The wind blew stronger and stronger from the burning side, bringing with it the stench of burning goods and smoke, enveloping everything in the vicinity, and the sun's rays shone on the peaks on the outskirts of Kyoto, but the original shimmering brilliance was hazy by the rising smoke, and with a sickly red, it engulfed the streets of Kyoto.

Prince Arisugawanomiya Chihito, dressed in civilian clothes, drove his horse forward in the thick smoke, and the street he was on was completely covered in smoke. The frightened residents of the city gathered in droves in the streets, and on the streets, people already felt that it was very difficult to breathe!

Seeing so many frightened and uneasy faces, Prince Chiren fell into a new despair, and fear made his hair stand on end.

He never imagined that after Kyoto City was set on fire, it would be like this!

At this time, the fire had not yet burned, and the panicked residents almost climbed onto the roofs or climbed the trees to see the fire burning, and they saw more and more people escaping from the burning block, and they tried to run to places where the smoke could not reach, but they had to slow down because of the large number of people.

Prince Chihito dismounted and led his horse step by step, and he met many people with clothes, horses carrying parcels, mules and horses loaded with furniture, carriages, servants carrying wealthy citizens in sedan chairs, etc., and it was very difficult for him to pass through them.

In the market, under the pillars of the shrine, and in the market, people gather and tents are erected everywhere, and people are hiding from them. Some people sit on the ground in the open air. It's not a loud call to the gods. It is a curse of fate, and no matter who is embarrassed, even if you ask him, you can't answer it clearly.

The number of men, women and children who had taken refuge in the northern neighborhood was growing, and the cries were loud and loud, and people who had lost loved ones were frantically searching, and some were still fighting for the place to hold their tents.

Prince Chihito saw several officials under the escort of the guards. Sitting in a hotel on the street, he vaguely heard them talking about the fire, and his heart couldn't help but tighten.

“…… The fire started from the place between Shijo Kawaramachi and Atago Mountain, and then spread at an incredible speed, burning down the main place of the downtown market, which is really the biggest tragedy in Kyoto since the 'Tenmei Great Fire'! Whether it was a shrine or a temple, the nearby homes and shops were completely engulfed in flames...... the official sighed. , burning everywhere. The fire is still spreading and is now spreading from the city to the outskirts of the city......"

As he said this, a wealthy merchant who probably owned a huge estate in the city grabbed his head and let out a howl of despair.

"Yaga! Where is the fire brigade? Why not put out the fire! Another official shouted angrily.

"I don't know where the fire brigade went, and when I came out, the fire hadn't spread to that place, and now I don't know what happened...... the officer hesitated and whispered, "I don't think you're going to tell you, but I dare to tell you that it's not a real fire!" This fire is forbidden to be rescued! When the houses around me were burning, I heard many people shouting: 'No fires!' Whoever puts out the fire will kill him! I don't know where the army came from, and they ran about the streets and threw torches into people's houses, so the people were very angry, and they clamored that the prince had ordered the fire! Besides, I don't need to tell you, whether it's the market, or all of us, or myself, it's a disaster, and what happened there is hard to tell with your mouth, and people are not burned in the flames, but they kill each other like crazy, and this is the end of Kyoto......"

Before they could finish speaking, Prince Chihito jumped on his horse and rushed into the street in a panic.

He could imagine what it would be like if people knew that the man who ordered the fire was here.

Just last night, when he learned that Okubo Ritsu and Kuroda Kiyotaka had been assassinated, that Iwakura Gumi and Yamaprefecture Aritomo and other government officials had been seriously injured, and that the Tokyo government was already in chaos, he knew that Kyoto could no longer hold on.

In fact, since the fall of Osaka, he had lost the will to fight after fleeing to Kyoto, and the reason why he did not flee back to Tokyo immediately was because he was afraid that he would be ridiculed by the world if he ran away in such a humiliating way as an imperial family, and second, he was afraid that he would be punished by Emperor Meiji.

However, when an ammunition depot in the city was ignited and exploded by enemy troops who had infiltrated the city, Prince Chihito's spirit, who had already become a frightened bird, completely collapsed, and he gave the order to burn the city in desperation.

He wanted to use the act of burning the city to show his determination to resist the enemy, and to cover up his behavior of abandoning the city and fleeing.

But what he didn't expect was that he himself was trapped in the city by the fire.

It was no easy task to squeeze through the tide of people and chariots and horses rushing out of the streets, and the market, surrounded by great flames, appeared before his eyes, as if it were about to expand at once, and from the sea of fire and smoke came the blazing breath, and the neighing of men could not hide the roar of the flames.

The closer Prince Chihito got to the city gate, the more crowded people became, and it was very difficult to get through the streets, and all the houses, shops, gardens, and temples on both sides of the road became nighttime residences.

The chaos seen here is only a prelude to the terrible events that took place inside and outside the walls of Kyoto, where all law and order are gone, and the criminals who have escaped from the prison are screaming loudly, chasing the people in the square, trampling them, and robbing them of their belongings, and the inhabitants of Kyoto, who have lost all their possessions in the fire, raise their hands in despair and pray for the gods' help, while the criminals keep laughing, approaching them, and scattering them. Homeless people who stripped people of their clothes from behind, robbed young women, and had nothing but their rags, and those terrible people who never appeared on the streets during the day and never imagined that Kyoto would live like that. Those savage and indulgent rabble. They ran frantically and looted. In the midst of these waves, the swords and guns of the military and police shimmered in the light of the sun and the fierce fire, and they took on the duty of protecting the peaceful citizens, and they clashed with the raging crowds everywhere, and staged a miserable scene, and Prince Chihito witnessed the collapse of this thousand-year-old metropolis, and he saw this despair for the first time. Agony, groaning, savagery, madness, indignation and indulgence, noisy misery, extreme commotion and madness of the masses, fierce fire roared and raged, the breath of fire deepened the degree of confusion, and the smoke covered the city. Engulfed the firmament.

Blazing became frantic, and he jerked out his katana, given by the Emperor. He slashed at those who did not immediately get out of the way, and after killing a few of them, the road gave way to a gap, and he hurried forward, cursing words and stones thrown at him and his companions, and Blazing Ren's head was struck and bleeding, but he did not stop, and his mind was full of thoughts about how to get as fast as possible to the sparsely populated road.

With all his efforts, it was easy for him to get his horses forward, and the angry people refused to let his guards pass, and the people cursed him and the government troops with angry words, and from time to time he heard the indignant words of Prince Chihito ordering the arson of the market, and some of them openly shouted to kill Chihito and the commander of the city defense army, Masaaki Taneda, and everywhere they heard such shouts:

"The blazing traitor who is not as good as the ghost animal!"

"farming villain!"

"A thief with a thousand cuts!"

"Blazing traitor! You don't have to die well! ”

Listening to the curses of the people of Kyoto, Chihito was terrified, and the threat of such a situation, as long as there was one leader, might turn into a riot at some point.

At this time, the despair and anger of the people all turned to the government army, and the boxes and barrels containing food, furniture, miscellaneous utensils, cradle beds, four-wheeled vehicles, and palanquins that were rescued from the fire were piled up on the road like a hill, and became an insurmountable obstacle, so that the government army did not have any room to turn around, and there were battles everywhere, although the government army quickly conquered the unarmed people, but Chiren was trapped here, because the fire had burned outside the city, and came straight to the city gate. He had to find another way.

Nogi Noshinori ran through the streets, through gardens, villas, cemeteries, and shrines, and then arrived at an alley near Suzaku Street, near this area because there was a vacant space, and the smoke was very thin, so the evacuees were gathering one after another, Nogi Noshinori heard from those evacuees, only two or three streets were burned in the opposite city, but because the fire was very strong, no one could do anything, and there were people in these places who deliberately threw torches into each house, saying that it was carried out on orders, Therefore, the fire was not allowed, and the young officer knew that the order was given by His Royal Highness the Prince, whom he had once desperately saved.

These people who have suffered tragically are crying out for revenge, which is actually a matter of course, even if it is a vicious thief, can they perform a tragedy worse than this?

The opposite city was also filled with choking smoke, and the streets were crowded with countless people, because there was more time than other urban areas to snatch out the larger items in the house, and as a result, it was extremely difficult for people to move forward or backward, the streets were too many to carry because of too many items, and near the square, all kinds of items were piled up like hills, and the narrow roads were choked by the smoke, and it was impossible to even get closer, and the inhabitants were desperately fleeing, and Nogi often saw terrible situations on the way forward, Two rivers of people rushing from opposite directions, clashing on narrow roads, pushing each other, staging a battle of death or injury, both the families separated by the riot, and the mothers calling for their missing children, even in this place far from the flames, what about the places that are more close to the fire? Nogi Noshinori thought about it and trembled unconsciously.

In a short time, a dark and thick column of smoke swirled from the opposite side, and fluttered on the low ground, just as night came, drowning all the houses and people, and everything else. But it wasn't long before the hot wind that came with the fire blew away the smoke, and Nogi was able to move on.

The heat emanating from the side of the fire was unbearable, the smoke made the eyes ache, the breath condensed in the chest, and the people who had been left at home with the thought that the fire was going to be extinguished now began to retreat, and the flow of people became more and more dense, and the government soldiers who followed Nogi Noshinori were left behind. I don't know who it is. In the midst of the chaos, he stabbed Nogi Noshinori's horse with a knife. The horse, with its bleeding head outstretched, stood up on its hind hooves, and became uncontrollable, and Nogi Noshinori wore a military uniform, and the people, knowing that he was an officer of the government army, shouted: "Kill the dog thief who set the fire!" ”

In an instant, hundreds of people rushed towards Nogi Noshinori, but the frightened horses trampled the crowd and galloped away. In an instant, the waves of smoke rolled again, and the streets were so dark that Nogi Noshinori felt that it was impossible to move the horse any further, so he jumped down and continued on foot, leaning against the wall from time to time, waiting for the evacuees to pass, and he saw the nearby area, spitting fire from the swirling smoke. Not only here, but also on the opposite side of the river. There was a fire burning, and the hot wind was not only blowing smoke, but also scattering sparks, igniting another neighborhood.

Suddenly, the roar of a beast sounded in Nogi Noshinori's ears, and there was no doubt that the zoo next to the shrine was also on fire, and all the beasts that were locked in it, especially the lions, let out a heaven-shattering roar under the drive of terror, and Nogi Noshinori trembled all over, but the sound of the terrible flames was more intense than the roar of the beast, which made his thoughts turn to another direction.

"You have to get outside the gates! Otherwise, everyone will be burned to death! "The main thing now is to get out of this place," he said to himself, "and the wind is blowing from the side of Mt. Hiei, and if it were there, the smoke would not be so terrible." But there, will there be enemies? ”

Now Nogi Noshinori can't think about the enemy, he must take care of his own safety, the fire is gradually approaching from that side, the smoke cloud almost engulfs the entire block, Nogi Noshinori is running on the road, hurried in the direction of the street he just came from, the flames spit out breath, catch up with his footprints, and the new smoke cloud surrounds him, sparks fall on his hair, neck and clothes, although a few places on his coat have a scorching smell, but he still doesn't care, just thinking about whether he will be suffocated by the smoke, So he rushed forward as fast as he could, his mouth filled with smoke, his throat and lungs were like fire, and the blood rushed to his head in an instant, and sometimes everything around him, even the smoke, seemed to be red.

His breathing became difficult, and the thought of lying on the ground and cutting off his breath came to him in a trance, and he thought so, and the steps of running gradually became difficult, and sweat flowed from his head, neck, and shoulders, like hot water, and if he had not endured it, he would probably have fainted on the ground. In a short time he could not distinguish the street he was running on, his consciousness gradually blurred, his mind was completely empty, he staggered along the road like a drunken man, and he was now driven by the instinct of survival, staggering forward without stopping.

The smoke that hung over the street was blown away by the wind, but with the vortex, countless sparks flew away, so that Nogi Noshinori seemed to be running in a cloud of fire, and the road ahead of him was clearer than before, and at last, when he was about to fall from exhaustion, he saw another large cloud covering his path.

"If it's fireworks, it's hard to get through there." Nogi Noshinori thought to himself, and he mustered all his strength to run forward, and as he went, he took off his coat and threw it to the side of the road, and the sparks immediately flew up on it and began to burn, and he covered his head and mouth with only a handkerchief, and ran forward naked.

When Nogi Noshinori ran closer, he realized that the cloud, which he thought was fireworks, was nothing more than a puff of dust, and in the middle of it, he could hear the shouts and shouts of many people.

"It's a mob looting from house to house, right?" He thought so, but still ran towards the voice, no matter what, there were people in that place, maybe they would help themselves.

With this hope, he used all his strength to cry out for help before he could get close to where they were. It was his last effort, his back was red, the throbbing of his lobes stopped, the strength disappeared from his marrow, and he collapsed in despair.

The people had seen him rather than hearing his shouts, and two men ran over with a wooden ladle full of water, and Nogi Noshinori, who had fallen to the ground from exhaustion, was still conscious, and he grabbed the ladle with both hands and drank half of the water.

"Thank you!" He said gratefully, "Please help me to stand up!" I can still walk! ”

A man poured water on his head, and the two of them lifted him up from the ground and asked him if he was hurt, much to the surprise of Nogi Noshinori's kindness.

"Guys, who are you?" Nogi Noshinori noticed the katana pinned to the waist of the person who was helping him, and his heart sank and asked.

"We came to put out the fire on the orders of General Saigo and General Kunikashi Shinohara. In order to prevent the fire from reaching the street on this side, we are tearing down the house. There was an answer,

"Thank you for saving me...... Nogi Noshinori knew their identities, but somehow, at this time, in his heart, there was no longer any hatred for these people who had fought to the death. (To be continued......)

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