Chapter 148 Ran away
The entire Forbidden City was dark and empty, with only the Hall of Mental Cultivation still brightly lit.

In the western warm room, Emperor Yongchang was walking back and forth in front of the imperial desk with his hands behind his back.

On a large piece of paper on the imperial desk was written a row of big characters: “White Lotus Sect, Southern Pacification Office, Prince Zhongshun’s Palace, Prince Beijing’s Palace, Ningguo Palace, Jia She”.

There was a sound of footsteps, and Dai Quan walked in quickly and reported to Emperor Yongchang: “Your Majesty, it has been confirmed that Jia She was not involved, only those old soldiers from Ningguo Mansion.”

Emperor Yongchang felt relieved upon hearing this, but a look of disappointment appeared in his eyes again.

Dai Quan walked to the compartment, picked up the copper kettle, and poured some tea in front of the imperial desk, saying, “A few old soldiers can’t cause any trouble.”

Emperor Yongchang glanced at him, walked to the imperial desk and sat down, picked up the pen and erased the words “Jia She”, then said: “This old guy, let him escape again.”

Dai Quan smiled.

Emperor Yongchang picked up the tea bowl and took a sip, then put it down and looked at Dai Quan: “We can’t let Shui Rong hide at home.”

Dai Quan thought for a moment and asked tentatively, “Add more fuel to the fire.”

Emperor Yongchang: “Help Ningguo Mansion and let Shui Rong face the threat of death and not enter the second gate.”

Dai Quan: “Yes.”

Emperor Yongchang suddenly saw a few pieces of ink paper under the jade paperweight, and then said: “These street lunatics and scoundrels are not all useless.”

Dai Quan understood: “These ruffians wander around the city every day, playing with everything and asking about everything. We can indeed get some intelligence. I will arrange it tomorrow.”

Emperor Yongchang suddenly stood up, walked to the window and looked at the lights outside. After a while, he said, “I have an idea. I want to separate the five patrol battalions from the Infantry Command Office and re-establish the Five Cities Military Command. What do you think?”

Dai Quan’s heart skipped a beat. Was the emperor suspicious of Prince Zhongshun, or was he simply warning him?
Dai Quan: “This… This is such a big matter, I dare not speak rashly.”

Emperor Yongchang did not mind and continued, “After the contract is signed, the army will return victoriously. In addition to conferring titles on those old guys, we must also find a place of shelter for their sons and nephews.”

Dai Quan immediately responded: “Your Majesty is wise.”

“Stop flattering!”

Emperor Yongchang turned around, looked at the self-ringing clock in the corner, and said, “Curfew is about to begin. Send an order to Li Hu immediately. Don’t leave anyone alive. Bai Hongzhi’s identity must not be leaked.”

Dai Quan understood the stakes, not only was the reputation of the court at stake, but a prince and a prince were also involved behind the scenes. Especially the third prince, once Bai Hongzhi’s true identity was known, the reputation of the royal family and the court would be completely wiped out.

The emperor’s son is colluding with bandits, what a joke!

Dai Quan: “As you wish.” After a pause, he asked tentatively, “Which part is the Daxiangguo Temple?”

Emperor Yongchang waved his hand and said, “Don’t worry about them. By the way, tell Shi Ding not to pay attention to Xicheng.”

Dai Quan replied, “Yes.” Then he walked out quickly.

“Boom~”

Suddenly, a bell rang from the Chongwenmen Tower, and then the huge gate of Chongwenmen slowly closed.

Since the capital was moved from Nanjing to Beijing during the Yongle period of the Ming Dynasty, Beijing has nine gates and one bell at eight o’clock. That is, there are nine city gates, eight of which are used for patrolling and one is used for striking the bell.

The striking of the bells and the ringing of the bells are not telling time. The bell and drum tower is used to tell time. The striking of the bells and the ringing of the bells are done every morning and evening, opening the city gates in the morning and closing them in the evening.

It was curfew and the moon was covered by clouds, with only some twinkling stars.

The entire East City was shrouded in peace.

The sound of footsteps could be heard on the empty street, and a few lanterns slowly floated in from the depths of the street.

A team officer and a group of soldiers, all carrying swords, and the four big words “Fifth Battalion of Patrolmen” were clearly printed on the lantern!
A soldier leaned sideways and stretched out his arm, holding the lantern to the right side in front of the officer, muttering, “Uncle, walk slower and pay attention to the front.”

The officer glanced at him and said, “Go ahead without worry. There are no pedestrians on this street. After the second watch, there are two types of people who dare to walk on the street, except for the night watchmen. One type is us, who are unlucky and have been chosen as the night watchmen. The other type is…”

Having said this, he suddenly stopped, stared at the dark alley beside him, slowly drew his sword, and shouted sternly: “Come out!”

A figure walked out from the darkness. The leading officer looked at him and was frightened out of his wits. He was wearing a bright red flying fish suit, a belt tied around his waist, and equipped with an embroidered spring sword. His cold face…
“It’s the Jinyi Commander!”

“What’s wrong, uncle?”

Captain Qiu walked out slowly, his two cold eyes slowly sweeping across the faces of several people.

Several of them looked stern.

The officer saluted quickly: “Sir.”

Captain Qiu: “Get lost.”

“Go! Go!”

The officer called a few soldiers and ran away like the wind.

Captain Qiu sneered and raised his hand.

A captain wearing green embroidered clothes led dozens of Southern Pacification Division soldiers out and formed a square formation behind Captain Qiu. At this time, a Southern Pacification Division soldier ran over from the street across the street and reported to Captain Qiu: “Your Excellency, the front and back streets are blocked.”

Captain Qiu’s hand, which was raised in the air, suddenly chopped down.

Those Southern Pacification Division soldiers rushed forward like arrows.
This is the back alley of a restaurant. The walls on both sides are quite high, making the alley look even more eerie.

A gust of night wind blew, making the two lanterns at the back door flicker.

At the east end of the alley, a group of dark shadows appeared, ran a few steps, and then squatted down along the wall.

At the west end of the alley, a group of dark shadows also appeared. They also ran a few steps and squatted down along the wall.

The backyard was dark and empty, and unnaturally quiet.

Suddenly, a black shadow jumped down from the courtyard wall, then another black shadow jumped down from the wall, and then more black shadows jumped down!
Obviously, they were very familiar with the backyard of the restaurant. One black shadow led a group of black shadows to sneak towards the front yard, and another black shadow led a group of black shadows to sneak towards Bai Hongzhi’s yard.

The black shadows sneaked to the door of Bai Hongzhi’s bedroom and nodded to each other. Some of them walked towards the east window, some walked towards the west window, and the rest stayed outside the door.

Bai Hongzhi’s bed was actually empty, and the area near the wall in the room was filled with strong men holding steel knives!

With a “bang”, the door was kicked open and several dark shadows rushed in with steel knives in their hands.

Then there were two “click” sounds, the window shattered, and several dark shadows jumped in.

There was a flash of knife light, and screams were heard in the house, followed by the sound of weapons clashing and roars of killing.

At this moment, the sound of fighting was heard from the front yard.

On Qianmen Street, teams of soldiers from the South Camp poured out from the alley diagonally opposite a restaurant and formed several rows of battle formations on the street in front of the gate.

Wang Daniu led his personal soldiers and came over to protect Li Hu and a red-robed eunuch from the Imperial Household Department.

At this time, fire appeared in the backyard of a restaurant, and the shouting and screaming became more and more intense.

The chief eunuch looked at Li Hu and said, “General Li.”

Li Hu: “Don’t worry, the surrounding area has been blocked. When it’s almost done, we can go in and clean up the mess.”

The eunuch nodded.

“General!” Wang Daniu exclaimed, “Look!”

Li Hu looked in the direction of the voice, was startled at first, then blurted out a Chinese quintessence!

The eunuch was also startled, and then he shouted: “Daxiangguo Temple. Daxiangguo Temple is flooded.”

Fire? Maybe someone deliberately set the fire! Li Hu thought of Qiu Ying. Could this guy become a roasted suckling pig? !

The raging fire burned half the sky red, and thick smoke rose into the sky.

With a “bang”, the main door of the restaurant was knocked open, and a man in black rolled out, followed by two strong men rushing out!
Six eyes faced countless eyes, all of them stunned!

“Yes, there is an ambush.”

“Kill!”

A group of soldiers from the Southern Camp hacked down three people and rushed into the shop through the door that was knocked open.

Wang Daniu lit the signal, and three signals exploded three times in the air, emitting brilliant sparks.

There were terrifying shouts and screams from the backyard again.

The battle started suddenly and ended quickly, with dozens of corpses lying all along the way.

All the members of the White Lotus Sect were killed, and the only ones left of King Zhongshun’s men were the captain of the guard and a few injured guards.

When the captain of the guard saw Li Hu coming in, he was surprised and delighted, and shouted: “General Li, we are the guards of the Zhongshun Palace, not rebels!”

Li Hu snorted coldly: “Prince Zhongshun is a royal prince, how could he have guards like you who kill and burn people! Kill!”

There was a flash of knife light, and several headless bodies fell down.

Wang Daniu hurried over and whispered something in Li Hu’s ear.

Li Hu was shocked: “What? There is no body of Bai Hongzhi?!”

When the eunuch heard this, his face changed and he asked anxiously, “How come there is none?!”

Wang Daniu: “There is indeed no body of Bai Hongzhi!”

Li Hu suddenly thought: “Where is the person in charge of Bai Hongzhi?”

“Neither do any.” Wang Daniu said affirmatively.

Li Hu understood that the news had leaked out and Bai Hongzhi had escaped.
(End of this chapter)