Super Cultivation System of the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 1160 Breaking into the Palace Late at Night
A day later, at the same midnight.

This night was not as moonlit as last night. Instead, the moon was covered by dark clouds. Although it was not pitch dark, it was much darker than last night.

In the center of Xiangyang City, in a corner of the building known as the "Imperial Palace", a small door that was usually used for vegetable delivery and odd jobs to enter and exit was suddenly opened gently by someone.

Several men who looked like eunuchs came out from the door, pushing several garbage carts.

A soldier on patrol arrived here and was about to go forward to check, but before he got close, he was stopped by the stench.

"Wow, you guys have been piling up rotten food for days, why are you just now dumping it out?"

The soldiers covered their mouths and noses, unable to hide their disgust.

The middle-aged eunuch in the lead stepped forward with a smile and bowed, "I'd like to inform you, officers. Yesterday was His Majesty's birthday. Although the general has said that the palace should cut down on expenses and not hold a grand ceremony, we still have to prepare more food and drinks for the emperor's birthday. So there are a lot of leftovers. It's just that we were busy cleaning up during the day and didn't have time to take care of these. It's only now that we have time to move these dirty things out. Please forgive me for bothering you."

After saying that, he stuffed a purse into the hands of the leading soldier on the opposite side.

After getting the benefit, the soldier's face looked much better. He did not check carefully, but just counted the number of people following the eunuch, then waved his hand and let them pass.

About half an hour later, the same middle-aged eunuch returned to the palace gate with the same number of people, pushing an empty cart.

Seeing that the number of people was correct, the soldiers were too lazy to check and let them go back to the palace.

After entering the palace gate, the group walked quickly with their heads down, bypassed several palaces, and came to a side hall.

The middle-aged eunuch in the lead looked at the door carefully, and after confirming that no one noticed him and his group, he closed the door and bowed to a servant who was accompanying him.

"Tang Hai, captain of the Flying Eagle Guard, greets the General of the Cavalry."

The man known as the General of Cavalry looked up and it was none other than Zhu Ye in disguise.

"No need to be polite, get up. Time is urgent tonight, and there is no time to talk. How long have you been lurking in Jingzhou?"

Tang Hai replied, "I was originally a eunuch who entered the palace during the reign of Emperor Ling. Later, because of my quick thinking, I was valued by Grand Ancestor Gong and was recommended to serve in Zhangtai Palace. Later, I was fortunate enough to serve Your Majesty. I was promoted by Your Majesty and was incorporated into the Flying Eagle Guard nine years ago. After two years of training, I was sent to Jingzhou. After many twists and turns, I was summoned to the palace and now I am in charge of the imperial kitchen."

Gong Saner is now the chief eunuch in the Luoyang Palace. Although he is only around 30 years old, he has been called the ancestor by the eunuchs in the palace.

After listening to his story, Zhu Ye nodded.

"Where are the weapons we are waiting for hidden?"

Tang Hai hurriedly walked to a pile of debris and lifted the cloth covering it. Inside were several pairs of sledgehammers, some short knives, short crossbows and the like.

These things were brought into the palace along with the food delivery servants early in the morning and were hidden here by him.

Zhu Ye and the four people behind him had their eyes lit up and they hurried forward to take their weapons.

"Haha, with my old friend in hand, I can turn this fucking palace upside down tonight. What's there to be afraid of?"

Qin Lie on the side hurriedly advised: "General, His Majesty has ordered that the purpose of this trip is to save people first, or..."

"Hey, I know, am I the kind of idiot who doesn't care about the overall situation?"

Zhu Ye waved the sledgehammer in his hand, interrupting him, and then looked at Tang Hai.

"Where is the powerful Yin Hou now?"

Tang Hai bowed and said, "Your Majesty... The Marquis is in Concubine Lu's palace tonight. Please follow me."

After Cao Cao abducted Liu Xie, the former emperor and later Marquis of Qiangyin, to Jingzhou, he took a woman from his clan, Cao, into his harem. However, Cao Cao died soon after, and the concubine was naturally killed by Sun Ce.

Afterwards, Sun Ce selected a young woman from the Wujun Lu family, the head of the Jiangdong noble family, and a cousin from his own Sun family branch to serve as concubines in the harem. This Concubine Lu was the niece of Lu Jun, the current head of the Wujun Lu family. Lu Jun was now the governor of Lujiang in the "small court" of Jiangdong. There were more than a dozen children in the family who served as officials. It was considered a prominent family under the Sun Group.

This side hall where the weapons were hidden was quite remote in the palace, and patrolling soldiers seldom came here. Tang Hai carefully opened the door and looked around. After confirming that no one was there, he took Zhu Ye and the others and tried to take a secluded path towards the harem.

After walking for about a quarter of an hour, Tang Hai pointed to a palace that was vaguely visible in the darkness not far ahead and said, "That's Concubine Lu's palace."

Zhu Ye looked at the figures swaying around the palace and said contemptuously, "Are there only so few guards?"

Tang Hai replied, "This time, Sun Ce, the thief, has mobilized most of his elite troops to attack Hanzhong. Some of the guards in the palace are from the various powerful families, and some are the elite soldiers in Sun's army. Many of them were withdrawn last time, so naturally the palace is much emptier. Moreover, this Qiangyin Marquis is the emperor in Xiangyang on paper, but in reality he is just a puppet. He is powerless, so Sun Ce will naturally not take him seriously."

Zhu Ye nodded: "In this case, today's mission is easy, but a little boring."

Then, he waved to the eight people behind him, including Qin Lie, and said, "Brothers, follow what we said before and take your positions."

Qin Lie took the order and led five people to ambush on both sides. Zhu Ye led the other two and followed Tang Hai with his head down.

Tang Hai carried a food box and walked in small steps to the entrance of the palace.

"stop!"

The guard at the door stopped him, but soon saw his face.

"So it's Manager Tang. What business do you have here so late at night?"

Tang Hai said with a smile on his face: "Your Majesty has always had a midnight snack when he went to sleep in the Imperial Concubine's palace. Since I am in charge of the Imperial Kitchen, I naturally dare not neglect it."

The guard was obviously familiar with him. After hearing what he said, he did not have any doubts at all. He just kept looking at Zhu Ye and others behind him.

"Originally, Manager Tang came here on official business, so we shouldn't have stopped him. But now that the general is not in Xiangyang, we must be more cautious, so..."

Before he could finish, Tang Hai took the initiative to approach him, took out a pot of wine from the food box, and handed him the entire food box.

"General, rest assured. We will not make it difficult for you. Please check this food box. Also, this pot of wine is for your brothers. It is not easy for them to patrol here at night."

A smile immediately broke out on the guard's face.

"Hehe, we brothers suffer a lot on weekdays, but we don't get much. You are the only one who cares about us in this palace. The wind is really cold at night, so drinking some wine is just right to drive away the cold."

After saying that, he took the wine jug with one hand and handed the food box to the soldier behind him with the other.

He opened the lid of the wine flask, smelled it, and then showed a look of satisfaction.

"Good wine, I know it as soon as I smell it. This is the Hundred Days Drunk that you have treasured. I am taking advantage of you."

Tang Hai smiled and said, "It's just a pot of wine. The Thousand Days Drunk is supposed to be the best to show the bravery and heroism of the generals, but that wine is loved by the general, and I dare not take it out to drink without permission on weekdays. Tonight I can only use the Hundred Days Drunk, which is unfair to the general and the brothers."

"Hahaha, Manager Tang is too polite. If this kind of fine wine is sold in a restaurant outside the palace, it would cost at least a hundred yuan per pot. We brothers can't afford it with our salary. It's a pity that you, the manager, care about us."

As soon as he finished speaking, the soldier behind him handed the food box back to him.

"No problem, General."

The general said as if it was a matter of course: "Of course there can be no problem. Steward Tang has served His Majesty and the general for many years. How can he make mistakes? All right, you guys are in for a treat, come on in."

He took the food box, took out the top dish, and returned the food box to Tang Hai. He then waved his hand, said no more, and walked aside with the wine jug.

The two soldiers in charge of checking the food boxes were also very surprised and hurriedly followed, making the soldiers on the other side of the palace envious.

(End of this chapter)