Chapter Ninety-Six: After the Fire

The fire ran rampant for most of the night, and finally in the middle of the night a rain extinguished its rampantness.

The people knelt on the ground and thanked the heavens for their eyes, their ragged clothes, and many of them escaped this catastrophe only when they were awakened in their sleep by hearing the commotion around them.

And those who didn't have time to wake up from sweet dreams were in ruins along with the houses they lived in in the dream.

The sky was slightly bright, and the early morning in the imperial capital lost its previous vitality. The tragedy in Beicheng infected the entire imperial capital, and no one was happy. Human suffering is not the same, but there is something called compassion that makes them resonate.

Imperial capital, North City.

Ruins appear everywhere, and prosperity and happiness become bubbles that burst after a fire. Red light is the color of fire, so the black accumulation on the ground is the corpse of fire.

You step on a hard object that burns black, it could be some poor man's kneecap, or it could just be a piece of charcoal.

In any case, the fire destroyed the original appearance of these things, erased the traces of their existence. All they left behind after the fire was corpses, but they couldn't distinguish each other's monotonous blackness.

The die-hards are also entangled in the black charcoal of wood, a coffin shop, where a few sparks cling to the ruins and glow.

The shopkeeper's body was next to him, and his wife and children were also beside him, but they were already separated.

The shopkeeper's wife looked at the ruins and the pear blossoms brought rain, and the child, who had only reached the lap of an adult, obviously did not know that the charred corpse in the ruins could no longer carry him to the street, crying and shouting for his father to buy sugar gourds.

A black hand handed him a piece of bread, and the little one took it and nibbled on it merrily, but he was actually hungry.

Another piece of pancake was handed over, and the woman looked down the hand, the childish young man was wearing black armor, and his face and hands were full of black ash.

"Thank you, thank you."

The soldier looked like he hadn't closed his eyes for days, and his eyes were redder than rabbits. Because of this, the woman was embarrassed to refuse the food he handed her, even though she was grieving, she had no heart to eat the shriveled bread in her hand.

The soldier sighed, he passed by many people along the way, but there were still fewer women and children left in the coffin shop.

"Let's have something to eat, and we have children to take care of."

The soldier guy pinched the child's chubby little face, and attracted a burst of rolling eyes. Then he walked to the next house to see the tragedy of the other.

In the huge imperial capital of Beicheng, scenes like this are staged everywhere.

The difference is that it is another warrior who hands over the food, it is the other hand that accepts the kindness, and it is the witness of another kind of pity.

After Emperor Qinghua returned with his men and horses, Xu Mingyuan and Wang Lie were already arranging for the people to escape from the gap in the fire ring. But there were too many people surrounded by the ring of fire, and the people fled everywhere, rushed to the exit and squeezed out, not obeying the arrangement at all.

Emperor Qinghua immediately divided most of his troops and handed them over to Wang Lie, which solved the urgent need of insufficient manpower.

Immediately afterwards, Emperor Qinghua mobilized the people who escaped to carry it on their shoulders, carried it by hand, pulled it by ox carts, and transported it with buckets of water, expanding the scope of the gap.

Rao is everyone busy with spinning tops, and it still doesn't work. There were too many people who needed to escape, and the fire was burning too hard.

Perhaps the heavens really had ears, and heard the heart-rending howls and screams in the sea of fire, and heard the sorrow of the white-haired old woman. A rain that is not big or small falls on this red-hot land.

The nectar hit the body, and everyone cheered. Everyone cooperated with the rain and finally put out the fire before dawn.

Emperor Qinghua opened the granary and asked the soldiers to deliver food and condolences to every household. Perhaps the soldiers of Mune were not enough to calm the misery in the hearts of the victims, and they would at least bring more or less comfort to their hearts.

Of course, only a part of the soldiers stayed up all night. As an elite Tianlin Army, they were driven to sleep, after all, they had not completely destroyed the enemy.

Emperor Qinghua sat in his place and looked at His Highness's sleepy courtiers.

He got up, his voice louder than the temple bell, and said, "The officials involved in the pacification of the disaster have their own responsibilities, and the rest can go home and rest for a day and take up their duties tomorrow." ”

It was also the first time that the ministers said this sentence so loudly: "Your Majesty Shengming." ”

Then Bai Qian loudly announced "retreat from the dynasty" according to the process, and hundreds of officials squeezed out of the main hall of the imperial palace one after another, either returning to the front line of disaster relief, or returning to the mansion to rest.

Wang Lie, Xu Mingyuan and others did not leave unanimously, and when the prince saw them staying, he dispelled the idea of discussing last night's important matter with Emperor Qinghua.

Soon, the palace became empty, and the four people were silent for a long time.

Xu Mingyuan complained, he suffered the most in this situation. Those present counted him as the oldest, and also counted him as the weakest. I didn't close my eyes all night last night, and I only drank a bowl of white porridge to pad my stomach. At this time, Xu Mingyuan was tired, sleepy, hungry and thirsty.

Seeing that his eyelids were about to be unable to hold on, Xu Mingyuan took the lead in speaking: "Your Majesty, the old minister has something to ask. ”

Emperor Qinghua raised his head, he looked at the only two remaining people in His Highness, and said with a wry smile: "You two don't need to say much, I don't need to say much, I won't take back what I said last night." ”

Wang Lie was the first to say: "The last general thinks that this matter is still discussed. ”

Xu Mingyuan echoed: "The old minister and Qilin Hou have the same opinion. ”

This time, two people who have been fighting openly and secretly for half their lives have stood on the same front.

Emperor Qinghua sighed lightly and continued: "There is no need to discuss, I have no other choice. Although the concubine of the king is only a lowly slave among the barbarians, half of his blood belongs to the first emperor. By his age, he was still my brother. After I became ancient, I left the throne to him or his descendants, and after all, I did not lose the royal bloodline. Xu Mingyuan also sighed: "But this is not in accordance with the etiquette." ”

But Wang Lie answered him before Emperor Qinghua: "If you don't agree, you don't agree, Your Majesty, Your Majesty has no successor, and that's the only way." ”

The empty hall echoed with the voice of Emperor Qinghua.

"That's it."

Wang Lie and Xu Mingyuan said in unison: "Your Majesty Shengming." ”

In the empty hall, only Emperor Qinghua was left, he drew his sword and kept slashing.

For a long time, he exhaled a hot breath from his old throat.