Night enveloped Xianyang Palace, bright torches were lit, and the dim red light replaced the daylight.
On the corridors of the palace's carved beams and paintings, those exotic birds and beasts that looked exquisite during the day seemed to be able to escape from the pillars at any time under the cover of night and gallop through this most formidable palace in the world.
Xianyang Palace at night is a little more mysterious and terrifying, but less bright and majestic than during the day.
Teams of Langguan, wearing swords and swords, carrying spears in their left hands and torches in their right hands, shuttled back and forth, not letting go of anyone suspicious, and they had the right to stop anyone.
"Lang Guan" should actually be "Lang Guan", which means the officers and soldiers under the corridor. "Lang" refers to "Lang", so it is called "Lang Guan", also known as the Imperial Guard.
A team of Lang officers is assigned to a Lang officer.
There are five junior ministers and one middle minister.
There are five middle men and one top man.
All senior ministers are under the jurisdiction of the minister of command.
Lang Zhongling was a minister of Qin State, with an annual salary of two thousand dan.
"stop!"
Two figures walking in tandem on the palace road bumped into a group of lieutenants. The lieutenant of this group of lieutenants immediately stopped them.
"promise."
The two of them stopped as they were told.
If there is no way to stop, Lang Guan has the right to kill first and then report.
If they don't listen to the official's call and continue walking, the next second they will be greeted by sharp bronze swords.
The lieutenant raised his palm, and all the lieutenants stopped. Twenty beeping torches dispersed the darkness, and the two people illuminated clearly.
The first is a young eunuch wearing green and black coarse linen eunuch clothes, and the latter is a man with a black veil on his face and splendid court clothes.
Xia Lang looked past the little eunuch and landed on the masked man behind him.
Walking masked in the palace?
Xia Lang glanced at the sleeves of the masked man's robe and saw black stains on them. He recognized them as dried blood and his pupils shrank.
He put one hand behind his back, loosening it and then clenching it tightly - this meant that all the officers should be on alert.
"Dong~"
Twenty Changge paused lightly.
When the subordinate heard the sound, he knew that all the officials were ready for battle. He stared at the masked man with all his attention and said in a low voice: "Password!"
"The moon is bright," the young eunuch replied.
Xia Lang felt a little relieved and nodded. The command was correct.
In Xianyang Palace, the passwords change every hour at night, and there is no pattern.
"Who is he?" Xia Lang stared at the masked man, but he asked the young eunuch.
This is because there is an underlying rule in Xianyang Palace, which is to try not to interrogate those who can answer the password correctly and are different from ordinary people.
No one knows whether there are people here who handle secret matters for the First Emperor and are not allowed to see the light - such as those secret guards who come and go without a trace.
Except for Gai Nie, the commander of the secret guards, and Zhao Gao, the deputy commander, no other secret guards were seen among all the surviving officials below the rank of Zhong Lang.
"I am Chuan, working in Zhangtai Palace. This is Li Tingwei. Your Majesty ordered me to escort Li Tingwei out of the palace."
Tingwei!
The young man was stunned and hurriedly handed over his hands in greeting.
"Greetings to Lord Tingwei!"
Tingwei is a senior official of the Qin State, with an annual salary of two thousand dan. He is a small servant, with an annual salary of only 150 dan, which is far behind Tingwei.
"Without courtesy, can I go?" A vague and unclear voice came from the mouth of the masked man. "Tonight, this is the seventh time Si has been blocked!"
Wearing a black veil in the palace, which patrolling brother would dare to let you go?
Xia Lang heard Li Si's dissatisfaction, and said dissatisfiedly: "Let it go!"
The armors clattered in unison, and a group of officials made way for a passage for the young eunuch and the masked man to pass through.
When the young eunuch and the masked man were halfway to the Lang's passage, the servant seemed to have said unintentionally: "Chuan, how long have you been serving His Majesty? Is it about to be your turn?"
The little eunuch named Chuan kept walking, but there was a hint of smile in his voice: "No, I took office at the time of You, and I have been waiting for His Majesty for less than half an hour. I can only take my turn at the next hour."
The eunuchs of Zhangtai Palace are on duty for three hours plus a quarter of an hour. It is difficult to know such secrets if you are not on duty in Zhangtai Palace.
Only then did Xia Lang completely relax, and shouted to the young eunuch who had already walked out of the Lang's official passage: "Thank you for your hard work!"
The young eunuch didn't respond, but the masked man's vague, inarticulate and angry voice came back: "I've heard similar words seven times!"
Xia Lang chuckled, shrugged his shoulders at his brothers, and said with a smile: "You can never make a big mistake if you are careful."
All the officers smiled knowingly.
This is how low-level officials like them survive.
If the masked man they let go tonight is an assassin, according to Qin law, their entire team of lieutenants will be punished by the owl's head.
"Hush, Lord Tingwei hasn't gone far yet."
"Brother, I have to change the way I ask questions in the future. Other teams are also asking the same questions. It's not safe enough."
"Just be cautious, I'll leave this matter to you. Come up with a question that no other team has, and the brothers will chip in and send you to the balcony for a meal!"
"Hey, can you give me a little extra and give me a concubine?"
"Go away! Go ahead and think of good things!"
Within this stern and cold palace wall, the couple had a rare moment of joy, and it was just this moment.
Then, one by one, they grasped the torch and the long sword, continued to be cautious in their words and actions, and concentrated on patrolling.
They walked in unison, twenty of them, but there was only one sound when their footsteps hit the ground. They were like twenty robots.
The moment of whispering and laughing just now was as if it had never happened.
A 'whoosh' sound.
Just in front of this team of Lang officers, a figure suddenly appeared, like a ghost, stopping them.
All the Langguan officers tensed their muscles as if they were facing a powerful enemy, and their bronze spears were ready to be wielded at any time.
When the firelight illuminated the figure's face, the lieutenants all breathed a sigh of relief. The leader first saluted with clasped fists, and then said apologetically but resolutely: "The password!"
"Moonlight."
"Greetings to Mr. Che Fu Ling, Mr. Che Fu Ling, please don't be surprised."
The person who came was none other than Zhao Gao, the official of Zhongche Mansion, known to all the officials, maids and eunuchs in Xianyang Palace.
Zhao Gao stood there with an indifferent expression. He had no intention of saying more to the team of officials and said bluntly: "Just now did you see a eunuch leading a man in black gauze and masked person passing by?"
All the officers' hearts sank, and they began to think wildly.
The Master of the Che Mansion is chasing after him personally. Could it be that there is really something wrong with those two people!
I am waiting for my life, do I have to explain this?
If I had known this, I should have been more cautious!
Xia Lang was also confused in his thoughts, but he didn't dare to hide it.
If those two people were assassins, and he said he had seen them, then it would be the officers of his team who would have them executed.
If he said he didn't see it, it would be verified later that all the officers in this team were from the Yi tribe.
"Sir, there are indeed two people passing by."
"Which way did it go?"
"Go this way."
Xia Lang turned around and pointed at the way the two left.
Whoosh~
When he turned around again, there was no one in front of him, and Zhao Gao had disappeared.
Seeing this scene, all the officials were relieved, and they all felt like they were surviving a disaster.
If those two people were really assassins, Zhao Gao would ask them to stay put and not move around.
"Fuck." Xialang called.
"Brother." The extremely cautious Lang Guan just now responded.
"Think more about it, and brothers can find you a concubine on the balcony."
"His grandma won't eat meat next month! I'll pay fifteen dollars!"
"No one is short of a bite to eat, even I am fifteen!"
"Fu, my family is rich. If everyone can't make up, I will make up for it!"
Fu, who had just asked for a concubine with a smile, did not feel overjoyed to have his dream come true when he heard Xia Lang's promise and the brothers' words.
The official, who was recognized as the most cautious in the team, looked back with lingering fear.
The deep night was like the huge mouth of a wild beast, which would swallow up twenty of their lives if they were not careful.
"No." Fu Shen said very seriously.
What he shouldered was not to come up with a few questions, but to take out a team of lieutenants and twenty amulets of life.
…
Zhao Gao suddenly appeared, frightening the young eunuch and the masked man.
The young eunuch bowed his hands in greeting.
Seeing that it was Zhao Gao, the masked man suddenly tore off the veil on his face and said with a gloomy look: "Zhao Gao, are you here to see this joke?!"
Li Si's face was swollen into a pig's head, with patches of black and purple covered in it, as if his head had been rinsed in a dark dye vat.
Zhao Gao didn't respond to Li Si. Looking at the miserable state of Li Si's face, he showed no emotion and said calmly: "Password."
"The moon is bright." the young eunuch replied.
Zhao Gao then walked into Li Si and handed Li Si an exquisitely shaped black medicine bottle with the black bird, the totem of Qin, half the size of a palm.
"Apply externally, three times a day, and it will be cured in three days. This is your Majesty's special external medicine. Li Tingwei is the second person who knows how to use this medicine. His Majesty ordered me to bring a message to Li Tingwei."
Li Si's expression changed, and the funny and pitiful-looking pig head showed an overjoyed expression, and he was about to accept the gift.
Zhao Gao stopped him forcefully and couldn't move his arms.
Li Si was frightened and finally determined that even if Zhao Gao received ten sticks, it would be easy to kill him.
"It doesn't have to be like this. This is not the imperial decree. Your Majesty said he was just saying it casually." Zhao Gao said in a low voice: "The enfeoffment system is a Zhou system. Zhou was destroyed by Qin. Qin imitated Zhou's system, which is ultimately not beautiful."
