Prince of Song Dynasty

Chapter 617 Entering the Palace at Night
The night is getting darker, and the first heavy rain in early autumn has gradually stopped.

Xu Xuan was in a deep sleep.

If he was a minister in the Southern Tang Dynasty, it would be just a little after the second watch, and it would be the time when he was most interested. However, since he became an official in the Song Dynasty, he seldom went to banquets for fun, and went to bed early and woke up almost every day. Instead of having fun, my spirits became stronger.It's just that Ye Chen's disappearance has made him a little confused these days, but he can't do anything.

"Master! Master!"

The beautiful and beautiful concubine beside him pushed Xu Xuan's heavy body, waking him up from his sleep.

"It's not dawn yet." Xu Xuan slowly opened his eyelids, and there was only the dark bed curtain in front of him.

"Master, there are people from the palace!" The concubine said anxiously.For these surrenders from the Southern Tang Dynasty, even though two or three months have passed, and because Xu Xuan is both Zhao Guangyi's and Ye Chen's people, he is not worried about his own safety, but the people around him are not so calm Yes, these days can be said to have been cautious.At this time, someone from the palace called his master to enter the palace, how could he not be in a hurry.

At the same time, the anxious voice of the old butler brought from the Southern Tang Dynasty with a strong Jiangnan accent came from outside: "Master, there are people coming from the palace, and I want you to enter the palace quickly!"

It was only then that Xu Xuan realized that there was a sound of thumping, knocking on the door was like demolition of a house, which disturbed the entire courtyard, but he fell into a deep sleep and was not woken up.

Xu Xuan sat up and asked his concubine to help him dress up, frowned and meditated, and muttered to himself: "Your Majesty just arrived in Kaifeng on a west tour, and he called me at night. Where do you want me to write articles?" Xu Xuan knew him Where is my talent, and I also know my responsibilities as a member of Zhongshushe, and I also know that in Zhao Kuangyin's eyes, my role is to write good articles, even if my superior eloquence is not placed on this majesty at all in the eyes.

"master!"

The old housekeeper anxiously urged him outside, and when Xu Xuan came out unhurriedly, he urged him to go forward again.

The servant who came to inform Xu Xuan was a little Huangmen who was very strange to Xu Xuan, and he also brought four guards from the imperial army. When he saw Xu Xuan, he hurriedly urged: "Xu Sheren, Your Majesty has an order, please Enter the palace quickly."

Xu Xuan calmly asked, "What happened in the palace? What orders does Your Majesty have?"

Xiao Huangmen didn't answer, but said: "Please enter the palace quickly."

Xu Xuan thumped in his heart, feeling a little bad, but he has been an official for many years, and the city is not shallow, so he said calmly: "Little eunuch, wait a moment, I will enter the palace with you after changing clothes."

The old butler was very winking, and quickly handed over a piece of silver to the little yellow door. The anxious and urging look on the face of the little yellow door just disappeared, and he said with a smile: "Please don't delay changing clothes, your majesty is still in the palace." Waiting."

Xu Xuan returned to the inner room and began to change his official uniform. He took out a pencil that Ye Chen had given him back in the Southern Tang Dynasty, tore off a note, and wrote: Enter the maze quickly, the prince has not returned, so don't come out.

Then he called a loyal guard from Southern Tang, handed him a token, and said with a solemn expression: "Take this token, and go through the back door... No! Find the most hidden one." Go over the wall at the corner, go to Xiangfu Palace, meet Kou Zhun, and hand this note to him."

The guard agreed, then took the token and the note with a solemn expression, saluted Xu Xuan, turned around and left quickly.This guard is the son of the Xu family, and the previous two generations were the guardians of the Xu family. Don't worry about loyalty.

Xu Xuan didn't delay any more, when the servants got the carriage ready, he quickly got into the carriage and went out under the leadership of the servant.

Leaving the house, he quickly turned onto the road.

The street was very deserted at this time, except for the night patrolling city, no one else could be seen.

When we got to the Royal Street, the two hundred paces wide street was even more deserted. Of course, we couldn't see other officials entering the palace at this time.

At this time, Xu Xuan was more and more puzzled.

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When Cao Wei's mother, Yipin ordered Mrs. Weiguo to wake up, she found that the person next to her pillow was not on the bed.

Sitting up on the bed, he realized that Cao Bin was standing in front of the window, the curtains were pulled aside by him, and he silently looked at the night outside the house.

"Master? What's the matter?" Mrs. Cao jumped up.

"No! Nothing?"

Cao Bin shook his head, still looking outside quietly, "It's okay...it's okay."

It was sunny outside.

Looking up at the brilliant stars before sunrise, Cao Bin blinked his sour eyes, obviously very sleepy, but he didn't feel sleepy at all.

I couldn't sleep last night, I barely lay down, but I couldn't sleep well.Tossing and turning, even Mrs. Cao couldn't sleep all night.Now that Cao Bin woke up, Mrs. Cao fell asleep again.

Cao Bin felt a little uneasy, but he couldn't find the source of the uneasiness.It stands to reason that now that His Majesty has returned to the palace, nothing will happen.But he just felt extremely uneasy.

Cao Bin looked up at the sky, feeling depressed and uneasy.

"master."

Mrs. Cao pushed the door open and walked lightly to Cao Bin's side.

"Why don't you sleep a little longer?" Cao Bin looked back at his old wife, "I'm fine again today."

When he got up just now, the old wife was still in a deep sleep, but now she has woken up.

Mrs. Cao complained: "The master is going to court, can the slave family still sleep?"

Looking at his complaining but worried wife, Cao Bin relaxed a little, his mind was no longer so uncertain, he relaxed a lot, and said with a smile: "It's hard for a good wife to manage the house."

Mrs. Cao glared at her husband again, but asked anxiously, "Is there really nothing wrong?"

"it's okay no problem."

Cao Bin believed in the intelligence capabilities of the Huaxia Weifu, so far there has been no news from the Huaxia Weifu, not to mention that he has arranged a lot of eyes and ears, and he has not reported any abnormalities.

Seeing that it was almost time to go to court, Cao Bin washed and changed his clothes. After eating some breakfast, he got on his horse and went out to the imperial city. He was a military general, and he always rode a horse, not a carriage.

This is the first grand court meeting of His Majesty's west tour of Beijing. This is a custom, not a temporary addition.

Since it is a grand court meeting, all court officials in Beijing must participate in the court meeting on this day without special circumstances.

After Cao Bin went out, he quickly turned to Yujie.

It was almost time to go to court, and the imperial street was crowded with people, and groups of people rushed to the imperial city in the north.

I saw Li Junhao and his party, but they were quite far away, and there were a few low-grade court officials in the middle, so it was inconvenient to catch up on the imperial street, so Cao Bin followed the crowd gradually.

When approaching the imperial city, Lu Yuqing and his entourage also came by another road, but they were far away.

Along the way, Cao Bin saw several teams of ministers above the rank of attendant, as well as some relatives of the emperor.

Except for Lu Yuqing, Cao Bin did not see Xue Juzheng, Lu Duoxun, Shen Yilun, Xu Xuan, nor did King Jin.But it's nothing, he came sooner or later, maybe he had already gone in, maybe he was still behind him.

Luo Gongming, the envoy of the third division who came up from behind, came up to say hello, saluted each other, and chatted a few gossips.

When Luo Gongming went to greet others again, the civil and military officials around him stepped forward one after another to greet Cao Bin.

Yang Yanjun and Luo Yaoshun were also in the crowd. They also wanted to go to court, so they came to greet Cao Bin one after another.

Prime Minister Xue Juzheng came late, rode a fine horse, and arrived at Xuande Gate.

The officials in front of him, like sea water parting, all made way for him.The prime minister can ride straight into the imperial city without dismounting even in front of the palace gate.

However, in front of Cao Bin, he got off his horse, saluted and greeted him, and exchanged pleasantries.Although Cao Bin's official position is lower than that of the chief of the hundred officials, he actually belongs to Prime Minister Wu, not to mention that his title is two levels higher than Xue Juzheng.

Everything looked the same as usual.

Looking at the chaotic but orderly civil and military officials in the square in front of the gate, Cao Bin felt that he was really worried too much.Your Majesty is back, how can something happen?

With the sound of the gun salute and the sound of the morning bell, the side door of Xuande Gate slowly opened.

The prime ministers took the lead, and a group of ministers filed in.

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Taking over Cao Wei's position, he was in charge of the inspection in front of the hall, and Han Sandong, Zhao Kuangyin's former guard commander, was in charge of the imperial guards in front of the hall.

Han Sandong stood guard inside the gate of the imperial city, urging the soldiers who arrived yesterday.After His Majesty returned to the Imperial City yesterday, he sent Wang Ji'en to tell him that because of Li Tong's negligence, His Majesty almost had a big accident when he was offering sacrifices to heaven. Because of the hidden children of Maitreya Sect, all of them were dispatched to the front line of the northern camp.The two thousand new recruits are said to be the elite selected from the Forbidden Army under the command of Cao Wei, who was inspected in front of the previous palace.

What Wang Jien said at the time was a little vague, but the matter was obviously a little sensitive, and Han Sandong didn't dare to ask in detail.Including from last night, all the generals under his command were called by Wang Jien to the inner court for questioning one by one, and he dared not have any objection.Everyone knows that Wang Jien is His Majesty's confidant, and every move represents His Majesty's will.

When Han Sandong saw Zaifu, his attitude was the same as usual, bowing his head respectfully to the Zaifu of the two houses.

When Cao Bin and Li Junhao saw Han Sandong, who looked normal, most of their worries dissipated.

When all the officials entered the Daqing Hall, Han Sandong went into the nearby tea room. The eunuch in charge of the tea room had brought tea as usual. Han Sandong felt thirsty, so he drank it in one gulp, and then his eyes went dark, and his whole body went limp. , wanted to yell, but his voice was already hoarse, and the only sound he could make was a whining sound, which could not be heard in the teahouse.

Han Sandong's strength was originally extremely high. Although he did not break through to the super-first-class realm, he was still just short of a line. It's just that this person has always been more than loyal and brave, but his resourcefulness is somewhat insufficient. In addition, he has stayed in the palace for more than ten years and has never experienced fighting. Fighting, the vigilance is greatly reduced, and the result is easily brought down.

In the imperial palace, Han Sandong could not bring a large number of soldiers, but only brought two confidantes, but while Han Sandong was drinking tea, he saw figures flashing by, and his two confidants, who were not weak, had already covered their throats with their hands, and fell down. down.But it was Zhao Guangyi's only super-first-class expert Xue Sha who personally shot it.

(End of this chapter)