The palace, deep inside the palace.
Hu Hai used a piece of broken stone to smash a golden hairpin.
This golden hairpin was left by Zhao Ji, and Hu Hai always regarded the golden hairpin as a thought. But now... I can't keep it anymore.
The gold hairpin has patterns unique to the palace. This pattern doubled the value of the gold hairpin, and at the same time made it prohibitive for ordinary people.
Therefore, if the golden hairpin remained in Hu Hai's hands, it would be a valuable piece of waste that could not be converted into cash.
If the gold hairpin is smashed flat and the pattern is destroyed, it will be different. The gold hairpin will become ordinary gold. Although the value has decreased, at least it can be used.
Soon, the golden hairpin turned into a gold nugget.
Hu Hai held the twisted gold nugget, walked to the door, and observed the guards outside.
These guards are Ying Zheng's people, but according to Hu Hai's observations over the past few days, these guards are not without their weaknesses.
For example, the guard who always stands on the right side of the gate. Hu Hai privately called him Youemon.
Hu Hai has been standing on the wall from time to time these days to listen to their conversations. Now Hu Hai is sure that Youemon is a good gambler.
Nine times out of ten you lose when you gamble, and those who love gambling will definitely incur gambling debts.
As expected, Eemon lost everything last night. If the gambling debts are not repaid, the other party will make the matter bigger.
In Da Qin, gambling is a crime, so when Youemon wrote the IOU, it was not for borrowing money for gambling, but for other reasons.
In order to prevent Eemon from defaulting on repayment, the creditor deliberately asked him to write some ugly reasons.
For example, stealing someone else's cow, for example, peeking at the wife taking a bath and trampling on the tiles on the roof...
If Youemon does not pay back the money, the other party will make these IOUs public. By then, Youemon will be disgraced.
And a person with such a bad record cannot be on duty in the palace anymore.
Although Eemon is a great person, how can anyone who dares to gamble with him not have some background? So now Eemon is desperate.
This morning, he had borrowed money from his colleagues many times.
Unfortunately, no one lent it to him.
Don't help the poor, but help the urgent. What's the difference between lending money to bad gamblers and wasting money? Therefore, no one paid any attention to Iemon.
Hu Hai acted according to the opportunity and seized the opportunity.
He walked to the door with the gold nugget in hand and said to Youemon: "There is a stone in the courtyard that keeps tripping me down. I am young and weak and cannot move it. Please help me move it away."
Youemon agreed and followed Hu Hai in.
Hu Hai is a young master after all. He is not favored now, but the guards dare not be rude. What if one day His Majesty becomes soft-hearted and releases him again?
After Eemon entered, he looked at the bare yard and was a little confused: "Where is the boulder?"
Hu Hai suddenly opened his hand and revealed the gold nugget inside.
Iemon's eyes widened immediately.
This day, he has been borrowing money. Now seeing the gold right in front of me is like a thirsty person seeing a spring.
He subconsciously wanted to take the gold away, but his reason made him retract his hand.
Not all money can be taken. If you have money, you can take it if you have the life, but you can’t spend it if you don’t have the life.
Hu Hai whispered: "Don't you want this money?"
Youemon shook his head with difficulty: "The villain...The villain is responsible for protecting Young Master Hu Hai and does not dare to ask for the Young Master's money."
Hu Hai smiled slightly: "This piece of gold is enough for you to repay half of your gambling debt."
Iemon was struggling fiercely in his heart.
If you get this piece of gold, pay off half of your gambling debt. The creditor will definitely give him a few days of grace.
If he really had a few more days of grace, he would definitely be able to borrow money, go to the casino to make a comeback, and then pay off the debt.
Iemon felt itchy.
At this time, Hu Hai spread out his other hand, and there was also a piece of gold in that hand.
Hu Hai said: "You have done something for me, and the other half of the gold is yours. Your gambling debt can be paid off in one day."
Iemon's head was hot and he couldn't help but ask: "I dare to ask...what do you want me to do?"
Hu Hai smiled slightly: "It's very simple. No matter what method you use, just ask eunuch Xiao Yi to come."
Youemon gritted his teeth and took Hu Hai's gold nugget.
Hu Hai grinned: "Be quick, the sooner the matter is done, the sooner the remaining half of the gold can be handed over to you."
Iemon nodded and returned to the door.
He stood at the door, thinking about what to do.
If you tell Xiao Yi directly, you are simply courting death.
The emperor asked him to guard Hu Hai, not to deliver news. If you take it upon yourself to help him contact his party members, you will definitely die.
What if Xiao B is found quietly? That's not okay, someone will definitely see it.
The palace is not empty. There are eyes everywhere in the palace.
Iemon was thinking so wildly that he kept thinking about the red sun turning to the west, and it was time to get off duty.
When the time came, Youemon had no choice but to follow his colleagues and walk outside.
Xiao Yi, he had met him and had met him several times, but... how to convey the news without being reported?
As Youemon was thinking, he suddenly saw Xiaoyi coming from a distance.
Youemon suddenly became wise and said mysteriously to his comrades beside him: "Do you know why Young Master Hu Hai asked me to come in?"
The colleague asked in confusion: "Aren't you asked to move rocks?"
Youemon said: "While moving the rocks, the young master kept mumbling to himself, as if he thought I was a eunuch, saying that he finally saw me."
The colleague asked curiously: "Which eunuch is it?"
Eemon said: "It seems to be Xiaoyi."
The colleague said, "Xiao Yi and Ji Ming are good friends. This is normal."
The voice of Iemon and his colleagues was not loud, but not too quiet either. Xiao Yi passed by just now, and I don’t know if he heard it.
Iemon secretly glanced at Xiaoyi's back and felt a little uneasy when he saw that he was indifferent.
If it doesn't work this time, I may have to look for another opportunity in the future.
Opportunities...are really hard to wait for.
…………
It's midnight, it's late at night.
Hu Hai did not sleep. Instead, he dragged the mat out of the bedroom, spread it on the ground, and then lay down on it, facing the wall in front of him.
There is a hole in the corner of the wall. I don’t know what kind of snake, insect, rat or ant got out of it. The hole was only the size of a fist, but it allowed Hu Hai to see the outside world.
Of course, he didn't want to look outside tonight, but wanted to wait for someone.
Finally, a familiar sound of footsteps came. Hu Hai felt excited.
The man stopped in front of the small hole and whispered: "I pay my respects to Mr. Hu Hai."
It's Xiao Yi's voice.
Hu Hai was so excited that he almost shed tears. He nodded and said in a very sincere tone: "In the past, Ji Ming said that you were his only best friend. Today, it seems that it is true."
Xiao Yi said in a low voice: "Young master, I'm very grateful."
In fact, after Ji Ming's death, Xiao Yi's mission has been completely completed, and there is no need to hide his identity anymore.
However, his long undercover career has changed Xiao Yi's personality.
He became deep and reserved, and his emotions and anger were invisible. And he fell in love with this feeling, having one identity during the day and another identity at night. Observe secretly and deceive those with wolfish ambitions.
Therefore, Ying Zheng didn't give him any orders, so he just let nature take its course and still pretended to be Ji Ming's best friend.
Hearing Mr. Hu Hai mentioning himself today, Xiao Yi keenly realized that there should be a story in it.
So, he came quietly in the middle of the night.
Sure enough, Master Hu Hai is waiting here.
Hu Hai said to Xiao Yi: "I haven't seen my mother for a long time. Do you know where she is?"
Xiao Yi was silent for a while and said in a deep voice: "This slave may not have seen Zhao Ji for a long time. There are rumors in the palace that she has been tricked and killed."
Hu Hai suddenly sobbed softly.
After crying for a while, Hu Hai stopped crying. In fact, he had already guessed this result.
He wiped away his tears and said to Xiao Yi: "The palace is the biggest, but I only have four walls. The only thing that can come into contact with me is the birds in the sky, but the birds are ruthless and cannot deliver messages to me. Xiao Yi, now you are me The most trustworthy person."
Xiao Yi said: "But according to the master's orders, Xiao Yi will never refuse."
Hu Hai said approvingly: "After experiencing so many betrayals, I have discovered that you are the only true loyal minister."
Xiao Yi smiled modestly: "Young Master is a great reward. Xiao Yi deserves it."
Hu Hai sighed and said quietly: "If I want to escape from this prison, I can't do it on my own. My voice can't reach my father's ears. I need someone outside to help me."
"Since Ji Ming's death, my contact with the outside world has been cut off. I have no idea who he had befriended."
"After much thought, I'm afraid the only person who can save me is Wang Ben."
Xiao Yi was slightly startled: "The former General Wang?"
Hu Hai said: "Yes. Only Wang Ben is still alive in the Wang family. Although he lost his title and was demoted to a commoner, he has made great contributions to our great Qin after all."
"If he pleads for me, maybe my father can release me. Even if he doesn't make me a prince, he can still let me leave the palace and become a commoner."
"As long as I leave this prison, it won't take a few years for me to soar into the sky. By then, I will be a distinguished young master again."
When Hu Hai said this, he sincerely said to Xiao Yi: "Therefore, I beg you to help me find Wang Ben. Find him and bring him back."
Xiao Yi hesitated for a moment and said, "Little man, do what you can."
Hu Hai stretched out his hand from the small hole and handed it to Xiao Yi: "The sea of people is huge and it is not easy to find. Please find more helpers."
Xiao Yi took the thing and found some gold nuggets.
Hu Hai said in a deep voice: "Thank you very much." Then he took the mat and left.
Xiao Yi stood outside the wall and hesitated for a while, then went to Ying Zheng's study.
Ying Zheng is not sleeping yet.
He is reading a new common sense book compiled by Li Shui.
The content in this book is really getting more and more interesting.
For example, a person named Zhang Lang.
This man is Zhang Men's cousin, and he followed Zhang Men to build steam locomotives in Northern Xinjiang.
At the beginning, the two people fought and failed repeatedly. This steam car will sink into the dirt as soon as it lands. Can't move at all.
Later, they accidentally discovered that if the steam car was allowed to walk on hard stone, it could move. But the stone slabs were crushed by the steam car and all shattered.
They live on an iron mine, and the most indispensable thing here is iron. So these two people changed the stone slabs into iron plates, and then the iron plates into iron bars, and finally formed the railway tracks today.
Later, Zhang Lang thought about why steam cars could walk on railway tracks, and gradually came up with an answer.
In his opinion, steam cars were too heavy and therefore the soil could not support them.
In his opinion, a steam car dropped on soil would sink just like a stone placed on water.
But why won’t it sink after adding iron plates? Zhang Lang believes that this is because the iron plate is larger than the wheel. When the weight is equal, the larger the contact surface with the ground, the smaller the pressure on the ground.
Therefore, what an iron rod cannot pierce, a needle can do, because the needle tip is very small, which objectively increases the force.
Akira even created a unit.
For example, when a pound of weight falls on a one-foot-square ground, the force formed is called a chapter.
Ying Zheng looked at it and nodded repeatedly: "I see, that's it. I didn't expect that common things in daily life actually contain such truth. Yes, very good."
Ying Zheng was so excited that he forgot to eat and sleep, when Xiao Yi crept in.
Ying Zheng looked at him: "What? Are the crops outside the city about to be harvested?"
Xiao Yi was stunned for a moment and said: "I'm afraid it will take a while for this crop to mature. I want to report to Your Majesty that I just met Mr. Hu Hai."
Afterwards, Xiao Yi told the whole story and showed the gold nugget to Ying Zheng.
As for Eemon. Xiao Yi didn’t say anything.
He was more inclined to believe that the conversation between Eemon and his colleagues was unintentional.
Ying Zheng thought for a while and said to Xiao Yi: "I'll leave this matter to you. Go find Wang Ben."
Xiao Yi was slightly startled.
Ying Zheng said: "Some people say that Wang Ben went to the Western Regions and there has been no news since. I am a little curious about what Wang Ben is doing."
"Now the countries in the Western Region have been destroyed by our great Qin, and prefectures and counties have been established. But it is said that there are still some small countries in the far west. It would be bad if Wang Ben gets there and something happens."
Xiao Yi responded.
Ying Zheng said calmly: "I will give you a thousand-man team. You don't have to worry and go west slowly. It would be best if you can find Wang Ben. Even if you can't find him, you can help me find out about the situation in the Western Region."
Xiao Yi quickly agreed.
He was extremely excited: This... this is almost equivalent to an imperial envoy. Although he had no authority, it was already a great honor to observe the Qin border for the emperor along the way.
So Xiao Yi left happily to prepare his luggage for leaving to the Western Regions tomorrow.
Xiao Yi was so excited that he stayed up all night.
Eemon didn't sleep either.
After he got Hu Hai's gold, he originally planned to pay off the debt. But halfway through, I passed an underground casino. My hands felt itchy for a moment, so I got in again...
