What happened in Jiafu happened on the night of the Xia Yuan Festival, and at the same time in more than ten mansions in Lin'an City.

Even outside the palace city in the imperial city, there were several fires, thick smoke billowing out, and the smoke and dust that covered the moon almost covered the campfire that was not extinguished all night at the head of Lin'an City.

Ordinary people, in the hurried footsteps of the soldiers all over the city and the sound of gongs shaking the sky, swarmed home, closed the door of their homes, and the crowd of people who were crowded a moment ago and looked up at the sky and enjoyed the fireworks with great interest disappeared into the streets and alleys in an instant.

Everywhere the tiles are hooked, the disheveled and drunk benefactor oiran is blocked inside by the forbidden soldiers of the brigade, and they are not allowed to come out, the city is full of curfew, and the officials of Lin'an Mansion who are pulling their throats and beating gongs and drums all over the street proclaim loudly: "The party in the city is causing trouble, and the good people are not allowed to go out, close the door and close the door, and keep safe!" ”

The timid people, holding their wives and children, hid in the house and didn't dare to say anything. The bold ones were bold, lying in the crack of the courtyard gate, and cautiously looked out, but they could not see anything, at most they could see many forbidden soldiers lined up, led by the horseback generals, running through the street with a tom sound. Occasionally, if you are lucky, you can see a group of three or five men in black, fleeing in a hurry, flashing under the lanterns hanging from the shops on the street, but without exception, they are followed by arrows like locusts and soldiers like wolves and tigers.

The arrows were nailed to the door, and the peeping people turned around and fled back into the house.

This chaos lasted until dawn, when the sun had just emerged on the top of Phoenix Mountain, and the smoke around the Drum Tower was still rising violently.

After dawn, the forbidden army of the brigade began to stand in the streets, the city was under martial law, no one was allowed to go out, and the soldiers with spears and swords patrolled the whole city, seeing that there was no forgiveness for killing.

The only exception is the ministers of the previous dynasty, and the palace sent people to inform them before dawn that most of the people did not have to go to the court, only some people named by Emperor Lizong had to go to the Jinluan Palace.

Under the escort of a large number of family members, these people came to the south of the royal street, and when they arrived at the north gate of the imperial city, they found that the number of forbidden troops guarding here was several times more than in normal days.

Naturally, the family members could only stay, and the ministers hurriedly walked inside, walked through the wide square, passed through the palace gate, and entered the Jinluan Hall with gloomy faces under the gaze of the guards in the big interior.

When the bell rang and the eunuchs sang, Li Zong uncharacteristically did not walk on the throne slowly and shake three times to show the dignity of the emperor, but walked up from behind vigorously.

Moves neatly like a twenty-year-old lad.

None of the twenty or so courtiers standing below spoke out of flattery, nor did they exclaim loudly, although it was not easy for Ritsune to do this step with his unhealthy figure.

Everyone lowered their heads, their eyebrows and eyes anxious, thoughtful, and did not say a word.

It was Rishu who broke the silence.

Without waiting for the eunuch on duty to sing the famous sentence "There is something to do, nothing to retreat from the court", he opened his mouth first.

"Last night, there was a fire in the Imperial City."

He leaned forward with his two hands on the imperial table, his voice was fierce, as if he was trying his best to suppress the huge anger in his heart: "In my imperial city, someone has set fire, and there is more than one place!" ”

Some of the courtiers raised their heads, some bowed their heads, and some sweated.

In the huge palace, only the voice of Ritsune echoed like a bell.

"If it weren't for the desperate efforts of the Ouchi guards to kill the traitors, I really don't know if I would be able to sit here and talk to you this morning!"

"It's amazing! The Great Song Dynasty has been founded for hundreds of years, and it is the first time that a thief can break into the imperial city and gather outside the heavily guarded palace to set fires. ”

"Huh?!"

A word full of boundless anger lifted the hearts of everyone present to the edge of the cliff.

Those who are familiar with the Rig Sect know that as soon as this monophonic word comes out, someone will be unlucky.

Sure enough, the next sentence came: "Liang Ruyuan, the prefect of Lin'an, and the Imperial City Division promoted Wang Deqian!" ”

The two of them stood in the midst of the ministers, keeping their heads down and not knowing what they were thinking, and when they heard Lizong break off, they shook in unison and stood out in a panic.

"The minister is here!"

"The minister is here!"

Li Zong glanced at the two of them, tilted his body, flipped through the imperial case, pulled out a booklet, looked at it, and shouted, "You two come to answer me!" ”

The two ministers standing alone outside the group of ministers under the throne are all bigwigs who look at the sky on weekdays, and the Lin'an Mansion is in charge of all administrative security, as big as the mayor of the capital in later generations, although it is nominally a prefect, but in fact it is a function with little power and participation in the governor's affairs, with great responsibility and great potential, and the future is unlimited if it is done well, and it will soon be disgraced if it is not done well; And the Imperial City Division, not to mention, is in charge of the world's investigation, and his power is boundless, Wang Deqian is still a eunuch in the inner palace, and an old minister of the East Palace when Li Zong was the prince.

At this moment, the two of them were sweating like rain, their faces were like ashes, and they were standing there trembling, their lips trembling, and they were all speechless.

Liang Ruyuan, the prefect of Lin'an, spoke first, because there was chaos in the capital, and he couldn't get out of it in the first place.

"Back to Your Majesty, last night's rebellious party and thieves were the remnants of the Southern Tang Dynasty who took the opportunity to make trouble when they were celebrating the next Yuan Festival. The world is naturally the world of the Great Song Dynasty, and the yamen are always waiting for the yamen everywhere, so the thieves are messing around together, and they will soon ......"

"I don't want to hear that!" Li Zong rudely interrupted him, slapped the desk, and said loudly: "I want to know, you reported to me two days ago, saying that there are chaotic parties gathering in the city, and in order to protect the situation, you want to allocate more money and send more people, I am right, but why did this happen last night!" ”

As soon as these words came out, the ministers below all glanced at each other, shocked with a hint of understanding.

It turns out that the official family knows about this.

Lin'an Mansion also knows it, and the Imperial City Division also knows it.

And the fuck was taken by thieves?! Why?!

Some of the people who were broken into and killed by the Tang Sect immediately burned with anger in their eyes, and the eyes that looked at Liang Ruyuan and Wang Deqian were full of hatred.

Liang and Wang, their robes were wet with sweat, and they kowtowed again and again, and their faces turned pale.

"Your Majesty, this matter is in our hands, the chaos in the city is indeed opposed, but the stakes are very high, in order to catch it all, we will plan, when it gathers, gather people, and decide the situation at once, and take it all without leaving one, who knows ......"

"Who knew that these thieves were as cunning as foxes, and they actually launched in advance, which caught us a little off guard, and the troops in the city were a little insufficient, and they couldn't react, so let them succeed."

The more they spoke, the clearer they became, and the more others listened, the more they understood.

There was a buzz among the ministers, some were angry, some were angry, and a common mood was that Liang and Wang were incompetent.

Li Zong also snorted coldly: "It's a good net, now look at it, how many fights?" ”

"After counting at dawn, last night's fierce battle, a total of 125 thieves were killed, 16 were captured, and some stragglers were brave and fled in the city, we have cast a big net, leaving no room for searching, we must cut down the grass and eradicate it!"

"Do you know how many lives there are in the loss of the people and the palace?" Rizune tapped on the table.

"This ...... I don't know. "Liang and Wang, they are about to bury their heads under the gold bricks on the ground.

"Incompetent, rice bucket!" Li Zong burst out: "Dali Temple, and take two people into custody, go to prison, wait for the division to find out the ins and outs, and then make a decision!" ”

(End of chapter)