The night of November 15th.

Liuli, dressed as a guard, followed Zhang Chao with Ahua and Yuke to the Dexiao Gate, which is located directly north of the palace.

Before setting off, Li Molin insisted that Liuli dress up as a man, otherwise he would not allow her to enter the palace. After grumbling for a while, Liuli had no choice but to reluctantly put on the clothes.

Moreover, she was dressed as a guard. Zhang Chao was initially reluctant to bring Liuli to the palace because, at the banquet that evening, a minister could only bring a maximum of two guards and one maid. Furthermore, if Liuli were to come, Ahua would also have to accompany her. Zhang Chao didn't know when this little girl had appeared, and he was simply quite troubled. If Liuli disguised herself as a guard and Ahua as a maid, then with Yu Ke added to the mix, he would truly have no trusted guards by his side.

Unfortunately, for the sake of that summer-repelling pearl and dust-repelling pearl, they had no choice but to make the sacrifice.

In front of Dexiao Gate, Zhang Chao stopped and glanced at Liuli. He saw her standing on tiptoe, craning her neck to look into the palace. She was clearly not a well-behaved person.

Zhang Chao shook his head helplessly and sighed softly, "Miss Liuli, do you still remember what I told you?"

"I remember, I remember!" Liuli frowned and said unhappily, "You're old, so you think everyone else is forgetful just because you're forgetful? How many times have you told me? It's just that you can't talk too much in the palace, you can't look around randomly, and you can't sit down at the banquet. You have to stand obediently behind me!"

Zhang Chao frowned. Seeing that they had reached the palace gate, to avoid any unforeseen complications, he forced himself to swallow his anger and turned around with a grim expression, saying, "Fine, let's go."

The gates of Dexiao were heavily guarded. As soon as the guards saw that it was Zhang Chao, they hurriedly greeted him in unison, "Greetings, Lord Zhang!"

Zhang Chao simply gave a faint "hmm" and continued walking inside. Yu Ke followed obediently behind him, while Liu Li looked around with great interest. A Hua, dressed as a maid, had a round face with a blank expression and a lazy demeanor.

As the group of guards passed by, most of them focused their attention on Liuli. Many guards couldn't help but shake their heads and sigh in their hearts, wondering why Lord Zhang had chosen such an unreliable guard today. Wasn't he afraid of being disrespectful in front of the Emperor?

The palace has four gates. In addition to the Dexiao Gate in the north, there is a gate in each direction. The east and west gates are the Dongrong Gate and the Xirong Gate, respectively, and the south gate is the Lingji Gate.

The palace occupies half of the inner city, covering an extremely vast area. Its numerous halls, arranged in a regular and orderly manner, are divided into two parts: the outer court and the inner palace.

Upon entering the palace, one finds a paved open space. Directly in front of this spacious area stands a magnificent and imposing hall called the Hall of Diligent Governance, where the emperor and his ministers discussed state affairs daily. Behind the Hall of Diligent Governance is the Hall of Heavenly Harmony, and behind that is the Hall of Earthly Harmony. These two halls, along with the Hall of Diligent Governance, are the three main halls of the outer court. Together with the Hall of Glory and the Hall of Buddhist Incense, which are symmetrically built on either side of the outer court, they were used for holding ceremonies, issuing decrees, summoning ministers, and holding lectures on Buddhist scriptures. The Hall of Buddhist Incense was where several eminent monks from the Jinyuan Temple, residing in the palace, usually gave lectures. However, after Emperor Rui ascended the throne, he rarely attended these lectures, and the Hall of Buddhist Incense became mostly deserted and quiet, a far cry from the bustling scene it enjoyed during the reign of Emperor Yan. At that time, after the morning court session, Emperor Yan would discuss Buddhism with the eminent monks of Jinyuan Temple in the Hall of Buddhist Incense, sometimes for several hours at a time. In order to please Emperor Yan, the concubines would often come to the Hall of Buddhist Incense to listen to the lectures, even though they could not understand the obscure and difficult scriptures at all.

Beyond the Dihe Hall lies the harem, where the imperial concubines resided.

Behind the palaces where the imperial concubines lived were rows of individual courtyards, which were the residences of the princes and princesses. To the east of these courtyards, collectively known as the Qianhua Courtyard, stood a grand hall called the Imperial Study, which was the place where the princes and princesses studied.

To the east of the orderly and well-organized Ganhua Temple, a small grove of trees was planted. To the west of the grove, surrounded by trees, were several meditation rooms. Because of the greenery, the meditation rooms were exceptionally quiet, with only the peaceful and serene sound of the wooden fish drum, which calmed the mind. Several eminent monks from Jinyuan Temple lived in these meditation rooms.

Besides these ancient and grand palaces, there are also imperial kitchens, imperial hospitals, and various guardhouses, offices, and storehouses scattered throughout the area, connected by roads and alleys of varying widths, together forming this important imperial palace complex.