Li Ben laughed and said: "The shopkeeper Xiao went south and north, and he really had some knowledge. Not bad! The Queen Mother is not just looking for comfort, but for your help! The ministers of the court are in charge, and the queen mother needs help! ”

Sooner or later, this secret will have to be told to Xiao Dapeng, and if Xiao Dapeng retreats, Li Ben will not mind killing the killer. He was surrounded by Li Ben's henchmen, including the private soldiers he had secretly raised in the past few months, and the masters he had transferred from the Reserve Mansion. Although Li Ben doesn't know martial arts, with these people, it is not difficult to take down Xiao Dapeng.

Xiao Dapeng really hesitated. It is common for the court to have jiān ministers, but it is not normal to ask the empress dowager to use external forces to exterminate them. This shows that the power of the ministers in the court is quite large. Xiao Dapeng has his own eyes and ears, and of course he knows that the Jiān minister that Li Ben is referring to must be Li Yuan, the prince of the Tang Kingdom, who is in power. Participating in this kind of thing is gambling, and if you win, you will soar, and if you lose, you will be crushed.

However, Xiao Dapeng's parents died, and he did not have a family, let alone children. In other words, Xiao Dapeng is now barefoot and not afraid to wear shoes, he only hesitated slightly, then gritted his teeth and said: "Okay, Xiao did it!" ”

Li Ben couldn't help relaxing, nodded, and said, "Okay, you can follow me into the palace immediately and meet the Queen Mother!" ”

The guards of the left and right sides of the palace have camping places in the palace, but they can leave the palace once every six days, but they must be accompanied by more than five people. As for officers above the rank of captain, because most of their homes are in Luoyang City, they can go home when they are not on duty. The guards of the palace gate are the left and right prison gates, and Pei Lian, the general of the prison gate, is Li Yuan's henchman. There are a few captains in the left and right reserve mansions, and those palace gate guards naturally recognize them, so Xiao Dapeng can't pretend to be a captain, but can only pretend to be an ordinary guard. Today is the time when the guards leave the palace, and if you don't take advantage of the opportunity to enter the palace today, you will have to wait for another six days.

Xiao Dapeng was tall, changed into the armor of the guards, and put on the waist card, but he was also decent, and he went in with Li Ben, but he was not hindered in any way. After entering the palace, it was Li Ben's territory, and the guards he met were all his subordinates, so naturally all the way was smooth. Xiao Dapeng followed Li Ben and went straight to the harem, and after a while, he arrived at a gorgeous palace, surrounded by guards and heavily guarded.

In Yang Guang's era, even the guards were not allowed to enter the harem. But now this rule has long been in vain, and it is common for Li Yuan's father and son to enter and leave the harem, and they naturally have to bring a large number of guards with them. And in order to prevent Empress Dowager Xiao from contacting the outside world, a large number of guards must also be arranged. Of course, Li Yuan would never have imagined that Li Ben, who came out of the small mountain village, would be so bold as to change his court.

Outside the door of Empress Dowager Xiao's bedroom, Li Ben glanced at Xiao Dapeng and said, "You are waiting here!" ”

Xiao Dapeng nodded and stood aside. After half an hour, there was no movement, Xiao Dapeng became nervous, and his palms were full of sweat. In fact, Xiao Dapeng's courage was still big enough, otherwise he would not dare to come to Luoyang City without seeing the mysterious person, nor would he dare to break into the palace after Li Ben. But this has nothing to do with being bold, just like Qin Wuyang beside Jing Ke, who is also the master who is not afraid of death, but when he arrived at the palace of Qin State, he was still panicked. If you want to say that the nerves are so big that they are rampant in the palace, there is only Liu Ziqiu.

Although this is only the dormitory of the Empress Dowager Xiao, the surrounding guards are all sinking like water, silent, giving people invisible pressure, Xiao Dapeng involuntarily felt a little chilly. In fact, when Li Ben first entered the palace, although he was the head of these guards, his performance was not as good as him. Later, dangling in front of Empress Dowager Xiao all day long, Li Ben's courage gradually grew.

Whether it is an emperor or a concubine, they are all human beings and not gods, they also have two eyes and one nose. It's just that they are usually high, and others will naturally be afraid of them. But those who are around the emperor and concubines all day long are different, they can get in touch with the most ordinary life of the emperor and concubines, and they can get in touch with the emperor and concubines eating, drinking, and sleeping, so naturally their awe of the emperor and concubines is also light.

After another half an hour, Li Ben walked out of the Empress Dowager Xiao's bedroom and nodded to the guards outside: "You, you, and you, come in with so-and-so!" ”

Of course, Xiao Dapeng was also among them, and followed Li Ben into the Queen Mother's bedroom.

This queen mother's dormitory was originally the palace of Empress Xiao, and it is also the most luxurious palace in the palace. The reason why Empress Dowager Xiao moved here was not because it was luxurious and extravagant, but because this dormitory was relatively dúlì and easy to control, and Li Yuan forced her to move here. In this way, it is even more difficult for Empress Dowager Xiao to contact the outside world.

Xiao Dapeng was still nervous in his heart, and he didn't dare to look around. At this time, I heard a woman shouting and scolding: "Someone, drag her out, and kill her with a cane!" ”

The two guards who entered the dormitory with Xiao Dapeng stepped forward and flipped a young palace maid to the ground, taking off her skirt and revealing a full moon of white flowers. The palace maid choked and begged for mercy, but the two guards turned a deaf ear, picked up the wooden staff and smashed it down, only to hear two "pops", and the palace maid's crying stopped abruptly.

Xiao Dapeng didn't dare to look up, and he didn't see what the palace maid looked like, but he lowered his head, and when he saw the palace maid's white and tender buttocks, flesh and blood flew in an instant, and his heart couldn't help but twitch. The two guards picked up their sticks and smashed them down one after the other. After more than ten strokes, one of the guards stopped, probed the palace maid's snort, and arched his hand and said, "General Qiyu, it's out of breath!" ”

"Drag it out!" Li Ben waved his hand, and said to Xiao Dapeng, "You, come in with so-and-so!" ”

Xiao Dapeng secretly clenched the handle of the knife, sneered in his heart, I want to kill chickens and make an example of monkeys, I, Xiao, am not afraid! In fact, Xiao Dapeng was still a little scared in his heart, he didn't think that his life was cheaper than any bullshit Empress Dowager Xiao. If he could choose to live, he would not want to die together.

In fact, Xiao Dapeng was wrong, Li Ben's move was not to kill chickens and make an example of monkeys, but to hide people's eyes and ears, so that Xiao Dapeng could enter the Empress Dowager Xiao's bedroom. Just now, Li Ben entered the dormitory for so long, just to tell the Empress Dowager Xiao that someone had brought it. Empress Dowager Xiao couldn't help but hesitate, so Li Ben persuaded for a while, so she delayed. But these guards outside the dormitory are not all Li Ben's henchmen, and he always has to find a reason to bring a few people in.

Although the situation of Empress Dowager Xiao's mother and son is like house arrest, and Yang Gao is just a puppet, their mother and son are the nominal empress dowager and emperor after all, so Li Yuan did not limit them too much. In addition to not being able to contact the outside world and not being able to move around in the palace, Empress Dowager Xiao still has the right to dispose of these eunuchs and maids in the palace. Most of these eunuchs and palace maids were eyeliners sent by Li Yuan, but how could Li Yuan care about the life and death of these eunuchs and palace maids. Therefore, Empress Dowager Xiao would execute one or two eunuchs or palace maids almost every few days, and then Li Yuan would send a few more trusted eunuchs and palace maids over.

This is actually a means of resistance for Empress Dowager Xiao, and over time, the eunuchs and palace maids in the palace are much more honest, and they don't dare to talk to Li Yuan anymore. Of course, Empress Dowager Xiao's mother and son are under house arrest here, and there is nothing for them to pass on, so Empress Dowager Xiao has not been killed with a cane for a long time.

Today deserves the bad luck of this palace maid, and the Empress Dowager Xiao wants to smoothly get Xiao Dapeng into the palace, which is the only means, because except for Li Ben, other guards are not allowed to enter the palace casually. Li Ben was still Li Yuan's cronies on the surface, and he knew which eunuchs and palace maids were one of Li Yuan's eyeliners, so he designated her casually.

Xiao Dapeng followed Li Ben to the palace, and heard the angry voice just now come again: "You are Xiao Dapeng?" Raise your head and let Hongu take a look. ”

This time, the woman's voice was unusually soft, not at all like she had just executed someone.

Xiao Dapeng raised his head and couldn't help but be stunned. He thought that Empress Dowager Xiao was an old woman, but unexpectedly she was a young woman, and her eyes couldn't help but flicker a little.

Empress Dowager Xiao was stunned when she saw Xiao Dapeng, and said in a deep voice: "You took off your helmet." ”

Xiao Dapeng was puzzled, but he still obediently took off his helmet. He was originally a child of a family, handsome, and in charge of the carriage and horse shop for more than half a year, although he had developed some market spirit, but overall, he was still a little arrogant.

Empress Dowager Xiao was stunned for a moment, and then muttered: "Like, too similar!" ”

Li Ben almost laughed out loud, this Empress Dowager Xiao is too capable of pretending. But immediately found that Empress Dowager Xiao's eyes looking at Xiao Dapeng were extremely soft, and Li Ben couldn't help but feel a sour feeling in his heart. Li Ben, like Li Yuan and Xiao Dapeng, is a good person, and he has long coveted the beauty of Empress Dowager Xiao. It's just that Li Ben knows that Empress Dowager Xiao is actually the prey that Li Yuan has set a long time ago, at least before Li Yuan's fall, Li Ben doesn't dare to think about it. But now that Empress Dowager Xiao has clearly taken a fancy to Xiao Dapeng's little white face, Li Ben is very unhappy in her heart.

Xiao Dapeng is also bold, he stared at the Empress Dowager Xiao's smile and frown, the panic just now had already been thrown out of the clouds, and asked along with the words of the Empress Dowager Xiao: "I don't know what the villain looks like?" ”

Empress Dowager Xiao didn't have any tricks on her face, and said seriously: "You look like a person!" What was your grandfather's name? ”

Xiao Dapeng was stunned for a moment, and blurted out: "Xiao Xin! ”

When he was in Changshan Village, Xiao Xin repeatedly emphasized to Xiao Dapeng that he should not disclose his life experience. After all, the Xiao family is an old minister of the Southern Dynasty and is on the opposite side of the Great Sui, and once it is known by the imperial court, it is likely to bring about a catastrophe. But with Xiao Xin's death, Xiao Dapeng has long forgotten about this jǐng. Of course, Xiao Dapeng has never mentioned it to anyone, because no one has ever asked him. Recently, he has been so busy in the carriage and horse shop that Xiao Dapeng even forgot about his grandfather, as if he didn't go to Xiao Xin's grave during the Mid-Autumn Festival.