Volume 4: Gathering of Sages Chapter 705: Patrolling, Interception
In front of Xi'an Gate, a large group of people rushed out with flags flying, looking majestic and impressive. Passersby in the distance all stopped to watch the excitement, especially when those with good eyesight saw that the first two were women, they talked endlessly. So, all the way from Xi'an Gate Street to Fucheng Gate Street, people who heard the news gathered on both sides of the road to watch, and Zhu Ying was quickly recognized.
Yuquan, who rarely left the palace, was not recognized by anyone. Ah Liu, who was dressed differently from the others, was also discovered at the first time. However, he ignored all the looks and rode forward with his mind focused. When he finally left Fucheng Gate, he hesitated to speak, but Zhu Ying suddenly turned around and smiled at him.
"Just send him here! Ah Liu, go back quickly and tell Ah Shou that I have Aunt Yuquan by my side, as well as so many elite soldiers and generals. Tell him not to worry! Besides, I'm not weak and fragile. I can fight better than him!"
Seeing Zhu Ying deliberately touching the sword at her side, Liu hesitated for a moment, and finally nodded: "Then take care on your journey, young lady."
"Okay, hurry up, Ah Shou might still be waiting for you!" Zhu Ying began to chase people away without any courtesy, until Ah Liu bowed and said goodbye again, turned his horse and left, and even looked back after galloping a dozen steps. Then she gently waved her hand, and when the people disappeared from her sight, she gritted her teeth and said, "It's all the fault of the troublemaker, the eldest prince... Let's go, the sooner we go, the sooner we can return!"
When the get out of class at Jiuzhang Hall was over that day, Zhang Shou learned from Ah Liu about the "adventure" that happened at Duke Zhao's mansion when he went to visit Zhu Tingfang. Then when he went to pick up Zhu Ying, he ran into the eldest lady leading an army to go to Huairou Imperial Manor to pick up the eldest prince in person. Even though he had anticipated that Zhu Tingfang's assassination might lead to a series of changes, he couldn't help but feel that it was extremely absurd.
You know, the present is different from the tenth year of Yongchen when he and Zhu Ying were "born". The emperor's throne is unshakable, and even the entry of the third prince, who is neither the eldest nor the legitimate prince, into the East Palace did not cause much waves - after all, the eldest prince provoked a civil uprising in Cangzhou, the second prince's absurd reputation, and the queen was deposed. Most officials realized that opposing the abandonment of the eldest and the enthronement of the youngest would be like a mantis trying to stop a chariot.
In this case, if anyone tries to rebel again, wouldn’t that be a sign of someone being kicked in the head by a donkey?
However, when it comes to treason, the person involved is often really kicked in the head by a donkey. For example, he still remembers that during the Kaiyuan prosperous period of the Tang Dynasty, when Li Longji, who was still a wise ruler at the time, was touring the Eastern Capital, there was a rebellion in Chang'an, the capital of his own backyard - this was not just a rebellion by a few people, the rebels even rushed into the outer imperial city at one point, which was simply jaw-dropping.
Having said that, thinking that Zhu Ying was leading a team of 200 elite cavalrymen, they should not encounter any problems, so Zhang Shou put aside his worries for the time being. As for the emperor, if he had to worry about it, then he would be a complete failure as an emperor.
However, after this incident, before he left the public school, he still called the Fourth Prince and Little Peanut to his presence. He first gave the naughty boy a lecture, and then gave Little Peanut many warnings. In a word, he was not allowed to cause trouble, otherwise the naughty boy would never be able to leave the palace in the future, and Little Peanut would never be able to perform in any dramas.
Whether it was the Fourth Prince, who was active by nature and didn't want to be bored in the palace, or Peanut, who regarded singing opera as one of the greatest meanings of life, facing Zhang Shou's warning, they would not take it lightly. So, the Fourth Prince, who had lost the novelty of living outside and missed his third brother more and more, and Peanut, who had no choice but to have an extra roommate, could only nod their heads desperately.
After scaring the two little guys, on the way back from the public school, Zhang Shou originally planned to ask Ah Liu to get on the bus with him, but the boy shook his head stubbornly. He really couldn't persuade him, so he had to give up, and after getting on the bus, he habitually took a nap.
Ah Liu's thoughts were simple. If a forbidden item like a crossbow appeared in the capital, then if he was sitting in a car, his sense of danger would be much different. If an arrow was shot at him and he failed to react in time, wouldn't that be terrible?
The young man was on edge all the way until the carriage arrived safely outside the gate of Zhang Garden, and then he breathed a sigh of relief. Seeing that the people who had been transferred here to guard the place were still standing under the wall, he did not go to the carriage to wait for Zhang Shou to get off, but walked straight towards one of them.
There were few people in the Ruiqi Battalion who didn't recognize Ah Liu, especially the captain with an extra red badge on his uniform. Although the military regulations were strict and did not allow distractions when standing guard, Ah Liu had already come in front of him and clearly wanted to say something to him, so he quickly bowed and saluted.
"You don't have to stay here." After saying this, Ah Liu saw the other party's face change. He was not good at reading people's expressions, so he said calmly, "It's useless to just stand here and intimidate. You should move."
The team's heart, which had just risen to their throat, finally fell back to its original place, and then they tentatively asked: "Master Xiaoliu means that we should patrol under the wall of Zhang Garden?"
"Yeah." Ah Liu nodded, and then added, "It's just like the Red Shop Guards patrolling under the Inner and Outer Imperial Cities."
With such a clear reminder, the captain immediately understood. In this kind of weather, standing guard is naturally more tiring than patrolling. Although it is a shift-based guarding, there are not enough people and the emperor has assigned guards to many important officials, so there are too many people to take turns. Everyone has to take turns standing guard for six hours a day.
Moreover, according to his previous experience, most dignitaries prefer to stand guard, because the guards in the Sharp Cavalry Camp are all picked from hundreds, and standing upright is the minimum requirement. Such a row of people standing in front of their own doors or under the wall can obviously highlight their status in the emperor's mind.
As for patrolling, others can only occasionally see them walking around the mansion, which does not show their number and well-trainedness, nor does it allow the mansion being guarded to receive countless envious and jealous glances.
Therefore, he immediately agreed and said, "Then let's do as you wish, Master Liu. I will order everyone to patrol the garden in a moment. However, this garden is very large, and it will probably take a long time for ten people to walk around it. There will probably be no one around the gate for a long time. Moreover, even if we do so, I'm afraid we can't guarantee that everything will go smoothly."
"You can't be safe even if you stand here."
If someone else had said this, they would have offended the people in the Ruiqi Battalion. But after all, Ah Liu had been a coach in the Ruiqi Battalion for a long time, and he also had a say in front of the emperor. When he said this, the captain was embarrassed but did not dare to argue.
Ah Liu seemed to realize that there was something wrong with his words, so he explained calmly, "Because you don't have enough people."
The team could only smile bitterly. For a mansion as big as Zhang Garden, at least fifty people would be needed to stand guard. If they were guarding the gate area, they would not be able to detect anyone trying to climb over other walls. Therefore, Ah Liu's words were polite enough. If he was really impolite, people would definitely say... they were just pretending!
Seeing that the team was silent, Ah Liu said in a deep voice: "I won't talk nonsense anymore. Remember three things. One, pass the token while patrolling; two, you can rest for 25 minutes at the gatehouse every hour; three, notify the person on duty to do the same."
He said what he needed to say, and then turned around and left. But after walking a few steps, he suddenly remembered something and said without turning back, "I will personally go to the two commanders of the Ruiqi Battalion to discuss this matter."
With such a promise, the team no longer had any worries. Thinking back to the time when Zhang Yuan had sent someone to deliver tea and snacks, but they did not dare to agree due to military regulations, now that the sentry duty had been changed to patrolling, and they could also rest in the gatehouse , it was indeed much better than before.
Therefore, after watching Ah Liu leave, he quickly conveyed the matter to all his subordinates, and everyone was overjoyed. It was okay to stand here in this weather, but if the weather was a little colder, even if they were elite, they would not be able to bear it!
Ah Liu did what he said, and he personally dressed up and ran to the Ruiqi Camp before it got dark. The commanders of the left and right camps were busy dispatching people to the West Garden, and they were not very happy when they finally squeezed out some time to meet him.
But when Ah Liu pointed out that the weather was so cold and that only ten people standing guard could not prevent malicious people, the two coaches' faces were still not so good.
Although he didn't care much about the ways of the world, Ah Liu certainly knew the reason why people were reluctantly polite to him was that he was sent to the Ruiqi Camp by the emperor to learn martial arts, so he was too lazy to stay here any longer.
Thinking of his family, he bowed and said goodbye. Before leaving, he said solemnly: "Even Master Zhu was assassinated. If other families have guards from the Sharp Cavalry Battalion but make mistakes, it will be too late."
It was rare for Ah Liu to say so much in front of strangers, but the weight of his words was indeed extraordinary. When he left, the two commanders who used to fight overtly and covertly looked at each other and immediately decided to change the sentry duty in front of each government gate to patrol duty. In order to save trouble, the previous two shifts a day were changed to three shifts a day to avoid fatigue and slackness caused by long rotation time.
After all, the second prince’s life and death were unknown before, which did not necessarily mean that someone was planning to harm these important officials in the court. But the assassination of Zhu Tingfang was different, which showed that someone really had ill intentions!
But after redeploying the personnel, the two of them thought of the same question - if there are still fish that slip through the net in the capital, then Zhang Shou should be the biggest target. But at this time, Ah Liu can still abandon Zhang Garden and come here. Is he so confident in the defense of Zhang Garden?
Ah Liu, who was considered confident, was a little absent-minded when he got on his horse after leaving the military camp block where the Ruiqi Battalion was located. He was worried about whether there would be any problems at home and whether Anlu, which he had asked before leaving, had arranged all the defenses. Fortunately, although his riding skills were not as good as Zhu Tingfang, who had often dealt with horses since childhood, they were still quite good.
There were no pedestrians on the street at this time, so he unconsciously let his horse gradually increase its speed. He didn't know how long it had been, but he suddenly became aware of something and saw a figure suddenly rushing out not far away.
In a flash, he squeezed the horse's belly without even thinking, and then shouted loudly: "Jump!"
Although this mount was not trained by him for many years, it was a royal horse from the palace and was well-trained. After becoming his mount, he trained it again and again, and it had reached the point where it could come and go at his command. Therefore, with his shout, the mount, which was originally galloping, suddenly accelerated, and its four hooves suddenly jumped high into the air.
The leap was extremely high, and then it jumped several feet away. The figure that had jumped out from the side just barely avoided the horse's trampling disaster. However, instead of being thankful for escaping the disaster, the man cursed angrily, and then he pushed his hand on the ground and tried to slip back into the shadow of the building in the night, but he didn't expect to hear a sharp sound suddenly.
Almost at the moment of the sharp sound, the black shadow subconsciously rolled over. However, just as he rolled out, an arrow pierced his thigh. He was so frightened that he didn't even care about screaming in pain. He ruthlessly waved his hand, and a cold light cut off the arrow shaft that was exposed outside his thigh and affected his escape. But before he could make the next move, there were two more string sounds.
This time, the two arrows pierced the man's left shoulder and right wrist almost at the same time. As the dagger in his hand fell to the ground, a black shadow swooped down from the air. It was Ah Liu who came back. At this time, he had not yet put away his left bow, but his right hand picked up the opponent's dropped dagger. The short dagger was like a wolf's kiss, and in an instant, it showed its ferocious fangs on the opponent's neck.
Feeling the cold blade pressing against his skin, the visitor who had previously tried to intercept Ah Shou and his horse but failed shouted instinctively: "Don't kill me, I surrender!"
Ah Liu seemed to have not expected that the other party could say the word "surrender" so rudely. After hesitating for a moment, he pressed the dagger in his right hand down a little, leaving a clear blood mark on the man's neck. The man seemed to feel the pain and raised his voice again: "Master Liu, I was hired by someone. I am just a knife in someone else's hand!"
"I was just trying to stop you. I just wanted to hurt the horse, not anyone!"
Ah Liu laughed twice without any warmth. No intention to hurt anyone? Even if I was distracted, could you hurt me? He lowered his eyelids slightly, and then suddenly whistled.
As the mount, which he had just ignored, trotted back in front of him, he suddenly retracted the dagger in his right hand, but just as the opponent was relieved, his left hand, which had just been freed from the bow on his back, struck down again, hitting the opponent's neck hard. Seeing the man fall down immediately with a muffled groan, he stood up, hooked his toes on the man's waist, and suddenly turned around and exerted force.
The body, which weighed more than 100 kilograms, suddenly flew into the air. With a push of his hand, the person was laid across the saddle like a sack. Then, Ah Liu himself jumped onto the horse's back. The horse neighed hoarsely as it was carrying the double weight, but was calmed down by Ah Liu in an instant.
"Okay, go home. You'll have to work hard for now, and I'll feed you double the beans later!"
