Chapter 44: The Road to Heaven (15)

Hearing this, Wang Kunjun and the others hurriedly tidied up their clothes, and the person leading the carriage was about to enter the palace with this little yellow gate. Seeing this, the little yellow door hurriedly stopped and said, "A group of horses and vehicles are waiting here, and they are not allowed to enter the palace." ”

Wang Kunjun stepped forward and pointed to the three cars at the front and explained: "This father-in-law, these three cars are filled with gifts from grass people and others to Bixia. ”

The little yellow door said: "In the palace ban, except for the official car, no other cars and horses are allowed to enter. You need to unload the gifts and carry them to the palace gate. After being inspected by the forbidden army that there are no prohibited items, someone will be responsible for carrying them into the palace. ”

What Xiao Huangmen said was originally expected by everyone in the "delegation", and just now they were just testing to see if it was possible to bring the guards into the palace. At this time, seeing that the palace was strictly forbidden, everyone stopped talking. Wang Kunjun and the others immediately instructed the guards to move the various gifts given to Chai Rong from under the car. Because the amount and volume of ammunition for black powder and flintlock pistols are not small, after the things were removed from the car, a total of six large wooden boxes and two small wooden boxes were placed on the ground, which made the small yellow door next to it can't help but take a few more looks, wondering if it is some magic weapons used by Taoist priests to cast spells, or immortal elixirs that can make people immortal.

This little Huangmen knew that these Taoist priests from the north were disciples of Daoist Fuyaozi, and Chai Rong was interested in Huang Laozhi's learning, especially Taoism, which was not a secret in the palace, so he took it for granted that these Taoist priests were here to perform Taoism for Chai Rong, or to refine the elixir. Because of this preconceived idea, this little yellow door did not suspect that there would be other things in the box, and went straight to the right door with Wang Kunjun and others.

At the door of the right door, dozens of forbidden soldiers stood in a lofty manner, and when they saw Wang Kunjun and others coming with several wooden boxes, they immediately stepped forward to carry out their due inspection obligations.

At the request of the leader of the forbidden army, Wang Kunjun asked the guards carrying the boxes to open all the wooden boxes for inspection by the forbidden army. As the lid of the box was lifted, even the forbidden army and the small yellow door issued a "Huh! Because the contents of the six large wooden boxes and the two small wooden boxes were very unexpected to them.

Among them, there is a wooden box that contains the easiest thing to judge, which should be only five long knives with unique shapes. Another box was filled with round projectiles of the same size, apparently made of lead. There were also two boxes with six iron pipe-like objects in each, and they couldn't tell what they were used for. Zuihou's two large wooden boxes are filled with a black powder, which looks like charcoal powder, but I don't know if it's good.

They were even more intrigued by the contents of the two small boxes, one of which contained five cylinders of brass, and the other three small brocade boxes, each containing an object wrapped in red silk. When one of the Taoist priests came over and opened the red silk and handed the contents to the front of the gate guard, the general was immediately so frightened that he almost jumped. Because he saw a big black face in that thing, a big black face of his own. Unlike the blurry images seen in the bronze mirror in the past, the portrait reflected on this object is unusually clear, and even the few pockmarks on his face that are not too obvious can be seen clearly.

With such a clear image, coupled with the identities of these Taoist priests in front of him, three words immediately appeared in the general's mind, "Look at the demon mirror". "This must be the legendary demon mirror," the general guarding the door thought to himself, "In addition to those long knives, including these demon mirrors, the other strange things must be the magic weapons sent by these Taoist priests to the official family." I haven't heard that the palace is haunted, what did the officials do with them sending so many magic weapons? Could it be that you want to deal with foreign enemies? I heard that the official family plans to conquer the Southern Tang Dynasty recently, maybe these things are used to cast spells on the forbidden army, making them invulnerable, so as to sweep away the Southern Tang Dynasty in one fell swoop. ”

In fact, if you want to understand the purpose of these strange things, it is the best way to ask the person who gave the gift directly. But this gatekeeper is already like the little yellow gate at this time, preconceived that these things are magic weapons. In their opinion, if the official family wants to use these magic weapons, then naturally the fewer people who know about it, the better, otherwise the person who is casting the spell has prepared in advance, and the spell may not work. Therefore, after some thought, the gatekeeper finally did not ask about the names, functions, and uses of these gifts one by one. He just pointed to the large and small boxes in front of him and the members of the "delegation" and said, "Since you have been summoned by the official order, these gifts can be entered into the palace." But your retinue was not within the scope of the summons, and could only wait outside the door. Since these gifts included murder weapons such as swords, the forbidden army in the palace was responsible for all the things that should be carried. When you see the driver, the gift will be offered by the forbidden army. ”,

The words of the general guarding the gate completely broke the idea of the "delegation" to bring the guards to the palace together, Wang Kunjun and others had to order the guards to hand over the gifts to the forbidden army, and let them wait outside the palace gate, and they followed the small yellow door into the right door to see Chai Rong.

The area of the imperial palace in the Later Zhou Dynasty is not large, much smaller than the Forbidden City and Forbidden City in Beijing, which travelers have visited in their previous lives. Both the area and the size and number of temples are far from the Forbidden City. Therefore, Wang Kunjun and others, who have experienced the Forbidden City, walked in it, and did not have the sense of oppression that ordinary people entered the palace. Although Yu Xuzi has never seen the Forbidden City, he has always been a wanderer, so he is also leisurely walking in the imperial city, and there is no feeling of discomfort.

Wang Kunjun and the others were surprised by the relaxed performance of the little yellow gate who led the way, he didn't expect that these Taoist priests from remote places in the north came to this palace as if they were walking in their own courtyard, without the fear of the royal majesty of ordinary people. This made the little eunuch even more firm in his previous judgment - these Taoist masters were all high-ranking people, and they came to see the official family to perform spells for the official family, or to cast spells on certain people according to the official family's instructions.

It was precisely because he regarded the "delegation" as a master of the Tao, so although his heart was full of curiosity, when he led Wang Kunjun and others into the palace, this little yellow door did not take the initiative to talk to them. And Wang Kunjun and the others were new to the palace and were not familiar with this little yellow gate, plus Eunuch Liu had also taught them to pay attention to etiquette when entering the palace and not to make loud noises, so they didn't take the initiative to talk to the little yellow gate who led the way. As a result, the two sides walked all the way in silence, so that everyone in the "delegation" didn't even know the name of this little yellow door.

Xiao Huangmen took Wang Kunjun and the others around and around, and Zuihou stopped outside a side hall and said, "Wait here for the time being, let's go to the palace to report to the official." ”

Hearing this, Wang Kunjun and the others hurriedly said to Xiao Huangmen: "Thank you, father-in-law." ”

Xiao Huangmen didn't have much time to enter the hall, so he came out again and said to Wang Kunjun and others: "Bixia has a will, Xuan'er and others will enter the palace to see you." ”

Wang Kunjun hurriedly lined up in line, and under the leadership of Xiao Huangmen, according to the rules taught by the eunuch Liu, he walked into the side hall step by step.

After everyone entered the main hall, Xiao Huangmen did not take them to go inside, but stood near the left of the door. Although the area of the side hall is not large, because it is already more than three o'clock in the afternoon at this time, the light in the hall is not very good, and according to Eunuch Liu's previous teachings, Wang Kunjun and the others only glanced at the hall after entering the hall, and did not dare to look carefully, so everyone did not see the appearance of the person sitting behind the imperial case at all except for a vague figure.

However, whether you can see the person sitting clearly or not, the salute must always be performed. Therefore, all the members of the "delegation" immediately rehearsed the kneeling ritual that had been practiced for a day and a half, and the eleven people knelt down together and bowed three times and bowed nine times: "The grass people participate in bixia, long live my emperor, long live, long live." ”

After a while, I heard a calm voice say, "Flatten." ”

"Xie Bixia," Wang Kunjun and the others stood up after thanking them.

At this time, everyone had adapted to the dim light in the main hall, so they peeked behind the imperial case. I saw that behind the imperial case, there was a middle-aged man wearing a golden crown and a yellow robe. This person's face is like a silver basin, his appearance is heroic, and he gives people a feeling of not being angry and arrogant, so he must be Chai Rong.

However, to the surprise of everyone in the "delegation", under Chai Rong's imperial case, there were still two people standing. One of them had a darker complexion, big ears, and a burly body. The other person had a pale, long-standing face with a Chinese character, a straight nose and a square mouth, and although his figure was not as tall and powerful as the previous one, he also looked very lean. Judging from their clothing and the position they stood, it is estimated that they should be ministers of the court.

Just when everyone in the "delegation" was speculating about the identities of these two people, Zhang Weixin's mind suddenly flashed with inspiration. Black face, big ears, fat body, plus the fact that those who can be summoned by Chai Rong at this time must be cronies and close ministers, these characteristics combine to make Zhang Weixin think of a name - Zhao Kuangyin.

Thinking of this, Zhang Weixin couldn't help but look at this person again, carefully compared his appearance with the portraits of Zhao Kuangyin that he remembered in his mind, and finally believed that he should have guessed correctly, this person is the Zhao boss Zhao Kuangyin, who is famous in history for his "yellow robe".

Seeing two famous emperors in history at the same time made Zhang Weixin, as a history teacher, a little excited. He was tempted to tell the other brothers about his findings and judgments, but it was obviously impossible to whisper in the quiet hall. Therefore, Zhang Weixin, who was excited, could only give up sharing his findings with his brothers, and tried to suppress his emotions so that his expression would not appear too excited.

As for the identity of the person with a pale-faced face, Zhang Weixin really couldn't connect him with a certain historical figure of this era for a while. Because in this era, there are still several ministers who are Chai Rong's cronies and important ministers, and there are very few descriptions of their appearance in the history books, and it is very difficult to compare them one by one.

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