The snow had stopped, but the air was still thick with a gray-yellow, like a curtain slowly suspended in the air, silently enveloping the ruins.

Everyone looked at the statue that was broken into several pieces and buried in the rubble, and they were all afraid for a while, and they couldn't help but rejoice...... Fortunately, the walls of this temple were built sturdily and did not collapse in the earthquake, so there were no serious casualties.

After counting the number of people, eight were wounded, no one died, but the horses tied to the side hall were crushed to death by the collapsed beams, but after this sudden disaster, what else could you ask for?

Shen Mo asked the guards to help all the wounded to the carriage, take measures to keep warm, thought about it, and said to the iron pillar that wrapped the head: "Cut off the dead horse meat, we have to be prepared to go to Xuzhou and have no supplies." ”

"You mean?" Tie Zhu asked in a deep voice: "There was also an earthquake in Xuzhou?" ”

Shen Mo nodded, looking at the red and yellow sky in the distance, an ominous feeling suddenly appeared, and he muttered: "If you are not afraid of ten thousand, you are afraid of what if, it is always good to be a little precautionary." ”

When everything was cleaned up, it was already noon, and after eating around the ruins, the group left this place they will never forget.

In Shen Mo's view, this disaster is likely to spread for hundreds of miles. However, in fact, the great earthquake that occurred on December 12 in the 34th year of Jiajing resounded at the same time in Shaanxi, Shanxi, and Henan, and its might also affected the political envoys of Beijing, Shandong, Nanzhili, and Huguang, in other words, a whole half of the two capitals and 13 provinces in the whole country were affected!

The whole of northern China felt the terrible earthquake. Yanjing, the capital of the Ming Dynasty, felt particularly strongly, starting from the day of the twelfth, the sound was like thunder for five consecutive days, the momentum was like a surge, and the day was dark. Yongding Gate and other four city gates to him, the city wall collapsed for nearly ten miles, and the palace, official house, and private houses collapsed countless times. Even Emperor Jiajing's West Garden was not spared, more than ten palaces collapsed, and Yuxi Palace was seriously damaged and could not be inhabited at all.

Emperor Jiajing, who was greatly frightened, had moved to the Shengshou Palace, and he didn't care about settling his imperial bed, so he first asked people to set up the altar, he was only wearing a single robe, kneeling on the cold stone floor, and prayed to the heavens: "There are difficulties in all directions, the sin is bowing to me, the five emperors have sinned, all have me, don't hurt my people, don't disturb the ...... of the sects"

For every emperor, although natural disasters [***] are annoying enough, the last thing they want to face is this earthquake with an inexplicable cause, because I don't know which miscellaneous came up with it, saying that the earthquake was the emperor's mistake, so that the gods of heaven condemned it, and it has been said this for thousands of years, so that everyone believes it.

The extremely superstitious Emperor Jiajing was naturally even more convinced, he firmly believed that this was a warning from God, or a warning to himself, so he must first ask God for forgiveness, and then try to make up for his sins.

Of course, with Emperor Jiajing's temper, he would not think that he was wrong, and he firmly believed that those mistakes were made by his subordinates, and I just suffered it on behalf of others. Therefore, after praying for three days, he sent the four elders, the six Jiuqing, Zhan Shi pedestrians, the Kedao Imperial History, and more than 200 people to the outside of the hall and knelt down with him.

Don't forget that this is Yanjing, and now it's Layue, the real dripping water becomes ice, and the ministers kneeling outside the hall, even if they are wearing thick furs, if they kneel for an hour or two as usual, I'm afraid they will all be called popsicles.

Fortunately, Emperor Jiajing still needed them to work, so half an hour later, the door of the palace opened. The emperor, wearing only kudzu clothes and bast shoes, appeared in front of all the ministers.

"My Emperor... Ten thousand sleeps, ten thousand sleeps...... "......The ministers are so frozen that they can't even hold their tongues."

Emperor Jiajing's face was extremely gloomy, his long narrow eyes flashed with a light colder than the weather, and he asked, "Where have you been affected?" ”

Yan Song hissed: "Back to Your Majesty, in addition to the Beijing Division, Henan, Shandong, Shanxi, and Shaanxi, there are reports from them, according to preliminary statistics, about 40 prefectures and counties have been affected, but how many people have been affected, and there are provinces that have not been affected, we still need to wait a few more days to know." ”

"More than 40 prefectures and counties in five provinces? Is this still a preliminary statistic? Emperor Jiajing was dizzy for a while, and Huang Jin on the side hurriedly supported him, and ordered someone to move the dragon chair and ask the emperor to sit down.

The emperor did not sit down, but still insisted on standing and said: "The earthquake in the twenty-seventh year tightly affected more than 20 prefectures and counties in Shanxi and Shaanxi provinces, and nearly 100,000 people died," said his voice trembling, and his eyes were red: "How many people will die this time?" Three hundred thousand? Four hundred thousand? Then he hid his face and became sad: "This is my heart and liver with a knife!" ”

"Your Majesty's mourning is the sin of your ministers." The ministers wept and wept.

After crying for a while, Emperor Jiajing suddenly raised his voice and said, "Zhou Chenglong, stand up for me!" ”

An official kneeling at the end of the shift struggled to get up and said in the loudest voice: "Wechen is here!" "He is wearing a five-grade robe, and he is the Qintian supervisor of the Ming Dynasty.

"You Qin Tianjian monitors the signs of heaven and earth, and you should warn me in advance of the evil fortune, why did Qin Tianjian not find any signs at all for such a big earthquake?" The Emperor asked.

Zhou Chenglong hurriedly knelt down and said: "Your Majesty, the earthquake is a warning from heaven, and the power of heaven is unpredictable. Even Qin Tianjian did not dare to speculate on the heart of heaven, lest he anger the heavens and lead to greater calamities. ”

"Hmph," Emperor Jiajing snorted angrily, "I only know the waste that shirks!" Tell me, what kind of warning law does Heaven have? ”

"The sage said: 'The anger of the small people is bitter and peaceful, so that it summons floods and droughts, eclipses, star changes, earthquakes, and springs.'" Who knew that Zhou Jackie Chan's face did not change and said: "It is an earthquake to warn, but because the four seas are not quiet, and all the people have grievances, so this catastrophe is called!" ”

Zhou Chenglong's loud words made a dead silence in front of the main hall. Everyone burst out with a sentence in their hearts: "This Guangdong barbarian is going to have nothing to do again!" "This person has always been unscrupulous, and he has never known what it means to 'calm things down'.

The loud rhetoric hit the emperor's heart, making Emperor Jiajing uncomfortable, but he was convinced. He looked coldly at the courtiers at the bottom and said, "What do you mean by Er Jiuqing and the ministers?" ”

All the ministers looked at Yan Song, and everyone knew that Yan Ge was always the best magic weapon to calm His Majesty's anger, and sure enough, Yan Song said slowly: "Your Majesty, the old minister thinks that self-examination and self-examination are indeed the most important, but the top priority is how to organize relief," he sighed, and said with a worried face: "There are so many places affected by the disaster this time, and it is a cold winter and a month, if the local relief is not good, countless people will definitely freeze to death and starve to death!" ”

Emperor Jiajing nodded, and sure enough, he followed Yan Song's words and said: "Relief, of course you have to give it, and you have to give it a big amount!" Saying that, he raised his hand and said: "Don't think about how the Spring Festival will be, disaster relief is the top priority now, and after the cabinet draws up the regulations, no matter how big an official you are, as long as you use it, you have to obey the deployment." ”

"Your Ministers obey." With such a big incident, everyone already knew that this year was not going well, so it was not surprising.

Then I heard the emperor say: "But disaster relief is only an emergency, and the fundamental thing is self-examination and self-examination!" Saying that, he sighed and said: "The heavens are alert, as if they want to turn the ancestors' rivers and mountains upside down...... Every time I think about it, I am deeply shocked! I've been thinking about it for a few days, is it because of my lack of virtue and the failure of the cooking machine? Or is it the injustice and lawlessness of the ministers, and the officials of the science and Taoism do not participate in the recital directly, because they have no way to look up to the will of heaven, so that this great disaster occurred? ”

"The ministers are guilty." The ministers shouted in unison, in fact, these words are the most annoying, clearly saying that 'the law does not blame the people', and they are obedient.

Emperor Jiajing secretly sneered, and said slowly: "In this way, I first tried to repair the province, diligently pondered the reasons for the disaster in the palace, and sought the way to prevent the disaster; At the same time, Zhongqing will also go, think deeply, wash the lungs and intestines, eliminate the accumulated shortcomings during the period, and change the past. ”

"Obey the Order......"

"A few elders, Li Fang's two ministers will stay for a while, and the rest will kneel down." Jiajing waved his hand tiredly, and then floated into the hall, and there was a neat sound behind him: "Congratulations to Your Majesty ......".

After entering the hall, the emperor changed into a cotton robe, leaned on the bright yellow soft couch tiredly, looked at the copper incense burner covered with green smoke, and thought about it in a daze...... It's more depressing to say, Emperor Jiajing's life is the fate of moving, first from Huguang to Yanjing, then from the Forbidden City to Xiyuan, and then from Wanshou Palace to Yuxi Palace, and then to this Shengshou Palace, the first two times are good to say, he is voluntary, but in Xiyuan, once because of fire, once because of earthquakes, this makes him have to wonder, is my character so bad?

The palace people have long decorated this Shengshou Palace as if they were self-conscious, just to make His Majesty less depressed.

"Your Majesty, the adults have arrived." Huang Jin reported softly and summoned the emperor back from the fugue void.

"Your Majesty." After the adults saluted, Huang Jin brought Jindun to Yan Ge Lao, and the rest had to stand and reply.

These are the core officials of the Ming Dynasty, and in the face of them, Emperor Jiajing's question has become straightforward: "How much money can the treasury come up with?" ”

Hubu Shangshu Fang bluntly reported: "Back to Your Majesty, more than 20,000 taels." "If Shen Mo knew, how proud he would be.

(To be continued)