Chapter 43: Assassination!

  The night was cool as water, but Ganquan Palace was still bustling with noise and excitement.

  After deciding to assassinate King Yiqu, forcing Yiqu to rebel against Qin, Fan Sui carefully planned. The king of Yiqu now lives in Ganquan Palace for a long time, and Ganquan Palace is located on Lishan Mountain thirty miles east of Xianyang.

  The present-day Li Mountain was not as famous as it would be in later generations. Decades later, the First Emperor of Qin set his mausoleum at the foot of Mount Li's northern slope, and only then did Mount Li gain great fame.

  After a thousand years, there is also a poem of Nalan Xingde's Mulan Ci that mentions Lishan. This made the world's infatuated men and women know about Tang Minghuang and Yang Guifei's eternal love on Lishan. The poem says: "If life were only like the first meeting, what is the sorrow of autumn wind and painted fan? Easily changing the heart of an old friend, yet saying that the heart of an old friend is easy to change. The words on Lishan ended at midnight, tears and rain fell, but no resentment. What about the thin luck of the brocade-clad young man, the wish of flying together as a pair on that day?"

  Ganquan Palace, although located outside Xianyang City, is not affected by the curfew of Xianyang, making it convenient for assassination. However, Lishan belongs to the Qin King's imperial forest, and ordinary people cannot get close. After yesterday's probe disguised as a merchant, Fan Yu discovered that Ganquan Palace has heavy troops guarding it. After all, it is the residence of the Queen Mother of Qin and the King of Yiqu, and the defense of Ganquan Palace by the Qin state is very strict.

  In this case, the difficulty of assassination can be imagined. Unless someone familiar with the terrain of Ganquan Palace leads the way, or secondly, finds a map of Ganquan Palace, there is little hope.

  Fortunately, hard work pays off for those who are diligent. With the help of money, Fan Yu soon found out who was in charge of building Ganquan Palace. All his circumstances were under Fan Yu's control. Before leaving, King Han had given Fan Yu thirty brave warriors, and now they could be put to good use.

  That night, in a household within Xianyang City, a group of black-clad men arrived uninvited.

  "Spare my life!" The male owner got up with a quiver.

  The master of the house glanced at the bronze sword hanging from his neck, and the treasure sword emitted a chilling light in the dim candlelight. Although he was extremely frightened in his heart, he still spoke in a flattering tone: "There is some slight wealth in our family, good man, please take it away. Don't hurt my family's life."

  The leader of the group of black-clad men spoke in a hoarse voice, with a sly smile, saying: "Gao Gong, don't be afraid. We didn't come here to rob you, on the contrary, we have a fortune to bestow upon you."

  A large handful of gold was thrown onto the table. Under the dim light, the gold shone with an enticing color.

  Looking at the wealth of no less than a hundred taels in front of him, the black-clad man's high price was not dared to be accepted. Since the other party knew his name, he must have had ulterior motives, and he carefully replied: "What does the good fellow want? Just say it. The humble one dare not disobey, but this gold, the humble one is absolutely unwilling to accept."

  "What did you say?! You dare to refuse what the boss gave you? What do you take us for?" Another man in black clothes indignantly raised his sword and cursed.

  Looking at the unhappy black-clothed old man, Gao Gong became even more flustered and had no choice but to grit his teeth and say: "Then I'll just have to obey."

  The leader of the men in black nodded and smiled, saying: "That's right. You see, everyone cooperates a bit, things are easy to handle. This time we came, really have something to ask for!"

  Listening to this eerie laughter, Gao Gong was drenched in cold sweat, and he didn't even dare to breathe, all he could do was nod in agreement.

  "To be honest with you, we are bandits. We're in a tight spot right now and want to invite the Queen Dowager of Qin to our hideout for a visit, to get some money from her. However, Ganquan Palace is too big and we don't know the way. So, we've come here at midnight to ask you, Master Zhang, to show us the way."

  Listening to the tone of the man in black, it was as if he were inviting a relative to visit his home, and Gao's brain suddenly went blank.

  They actually dare to defy the empress's orders! Don't they want to live anymore? Of course, I'm just a minor figure in charge of designing and supervising the construction of the palace. Who would come looking for trouble with me otherwise?!

  This is a crime that can lead to the extinction of one's clan! Once you agree, it's all over. But Black Night is a ruthless killer who wouldn't bat an eye at taking lives, and if he doesn't agree, he definitely won't survive tonight. Gao Gong was struggling in his heart.

  The leader of the men in black didn't hear the response he wanted, and wasn't anxious, but simply played with the dagger in his hand, walking carelessly to a little girl and saying: "Whose daughter is this? She's really beautiful. I just don't know if she'll still be beautiful after being cut a few times."

  As soon as he finished speaking, he wanted to take out his dagger and test it. The little girl, who was only eleven or twelve years old, was immediately frightened pale, tears streaming down her face, and she turned her head, desperately looking at her father.

  Gao Gong shouted, "Don't!"

  With a slap, the black-clad man slapped him and stopped him from making any more noise. However, the leader of the black-clad men stopped in his tracks, turned around and asked, "What? You've figured it out so quickly?"

  Gao Gongda panted heavily, seemingly replenishing the oxygen deficiency caused by his mouth being covered, and weakly replied: "I'll give you the blueprint, please don't harm my family."

  "That's right!" The leader of the men in black nodded slightly.

  The black-clad man nodded and followed Gao Gong to retrieve the blueprint of Ganquan Palace from a hidden compartment in the wall corner. The blueprint was very detailed and didn't seem to be fake. However, the black-clad man still examined it carefully and pointed at a dashed line, asking: "What's this?"

  He glanced around cautiously and replied, "It's a secret passageway we built for ourselves to escape with our lives. Good fellow, you know that once we artisans finish building the mausoleum or palace, it's often a dead end for us. Those big shots don't want us commoners to be too familiar with their places. But Ganyeong Palace was an exception, thanks to the empress dowager's mercy, she spared our lives."

  "Where is the passage open? Has it been filled?" The leader of the men in black asked somewhat urgently.

  Originally, this group of people thought that going there would be certain death. Although they were dead soldiers, they also did not want to sacrifice in vain.

  With thirty people rushing into the three thousand guarded Ganquan Palace, the hope of success was indeed slim. But now there is a sudden turn for the better, if there really is a secret passage, then they can sneak in and out of the palace without anyone noticing.

  "It shouldn't be discovered," said Gao Gong, wiping away cold sweat. "We built it very secretly, the exit is in the abandoned old well behind the back hall of Ganquan Palace, and from above, you can't see anything at all."

  After inquiring again about the entrance and exit of the hidden passage, the man in black finally put his mind at ease. The leader said: "Thank you so much, Gao Gong, you really helped us a lot."

  "Don't worry! Good men, rest assured that I will move away tomorrow and my whole family will change our names and keep a low profile, not meddling in worldly affairs."

  "I do believe that Gao Gong is a good person, it's just..." The leader of the black-clad men waved his hand, and the originally prepared to release Gao Gong's family was instead strangling the necks of Gao Gong and his six family members with a ferocious expression.

  "You... how... insincere..." Gao Gong said with difficulty.

  "I still believe that the dead won't reveal secrets. Haogong, you can keep this hundred taels of gold buried underground! In these chaotic times, being dead might be better than being alive!"

  In the muttering of the Men in Black's leader, all seven members of Gao Gong's family died.

  "Two more! Give them to me quickly!"

  That night, a big fire broke out in the homes of Gao Gong and his two neighbors. Due to the Qin King's curfew order, no one dared to go out and put out the fire. All 23 people from the three families died. After the coroner examined the bodies, it was found that all 23 people had died from suffocation. The Chang'an Prefect then hastily closed the case and did not mention it again.

  After getting the Ganquan Palace map, Fan Yi was also overjoyed. Except for leaving a dozen or so people in Xianyang to await orders, everyone else set out on the second day to head to the capital of Yiqi State - Qingyang. The main force of the assassination operation - the Thirty Martyrs - had already departed from Xianyang and were preparing for that night's assassination.

  In an instant, a storm is brewing! No one knows that a huge whirlpool is quietly gathering in Xianyang.