A bolt of lightning flashed across the night sky, followed by another thunder, and heavy rain fell from the sky. In just a moment, Tai Chi Palace turned into a vast expanse of rain and fog.
There is a new construction site to the east of Tai Chi Palace. The East Palace is being built here, covering an area of about 100 acres.
Prince Chen Ji is already sixteen years old. In two years, he will turn eighteen and will live independently in the East Palace. Although there are still two years left, the East Palace must prepare in advance.
Because of the rain, there was no one on the Donggong construction site, and everything was deserted.
At this time, three thin men in black flashed past, their movements were unparalleledly fast, comparable to lightning. On the construction site, a guard dog discovered something unusual. Just after barking a few times, there was a flash of cold light and it flew away.
The knife hit the guard dog. The flying knife was highly poisonous and the guard dog died instantly.
The construction site is close to the palace wall. The palace wall is tall and solid. Because of the construction of the new palace, two shelves were set up next to the palace wall. Three men in black climbed on the shelf and crossed the palace wall easily. The three figures disappeared into the layers.
in the palace.
At this moment, a construction site guard walked towards the kennel carrying a bowl of leftover rice.
The dog barked twice just now. When he heard it, he remembered that he had not fed the dog yet, so he brought a bowl of leftover food to feed his pet dog.
"Dahei, stop barking, aren't we going to bring you food now?"
He put the bowl down. In the past, his dog would definitely pounce on him and wolf down the food, but today there was no movement at all.
"Dahei, are you angry?"
The caretaker looked toward the kennel, and a bolt of lightning flashed across the ground, illuminating the ground instantly. He saw his dog lying on the ground, with a dagger stuck in his forehead, and a pool of blood on the ground.
The guard was so frightened that he looked around and shouted with a trembling voice, "Someone is coming! Someone is coming quickly!"
...........
At this time, in the study room, Chen Qing was holding his hands in front of the window, looking worriedly at the heavy rain falling outside.
There was a lot of rain this year. At the turn of spring and summer, it rained almost every day. The farmers looked sad and saw that their wheat was about to rot in the water.
As a monarch, Chen Qing not only has to worry about this year's grain harvest, he is also worried about whether there will be floods this year.
The Ba River has risen and overflowed its banks. The low-lying Jianzhang County, which was the former Han Chang'an City, has flooded. Many homes have been flooded. So far, only a small amount of water has flooded. If the rain continues, the Weihe River may be damaged.
The embankment will also burst, which will cause big trouble.
"There's an assassin!"
Suddenly a shout was heard in the distance, followed by a loud sound of gongs, "Dang! Dang! Dang! Dang!" This meant that there was danger in the palace.
Chen Qing frowned. It had been many years since he heard the cry of an assassin.
At this time, a dark shadow flashed, and a petite female guard appeared in front of him. This was his personal guard Zhang Wenyan. She was very skilled in martial arts and would usually not show up, but she would definitely show up in an emergency.
"Your Majesty, please come with me!"
Chen Qing nodded, reached out and took down the Zhanlu Sword and Xiaotianxing bow and arrow from the weapon rack, followed Zhang Wenyan and quickly left the study through a side door and walked into another building.
They passed through room after room and came to the emergency refuge tower. It had no windows and was made of blue bricks. It was five stories high and had all kinds of facilities and supplies inside. They could live there for a month without any problems.
Queen Lu Xiu and several other wives and concubines rushed there under the protection of their respective female guards. When they saw their husband arriving, they all breathed a sigh of relief.
"Where's Ji'er?" Chen Qing asked.
"Father, the child is here!" Chen Ji raised his hand from behind and said.
Chen Qing nodded, "Everyone, go upstairs!"
Everyone went up to the second floor. There were many rooms on the second floor, but everyone felt uneasy and still wanted to get together.
The lights in the lobby were bright, and there were many soft couches with backrests. Everyone found a place to sit down in silence. A dozen female guards stood at the entrance and exit, very alert.
At this time, Lu Xiu asked her husband in a low voice: "Why are there still assassins now?"
Chen Qing shook his head, "To be honest, I'm confused too. I never thought who would come to assassinate you?"
Zhao Qiaoyun next to him said: "Could it be Gaoli?"
Chen Qing shook his head, "Although Goryeo is the most likely, after all, our 300,000 Yong army is using troops against Goryeo. The other side wants to assassinate the enemy monarch to save itself from destruction, but the internal guards have hidden Goryeo in the Yong Dynasty's intelligence organization
Everything has been cleaned up, and it is unlikely that there will be any Korean assassins in the capital."
"Maybe they were sent just now!" Zhao Yingluo said.
Chen Qing still shook his head, "You just came to the capital, and you are not familiar with the place. How can you commit an assassination? It's impossible."
At this time, Yang Jinchai, the head of the palace guard who was all wet, walked in quickly. She walked up to Chen Qing and bowed, "See your majesty!"
"Tell me! What's going on?"
"Reporting to your majesty, it was over at the construction site of the East Palace. The night watchman found that his dog had been killed and a poison-quenched flying knife was inserted into his forehead. He shouted and alerted the guards. The guards found something on the shelf next to the palace wall.
The mud footprints, if they were those of craftsmen, would have been washed away by the heavy rain, but the footprints were very clear and must have been freshly left. The guards initially judged that three people had sneaked into the palace, carrying poisoned flying knives, which was very dangerous, so they
Raise an alarm."
"You haven't found it yet, right?"
Yang Jinchai shook his head, "The assassin has not been found yet. The palace is too big and there are many places to hide. It rained heavily and the smell was washed away. The patrol dogs cannot play their role."
Chen Qing frowned. The opponent chose to assassinate on a rainy night. He was very experienced. He nodded, "Keep looking. It's best for everyone to bring shields!"
"I humbly obey the order, Your Majesty, please wait with peace of mind."
Hearing that there were only three assassins, the family members breathed a sigh of relief and each found something to do.
...........
The rain was getting heavier and heavier, and teams of guards searched the palace carefully, not sparing any corner.
There are about a thousand guards in the palace. Most of them are Chen Qing's former soldiers who have changed their identities. Some of the guards are old and have returned home from the army. New soldiers have joined in. Almost all the new soldiers are locals.
A man with a clean net worth.
At this time, the news that there was an assassin in the palace also reached the inner guards. Three thousand inner guards were dispatched urgently to control the surrounding areas of the palace, especially the temporary construction site of the East Palace. The enemy could not assassinate and would probably return from the original route.
There is also water surface control. The Dragon Lake in the palace is connected to the water system outside, and assassins can also sneak out through the waterway.
In addition to the guards and peripheral internal guards, there are also three hundred palace guards. The palace guards are female guards. Because male guards cannot enter people's rooms to search, palace guards can, especially the living areas where the emperor and concubines usually only
Noh Palace Guard is responsible for safety.
The internal guards, bodyguards, and palace guards, collectively referred to as the three guards, are responsible for protecting the safety of the entire palace.
Of course, palace guards are not recruited from the private sector, but are trained in specialized schools. There is a female martial arts hall in Jingzhao, which is affiliated with the inner guards. There are thousands of girls studying and practicing martial arts in it. They usually enter at the age of eleven or twelve, and fifteen
At the age of six, the best among them will be selected to serve as palace guards in the palace.
Of course, they do not exclusively serve the palace. They also serve as guards for the families of ministers and senior officials, as well as for the needs of the internal guards themselves. Some wealthy families also hire them.
Although the training in the female martial arts hall is very strict and difficult, as long as you come out, you can basically get a relatively high salary, the minimum is six or seven guan per month. Many poor families want to send their daughters to it. Once you enter,
First of all, all expenses are borne by the government, and there are high salaries after graduation, which is of course very attractive to poor families.
Generally, when palace guards reach the age of twenty, they will retire and go home to get married. The palace will give them a large amount of money as dowry.
But this time the three guards had a bad start, and by dawn they had not caught the assassin, and the palace was still on high alert.
At dawn, the palace guard chief Yang Jinchai and the guard commander Xu Hong came to report to Chen Qing.
"Replying to your majesty, we did find traces of the assassin. We found three pieces of black clothes, all of which were very small. We suspected that the other party was a female assassin, and then she disguised herself as a palace maid to avoid our search."
"Then have you gathered the maids together?"
Yang Jinchai nodded, "There was a concentration, but no fake palace maids were found. I suspect that they have escaped."
At this moment, there was an urgent report from the palace guard outside the door: "Report to Manager Yang, we have discovered something!"