On the night of the Lantern Festival, such a fire broke out on Qipan Street not far from the Forbidden City, which was naturally a major event that shook the government and the opposition. Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 info That night, it alarmed the major yamen in the capital, especially the Wucheng Terracotta Division and Shuntianfu, which were directly in charge of the security of the capital, and they were even more busy all night. Even the cabinet and the palace knew about the fire for the first time.

However, when the fire was extinguished -- such a large fire could not be extinguished by the means of extinguishing the fire at this time, and all the officials and officials who rushed to put out the fire could do was to control the fire and prevent it from spreading to other places and causing greater damage -- but after the on-site personnel had counted the fire, it was once again alarming.

Needless to say, the entire chessboard street, which used to be extremely prosperous, has been reduced to ruins. All the beautiful and atmospheric shops were burned down to the point that only some ruins remained, and even the original appearance could not be distinguished. But this was not enough to surprise the officials who entered it, and what really shocked them were the victims who were burned alive in the streets and houses.

The victims were burned by the fire, their entire bodies were charred and deformed, and even emitted a disgusting smell of burning, so that people who approached could not help but hide their noses and dare not look directly. And this is not the most shocking thing, the most shocking thing is that there are dozens or hundreds of corpses of ordinary people on the entire street! This may not be a big deal for a battle, but it's a terrible casualty figure for a fire.

In fact, if the fire hadn't started so suddenly, and the streets were filled with people watching the lanterns, so many people would not have died in the fire. When the fire was together, everyone panicked, and all they could think of was to escape quickly. In such a situation of people being crowded and crowded, many old and weak women and children are naturally not the opponents of strong men, and some are even squeezed down by people in front and behind, and are trampled on the ground by the panicked crowd, even if they are not trampled to death, I am afraid that it will be difficult to get up and continue to flee for their lives.

So, in front of these officials, it was such a miserable scene, looking at the corpses of these people who fell to the ground and died, and were blackened and deformed by the fire, the new Shuntian Mansion Yin Sun Yizheng really wanted to cry without tears. It is said that the position of Shuntianfu Yin is not easy to do, and it is commendable to be able to live a stable life, but he really didn't expect that he had only been in office for a few months, and such a disaster fell on his head.

At this time, two men in military uniforms also walked over with solemn faces, they were Geng Hui, the commander of the Zhongcheng Soldiers and Horses, and Shao Yuan, the deputy commander. In fact, if you really want to talk about it, the responsibility of these two is even heavier than that of Sun Zhifu, because the Soldiers and Horses Division is responsible for fighting fires. Now that the fire has caused so many casualties, it is natural that the responsibility will be put on their heads.

"Master Sun, what should we do with this situation now?" Geng Hui said solemnly to Sun Yizheng, who had a gloomy expression. The national dynasty has always talked about governing the military with literature, and since the two yamen are now responsible, they have to obey the arrangement of the Sun Governor's Mansion. In fact, this is also where Geng's command is shrewd, once it is implemented that Sun Yizheng is completely in charge, the pressure above will naturally be borne by him.

Sun Yizheng didn't have the heart to care about the other party's calculation at this time, but said miserably: "The top priority is to find out the bodies of all the victims, and then post a list and let their families come to identify the corpses...... Saying that, his gaze fell on a completely charred corpse not far away that could not distinguish its face, and he was obviously a little hesitant about this. But then, he continued: "Also, just report the situation here and wait for the court to deal with it." ”

The nature of this public security incident is extremely serious, and it is certainly not something that a single Shuntianfu and the Terracotta Division can afford. As for how to find out the cause of this fire, whether it was man-made or accidental, just follow the instructions of the above. Anyway, all they have to do now is to clean up the aftermath and carry this big black cauldron on their backs.

This time, the efficiency of the Ming Dynasty government was much higher than most of the time, and before dark, a detailed report of fire casualties had been placed on the desk of Zhang Juzheng, the first assistant. You must know that generally speaking, even if something big happens in the capital, it will take three or five days to submit an official article to Zhang Shoufu.

But at this moment, Zhang Ju didn't feel relieved at all, this kind of thing happened under the nose of the Son of Heaven, and he, the first assistant, also had a lot of burden on his shoulders. And when he read the report, his expression became more and more serious, and his two thick eyebrows were tightly locked in one place, and then he let out a long sigh.

A fire claimed one hundred and thirty-four lives, and there were hundreds of shops and houses destroyed, plus the goods in those shops, if they were converted into silver, I was afraid that I would lose millions of taels to stop. This was an extremely serious blow to the Ming Dynasty, whose annual treasury revenue was only seven or eight million taels.

Just as Zhang Juzheng picked up the pen and wanted to write his disposition on it, Feng Bao, who was also worried, walked in slowly: "Brother Taiyue, Your Majesty has been waiting to know the casualties on the other side of Qipan Street, can you report it here?" ”

"Oh, it's Shuanglin. I have just sent a detailed report from Shuntianfu, and in a word, it is shocking. With that, he put down his pen and handed over the official document.

Feng Bao hurriedly took it, and quickly swept it across the ten lines at a glance, and the expression on his face became more and more ugly: "Did it cause such a big damage?" There were more than 100 dead alone, so why didn't they escape from the fire at that time? As he spoke, he sighed again and again.

"The incident happened suddenly, everyone was out of proportion, and there were many people, which naturally led to such a tragedy. What a good lantern festival, who would have expected that it would be such a situation......" Speaking of this, Zhang Juzheng said with some hesitation: "Such a tragic fact, is it necessary to play Your Majesty truthfully?" ”

"This ...... Let's be honest, Your Majesty is not too small, and you can't always be protected by us. Feng Bao hesitated for a moment and gave his opinion.

"Then Brother Shuanglin, you can present this report to Your Majesty."

"It's fine. By the way, if His Majesty asks how to deal with the aftermath and deal with this incident, how should I answer? ”

"I just had an idea for this. For the victims, the government still has to provide some money to appease them, even if the treasury is not very full, it can only be reluctantly embarrassed. As for the shops...... The reason why this fire is so serious is mostly because of those lanterns, so it is considered a favor for the court not to blame them for this, so don't think about getting any compensation from me. Even if there is any powerful behind them, I say the same thing! Zhang Juzheng's arrangement is very in line with the humble status of businessmen in the Ming Dynasty at this time, don't look at their usual generosity, but in the eyes of those in power, they are still the smallest and most sacrificial existence.

Feng Bao's heart tightened suddenly, Zhang Juzheng didn't know that there were two shops on the chessboard street that had his father-in-law Feng's dry shares. Now Zhang Shoufu's words made Feng Bao lose forty or fifty thousand silver, even if Gonggong Feng is now wealthy, he feels pain. But in front of Zhang Juzheng, he couldn't object, so he had to nod: "This is a proper way." ”

"There is also the need to investigate the cause of the fire in detail. As long as it is found that the fire was caused by a person, no matter what his identity is, he will be severely punished, and even their families will be dealt with together. Zhang Juzheng said, with murderous intent in his eyes.

Feng Bao also had the same thoughts, for the guy who might have caused him to lose so much silver and future financial resources in vain, he naturally hoped that the punishment he would receive would be as severe as possible: "Brother Taiyue's words are reasonable, otherwise it will not be enough to be angry with the people." However, this case is not simple, I am afraid that it is impossible to find out the truth just by relying on the group of people in Shuntianfu who can only investigate smugglers and thieves. ”

"Well, what you think about is not unreasonable, so in your opinion, who should you use? East Factory? Zhang Juzheng's heart suddenly moved, and he glanced at Feng Bao with some suspicion. Don't Feng Bao want to take the opportunity to blackmail the rich in the capital on the grounds of investigating the case.

In the past, people in Dongchang did not do this kind of thing, and they often used the excuse that a wealthy businessman had broken the law, and then arrested them and put them in prison, and then blackmailed their families. If the other party refuses to comply, it will impose a series of charges on people. But this case is not as good as before, and Zhang Juzheng can't afford any mistakes and forks.

Feng Bao saw Zhang Juzheng's distrust, smiled bitterly in his heart, and then said: "I'm afraid that the people in Dongchang don't have this ability yet, but I think Jinyiwei is more suitable than us to investigate this case." ”

"Huh?" Zhang Juzheng frowned slightly: "Jinyiwei? Do they succeed? "Today's Jinyiwei is not like it was back then, and he really can't believe that these guys who only know how to collect protection money can have the ability to investigate the case, and it is such a big case.

"I don't dare to say anything about the other Jinyi guards, but there is one person, I think it is enough to take on this role!" Feng Bao said, smiling at Zhang Juzheng.

"Is there such a talent in Jinyiwei? But who? Zhang Juzheng said.

"It's Yang Zhen, the guard who is now by His Majesty's side. I think it's best to leave this matter to him to investigate. Feng Bao finally said his candidate, this is the real purpose of his visit.

Zhang Juzheng was stunned for a moment, thinking about what Yang Zhen could do to get Feng Bao's strong recommendation. But soon, he tasted it, and it seemed that Feng Bao's hand was a drunkard, and he didn't mean to drink.

"Is this person really available?" Zhang Juzheng didn't want to refute Feng Bao's face, so he could only ask tentatively first.