Reborn in Liangshan: I built the strongest lineup

"Stop! Who goes there?"

"Sir, it's me, Erniu, the one delivering the chamber pot. We're old acquaintances."

In fact, the people who deliver the chamber pots in the capital are very familiar with the Imperial City Guard; this is just a routine inspection.

"I know it's you, kid. I'm just asking questions as required by procedure."

The guards of the Imperial City Guard greeted Erniu with smiles.

"Alright, no problem. Go ahead. Same rules as always. When you get there, go to your cell and sleep. If you want anything to eat, just tell the person on duty, and they'll bring it to you. Don't wander around the capital, understand?"

"I understand, I understand, I know them all, I know them all."

After greeting the guards, Erniu drove the oxcart forward, swaying and bumping along. Soon he crossed the main road and turned into a small path.

Taking advantage of this moment, Shi Qian slipped out from under the car and turned to disappear into the shadows at the street corner.

"Is that Erniu who delivers the sanitary bucket?"

"it's me!"

Just then, a patrol of Imperial City Guard soldiers saw Erniu and came up to greet him. Taking advantage of the moment when everyone was distracted, Shi Qian nimbly flipped over and quickly arrived under the eaves of a palace. He then used his wall-climbing skills to quickly reach the shadows on the beam.

Shi Qian hid himself well and peeked down. Hmm, the patrolling soldiers were passing by his hiding place, and their torches were illuminating the spot quite brightly!

Luckily, I dodged quickly!

The moonlight wasn't good tonight; the thick clouds in the sky meant that the soldiers on patrol were struggling to keep up with the torches, as the moonlight was their natural source of light.

Using his light-footed skills and the map in his mind, Shi Qian quickly traversed between the eaves and soon arrived at one of his destinations for the day—the Imperial Study.

Emperor Huizong's study, also known as the Ruisi Hall, was a place where he used to read, practice calligraphy, and review memorials.

What makes this hall different from other places is that it needs to be kept lit at night in case there is any urgent matter to attend to.

Using his exceptional skills, Shi Qian successfully reached the eaves directly above the main gate of the Ruisi Hall, braced himself against them, and waited for the eunuchs inside to come out.

According to Gao Kan, the eunuchs on night duty in the palace would go out to wash their hands every hour.

Shi Qian was waiting for an opportunity.

Persistence pays off. Sure enough, a creak was heard soon afterward, and the door of the Ruisi Hall was opened. A eunuch hurriedly went out, locked the door, and headed to the latrine.

Shi Qian knew that his opportunity was coming.

He didn't go down immediately, but continued to wait. The moment the eunuch returned and opened the door, and half of him had already stepped inside, Shi Qian moved!

He jumped down from the eaves, landing silently without disturbing the dust. After landing, he raised his hand and touched the back of the eunuch's neck, causing the eunuch's body to go limp instantly.

But Shi Qian was even faster. He slipped into the hall himself, helped the eunuch up, and quietly closed the hall door!

This series of actions was completed in the blink of an eye, leaving people in awe!

"I'm sorry."

After helping the eunuch to sit down at the table, Shi Qian quickly went to Zhao Ji's table. It has to be said that Zhao Ji, if he weren't the emperor, would be absolutely qualified to be a scholar.

On the table were the Four Treasures of the Study: a wolf-hair brush, Huizhou dragon ink, peach blossom paper, and a Shezhou inkstone.

The bookshelves on both sides were filled with books, each with a toothpick stuck in it; on the screen behind the desk, there was a painting of mountains and rivers in shades of green!

In this picture, Emperor Huizong of Tang wrote the names of four people in the "Slender Gold" calligraphy style!

Hebei Tianhu

Shandong Renyuan

Huai Xi Wang Qing

Fang La of Jiangnan

"Well, Zhao Ji wasn't entirely useless; at least he knew that there were these four people in the world."

As Shi Qian pondered this, he pulled out a dagger from his pocket and slashed over the four characters "Jiangnan Fang La".

At the same time, he took out a poem from his pocket, placed it on Zhao Ji's desk, and pressed it down with an inkstone.

This poem is a famous rebellious poem by Huang Chao at the end of the Tang Dynasty. It was written by Xiao Rang based on some of Fang La's handwriting collected from Jiangnan, imitating Fang La's handwriting. In the signature, he noted that it was written by Fang Shisan, the leader of the Ming Cult, to the Emperor of the Great Song Dynasty.

After doing all this, Shi Qian tiptoed around to the back of the Imperial Study, secretly opened a window, and, seeing that no one was outside, immediately climbed out.

The Imperial Study is just the first place; there are other places waiting for me!

That's the royal treasury! It holds many precious items belonging to the Song Dynasty's imperial family!

Shi Qian didn't waste any time and turned to run towards the treasure vault. He needed to hurry!

About half an hour later, Shi Qian appeared near Er Niu's oxcart carrying the clean buckets, carrying a bundle on his back. By this time, most of the clean buckets on the cart had been unloaded, but when the curtain was lifted, there were still some empty buckets inside.

Without thinking twice, Shi Qian crawled inside and hid in an empty barrel.

At that moment, deep within the palace, smoke suddenly billowed from a side hall, and in the darkness, there were even some firelight.

"Fire! Fire! Fire!"

A fire in the palace is a major incident, and it immediately put everyone in the Imperial City Guard on high alert.

Inside the cell, Erniu and the Imperial City Guards, who were having a late-night snack together, rushed out as well.

"Oh no, another fire! Erniu, you can't stay in the cell tonight, go back right away."

Upon seeing the fire deep within the palace, the guards of the Imperial City Guard were on edge. Good heavens, please let it not be a major disaster, or everyone would lose their heads.

So he quickly asked Erniu, an unrelated person, to leave. After all, they had been delivering the cleaning buckets for so many years, and everyone had developed some feelings for each other.

"Okay, okay, I'll go right away!"

Erniu was also frightened. He quickly got on the oxcart and left, not caring that he still had a midnight snack to finish. The most important thing was to get away now so as not to lose his life!

Therefore, he didn't carefully check the situation inside the car and hurriedly left.

"Stop right there, Erniu? What are you doing out here? Aren't you in jail?"

At this moment, the guards at the gates of the imperial city were unaware of what had happened.

"My lord, the palace is on fire! The lord inside told me to leave immediately."

Erniu was a little scared, and his voice trembled slightly.

"Another fire? That's troublesome. You'd better leave quickly and avoid causing trouble."

Because such incidents of flooding have become increasingly common recently due to the hot weather, the guards of the imperial city quickly ordered Erniu, an unrelated person, to leave first.

As for why he wasn't investigated?

That's because Erniu is an honest person, and everyone knows him after delivering clean buckets for so many years.

Moreover, everyone checked when he entered and there were no problems. In addition, the fire was inside the palace, and the child didn't even go inside. He was just eating in his cell. There's no need to subject him to this undeserved disaster. Let's get him out of here as soon as possible.

Therefore, the imperial guards at the gate immediately ordered him to drive the oxcart out, then closed the palace gates and quickly organized manpower to put out the fire.

However, when they arrived, they found that the fire was not large and had been brought under control. Judging from the scene, it must have been an accident.

That's right. Don't you even consider who started the fire? How could Shi Qian possibly let people know it was intentional?

As for Shi Qian, at this moment he was comfortably leaving the palace in an oxcart, carrying the things he had taken from the palace.

Of course, he was not completely safe yet and needed to get to the designated evacuation point as soon as possible.

After all, if Zhao Ji were to discover and lose that thing he was carrying, the entire city of Bianjing would probably have to be searched thoroughly...