I am imprisoned in Kaifeng Mansion

After Cui Tao got the sky lantern, she inspected it. The square frame made of bamboo strips was covered with paper, and it looked no different from other sky lanterns.The lamp oil has been filled, because it is cold and the lamp oil condenses to a solid state, which is just convenient for carrying.

Wang Siniang lit the sky lantern, and saw that it was like a normal sky lantern, which tended to ascend to heaven with the burning of the light, so she blew out the sky lantern.

"I don't think there's any problem with this. In fact, this thing is not expensive at all. Just get some paper and bamboo to tie it together. It's not unusual for a new store to use this trick to attract customers. When we opened the store before , and gave away something more expensive than this for nothing.”

After following Cui Tao to investigate the case for so long, Wang Siniang also understood a little bit.At first she saw that Cui Tao was paying attention, so she suspected that there might be something wrong with the sky lantern, but now after careful inspection, Wang Siniang felt that there was something wrong with the sky lantern going out.

"You'll know when you let it go."

She and Wang Siniang each received a sky lantern, so there are two in total.

The two spared the surveillance, took the badges to go out of the city, and went to the open space outside the city overnight to release sky lanterns.Today, the northeast wind blows, and the sky lanterns head all the way to the southwest. The first lantern suddenly caught fire and landed less than half a stick of incense after it was lifted into the sky.

Wang Siniang sighed: "It seems that the wind is not very good today."

Occasionally, when the Kongming Lantern is not properly released, it will burn in mid-air.

Not long after that, the second lamp also ignited in mid-air, and then fell to the ground.

Wang Siniang's eyes stared straight. Even though she was not very smart, she realized that there might be something wrong with the sky lantern.

"If every sky lantern sent out is like this, wouldn't it be raining like fire on the Lantern Festival?" Wang Siniang sighed that this was too terrible, and the whole city of Bianjing would be engulfed in flames.

"During the holidays, especially the Shangyuan Festival, the watchtowers in Bianjing will definitely strengthen their defenses, and there will be more patrols. Even if there is a fire, it should be within the controllable range."

But if tens of thousands of sky lanterns turned into fireballs and fell from the sky, it would indeed cause people to panic.

What is the purpose of doing this?Shout out?Make things messy?

The next day, Pinger came back from Anping and told Cui Tao that she had personally conveyed her account to Mrs. Cui.When Mrs. Cui learned that Zhao Zongqing might be involved in a major case, she was so frightened that half of her soul disappeared, and she scolded Cui Liuniang for being a muddleheaded and bastard. .

Mrs. Cui couldn't let Cui Liuniang's reputation be ruined any longer. Since there were rumors spreading outside, she simply let her be a dead person. Only the dead can let these rumors disappear and preserve the reputation of the Cui family for hundreds of years.

Mrs. Cui didn't wait until the case was thoroughly investigated and made public before dealing with Cui Liuniang, which shows that she completely trusted Cui Tao's words.This made Cui Tao quite gratified. It is really a good thing that there is no pig teammate holding back.

Ping'er told Cui Tao that Cui Mao hesitated a bit, but when Mrs. Cui mentioned Cui Jiuniang's matter, he didn't dare to say a single extra word, and finally chose to obediently listen to the old lady's arrangement.

"Yeah." Cui Tao never had any hope for this biological father, so he was not disappointed.He can listen to this matter if he wants to, and it doesn't matter if he doesn't listen, anyway, he must be the one who suffers in the end.

Cui Tao thought that Ping'er was taking over as an excuse, and held a banquet for her at the Eight Immortals Tower.While eating, Cui Tao sent servant Bo Hean to buy her some sky lanterns.

"Which one does Madam Cui like? Do you want a bigger one or a smaller one?" He An hurriedly asked with a smile.

"Any family will do, as long as there are two lamps in a family."

"to make!"

Half an hour later, sixteen sky lanterns were placed in the house. Cui Tao took eight different lamp oils and lit them in a copper basin. Among them, the flames of three lamps suddenly became larger after burning for a while.If there is a lampshade, such a high flame will inevitably ignite the lampshade, causing the entire sky lantern to burn.

Cui Tao found out the three corresponding lanterns, and found no difference in the texture of the lamp oil, and finally found the problem in the wick.These wicks are all made of rushes, but the bottom end is not the same color as the top end. The upper part is yellow, while the lower part hidden in the grease is darker in color, as if it has been soaked by something.When the flame burns to this position, it will suddenly become prosperous and high.

Cui Tao smelled the smell of flame oil in the lower part of the wick. Compared with the oil used to make lamp oil, flame oil, as the name suggests, did burn more 'fiercely', which led to the sudden rise of the flame.

Cui Tao asked He An to buy eight sky lanterns on the street, and three of them had problems with the sky lanterns. This probability is very high.If it is said that at least one-third of the sky lanterns in Bianjing had problems shortly after they ascended to heaven, it would be true as Wang Siniang said, the sky would be on fire.

"But it's impossible for everyone to make an appointment for the time to release the sky lanterns. If the first one is set on fire, it will definitely attract the attention of the military patrol shop and order it to be banned in time. I don't think their idea is very good!"

Seeing Cui Tao's sullen face, Ping'er quickly destroyed the enemy's ambition and prestige, calling them stupid.

"This may be the case in previous years, but this year is different. The officials will release the largest sky lantern on the Shangyuan Festival. Who would dare to release the lantern before the emperor? Most of the people will choose not long after the emperor releases it. They put up their own sky lanterns one after another, and it happened to be 'coincidentally'."

Ping'er curled her lips and said dejectedly: "Then they are not really stupid, they are really smart."

"How can we grow their ambition!" Wang Siniang slapped Ping'er's head, "Didn't we know this a day in advance, the Lantern Festival will only be tomorrow, and today our beautiful Cui Xiangu will definitely be dealt with properly. "

Cui Tao smiled wryly, "This matter is really a bit troublesome, and I found it a bit late."

"Isn't one day enough?" Wang Siniang repeated emphatically, Cui Tao has always been omnipotent in her eyes.Knowing this matter in advance, she believed in her heart that Cui Tao would definitely be able to solve it.

"I really can't!" Cui Tao said to Wang Siniang.

Wang Siniang still didn't believe it. After they did some investigation and heard Pinger's summary, Wang Siniang finally realized the seriousness of the matter.

"The problem is that sky lanterns are cheap and cheap, and they are sold or given away from different stores. Although they come from the same place, most of the sellers don't know about it. The source can be checked, but I guess people should have hidden it by now. And these sky lanterns have been sold in large quantities, but it is not easy to get them back. Hundreds of thousands of households in Bianjing are inspected door to door. How many soldiers and horses will it take to complete the inspection? It is almost impossible. It is feasible to issue a ban, the same It will startle the snake."

"Ah? So, if we want to catch the traitor, we have to take a big risk? If it's just our own risk, the sons and daughters of the rivers and lakes are not afraid of anything. They can look back when the righteousness is gone! But risking the officials and Bianjing The risk of the common people, are we playing too much?"

Wang Siniang's heart tightened, and she asked Cui Tao a series of worried questions.

"I don't have any family to save me. If I die, I will die. I can afford to lose, but you two can't afford to lose! Especially Mrs. Cui, it's a pity that I haven't had such a handsome and delicious Jun Lang. How about today? In the evening, you guys get things done first? No matter what, let’s not regret it. And I heard that this woman who has no body has gone down, and she will suffer!"

Immediately, Wang Siniang was hit on the head, and before she recovered from her ouch, she was hit hard again by Pinger.

Later, when they went to Han Qi's place, Han Qi laughed when he heard about the sky lantern, and only said "that's how it is".

Xu Wei happened to be there, and when he heard about the situation, he was so frightened that he lost half of his soul, so he immediately suggested that Han Qi should stop early, so that he could catch as much as possible.

Before Han Qi could speak, Wang Siniang refuted Xu Wei first, "We women are not afraid, why are you so scared, a big man?"

"I..." Xu Wei choked, and wanted to talk about the safety of the official family, but in a blink of an eye, Han Qi kept talking to Cui Tao, and he suddenly felt that there was nothing to talk about.Could he be smarter than Han Qi?Everyone understands the truth.

Han Qi asked Cui Tao: "Do you still remember Wu Heng from Aunt Wu's rouge shop?"

"Of course I remember, he is a powerful and wonderful person, with an unusually keen sense of smell." It was thanks to Wu Heng's identification of the things in the Zangge rouge shop that he knew exactly where they were made.

"I want to ask him for help, but this person has a weird temper, and I know that he is determined not to see people from the government. If he is forced to use strong means, he will rather die than surrender according to his temperament, and it will be even more difficult to lobby."

"I will handle it."

Half an hour later, Cui Tao invited Wu Heng over.Han Qi immediately asked someone to take Wu Heng to the pier, not only the water transport boats but also the granaries, and he was invited to go through them all.

Cui Tao probably guessed, "I heard that the weapons were transported with the rice grain transported by the canal, and it has been verified. Let Wu Heng go at this time, but because there is something smelly in the weapons?"

"I have such doubts." Han Qi suddenly remembered something after agreeing, and immediately ordered his subordinates to take Wu Heng to Jinxiang kiln factory.

Because tomorrow is the Shangyuan Festival, the emperor will go to Jinming Pool to release sky lanterns when the lanterns are lit.Therefore, today and night, the city began to strengthen its security. In addition to watching the imperial guards participating in patrol inspections, people patrolling the shops were also all over the streets and alleys.

Before dawn the next day, two carriages carrying goods hurried into the city with the badges of the Privy Council, but finally drove quietly into Kaifeng Mansion.Both carts were loaded with copper gongs, and were assigned to teams all over the military patrol shop, ensuring that each street would be assigned a gong.

All the main streets in Bianjing are covered with lanterns, especially Yujie, Dongdajie, Xidajie and other places are the most spectacular. It can be said that the lights are endless for forty miles.

At Jinming Pond, in addition to the brightly lit lanterns hanging everywhere, there is also a large mountain shed made of lights. Each lamp is painted with the stories of different immortals, and there are five-color lights: Manjusri riding a lion, and cross-legged. The Samantabhadra of the Elephant King has five streams of water coming out of his fingers, and there is a wooden cabinet underneath to store water. When it is full, it will flow down like a waterfall. Under the illumination of the lights, the waterfall is like a luminous galaxy, which is too beautiful to behold.There are also two huge dragons made of grass, with thousands of built-in lights. Looking from a distance, they look like twin dragons soaring out of the pool domineeringly.In addition, there are all kinds of characters produced by colored lanterns with a height of four or five feet. There are ingenious mechanisms inside, so that these "lantern figures" can move.

Who would be willing to sleep at home bored with such a magnificent view?Not to mention that this night, the vendors in all the shops put all their efforts into selling all kinds of snacks and new gadgets, which is a good opportunity to feast their eyes and mouth.If you are tired from eating, you can also use your brain to guess lantern riddles to make it even more interesting.

Women in Bianjing will wear a light ball as big as a jujube and hang it on their waists to go to the street.Cui Tao, Wang Siniang, and Ping'er were no exception, three light bulbs, red and green pink, walked side by side and all flung them in the same direction.The three of them ate and played all the way to Jinmingchi, very happy.

"The officials are going to release sky lanterns!"

Ordinary people can only wait and see from a distance on the opposite bank of Jinming Pond, but this can't hinder everyone's interest at all. Who doesn't want to look up at the emperor's holy face?Even if you can't see clearly, it's good to see a shadow.Therefore, as soon as these words were uttered, more people crowded forward, and the row of people in the front couldn't stand still, and rushed towards the boundary guarded by the imperial guards.Even though the imperial guards repeatedly warned, there were more people crowded in the back, and many civilians who were squeezed in the middle and were almost crushed into meat, couldn't control their bodies at all, and rushed along with them.

Cui Tao, Wang Siniang, and Ping'er stood on the periphery of the crowd. The terrain here was slightly higher, and they could clearly see the crowd.But there are really too many people, and the situation at the front is not very clear.

"what--"

"Ahhh-"

"Killed!"

"There are assassins!!!"