When Fang Zi'an, who was soaked and exhausted, jumped from the lowered ladder truck square bucket, the surrounding people applauded. Shen Ling'er handed over the kettle, and Fang Zi'an drank most of the pot of cold water, which made her feel better. Shi Cai's mouth was dry from being roasted by the fire, as if he was going to be roasted dry, which made Fang Zi'an realize that he had to strengthen the personal protective equipment of the soldiers of the Defense Army.

"What's going on with the fire at the Bazi Bridge shop?" Fang Zi'an put down the kettle and asked with a breath.

"Back to my lord, the fire on the Bazi Bridge has been extinguished, and the fire over there is not big. Brothers have already come to report, and they originally wanted to come to inquire about the situation here, and to come for reinforcements. Chen Niu'er said busily.

Fang Zi'an breathed a sigh of relief and shouted in a deep voice: "Send someone to inform them, go back to the station to rest, and be on call at any time." ”

Chen Niu'er promised loudly, and while sending people to convey the order, he ordered all the soldiers to climb up to the restaurant with buckets, hemp and water bladders to thoroughly inspect the fire to prevent a resurgence.

After some inspection, the damage to the fire site was basically clear. Although the fire was quite large, the damage to the restaurant was much smaller than expected because the dragon king car showed its skills and the speed of extinguishing the fire was very fast. The two wings were completely burned down, the second and third floors on the east side of the restaurant were burned down and half of the structure was burned down, and the bluestone wall on the first floor collapsed, burning most of the rooms. The loss is of course heavy, but for the huge area of Hongyun Restaurant, this loss is already a blessing. As long as part of the buildings on the east side is rebuilt, the original state can be restored, and the main structure of the restaurant is not damaged.

The proprietor and shopkeeper of Hongyun Restaurant were already like ashes, thinking that everything was over, but now seeing such a situation, he knelt on the ground excitedly and kowtowed to Fang Zi'an and the soldiers of the defense army, and thanked him again and again, saying that he must repay the defense army yamen. Fang Zi'an comforted them a few words, and after sending them away, he turned his head to look around for Song Xiang who had entered the fire. After looking around, I saw Song Xiang's short and fat figure next to the collapsed wing room with curling green smoke.

"Lord Song, what have you discovered? Was this fire man-made? Fang Zi'an walked over and asked in a deep voice.

Song Xiang frowned, shook his head slowly, and said, "So far, no valuable clues have been found. I've circled around and found no clues. This restaurant has no walls, it is built against the street, and the terrain is prosperous, and people come and go during the day, even if there are some traces or something, it can't say anything. ”

Fang Zi'an said: "Did you find anything in the fire?" ”

Song Xiang shook his head and said, "There are no valuable discoveries. ”

Fang Zi'an was a little disappointed. Song Xiang saw this, and said with a faint smile: "Investigating the case and finding evidence is like looking for a needle in a haystack, most of the time you always return empty-handed, otherwise how can it be quite difficult." Adulterers are always careful to hide traces and clues. If you do...... Cunning people, even they will falsify evidence, deny the crime, leave me empty-handed, and even go astray. Lord Fang should understand what I'm talking about. ”

Fang Zi'an looked at Song Xiang's bright eyes, of course he knew what Song Xiang meant by his words. But Fang Zi'an didn't want to talk to him about this, ignored his finger and scolded Huai, and smiled: "Lord Song doesn't have to explain to me how difficult this matter is, I am not your superior, and I will not scold you for being incompetent." I'm not interested in any of that either. It's your business to investigate the case, I just think that you worked hard and stayed up late, and as a result, you found everything, and I feel a little sorry for you. I have to go and clean up the fire with my brothers, and I'm ready to collect the troops, Lord Song is at his own convenience. Without waiting for Song Xiang to answer, Fang Zi'an had already stepped on the mess all over the ground and walked down to the burning restaurant. There, a group of guards were pulling ropes at the charred half-scorched wooden wall on the east side of the third floor. This is a standard procedure to prevent the wall from collapsing down and causing casualties after a fire, so it is necessary to either reinforce or dismantle the fire site when cleaning up the fire.

The walls of the third floor collapsed, and part of the roof collapsed. Smoke and dust were everywhere, and the smoke and dust were mixed with sparks. It was a dark fire that burned to the inside of the log. This is one of the reasons for cleaning up the fire, which seems to be extinguished, but burns in a hidden place, and sometimes it only takes a fresh breeze to rekindle.

The soldiers quickly extinguished these dark fires with hemp and water bladders, and the water vapor sprayed thin, and the sound of the charcoal fire extinguishing was clearly audible. Fang Zi'an's attention was not on this matter, he was standing on the ground on the east side, gesturing in the direction of the west side with his hands raised, shaking his body to observe something.

"Lord Song, come here." Fang Zi'an suddenly waved loudly at Song Xiang.

Song Xiang walked over suspiciously, looked at Fang Zi'an's shaking body, frowned, and said, "Master Fang, do you have any advice?" ”

Fang Zi'an said: "I found something strange. ”

Song Xiang said: "What's wrong. ”

Fang Zi'an said: "This fire started from the wing, and then spread to the restaurant. Lord Song, you said that if someone set the fire to it, why didn't he just light the fire in the restaurant? ”

Song Xiang was stunned, frowned, and said, "Maybe...... It's because there is a vigil in the restaurant. Once a fire starts, it will be discovered. ”

Fang Zi'an sighed and said, "I see, but my opinion is different from yours." ”

Song Xiang said: "What does Lord Fang think?" ”

Fang Zi'an said: "First of all, there is indeed a vigil in the restaurant, but this has nothing to do with where the fire is. In fact, although the night watchman did not find out about the fire in the wing, he was soon discovered by the people on the east side. Why do you say that? ”

Song Xiang said: "I don't understand what you mean, maybe it's just a casual behavior." ”

Fang Zi'an sneered: "How can there be so much randomness? You have said that the actions of those who commit adultery have a purpose. You said that drinking wine was used to strengthen courage, but now how can you say that this behavior is casual? Unless you think the fire was an accident. Then I have nothing more to say. ”

Song Xiang frowned and said, "Although I didn't find any evidence, my intuition tells me that this fire was not an accident. This coincides with the timing and pattern of fires in previous days. No accident. ”

Fang Zi'an said: "That's good, since you also think that this fire must be man-made arson, then I will tell you my opinion, and you can see if it can be used as evidence." Or at least as a reference. ”

Song Xiang said: "Listen to me. ”

Fang Zi'an said: "Hongyun Restaurant is three stories high, which is a rare high-rise building in this area. The east side of this restaurant is close to the street, so it is easy for outsiders to see the fire. If I were to set the fire, should I set it on the west side of the restaurant, so that before the fire started, the side facing the street would not be visible, and the people would not find out in advance. Isn't it? ”

Song Xiang said: "It makes sense. ”

Fang Zi'an said: "In addition, the first floor on the west side of the restaurant is adjacent to the small river, so there is no low stone wall, but a long window wooden wall structure, I think it is to borrow the scenery from the outside to make the restaurant more elegant." But as an arsonist, it is easier to set fires. What was the reason for this arsonist who gave up the best place to set the fire and risked being discovered by the people in time to start the fire from the east wing? ”

"yes? For what, exactly? After talking for a long time, what exactly do you want to say? Song Xiang frowned.

Fang Zi'an smiled and said, "There is only one reason, he just wants to avoid the observation of my Lookout Tower." To put it bluntly, once a fire breaks out in the west, it is completely within the lookout range of my fire watchtower. My people will notify people to check on even a small fire, so there is no chance of letting the fire spread. But in the east, it's different, with the restaurant itself, it's like lighting a fire behind the low wall over there, and our view here is completely blocked by the low wall, and we don't know that there is a fire there. When we found out that the fire had started, it must have risen to the top of the wall, and it was already a fire. ”

Song Xiang was stunned and hesitated: "But...... As you say, if he set fire to the street on the east side, won't the people find out? ”

Fang Zi'an said: "The people can find out, but the people may not be able to extinguish the fire." Moreover, he must have taken some measure to ensure that the fire would burn quickly, and even if the people found out about it, it would be too late. I remember when we arrived, the wing was burned out. This wing room is built of rammed earth and blue bricks, and it is only a place for the porter and the men to stay, and there is nothing in it except tables, chairs, and stools, how can it be burned like that in a short time? It must have been done with tricks. When the fire broke out in the wing, I looked at the fire tower soldiers to discover the abnormality, when they arrived, in fact, the fire had spread to the outer wall of the second floor of the restaurant, and the people found it early, but they could not prevent this from happening. All of this is actually just delaying the time for our defense forces to put out the fire, so that we can't rescue in time. The purpose of the arsonists is to spread the fire and cause even worse consequences. Do you think my guess is justified? ”

Song Xiang clapped his hands suddenly, quickly pulled Fang Zi'an to the broken wall of the wing room, pointed to the ashes all over the ground and said, "Look at it, you see, there are so many ashes in this wing room, this is the ashes of burning firewood and grass." I thought it was a firewood house, so I didn't care. You say it's the porter, that's weird. These firewood and grass ashes...... Could it be that the arsonist moved into the house? ”

Fang Zi'an looked at the thick ashes on the ground, nodded slowly, and said, "That's it, the arsonist piled firewood and grass in the house, so that the fire could quickly ignite the roof and spread to the restaurant." It's not that he doesn't want to set fire directly on the east wall of the restaurant, but the first floor of the east wall is a bluestone wall, and he has no way to light the fire, and he is afraid of alarming the people in the building, so he chooses to light the fire in this wing. This location can also block the view of the tower with the height of the restaurant itself, and by the time we found out, the fire must have already begun to spread. Moreover, he almost succeeded, if it weren't for the powerful fire extinguishing methods like the dragon king car and the water gun ladder truck, this fire must have begun to spread today. Therefore, all this can fully prove that this is a deliberate arson. ”

Song Xiang nodded and said, "That's right, it can be corroborated." I'm sure there must have been a firewood pile in the vicinity that had been moved, and you will find out when you check it. ”

Fang Zi'an smiled: "Then what are you waiting for?" Why don't you look around and find it to prove it? ”

Song Xiang nodded and left, but turned around again and pointed at Fang Zi'an: "Lord Fang is indeed extraordinary, and Song admires you even more." ”

The Great Minister of the Southern Song Dynasty

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