[Rat and Cat] Han Palace Autumn

Chapter 43

Several people walked into a room with excellent privacy. The room had no windows and was brightly illuminated by a few fist-sized luminous pearls. Zhan Hui closed the door carefully and looked at Tang Lan with a hint of longing in his eyes.

Tang Lan looked around with a half-smile: "Tsk tsk, the best pearl in the South China Sea, it really is very rich and powerful."

"Mr. Tang..." Zhan Hui hesitated to speak, but Bai Yutang on the other side came to his senses and rushed forward, his face flushed with excitement: "Tang Lan, do you have news about the cat?" , you... Did you kidnap him, what is your purpose!"

"Bai Zeyan, don't be impulsive, sir, don't blame..." Zhan Hui was about to mediate, but was startled by Tang Lan's generous nod.

"That's right, I was the one who took Zhan Zhao away in the Wangfu, and I was the one who forged the corpse outside Xiangyang City..." He waved his hand to stop the two with wide-eyed eyes from saying, "But it's not Xiangyang. Wang Yidang, Bai Wuye, do you still remember the person who secretly helped you spread the rumor of 'Heaven's Punishment'? And the structural diagram of the skyscraper."

"It's you..." Bai Yutang frowned, "In other words, you should be the person the emperor placed in Xiangyang, but why—" He suddenly gritted his teeth fiercely, "Yes, the emperor has already coveted cats. For a long time, we thought that he had a lot of scruples and nothing to worry about, but we didn't expect him to be so despicable and dirty!"

"That's right," Tang Lan followed with a long sigh, "The emperor has a deep obsession. It was probably not long after you returned to Beijing that the Holy Majesty issued an emergency secret order to me to pick up the guard Zhan before you... I don't want to spend too much time looking for that mother Gu..."

"You——say——what—?" Bai Yutang's eyes were red, "The emperor told you to look for the mother Gu..." He felt that his heart was so painful that he was almost suffocated. What kind of heart did the well-intentioned emperor have? God... the cat fell into the hands of the emperor for such a long time, and he was injured so badly at the beginning. He couldn't imagine how much his cat had suffered. Not to mention Mao'er's noble and arrogant temperament...

"What you said..." Zhan Hui was a little dazed, "You said that the emperor had... that kind of emotion for Xiao Zhao? How is it possible? My third younger brother has always been respectful and courteous, and you, Bai Yutang, are just fine." ,how come--"

"Patriarch Zhan, I can only say that you underestimate your brother's charm too much, and you don't understand it. It's just like that... Ahem, in short, the emperor really likes Zhan Zhao. As the monarch of this country, he is used to it. Hold everything you want in your hands, and this obsession is already a little pathological... And I think you all know Zhan Zhao's temperament very well. These days, alas... I, an outsider, can't stand it at all Seriously, Zhan Zhao and I went back to Beijing all the way, and spent some time in the palace," he stopped here, smiled apologetically at Bai Yutang for the tit-for-tat confrontation during that time, and continued, "Zhan Zhao It is hard for people not to have a good impression of Zhao. We... are not close friends, but at least we can be regarded as ordinary friends. Seeing him now, I am also very sad... But, after all, I am The shadow guards who are loyal to the emperor, if the emperor has not been in a more and more dangerous state recently, I...would not have come to you."

He spoke a long paragraph in one breath, picked up the tea on the table to moisten his throat, and showed a candid smile to the two of them. Bai Yutang hesitated for a while, then simply reached out and patted his shoulder, and took a deep breath. He said in a tone: "Anyway, we are all very grateful for the news that you can bring us the cat. No matter what, it's good to be alive, and to be alive... there is hope!"

Zhan Hui also nodded, in addition to worry and pain in his eyes, there was also a little more joy and gratitude in his eyes.

The smile on Tang Lan's face became more sincere. He found that the people around Zhan Zhao were also so amazingly clear about love and hate, and open-minded. Meet and know each other in a sea of ​​people, or lead to an unbroken blood relationship, harmony and harmony, as one for many years.

Thinking of what happened next, his expression darkened again, and he reached out and took out a few pages of folded thin rice paper from his pocket, unfolded it and handed it over: "For the safety of the emperor, our Shadow Guard has a copy every day. There are more detailed records in the daily life note. Originally, these records were to be destroyed after the inspection on the same day, but... I left the part about Zhan Zhao privately, hoping to help you in the rescue operation... Well, after you finish reading, you must control your emotions, and then... Forget it, I'll wait here and hand it over to me after you finish reading, these things will still be destroyed after all."

The two rushed over and watched together.

"It's so unreasonable!" Zhan Hui was furious, and he struck out with a palm, and the wall of the secret room collapsed immediately. Tang Lan jumped to avoid the falling bricks, and Bai Yutang's palms followed immediately behind him, knocking him down. The fragments that had finally landed on the ground were splashed again.

"Hey, I know it's hard for you to accept... It's just that things have already happened, so we should think about countermeasures, how to take Zhan's guards out of the palace—by the way, that courtyard is in the southwest of the palace, uh, you should have noticed... ... Well, I will take my leave first, and I would like to ask you two to help me keep the secret, and don't mention my matter to others, I am very grateful!"

Tang Lan finished what she wanted to say in one breath, pulled back the few pieces of rice paper that were not broken from Bai Yutang's hand, put it in her arms, and hurried out from the hole made by the two of them. The quality of the cloud building is quite good, a wall has collapsed, and the outside room is actually fine.

Bai Yutang and Zhan Hui were only annoyed for a moment and didn't react. They only looked at each other when he jumped out of the wall, and they both saw the monstrous anger in each other's eyes.

In the end, Zhanhui was calmer, calmed down, held down the furious Bai Yutang, and said in a deep voice: "Brother Tang was right just now, what happened cannot be changed, we should quickly find a way to rescue Xiao Zhao—if possible, By the way, it’s enough to teach the little emperor some lessons. Also, at least Xiao Zhao is still alive. This is the best news. You must tell others as soon as possible. Don't let your mouth slip, especially your sister-in-law, she has been haggard enough for the past two days, don't let her be needlessly sad."

It was rare for the Zhan family elder brother to say such a long sentence, but Bai Yutang listened to it. Although the pain in his heart was unbearable, at least on the surface he had recovered the recent ice-cold calm. He nodded at Zhan Hui, and walked out of the room with a cold face. He went back directly to Shangmingxuan, and called Bai Jintang, Zhan Yao and the others to Kaifeng Mansion together.

That night, the lights in the study of Bao Zheng, the prefect of the Kaifeng government, were lit all night. While everyone was surprised by the news that Zhan Zhao survived, they also expressed their puzzlement at the emperor's private imprisonment. Taking it aside, besides not wanting to make those who cared about Zhan Zhao sad, he also considered the harm that this unspeakable thing would bring to Zhan Zhao.

"This matter needs a long-term plan." Bao Zheng touched the beard on his chin, "We must not let the emperor know—at least we must not let him know that we rescued Zhan's guard, the Bai Zhan family and Zhakong Island. The family is big and the business is big, and it affects the whole body, as long as you give the emperor a step down on the bright side, presumably even if he knows it secretly, he won't make it too difficult for you."

Bao Qingtian, who has always kept a clear line between public and private, really loves Zhan Zhao as his own child, and at the same time feels quite guilty for introducing him into the officialdom at that time. The emperor did this for no reason, so how could he think of a way to make it up for him? What about the kid asking for justice?

Gongsun Ce also analyzed together: "According to what Bai Shaoxia said, Xiao Zhao was imprisoned in the newly built garden in the southwest corner of the palace. The students still have some impressions of this incident. The emperor ordered to renovate a piece of wasteland there shortly after the guards entered the palace. At that time, it took a lot of manpower and material resources, and the matter was a lot of trouble with the Ministry of Finance-in fact, the later Kuyin theft case was also found to be wrong after the big fight. Therefore, the students deliberately I went to check the information on this matter, and saw the design drawings of the palace..." He stood up, maintaining a thoughtful expression, grabbed the brush and rice paper, dipped it in ink and started to draw.

Everyone gathered together to have a look, and saw that the lotus ponds were all in one piece, the houses were exquisite in shape, and every plant and tree was exactly the same, they were a little amazed, but Zhan Hui and Bai Yutang's complexions became more and more gloomy - they both knew Zhan Zhao very well. Seeing this blueprint, I still don't understand that the emperor's mind has been active since then.

After Gongsun finished planning, Han Zhang carefully compared the size of Bi Na's drawings, pointed to the bamboo forest behind the house and said: "The soil here is soft, although it is a little wet, but there should be no huge underground rocks, but it is the most suitable place for drilling holes." , I can go from here and secretly pass the news to the kitten."

Everyone was pleasantly surprised. With this blueprint, their arrangements for actions will be much smoother and clearer. The next thing to think about is how to get Zhan Zhao out without making the emperor feel suspicious.

"How about arranging a feigned death to leave the palace?" Bai Jintang, who had been silent all this time, said, "Since Erxia Han can enter and leave the palace to send messages on his own, we can discuss with Xiao Zhao and ask him to cooperate with us in a play."

"Oh? What's Patriarch Bai's opinion?"

"In this way, it has been snowing for several days, and before the snow melts, it is time to control the spread of the fire. It is better to set a big fire, take the opportunity to steal Xiao Zhao out, and then forge some evidence to let the emperor If you think Xiao Zhao is dead, then naturally you won’t be searching—this is repaying him in his own way.”

"This method is good, but in the future the cat will be no longer around... It will be very inconvenient if you travel around the rivers and lakes." Bai Yutang was a little worried, his cat naturally shouldn't live a life of incognito and fear all day long, It should be living freely in this piece of land he guarded with his own hands.

"I said, why are you so brainless? Didn't you hear Lord Bao say that as long as you don't embarrass the emperor on the bright side? When the time comes, what the third young master of the Zhan family wants to be called and what he wants to look like, the emperor still wants If you want to take care of other people's family affairs... besides, the fourth-rank imperial guards with swords have already built tombs and chased them down, so it will save you troubles in the future, and suffer in this officialdom!"

"That's right..." Bai Yutang stroked his chin and laughed secretly. When the time comes, Mao'er will no longer be an official, but he will finally be able to get rid of this filthy officialdom!