CH 57: Crouching Tigers and Hidden Dragons

The people in the room were stunned by the sudden appearance of the long bamboo pole. Zuo Ji fell to the ground, and several blade-wielders awkwardly waved their swords, like clumsy cows swatting flies, helplessly retreating step by step. Only one person was extremely angry and bravely rushed forward.

Luo Huan-zhang was really angry. He was undertaking the greatest adventure of his life, daring to speak his mind even in front of the Empress Dowager and the Emperor, without having to hide his anger behind the words of benevolence and righteousness. But these eunuchs and servant-girls were always up to no good. They should have stayed out of it like everyone else.

Luo Huan-zhang rushed forward, not towards the bamboo poles, but towards the ground, throwing his scholarly demeanor to the winds. He crawled forward with his hands and feet, surprisingly fast, and quickly reached the window. However, he was moving too fast and could not stop in time. He hit the wall and fell backward, but even as he fell, he reached out his hand and grabbed something.

He had caught hold of an ankle.

Han Ruzi’s upper body was already out of the window, and several hands were helping him, but one foot could not be pulled out. A eunuch was lying on the windowsill, whacking about with a short stick, shouting, “Pull harder!”

Luo Huan-zhang took several blows to the head and face. He lifted his other hand to shield his face and shouted to Bu Hengru and the others, “Come help! We can’t let them…”

Bu Hengru and the others held their blades but didn’t know what to do. They only reacted when they heard the shouting, and two of them immediately crouched and rushed towards the window.

At that moment, Luo Huan-zhang was hit hard on the forehead and could not bear the pain. He had to let go.

The Emperor had been taken away.

The Empress Dowager, Maiden Wang, and Prince Donghai were stunned. They were all clever and resourceful, but in such a situation, they were just like any other ordinary person, sitting around, dumbfounded and completely at a loss.

Outside, there was a clamor of noise. Luo Huan-zhang sat on the ground, holding his forehead and shouted sternly, “Go get the Emperor back! We can’t afford to lose even one person. We must not let the Emperor leave the palace!”

Bu Hengru and the others understood this too. Three of them jumped out of the window while four went out through the door, wielding their blades as they charged out. However, they were outnumbered. The eunuchs and servant-girls outside were well-prepared. They threw stones, eggs, and clumps of dirt like a torrential rain. The seven of them were forced to retreat back into the room, backs against the wall, dodging the barrage.

Since its construction, Cishun Palace had never been so dirty and messy. The place was a mess.

The chairs and beds facing the door were not attacked, and Maiden Wang still protected the Empress Dowager. She looked outside and wanted to catch a glimpse of her son but could only see several unfamiliar figures.

Prince Donghai sat closer to the center, completely safe, but he was most surprised. “He, he doesn’t even want his own mother?” he exclaimed.

Maiden Wang was reminded by this remark and could no longer maintain her composure and low profile. She shouted loudly, “Ruzi, run! Seek the senior officials outside! Don’t worry about me. They…”

Bu Hengru ran over with his sword, angrily interrupting her, “Shut up!”

Maiden Wang lowered her voice, but didn’t stop talking, “They dare not kill the Empress Dowager and me.”

“That’s not necessarily true.” Bu Hengru held his sword against Maiden Wang’s neck, and she stopped talking.

Luo Huan-zhang sat under the window and shouted loudly, “Your Majesty, the palace gates are already sealed. You cannot escape. Please come back. We have no intention of regicide! Your Majesty, are you really willing to abandon…”

Zuo Ji, who had been lying by the door since the beginning of the fight, peeked outside and said, “The Emperor is gone.”

Luo Huan-zhang stood up suddenly, with a swollen bruise on his forehead. He looked out of the window and saw that the courtyard was empty, with only sticks and stones scattered around. He was filled with anger and smashed his fist onto the windowsill, “He really doesn’t care about his own mother!”

Luo Huan-zhang turned around with a grim expression. This was supposed to be a carefully planned palace coup, but it was turning into a farce. “Bu Hengru, take one person and inform the our men at the three gates of the Imperial Palace. They must be guarded tightly, and the Emperor must not be allowed to escape and meet with the senior officials. Zuo Ji, go to the Hall of Diligent Administration immediately and bring back more people. Only use our own men, not the palace guards. We must not arouse suspicion from the outside, understood?”

Zuo Ji stood up and leaned against the door, looking outside again. “I need protection.”

Luo Huan-zhang pointed to one of the blade-wielders, “You go with Zuo Ji out of the palace.”

The eunuchs and servant-girls were acting insane, and Zuo Ji felt that one bodyguard was not enough. But he looked at the Empress Dowager and realized that there was no turning back. He gritted his teeth and left the room with the blade-wielder.

Bu Hengru, with a bit more courage, was about to leave when Luo Huan-zhang stopped him. “Wait,” he gasped for breath. “Never mind, go quickly and come back quickly. We have already lost the Emperor, we cannot lose the Empress Dowager and Prince Donghai as well.”

Bu Hengru nodded and hurriedly left with a blade-wielder.

Luo Huan-zhang rubbed the bruise on his forehead, turned around, and walked over to the Empress Dowager. “I never expected the palace to be a place of crouching tigers and hidden dragons. To be able to organize a group of eunuchs and servant-girls so well in such a short time, this person must be exceptional.”

The Empress Dowager remained expressionless. “Since it is a place of crouching tigers and hidden dragons, why ask me? At this critical juncture for the Chu Empire, I would be all the more willing to promote those of great ability. Why would I hide such a ‘tiger’ or ‘dragon’?”

Luo Huan-zhang did not ask any further questions and retreated to ponder quietly on the side.

Han Ruzi, who had escaped, also had similar doubts. He was being half-carried by several people. He had wanted to go back to save his mother, but he was unable to move freely. When he got to the gate, he heard his mother’s cries. Determined, he followed the others and ran outside. In the front yard, he saw a man sitting on the ground with blood all over his face. He must be one of the blade-wielders Bu Hengru brought with him. He had not died yet and put on a show of resistance by weakly lifting his arm in an attempt to stop them.

After running for a while, Han Ruzi finally had the chance to observe the people who had come to rescue him.

There were about thirty eunuchs and over twenty servant-girls, most of whom were unfamiliar faces. Only a few were servants of the Grand Consort, and the ones he recognized were Zhang Youcai and Dong Qing E, who were currently standing by his side. However, they were not the leaders of the group. A fat eunuch holding a bamboo pole with a short blade tied to its end led the way. It was hard to tell his age from the back.

Among the group, only four or five people were armed with weapons, while others carried bamboo poles or wooden sticks.

It did not take long for them to run back to the Grand Consort’s Cining Palace, and they closed the gate after entering.

Two blade-wielders were tied up in the porch of Cining Palace. They had cloth stuffed in their mouths and made panicked noises when they saw the group entering. Zhang Youcai went up and kicked each of them, and they quieted down.

The crowd finally calmed down a bit, but everyone’s face was still red and their eyes were flashing with excitement. This was a look that Han Ruzi had never seen since he entered the palace months ago.

“These servants pay their respects to Your Majesty,” said the fat eunuch, and everyone knelt down.

Han Ruzi quickly said, “Please get up, there is no need for formalities in such an urgent situation. I… am very grateful to all of you.”

The group stood up, excited expressions still evident on their faces. Han Ruzi looked closely at the fat eunuch, who appeared to be around forty years old. Despite his weight, he did not look clumsy or unwieldy, instead exuding an air of strength and vitality.

“You…,” Han Ruzi did not know what to ask.

The fat eunuch did not speak, and Zhang Youcai spoke up instead, his voice sharper than usual due to his excitement. “At first, there were four guards here. Two of them left, and we stacked ourselves into a ladder in the backyard. I was the smallest, so they sent me out to find Brother Cai, who works in the cleaning room. He said we could not wait any longer. There happened to be brooms nearby, so we took them apart and used them as weapons. Then he said that Cining Palace is too close to Cishun Palace, so we had to seize control of it before we could save Your Majesty in Cishun Palace…”

Zhang Youcai’s account was a bit disorganized, but the general idea was still clear. Brother Cai and more than a dozen eunuchs, armed with bamboo poles, went to Cining Palace first and knocked on the door, claiming to be sent by the Grand Consort. They took advantage of the blade-wielders opening the gate, rushed in, subdued the two of them, and tied them up.

When they got into Cining Palace, dozens of eunuchs and servant-girls were terrified. Only Dong Qing E and a few others dared to leave the palace, while the rest still obeyed the Grand Consort’s order and did not dare step out of the gate. Nevertheless, they did not release the two blade-wielders. As Zhang Youcai was telling his story, they peeked and saw that the Emperor had indeed been rescued, and more people came running to join them.

After occupying Cining Palace, the group called for reinforcements from elsewhere and went together to Cishun Palace to save the Emperor.

Han Ruzi said to the fat eunuch, “You must be Brother Cai.”

The fat eunuch hurriedly knelt, “This humble servant is Cai Xinghai. Just because I am older, my colleagues call me ‘big brother.’ I dare not use this title in front of Your Majesty. Please call me by my name.”

“Very well, Cai Xinghai, you may rise,” Han Ruzi felt that this person must have a significant background but he had no time to ask further. He glanced at the crowd and recognized several familiar faces, “You all are from Qiuxin Palace.”

The group nodded repeatedly, and one servant-girls said, “There were also two rebels guarding Qiuxin Palace. Cai Xinghai led people to break through the palace gate. The Empress ordered us to follow Cai Xinghai to save Your Majesty. She wanted to come as well, but we persuaded her to stay behind.”

Han Ruzi was once reluctant to marry the Empress, but now he increasingly felt that having such an Empress was quite good.

He was also a little overly excited and had to secretly remind himself to remain calm. He had not completely escaped danger yet. After thinking for a moment, he said, “We must find a way to leave the Imperial Palace. Can we break through the gates?”

Zhang Youcai could not answer this question, but Cai Xinghai said, “I have sent people to investigate. The south, north, and west gates are each guarded by twenty to thirty blade-wielders. Our long bamboo poles can handle about ten enemies, but if there are more, our chances of success are not high, and it would put Your Majesty at risk.”

“What do you think we should do?” At this moment, Han Ruzi had to choose to trust Cai Xinghai.

“In my humble opinion, we should jump over the wall. The south, north, and west sides are all palace buildings, which are not easy to escape from, and we might be discovered by the rebels. On the east side, there is a section of the wall that should be unguarded. After jumping over, we can reach the Ancestral Temple. Going south and taking a detour, it’s not far to the Hall of Diligent Administration. There, Your Majesty can meet with the senior officials, or leave the palace to make further decisions.”

“I need to see the senior officials. They don’t know what has happened in the palace, and I must explain it to them personally.”

“Then let’s go!” Zhang Youcai turned around and was about to run, but Cai Xinghai was more cautious, “Hold on, someone should go ahead to scout the situation…”

“I’ll go.” Zhang Youcai dashed out in a flash.

Cai Xinghai looked at the people and asked the Emperor, “Does Your Majesty need everyone to follow?”

Han Ruzi knew that no matter which way they went, it would be risky. The Captain of the Guards had already lost his seal office, and it was still difficult to predict whom the palace guards would obey. So he said, “We should try not to attract attention during this journey… Cai Xinghai, choose a few people to accompany me out of the palace, and the others should go to Qiuxin Palace to protect the Empress. Try as much as possible not to fight with the rebels, since the Empress Dowager is still in their hands. We must ensure her safety.”

He had to say this, for if the eunuchs and palace maids attacked Cishun Palace again in a moment of excitement, his mother, Maiden Wang, would be in danger.

Cai Xinghai had the same idea, and with a few flicks of his fingers, he chose three eunuchs to accompany them. The others, including those who had been afraid to leave Cining Palace earlier, all went to Qiuxin Palace to protect the Empress.

As the larger group set off first, Cai Xinghai pointed at the two captives nearby and said, “These two should not be left alive.”

Han Ruzi glanced at the two, and saw fear and pleading in their eyes. He hesitated for a moment, thought of his mother, and let go of his his compassion, “Execute them.”

This was his first time deciding the life and death of others. Next, he would have to make choices that would determine his own.