Chapter 24: Mandate of Heaven
Luoyang City has twelve city gates, three in the east and three in the west, two in the north and four in the south.
Xiahouan led the young men from the east to fight horses and stopped at the Middle East Gate.
The gates were wide open, and there were no guards on the towers.
The former imperial capital of the Han Dynasty opened its arms to them in this way.
"Let's go!"
Xia Hou'an let out a low shout, tugged at the reins with his right hand, and led the little brothers in.
When you enter the city, you will be greeted by the ruined streets and the houses that have collapsed after the fire, black and swarthy, like ruins.
Most of the fires in the city were extinguished, and the burning waves brought by the embers burned his cheeks.
On the streets, there are belongings left behind by people fleeing, charred corpses dragged out of the rubble, and women and children killed in the streets.
The blood that flowed from his body had long since been dried by the fire, and was deeply embedded in the ground, leaving dark red spots.
It's shocking to look at.
Such a scene of decay is difficult to associate with the imperial capital of the Great Han Kingdom.
The prosperity is gone.
Walking on the streets, the teenagers felt inexplicably heavy in their hearts.
"Who are you waiting for, and what are you doing here?"
It didn't go far before a firefighter spotted the group of teenagers and came over to inquire.
Xiahou'an reported the identity of Cao Cao's nephew as usual, saying that he had come to help put out the fire.
The man who asked was about forty years old, nearly eight feet tall, and a little majestic, after he carefully examined Xiahou An and the others, he saw that they did not look like Dong Zhuo's minions, so he said with peace of mind: "It's rare that you little brothers have such a chivalrous heart, but the fire here has been extinguished, you can go to the west to see, there should still be a shortage of manpower." ”
Xiahouan nodded yes.
Then, bidding farewell to the firefighting team, Xia Houan set off towards the west.
Of course, if you want him to honestly participate in firefighting, it will not be possible.
Galloping along the avenue facing the East Gate, I soon saw the palace wall of the Luoyang Imperial Palace.
Luoyang City is divided into two palaces, north and south.
The North Palace is the emperor's harem dormitory, and the residence of the Queen Mother and the Crown Prince is also here; Nangong is the place where the court and government affairs are conducted.
Where to search first, it is naturally self-evident.
The road connecting the two palaces is called 'Imperial Road', which is exclusively for the emperor to walk on weekdays, and if others go, it is considered light to cut off their heads.
At this moment, Xiahou An was leading the little brothers to ride forward on the royal road, passing through the north gate of Xuanwu and directly entering the South Palace.
The fire in the South Palace has been extinguished, the collapsed palace is billowing with smoke, the temperature rising from the ground is still very high, many palace rooms have collapsed into ruins, some are still crumbling, and from time to time there are two sounds of falling beams and collapsing.
Seeing this, Xia Hou'an frowned slightly, obviously someone has been here.
I just don't know if Sun Jian has found the jade seal.
"A team of four, split up to find it."
Xia Hou'an ordered to go down, and at the same time warned the little brothers not to leak the news.
The little brothers nodded, and they scattered in all directions.
Xiahou'an, Xu Chu and two other little brothers also began to search.
Nangong is huge, ridiculously big.
All kinds of palaces emerge in an endless stream, dazzling to see, Xiahou An has no way to start, can only run around like a headless fly.
After all, no one had been here before.
The main thing is still not enough qualifications.
Find south from north and west from east.
Time passes by minute by minute.
As time went on, Xia Hou'an even lost some patience, and he became more and more suspicious that the jade seal must have fallen into Sun Jian's hands.
Otherwise, he has been pulling for so long, why has he not gained anything at all.
Another half hour passed.
Damn, I'm not looking for it!
Xiahou An, whose face was full of ash, angrily kicked the scorched wood that was blocking the way, completely lost his patience, and was too lazy to pull it again.
The other two little brothers, who acted as tool people, were soaked at this time, some wells were dry, and some wells had water in them.
"Big brother, don't be discouraged, find a place to rest for a while, and I'll look for it again." The two little brothers took the initiative to comfort Xia Hou'an, and then really went to explore elsewhere.
Looking at the backs of the two little brothers, Xiahou An was greatly moved, the little brothers who have been silently going down the well are willing to work so hard, what reason does he, who is the eldest brother, have to complain here? .
"Zhongkang, let's go over there and have a look."
After adjusting his mood, Xia Houan continued to work.
When passing by a palace maid's garden, Xiahou An's chest suddenly burst out.
A feeling that I had never felt before came to my mind, like a seal on a box that had been sealed for many years, and suddenly moved.
Walking in along the small door, the houses in the garden had already collapsed, and Xia Hou'an looked around, except for the collapsed and charred wooden planks on the ground, there was no ancient well he wanted to find.
Slightly disappointed, Xiahouan turned around and prepared to leave.
The sharp-eyed Xu Chu seemed to find that he was tired, stepped forward and pried open the charred ruins, and shouted: "Lord, there is a well here."
Xiahou An walked quickly, and sure enough, under the ruins, a hexagonal wellhead was exposed.
Like other wells, this one has its own name: Zhenguan Well.
Xiahouan put the rope around his waist and tied it extremely strongly.
Originally, Xu Chu said that he wanted to go down, but Xiahou An was not sure. Although Xu Chu's combat effectiveness is the highest among them, his breath-holding kung fu is really not good.
It is estimated that before it sank to the bottom, it has already begun to choke on water.
So, Xu Chu stayed on it to pull the rope, and Xiahou An stuck to the edge of the well, sinking down little by little.
When the well water was about to overflow his nasal cavity, Xia Hou'an took two deep breaths of air, and then the palm of his hand that grasped the rope loosened, and his whole body fell rapidly towards the bottom of the well.
I don't know how long it will be.
Xia Hou'an felt that his body was no longer sinking, and he kicked his feet, and he had reached the bottom of the well.
He opened his eyes and couldn't see his fingers.
Don't let me carry the whole black chicken king, I can't ask for the elixir of Laojun...... Xia Hou'an was thinking wildly in his head, and he had a picture of the monkey routine Bajie in Journey to the West.
The bottom of the well was too dark to see anything clearly.
Xia Hou'an was helpless, so he had to touch like a blind man.
There were a lot of things in the well, most of which were broken porcelain, and a fragment cut his palm.
I am your ancestors, littering!
The jade seal was not caught, and his hand was scratched, and Xiahou An scolded at the bottom of the well.
In fact, what the jade seal looks like, Xiahou An doesn't know.
Anyway, he screened and identified according to what he looked like in the TV series.
When he withdrew his palm, Xiahou An touched a stone, and when he held it in his hand, he felt very familiar.
There is not much breath left.
Xiahou'an tugged at the rope.
After Xiahou'an went down the well, Xu Chu, who was guarding the well, tensed his nerves, and did not dare to relax at any time, he wanted to shout several times, but he was afraid of disturbing the lord's mind, so he swallowed his worry back into his stomach.
At this moment, feeling the signal from the other end of the rope, Xu Chu's heart suddenly breathed a sigh of relief, and then quickly retracted the line, and his arms continued to pull the rope.
After a short time, Xiahou An, who was soaked all over, surfaced, and then returned to land under Xu Chu's response.
"Lord, have you found the jade seal?" Xu Chu asked curiously.
It's okay not to ask, as soon as he talked about this, Xia Hou'an was particularly angry: "There is a jade seal with a hammer, and it hurt my hand, but I picked up something, and I don't know what it is."
As he spoke, Xiahouan took out the stone from his arms.
At that moment, the dark night sky was full of glow.