The prince who came in with him was the leader of several eunuchs and guards who had been on patrol at night in the outer court last night. The duties of these eunuchs are usually very low, and they will not go to the inner palace to serve their masters when they are idle. At this time, when I entered the Qianqing Palace, I saw that all the ministers were kneeling silently, and they were all trembling with fright, like a candle that had been burned soft, kneeling down one after another.

"Chen Xi, you ask them for me!" Chen Yuantai sat down angrily, picked up the teacup in his hand and took a sip.

Chen Xi received the order, got up and walked to a few eunuchs, and asked in a deep voice: "The emperor asked me to ask you, when did the fire start in the Taihe Hall last night, and who first discovered it?" ”

The two eunuchs kowtowed to Chen Xi tremblingly, and then one of them replied: "If you go back to the emperor, last night the servants and Xia He and our two teams were on duty back and forth in the three major halls of the outer court, because, because the rain outside was too heavy and the wind was strong, the lanterns in our hands were blown out several times...... We went to the checkroom to change the lanterns a few times. ”

Later, Li Zhi, who was on duty later, said that there were still two lanterns made of glass in the warehouse, no, not afraid of the wind, so let the two of us rest in the room for a while, and he went to the warehouse to find it...... By the time the minions went out with the lanterns, the Taihe Hall was already lit up......"

After hearing their words, Chen Xi frowned deeply. "How long have you been on duty?"

"Slaves, minions didn't, didn't pay attention to the hour......" The two eunuchs' faces turned pale, and their bodies trembled like chaff.

"Fart!" Chen Yuantai threw the teacup over through the wide imperial case, and smashed it right on the body of the talking eunuch. The teacup was not broken, but the hot tea and tea leaves poured the eunuch all over.

"Lazy minion! You are a night watchman who told me that you don't know the time and don't know how long you have been lazy in the duty room! The Taihe Hall has been burned to ashes, so you can see it, right? ”

Chen Yuantai was furious, and said angrily: "Drag these two minions out of the hall for me and beat them hard!" ”

Everyone in the Qianqing Palace did not dare to speak. Soon, someone stepped forward and dragged the two eunuchs outside the Qianqing Palace, and the sound of the wooden planks hitting the flesh came clearly.

"Keep asking!" Chen Yuantai said coldly.

Chen Xi walked up to the leader of the guards and asked, "What about the people over there?" I saw it when the Taihe Hall was burned? ”

The head of the guards kowtowed, and his voice was much calmer than that of the two eunuchs, but he was still faintly frightened: "The little one was patrolling between Taihe Gate and Qianqing Gate with a group of people, and when he passed by the Chonglou at the right gate of the back of the Baohe Palace, two inner eunuchs invited us in to drink tea, saying that it was to warm up our bodies......"

Chen Xi sighed secretly, no need to ask, this tea, I'm afraid I won't find out until the Taihe Hall is on fire.

Chen Yuantai was so angry that the green tendons in the corners of his forehead violent, and the roaring voice rushed to the outside of the hall: "Kill, kill, kill me!" ”

The person who was playing the board for the eunuch outside sighed, adjusted his posture, and said in a low voice: "Brother, I'm sorry." Then the board whirred with the wind and rained down on the two eunuchs.

In the hall, the leader of the guards was also dragged out, and together with his subordinates, they also put a board at the gate of the Qianqing Palace.

Chen Yuantai was still puzzled, pointed at the prince and scolded: "What about the two eunuchs who invited the guards to drink tea? Why don't you call together to play the board? Still waiting for me to please? ”

The prince hurriedly pleaded guilty: "The old slave should die, the old slave should die, I will call it." With that, he hurriedly ran out.

Chen Yuantai got up and glanced at the so-called ministers who were kneeling on the ground, feeling upset. He waved his hand and said impatiently: "Don't kneel down here, go out to fight the fire!" ”

Everyone hurriedly apologized and got up, and after exiting the Qianqing Palace, they walked towards the Taihe Palace.

As Chen Xi walked, he paid close attention to the buildings in the palace.

Because the Taihe Hall is an important place for national ceremonies, its roof, the top of the palace, and the beams and pillars are the highest in the palace. In addition, there is a white marble pedestal about three zhang high under the Taihe Palace, all of which makes it the tallest building in the entire imperial city. Last night's thunderstorm was indeed a huge threat to a pure wood building like the Taihe Temple.

"Has this Taihe Hall been burned down in the previous dynasty?" Chen Xi looked around, and only Lin Lang knew a little about the palace of the previous dynasty, so he asked.

Lin Lang thought for a while and said, "It seems that it was burned once when the former dynasty was filial piety and the emperor, and it was also because of the thunderstorm. But that was more than a hundred years ago, and since the Taihe Hall was rebuilt, it has never been injured by lightning and fire. ”

Chen Xi nodded, thinking to himself. In the past hundred years, it is impossible for the capital to have no thunder and lightning weather, but this Taihe Hall has been safe and sound. Could it really be that God sent down the crime and warned Dayan?

At this time, the water dragon had arrived, and twenty water dragons surrounded the Taihe Hall in the center, spraying long columns of water into the sea of fire in unison. The eunuchs and guards stopped pouring water into the fire, but kept filling the water dragon's water bladder.

The fire gradually decreased, and an hour later, the fire in the Taihe Hall was finally completely extinguished. However, the loss was heavy, the twelve huge wooden columns at the entrance of the Taihe Hall were all scorched, the beams inside were burned, and the roofs all collapsed. The "gold bricks" on the top of the hall, symbolizing the royal wealth and majesty, have also been dyed black and completely unusable.

Li He walked around the Taihe Palace, and said in a low voice to Gao Chen: "I'm afraid this reconstruction, I can't count it without this......" He stretched out his hand and compared a "five".

Gao Chen sighed and said: "Fortunately, the war in the south has been fought, and it is not an overnight task to rebuild the Taihe Palace...... If you think of a way, you can move around in the household treasury, and the 500,000 taels will be squeezed out. ”

Li He nodded, otherwise? Seeing Chen Yuantai's anger today, if he still dares to have the courage to vomit bitterness, it will be a death.

"But the emperor is not worried about the problem of reconstruction," Gao Chen said in a deep voice, "It is the Taihe Hall that was struck by lightning and fire itself. ”

He thought about it for a while and called Lin Lang over: "Don Ma, you are in charge of the Five Cities Soldiers and Horses, these days with Shuntian Mansion Yin, pay more attention to the rumors in the market, don't bother the emperor." ”

Lin Lang nodded and replied, "I know." What do the elders mean, this matter is so vague? ”

"What if it weren't?" Gao Chen twisted his beard and groaned, "The thunder and fire hit the Taihe Palace, we think it is a natural disaster, but in the end, some people think it is **." The helplessness lies in how can the emperor or the ministers explain clearly to the people of the world? ”

In the end, Chen Yuantai was born in rebellion, and his original banner was to obey the heavens and do the right thing for the sky. It was only two or three years after he ascended the throne that something like this happened. The foolish people, the remnants of the previous dynasty, all the cows, ghosts, snakes, and gods are afraid that they are going to move.