Bright Spring

He scrambled towards the direction of the door.Fortunately, Zhu Gaochi was very familiar with this place because he often didn't go out in the house; he passed a partition and could vaguely see the door.At this time, the fire had already reached the roof, and the smoke was getting thicker and thicker. He was about to faint from choking, and using his sleeve to cover his mouth and nose to breathe out did not have much effect.

Zhu Gaochi and Zhang Shi finally persisted and reached the door of the room.

He immediately reached out and touched the door latch and pulled it out. He tried to open the door, but it couldn't be opened!Amid the "crackling" sound of burning wood, Zhu Gaochi heard the sound of the copper lock shaking.

Before Zhu Gaochi smelled the smell of tung oil, he felt strange, because the lamps in his family did not use tung oil!But he didn't think much about it just now, until now, the door was locked from the outside!He was finally sure: This is not a fire at all, but a deliberate arson!

"Second brother...cough cough cough!" Zhu Gaochi shouted in despair, "You can do anything to your brother!?"

Zhang said: "Open the door quickly, save people!"

Zhu Gaochi said: "It's useless. Second brother wants me to die, who can save me?"

He was extremely dizzy and uncomfortable, and he sat down on the ground, raised his head and let out a long sigh in despair.

At this time, Zhu Gaochi was so smoked that he shed tears, his body was getting hotter and hotter from the fire, but his heart was already cold.In this world, people can kill even their own brothers, and the world has become a hell!

"Help..." a weak voice said.

Zhu Gaochi suddenly struggled to get up, and continued to go forward to pull the wooden door desperately, but with his and Zhang's strength, they couldn't open the locked door no matter what.The door opens inward, but it's no use hitting it!

Suddenly there was a "bang", and a flaming log fell from it.Zhu Gaochi yelled, stepped back quickly, and fell to the ground again. When he tried to get up again, he couldn't even use his strength. His chest was heavy and suffocated, and his mind became more and more unconscious.

Faintly, he heard Zhanji's cry for help, and the voice cried: "Second Emperor Uncle, I was wrong, I didn't burn|dead you... help!"

...near the gate of the courtyard, there lived several eunuchs, mainly to watch over the abandoned prince's family and prevent them from coming in and out and colluding with the inside and outside.

The courtyard and walls of the temporarily built "Xiaoyao City" did not have much protective effect; after all, the place was in the imperial city, and there were taller walls and defenders outside for defense, and the main function of the people inside was just to monitor.

The eunuchs also found that there was a fire, and they wanted to go in to save people, but the place leading to the corridor of the inner house was a hall.There was already a big fire in the hallway, and people couldn't get through!

One of the eunuchs said: "Go to the storehouse to move the ladder, walk through the outer wall and enter the inner house, save the people first! Then go to another person, and ask the soldiers of the left-behind department to come in to put out the fire and bring the water tanker!"

Several eunuchs acted separately.When they rushed out of the yard, they saw that many soldiers had already lined up and ran over!Seeing the fire inside, the defenders also temporarily dispatched troops into the imperial city.

Everyone found the ladder, and several eunuchs and generals climbed into the wall.But I saw a piece of corridors and halls inside, all ignited raging fire!The flames were soaring into the sky, and the smoke billowed.There seemed to be piles of firewood outside those bedrooms, and the fire was burning the most, so how could anyone rush in?

Seeing this, a military general of the left-behind division ordered: "The water truck can't get in! Quickly find some buckets, bring water in from the big vat outside, and put out the fire at the door of the gallery before we can go in and save people!"

After a while, some civil servants also came with people.In a panic, people carried buckets to scoop water in a nearby large water tank.

In the imperial city, there are large tile vats, which have only one purpose: to prevent fires!Every once in a while, someone specially checks and fills the water tank for emergencies.

However, when everyone opened the tile vats, they found that the insides were actually empty!At this time, someone discovered that the bottom of those earthen vats had been knocked out, and the water had already leaked out!

A civil official said: "Hurry up and send someone to transport water elsewhere, and then ask the soldiers to tear down all the doors and windows of the nearby houses! If you are not careful, the entire imperial city will be burned!"

The general said: "Now we need to save people, do you all know who lives inside?"

A team of soldiers returned to the smoky inner house, and they brought in a large log.Then the soldiers carried the wood and slammed into the door. After a loud noise, the firewood and the door were easily knocked down.

People poured the only few buckets of water brought from the nearby kitchen, but it was almost a drop in the bucket and could not completely extinguish the fire.

The general poured the remaining water on a sergeant and ordered: "Go in and carry him out!"

The sergeant was covered in water, looking at the flames in the smoke, his face was pale.

The general shouted: "Defy the military order, behead!"

The sergeant said: "My family is small, so I will entrust it to Mr. Li Qian." After saying that, he gritted his teeth and rushed over, jumping into the smoke and flames.

However, the soldiers waited for a while, but there was still no movement inside.The sergeant might not necessarily be burned to death when he first entered, but with such a big smoke, he might be fainted in a short while!

When General Qian Zong turned his head to look at the other sergeants, several of them took two steps back in fear.

Chief Qian who gave the order just now sighed: "This is over! Maybe we all have to die!"

...The next day, a messenger from Zhongdu rode a fast horse, constantly changing horses at the post station, hurried for hundreds of miles, and crossed the big river; it was just late at night.While the gate of the capital city was not closed, the messenger entered the capital.

The urgent report did not go to the General Secretary, but was sent directly to the Jinyiwei yamen.The left-behind department of the Central Capital has little to do with Jinyiwei, but the secret letter was written in the Jinyiwei yamen!

As soon as Zhang Sheng, the commander of Jinyiwei, Lezhihou, got the secret letter, he hadn't opened it yet; when he saw the lacquered letter on it and the words "Eight hundred miles urgent", his heart skipped a beat, and he had a premonition that something serious was going to happen!

Zhang Sheng's fingers pinched the envelope tightly, he was stunned for a moment, and finally he did not open the lacquer seal.He immediately went out of the government office with his things, and walked quickly towards Chengtianmen, and entered Chengtianmen, Duanmen, and Meridian Gate one after another.

The army guarding the Meridian Gate is Jinyiwei.Zhang Sheng went straight into the Meridian Gate, found a eunuch on duty, and told him to report to the Holy Majesty.

Zhang Sheng was waiting outside Fengtian Gate.The Commander of Jin Yiwei is also allowed to enter the palace in normal times, but according to the rules, he can only move around the Fengtian Gate.

After waiting for a long time, the eunuch Wang Gui rushed over in person, straight to the point and said urgently: "The emperor is in Dongnuange, come with us."

The two of them walked a long way to the north, entered the middle left door, the rear left door, and the Qianqing door, and then walked through the inclined corridor to the outside of Dongnuan Pavilion.The burly eunuch Wang Gui said: "There is no need to report, let's go in directly!"

They walked into Dongnuan Pavilion, passed a partition, and saw Zhu Gaoxu sitting alone on the chair in front of the three maps, staring at them.

Zhang Sheng and Wang Gui knelt down and saluted together.

Zhu Gaoxu's voice said: "Where is the thing?"

Zhang Sheng hurriedly got up and handed over the unopened secret letter with both hands.Sure enough, when Zhu Gaoxu saw the lacquer seal and the words "Eight Hundred Miles Urgent", his face immediately changed.

Zhu Gaoxu tore open the envelope three times, five times and two times, took out the letter paper from the inside and unfolded it.Both Zhang Sheng and Wang Gui stood bent over in front of the case, not daring to make a sound.

"His|what|!" Zhu Gaoxu cursed after reading it.His face was very ugly, angry and sad, the muscles of his cheeks moved slightly, as if he was gnashing his teeth; but fortunately, Zhu Gaoxu didn't fly into a rage immediately.

His eyes swept across the faces of Zhang Sheng and Wang Gui, and he handed over the secret letter directly.Zhang Sheng, who was standing closest, went on first, and immediately flipped through the content.

The entire family of the abandoned prince living in the Imperial City of the Central Capital is dead!

There were six people in my family, who were burnt alive late last night|died in the bedroom.However, eight people were burnt to death, one of them was a sergeant from the left-behind department. After the fire broke out, the sergeant went in to rescue people and died inside. There are many soldiers who can testify; The eunuch, he didn't live in "Xiaoyao City", but was burned to death in it.

The general of Jin Yiwei who stayed in Zhongdu led his subordinates to blockade "Xiaoyao City", and initially determined that the fire last night was caused by arson!

The firewood in the firewood house of "Xiaoyao City" was moved outside the bedrooms of the abandoned prince and others, and in the hall; and when the fire was ignited, people could smell the smell of tung oil.The remaining copper lock was also found outside the bedroom.The fire fighting water tank near Xiaoyao City was also intentionally smashed.

There are various indications that the arsonists are from the Imperial City of Zhongdu, and they are very familiar with the inside and outside of "Xiaoyao City".Suspected to be an arsonist, first smashed the nearby water tank; then turned into Xiaoyao City, locked several bedrooms, put the firewood and poured tung oil on it to set the fire...

After Zhang Sheng read the content, he immediately handed it to the eunuch Wang Gui.

Judging from Wang Gui's shocked expression, the eunuch had just found out about it.

At this time, Zhang Sheng can be sure of one thing: this matter is really not what the Holy Majesty meant!Because the people in charge of monitoring Xiaoyao City are the officers and men of Jinyiwei and the eunuchs sent by the Supervisor of Rituals; if the Holy Majesty wants to do this kind of thing, he must be informed by the guards in Jinyi and the Supervisor of Rituals before he can do it properly!

Chapter 657 Who Believes

In the distance came the sound of drums from Youshi, breaking the dead silence of Dongnuange.

The eunuch Wang Gui said cautiously: "This matter can only be said to be an accidental fire?"