Chapter 333

Xu Boyi rushed to the Gate of Qian Qing with the seal of the Emperor, the Grand Secretary, the Imperial Uniform Guards, the five battalions, and the three thousand battalions in his hands.

This was the Royal Palace, and it was a long way to go. Xu Boyi didn't care about the rules of the Royal Palace. He rushed to the Gate of Qian Qing and said to General Xiong Wei, who was guarding the gate, "General Xiong, this … this is the seal of the Gate of Qian Qing!"

Xiong Wei took the seal of the Gate of Qian Qing and walked into the guard room. He took out the seal of the Gate of Qian Qing and compared it carefully. Then he came out with a smile and said to Xu Boyi, "Good, the seal matches. We can open the Palace Gate now!"

Xu Boyi felt a lump in his throat and almost cried. He had been running for four hours to get out of the Palace Gate, and it was almost midnight. Xu Boyi said hurriedly, "Then please open the Gate of Qian Qing!"

Xiong Wei said, "Don't worry, I am the General of the Guard Gate. I need to ask the General of the Gate of Qian Qing to come and check the seal before we can open the Palace Gate."

Xu Boyi said in a trembling voice, "General of the Gate of Qian Qing … who is it?"

He didn't want to cry, he was angry.

Xiong Wei said, "Don't worry, don't worry. General of the Gate of Qian Qing, Li Xinggang, is not far away. He will be here soon!"

Xiong Wei said to a guard, "You go and ask General Li Xinggang to come and check the seal!"

The guard answered and left in a hurry.

Xiong Wei gave Xu Boyi a thumbs up and praised, "You are so capable, eunuch. Since I became a palace guard, no one has ever opened the Palace Gate in the middle of the night. Eunuch, you are the first!"

Xu Boyi was waiting for General Li anxiously. Hearing this, he didn't know whether to laugh or cry. He said, "So, it was a smooth journey for us to get out of the Palace?"

Xiong Wei said, "Of course! Eunuch, do you know that when Emperor Wu Zong was touring the south, he came to Nanjing and visited Niushou Mountain. It was already late at night when he returned to the city. The Imperial Guard ignored him, and Emperor Wu Zong had to stay in the Great Benevolence Temple outside the city. But that's Nanjing, at that time it was already the capital, it's not as important as Beijing. Moreover, it's the Emperor who wants to enter the city! "

Xu Boyi squeezed out a smile that was uglier than crying and said, "If that's the case, then we really should feel lucky, haha … haha … haha … haha …"

General Li came really fast. After about the time it took for three incense sticks to burn, General Li finally arrived. He had brought the Tiger Tally with him, and General Xiong also had half a Tiger Tally in his hand. The two of them tested the Tiger Tally and found that it matched perfectly. General Xiong waved his hand and shouted, "Open the door!"

Eight strong men stepped forward and lifted the heavy latch. Xu Boyi lifted his heels, already prepared to run out the door, but … that huge copper lock was still firmly hanging on the door. Xu Boyi couldn't help but look at Xiong Wei in surprise.

Xiong Wei and Li Xinggang were standing on the side and chatting. Judging from their conversation, they were probably comparing whether the seductive girl in the brothel alley or Miss Guo was better at serving men. It was hard to tell who was better.

Xu Boyi couldn't help but ask, "Generals, the lock is not open yet!"

Xiong Wei turned his head to look and suddenly said, "Ah! Please wait for a moment, the key is not with us. There are other people on duty keeping it in the cabinet. I have already sent someone with the door opening token to retrieve it. "

Xu Boyi was so anxious that he was sweating profusely. But when he thought about the time when Emperor Zheng De wanted to return to the palace in the middle of the night, Xu Boyi felt a little comforted and could only wait patiently.

After a while, the people on duty checked the door opening token and came back with the key. The two feet long jade like key was inserted into the copper lock. With a 'kacha' sound, the lock opened. The two people on duty worked together to remove the lock and retreated to the side. A few guards stepped forward to open the heavy palace door.

When the palace door opened, Xu Boyi's heart flew out. He was just about to run out when Xiong Wei pulled him back. Xu Boyi looked at Xiong Wei with fear and trepidation. "Is there anything else, General?"

Xiong Wei sternly said, "If Gong-gong goes out like this, be careful that someone pokes several holes in your body!"

"Ah?" Xu Boyi was dumbfounded.

Li Xinggang waved his hand. A soldier walked to the stone steps next to the palace door and moved closer to the railing. There were lanterns below the palace door, illuminating everything clearly. On the railing of the stone steps, there were decorative stone pillars every three feet, and on top of the pillars was a round ball.

Xu Boyi had seen this thing before. In the past, he was a court eunuch in charge of sprinkling and cleaning, so he had cleaned this thing before. The round ball on top of the stone railing was different from the ones near the palace door. There were many small holes on top of it, but Xu Boyi never knew why it was different from the others, or what it was used for.

He watched as the soldier moved closer to the stone ball, put his mouth on it, and blew hard. This thing was actually called a 'shibiela'. It was a type of alarm made of stone. Once it was blown, it would make a very loud "wu wu" sound.

In addition, even if there was a strong wind, there was no need to worry about blowing the small ball by mistake. It had to be blown using a special method. Only some specialized guards or eunuchs of the inner court knew how to blow it.

The guard blew the shibiela with a special rhythm. A moment later, a similar rhythm came from the Hall of Preserving Harmony. Xiong Wei smiled at Xu Boyi and said, "It's done. Gong-gong, please! Gong-gong, have a safe journey! "

Xiong Wei's words were directed at Xu Boyi because when Xu Boyi said "it's done," Xu Boyi had already lifted his robe and shot out like an arrow.

The Hall of Preserving Harmony, the Hall of Middle Harmony, the Hall of Supreme Harmony, the Gate of Supreme Harmony, and the Meridian Gate. Although the gates were not as tightly guarded as the Gate of Heavenly Purity, they could not be opened immediately. Every place required two generals to match the talismans and then a person on duty to open the big lock.

However, this process did not require going to the cabinet and summoning the various commanders to discuss and approve, so it was relatively much faster. When Xu Boyi walked quickly out of the palace, the night wind blew and chilled him to the bone. Only then did he realize that he was drenched in sweat.

Xu Boyi let out a long sigh and thought to himself, In this kind of situation, I don't know how long it will take for me to reach Xia Yingying's residence. I need a horse to travel so that I can go and return quickly!

Thinking of this, Xu Boyi took off. He planned to go to the Ministry of War to borrow a horse. On behalf of the Emperor, Xu Boyi had gone to the Ministry of War to pass on oral orders twice. He felt that the officials on duty at the Ministry of War might recognize him, so he could borrow a fast horse.

Unexpectedly, Xu Boyi had not gone far. Before he reached the yamen of the six ministries, a row of soldiers flashed in front of him from the side of the road. In a stern voice, they shouted, "Halt! Who are you? Report your name and surname! "

Xu Boyi jumped in fright. He quickly shouted, "Don't shoot arrows! We're on the same side! We're on the same side! "

Those garrison soldiers did not have bows and arrows. They all had swords and spears at their waists. A dozen or so soldiers surrounded him. They raised their lanterns and looked at him. Seeing that he was wearing a eunuch's robe, the small leader's tone softened a little. "Why is this eunuch walking here in the middle of the night?"

The small leader looked at Xu Boyi with vigilance. He thought that he was a eunuch who had secretly escaped from the palace, or perhaps he had stolen something from the palace. He looked him up and down as if he was looking at a thief.

Xu Boyi took out an imperial edict and handed it to the small leader. He said, "I have received an imperial edict to leave the palace. There is an urgent matter. Here is the Emperor's imperial edict. General can take it and have a look! "

The small leader looked at it. It looked like it was real. However, with his rank as a small official, how could he tell whether it was real or fake? The small leader held the lantern and looked at it seriously. He politely said to Xu Boyi, "If that's the case, please follow this lowly one to see our night watchman, General Wang!"

Xu Boyi really couldn't bear it anymore. He angrily said, "It's already past midnight. I have received an imperial edict. There is indeed an urgent matter. What kind of night watchman do you want to see?"

The small leader didn't dare to get angry at him. He only politely explained, "Eunuch, don't be angry. This Imperial City is guarded by the Banner Guards and the Yulin Guards. Each is led by a commander-in-chief with a saber, a qianhu, and a baihu. If there isn't an imperial edict signed by them, this lowly one wouldn't dare to let you pass! "

Just as Xu Boyi raised the imperial edict, the small leader already said, "This lowly one has never seen an imperial edict. I only recognize military edicts!"

This was really a case of a scholar meeting a soldier. Reasoning was useless. Xu Boyi dejectedly put down his hand. The small leader kindly reminded him, "Eunuch, it's best if you go to the Jin Wu Guards and affix a seal as well. There are still Jin Wu Guards patrolling the capital. Without General Jin Wu's seal, Eunuch will not be able to pass."

Xu Boyi stomped his feet and said, "If that's the case, quickly take me to see them!"

The Palace, Imperial City, and the capital all had their own guards. In the 17th year of Yongle, Emperor Zhu Di had ordered the Ministry of Works to specially forge a bronze seal for guarding the gate and a bronze plate for patrolling the night. The patrol officers would hold the left half while the guards would hold the right half. It was used as an inspection item for patrolling and passing.

By the time Xu Boyi arrived at the Jin Wu Guards, he was already staggering and weak. The Jin Wu Guards' rotating commander-in-chief, Wang Haiyu, was a capable man. Seeing that this eunuch looked like a soft-footed shrimp, since he was a Traveling Eunuch, it was obvious that he was a favorite of the Emperor. Thus, he gave him a horse and assigned eight guards to escort him.

Xu Boyi only wanted to go out of the palace to pick up a beauty. The imperial edict in his hand was fully stamped with red seals. The front could not fit all of the seals, so he stamped two seals on the back. Only then was the procedure complete.

The eight guards accompanied Xu Boyi as they galloped out of the Imperial City in the middle of the night, heading straight for the Western City. Along the way, they kept bumping into the patrolling officers of the Jin Wu Guards. However, Xu Boyi's procedures were complete and he was also protected by the personal guards sent by the Jin Wu Guards' commander-in-chief.

It was just that … the capital was too big. By the time Xu Boyi arrived at the residence of Xia Yingying and her mother in the Western City, the sky had already turned white.

Xia Yingying and her mother could have lived in the inn, but they were women and it was inconvenient for them to live in the inn. Guizhou was much poorer than the Central Plains, but the Chieftains there were richer than most of the noble families in the Central Plains. It was naturally easy for them to rent a house. Therefore, they rented a house. The house was elegant and the surrounding scenery was also beautiful.

Xu Boyi had already found out where she lived. As soon as he arrived at the door, he asked someone to knock on the door. Xia Yingying waited until it was very late but her mother didn't come back. She knew that Old Princess Chen must have asked her to stay in the palace. The palace could be said to be the safest place. What else could have happened? Yingying then slept peacefully.

When the guards of the Xia Family heard that Madam was seriously ill and the palace sent someone to pick up Miss, they were so shocked that they rushed to the back house to report. Xia Yingying got up with sleepy eyes. When she heard this, she was also anxious. She quickly put on her clothes and rushed to the front house.

Xu Boyi had never dealt with Xia Yingying face to face. After he became a eunuch, his beard was gone and his muscles were relaxed. His face had changed a lot. Unless someone was very familiar with him, it was impossible to recognize him. But Xu Boyi was still afraid that Xia Yingying would recognize his identity. When he saw Xia Yingying, he immediately lowered his head.

Yingying didn't care. On the one hand, she was worried about her mother's illness. On the other hand, when she entered the palace, she saw those eunuchs. They all nodded and bowed. She had never seen them raise their heads to look at people. She thought they had always been like this.

Yingying anxiously asked, "This gonggong, what happened to my mother?"

Xu Boyi bowed his head and said, "Miss, the old Princess and your mother chatted happily, so your mother stayed in the palace tonight. Who would have thought …"

Xu Boyi turned his face to look at the sky and said, "Who would have thought that in the middle of the night, your mother would suddenly feel pain in her abdomen. The palace has already called for an imperial doctor to treat her, but your mother's illness is really … So the emperor sent this servant to bring Miss into the palace so that it is convenient to take care of her! "

Yingying was so anxious that she started to sweat. She quickly said, "Okay! We will go now, quickly quickly … "

When the Xia Residence guards informed her, they had already prepared a horse and carriage. At this time, the gate was opened and the door was lifted. The carriage and horses drove out. Yingying quickly boarded the carriage and hurriedly ordered, "Quickly go, immediately enter the palace!"

Xu Boyi mounted the horse. In the darkness of the night, he didn't hide his sinister and proud smile. He shouted, "Set off, return to the palace!"