The Book and The Sword - Yong Jin - Страница 132

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Chen gathered the heroes and the Shaolin monks together on the Drum Tower balcony. He counted up the casualties and found that apart from Zhang Jin who was dead, eight or nine of the others had been wounded, only one of them seriously. He surveyed his followers in the lights of the flames from the temple.

"Let us attack the Palace and kill the Emperor to avenge Tenth Brother!" he shouted. The heroes roared their approval, and the Shaolin monks joined in.

"The Shaolin Monastery has been destroyed by him," Heavenly Mirror added. "Today, the Commandment against killing is suspended."

"What?" asked Chen, shocked. "The Shaolin Monastery destroyed?"

"Yes, it's been burnt to the ground. Brother Heavenly Rainbow died protecting the sacred scriptures."

The news compounded Chen's anger. With Commander Fu as their hostage, the heroes marched through the ranks of Imperial Guards encircling the Lama Temple. When they had passed the last rank, they saw Xin Yan and a number of the Society's followers standing at a distance with several dozen horses. They ran over and mounted up, one or two to each horse, and with a defiant shout, galloped off towards the Imperial Palace.

Xu rode up alongside Chen and shouted: "Has an escape route been planned, Great Helmsman?"

"Ninth Brother has gone with some of the others to the West Gate to wait for us. What are you and the monks doing here?"

"Those Manchu devils!" replied Xu, his voice full of hatred. "They came one night and sacked the monastery. Heavenly Rainbow would not leave and was burned to death. They even kidnapped my son! We have been looking for the officers responsible ever since, and the chase brought us to Beijing. We went to Twin Willow Lane and they told us you had gone to the Lama Temple."

By this time, they had arrived at the Forbidden City with the Imperial Guardsmen pressing in on them from behind, loath to leave them alone even if they did not dare to attack.

Xu looked over at the Twin Eagles. "If the Emperor gets wind of this and hides somewhere in the depths of the palace, we'll never find him. Could you two go on ahead and investigate?" he asked.

The two old people were delighted to have the opportunity to show their worth, and immediately agreed. Xu took four flare rockets from his bag and gave them to Bald Vulture.

"When you catch sight of the Emperor, kill him if you can, but if he is guarded too tightly, signal us with these," he said.

The Twin Eagles leapt over the palace wall and ran swiftly across the courtyard inside and then up onto the rooftops. As they raced along, they saw the heavy palace gates and the endless courtyards and pavilions, and wondered how they could ever hope to find the Emperor in such a place.

"Let's grab a eunuch and question him," Madame Guan said.

"Good idea!" replied her husband, and the two jumped down to the ground and hid themselves in a dark corner. After a while, they heard footsteps approach and two figures walked quickly by.

"The thin one knows kung fu," Bald Vulture whispered.

"Let's follow and see where they go," Madame Guan replied.

The Twin Eagles silently shadowed the two figures, one very thin, the other fat and much slower on his feet. The thin man had to constantly stop to wait for him to catch up, and at one point said: "Faster! Faster! We must report to the Emperor as soon as possible."

The Twin Eagles were overjoyed when they heard this. They passed through doorways and courtyards and finally arrived in front of the Precious Moon Pavilion.

"You wait here," the thin man said and disappeared upstairs, leaving the fat man standing alone by the front door. The Twin Eagles crept round to the side of the pavilion and climbed up onto the roof. Then, with their feet hooked onto the eaves, they hung down over a balcony smelling of fresh paint and flowers and saw a row of windows, one of which glowed with the faint light of a candle. They slipped onto the balcony, just as a shadow passed across the window paper. Madame Guan carefully wet the paper with her finger, making a hole and then looked through to find Qian Long seated in a chair, a fan in his hand, and the thin man kneeling before him: it was Bai Zhen.

"The Tranquillity Hall in the Lama Temple has been burned to the ground and not one of the soldiers guarding it escaped," he said.

"Excellent!" exclaimed Qian Long, very pleased.

Bai Zhen kowtowed. "Your slave deserves to die. The Red Flower Society bandits eluded capture."

"What?"

"They saw through the attempt to poison them with the wine, and they escaped while I was dealing with the guards."

Qian Long grunted and hung his head, deep in thought.

Bald Vulture pointed at Bai Zhen and the Emperor, indicating to his wife that he would attack Bai Zhen while she killed Qian Long, and the two were just about to burst through the window when Bai Zhen clapped his hands twice and twelve bodyguards slipped noiselessly out from behind cupboards and screens, each one carrying a sword. The Twin Eagles knew they were no match for so many expert fighters and decided to summon the other heroes first. Bai Zhen whispered something to one of the bodyguards who left and brought the fat man back with him.

The fat man, wearing the yellow robes of a Lama priest, kowtowed energetically before the Emperor.

"You have done well," Qian Long said. "Are you sure you left no clues?"

"Everything was done according to Your Highness's wishes. Nothing is left of the Tranquillity Hall or what was in it."

"Good, good, good! Bai Zhen, I promised that he should be made a Living Buddha. Go and see to it."

"Your Highness," Bai Zhen replied with a bow.

The Lama kowtowed again.

As they walked out of the pavilion, Bai Zhen stopped the Lama. "Show your gratitude to his Highness, abbot," he said.

The abbot looked at him in surprise, but unwilling to disobey an Imperial bodyguard, he knelt down again and kowtowed in the direction of the Precious Moon Pavilion. Then he felt an icy coldness on his neck, and started in shock.

"What…what's happening?" he asked, his voice shaking.

Bai Zhen laughed coldly. "The Emperor said to let you become a Living Buddha, so I'll send you to the Western Heavens where you can be one."

He twitched his hand and the blade did its work. Two eunuchs brought a carpet over, wrapped the abbot's corpse in it and carried it away.

Suddenly, Bai Zhen heard shouting in the distance. He turned and ran back into the pavilion.

"There are bandits outside causing a disturbance, Your Highness," he said. "Please retire to the inner palace."

Qian Long had seen the Red Flower Society fighters in action in Hangzhou and he knew that his bodyguards were no match for them, so without questioning Bai Zhen further, he stood up.

Just then, Bald Vulture released a flare, and with a 'whoosh' it scrawled a path of white light across the night sky.

"Where do you think you're escaping to?" he roared as they burst through the window into the room. "We've waited a long time for this!"

The bodyguards around the Emperor stared for a moment in surprise at the red-faced old man and white-haired old woman who had suddenly appeared in their midst, then rushed at the intruders. Bai Zhen slung Qian Lung over his back and with four bodyguards protecting the front and rear, ran for the stairs. But Madame Guan forced the bodyguards back with a fistful of projectiles and lunged at Qian Long with her sword. Bai Zhen leapt backwards in fright.

Meanwhile, Bald Vulture was fighting with three guards simultaneously. Bai Zhen gave a whistle and four other guards joined the other three and completely surrounded Bald Vulture. But he fought like a demon and kept all seven at bay for a while, until one of the guards lashed out with a whip which cracked loudly against his right arm. In great pain, Bald Vulture switched his sword over to the left hand and forced the bodyguards back.

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