After Zhu Gui made up his mind, all that was left was the cooperation of Hu Shidao and the Datong Chamber of Commerce.
After communicating with Mr. Lu, he realized that this matter was extremely simple.
It turned out that the fruits and vegetables in the palace were provided by the chamber of commerce affiliated to the Datong Chamber of Commerce. Even if the court realized this, it was too late to find a replacement merchant.
People in the palace always have to eat, right? And almost all merchants in the southern territory have joined the Datong Chamber of Commerce. They have played an important role in stabilizing prices and improving people's livelihood. Even the late emperor mentioned this many times.
So according to Mr. Lu, as long as Zhu Gui is willing to 'condescend', there is no problem in sneaking into the palace, but the rest is up to Zhu Gui himself.
Regarding the issue of "condescension or not", Zhu Gui is very open-minded. Although he usually has to show the majesty of a vassal king in front of others, his body and mind still come from later generations after all, and at this critical moment
, he no longer cares about so much.
Hu Shidao and Mr. Lu looked very surprised at Zhu Guineng's performance.
You must know that in their view, there is a very big difference between the prince and ordinary people. It can be said that they come from different worlds.
As a prince, his biggest reliance is his identity, but now Zhu Gui is able to throw off his halo without thinking. I'm afraid no one else can do it.
The next morning, Zhu Gui got into the convoy delivering food to the palace and entered the royal dining room through the back door of the palace.
Even the guard guarding the gate simply took a look at the badge of the person leading the group and let them go.
The person who led the team quietly explained the reason to Zhu Gui. It turned out that the Datong Chamber of Commerce had spent a lot of money on this route a long time ago. It could be said that money was used to pave the way.
Almost all the Imperial Guards along the way had benefited from the Datong Chamber of Commerce, so it was so easy.
Emperor Hui of the Ming Dynasty had just ascended the throne and there was no time to replace the imperial dining room.
Zhu Gui exclaimed that he was lucky. He took advantage of the time when the convoy was carrying fruits and vegetables, and when no one was watching, he found an empty room and slipped in, and then changed into the little eunuch's clothes he brought with him.
Then he slipped out of the imperial dining room and walked all the way towards the harem.
Zhu Gui still has the memory of living in the palace in his mind, so he is also very familiar with the routes in this area.
Moreover, due to the new emperor's accession to the throne, the personnel arrangement in the palace was very chaotic.
It seems that Emperor Minghui wanted to replace most of the maids and eunuchs in the palace, but there were so many people in the palace that there were people rushing in and out everywhere.
This gave Zhu Guike an opportunity to take advantage of, and he quickly found the place where the harem was.
However, the harem was completely deserted at this time, and bursts of crying could be heard from inside.
Many palace maids and concubines were dragged out by the guards and then caught up with the carriage. The carriage had a large word "Dian" engraved on both sides. It seemed that it was going to be taken to the imperial mausoleum to be buried with the late emperor.
This was the burial system of ancient emperors. Generally, the maids who had served the late emperor and the concubines who had not given birth to children would be taken to be buried with the late emperor, including the late emperor's favorite concubine.
Originally, Concubine Guo Hui gave birth to an acting king, the prince Zhu Gui, and did not need to be buried with her. But who made her the most beloved concubine of Zhu Yuanzhang?
In order to show his respect for the late emperor, Emperor Hui of the Ming Dynasty included Concubine Guo Hui in the funeral procession.
Zhu Gui had a headache now, because the entrance to the harem was heavily guarded.
Although he has a pistol on him, he can deal with these people, but the sound of the pistol will definitely attract more guards.
At that time, let alone saving people, it would be very difficult for Zhu Gui to leave.
So he had to think of other ways.
This time Zhu Gui quickly thought of another idea.
It turns out that Zhu Gui was a naughty kid when he was young (predecessor), so when he was in the palace, he often dug "dog holes" in many palace walls in order to escape.
And some of them happen to be not far away.
Thinking of this, Zhu Gui immediately ran towards the nearest place.
When it was almost half a stick of incense, Zhu Gui walked around half the distance of the harem and finally came to a cave hidden behind a laurel tree.
But there was someone here at this time.
It turned out that two young eunuchs and a palace maid were crawling out.
Among them, the two young eunuchs had already crawled out, and the remaining palace maid was about to crawl out as well.
Judging from their sneaky looks, something must be wrong with them.
Zhu Gui happened to be short of manpower, so he immediately pretended to be passing by and then pretended to just 'bump into' him and spotted the three of them.
One of the young eunuchs was so frightened that he ran away, leaving only one young eunuch, the palace maid who crawled out half of her body, and Zhu Gui, who looked at each other in confusion.
"Well, what do you call this father-in-law?" The little eunuch was also a clever guy and asked immediately with a playful smile.
"Ahem, you can call me Eunuch Gui." Zhu Gui said pretendingly, but why did he feel like he was humiliating himself? But in order to save others, he didn't care much at this time.
"It turns out to be Eunuch Gui. I am Xiao Linzi from Shunde Palace. This is my sister Shuangyue. We, we want to leave here." Xiao Linzi looked a little unnatural when he said this.
Of course, what he meant by 'leaving' was escaping from the palace. This is a serious crime. If caught, one will be beheaded. There are naturally rewards for reporting, so that's why the little eunuch ran away before. But Xiao Linzi is Shuangyue.
The relationship between brother and sister has not given up on each other at this time.
Zhu Gui nodded as if he was stunned and said: "Oh, I understand, you are in the procession of 'burying' the late emperor, right?"
"That's right, that's it. We don't want to die. Can Eunuch Gui do it for you? Just pretend that you haven't seen us before?" Xiao Linzi said in a voice that was almost pleading.
The eunuch's voice was originally very thin, and coupled with Xiao Linzi's male-female look, Zhu Gui almost got goosebumps all over her body.
He looked like he was thinking, then looked around, took two steps towards the two of them and said, "I don't mind reporting you two for the reward, but I need you two to do me a favor. I also have a friend who is being buried.
In the team, there was nothing we could do before."
"If you two can help me rescue that friend, how about I give you some money as payment?"
The faces of Xiao Linzi and his sister Shuangyue became embarrassed. After all, they finally had a chance to escape. It was too dangerous for them to go back now.
Until Zhu Gui took out a one hundred tael silver note and handed it to the two of them and said, "This money is enough for you to have enough food and clothing for the rest of your life, how about it?"