The Prince's Palace of Changsheng is located on the west side of the palace. The four of them left the palace and walked east, and soon arrived at the Palace Gate Square.
This square was the place where martial arts competitions were previously held. Some important ceremonies related to the royal family were also held here. Hundreds of officials stopped their horses and alighted from their sedan chairs here in the morning. It is for the royal use and is not allowed to be visited by ordinary people. I found that Someone stepped into the square, and the Yulin army on guard on the city wall immediately shouted loudly and asked, "Who is that person?"
Normally, Datou and others would definitely answer for Chang Sheng, because Chang Sheng has a distinguished status and it would be disrespectful to answer in person. However, at this time, Da Tou and others did not know what Chang Sheng wanted to say, so they looked at Chang Sheng and waited for him to speak.
Changsheng raised his voice and spoke, "I am Li Changsheng, the heroic prince. I received a tip earlier today that Japanese pirates may enter the palace tonight to assassinate me. As a precautionary measure, I came here to patrol outside the palace."
Hearing Chang Sheng's words, the leader suddenly became vigilant. After saying hello and saluting, he ordered the soldiers who were on duty at night to cheer up in case of unexpected events.
After entering the square, Changsheng and others did not move around. Instead, they leaned against the stone railing on the south bank of the moat and looked around carefully. There was a moon tonight and the square was empty. As soon as the Japanese pirates appeared, they would be able to spot them immediately.
"Sir, midnight is coming soon, why is there no movement at all?" Big Tou looked around.
"I don't know," Chang Sheng shook his head and said, "But I feel that they should come, because they are not ordinary people in the market, and they will not brag or bluff."
"If the number of people is too small, they will definitely not dare to break into the palace," Datou said. "But there are no warnings at the city gates, which means that no one has climbed over the wall to enter the city. Is it possible that they have prepared in advance and sneaked into Chang'an in batches?"
Changsheng shook his head and said, "Probably not. Our last thousand-mile raid severely damaged the vitality of the Japanese pirates. Even if the remaining Japanese pirates in Qilin Town come out in full force, they still don't have the strength to break into the palace."
Datou said, "In addition to those from Laowo'er, they have also sent out many people. Will they use the letter bird to recall those friends who are looking for the Earthly Branches and the Golden Dragon?"
Changsheng shook his head again, "It's impossible. In the past few days, they had been blocking the river and searching for the ashes. After searching for a long time without any results, they suspected that the urn had not fallen into the water. Later, they spent time and effort to find the rice dumpling seller. Only then was it confirmed that the urn was still in my hand. Judging from the time, they did not summon the Japanese pirates who were scattered everywhere. To say the least, even if they did summon them, those Japanese pirates were scattered across Kyushu and they would not be able to rush there in a short time. not coming back."
After Chang Sheng finished speaking, Yang Kai said, "Did we think in the wrong direction?"
The three of them didn't know what Yang Kai was referring to, so they all turned to look at him.
"Sir, have you ever thought about why that woman told you their plan?" Yang Kai asked.
"She definitely wants me to do something after learning about this, but I can't think of what she wants me to do." Changsheng replied.
"She might just want you to be there when they do it," Yang Kai said.
"They should know that if I were there, it would be more difficult for them to break into the palace." Changsheng said casually.
Yang Kai said, "They must be relying on something, but what they rely on may not be the number of people, but the powerful trump card."
After Yang Kai finished speaking, Datou answered eagerly, "No way, even if all the purple energy masters who chased us last time were present, they wouldn't be able to break into the palace."
When Datou said this, he suddenly remembered something, "Do you want to blow us up with gunpowder again?"
Before anyone could answer, Datou denied his guess, "That's not right. After what happened last time, all the gunpowder from the Manufacturing Office was given to Master Zhang by the Ministry of War to deal with Yang Shouliang, and they couldn't take it. Arrive. To say the least, even if they get it, they can't bury it outside the city gate under the eyes of the Yulin Army."
After finishing speaking, Yang Kai said, "In short, they have something to rely on. The reason why they informed the Lord of this matter in advance is probably because they hope that the Lord will come here when they are young, so that they can show their trump card and break into the palace. At the same time, they will catch us all in one fell swoop.”
"You can pull him down," Big Head waved his hands repeatedly, then pointed at the archers waiting on the city wall, "Did you see, with this posture, ten or eight purple energy masters can't even break through the palace gate."
Shi Xuanming has been studying Buddhist magical powers recently. He heard a few people talking and guessed, "Could it be some overbearing magic?"
"It is possible," Changsheng nodded and said, "There are also onmyojis in the Japanese country. Their magic originated from the pre-Qin Dynasty and is different from the magic we are familiar with now."
Seeing Da Tou's brows furrowed, as if facing a formidable enemy, Chang Sheng said, "Go back immediately. There is a small purple box in the cabinet next to my bedside, which contains things for drawing talismans. Go and give that small box to I'll take it."
Da Tou nodded in response when he heard the words, cast his body method, and left quickly.
As soon as Da Tou left, several black shadows appeared on the south side of the square. Because the square was very large and the night was hazy, no one could see the faces of those people. However, Chang Sheng looked up at the sky and found that it was Zi Shi. At the first moment, when I took a closer look, I saw that there were three people on the other side, and the one walking on the left looked exactly like Hattori Kana.
"It's really here." Shi Xuanming said in a deep voice.
Seeing the enemy appear, Chang Sheng was shocked, and at the same time he turned to look at Yang Kai, "You transferred your spiritual energy to me during the day..."
Yang Kai guessed what Chang Sheng wanted to ask, and before he could finish speaking, he said, "Already recovered."
Changsheng didn't speak anymore, and only three people came from the other party, which showed that Yang Kai's previous guess was probably correct. The other party was not planning to gather a crowd to break in, but did have a powerful trump card.
As the three people slowly approached, Changsheng began to think anxiously in his mind. He had given the emperor a hint before, briefly informing him about the Qianli raid, but he did not mention the holy bones. What if Hattori Kana and others would do it later? When it comes to the sacred bones, the emperor may know about it, and once the emperor knows about it, he will know that he is hiding something about it.
The consequences of this matter are very serious. If the emperor knows that he has concealed something from him, he will doubt his loyalty. And this cannot be blamed on the emperor for being careless. The blame can only be blamed on himself for concealing the truth from the emperor, even though he concealed the matter that day. Just to be more calm and less troublesome, it is not to break away from the emperor, but the emperor does not think so.
This is the huge cost and terrible consequences of concealment. No matter who you are dealing with or what you are doing, it is best to tell the truth, because once you hide something from the other party and are discovered by the other party afterwards, the trust you have worked so hard to build will be greatly reduced.
What is more serious than concealing the consequences is deception. Any deception carries the huge risk of wasting all the efforts and losing everything. Moreover, facing the other party's determination and ruthlessness after knowing the truth, the liar is not even qualified to explain or retain. , I shouldn’t, absolutely shouldn’t, shouldn’t have lied to others in the first place.
As long as you have a clear conscience, there is no need to lie. As long as you lie, you must have a ghost in your heart. Even if you really don't have a ghost in your heart, you still have a ghost. Being misunderstood and wronged is what you deserve, and you bring it on yourself.
As the other three slowly approached, Changsheng finally saw the appearance of the three of them. The person on the left was indeed Kana Hattori, and although he had never seen the middle-aged man on the right, his figure and steps looked familiar. After a brief recollection, he found this person in his mind. This person was the masked man who was chased by himself and Shi Xuanming while carrying the body of the murdered concubine.
Walking between the two was an old man with a white beard. He was nearly seventy years old. The white robe he wore was covered with Japanese runes. He had seen similar clothes during the night attack on Qilin Town. The pair who tried to control the zombies that day. The twin sisters wear this kind of robe. This kind of robe should be the robe worn by the Onmyoji of Japan.
When Changsheng saw the other party's appearance clearly, the other party also saw him. The white-bearded old man was now full of anger, and his eyes were full of murderous intent.
Changsheng was not surprised by this man's angry look, because he had killed all the twin sisters in Qilin Town. Judging from their age, the two young women were unlikely to be the old man's daughters. They should be his. Disciple, or his concubine.
When they reached the center of the square, the three of them stopped moving forward and stopped beyond the range of the bow and arrow.
"Li Changsheng, as long as you hand over the things, the conditions I made before will still be fulfilled." Hattori Kana said angrily.
Hattori Kana spoke Japanese. If Changsheng answered the call, it would be equivalent to telling the Habayashi Army behind him that he knew Japanese. If the emperor learned about this, he would inevitably become suspicious.
Changsheng was not sure whether Hattori Kana was deliberately alienating her or was doing it unintentionally, so he said coldly, "Speak humanly."
Seeing that Changsheng was not fooled, Hattori Kana had to switch to Chinese and repeat what she had said before.
"I can't give you anything that will ruin my luck in the Tang Dynasty." Changsheng replied loudly. He said this with full consideration, because he knew very well that what he said to the other party now would be known to the emperor afterwards, and before that he He once presented the subcontracted Dragon Vein Continuation Map to the Emperor. Afterwards, even if the Emperor knew what he said tonight, he would think that the thing he said was bad for the Tang Dynasty's luck was the real Dragon Vein Map.
This is the price of concealment, endless troubles and fear.
"You should know that we are well prepared this time. If you insist on going your own way, not only will your life be at risk, but your emperor will also be implicated." Hattori Kana said coldly.
"I don't know what you have to rely on, but in order to protect the emperor and protect the fate of the Tang Dynasty, why should you fear death?" Changsheng took the opportunity to express his loyalty loudly. These two sentences, good medicine is bitter to the mouth and good for the disease, and loyal words are offensive to the ears but good for the deeds. These two sentences have misled the world for many years. In the eyes of the world, those who speak irritatingly are loyal ministers, and those who speak pleasantly are treacherous ministers. In fact, this is a huge misunderstanding. The fact is that most of the ugly words are This is not a piece of advice, and most of the unpleasant medicines will not cure the disease.
To take a step back, even if the unpleasant words are really good advice and the unpleasant medicine can really cure diseases, the person who speaks and the doctor who prescribes the medicine are also self-righteous fools, because no one likes to hear unpleasant words, and no one likes medicine that is too bitter. Drinking, I don’t even like to listen to it, I don’t even like to drink it, so how can I talk about it being beneficial to illness or conduct?
The ministers who use the words that the emperor likes to hear and make suggestions tactfully are the true loyal ministers, and the doctors who work hard to make the medicine that cures diseases less unpleasant are the kind people.
"We are not threatening," Kana Hattori said sternly, "Master Mitsubishi controls Yin and Yang, and his magic reaches the sky. Once he uses the great summoning technique to attract the divine beast to the world, the color of heaven and earth will change, and blood will flow like a river."
Hearing Hattori Kana's words, Chang Sheng suddenly felt a chill in his heart and turned to look at Shi Xuanming who was standing aside.
Shi Xuanming knew why Changsheng looked at him, but he had only acquired the Notes on Conquering Demons for a short period of time. He had only briefly dabbled in it, and had not had time to study it carefully. He could only shake his head slowly, indicating that he was not sure.
At this moment, Datou came back in a hurry and quietly handed the square wooden box to Changsheng, "Sir, what is the Great Summoning Technique?"
Before Chang Sheng could speak, Shi Xuanming spoke first, "It must be a spell that can attract ferocious beasts."
Hattori Kana still wanted to speak, but the Mitsubishi Master wearing a robe had lost his patience. He fluttered his sleeves and raised his hands, "Get out of the way and protect the law with me."
Hattori Kana and the middle-aged man heard the words and immediately dodged left and right, while the Mitsubishi mage stepped on his feet, spinning sharply while chanting a spell.
Everyone frowned when they saw this, and Datou said eagerly, "Sir, do it, we can't let him do it calmly."
As soon as Datou finished speaking, a golden air column suddenly appeared above Master Mitsubishi's head. The air column was more than seven feet wide, and the golden light burst into the night sky.
After the golden light beam appeared, Master Mitsubishi roared and raised his hand, throwing a black and blue round object into the air.
"Sir, take action. If you don't take action, it will be too late." Datou urged urgently.
"Wait a minute," Changsheng frowned and stared, "I think I have seen what this person threw."
Hearing Changsheng's words, Hattori Kana sneered and said, "You have indeed seen it, but this thing is now in our hands."
"Ni Lin?!" Changsheng suddenly realized.
"Hmph." Hattori Kana snorted proudly.
"Did you steal that reverse scale?" Changsheng asked loudly.
"Hand over the things and I will spare your life." Hattori Kana said arrogantly.
"Go ahead and dream." Changsheng smiled.
Datou and others were very nervous. Seeing that Changsheng didn't take it seriously, Datou asked in confusion, "Sir, how did Nilin get into their hands?"
"What they stole was Si Tianjian's piece." Changsheng said in a low voice.
"Fake?" Datou secretly laughed.
"Yes, the one made of donkey's hooves..."
