Chapter 110: A Hair's Breadth Escape

  At the same time that Xia Yu and Ming Er "changed into living people", a sudden change also occurred in the imperial harem's original bedroom of the Da Yuan Emperor, where the dragon bed collapsed with a loud crash, then quickly closed together, and everything on the ground disappeared.

  But the people in the harem had already withdrawn at Xu Fei's command, so no one saw this strange phenomenon.

  It turned out that the iron spear thrown by the general got stuck in the stone gate, making it impossible to open completely. The sand inlet was still pouring in sand, and the mechanical device underground was subjected to increasing pressure, but it couldn't work on the stone gate. The internal mechanism was slightly weaker than the stone gate, and under the strong pressure from both inside and outside, it was damaged, triggering two other mechanisms.

  The designer of the secret passage took into account the occurrence of different dangerous situations when designing the escape route. The entrance to Zuo Bi Dian is arranged for the emperor, palace maids, eunuchs and warriors to secretly transfer in case the imperial palace has been surrounded, so a stone staircase is set up below to allow them to enter calmly and then close the entrance from the inside.

  The other two mechanisms were designed with emergency situations in mind, such as when the enemy had breached the Imperial City or when imperial relatives, eunuchs, or generals suddenly rebelled and attempted to assassinate the emperor. Therefore, secret passageways were built where the emperor was most likely to appear, opening and closing swiftly to prevent pursuers from entering.

  The two secret passages are located in the emperor's bedroom and study, Xia Liu has a great potential for winning the lottery, he was temporarily detained by San Bao Taijian in the original Da Yuan Emperor's study.

  The mechanism malfunctioned and the other two secret passage entrances suddenly opened, he and Bi'er Xiao Loli disappeared in front of the two Wangfu guards.

  To the left of the temple, seven Mongolians were shot down by four people who were caught off guard. The other three, who had approached the secret passage and reacted quickly, used the half-opened stone slab at the entrance to block a hail of arrows and managed to escape into the secret passage safely. These three people were Xirijabu, Dai Yubin, and Mao Yihan.

  Ma Yihan was shot in the back with an arrow, but not in a fatal place. Seeing that the pursuing soldiers were approaching, Ma Yihan became fierce and stood alone at the entrance of the secret passage, desperately resisting the ferocious guys. He took advantage of the terrain and killed five or six soldiers who rushed up at the dark entrance of the secret passage. He himself was also injured in many places before he died with his body covered in blood.

  Zhang Yu personally directed the battle at the Left Biandian, according to Zhu Di's requirements, they were supposed to first explore the location of the secret passage - but they did not expect that the entrance of the secret passage was actually on that empty and flat square, so the previous arrangement was not very strict.

  At this moment, the gate of the palace is wide open and people of all kinds are rushing out. If the assassin really enters the secret passage to find the gunpowder and ignites it, everyone in the palace can be evacuated within this time frame, there will be no major casualties, but they will let them blow up the Yanwang Palace after all, which is not a good thing, so Zhang Yu leads his men in a desperate pursuit.

  The soldiers rushed into the tunnel, only to find it pitch black inside. They immediately returned to fetch some torches and then charged back in. At the entrance of the secret passage, a hand quietly stretched out, pulled up a dead soldier's body, and suddenly dragged it into the darkness when no one was paying attention. As the soldiers held torches and explored the complex fake and real paths in the secret passage, Dai Yubin had a pale face like a dead man, but he was wearing the uniform of the Yanwangfu guard. He quietly moved outwards amidst the chaos.

  The cave slowly brightened up, and the firelight of the palace candles cast a pale glow on Xia Zhen's and Little Princess Ming'er's somewhat pale faces.

  The mechanism was cleverly designed, using a rather clumsy but effective method that has been used for hundreds of years. The falling part was wider at the top and narrower at the bottom, so although it fell quickly, as it went down, the vertical walls of the pit narrowed inwards, using friction to slow it down gradually, thus cushioning the impact, and neither person was injured.

  Moreover, due to this buffer, the candelabra on the table fell over, and three candles were extinguished. Two of them went out, but the third one was saved by Xia Xiu just in time when it was about to go out, and he relit the candle, so now the two people are not facing a pitch-black scene.

  "What place is this?"

  The young lady looked at him with a pair of frightened eyes, and Xia Yu looked around, saying slowly: "Where we are standing should be one of the entrances to the secret passage. As for why it opened, I don't know either."

  "Is that so?" The young mistress rolled her eyes and thought that this big liar seemed to make some sense, but what she was most worried about was how to get out?

  When she asked this question, Xia Xun looked up at the dark top of her head, the candlelight couldn't illuminate it, and estimated that it was at least several zhang high. The faint sound of the guards' knocking could be heard from above, but the voice was extremely weak. From this, it can be seen that the thickness of the stone slab covering the entrance of the cave is not thin.

  Xia Fu raised the torch and looked around again, finding the exit. "Let's go take a look around," he said. "Maybe we can find a way out." "I won't!"

  Ming Er finally knew fear, she grasped the table edge tightly with both hands and began to act spoiled: "I'm not going anywhere, I'll just wait here, the Wang Fu guards will definitely come to rescue me."

  Xia Liu Dao: "Little princess, the two of us fell down here after those scoundrels opened up a secret passage. You also know what they want to do. If we stupidly wait here, and they sneak in, light the fuse... Boom..."

  Ming Er tensed up and opened her eyes wide, asking: "How is it?"

  "Both of us have fallen apart, I've also fallen apart, flying is all we can do now."

  Everywhere is "Meng Er's small face turned white, and she quickly let go of the table and ran to his side, grasping his collar, and said with a sob: "Take me away, take me away quickly, I promise...I promise...if you cheat on me again, I won't be angry with you anymore."

  Xia Liu was amused by her childish words, but in such an environment, she couldn't laugh out loud. Thinking that those people might have already entered the secret passage, his mood was also very tense. He pulled up Ming Er's small hand and comforted her softly: "Don't be afraid, follow me - here the air is flowing smoothly, there is no particularly foul smell, there must be ventilation holes, finding the ventilation holes can call for help. Moreover, in such a place, there will definitely be doors that can be opened from the inside, don't worry."

  The corridor was dark and gloomy, the faint candlelight only illuminating a distance of less than three feet in front of her. Looking at the darkness that seemed to absorb all light, Meng Er felt tense and fearful, as if worried that a strange and terrifying monster would suddenly jump out from the darkness.

  Xia Yu suddenly and abruptly took her hand, despite being young and not fully understanding the emotions between men and women, she knew this was inappropriate. However, because she didn't dare to be too far away from him, she reluctantly let him hold it. At that moment, they walked further and further along the quiet, dark passageway with only their footsteps echoing, the darkness in front of them and behind them. Her young heart could only see this seemingly unreliable man as her sole reliance.

  After all, although he was lying through his teeth, it was actually because he was being squeezed by himself that he could deceive people and escape. Compared to the darkness and unknown dangers in front of him, he was still safer as a person. So, Meng'er's small hand gripped even tighter, her small palm sweating with tension, while Xia Zhen's large hand was powerful, stable, and dry - feeling the temperature and strength transmitted from his hand, Meng'er's small heart gradually became more at ease.

  He never thought that he would come with a clear plan, determined to be a hero who restored the grandeur of the Yuan Dynasty, but ultimately ended up in such a situation, becoming a lone and helpless person. In his grief and indignation, he no longer cared about anything, and would rather die today than not ignite the gunpowder and burn down the entire Yanwang Palace.

  He held the torch and ran hastily through the passage, this was his only spare torch on him, he had to find where the gunpowder was stored before the torch burned out and ignite it.

  The secret passage is very long, its main function is to send the royal family members out of danger in times of crisis, so there are only long corridors, no underground houses can be seen. However, he has heard Xi Ri say that walking along the real corridor will lead to an open area where money, clothes, weapons and fake identity certificates were stored to help people disguise themselves and escape from encirclement. Thirty years ago, when Emperor Taizu of Yuan left Dadu, a large amount of gunpowder and tung oil was stored there.

  Because of the haste in retreating, the gunpowder fuses that were originally prepared to be ignited were all piled up in the passageway. As he went down along the correct passageway, he could see them. There were many intersecting fake paths in the secret passage, but on the stone wall above each road entrance, there was a mark. Those who knew the meaning of this mark could follow the correct path and go on. He had already heard the distant shouts and footsteps, knowing that a large number of Yan Wang guards had entered the tunnel and were chasing after him. He must get ahead of them.

  The footsteps behind were getting closer and closer, relying on the crowd, the soldiers split up to chase in different directions, not much slower than him who knew the secret passage. Xi Ri Ba Ri couldn't help but hurry, running even faster, suddenly, he was tripped and almost fell, raising his torch to shine on the ground, he saw a bundle of things, a disk-like thing made of rope.

  That bundle of rope was as thick as a thumb, picked up and looked at, the rope had been soaked in wax, which matched Xier's description. Xier couldn't help but feel overjoyed, this "rope" was clearly the fuse for the gunpowder. According to Xier's account, they were about to lead the fuse outwards when the Emperor changed his mind and everyone hastily retreated, only managing to re-seal the entrance before leaving.

  He raised his torch and was about to ignite the fuse, but when he saw the bundle of gunpowder fuses piled up to half a person's height, he couldn't help but furrow his brow: "How long will this take to burn?"

  He immediately swung his knife at the fuse on the ground, cutting off the thumb-thick gunpowder fuse. Xirijabai brought the torch to the severed end of a bundle of fuses and ignited it, which crackled and burned towards the distance. At this time, the footsteps behind grew closer again. Xirijabai feared they would discover the fuse, so he quickly dodged and ran towards the fork in the road, letting out a loud laugh to lure them away.

  Xia Liu led Meng Er's small hand forward, the long corridor finally came to an end, and a three-forked road appeared in front of her. Xia Liu was somewhat bewildered, raised the torch to illuminate it, each cave entrance above had a strange symbol, but couldn't understand its meaning. Which of these three paths is the way out?

  Xia Yu hesitated for a moment, then remembered the stupid method he used to play "Xuanyuan Sword" and explore the maze. Whenever he came across a fork in the road, he would stick to the right-hand side and walk, if it didn't work, he would turn back and continue along the right-hand side, and eventually find a way out.

  "Are you sure?" she asked timidly.

  Xia Liu briefly explained her plan to Ming Er, who praised: "You're so clever, this method is great, let's go."

  Xia Liu smiled, just about to take a step, when suddenly he heard a faint "hissing" sound coming from the middle passageway. Although it was very light, in this quiet and dark place, it was still audible. Xia Liu's heart skipped a beat, and he immediately pulled Meng'er to chase after it. In the darkness, a small spark of fire was seen flickering away in the distance. Xia Liu was startled: "Fuse line!"