Chapter 189: Gai Nie's Sword Is Too Fast
The night is dark.
The ink color had long since dyed the clouds in the sky, but it could not dye the Ganquan Palace on the ground.
In the Ganquan Palace gardens, the unique statues of ferocious beasts could not be illuminated in detail under the sparse glow of flames.
You can only see the outlines and lines, but you can't see whether the smooth stone surface has turned into fine animal hair.
Under such bright and dark reflections, it seemed as if all these statues had broken free of their stone seals at night and resurrected from the human world.
The people standing on the road to Ganquan Palace were not the officials on duty at Xianyang Palace, but the guards Zhao Ji brought from Yongdi.
Although these guards were dressed in palace attire, they were not under the control of the Langzhongling and only obeyed the orders of Zhao Ji.
They stood straight, like divine soldiers guarding resurrected beasts.
The First Emperor had already fallen asleep and was woken up again.
He came to Ganquan Palace with only two guards, Zhang Han and Gai Nie, and three city defense soldiers.
Standing outside Ganquan Palace.
Through the white gauze covering the window frame, the First Emperor could clearly see the candlelight, which was three times brighter than the bedtime candle.
It was already late at night, but the lights in Ganquan Palace were still bright.
The face of the First Emperor.
It became calmer.
Waving away the palace maid who came to report, the First Emperor knocked on the magnificent door of Ganquan Palace with his index finger turned upside down.
The palace gate was forcefully pulled open from the inside, revealing the face of a maid with a slightly frightened look on her face.
The moment she saw the First Emperor, the maid's body trembled for a moment, then she lowered her eyebrows and closed her eyes.
"Your Majesty."
The First Emperor stopped and did not go in immediately. Instead, he looked at the scene inside Ganquan Palace through the open door.
"You are afraid of me."
The maid did not refute, but stepped back two steps and stepped aside.
She half lowered her head.
If the First Emperor looked at her, he would have seen an even more frightened expression on her face.
"I am a small man with little luck, and I have come close to the majesty of heaven, so I must be in awe."
"Go and inform the Queen Mother that I am here."
"only."
The maid bowed her head and responded, then went towards Zhao Ji's bedroom located in the inner part of Ganquan Palace.
The footsteps are rhythmic and have a steady frequency.
Soon, the sound of chaotic footsteps spread from inside to outside.
Another maid, dressed exactly the same as the maid who opened the door, trotted up to the First Emperor, her voice slightly breathless.
"Your Majesty, please come in, Queen."
The First Emperor half turned his head.
Zhang Han said to Gai Nie, "You wait outside. No one is allowed to enter or leave."
"only."
Zhang Han agreed.
Gai Nie did not respond, dragging his lower body in bloody white clothes and said: "Your Majesty cannot escape from my eyes."
"I am safe, just as safe as I was in the Chang'an Palace. Wait."
“Nie…”
"If you don't obey my orders, go back to Chang'an Junfu."
The First Emperor turned around and walked inside, followed by the maidservants.
Gai Nie's face was numb, and he remained silent facing the back of the First Emperor.
It was not until the Emperor's figure gradually disappeared that he said, "Yes."
Gai Nie, Zhang Han closed the gate of Ganquan Palace.
The two men stood in front of the gate of Ganquan Palace like two door gods.
The three city defense troops who were not assigned any tasks dared not to make a sound. They stood obediently beside Gai Nie and Zhang Han with a dead heart.
They didn't know why this incident alarmed the First Emperor, nor did they know why they were brought to the Queen Mother Zhao's bedroom, and they also didn't know what the Queen Mother Zhao's surname was.
They prayed in their hearts, hoping only to survive tonight.
They know.
This is wishful thinking.
They all experienced the massacre at the gate of Xianyang city.
Zhao Ji brought a convoy of guards from Yongdi, but because one of the guards lost control of the convoy, all of them died under the bronze spears of the city defense troops.
Yesterday they were the convoy guards, today they are the city defense troops.
Is there a difference ? Yes.
Is there a big difference? Not much.
The First Emperor stepped into Ganquan Palace with a sword in an old scabbard on his waist.
After walking for more than ten steps in Ganquan Palace, all I saw were maids, not a single eunuch.
Not far ahead is the palace where Queen Dowager Zhao sleeps.
In front of the palace door, Zhao Ji wore a phoenix crown on her head, held it in both hands at her waist, looking dignified and virtuous.
On the left and right sides of Queen Dowager Zhao were a dozen maids from Ganquan Palace. None of these women were palace maids from Xianyang Palace. All of them were brought back by Zhao Ji from Yongdi.
When the First Emperor was three steps away from her, Zhao Ji bowed slightly and lowered her eyes.
"Your Majesty."
The maid who opened the door for the First Emperor was standing behind Zhao Ji.
As soon as Zhao Ji finished speaking, the maid who opened the door half bowed, and all the maids followed suit and half bowed.
"Your Majesty."
More than a dozen maids spoke in unison, their voices were very uniform and without much vibrato.
The First Emperor glanced at his biological mother.
Silent, with the corners of his mouth moving slightly, and then calm.
He lowered his head, hummed softly, pushed open the door, and entered the palace first.
"They are all waiting outside."
Zhao Ji gave orders casually.
A dozen maids should claim "Yes".
Zhao Ji entered the palace.
Before entering, he nodded to the maid who opened the door.
After Zhao Ji entered the palace, the maid who opened the door walked quickly to the outside of Ganquan Palace.
She walked very quickly, as if she was being chased by something.
As she walked, she started to run.
His hands were waving from side to side, and his face was as pale as snow.
Running to the gate of Ganquan Palace, she grabbed the gate tightly with her dust-free hands and pulled it hard.
The ones who greeted her were not the familiar guards trained by Teng in Zhao.
It was Gai Nie, dressed in white as white as snow and with blood on his face.
It was Zhang Han, with murderous intent on his face.
"Your Majesty has ordered that no one is allowed to enter or leave."
Zhang Han narrowed his eyes and looked at the maid, warning her coldly.
The maid calmed herself down and said in a cold voice, "The Queen Mother's old illness has relapsed. She ordered me to go to the Imperial Medical Bureau to get medicine. Get out of here!"
Zhang Han frowned.
He didn't believe what the maid said.
But the key is not whether he believes it or not, but since the maid dared to say such words, it is most likely that it was Zhao Ji who instructed her.
Since the safety of Zhao Ji is at stake, should he stop the maid or not?
If you stop her, you will offend Zhao Ji.
Afterwards, Zhao Ji will probably label me as someone who "doesn't care about my life or death."
Can Zhang Han bear it? Will he die?
Although he was the Imperial Physician-in-Chief, he was also the First Emperor's confidant.
But these two identities are extremely different from Zhao Ji, who has the dual identities of queen mother and the biological mother of Emperor Qin Shihuang.
It seems that today the First Emperor has come to raise an army to punish the offenders.
But Zhang Han didn't believe that the First Emperor would really do anything to Zhao Ji.
Others do not know the relationship between Emperor Qin Shi Huang and Zhao Ji, the mother and son.
As the First Emperor's confidant, Zhang Han knew it.
The imprisonment of Yongdi was just a trick to deceive the ministers.
From beginning to end, the person closest to the First Emperor was Zhao Ji, even when King Zhuangxiang of Qin was alive.
But if we don't stop them, it would mean we are not obeying the orders of the First Emperor.
He would most likely not die, but he would definitely lose the trust of the First Emperor, which was not the result he wanted.
"Please write down the names of the medicines you need and the weights you need on the bamboo slips, and I will order the official to go to the Imperial Medical Bureau to get them."
Zhang Han made a suggestion that was beneficial to both himself and others.
But Zhang Han's perfection is not the same as that of a maid.
"It's urgent. I'll go there myself. If I'm late, the Queen Mother will be upset. If you don't want to murder the Queen Mother, get out of here!"
Zhang Han was in a dilemma.
He glanced at Gai Nie, who had been resting with his eyes closed since his maid opened the door, and cursed in his heart.
You are cunning. You keep silent and do nothing, and throw the matter of offending the Queen Mother onto me.
This maid was stopped and would only blame me to the Queen Mother afterwards.
It’s not easy to ignore it!
The doors of the palace are all double doors, with two leaves.
Zhang Han leaned forward, blocking the empty space on his half of the door, leaving the empty space on Gai Nie's half of the door.
The maid glared at Zhang Han and snorted coldly.
He walked towards the empty space on the half side of the door where Gai Nie was standing and stepped one foot outside the gate of Ganquan Palace.
In an instant.
Gai Nie opened his eyes, moved his hands, and raised his sword!
A rainbow pierces the sun, and a silver light appears suddenly.
Only two sounds of the sword being drawn and sheathed were heard.
The maid continued to move forward and took the second step.
Zhang Han, who was caught off guard, ignored the maid, his eyes wide open, staring at Gai Nie, who had closed his eyes again, as if he had done nothing just now, his eyes full of disbelief.
Your Majesty has not given the order! How dare you kill her! You can't stop her and send her back!
The maid took the second step and was secretly delighted to see that Zhang Han did not stop her.
The maid, fearing that Zhang Han would go back on his word, hurriedly took the third, fourth, and fifth steps.
The maid had already left Ganquan Palace in the second step. She ran three steps outside the palace and ran down the steps in front of the palace gate, her mind slightly relaxed.
Just now, Gai Nie seemed to have raised his hand. Was he dazzled?
As she thought about this, she suddenly felt some pain in her neck and reached out to scratch it.
She ran so eagerly that she didn't control her strength well, and the grab was quite forceful.
So, her body is still running.
However, his field of vision quickly shifted from the Yongdi guards in front of him, who were dressed in Langguan uniforms, to the starry sky.
Then he quickly moved down and became Gai Nie who was resting with his eyes closed, looking at Zhang Han who had a look of shock and anger in Gai Nie's eyes, and the three city defense soldiers who had a look of grief for the loss of a rabbit.
Then her vision turned to the steps in front of the Zhangtai Palace, and then to a pair of slender legs in a maid's outfit, still jogging.
Boom~
Wheels and wheels~
The scenery changes too fast and I can't see clearly.
Those legs look so familiar...
The maid's vision fell into darkness.
Her consciousness was darker than her vision.
Her body took two more steps before falling forward to the ground.
Seemingly endless amounts of blood gushed out from her smoothly cut neck.
On the ground, it was like a big red cloth that kept stretching out and emitting the smell of rust.
This is a headless corpse.
When the maid touched her neck just now, she pushed her own head down.
All the Yongdi guards in Ganquan Palace clenched their spears tightly and looked at Gai Nie with hatred.
But without Zhao Ji's order, they would not act on their own.
Zhang Han was extremely angry and shouted in a low voice.
"Why did you kill her?!"
Gai Nie opened his eyes and looked straight at Zhang Han.
"As your majesty commands."
"Your Majesty did not allow us to kill anyone!"
"No one is allowed to enter or leave. This maid has come out. Nie has to kill her so that you and I will not be considered to have violated His Majesty's order. A corpse is not considered a human being."
Zhang Han was filled with anger and gritted his teeth and said, "This is the Queen Mother's personal maid! If you want to die, don't take Han with you!"
"How can a maidservant like the Queen Mother disobey your Majesty's orders?"
Okay, okay, how about using the words of Your Majesty's order to stop Handan?
Zhang Han leaned closer and lowered his voice by three degrees.
In a mocking and sarcastic tone that only he and Gai Nie could hear, he angrily said, "If the Queen Mother came out in anger, would you dare to do this?"
Gai Nie's voice was normal.
"Why not?"
Zhang Han's heart was beating violently, and he stared into Gai Nie's eyes, his heart trembling.
Gai Nie's eyes were clear and calm, with a hint of doubt in them, as if he didn't know the difference between the empress dowager and her personal maid.
He seemed to be serious...
Is he crazy?
From this moment on, Zhang Han's mind was at its peak and he didn't dare to relax at all.
Gai Nie drew his sword too quickly.
Otherwise, he can't defend.