In the fifth year of Taihe, Jiashen in October, the third quarter of the first month of Chou.

Chang'an, Chang'an County, Shanhefang.

At the gate of the fang, King Ying showed the silverfish bag to the fangwei and asked for a lantern, and the fangwei did not want to do much, and did not check the two of them too much, and after seeing the silver light of the fish bag, the guards extended the door to let them go.

Adjacent to the Imperial City and connected to Suzaku Street, Shanhe Fang is a first-class high-class area in the city, although it is already night, but just looking at the rows of shop signs hanging like lanterns in the square, you can imagine the waves of the sea of people during the day.

Li Xiao and Wang rode along Kuan Street to the south, and the moonlight and the lantern in King Ying's hand were their only means of lighting. They held their breath along the way, in order to avoid colliding head-on with the patrol Jin Wuwei, so that the crotch horses were slightly accelerated, and soon they rushed to the suddenly open Zhongqu, and turned east into the side street at the cross wide street.

Shanhefang is similar to the rest of Chang'an's squares, there are cross wide streets, the north is prosperous and the south is cold, and the middle song where they are located is the junction of these two scenes, and the contrast between the north and the south is very clear during the day.

"Lane C, Lane C ......"

Li Han was worried, and looked left and right in his mouth, and the ridges on both sides were like spine beasts. He knew that the hour was coming, and it was also the time when the strange noise mentioned by Zhao Guizhen appeared.

It's not that Li Han hasn't been to Shanheli, but the midnight Zhongqu is really very different from before the curfew, he just vaguely remembers that Bingxiang is a narrow alley that no one cares about, and there are few people, which is quite rare in Shanheli, where every inch of land is valuable, and it is unknown that it may be someone's private residence inside.

Wang Shi looked at the lantern that turned out of a door, and quietly reminded: "I have passed through Lane B......

"There it is!" Li Han raised his hand and pointed forward, then gently grabbed the reins, "Dismount here first." ”

They led the horses to a horse a few dozen paces away from the entrance of the alley, avoiding as much as possible. After that, Li Han tucked the hem of his robe to his waist, held Wang's arm with one hand, and lifted the lantern that Fang Wei had just asked for with the other hand, and quickly turned into the narrow alley.

The narrow alley is no more than ten paces wide, quiet inside, and there is no end in sight. The alley is a hundred paces ahead, and the view is slightly wider, forming a short street about thirty paces wide. On the left and right of the junction between the narrow alley and the short street, there is a sandwich road that only allows one person to pass, and I don't know where it leads.

On the east side of the alley sits a slightly dilapidated house, with white walls and red tiles, and an arch in front of it, which is made into a flame shape that Li Han and Wang have never seen, it is very dilapidated, and it can be seen that this house has been abandoned for quite a long time from the pieces of vermilion lacquer that peel off to the ground, and the shape is very different from the major official residences and temples in Chang'an City.

Li Han asked Wang to hide in the mezzanine on the west side first, and then he tiptoed to find that there was a rust-stained heavy lock across the arch of the courtyard, which did not look like it was frequented by people.

"What a ruined house?"

Li Han pondered, took a few steps back, and looked carefully at the wall of this mansion for a long time.

Around the arch are engraved three camel statues standing on lotus pedestals, carrying a disc on their backs, with a fire, and a bird-like priest standing on both sides.

Li Xiao noticed that although the lacquer used for the eaves of this abandoned house had faded, through the lantern in his hand, he could faintly see that it was all vermilion in the past, like a flame.

Could it be some abandoned ancestral hall?

Since the Tang Dynasty began the Anshi disaster, the Hu people in the Central Plains were either assimilated, or fled to the Western Regions, the number decreased sharply, and most of the temples and ancestral halls left in the city were demolished for public use.

Li Han stared at the wall of the mansion for a moment, and after confirming that there was no other way to enter the abandoned mansion except by climbing over the wall, he quickly returned to the mezzanine where the Wang family was.

Wang asked King Ying if he had found something, Li Han shook his head, and at this moment, there was a louder drum knock from the direction of the imperial city, and the sound of wooden watches on the street also sounded tacitly.

"Ugliness is coming......," said King Ying, speaking softly, as he stood at the narrow entrance of the road, looking at the closed arched door, and suddenly felt his heart beat faster.

Wang's gaze crossed the Yingwang's shoulders through the tulle. She listened with her ears pricked up, and she keenly caught a strange sound from the sound of the drums, which seemed to come from ...... The direction they just came!

"Cover the lanterns, the king!"

When King Ying heard this, his shoulders trembled, and before he could think about it, he hurriedly withdrew his body, completely covering the lantern on the inside of his robe, and turned his back to the mouth of the road without daring to come out, hiding his figure in the shadows as much as possible.

The passage was narrow and dark, and in order to cover the light of the lantern, Li Han had to maintain a very difficult half-leaning and half-squatting posture, with little room to move.

Wang was almost close to Li Han, and he could clearly feel his husband's breathing, and the faint light of the lantern from the hem of King Ying's scarlet robe reflected the fact that their faces were a little red. Wang remembered that it had been a long time since she had been face-to-face with King Ying for such a long time, and she only felt that her cheeks were a little hot, but she didn't know if it was because of the temperature of the fire in the lantern, or because of something else......

After three beats of the drum, the sound of the soo was louder, or in other words, it became clearer.

It's the rhythmic sound of horses' hooves...... The two of them made a judgment in their hearts.

The sound of horses' hooves disappeared as soon as they entered the short street, with the sound of horses' noses, and then the saddles rubbed a little, but there was no sound of people dismounting and landing. But judging from the sound of horses' hooves, it seems that there is only one person who came.

Li Han quietly turned his head to look back, but his vision was just blocked by the wall at the crossing, and all he could hear was the sonorous lock that followed.

The visitor seemed to knock three times on the door, and then hammered twice, and after a while, the hinge "creaked" from the arch.

The arch opened and closed dullly.

King Ying poked his head warily, and a jujube horse was tethered to the arch. In the courtyard of the abandoned house, which was just dark, torches had been lit at this moment, and the light was shining on the red tiles on the courtyard wall, like a raging bonfire.

Immediately afterward, behind the arch, there was the rhythmic sound of shovels digging and chiseling, and although the spade-wielding man could be heard trying his best to suppress the sound, from the mouth of the road where King Ying stood, the sound was no less than the collision of soldiers.

"The sound of the candle shadow axe ......," King Ying said suddenly, "What Zhao Guizhen said is true......

Li Han's chest and heart beat violently, and when he first heard from Zhang Yijun's mouth that the "ghost soldiers" were about to cause trouble in Chang'an, he could be said to be suspicious. And he was almost certain that this seemingly long-abandoned mansion, located in the south of the imperial city, was a stronghold of Zhang Yijun's pursuit of the rebellious party, and there was only a wall between him and the rebellious party now......

It's time for him to do something!

"King!"

Li Han's thoughts were suddenly pulled back by Wang.

The Wang family, who has always been calm, was shocked in his eyes after seeing the light of the torches reflected in the courtyard, "The concubine thinks...... We should now return to the Sixteenth House! ”

Li Hanjian's eyebrows furrowed, and he couldn't let go of his eyes to look at the unlocked arch.

Wang instinctively said: "...... If you stay here any longer, the concubines are afraid of danger. ”

Li Han's eyes narrowed, and he was in a dilemma. The princess is here, he can't take risks at will, he must send the Wang family out safely.

"You go back to the Sixteenth Mansion ...... quickly"

"What about the king?"

King Ying showed his vassal king's waist card hanging on the inner lining: "I went to inform the Fang Wei of the Jingzhao Mansion, and then quickly gathered the Jinwu guards and the bad people nearby...... Gather here in one moment and take down the chaos in one fell swoop! ”

Such a desperate plan, the slightest carelessness will be doomed, and the Wang family hurriedly dissuaded it.

Li Han said with a solemn expression: "I am the fifth son of Emperor Muzong, the fifth brother of the sage, and the king of Zhengyiying. With this waist card, it is enough to order the Jingzhao Mansion to send troops here......"

"The concubine is not worried about this!" Wang knew that her husband would be wrong, so she unconsciously raised her voice a little, and said hurriedly: "The concubine is afraid, if the party in it is not simply a party?" ”

A hint of surprise flashed in King Ying's eyes: "What do you mean by this?" ”