The Lonely City Closed - Chapter 30
People from the pavilion behind me also rushed into the courtyard. Even Miao Shuyi led the sleepy-eyed princess out, her face pale, and asked me what happened. I shook my head and said I didn't know. Wang Wuzi, the supervisor of Yifeng Pavilion, immediately walked to the door and peeked out himself.
At this moment, a close attendant from the Funing Palace rushed over, shouting loudly, "Empress's decree: all ladies must remain in their chambers and not leave. The eunuchs inside are armed and guarding them. No one is allowed to open the chamber doors without authorization!"
Upon hearing this, Wang Wuzi quickly ordered the palace eunuchs to find usable weapons to guard the courtyard. He then ordered me to take two junior eunuchs to the Funing Palace: "Firstly, to gather information, and secondly... if anything goes wrong, be sure to participate in protecting the Emperor's sleeping quarters and do everything in your power to ensure the safety of the Emperor and Empress."
I agreed, and led the eunuch towards the Funing Palace. The two wings of the Yifeng Pavilion door closed tightly.
As soon as I arrived at the Fu Ning Hall, I bumped into Mr. Zhang Maoze, who had already arrived. He dismounted and quickly walked into the hall. I immediately hurried after him and asked, "Mr. Zhang, what has happened?"
His expression was solemn, and he did not stop walking. He answered briefly as he walked: "Some of the officials from Chongzheng Hall crossed Yanhe Hall to enter the Forbidden City, and they are currently behind Funing Hall."
The emperor's personal guards and attendants, who were not palace attendants, were not allowed to enter the forbidden area, especially at night. Judging from this, it seemed as if the guards were plotting a rebellion. The Yanhe Hall was located north of the Funing Hall, behind the current imperial bedchamber; therefore, these thieves were now only a wall away from the emperor and empress.
"How many people?" I asked Mr. Zhang.
He said, "It is still unknown."
I followed him into the hall and saw the Emperor and Empress seated on their thrones, both dressed neatly. The Empress, however, was not wearing a crown; her hair was simply tied up in a bun, a simple style that was still perfectly neat. Some of the officials and guards who had arrived earlier stood inside the hall, while others watched from outside. Presumably unsure of the number of bandits, they dared not make any rash moves and instead guarded the two back doors leading to the Yanhe Hall, keeping a close watch.
When the Empress saw Mr. Zhang enter, her tightly furrowed brows relaxed for a moment. She immediately ordered the palace gates to be locked, then looked at Mr. Zhang, her lips moved as if she was about to say something to him. At that moment, a woman's scream suddenly rang out from behind the palace, the sound extremely shrill.
Upon hearing this, the Emperor was horrified and deeply moved. But the sounds continued, cries of pain and agony growing louder with each passing moment. The Emperor then turned to his close attendant, He Chengyong, and asked, "Have the traitors started harming people?"
He Chengyong went outside the palace to take a look, then returned and reported, "Your Majesty, do not worry. It is just a palace maid from a nearby pavilion beating her adopted daughter."
The Empress immediately slammed her hand on the table and angrily rebuked, "The traitor has already killed someone in His Highness's presence, and you still dare to speak nonsense here, deceiving the Emperor!"
He Chengyong was terrified and immediately knelt down to beg for forgiveness. The Empress ignored him and instructed Mr. Zhang, "Pingfu, take some men to find some buckets and basins, fill them with water, the more the better."
Without asking why, Mr. Zhang immediately agreed, signaling me to go out with him. He then ordered his attendants to follow, and called on the people outside the hall to find containers, fill them with water, and place them one by one by the wall and under the eaves.
Looking at the red glow of the torches flickering behind the palace, I suddenly realized that the Empress was afraid that thieves would set the palace on fire.
Sure enough, a moment later, unable to enter the palace, the thieves set fire to the curtains under the eaves between Yanhe Hall and Funing Hall. The flames spread and reached the outer edge of Funing Hall. Fortunately, the eunuchs were prepared and threw water into the walls, quickly extinguishing the flames.
After the fire was extinguished, smoke filled the hall and surrounding area. Everyone rushed to clean up the mess, but it seemed like another group of people had arrived at the main entrance of the hall, knocking loudly on the door, causing another commotion.
The people in the hall exchanged glances, their expressions changing. They suspected that a thief had circled around to the main gate. Just then, a sweet voice called out from outside the gate: "Your Majesty, I am here. Please open the door!"
Everyone recognized Zhang Meiren's voice. The Emperor's expression relaxed, and he immediately ordered the door to be opened and her to be let in.
Lady Zhang led a group of eunuchs into the hall. Upon entering, she rushed forward, knelt before the Emperor, and wept, saying, "Your Majesty, I am late in protecting Your Majesty. Please forgive me."
The Emperor helped her up with both hands and asked her gently, "What are you doing here? It's dangerous here. Didn't the Empress order you to stay indoors?"
With tears welling in her eyes, Consort Zhang earnestly said, "If Your Majesty is in danger, how dare I stay at home and hide away? If Your Majesty is in trouble, I will never sit idly by and do nothing. I only ask to follow you to the death. Please allow me to serve you by your side."
Hearing this, the Emperor was deeply moved. He pulled out his sleeve to wipe away Consort Zhang's tears and then had her sit down beside him, on either side of the Empress, as if they were sitting side by side.
Consort Zhang glanced smugly at the Empress, then ordered the eunuchs she had brought to guard outside the palace. The Empress didn't mind, but asked Ren Shouzhong, the palace attendant, "Since the bandits aren't attacking the gate, their numbers must be small. Could we send some eunuchs to circle around to the back of the palace and deal with the bandits?"
Ren Shouzhong looked troubled and said, "But there are only a few dozen eunuchs in the Funing Palace right now, while the thieves are their personal guards and have weapons. If they are numerous, I'm afraid..."
“Your Majesty,” Mr. Zhang stepped forward and said, “I am willing to go.”
The Empress remained noncommittal, giving him a slight, desolate smile, but that chilling expression vanished in an instant. She sat up again, ordered a maid to bring her a pair of scissors, and with a flick of her wrist, turned to the palace eunuchs, saying sternly, "Those who are willing to capture the thieves first, come forward and let me cut your hair as proof. Tomorrow, when the thieves are pacified, you will be rewarded, and the hair you cut off now will serve as proof."
The eunuchs looked around, still somewhat hesitant. I silently walked over, knelt before the Empress, and bowed my head to remove my turban.
After a brief moment of silence, the Queen untied my hairband and cut off a lock of my hair.
The two eunuchs who came with me also knelt down one after another, asking the Empress to cut her hair. More and more eunuchs followed suit, and in the end, almost all the young and strong eunuchs in the palace had cut their hair to show their determination.
The Empress looked at Mr. Zhang again and said to the eunuchs who had already cut their hair, "You should all go with Zhang Maoze and obey his orders."
Everyone agreed in unison. Mr. Zhang bid farewell to the Empress and led the group out. When they reached the door, he turned back and asked the Empress, "Should all those thieves be captured alive?"
The Empress said, "If they surrender, they shall be spared; if they resist stubbornly, they shall be killed without exception!"
Upon hearing the words "kill without mercy," the Emperor was slightly startled and turned to look at her. The Empress's thin lips were slightly pursed, her eyes were cold and her demeanor resolute. Even I felt a chill run down my spine at that expression. In my daily life, I had only seen the Empress as gentle and kind, with a dignified and noble air, truly a lady of the nation. Now, observing her behavior and attitude, I realized that she came from a military family. Her commands displayed both the calm and composure of a general and the cold decisiveness of a ruthless one.
Mr. Zhang first sent a group of people to go around to the Chongzheng Hall and the Erying Hall behind the Yanhe Hall to guard the exit. Then he led us to a small door on one side leading to the Yanhe Hall. After listening for a while and not seeing any movement outside, he ordered someone to climb the wall to look. When they heard the reply that there were no thieves, he carefully opened the door.
Sure enough, there was no sign of the thief in the courtyard outside the gate, only a palace servant with half of his arm cut off lying unconscious on the ground. Mr. Zhang had the servant carried away, then looked at Yanhe Hall and said, "The thief might be hiding inside."
The doors and windows of Yanhe Hall were tightly shut, making the interior appear dark and silent, yet the atmosphere was eerie, as if hinting at lurking dangers and carrying a strange sense of dread. The group stopped, no longer daring to proceed.
Mr. Zhang lowered his eyes and pondered for a moment, then turned to ask a palace attendant in the Funing Palace: "Are the fireworks used to create smoke on the lanterns in front of the Funing Palace last month still there?"
The eunuch replied, "There should be more; I'll go find them now."
He quickly found many fireworks, and Mr. Zhang distributed them to several subordinates, ordering them to sneak up to the windows of Yanhe Hall, light the fireworks, puncture the window screens, and throw the smoking fireworks into the room. Soon, some sparse curses and coughs came from inside.
Mr. Zhang was relieved upon hearing the sound: "There aren't many people." He immediately drew his knife, strode over, and kicked the door open.
What followed couldn't really be called a fierce battle. Ironically, there were only four thieves among them, reeking of alcohol and seemingly drunk. Because Mr. Zhang went in alone, he was suddenly surrounded and attacked, his left shoulder pierced by a thief's halberd. Fortunately, we followed closely behind, and our numbers outnumbered them, so the chaotic fighting didn't last long. In the end, only one thief managed to escape in the chaos, while the other three were killed on the spot by several eunuchs wielding knives.
During the incident, Mr. Zhang did loudly remind everyone to leave one alive, but at that moment, the tension of the crowd seemed to have a chance to be released. They grabbed the thief and beat him violently, ignoring Mr. Zhang's advice. In the end, the three men's corpses were mangled and covered in blood.
After careful examination and recollection, the eunuchs identified the three men killed as Yan Xiu, Guo Kui, and Sun Li, all personal attendants of the Chongzheng Hall, while the one who escaped was named Wang Sheng. Master Zhang ordered his men to search the three men and retrieve all their belongings, which were then presented to the Emperor and Empress.
Among these items was a woman's tube top, exquisitely embroidered, unlike anything made in the marketplace, and concealed within it was a letter. The Empress unfolded it, read it, and flew into a rage, immediately calling out the name of a maid: "Shuangyu!"
The woman named Shuangyu, who was originally a close attendant of the Empress, was now deathly pale and collapsed to her knees, sobbing at the Empress's feet, "Your Majesty, spare me! I know nothing..."
"This letter was written by you, arranging a meeting with the thief at a certain time and place." The Empress threw the letter in front of her and said coldly, "Have you been secretly seeing him for a long time? Do you really know nothing?"
Shuangyu shook her head frantically, saying, "I really don't know... This servant deserves to die. I happened to meet Yan Xiu when I passed by Chongzheng Hall before the New Year. I was confused for a moment and was seduced by him... But I really didn't expect him to do such a thing now... I really have no idea..."