Xie Ming

In a sudden turn of events, the Directorate of Ceremonial Affairs was abolished due to Xiao's rise to power, which temporarily shook the vested interests of the eunuchs in the inner court.

Therefore, led by Ruan Dacheng and Wang Zhixin, they plotted to emulate the system of the Ten Attendants of the Eastern Han Dynasty, intending to lure Xiao Lang into the palace at night and secretly kill him to avenge their personal grudge and eliminate this great threat.

Fortunately, Yu Zhen's eunuch, Xiao Chunzi, slipped out to report this, and Xiao Jingchuan finally understood the situation. He realized that he had just narrowly avoided falling into the enemy's trap.

But how could he bear it? After all, Xiao Laiyan was concerned about the safety of Yuzhen inside the palace walls.

Despite Changting's words of advice, Xiao Jiang, disregarding safety, led his troops without much hesitation. In order to achieve a swift victory, he rode his horse and led his troops to the vermilion gate of the temporary palace in Hangzhou.

Tap tap, tap tap tap—

On a quiet, moonlit night, the imperial guards on duty in front of the palace could be seen approaching from a distance by a troop of soldiers.

"Stop! Who goes there?"

As they drew closer, the leading officer, Captain Mei Cheng'an, stood with his legs crossed, raised his hand in front of the palace gate, and commanded the cavalry to stop.

Upon hearing the sound, Xiao spurred his horse to a halt.

"Uu——"

After dismounting, Xiao Jingchuan took advantage of the torchlight to get a clear look at Mei Chengan.

With sword-like eyebrows and bright eyes, he is indeed a handsome and refined general.

"Oh, Commander Mei, it's your shift today."

Xiao Yu spoke casually, displaying a relaxed demeanor.

Upon hearing that their positions differed, Mei Cheng'an looked up, her expression suddenly becoming quite complicated.

He gathered his breath, clasped his hands in a fist salute, and suddenly appeared, deliberately keeping his distance from the newcomer.

"Uh, yes."

"This humble general greets Your Excellency the Duke." Mei Cheng'an said respectfully.

It turns out that Xiao Lang was on a faster pace and had indeed arrived early.

Looking around, he realized that neither Changting nor Qin Jing had arrived.

Let's just exchange a few words, presumably as a polite greeting.

After all, Mei Cheng'an was someone he had dealt with before when he narrowly saved Yu Zhen at Tianmu Mountain.

So once he stood still, Xiao was not in a hurry. He continued to use the matter of Consort An to offer some words of comfort.

"Hey, why are you being so formal with me?"

"It must be about Consort An's matter, which we parted ways at Tianmu Mountain three months ago."

"I've heard about what happened later from other people."

"Mei Cheng'an, the dead cannot be brought back to life. You should take care of yourself," Xiao Cheng comforted her.

Upon hearing this, Mei Cheng'an appeared dazed and froze for a moment.

Then, he clearly gritted his teeth and turned cold, as if he really had some kind of rift with Xiao Lai, and his reply was unresponsive.

He handled the matter strictly by official procedures and didn't respond to Xiao Lang's words at all.

"Your Excellency, the eunuch who issued the decree left a message before he went in."

"It is said that once the Duke of Jingguo arrives, you must immediately inform the inner court."

"Please wait a moment."

After making those cold remarks, without waiting for Xiao Lang's reaction, he turned around and shouted at the soldiers guarding the palace gate behind him.

"Liu Zi, go open a crack and tell the eunuch inside the gate to go and announce that the Duke of Jingguo has arrived and ask if the restrictions have been lifted and he can be allowed to pass."

That shout showed absolutely no mercy.

"Okay, I got it."

Upon hearing what the commander said, the soldier named Liu Zi did not slack off and did as he was told.

Seeing this, Xiao Jingchuan took a deep breath, suppressing the three-tenths of anger that was rising in his heart.

To buy time, and perhaps out of genuine concern for talent, he adopted an awkward demeanor and, having no other choice, stopped trying to speak, offering only a vague excuse for recommending and promoting the candidate.

"Ha, no rush, no rush."

"Mei Cheng'an, let's have a chat while we're at it."

As she spoke, she moved even closer and put her arm around his shoulder.

Taking this opportunity, he looked around anxiously, waiting for Qin Jing to arrive.

"Uh, well, I have a clear understanding of your personal resume and how much experience you have."

"Given your abilities and qualifications, it would be a waste of your talents to guard the palace gates here." "However, I've been preoccupied with various matters lately, so I haven't had time to come and discuss things with you in detail."

"Mei Cheng'an, you don't want to stay like this forever, just loafing around in the Imperial Guards, waiting to die and guarding the gates for the rest of your life, do you?"

"If you still have any fighting spirit, come with me to the army."

"To kill the enemy and serve the country is to live up to the true nature of a man."

"How about this? In a few days, after I finish dealing with the miscellaneous matters of the Ministry of War, I will transfer you directly to Nanjing."

As for the job title...

"Starting as a centurion is a lateral transfer."

"However, since you have achieved military merit later, I, Xiao Jingchuan, will definitely do my best to promote you further. What do you say?!"

Xiao An, with his worldly wisdom and eloquent words, managed to offer up such a large share of benefits.

In his opinion, even if Mei Cheng'an refused to comply upon first hearing the news.

At the very least, by using this topic to sway him a little, we can achieve the effect of winning him over in the short term.

Of course, this boy is promising. As Xiao said, if Mei Cheng'an were to take him in, Xiao would be happy to do so as well.

However, to his surprise, while he was all smiles, Mei Qianzong was completely heartless.

Mei Cheng'an didn't buy into his act at all.

"Uh"

"Ah, I am honored by the Duke's kindness."

"This humble general is dull-witted and lacks martial arts skills."

"A few days ago, I saw the Duke bring his troops in. Among those soldiers, there were quite a few former masters of the martial arts world."

"I, Mei, am humbled and feel inferior in comparison."

"Furthermore, guarding this palace gate is also a way of serving the country and preventing villains from usurping power. In my opinion, this is even more important now that the situation is in order to quell the chaos."

"Your Excellency, please forgive me, uh, please forgive this humble general for being unable to comply and for not knowing your place."

Mei Cheng'an's words were a tactic of feigned retreat, subtly barbed and sarcastic.

What kind of "former江湖人" (jianghu person, a person from the past) are they? They just disdain associating with these filthy cronies.

Even more so, it mentions the story of a villainous usurper.

This insult was even more direct.

This refers to Xiao Jingchuan's conquest of Hangzhou and his seizure of power in the court.

This statement suggests that they are practically openly expressing their dislike for her appearance, making their wariness of the enemy particularly clear.

Look, Xiao Lang's good intentions have yielded this result.

After he finished speaking, his expression finally became stiff.

The two sides fell silent and simply stared at each other in a stalemate.

Fortunately, at this critical moment, a voice called out from behind Yu Mei, breaking the chill.

"Okay, I got it."

Click, click, click

The vermilion palace gates suddenly swung open, and a man walked out—none other than the green-robed eunuch Liu who had gone to the Huang residence not long ago.

"Commander, Commander Mei, the eunuch on duty inside has arrived."

As Liu Zi led someone over to report, Xiao and Mei exchanged glances, their tense standoff dissipating.

"Oh, Your Excellency, you've finally arrived."

"Come, come, quickly follow this old servant inside."

Despite his trembling old legs, Liu the old eunuch could not hide his panic. He awkwardly approached Xiao Jingchuan and grabbed him.

When Xiao Lang came to his senses, he noticed that the eunuch was hiding something, so he quickly pulled his hand back into his sleeve.

Looking around again, Xiao Jiang frowned, hesitant and anxious.

At this point, with Qin Jing and Chang Ting nowhere to be seen, how can we possibly resolve this predicament?

He couldn't wait any longer and let out a long sigh.

"Alright, let's go, into the palace!"

(End of this chapter)