Chapter 27: Sneaking into the Palace at Night to Meet a Beauty (Please Collect)

  The Battle of Pyongyang has passed for several days, and the Korean generals who were stationed in Korea received news that they would be negotiating with the Japanese. They all showed joy on their faces, not only because the war was about to end, but also because they could get promoted and rich. Yeh Ziku saw this situation and could only secretly shake his head. Not to mention that the negotiations had not yet begun, even if the negotiations started, he couldn't be careless at all, and he also secretly sighed at the thought of the generals not thinking about making progress.

  The Qing dynasty is already on its last legs, and these generals are all not thinking about how to expand the country's territory, but only rejoicing in having won one or two battles. The Qing dynasty also only organizes resistance when others have bullied it to the extreme, and has never thought about how to wage war externally, how to gain benefits from war. No wonder later generations will be slowly divided up by others, until they are fragmented into four or five parts.

  Ye Zhiwei ordered the Hu Yongjun to secretly prepare, requiring the butcher to move the intelligence network southward, monitoring the movements of the Japanese army in Hanzhong at all times, and reporting to the superiors as soon as there was a situation.

  After Ye Zhi finished handling military affairs today, he suddenly remembered that there was a celebration banquet held by the Korean princess for the generals tonight. Looking at the time, it had already started.

  Why didn't anyone come to remind him?! This can't be blamed on his subordinates, Ye Zhikui had a habit when handling military affairs, he didn't like to be disturbed, unless it was an emergency. Obviously, considering Ye Zhikui's usual attitude of declining invitations whenever possible, his subordinates didn't consider this matter an emergency. Thinking about the various things between him and Empress Min, Ye Zhikui's mouth curved into a slight arc.

  The banquet was held at the old palace of Pyongyang, Anhegung Palace. Before leaving, Ye Zhikui specially dressed up and changed into a casual wear that he hadn't worn for a long time, then got on the horse-drawn carriage and rushed to Anhegung Palace.

  Yezhuo Kui, stripped of his military uniform, also shed a few points of his tough and overbearing aura, adding a few points of warmth and gentleness. When Yezhuo Kui entered the door, he was actually stopped by the doorman asking for an invitation card, but Yezhuo Kui had completely forgotten to bring one. In the end, it was Zuo Baogui who arrived later that helped him out of the predicament. When the doorman found out that he had stopped Young Master Ye, he was so scared that he almost fainted. Fortunately, Yezhuo Kui was not an unreasonable person and did not blame him.

  Zuo Baogui walked and said: "Xian nephew, you dress up like this, even I almost can't recognize you. Less a young general, more a young talented man."

  Ye Zhi Kui said with embarrassment: "Uncle is joking, I knew it was this situation so I came wearing military uniform."

  The two of them walked into the palace with smiles, and the banquet had already started for some time. Queen Min was very considerate, as after the great victory, the atmosphere was relaxed and joyful. She placed various dishes, fruits, and pastries in the center of the hall, and several seats were set up around the grand hall. On the high platform above, there were performances by dancing girls, while palace maids came and went like shuttles, refilling wine and tea for everyone, and fetching whatever they wanted to eat.

  Ye Zhi Kui and Zuo Bao Gui became the center of attention as soon as they entered the room. It wasn't because the two of them were particularly dazzling, but rather because they had arrived too late. When everyone saw Zuo Bao Gui, they pretended not to notice that he was late and instead greeted him warmly. However, when they saw Ye Zhi Kui, their expressions changed - who is this person? He's so late yet so calm and composed, without a hint of embarrassment.

  Zuo Baogui looked around and said to Ye Zhiwei, "Xian Zhonglang, I'll go over there. I reckon you young folks don't like discussing things with us old codgers who are soon to enter the earth."

  Ye Zhi's awkward smile watched as Zuo Bao left. Only then did he notice that the banquet was due to the division of seats, except for a few carefully arranged positions, the rest were randomly seated by the crowd, which also resulted in familiar people basically sitting together.

  Ye Zhi Kui suddenly found himself without a place to sit, this banquet included all the officials above the camp level, with his status he should have followed Left Bao Guo as before, but just like Left Bao Guo said himself, he was going to a place where that group of people were all old men, although Ye Zhi Kui knew them all, he didn't want to go over and listen to this group of old men talk about Zen and the Tao, no matter what, they couldn't be poured into the same pot.

  At the banquet, there were only his own subordinates among the people he knew, and Ye Zhikui didn't want to go over and create an awkward atmosphere. As soon as he went over, everyone would become restrained, and the conversation would cool down at that time.

  Fortunately, the main hall was spacious enough. Under helpless circumstances, Ye Zhuo didn't mind either and simply found a relatively less crowded spot to sit down nearby.

  After Ye Zhi Kui sat down, he found that the people on both sides were unfamiliar. The person on the left was about 40 years old, dressed in a standard literary attire, with a blue satin robe, and didn't know who his assistant was. He was watching the dancer perform with great interest, while occasionally taking small sips of wine by himself. On the other hand, the person on the right was a robust man wearing a military uniform, drinking alone, and when he saw Ye Zhi Kui looking over, he raised his cup to toast Ye Zhi Kui, who returned the courtesy and drank it down.

  The sturdy man leaned over and said: "This brother, I saw you come in with General Zuo just now, aren't you a brother of the Fu army?"

  The leaves are not placed on the table, and he asked instead: "I see brother ** drinking alone, what's the reason for this?"

  Zhuang Han took a big gulp and said, "Don't mention that nonsense. You can see it too, brother - I'm just a small officer in Sheng Jun's army. I won't tolerate people who cheat soldiers out of their pay or speak rudely to me. That's why I got into an argument with him and had my military achievements cancelled. What bad luck! Come on, let's drink!"

  Although Zhuang Han lowered his voice, the scholar seemed to have heard it too. He put down his wine cup and perked up his ears to eavesdrop. Ye Zhi Kui saw this and secretly found it amusing. He said: "This gentleman, since you're interested, why not come over and drink with us?"

  Wen Shi smiled and sat down, the three of them clinking cups together. Ye Zhi Kui said to the robust man, "It seems that the one who can make you lose face is your General Wei."

  Zhuang Han looked around and said, "We Xiang Army brothers are miserable. We can't compare to you Feng Army brothers. Before entering Korea, we not only had to fight but also had to farm and cultivate the land. Our military pay was not even paid on time. I thought it would be better in Korea, but damn it, after arriving here, although our military pay is being paid, the reward silver that my brothers fought hard for is gone. I just couldn't stand it and said a few words, but then I got ostracized."

  "That officer said: 'Why didn't you report this matter to General Ye?'"

  Zhuang Han curled his lip and replied, "Commander Ye can't control us, the Sheng army. Besides, isn't it always been the case that officials cover for each other? We brothers have no way out, so we've come to plunder our way through."

  The scholar took a sip of wine and said: "I think your army's mutiny in Pingzhou was quite unusual, the reason is not that simple."

  Ye Zhi Kui lowered his head and didn't speak. The strong man asked again: "What else could it be, isn't it just robbery?"

  "No, it's impossible for the soldiers to rob Japanese people without reason." The scholar lowered his voice and said to Ye Zhikui and Zhuang Han: "I suspect that this matter is related to General Ye. I heard that he was assassinated by Japanese people before the incident, and afterwards there were rumors among the soldiers of the Hu Yong Army that the Japanese had a lot of money and valuables."

  Ye Zhi Kui was choked by the wine, but the robust man said: "Don't spout nonsense, I have always admired General Ye the most. Even if it's true, killing Japanese people is not wrong."

  Wen Shi chuckled and said, "You don't know this, but Ye Shao also had the intention to kill the Japanese because of a woman."

  Ye Zhi Kui was speechless. You guys, a group of idle literati who have nothing better to do, why do you like to gossip everywhere? Although I can guess some facts about this scholar and feel a little surprised, it's not worth regretting or being afraid. Ye Zhi Kui has done what he's done, even if the sky falls, he'll hold his ground firmly. Besides, there's no solid evidence anyway.

  Zhuang Han suddenly became interested upon hearing this, and asked one question after another. Ye Zhi Kui was sweating profusely as he watched a black-bellied man and a fanboy constantly gossiping about him, occasionally asking him questions, it was really unbearable.

  The three people didn't even exchange names, but they hit it off immediately. Unfortunately, their conversation was soon interrupted.

  A clear and crisp voice came over, "General Ye, how did you end up sitting here? Is it that I, your concubine, didn't entertain you well?" Empress Min stood not far away, with two palace maids following behind her, her eyes staring at the figure she had finally found.

  "General Ye?" The strong man and the scholar exchanged a glance, then looked at Ye Zhongkui.

  Madam Ming apparently didn't understand what was going on and said, "It can't be, the famous Ye Zhikui, Commander Ye, seems to be very dissatisfied with me, not even bothering to see the host of this banquet, myself."

  Zhuang Han and Wen Shi's faces changed greatly as soon as they heard it, earlier they had said a lot about the "rumor" of Xu Ye's death, so they hastily got up and excused themselves to leave.

  Ye Zhui was just about to win them over, but was disrupted by Min Fei. Seeing Min Fei's furious expression, Ye Zhui got a headache.

  Ye Zhi Kui had no choice but to stand up, take the wine cup and pour it for Min Fei, saying: "This general is a rough man, how dare I go disturb Your Highness?"

  Min Fei let out a cold snort and said, "What else are you not daring to do?" Suddenly realizing that her words were somewhat ambiguous, she thought of something and her cheeks turned slightly red, as if they had been stained with rouge.

  Ye Zhi Kuai took a step forward, handed the wine cup to Min Fei's hand, and at the same time, while the two palace maids behind Min Fei were not paying attention, he lightly hooked her white jade-like palm with his finger and whispered: "Wait for me tonight, I'll secretly stay after the banquet."

  Min Fei was taken aback by the attack, her body trembling slightly. She hastily took over the wine and drank it down, not even having time to say a few words of courtesy before hurrying away.

  Ye Zhi Kui and the others waited until the banquet was over, but they still didn't see those two strong men and scholars who had slipped away under the pretext of going to the toilet. They could only quietly get up and hide in a side hall to wait for nightfall.

  The sky finally darkened, and Ye Zhui hastily sneaked out of the side hall, slowly making his way to the bedroom, avoiding several palace maids and patrolling soldiers along the way. He had been plotting for a long time, and had already gathered information about the location of Min Fei's bedroom from Xiaolinglong on multiple occasions.

  She opened the window, Ye Zhiwei lightly jumped in, and quietly closed the window. She walked forward, and soon heard a splashing sound coming from ahead. After taking only a few steps, she turned around a screen and saw that Empress Min was soaking in the bathtub, scrubbing her body.

  The misty vapor, under the faintly visible and hidden circumstances, the clean white and crimson body, is even more tempting to commit a crime. Ye Zhi's head accidentally touched the screen with a slight collision, making a slight sound.

  The Empress Ming lifted her head and saw that it was Ye Zhikui, she smiled charmingly and beckoned him with a slender finger, saying in a soft voice: "Our great general has arrived, I've been waiting for you for a long time!"

  Ye Zhi's eyes flashed with anger as he cursed the fox spirit, then stripped off his clothes and jumped into the water, saying: "Xianzhu, come quickly and scrub General's back."

  Min Fei gently stroked a few times, and Ye Zhi Kui turned around and hugged her.

  "No, not here, let's go back to bed!"

  "Beautiful girl, you're wrong! Today I'll play a new trick on you!"

  It's not easy for two people to be together, it's all about constant demands, and the sound of heavy breathing keeps coming...