian's eyes twitched a little. His heart felt a little cold. He looked at the eunuch kneeling in front of him and suddenly spoke, "Stand up."

Hong Zhu knelt on the ground and dared not get up.

"Stand up!" Fan Xian roared in a low voice.

Hong Zhu stood up timidly, but suddenly felt a pain in his crotch and couldn't help but exhaled. Fan Xian slowly put his hand back, with a very complicated emotion on his face. Seeing Hong Zhu not saying a word, he just shook his head and sighed after a moment.

Hong Zhu looked at Fan Xian in horror, but then he thought that since he had secretly informed the queen and the prince to escape before the incident, he was afraid that his life would be gone. It was over, so why bother to be afraid of anything else?

So he stood up straight and looked at Fan Xian without saying a word, but the deep guilt in his eyes could not be removed.

To his surprise, Fan Xian said nothing, nor did he take out the sword to cut off his head in extreme anger. Fan Xian just sighed, waved his hand, and walked alone towards the east palace, his back seemed a little lonely and desolate.

Hong Zhu stared at Fan Xian's back in a daze and started crying again for some reason.

Fan Xian walked out of the main entrance of the East Palace and could no longer hear Hong Zhu's cry. He was much less angry for no reason, but his heart was a little empty.

He waved his hand to call his subordinates and asked him to take all the palace maids and eunuchs from the East Palace and Guangxin Palace to the cold palace area at Chenlang for collective supervision, and then walked into the darkness of the palace alone.

Hong Zhudi was temporarily soft-hearted and brought irreparable losses to his plan. In an instant, Fan Xian was angry and did have the urge to kill, but this impulse immediately disappeared because he heard the word Xiu'er.

When he was in Hangzhou, he once thought about what impact the death of the palace maid would have on Hong Zhu's mood, because from the beginning he knew that Hong Zhu was not an ordinary eunuch, he was a kind and kind eunuch. Otherwise, Fan Xian would not dare to entrust so many major events to him.

But Fan Xian didn't expect that Hong Zhu was so passionate that he would be soft-hearted in such a big event as the palace transformation.

From this we can see that the prince is really a generous person and a sentimental person. Moreover, Hong Zhu, who has a secret, relied on each other with the extremely pitiful queen in the Eastern Palace for several months when the prince was exiled to Nanzhao. Perhaps he had some different feelings.

Hong Zhu is a sentimental eunuch who is affectionate to Fan Xian, so he took great risks to start a palace chaos and helped him enter the palace. He is affectionate to the prince and the queen, so he let go at the last moment. Human beings are very complex animals, especially Hong Zhu, a eunuch who is more like a scholar than a scholar.

"Maybe it's because I'm too ruthless that I can't imagine that people will be so affectionate."

He thought in his heart. He involuntarily thought of Xu Maocai from Jiaozhou Navy, and a self-deprecating smile appeared on the corner of his lips.

Xu Maocai and Hong Zhu were the two deepest nails he had in the Qing Dynasty court, but it was in this shocking chaos in the court. Both nails had their own ideas, which brought great evil to Fan Xian's plan.

But without Xu Maocai, Fan Xian could not escape from the deep sea at the foot of Dadong Mountain. Without Hong Zhu, Fan Xian would not even be able to enter the harem, so he knew that he was not qualified to blame these confidants.

He couldn't bear to kill Hong Zhu. He couldn't bear to blame Hong Zhu, but he thought helplessly that in terms of touching people with emotion, the prince had already practiced stronger than himself - the prince occasionally had true nature, but he was hypocritical in this life.

The Imperial Guard had already cleared the harem with the help of the subordinates of the Supervision Bureau. All the guards in the inner harem were captured and they should never be able to make any waves. Fan Xian returned to Hanguang Hall with a calm face, but did not go in to see the queen mother. He comforted the third brother's family, but whispered a few instructions to Jing Ge who was guarding outside the palace.

Jing Ge's expression was slightly different. He seemed to have not expected that when Lord Tisi was winning this great victory, he was considering the problem of failure. However, he did not ask anything. He stretched out his right palm and pressed the silver mask on his face. He knelt on one knee to take the order, and then took a part of the 200 people who entered the palace and left the palace.

The security control of Hanguang Palace was handed over to the Imperial Guard from this moment.

The first time in the history of Qing Kingdom, the two masterminds of the palace chaos, finally met on the high imperial city wall after the fireworks shot into the sky about halfway.

Fan Xian bowed silently to the eldest prince with armor. The eldest prince's face was heavy. Although the armor was on his body, he still returned the gift solemnly. The night wind suddenly came, and the big red cloak on the eldest prince's body blew, making the black inspector's official uniform on Fan Xian's body stiff as if washed.

The imperial guards who were nervously patrolling the imperial city looked at this scene and suddenly felt unspeakable. In the first year of Qingli, the eldest prince led the army to fight the west, and his reputation gradually rose and he had never been defeated. After Fan Xian took charge of the Supervisory Office, he became Chen Pingping's second place, but he was much more glamorous than the old president Chen.

Such two princes, like their battle robes, were blazing bright red, cold pure black, light and darkness, how many people in this world could resist.

Fan Xian and the eldest prince stood up straight, without saying anything, and came to the outside of the corner tower, staring at the calm square at the foot of the Gao Gaohuang City, the faint sound of fighting came from afar, and the extremely noticeable fireheads further away.

The two of them didn't need to say anything. To be precise, since the incident in Dadongshan broke out, they had never met or spoke, but they had led to today's palace riots.

This reliance is the trust and confidence of the two people in each other. This tacit understanding is not based on interests, but on history. The two princes are insulted and ignored in the family of the emperor. Their mothers and elders have fought side by side, and today the two children have finally begun to fight side by side.

There were 3,000 imperial guards. At this time, one thousand people were stationed in the palace, one thousand people were at the top of the city, and a thousand teams had already galloped away to advance to the depths of Kyoto. It is necessary to control the entire Kyoto before dawn. It is indeed too difficult for a thousand people to control Kyoto, but if more than a thousand officials of the Supervision Bureau who Fan Xian deliberately stayed outside the palace as a helper, it would be much smoother.

"They must be caught before dawn." The eldest prince said coldly. In this sentence, they naturally refer to the prince and his son and the eldest princess Li Yunrui. Among the thousand imperial guards responsible for sweeping, at least three cavalry teams were desperately seeking out those who escaped from the palace along the route of the laundry workshop.

Fan Xian remained silent. As soon as he learned that the prince and the eldest princess had escaped from the palace, he had already issued an order. The swordsmen in the Supervision Bureau were also working hard in Kyoto at this time. But he knew in his heart that it was as if the eldest princess was hiding in the vast sea of ​​houses in Kyoto, it was extremely difficult for him to catch the other party.

This kind of thing depends on luck. What is extremely unfavorable to Fan Xian and the eldest prince is that they only have these three hours before dawn.

"Everything is fine in Hanguang Hall." Fan Xian did not answer the question of the eldest prince. He looked at the soldiers under the imperial city with his eyes and said, "The Empress Dowager is fine."

The eldest prince frowned between his eyebrows and said nothing.

Because the eldest prince has always been a rough, kind, filial and filial person, so he could not do what Fan Xian could do, even when he heard the name of the Queen Mother, he felt a little depressed and a little uncomfortable.

Fan Xian looked at him with a smile, as if seeing through the shadow in his heart, and said, "The battle for imperial power has always been a life-and-death battle. We are just carrying out His Majesty's will. The historical books will give you the due evaluation."

"I don't care about this." The eldest prince shook his head and said softly to the night wind at the high city. "No need to say anything more. Since the father has ordered you to handle this matter in his will, I believe you can handle it well, and I have confidence in you."

If the eldest prince, who has always been filial, would certainly not dare to risk Ning Cairen's life and raise his troops to rebel.

"But can you give me confidence?"

Fan Xian sighed at the imperial soldiers who seemed a little sparse compared to the vast imperial city. At this time, there were only one thousand soldiers in front of and behind the imperial city, and he could not give people strong psychological support.

The eldest prince understood what he was worried about. After a moment of silence, he said, "The father went to Dadongshan and took away the imperial guards' family, and lost a part of it tonight. But don't worry, it has always been one-on-three for defending the city, especially in places like the Imperial City, one-on-four."

"But the imperial city is extremely large, so it is difficult to take care of it in full." Fan Xian lowered his head and thought: "If the eldest princess and the prince really escape from Kyoto and meet the Kyoto garrison, how many military horses can the old Qin family transfer into Beijing?"

"Kyoto Garrison Division 10,000 people." Since the eldest prince raised his army, he was of course very clear about the military forces inside and outside Kyoto. "You and I will join forces together, and there are a total of 5,000 people, and they should be able to withstand it."

"My people cannot be used to guard the palace." Fan Xian shook his head, raised his right arm to point at the dark Kyoto Zaihai, and said, "They only have strength in there."

He turned his head to look at the side face of the eldest prince, and said with a smile: "And you forgot a little bit. The second child is not in the palace. He is quick to move, but I am afraid he has sneaked out of the city. Don't you have to consider the people under Ye Chong? What's more, the army in the hands of the Lao Qin family is not just a member of the Kyoto Garrison Division."

The corners of the eldest prince's eyes twitched. If the Ye Qin and the other families really came together to attack, even if three thousand imperial guards suddenly appeared in the palace at this time, he would not have any confidence.

"And the imperial palace is a lonely palace, unlike a big county that has food and grass. If it is surrounded by a large army, how many days can you and I support it?"

The eldest prince suddenly turned around, stared at Fan Xian's eyes, and said, "What exactly do you want to say? Of course I know that the palace is not easy to defend, but why do we have to guard the palace instead of defending the city?"

"Defend the city? The Thirteen City Gate Division is now in our hands. We don't know which of the nine city gates will be gently knocked by the eldest princess... just like I knocked on the door of the harem."

"Don't hide it from me." The eldest prince said: "You can't give up the City Gate Division. Your people have already gone to the City Gate Division. The nails buried in the City Gate Division were already killed by you last night."

Fan Xian smiled self-deprecatingly and said, "The Supervision Office is not a god. It is impossible to dig out all the nails of the eldest princess. We must make the worst plan. If the Queen Mother's decree cannot subdue the Commander Zhang, the City Gate Division, you and I must be prepared to be trapped in the palace by the army."

"I just want to know how many days the Qin army can enter Beijing and Ye Chong will be ordered to return to Dingzhou. Even if he stops halfway, it will take some time to arrive in Beijing."

"If you only count the Kyoto Garrison, you will arrive in one day." Fan Xian said calmly: "The Qin army will arrive in about four days. Ye will return to Beijing about the same time."

The eldest prince did not ask why Fan Xian knew so clearly about the arrangement of the Qin family. Because he believed that the Supervision Bureau must have nails in the Qin family's army, just like in the imperial guards. If Fan Xian had not pointed out the object in advance, it would not have been so easy.

"You can control the City Gate." The eldest prince looked at Fan Xian's eyes and suddenly said back, "If you can't, you won't dare to do anything at all, so I'm very surprised. What are your considerations for saying these words to me now."

Fan Xian became silent.

"Before, Jing Ge led your court order and came to me to transfer two hundred horses, and then left the palace and disappeared without knowing where to go." The eldest prince looked at him coldly and said, "Don't tell me, you have no idea."

Fan Xian suddenly laughed and said, "Actually, I want to say... let's run away."

There was a muffled sound! The extremely angry prince slapped the blue bricks of the imperial city with a palm, lowered his voice and said angrily: "Escape? You're crazy!"

Fan Xian smiled bitterly and said, "I seem to be crazy... Where can I escape? Just a joke. Don't be so excited, okay?"

"What are you kidding now?"
To be continued...