In the guard duty room, there were Zhu Yi and Xu Yongning, two guards with knives, and some other palace guards with knives with lower rank.

Zhu Yi glanced at him indifferently, and then turned his face to the side. Xu Yongning's attitude was kinder, and he bowed slightly at him, which was considered to have said hello. Some other lower-ranking guards had an ambiguous attitude, because Yang Muyun was born and was still young, although he was wearing a five-grade uniform, he only nodded to him. Those who can be guards in the palace are the sons of meritorious heroes and nobles, so their status cannot be judged from their rank.

"Am I at the wrong time?" Yang Muyun muttered secretly in his heart, "No, the palace guards have obviously lined themselves up in the morning, why are Zhu Yi and Xu Yongning also here?" He hesitated, sat down on a bench by the door, and waited quietly for the superintendent to come and take a roll call.

The room was unusually quiet, and no one whispered to each other. Only a few of the guards rubbed their sleepy eyes and yawned, and it seemed that they had hurried to duty before they had had enough sleep.

"Zhu Yi, Xu Yongning," a sharp and old voice called out the door.

Zhu Yi and Xu Yongning straightened up, stood up, straightened the saber at their waists, and walked out of the house in a hurry.

Yang Muyun took advantage of the morning light outside the door, and saw an old eunuch in a red robe with a jade belt around his waist standing outside the door for a roll call, and behind him stood two young eunuchs in green robes. The old prisoner was about fifty years old, not very tall, but he stood there quite majestic, and every time he sang a person's name, he stared at the guards who came out of the squad room with a pair of fish bubble eyes.

Until the old eunuch finished singing, Yang Muyun still didn't hear his name. The old prisoner put away the roster and turned around to leave, but Yang Muyun hurriedly got up and chased after him.

"Father-in-law"

The old eunuch turned around and saw that it was a fifteen or sixteen-year-old five-rank janissary officer, and his face couldn't help but show a slight surprise, and then he stood still.

"Father-in-law," Yang Muyun smiled at him, "May I ask which class I am in the lower row, and why is my name not on the roster?" ”

"Our family doesn't know about this," the old eunuch said with a smile: "The list of guards in the palace is sent by Commander Shen to our family, and our family calls people according to the list, as for why your name is not on the list, you have to ask Commander Shen." ”

"Commander Shen, who is that? Why have you never seen the emperor mention it to me? Still laughed and said: "I am newly promoted here from the southern capital, and I am not very familiar with the official office of the Beijing Division, and I hope that my father-in-law will give me advice." ”

The old eunuch said curiously: "Aren't you a subordinate officer of the avant-garde of the government army, since you are transferred from the southern capital, why don't you go to see your own chief officer?" But they came to ask what our family is doing? ”

Yang Muyun didn't know how to explain, when he suddenly heard a sound of footsteps, followed the sound, and saw Xiao Lingzi hurriedly running over here.

"Father-in-law Li" Xiao Lingzi ran to the front and stood still, raised his sleeve to wipe the sweat on his forehead, and saluted the old eunuch.

"Yo, it turned out to be Xiao Lingzi, you weren't waiting by the emperor's side, what were you doing here?" The old prisoner quipped with his hands behind his back.

"Father-in-law Li, the little one came on the orders of the emperor." Xiao Lingzi looked up and smiled.

"Oh?" The old eunuch glanced at Yang Muyun and said, "I don't know if the emperor has any holy decree to read here?" ”

"Gonggong Li said with a smile," Xiao Lingzi's gaze turned to Yang Muyun, "The little one is here to pass on the emperor's message, and let Yang Muyun, the five-rank sword officer of the imperial guard, go to meet the driver!" ”

"Oh," the old eunuch smiled, "then we won't bother the two of you." As he spoke, he turned around and led the two green-robed eunuchs away.

"Gonggong Li walks slowly," Xiao Lingzi watched them go away, Fang retracted his gaze and said to Yang Muyun: "Lord Yang, let's come with our family!" "Xiao Lingzi is the same age as Yang Muyun, but he is only fifteen or sixteen years old, so he always pretends to be old-fashioned in front of Yang Muyun.

"Little ...... Father-in-law Ling," Yang Muyun asked, "I am not on duty today, why did the emperor summon me?" ”

Xiao Lingzi was called Linggong for the first time, and he was happy in his heart, so he said: "Lord Yang is the emperor, and he is different from others, and we are afraid that you will not be able to hear the roll call, so you will leave the palace!" So I hurried all the way, but luckily you're still here. ”

"Hmm, that was the ...... just now" Yang Muyun glanced in the direction of the old eunuch's departure.

"He's the palm print of the superintendent Li Gonggong, who is here specially

"Seeing that Yang Muyun didn't seem to understand, he explained: "Gonggong Li's supervisor is in charge of the halogen book, the guard of honor, and the implementation of the guards' shifts in the palace. ”

"Oh," Yang Muyun nodded, and asked again: "Who is Commander Shen, and why did Gonggong Li ask me to visit him?" ”

"He's talking about Shen Rong, the martial artist," Xiao Lingzi said, "He is in charge of about ten teams of three thousand battalions and the advance guard of the government army, and nominally you are under his jurisdiction." Then he smiled and said: "But you don't have to take it too seriously, the emperor personally promoted you, you just need to do the errand that the emperor gave you." ”

The two of them talked, and walked north along the side corridor of the martial tower, all the way through the Fengtian Palace, the Huagai Palace, and the Jinshen Hall until the north.

"Father-in-law Ling," Yang Muyun saw that he was getting more and more inclined to the inner palace, and asked with some surprise, "Aren't we going to the palace of the body?" ”

"The emperor is not in the palace now, he is waiting for us in the Qianqing Palace!" Xiao Lingzi said without looking back.

"We?" Yang Muyun had a sudden break in his heart, "The inner palace is where the palace maids and concubines are located, what did the emperor call me to do there?" Besides, the sky is about to dawn, doesn't the emperor have to go to the Fengtian Temple to go to the court? ”

Xiao Lingzi led Yang Muyun to the front of the Qianqing Palace, and did not go to the main gate, but led him to the right into a small gate. This is a warm pavilion, bypassing a rosewood screen painted with a map of thousands of miles of rivers and mountains, only to see a person in the room, slender figure, wearing a Tang scarf, wearing a navy blue scholarly robe, but he is facing away from himself, unable to see the face.

Seeing such a person in the room, Yang Muyun couldn't help but be surprised, and said in his heart how could this folk scholar and others enter this deep palace, and he was doubting the identity of this person. I saw Xiao Lingzi come forward and bow to the ground, and shouted: "Your Majesty" couldn't help but be shocked, and as soon as his knees bent, he also knelt on the ground, and shouted with Xiao Lingzi: "Your Majesty"

The man turned around, with a straight nose and a wide mouth, and slender eyes, it was Zhu Qizhen.

"Get up, get up," Zhu Qizhen grinned: "It's all here, what kind of gift is it?" ”

"Your Majesty." Yang Muyun stood up, glanced at him, and quickly lowered his head.

"How?" Zhu Qizhen opened his arms, turned around in place and said, "I put on this dress and go out of the palace, don't I look like a scholar?" Although he said to the two of them, his eyes were staring directly at Yang Muyun.

"Back to the emperor," Yang Muyun didn't squint, and replied respectfully: "When the minister first came in, he really didn't see that it was the emperor at all, and he was still muttering in his heart how could an ordinary scholar appear in the emperor's bedroom?" ”

Zhu Qizhen smiled, "Yang Qing, please ask you one thing today." ”

"The emperor has an order, and the ministers go to the soup to fight the fire, and they will not give up." Yang Muyun arched his hand and said.

"It's not that serious," Zhu Qizhen said lightly: "I don't want to go to the court today, I want to go out of the palace." ”

Yang Muyun was stunned for a moment, he didn't know why, and said in his heart that if the emperor wants to leave the palace, just pat his ass and leave, what do you want me to do?

Zhu Qizhen saw the change in the expression on his face, understood what he was thinking, and said with a slight smile: "If I give the order to leave the palace now, a group of old ministers will definitely advise non-stop, and even press me after moving out." Even if I can get out of the palace, the officers and soldiers of the Praetorian Guards are hugging each other, and the formation is very large, which is not what I like......" lowered his voice and said: "I want to leave the palace quietly, no one should be alarmed, go out quietly, and come back quietly, Yang Qing understands?" ”

"Huh?" Yang Muyun was dumbfounded, and then said: "Your Majesty, if a minister from the court and the central government comes to find the emperor, what should I do?" ”

"I have sent a message, saying that I am a little uncomfortable, I will not go to court today, and the affairs of the early dynasty will be handled by Mr. Wang and several cabinet ministers," Zhu Qizhen said calmly: "It won't take long for me to go out, and there shouldn't be any chaos." ”

"That'...... What does the emperor do? Yang Muyun asked a little nervously.

"It's very simple," Zhu Qizhen smiled leisurely, "You escorted me out of the palace unconsciously, and then sent me back, as long as you don't alarm anyone, I will count you as a great achievement." ”

"Yes...... Not long after entering the palace, Kechen was not familiar with the layout and situation in the palace, and he was afraid that he would be entrusted by the emperor. Yang Muyun said, this is true, he is still unfamiliar with walking in the palace, unlike the guards who have been patrolling the palace for many years

It's easy to see if something is wrong.

"It's okay to do this," Zhu Qizhen pondered for a while and said, "Xiao Lingzi will lead the way for you, you be careful not to let people see the horse's feet." ”

"There is one more thing," Yang Muyun looked at Zhu Qizhen's outfit directly, "It's not too late for the emperor's outfit to be changed into after leaving the palace, the difficulty is what role to pretend to be in this section of the road before leaving the palace, so that people won't see it." As he spoke, he glanced at Xiao Lingzi.

Zhu Qizhen smiled faintly, "Xiao Lingzi has already prepared a set of palace guard clothes for me, and I will go out with you after a while." ”

......

The sky was already bright, Yang Muyun walked against the purple palace wall, his heart was very nervous, he glanced sideways at the emperor who was dressed as a palace guard, don't you say, Zhu Qizhen did not squint, his hand pressed the handle of the knife, his head was held high, and he walked with a tiger, which was quite powerful.

Yang Muyun glanced at Xiao Lingzi who was leading the way in front of him again, and saw that the clothes behind him were soaked with sweat in several places, thinking that he was more nervous than himself.

The direction of the noon gate is not to go, the civil and military officials are gathering at the noon gate one after another, waiting for the court, everyone is in full view, it is not easy to confuse the past. Only go out from the Xihua Gate, and then go south, and exit the palace through a small gate next to the treasure banknote division.

After the guard officer on duty at Xihuamen checked the waist cards of the three people, his eyes glanced at Yang Muyun and Zhu Qizhen's faces, and said, "The two brothers are born tightly upside down!" ”

Without waiting for Yang Muyun to answer, Xiao Lingzi hurriedly said: "This is the first time I am born, won't I be familiar when I see each other again, so many officials in the avant-garde of the government army take turns to be on duty in the palace, and there will be no new faces one day, you look at the rarity, I am already surprised." ”

The janissary nodded, waved his hand, and asked the janissaries guarding the door to get out of the way.

Only then did the three of them breathe a sigh of relief and pretend to be unhurried and walked out of Xihua Gate.

Out of this palace gate, the guards outside were not so strict, Xiao Lingzi still didn't dare to be careless, until the two of them were led out of a small gate in Bao Qian Sinan, and the entire imperial city was calculated.

Looking at the bustling crowd in front of them, Xiao Lingzi and Yang Muyun were completely relieved, that way, it was really not inferior to Zhao Zilong's thrill of killing seven in and seven out of Changban Slope back then.

"Okay, you go back," Zhu Qizhen said to Xiao Lingzi, "Be careful not to leak anything to anyone." ”

"Master," Xiao Lingzi seemed to cry with a bitter face, "Everyone in the palace knows that the slave and maid are waiting for the Long Live Lord, and now that the Long Live Lord is gone, they want to ask about the slave and the maid, the slave and the maid will not live, and they hope that the master will have mercy." ”

Zhu Qizhen frowned, and before he could speak, Yang Muyun said on the side: "Your Majesty, what Gonggong Ling said is also good, in case someone from the palace comes to find this and asks, he will inevitably be tired of coping, and if one is not good, he will leak out of the palace." ”

"Yes, yes," Xiao Lingzi hit the snake with the stick, and hurriedly knelt on the ground and hugged Zhu Qizhen's leg and said: "If it is really as Lord Yang said, the slave maid has 10,000 lives, then it will be over." ”

"So what do you say?" Zhu Qizhen looked at Yang Muyun and asked.

"Your Majesty," Yang Muyun looked at Xiao Lingzi's pleading gaze, and couldn't bear it, so he said, "Why don't you just take him with you, and when you go back to the palace, you have to let him find a way to bring us in, right?" ”

Zhu Qizhen snorted, glared at Xiao Lingzi, and shouted in a low voice: "Dog minion, don't you hurry up, do you want everyone to see the excitement here?" ”

"Thank you, master!" Xiao Lingzi wiped a handful of tears and stood up happily.

......

Yang Muyun's mood is even more nervous now than when he was in the palace, because from the moment he left the palace, he was solely responsible for Zhu Qizhen's safety. Looking at the bustling crowd in the market, he felt that a few people might come out of it at any time to want to mistreat the emperor, which made the nerves in his whole body tense all the time.

It's Zhu Qizhen, who has come out of the palace, walking here and looking there, everything feels rare. Xiao Lingzi beside him is also like him, full of curiosity and freshness about everything on the market.

"It seems that after staying in the palace for a long time, this person's psychology has been suppressed," Yang Muyun shook his head secretly, "This emperor doesn't look happy." ”