Chapter 254 Chapter 254 Strange Tales in the Palace

The father and son scolded each other for a while, but Yan Shifan still refused to write. Yan Song became anxious and asked the guards around him to go up and catch his son.All the guards rushed forward, dispersed the guests, and restrained Yan Shifan with all their might.Not to be outdone, Yan Shifan's subordinates rushed up to fight Yan Song's guards, and the backyard was in chaos. At this moment, a guest suddenly rushed towards Yan Song, pulled out a dagger from his sleeve, and stabbed Yan Song in the chest, intending to take advantage of the chaos to assassinate him.All the guards around Yan Song went to catch Yan Shifan, and they were defenseless. Seeing that the sword was stabbing, Yan Song would be seriously injured if he did not die. He came out, flashed in front of Yan Song, and with a ding sound, swung the dagger to block the short sword in the guest's hand, where the white light flashed, the guest's throat spurted out blood, and he turned over and fell to the ground.

Only then did everyone see clearly that it was a girl in all black who rescued Yan Song and killed the assassin, and the dagger in her hand shone blue and cold under the light of the lantern.A few guards around Yan Song blurted out: "Cold-eyed evil star!" However, the woman's black clothes seemed to blend in with the darkness around her, and she couldn't distinguish the boundaries. Her face was as pale as snow and there was no expression. Under the thin and straight eyebrows, there was a pair of clear eyes with extreme ice in them. The extremely cold light, if not for the slight movement of her eyeballs, would have thought that her whole body was carved out of ice and snow, not like a living person.When everyone in the courtyard turned their heads to see her, they couldn't help but feel a chill all over their bodies, and they all fell silent.Seeing her extraordinary skill, Ling Haotian couldn't help but keep his heart, but when he saw her eyes, he was shocked: I've seen these eyes before!who is it?

The woman looked around at everyone, put away her dagger, and disappeared behind the flowers. Yan Song came back to his senses, saw his son standing aside blankly, rushed forward and grabbed him, shouted: "Thief boy, how can there be an assassin in your courtyard?"Yan Shifan shook his head and said: I don't know either?I have never seen this man.Yan Song said: "I must investigate this matter to the end."Right now, the emperor's imperial order is important, why don't you write Qingci soon? Yan Shifan was a little sober at this time, and hurriedly wrote a green poem to his father, sent both his father and the eunuch out, and went back drunk again.

Yan Song, Eunuch Xie and others rushed back to the palace, and the time was approaching. Eunuch Xie was weak, Yan Song was old, and they couldn't run fast, and they couldn't ride horses in the palace. Run with the two of you on your back. Ling Haotian and other eight guards hurriedly lifted Eunuch Xie and Yan Song, and under the guidance of Eunuch Xie, they rushed through Duanmen, Meridian Gate, and Taihe Gate, then turned west, exited Xihua Gate, and went to the emperor's residence. Xiyuan ran wildly, all the way to the outside of the Longevity Palace, but saw a huge altar on the open space, thousands of Taoist priests holding various magic tools, standing in two big circles, closing their eyes and chanting spell.One of them was sitting high on the dragon chair, wearing a black and white wide Taoist uniform, and a high crown carved with agarwood wood on his head. As soon as he saw Yan Song coming in, he jumped up from the chair and shouted: "Hurry up, come on!" Half a quarter later, the time will be missed!

Yan Song rushed forward and knelt down and shouted: Your Majesty!The minister is late, please forgive me! The middle-aged man in the black and white Taoist robe was indeed Emperor Sejong.With a look of impatience on his face, he took the Qing Ci in Yan Song's hand, read it once, nodded slightly to express his approval, and handed it to an old Taoist priest standing above him.The old Taoist took it respectfully, put it on the altar, and directed the rest of the Taoist priests to prepare for the ceremony. Ling Haotian and the other guards wanted to kneel down and leave, but eunuch Xie stopped them and said in a low voice: "Wait here, I can thank you later."The eight people stayed behind and stood behind a group of Taoist priests.

But listening to the ding ding dong dong sound of the magic weapon, the ceremony has already begun. Thousands of Taoist priests recited the mantra in unison. , sweating profusely.A little Taoist priest lit a bunch of incense sticks and handed them to the emperor. The emperor solemnly held the incense sticks and shuttled among the Taoist priests, taking a step at a time and walking very slowly. He knelt down, clasped his hands together, prayed three times holding the incense, and asked the little Taoist to take it and put it in the big incense burner on the altar.The little Taoist took a gold-cast Eight Diagrams tablet from the altar and handed it to the emperor, who then stood up again, holding the Eight Diagrams tablet and walking around slowly.

Ling Haotian couldn't help but be amazed, so many guards were arranged in the palace, isn't it to protect the emperor's safety?At this time, the emperor was surrounded by a group of Taoist priests, and it would be extremely easy for any Taoist priest to kill him or hurt him. The emperor actually put himself in such a dangerous situation under the eyes of everyone, and none of the eunuchs, maids, ministers and guards raised their eyebrows. It seems that this is an unusual thing. At this time, the Taoist priests on both sides were still singing and beating, and the sword dance of the old Taoist priests became more and more enthusiastic.The night wind blew the five-color cloth strips on the Dharma altar flying, and the scene was both lively and ridiculous. It was really unimaginable that there could be such a playful scene in the solemn and solemn palace.

The emperor held eight different instruments, circled eight large circles, and burned incense eight times before the ritual of fasting and dipping was completed.Emperor Shizong was overjoyed and rewarded the Taoist priests with a new Taoist robe and an ingot of gold. He also praised Yan Song generously, saying that the Qing Ci was really well written, and rewarded him with one hundred thousand taels of silver.Yan Song kowtowed to thank him, and left happily. Eunuch Xie, Ling Haotian and other guards all left the Hall of Supreme Harmony, Eunuch Xie smiled to Yan Song: Mr. Chief Assistant, tonight's fasting meeting is very special.Yan Song smiled and said: "We all rely on Xie Gonggong for help, how could Yan be ungrateful?"He took out a 10,000 tael bank note from his pocket and handed it to Eunuch Xie.Looking sideways, he saw eight guards at the side, remembering that they ran from the Duanmen to the outside of the Longevity Palace with his back on their backs, so as not to miss the time, so he took out another stack of silver notes, and each tipped two thousand taels of silver.All the guards were overjoyed and quickly knelt down to thank him.Yan Song waved his hand and went out of the palace.

There was a bang sound in the distance, the fifth watch had passed, and the dawn was shining in the east, and the night passed in such a lively manner.The guards were overjoyed after receiving the reward, and they didn't complain about the tossing of the night.When Ling Haotian returned to Dongsanyuan's dormitory, he felt that what he saw and heard was extremely incredible; this palace had the most careful and strict defenses in the world, and at the same time, there were the most absurd behaviors in the world.If he hadn't seen it with his own eyes, he would never have imagined that the lifeblood of the Ming Dynasty was actually in the hands of such an obsessed emperor and such a pair of greedy and vulgar father and son.

Ling Haotian lay down in the room, thinking about what happened that night, his mind stayed on the woman in black who appeared in Yan Shifan's garden.She is quick to strike and ruthless, obviously possessing extremely high martial arts, and she is by no means an ordinary person.Looking back at her cold eyes, Ling Haotian became more and more suspicious, determined to find out her origin. (Author's note: According to historical records, Emperor Sejong became obsessed with Taoism in his middle age and devoted himself to pursuing the art of immortality. After a bizarre assassination case of a court lady, Sejong escaped a catastrophe and did not dare to live in the palace, so he moved to Xiyuanwan. The Shou Palace is busy with pills and auspiciousness all day long, and prays to Xuanxuan, setting a record of not going to court for more than 20 years. The prayer ceremony needs to burn a written form to the Emperor of Heaven. This form is written in vermilion characters on ivy paper, so It is called Qing Ci. Sejong believes that the quality of Qing Ci will affect whether the prayers are effective or not, and attaches great importance to it. Therefore, he favors the ministers who are good at writing Qing Ci. At that time, ministers such as Xia Yan and Yan Song who joined the cabinet were invited by virtue of their good writing Qing Ci. He was favored by the emperor, and Yan Shifan, son of Yan Song, was also a master at writing Qing Ci.)