"This fire is not small......"

Zeng Bu's eyebrows were about to twist together.

Although it is separated by the walls of the imperial city, it can still be distinguished from near and far. Either by the walls of the outer city, or near the outer city. At that distance, it was still so conspicuous that it could be seen that the fire was huge.

He was not alone, but the two mansions looked at the black smoke in the sky, all with gloomy faces.

They had been in the capital for a long time, and they had seen many fires, and the black smoke still rising was far greater than the fires they had been exposed to in the past.

The black smoke spread with the wind, and the small eastern half of the sky was covered with a black veil. The sky that was clear in the early morning became foggy at this time.

Just looking at this scale, if it is a fire in the city, I don't know how many neighborhoods will be burned at this time. Even outside the city, the situation is not too much. Around the city walls of the capital, there are still continuous houses that are prosperous to the extreme. Just look at the smoke from which it started, and the farther away it is, the heavier the fire.

"Stone is one." Han Jiang suddenly scolded loudly, "Doesn't anyone have eyes in the city?" ”

Xue Xiang also had a face: "With such a big formation, can't you see it in the imperial city?" Which side burned it, why is there no news at all?! ”

Balloons are not banned in the capital, but spaceships are forbidden and cannot carry people into the sky. But the walls of the imperial city occupy a high place, and if there is a warning letter, the first one should see it.

Shi De is in charge of the Imperial City Division, and it is actually none of his business to report the disaster, but who cares so much now? He is the eyes and ears of the imperial court, and it is his responsibility not to report such a big matter in time.

Looking at the fireworks from afar, no matter which one of them, Zaisuke's hands and feet were cold.

Most of the buildings in the capital are wooden, and the houses are lined up one after another, especially the houses on both sides of the streets of the outer city, lest they waste a little space, and they are not as large as the residences of the princes and nobles and the famous ministers and eunuchs in the inner city.

Zhang Qi turned around and pointed to a chamberlain next to him, "Quickly go and report this matter to Empress Taishang." ”

Zhang Dian frowned, the fire did not burn in the imperial city, and he had not yet received specific news, so there was no need to alarm Empress Taishang and the Son of Heaven now.

Regarding Zhang Qi's frivolity, Han Gang also shook his head imperceptibly, but he didn't stop it, it was not a big deal.

"It shouldn't be inside the city." Su Song stared at the smoke and clouds for a long time, and suddenly said, "If it is a chamber in the city, it is impossible to burn it all at once." There are also streets and markets, and it is difficult to have such a big fire. ”

"Out of town?"

Su Song said: "That side is the direction of the coal-field. ”

"Indeed." Cai did look at it for a while and nodded in approval, "The last six of the twelve games in Henan and Hebei are all in that direction." ”

The Bianhe River runs through the capital, and in a section outside the city, there are a large area of coal fields in Henan and Hebei, which are used to store the daily charcoal of millions of residents in the capital.

"Is the stored charcoal burning?" Han Jiang confirmed with Su Song.

"Mostly." Su Song nodded.

Han Jiang breathed a long sigh of relief, "That's good." ”

Everyone else breathed a sigh of relief. If the loss is only the worthless coal, not the people of the capital, it is definitely reassuring good news.

But Han Gang didn't feel much at ease, in the coal field in winter, there were mountains made of coal, and no matter which one burned, it would still be a disaster. If the wind is a little stronger these days and the sparks are rolled up, I don't know how many places in the capital will burn up.

This time, the newly appointed Li Suzhi of Kaifeng Mansion is in trouble.

A moment later, Empress Taishang and the Zaifu returned to the Chongzheng Palace.

Shi Deyi, the secretary of the Imperial City, finally arrived, and Li Suzhi, the governor of Kaifeng Prefecture, went directly to the fire scene and sent a pusher to report the news.

It is true that the coal-fired field is burning.

At least for now, it is confined to the coal-pin fields.

The coal pile in the 11th field of Hebei spontaneously combusted without fire, and the guards in the coal field could not extinguish it. The hundreds of soldiers stationed at the charcoal field suffered heavy casualties, and a full half of them did not escape.

More than 50 people died at once, and the Kaifeng prefect must be responsible for the whole thing, but the Kaifeng Prefecture magistrate also reported: "Li Dafu has led 300 hidden fire soldiers in the city to the fire scene and personally commanded the fire extinguishing. ”

After listening to Shi Deyi and the report of the promoter, Han Jiang immediately asked: "How much charcoal is stored in the eleventh field in Hebei?" ”

Zeng Bu, who had just checked the account books, had a dry and dumb throat like a field that had not seen rain for many days, "Any coal field in Beijing has at least 100,000 scales, and there are no ......less than 500,000 scales in the six fields behind the Bianhe River."

Empress Xiang was surprised behind the screen: "Why are there so many?!" ”

Su Song sighed: "It's the moon now, and this is the weight of a winter for millions of soldiers and civilians in the capital." ”

A scale of 30 catties, 500,000 scales is 15 million catties, 150,000 stones. The total reserves of the six carboniferous fields are already as high as one million stones.

100 catties of charcoal, saving a little is enough for a small family of three or five for a month. But for large households, heating and cooking, they can use hundreds of stones casually in a month. And in the capital, there is no shortage of wealthy families and official eunuchs. The capital has a population of more than one million, and there is also a large-scale steel industry, as well as other handicrafts that require heating and smelting, and its coal consumption is astronomical for people of this era.

Due to the time constraints of water transportation and the problem of the New Year's holiday, after the winter solstice, until the end of the New Year's Festival, that is, almost until February, the amount of coal entering Beijing dropped to almost zero. The whole winter's portion will arrive in the capital before the winter solstice. Especially around the lunar month, the amount of coal reserves in the capital almost exceeds the grain reserves, and there are more than 20 coal farms around the capital, and the average coal storage in each coal field is more than 100,000 stones.

"It's good, why did it burn up?" Xiang sighed to the queen, at least the people did not suffer, which made her feel much more relieved, but hundreds of thousands of scales of charcoal were burned at once, and anyone who put it on it would feel distressed.

"Spontaneous combustion without fire, is this possible?" Han Jiang frowned and asked.

"Coal piles do spontaneously combust." Seeing that Shi Deyi and the pusher both shook their heads and said that they didn't know, Han Gang came forward to answer, "This is related to the change of weather, the snow in the past few days has melted a lot, especially in the coal yard, the snow melts the fastest, and after the coal pile is wet, it is easy to spontaneously combust." I remember that a few years ago, the seventh field in Henan was burned, but fortunately it was extinguished at that time, and the fire did not get up, and it seemed that it was spontaneous combustion at that time. ”

"It's indeed reported to be spontaneous combustion." Cai said, "At that time, the minister was in the imperial history of Taizhong, and the emperor had ordered a thorough investigation. ”

"However, it cannot be ruled out that there are traitors who set the fire." Han Gang said again, "It's the end of the year, and it's time to check the accounts." ”

"This matter must be strictly investigated!" Xiang said sharply to the queen, "We must investigate thoroughly." ”

"Your Highness." Han Jiang raised his voice, "The top priority is to put out the fire. ”

"That's what Han Xianggong said." After being reminded, Xiang nodded hurriedly to the queen, "What should I do?" ”

Cai Qu immediately said: "According to the current fire, we can only give up the eleventh battle in Hebei, but we must not let the fire spread out."

The coal reserves in Hebei 11 are about enough for 100,000 people to use for a month, and there will definitely be no shortage of fuel. All that can be done is to stop the fire from spreading. The fire in the coal mountain cannot be extinguished, and can only be waited until it burns out. At least in this era, with rudimentary tools, it is completely impossible to extinguish.

Zhang Dian also followed: "But the soldiers and horses are about to be mobilized, and the troops on the fire ground are completely insufficient now. ”

Zeng Bu added: "We also have to select elite soldiers to patrol the city. The soldiers of the hidden fire shop were transferred to put out the fire outside the city, and if there was another fire in the city today, they would not have time to transfer it back. ”

A few Zaifu, you and I are talking about your opinions one by one.

"Your Highness." Han Jiang stood up again, "This matter should be handled by the Kaifeng Mansion first, and the imperial court will be prepared first, and people will be transferred to support it at any time." ”

Han Jiang interrupted the lack of practical discussion of a group of people and put the matter on the spot.

How to put out the fire, no one needs to intervene, there are many professionals in the capital. Cities living in this era, especially in a giant city like Kaifeng, have seen no fewer fires than anyone else, and as long as you have been a pro-people official, you will not lack experience in fighting fires.

And none of the zaisukes objected. If you don't interfere now, it's convenient to shirk responsibility afterwards. If you command indiscriminately in the palace, once there is a mistake, the yellow mud will fall into the crotch of your pants.

Empress Xiang and Zaifu waited anxiously for news in the imperial city. In order not to affect their work, the Zai Fu still returned to their respective yamen, and Han Gang also returned to Xuanhui Yuan together.

In this short period of time, Li Suzhi sent people back one after another to ask for help. The heat of the fire was rolling, and the scorching wind was blowing all around, and it was difficult for the fire infiltrators to even get closer. Now Kaifeng Prefecture has reluctantly built two isolation belts, temporarily confined the fire to the area around the coal field.

Several edicts were issued to the empress and the two governments, and more than 3,000 soldiers were sent to several nearby charcoal fields in one go, and they stood on the coal pile to watch. Under their feet, piles of gravel were covered with straw mats, and the earth was dug from nearby and spread little by little on the straw mats.

In the afternoon, I heard a report that at noon, because of the sudden change in the direction of the wind, two submarine fire soldiers were caught in the fire before they could escape, and their bones were gone.

More than a dozen others were burned by the fire and sent to the hospital. However, according to the news that Han Gang received, all the patients who were sent to the hospital were patients with extensive burns, and it can be said that they were all saved. The soldiers, who suffered only minor burns, remained at the scene, and after being treated on the spot, they continued to work to extinguish the fire.

The fire burned from morning to dusk, and the smoke and dust had completely enveloped the city.

Coming out of the room with the doors and windows closed, the pungent smoke made Han Gang cough several times.

The glow of the setting sun filtered through the smoke, blurring only a faint red. The fire reflected in the air on the east side was brighter than the afterglow.

Looking at the eastern sky, Han Gang covered his mouth and nose with his hands, his heart was irritable, I don't know how long this fire will burn?