Chapter Ninety-Four: Orientation (I)

No matter how big the fire is, there will be a time to extinguish it. Just as the rain is urgent, the sky will clear sooner or later.

When the dark clouds overhead were slowly blown away by the autumn wind, Bianliang City showed its original luxury and grace again. The stagnant water on the street quickly receded along the Bianhe River, and the old dust on the gray walls of the blue tiles was also washed away. Including many corners of the streets and alleys that have never been cleaned, after experiencing a storm, they have revealed their original appearance, from the inside to the outside, revealing simplicity and elegance.

The only thing that will not restore the old color is the mansion of Du Zundao, the prime minister of Zuo. In the middle of the stormy night, because of the fire caused by lightning, Du Zundao was full of people from all over the house, including his henchmen, his staff, and his neighbors, a total of 542 people, all of whom pushed into the ghost gate. When Luo Wensu, the senior official in charge of public security in Kaifeng Prefecture, arrived with the soldiers of the Five Cities Soldiers and Horses, it was too late to carry out any rescue.

It is said that the flames had already swept through half of the street at that time. Thanks to the commander of the Soldiers and Horses, Cui De immediately broke off and ordered his soldiers to pull down a large number of nearby houses, and successfully curbed the spread of the fire. Otherwise, I am afraid that there will be not only more than 540 people who died in the heavenly fire, but 5,000 or even 50,000! After all, most of the buildings in Bianliang City are wooden structures, and once Zhu Rong's temperament is burned, I am afraid that it will be the second in Yangzhou City that year!

After the fire was extinguished, Zhao Lin'er, the king of Song, did not eat or sleep for three days because of the death of Du Zundao, the left minister. Thanks to the timely return of Right Prime Minister Liu Futong and the persuasion of state affairs, he reluctantly forgot his grief and came forward to deal with the government again.

In addition to giving Du Zundao a funeral, the first thing Zhao Lin'er, the king of Song, did after cheering up, naturally readjusted the positions of the military officials under his command to fill the vacancy vacated by the deceased and ensure the normal operation of the imperial court. However, to everyone's surprise, he sent the golden seal of Zuo Xiang to Yangzhou quickly.

Zhu Chongjiu immediately submitted his resignation. According to the rules left over from the late Song Dynasty, Zhao Lin'er issued a holy decree again, and crowned Zhu Chongjiu as the Duke of Wu to show his sincerity. Zhu Chongjiu resigned again, and Zhao Lin'er issued a decree three times, and on the basis of the original, Zhu Menlu was crowned as the third-grade lady, and the other eight Mrs. Ru also had other rewards. Then Zhu Chongjiu resigned for the third time, but Zhao Lin'er, the king of Song, did not send someone to urge him to take office for the fourth time, but directly told the world that the position of the left minister would always be led by the general manager of Huaiyang, unless he himself died, the Song State would never make his choice again.

This is not a given. At that time, the Great Song Dynasty was prosperous in literature and education, and the succession of prominent positions such as the three dukes, the three orphans, and the privy envoys was usually the tacit understanding of both the monarch and the minister, and it was not until the fourth holy decree was issued that they finally got their place. However, suddenly one side does not follow the fixed routine, and all the responses prepared by the other side are instantly in vain. As a result, even if Zhu Chongjiu's position as the left minister and Wu Gong was completely decided, no one asked him whether he accepted or opposed it.

At the same time as Zhu Chongjiu's promotion to the left minister, other official positions in the Bianliang court were also greatly adjusted. Cui De, the commander of the Fifty Soldiers and Horses Division, was promoted to the commander of the Longwu Army because of his meritorious command in fighting fires, and went out of Shaanzhou. Li Wu, the commander of the Imperial Forest Army, was promoted to the commander of the Shenwu Army and left the town of Shangzhou. Other fierce generals in a hundred battles, such as Sha Liu Er, Mr. Guan, and Potou Pan, also had their own awards, and they were appointed as commanders and commanders respectively. All the generals led their soldiers and horses, from Suizhou to Hangu Pass, lined up along the Yellow River, ready to kill the north bank at any time, and smashed Youyan.

The one who made the most money was Zhao Jun, the former head of the German University. From the guest general under the fence, he was promoted to the political affairs of the Great Song Dynasty, and led the new privy council prefects Peng Da and Pan Lezi to patrol Xingyang. The three soldiers and horses were merged into one again, renamed the Shence Army, and they were all commanders and left and right deputy commanders, and there were also three people who served separately.

In this way, whether it was Liu Futong's henchmen or the peripheral generals who were idle in Bianliang City, they all had a real home, and everyone praised Liu Chengxiang. Immediately, the civil officials who followed in the footsteps of Du Zundao at the beginning, as long as they did not die in that heavenly fire, they all received benefits and were satisfied. The only one who stands still seems to be Liu Futong himself. Except for the addition of a new false title of lieutenant on the head, there are no new changes.

Of course, all of the above is official. It can be seen in the history of the generalissimo of the Red Turban World, and the newspaper sponsored by Sheng Wenyu, the political affairs of the Great Song Dynasty, "Emperor Song Zhengyi". And there were three other private newspapers in Bianliang City that reprinted it vigorously. But in the alleys, there was a time when another version was quietly circulating, which was very different from the official version.

According to rumors, on the night of the fire, Liu Futong, the right prime minister, once led 10,000 elite soldiers into the city from Wansheng Gate and rushed to Yanfu Palace in the rain. On the same night, the scoundrels who lived near Xiangguo Temple also heard the sonorous sound of iron armor in the mansion of Zhao Junyong, the chief administrator of Guide. Some people have even seen with their own eyes that the soldiers of the Five Cities Soldiers and Horses surrounded Du Zundao's mansion before the fire, and took advantage of the dark and heavy rain at night to kill those who dared to enter and exit rashly. More than ten high-ranking officials such as Zhongshu Provincial Senator Li Ye, Zuo Shilang, and Zhong Huang Shouhua all died under the sword of fifty percent of the soldiers and horses. The other innocent people who died may have added up to as many as 5,000.

But for Bianliang City, which has a population of more than 600,000, a sudden decrease of 5,000 people and a sudden decrease of 500 people are actually about the same. Anyway, the rumors and the people who spread the rumors soon disappeared together. The reddish blood stains on the bluestone slabs were washed away in a few days, and the streets quickly returned to peace. It was only in the middle of the night that one or two cries could be heard, and in the continuous sound of drums, it seemed indifferent and weak.

The weather in Bianliang City has always been gentle, and even in late autumn, it does not hinder the construction of buildings. In particular, after using the cement purchased by Huaiyang, the speed of any project has been tripled. So, at the beginning of the lunar month, a brand-new Prime Minister's Mansion rose on the ruins. As a result, even the faint sorrow could not be heard, and the atmosphere of festivity was shrouded in all directions. People began to slaughter pigs and sheep in preparation for the new year.

"Phew!" Fireworks exploded in mid-air, quickly scattering into a huge rich chrysanthemum. Then, dozens of chrysanthemums bloomed, dressing up the Bianliang in the night to be extraordinarily enchanting.

"It's the New Year! Chinese New Year! "The children carried papier-mâché lanterns, shuttled back and forth under the fire trees and silver flowers, and sang and danced.

The gunpowder improved by Zhu Chongjiu will only become extremely gentle in the past few days. What brings is no longer blood and carnage, but dreamlike peace.

After the baptism of blood and fire, the first year of the dragon and phoenix finally arrived.