The third emperor of the Sui Dynasty

Chapter 608 Extreme joy begets sorrow, the whole city puts out the fire

Li Yuan recently exchanged a dispensable commercial right for more than one million stones of grain, hundreds of thousands of guan, and the follow-up money and grain will be sent to Xiangyang. With this batch of money and grain in hand, an army of [-] can be formed. come out.Li Yuan, who had been worried for a long time, could finally sleep peacefully.He is in a good mood and is cheerful with everyone.

Li Yuan slept in the palace of his beloved concubine Yin Defei last night. He is old, and he does not get up until after five o'clock every day to freshen up and prepare for the morning. At this time, he is sleeping soundly. No one dared to disturb his sleep.

Li Yuan, who was in a deep sleep, was suddenly awakened by a flurry of footsteps, sat up suddenly, and listened carefully for a while, but heard a deafening cry of killing.

Li Yuan was taken aback. The current situation is very similar to Yang Tong's burning of the Daxing Palace. His first thought was that the Sui army suddenly attacked Xiangyang at night. When he thought about it, Li Yuan was scared out of his wits, and the fear in his heart made him feel like he was falling into the sky. Abyss in general.

next moment!
He grabbed his clothes in a panic and put them on, who would have made a mistake in his busy schedule, mistook the clothes for pants, and screamed anxiously.

Concubine Yin De also woke up, hurried over to help, and said dumbfoundingly: "Your Majesty is wearing the wrong clothes."

Li Yuan's face was flushed red, he took the trousers and put them on, and said: "You wait in the palace, don't go out."

Concubine Yin De put on a robe for him, Li Yuan put it on, took off the Juque sword, hurried out of the palace gate, and bumped into General Zhige Li Sixing.

"Li Sixing!" Li Yuan asked loudly, "What happened?"

Li Sixing stopped his hasty pace, saluted and said: "I don't know that the last general has a rest, but the Taiji Palace is under martial law, please rest assured, Your Majesty."

Li Yuan heaved a sigh of relief, looked at the majestic and majestic Ganlu Hall, ran over without saying a word, climbed up and looked far away, and saw the city was on fire as soon as he got to the top, the fire was raging, and several Lifangs were engulfed by the fire. There were still many shouts coming from afar: "Xiangyang City is broken, the Sui army has entered the city, and our Tang army is defeated."

Li Yuan was shocked.

If the city is broken, he will definitely die in an ugly way, and ran down again in one breath, shouting to the Yuan Cong guards beside him: "Bring the concubines, princes and princesses to the Tai Chi Hall, and prepare to evacuate."

He lost his wife and children once when he was in Daxing, and it became a laughing stock. This time, he had to take his wife and children with him to escape, otherwise, the royal family's prestige would drop to the bottom.

At this moment, a guard rushed to report: "Your Majesty, the garrison of each city has come to report that the city gates are safe. There are hundreds of villains holding weapons and setting fires everywhere in the city."

"Bad guy?" Li Yuan was taken aback: "Isn't it Sui Jun?"

The imperial guard hurriedly said: "They are all ordinary people's clothes, but their clothes are quite uniform. They seem to be some wealthy private soldiers. When the imperial guards arrested them, they rushed into the workshops."

Li Yuan felt at ease.

"Your Majesty, the imperial guards came to report that the city's most food-heavy areas were burned, and the whole square was burned. The Wuchuan soldiers suffered heavy casualties." At this time, another imperial guard came to report.

There was a bang in Li Yuan's mind, his mind went blank, and he almost fell down. Two guards quickly supported him, and after a long while, they asked tremblingly, "What did you say?"

The guard repeated it again.

"It hurts me too!" Li Yuan coughed violently under his excitement, and the coughing was so painful that he could hardly breathe.

Li Sixing hurriedly supported the emperor, "Your Majesty, please take a rest."

At this moment, Li Yuan's throat was sweetened, he spat out a mouthful of blood, and fainted.

Li Sixing panicked all of a sudden, hugged Li Yuan who had collapsed and passed out, ran to the harem, turned around and shouted: "Why are you still standing there, find the imperial doctor quickly."

"Here!"

The imperial guards took action one after another, plunged into the cold wind all over the sky, held up the torches, as if fireflies sprang out of the palace under the night, and then scattered in different directions.

soon.

The entire Taiji Palace was alarmed by the news of the emperor's fainting. The sound of messy footsteps, shouts, and the rushing voice of the imperial physician tore apart the serenity of the heavily guarded imperial city, and the flames illuminated it within a moment. The entire Tai Chi Palace.Many of the courtiers who ran to the palace because of the fire all ran towards the Liangyi Hall with shocked expressions on their faces. He was the last area they could reach, and the Yong Lane between the two palace walls behind it was the division of the front and back palaces. Line, trespasser dies.

Although Li Yuan vomited blood, he soon regained consciousness. However, his body was weak and he could not move while lying on the couch. After drinking a bowl of ginseng soup, his spirit improved a little. Rubbing his forehead, the struggling eunuch ordered: "Quickly go and summon officials of the fourth rank and above to the Hall of Liangyi to discuss important matters."

"Here!" The eunuch rushed away.

Only then did Li Yuan say to Concubine Yin De: "The food-heavy land has been burned, and my plan to expand the army cannot be carried out. Alas, if the Sui army invades in the coming year, Xiangyang will be at stake."

Concubine Yin De came from a poor family in Bingzhou. She suffered from hunger in her early years and knew the importance of food. When she heard what Li Yuan said, she turned pale with fright, and said in shock, "My lord, has all the food been burned? "

"The fire inside the square is raging, and there are four walls outside the square. People have no way to enter. If someone removes the walls of the square, some people can be saved."

Li Yuan was also disturbed and felt a little better, so he said: "Give me a freshen up immediately, I want to discuss with the minister."

"Your Majesty! The courtiers are scattered in various workshops in Xiangyang, and they will not be able to gather in a short while." Concubine Yin De held his hand and said softly, "The ministers and concubines are women who don't understand the principles, but they also know that 'cutting firewood is not wasteful. Knife of the sword', the most important thing is that you have to recuperate your body before you can handle state affairs. According to my concubine, you should take advantage of the gathering of ministers to recharge your batteries in the palace first! External affairs can be done on your behalf Lao, when all the ministers arrive and the Holy Majesty has recovered enough energy, it will not be too late to go out by then."

Concubine Yin De looks like a flower and jade, and she has an exquisite heart for Li Yuan's sake, which is why she has been favored for many years without falling down.

Li Yuan patted her jade hand, and said gratifiedly: "My concubine is right. I will lie down and rest first, and pass on the order to let the crown prince command the army to put out the fire on my behalf. King Jin puts the whole city under martial law."

........................

A total of six Lifangs in Xiangyang City were burned by the fire, and now they are all in chaos. Originally, the New Year’s Day was approaching, and every household hoarded a lot of firewood and charcoal. Together with the fire, they all turned into flammable fire starters.

The fire spread, the smoke billowed, the flames billowed into the sky, and the violent flames rolled towards the sky, illuminating the whole city brightly. The blazing flames distorted the snowy night sky, and the sudden fire made the people in the workshop cry. Calling mother, cries, screams, and calls for help rang out.

Dongdaying, who was staying in Xiangyang, was ordered by Minister Li Shimin to send [-] soldiers to guard the north and south streets of Xiangyang. .As for the six Lifang where the fire broke out, the soldiers used siege equipment to knock down the walls of the square so that the people inside could escape.

The chief general of the city defense, Zuo Xiaowei, and General Ma Sanbao, ignored the wind and snow, and rode a fast horse to Lifang, where the food was located. Above the raging flames, it turns into water vapor,

Ma Sanbao was originally Chai Shao's domestic slave. He was promoted step by step because of his courage and bravery in battle. He participated in the war to exterminate Xue Ju and made great contributions. Because he came from a bad background, his background was innocent and innocent, and he had no interests behind him. The support of the forces won Li Yuan's appreciation and trust, and he was promoted step by step to General Zuo Xiaowei.After he was in place, he ordered some soldiers to blow open the wall of the workshop, while the other part of the soldiers went to the surrounding workshops, went door-to-door to collect wooden barrels, shovels, fetch water and shovel snowdrifts on the side of the road to put out the fire, and tried to control the fire...At the same time, he commanded some soldiers Enduring the moxibustion and roasting of the fire, rescued the surrounding food.

"Where's King Qi?" Ma Sanbao, who had finished the arrangements, grabbed a Wu Chuan soldier who escaped by chance as soon as he got off his horse, and yelled angrily.

The school lieutenant kept kowtowing and said: "Back to the general, the king of Qi has not returned to Beijing yet after going out on business, here is guarded by General Can Banner Dou Dan and [-] Wuchuan soldiers."

"What about Dou Dan, is he dead? He won't come out after being set on fire."

"Go back to the general, General Dou was burned to death." The school lieutenant said with a mournful face.

"Good death!" Ma Sanbao lost his temper angrily, "What happened? Who set the fire?"

The captain said: "After the fire broke out, some people in white clothes fled. I don't even know who they are."

Seeing that his body was scorched black and his clothes were still smoking, Ma Sanbao knew that this person was trying to fight the fire, so he didn't say anything more, turned his head and looked to the other side, and saw several people lying on the snow. Hundreds of corpses, all of these corpses were burnt black, and many of them were missing a part. To his surprise, most of these corpses had scars. Obviously they were not burned to death, but burned after death. He pointed and asked: "What happened to these people's injuries?"

"Everyone rushed to escape and chopped each other. These are the people who died at the gate of the workshop, and the humble staff led people to drag them out."

"..." Although Ma Sanbao was speechless, he could understand that when the fire broke out, who cares about whom?This kind of thing happens from time to time in the army, especially when they are attacked by the enemy at night. In fact, not many people were killed by the enemy. More than [-]% to [-]% of the people were killed by their own in the chaos. , trampled to death.

He found the captain of the Forbidden Army in this area, and asked in a deep voice, "How long will it take for the fire to be extinguished?"

"General Qi, the fire is too big to be extinguished for a while, but the fire is under control now, and the people of all the squares have spontaneously come to help. There are people pouring fire around this square. If the fire spreads outward, We can ensure that the fire is extinguished at the first time, and it will never bring disaster to other Lifangs. Fortunately, there are no people living in this Fang, otherwise the loss will be great!"

"This is thanks to Wu Chuan Si." Ma Sanbao snorted coldly. As long as he was a normal person, he would not like Wu Chuan Si who killed innocent people indiscriminately.

Thinking of the more than 20 villains he met and killed on the way, Ma Sanbao felt extremely fortunate and terrified. If he hadn't bumped into him, there might be more Lifangs set on fire by them.I thought to myself: Fortunately, King Jin reacted quickly enough and the imperial army moved quickly enough to stabilize the situation. If not, what big troubles will happen tonight!
Seeing that the fire was still going on, and there was not much food to grab, he quickly ordered: "This manpower suppression is not enough. Take my warrant to go to Dongdaying. Except for the camp guards, order all the soldiers to go out and block everything in the city. On the road, the common people are forbidden to walk indiscriminately, and if they see one arrest another, if they disobey the order and don't obey, they will be killed without mercy." Ma Sanbao issued an order to the soldiers with a stern voice.

"Here!" Dozens of soldiers followed the order and left.

"I will enter the palace first and report to the Holy Majesty. You will be in charge of this side for me. Organize people to put out the fire, so that everyone will stop grabbing food. All the water will be used to put out the fire. As long as the water is poured to the end, the food under the ashes will be preserved. Hurry up!"

Generally speaking, when the fire reaches the grain depot, the grain sprinkled on the ground can temporarily extinguish the fire. The fire can only burn slowly from the top to the bottom. Shovel it away, the grain below is still edible except for the burnt smell, and the grain at the bottom is no different from normal grain.Ma Sanbao understood this truth, so he issued this order to the captain of the Forbidden Army.

After speaking, Ma Sanbao stepped on his horse and galloped towards the palace.

...

According to Li Yuan's order, Prince Li Jiancheng presided over the government urgently. First, he arranged for Yuan Cong to guard the imperial palace under martial law and guard various strategic locations in the palace. Take advantage of the chaos to loot the people and further expand the riot!
After finishing the arrangements, he and many courtiers who came one after another waited in the Liangyi Hall for the imperial order to receive the emperor, as well as news from the city.

He stood at the gate of the palace, looking at the raging fire with a sinking face, and said: "The fire must be suppressed as soon as possible, and the people affected by the disaster must be forced to move out of their original residences, otherwise more people will be burned to death and injured! "

Whenever a disaster strikes, there will always be many elderly people who are reluctant to part with the wealth of their families. They would rather perish with the wealth than evacuate; die together in disaster.Therefore, at times like this, the power of the government to intervene forcibly is very important. It can expel these people who do not listen to the advice in a violent way, and reduce the death and injury to the extreme.

"Order the Imperial Physician of the Imperial Medical Office to make a large amount of healing plaster as quickly as possible!"

"Ming Dianzhong saves the second bureau of food and medicine, and cooks cold medicine soup..."

Pei Ji, Liu Wenjing, Chen Shuda, Xiao Yu, and Dou Gui were also watching the fire at the entrance of the hall, all with serious expressions, listening to Li Jiancheng issuing orders one by one.They didn't say a word about this series of orders that the palace was the loss. These actions can win the hearts of the people in Xiangyang for the emperor, and are very effective for the stability of the court.The key is that Li Jiancheng always values ​​the people's support, even if he opposes it at this time, it will be ineffective.

Not long after, Ma Sanbao hurried over, "The last general, Ma Sanbao, will see His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, all the Prime Ministers!"

"The general is free!" Li Jiancheng waved his hand and said, "Where did the general come from?"

"Returning to Your Highness, the last general has just arrived from the place where the fire broke out, and he has ordered the imperial army to take over all the streets. The fire in the food-heavy area will soon be overwhelmed." Ma Sanbao quickly replied
"I saw it! The general will know when he looks back." Li Jiancheng pointed to the front.

Ma Sanbao turned around, and sure enough, he saw that the fire in the workshop of Chen Fang's food had dimmed. Compared with the other five burning workshops, it was very exciting, and it seemed that it was not too far away from being extinguished.

"General, there are more than 120 million shi of grain in the workshop, which is the military ration of our Tang Dynasty and the basis for the expansion of the army in the coming year. How much do you think is left?" Only Ma Sanbao has been to the scene of the fire here, and Li Jiancheng wants to know the situation there.

Ma Sanbao made some estimates and replied: "Your Highness, it has been an hour since the fire started! But during the process, the sprinkled grain has the effect of extinguishing the fire. I will conservatively estimate that there are at least [-]% to [-]% left. even more."

"Fortunately."

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief, counting forty to fifty percent, at least three or four million stones.

"However, they were all soaked in water." Ma Sanbao said again.

"It's good if you can eat it, it doesn't matter if it's wet or not." Li Jiancheng shook his head, glanced at Dou Gui, and asked again, "Where's Dou Dan?"

When Dou Gui heard this, his heart became tense.

This Dou Dan is Dou Kang's third son, not only the emperor's son-in-law, but also his nephew, who is the backbone of the Dou family. Now that such a major event happened, Dou Dan, who is in charge of keeping food, needs to take full responsibility.If this family nephew fled in fear of crime, it would be a fatal blow to Dou's reputation, prestige, and the trust of the emperor. Maybe Dou's family would take the blame for him.At this moment, I only heard Ma Sanbao say: "Your Highness, General Dou unfortunately died in the fire, leaving no bones left." Dou Gui secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

Good to die!Now the emperor not only can't blame Dou's family, but also praises Dou's family education, and the praise of dying in the line of duty can't be shaken off.

"Hmm!" Li Jiancheng nodded and asked, "Is it an accident, or did someone set the fire on purpose?"

"The general has already asked clearly that someone set the fire! In addition, on the way to fight the fire, the general bumped into a group of villains who were trying to set the fire!"

"Did you catch anyone alive?" Li Jiancheng asked anxiously.

"No!" Ma Sanbao shook his head, and said with a wry smile, "These people's methods are vicious, and their tricks are all killed at the same time. Fortunately, the last general has more people, otherwise they will suffer. After they missed, they all took poison and committed suicide. In order to investigate According to the needs of the case, the general has ordered these corpses to be transported to the barracks."

Li Jiancheng turned his head to look at Ma Sanbao, and praised: "The general has done a good job, I will definitely report it to the Holy Majesty and ask him to praise him."

Ma Sanbao cupped his hands and said: "This is the duty of the last general, and it should not be praised!"

At this time, an eunuch came in a hurry and saluted: "Your Highness, Your Majesty asked you to lead the ministers to the Hall of Liangyi for discussion."

Li Jiancheng nodded and said: "Everyone, please!"

"Your Highness, please!"

(End of this chapter)