Chapter 109 Unexpected

  A deep, muffled voice came from the dark and smelly cave: "Sir, this exit leads directly to the Left Bias Hall. The secret has already been leaked, and there may be soldiers all over the place."

  This was Dai Yubin speaking, they had already reached a drainage outlet on the left side of the hall, extinguished the torches, and could only see a faint light from outside through that drainage outlet.

  Xirujiba's voice was equally low and gloomy: "We have no way out, life and death are decided in this one move. Xierjileke, where is the entrance to the secret passage?"

  Because of physical exhaustion, the tall and powerful Mo Yihan carried Xiergui on his back, trying hard to recall, saying: "The mechanism for opening the secret passage of the imperial palace is divided into three places. The three entrances are cleverly designed against different dangers. The easiest way to approach through this drainage ditch is here. This drainage ditch has never been down, I don't know what position it will be if I climb up from here. If it's really the left wing hall above, after going up, you must clarify your position, and the mechanism is at the gate of the main hall.

  The old slave remembered that the opening mechanism of this secret passage was a stone sheep at the entrance of the second door of the left-biased hall. As long as the stone sheep was twisted half a circle in place, it could be lifted upwards. When the stone sheep is lifted, the entrance to the secret passage will be activated. The stone sheep and stone tiger are much larger than real objects. It's estimated that they haven't moved before, and the mechanism design is extremely ingenious. If they had moved the stone sheep, if the method was incorrect, it would not have triggered the secret passage.

  Dai Yubin said, "This was originally the imperial palace. Can't Prince Yan renovate it to be even better than our own imperial palace? He wouldn't have made major renovations here, so the stone sheep should still be around."

  "Did everyone hear that? After crawling out, no matter how many officials and soldiers there are, we must fight to the death to hold on. As long as we find the stone sheep at the entrance of the second courtyard, open the secret passage smoothly, even if only one person crawls in, we can ignite the gunpowder. Did you hear?"

  Because of the sudden arrival, it was already impossible for anyone to meet them outside. To be on the safe side, all the way here, Xirui Kuo Lie explained the structure of the secret passage. Everyone had a general understanding, and as soon as Xirui Ba Ri gave orders, everyone responded in unison. It's just that they deliberately lowered their voices, and with the towels covering their faces, their voices were somewhat muffled.

  At the sound of the order, they took off their protective leather jackets and trousers, set up a ladder, and climbed towards the drain outlet. This drain outlet was located in a clump of grass under the railing of the palace corridor, with a square stone slab on top, carved with auspicious patterns, and many gaps in the middle to allow water to flow down and filter out impurities. The weight of the stone slab was only about 100-200 kilograms. These Mongolian warriors were incredibly strong, and the first person who climbed up made a great effort to push the stone slab open.

  He cautiously poked his head out, the moon was bright and the stars were sparse, everywhere was quiet, lanterns hung in every corner of the palace, occasionally seeing one or two eunuchs and palace maids walking by quietly. The man was overjoyed, covering his mouth and whispering to those below: "The Yan Wang Fu is not yet on guard, we have a great opportunity." As he spoke, he took out a flying claw from his waist, hooked it onto the edge of the drain, and slid the rope down...

  Seven people crawled out of the drain, crouched in the bushes, quietly observing the surroundings. Xi Ri Huo Li Ge squinted his old eyes to look around, with a somewhat excited expression. After all, this was where he had lived since childhood, and most of his life had been spent in this land. When Emperor Yuan Shun hastily left the temple and fled north thirty years ago, they had parted ways in a hurry. Now, as an old man about to enter the earth, Xi Ri Huo Li Ge suddenly found himself back in this place, with memories flooding his mind, how could he not feel deeply moved?

  Xirijabu didn't have as much sentiment, Xirijabu stared with a pair of cow eyes and looked around, whispering: "This damn east, south, west, and north are a bit turned around, Shirijihulige, where is the entrance to the courtyard you mentioned?"

  Xierri's voice trembled as he stretched out his hand, pointing to the front gate of the temple with two red lanterns. He said in a hoarse voice: "Sir, it's at that gate, on the left... is a stone sheep, on the right is a stone monkey, trigger the mechanism, and the passage is... just on the empty ground in front of the temple gate. This mechanism was arranged for the emperor and his personal guards to escape when the outer enemy had surrounded the palace, so there are stone steps below the opening, and you can enter comfortably..."

  Hei Rijia waved his hand, and a line of people rushed out. Lakshen had collected some weapons over the years, hiding them in his residence, originally intending to distribute them when the time came. Now, with others being killed or captured, only those who emerged from Lakshen's house were armed.

  Taking advantage of the shelter of the trees and flowers, they quietly made their way to the open palace gate, peeking out to take a look. Outside was a vast expanse of flat ground, with several tall buildings looming in the distance under the cover of night. On either side of the gate, hidden among the grass and trees, stood a stone carving, its features barely discernible due to its great age.

  Dai Yubin was overjoyed: "Heaven helped me, fortunately we made a decisive move, and finally got ahead, come on, act quickly."

  A few people rushed past, some holding knives and looking around vigilantly, while others rushed straight to the left of the door. It was only then that they realized why this mechanism had been set up in such a place. On the one hand, it was because the more inconspicuous the location, the safer it would be; on the other hand, no one would normally run into the imperial palace and try to move a stone statue that was rooted to the ground and shouldn't have been able to budge at all.

  The main reason, however, is that such a mechanism was built according to the usage standards of dozens or hundreds of years. Although emperors all hope for eternal prosperity, they must face reality and consider that the empire will eventually decline one day, leaving a way out for their descendants.

  Such a path may have passed through two or three generations, the world is peaceful, and future generations will not have the idea of being safe and thinking about danger, and they will not go to reason and repair, in this case, it must be built strong.

  It is durable, and the mechanism that opens it is not something that can be easily damaged or changed at will according to the emperor's personal preferences, such as a tea bowl on a bookshelf or an armrest on a dragon chair. Such small and delicate mechanisms are unlikely to last long.

  The stone sheep had not moved for thirty years, and it took a great deal of effort to push it. Three strong men, under the command of Xi Ri Huo Li Ge, pushed with all their might, two pushing and one pulling, using up all their strength, finally making the stone sheep creak and turn. Then, with the combined efforts of two people, they lifted it upwards, and the front legs of the stone sheep were raised into the air, like a proud horse standing upright and neighing.

  The stone sheep was lifted up, but the ground didn't show any abnormality. Xiriba couldn't help but ask urgently: "Xirihuluke, what's going on?"

  The old man smiled mysteriously and said, "Don't be impatient, sir. This mechanism is opened once and closed once, I don't know how much energy it takes to open it again. It's only because of this that it can last for a long time. Please listen, sir."

  Xirbajie closed his mouth, concentrated and listened carefully. It seemed that there was some faint noise, but he couldn't quite make out what it was. Just as he was about to ask again, a loud rumbling sound suddenly came from behind him. Xirbajie quickly turned his head to look, only to see the flat ground slowly rising up.

  Originally, the power device used by this mechanism is a thousand-year-old effective method of sinking sand. It lifts the stone sheep, drives the mechanism, and the sand begins to flow into the pipe, using gravity to drive other devices, and finally uses the lever principle to drive two huge stone pillars, thereby opening the passage.

  Xi Rijia's eyes widened in surprise and delight as she trembled with excitement, saying: "Open it, open it quickly, hurry up and enter the secret passage!"

  Xiribajie and Daiyubin took the lead, rushing towards the entrance of the pit that had already risen to half a person's height and was still rising. They had just run out a few steps when a shout came from the darkness, and the lanterns and torches on both sides of the palace roof lit up at the same time. Countless torches were thrown out like a rain of stars, followed by a shower of arrows.

  At the same time, the sound of clanging footsteps rose, and from the dark corners of the square, rows of soldiers with neat queues and full armor suddenly appeared, like a human iron wall, pressing down on them from three directions.

  "There is evil lurking beneath"

  Mo Yi Han let out a loud cry and rolled on the ground, scrambling towards the only escape route. Dai Yu Bin and Xi Ri Ba Ri moved even faster, with Dai Yu Bin trying to bring along Xi Ri Huo Li Ge. Just as he reached out to grab him, an arrow pierced through his arm, causing him to yell in pain and quickly roll away.

  Hurriedly rolling forward three times, he raised his head to take another look. Xi Ri Kou Li Ge was still standing there, this old eunuch had been pierced through the abdomen by a spear, the tip of which was stuck in the ground, propping up his body so it wouldn't fall, but the spear was as thick as an egg, and having been stabbed through the chest like that, it was clear he wouldn't survive.

  Arrows kept shooting onto the stone floor, colliding and sparking wildly. Dai Yubin could no longer care about anything else, seeing Xiribaya's last foot just withdrawing into the cave that had already risen to block most of the arrow rain for him, and hastily followed to crawl over...

  Clang

  Another heavy iron spear was shot over, barely missing the gap between the stone slabs on the ground, blocking the entrance of the secret passage that continued to open. In the underground mechanism, the sand was still pouring into the mechanical pipeline, but the exit was blocked by the iron spear, and the stone gate immediately emitted a series of creaking sounds that made people's teeth ache...

  Xia Yu was locked in a small temple behind the main hall, which was originally a place for emperors to rest and drink tea during the Yuan dynasty. It had been converted into a study by Zhu Di, but even he rarely came here.

  The hall was swept and cleaned, the candles on the table were lit, and Xia Zhe was not treated as a prisoner. He sat behind the desk, anxiously waiting for news.

  "Haha, you big liar, you actually told a big truth for once. My brother-in-law will definitely reward you heavily when he finds out."

  The little princess, Mei'er, wearing a white silk jacket, walked in with a smile and said to the two guards: "You can go now, no need to watch him. This guy is indeed here to report something, we've already caught the culprit and obtained evidence of their wrongdoing."

  The two guards bowed and responded with a sound, but did not go out, only moving towards the gate of the palace.

  Ming'er skipped and jumped away, Xia Yu hastily stood up, bowed his head and saluted: "The humble subject has seen the county master."

  Ming'er Xiao Yao's nose hummed a sound, trying to pretend to be angry, but couldn't help laughing: "You big liar, last time you were cheating me again, weren't you?"

  Xia Liu smiled wryly and said: "Young Master, I never thought I'd see you again."

  "Then you can cheat people?"

  She tilted her head and thought for a moment, then asked: "So the two stories you told me, were they made up by you or true stories that you heard from someone else?"

  Xia Liu smiled and said: "Is the princess still interested in those two stories?"

  He had just said that, the ground suddenly shook violently, and Meng'er let out a sharp cry, falling forward, but was caught by Xia Yu, who said: "Be careful, Princess." At the same time, his own hand tightly grasped the table.

  Ming'er fearfully said: "What's wrong, did the earth dragon turn over?"

  Xia Fu's expression changed: "I'm afraid it's those Mongols who have already...?"

  Two guards saw this situation and rushed towards them, Xia Liu's words had not finished, the ground suddenly sank, two people's feet were empty, along with the table and chairs sinking into the ground. Those two guards just arrived in front of them when the ground closed with a loud noise, cutting off Meng Er's terrified scream...

  Good morning everyone