221: Night Visit to the Imperial Palace

  Liu Ziguang, who was invited to drink tea by the Eastern Depot, actually returned unscathed, which is no wonder why everyone is puzzled. Anyone who enters the Eastern Depot's prison either dies or loses a layer of skin, but this gentleman not only returned intact but also seemed spirited and radiant, with a full face of red glow, it's truly a strange thing.

  Peng Jingwei circled around him a few times, looking him up and down, confirming that there were no signs of a fight, and finally exclaimed: "You're formidable now, you can kill people without getting blood on your hands. Tell me, how many Eastern Depot guards did you kill to escape?" Then she turned to face Peng Jingrong and said: "Sister, let's quickly pack our bags and run! He's gotten himself into big trouble this time. I don't know if the city gates are closed yet. Can we still make it out in time?"

  Liu Ziguang smiled and gave Peng Jingrong a reassuring glance, then shouted to the crowd in the courtyard: "Everyone can rest assured, the person from the East Factory is a friend of mine, nothing's wrong, everyone can put down their arms." He quickly stepped forward, lowered his voice and said to Peng Jingrong: "Big sister, come inside, there's something important to discuss." The two walked shoulder-to-shoulder into the main house. Peng Jingwei hurriedly followed but was immediately chased out. "Children shouldn't listen to adults' conversations! Wait at the door." The angry second miss could only stand guard at the door, not allowing anyone to approach.

  To put it briefly, the eldest sister sat in a purple sandalwood chair for a long time without saying a word. The Longjing tea in the purple clay teapot had gone cold. Liu Ziguang felt a bit uneasy, wondering if he had made the wrong choice.

  "Honor and fame can only be obtained through battle, truly a hero's words." Perhaps this is the most suitable path for you, Peng Jing said slowly. The previous generation was involved in the struggle for the throne, and the crown prince that Father supported is now just an idiot king hiding in Xuzhou. If not for having the power to protect ourselves, perhaps even Tiechang wouldn't have survived until today. Back then, how many people lost their heads, how many powerful families were destroyed, the capital city was filled with blood... Even now, the people of Nanjing still have lingering fears. And now, the one you care about wants to participate in this cruel political struggle again, how can anyone be at ease?

  However, a hero who is unwilling to be obscure cannot refuse such an opportunity. Being appointed as a general and enfeoffed as a marquis, bringing glory to one's ancestors, is the dream of all warriors.

  "I'll persuade Father to support you, support the Emperor, but you have to guarantee not to implicate our Riguo Iron Factory. The factory is struggling to cope with its own affairs and won't be able to allocate too many personnel to you, only providing weapons and silver." Although knowing the risk was great, Peng Jingrong still unconditionally supported her loved one's decision.

  "That's great, I'll take my leave first and prepare some things." Being able to get the support of the iron factory is like adding wings to a tiger, Liu Ziguang was very satisfied.

  Watching him leave the room, Peng Jingrong softly recited "The willow color is seen at the end of the alley, I regret calling my husband to seek a marquis title, hoping you won't make me regret today's decision..."

  Liu Ziguang was preparing the necessary tools for stealing into the imperial palace. First, he needed a work uniform, which was the standard attire of thieves, a black night-traveling outfit. However, Liu Ziguang decided that a pure black outfit might not have the best stealth effect, so he decided to make a camouflage suit. He took out a tight-sleeved white cotton practice uniform from his closet and sent Ding Libin to borrow some paint from Dajie's painting supplies, including ochre, sky blue, ink green, lake blue, and golden yellow, as well as the ink from the study. He randomly applied these colors to the clothes, mainly using white, black, cyan, and yellow. The cyan and white were the main colors of most city walls and stone floors, while the yellow and red were the primary colors of the imperial palace. The black color mixed with other colors increased the visual blur at night. The entire camouflage suit was a city-style camouflage uniform, with a pure black face mask that only exposed two eyes, nose holes, and mouth holes.

  Waist is a black wide leather belt, on which Liu Ziguang tied many buttonholes to hang tools. The flying tiger claw is a must-have, how can it be a professional without the flying tiger claw? The defensive weapon chooses short and delicate sleeve arrows and short knives. The sleeve arrow is hidden in the sleeve and controlled by the wrist strap. With one press of the wrist, the arrowhead is poisonous and sees blood to seal the throat. The short knife is inserted into the chest, with a length of one foot, forged from fine steel, extremely thin blade, and serrated on the back, which can be used to pry open door locks or destroy fences and iron locks.

  The Soul Fragrance is a tool for the flower thief, and it's not necessary to equip it for now. The small stones used for asking questions on the road and the meat bones used to bribe the wolf dog are also unnecessary. The imperial palace is not a rural landlord's mansion, these things are basically useless. The pepper powder that numbs the dog's nose is still needed. The shoes are thin-soled boots, making no sound when walking, and the soles have many thick threads, forming uneven patterns, greatly improving the grip and anti-slip ability. On his hands, he wears a pair of leather half-gloves. This is Liu Ziguang's first time as a flying thief, and he has no experience, but he prepared these things based on his imagination, waiting for the emperor's intelligence.

  After lunch, the intelligence arrived. A man carrying a sword ran to Lianfeng's shop saying he wanted to repair his scabbard. He entered the shop and asked to see Liu Ziguo by name. It turned out that the rice paper with the palace map was hidden inside the scabbard. After sending the man away, Liu Ziguo spread out the rice paper on a long table and studied it carefully.

  The Imperial City is located in the southeast of Nanjing, and the Forbidden City is enclosed within the Imperial City. In front of the Meridian Gate of the Forbidden City, the Temple of Heaven and the Altar of Land and Grain are arranged on both sides; On both sides of the imperial road in front of the Gate of Heavenly Purity of the Imperial City, there are the Ministry of Rites, the Ministry of War, the Ministry of Works, the Hanlin Academy, and the Imperial Hospital on the left; The Right side is distributed with the Five Military Commissions, the Censorate, the Embroidered Uniform Guard, the Temple of Heaven, and the Observatory.

  The layout of the Forbidden City is similar to that of Beijing's Palace, divided into two main parts: the front and back palaces. The front part consists of the Hall of Supreme Harmony, the Hall of Central Harmony, and the Hall of Preserving Harmony, all located on a massive T-shaped platform. After passing through the Gate of Supreme Harmony, one enters the rear palace, which is further divided into the Palace of Heavenly Purity, the Palace of Earthly Tranquility, and the six eastern and western palaces.

  Liu Ziguang's target was Kun Ning Palace in the Western Palace, which was the residence of the Empress Dowager. The nearest road to enter the inner palace was Bei An Gate of the Imperial City, but this place was full of military camps, with Jinwu Houwei, Fujun Left Guard and Yulin Left Guard stationed here; it's not safe enough, or go through Xi'an Gate on the west side into the Imperial City, and then enter the Palace City from Xihua Gate. The two sides of this road were Neifu Zhuku and Neigong Zhujian, okay, let's take the west gate, not only is the danger small but also can take advantage of it to grab some valuable things.

  The security work of the palace was undertaken by the Embroidered Uniform Guard and the Inner Guards, with the former responsible for the front palace and the latter for the safety of the rear palace. The so-called Inner Guards were a group of armed eunuchs who, although being eunuchs, were actually the power faction of the Empress Dowager. Their sentry posts and patrol routes, as well as their shift change times, were all detailed on the map below. It seems that Zhu Youxiao's intelligence gathering work had not been going on for just one or two days.

  The whole afternoon was spent studying the map and practicing climbing houses, the two ladies were taken to go shopping by Xu Xiwen, no one disturbed, Liu Ziguang walked back and forth on the ridge of Feng's house several times, familiarized himself with the route, and memorized the map, just waiting for nightfall to take action.

  In the late afternoon, a light rain started to fall, which was really a blessing in disguise. The rain not only reduced the number of people outdoors but also helped to conceal our tracks.

  After the hour of Hai, the sky was already pitch black, and the light rain continued to fall. Liu Ziguang put on his camouflage uniform, wore thin-soled anti-slip boots, carried all his equipment, and quietly slipped out of the room, climbed onto the roof, along the wall around the house, then the neighbor's wall, silently heading towards the imperial palace.

  In ancient times, buildings were not as difficult to climb as modern skyscrapers, and the buildings in the capital city were relatively dense. For someone like Liu Ziguang with high agility skills, it was easy to navigate. On a rainy night, there were no pedestrians on the streets, and no lights were lit in any household. Occasionally, you could hear the sound of the watchman patrolling with his wooden clapper, but even the officers responsible for nighttime patrols were too lazy to come out.

  They soon arrived at the foot of the imperial city, where the western city wall was guarded by the Right Guard of the Imperial Army. The West Peace Gate was closed, and under the dim yellow lanterns on the gate tower, a few soldiers were hiding from the rain in the corner. Although the city wall was high, the inclined bricks made it easy to climb, so Liu Ziguang didn't use his flying tiger claws and climbed up directly. A large section of the city wall was empty and unmanned, and it's no wonder that the soldiers had relaxed their vigilance. In such a world, in such weather, who wouldn't dare to commit a crime inside the imperial city?

  Unfortunately, the daring thief not only existed but was more than one. Liu Ziguang, who had just slipped down the city wall, discovered a strange shadow in front of him, moving swiftly and nimbly, as if familiar with the route, quickly traversing the walls of the inner palace treasuries.

  He met a fellow traveler, Liu Ziguo closely followed the flying thief in front of him. Maybe this fellow traveler can bring a shortcut? Looking at his appearance, entering and leaving the imperial palace seems as casual and natural as visiting a neighbor's house.

  Xihua Gate was the west gate of the Imperial City, where the city wall was not as high as the outside, painted with vermilion, tall and smooth. Even a skilled martial artist would find it difficult to jump up, Liu Ziguang stopped in his tracks to see how his companions entered the city, only to see that the thief had found a spot on the wall where the red paint had peeled off slightly, jumped straight up, and with hands that seemed to have suction cups, climbed up in just a few moves, disappearing silently into the high walls.

  Indeed a master, Liu Ziguang exclaimed and followed suit, running up to the city wall and jumping several times in succession, borrowing force to jump high, his whole body seemed to have escaped gravity as he leaped onto the city wall. The corner tower was brightly lit, but no one noticed that two thieves had already entered the imperial palace.

  Deep eaves, dense pavilions, carved beams and painted buildings, thousands of doors and windows, golden and jade radiant, majestic momentum. This is the impression that the imperial palace of the Ming Dynasty gave to Liu Ziguang. Unlike the Forbidden City in Beijing which has become a museum, this is a living imperial palace where countless concubines, palace maids and eunuchs lived. Every palace, every corner may have witnessed stories of joy and sorrow, love and hate, loyalty and betrayal within the palace walls.

  The target is the Kunning Palace, which is said to contain many precious treasures and ancient calligraphy and paintings. Gold has a price, but jade is priceless; when made into crafts, the emerald is even more invaluable. What about Wang Xizhi's ink treasure and Wu Daozi's Danqing? Those are national treasures that are priceless and cannot be bought or sold.