On the night of December 30 in the first year of Wuping in the Northern Qi Dynasty, it was about two watches.

Yecheng has a curfew, soldiers stand at the corners of important streets, check the occasional passerby, and red lanterns are hung in front of the doors of every house, bright red, swaying under the eaves. On the wide road, there are often people carrying small lanterns, beating broken drums and bangs, cowering and appearing, and then disappearing into the darkness around the corner, and the slow, listless footsteps and the fading noise are also gradually moving away in the cold wind of the night......

Originally, the New Year was approaching, and this scene should not have happened, but at dusk, a loud roar from the bank of the Zhanghe River caused a commotion...... A large canal was built inside Yecheng, and the clear water of the Zhanghe River continued to pour into the city, like a silver sharp blade, cutting the north and south of Yecheng into two halves, and more than a dozen wide houses on the side of the canal formed a continuous workshop, at this time the fire spread, and the blazing fire burned the snowy night sky into a twist......

Voices, noises, and screams.

The Dongda Battalion left behind in Yecheng was ordered by the Right Prime Minister's Mansion to send thousands of armor soldiers to guard the north and south streets of Yecheng, and even the Jinming Gate and Jianchun Gate of the east and west ends of the canal were firmly guarded, and the privy envoy Hu Lu who stayed in Yecheng could not care about the wind and frost in the sky, and rushed to the scene on a fast horse, and the wind and snow could not extinguish the blazing flames, and the sergeant men carried the wooden barrels collected from door to door, and took water on the spot, and gradually controlled the fire......

"What happened? Why is there such a big movement? ”

Hu Luxian grabbed the person in charge of this Lianfang as soon as he got off the horse, and he scolded angrily.

The official kept kowtowing and apologizing, saying:

“…… The craftsmen in the workshop were preparing gunpowder, but they accidentally ignited the spark ......, and only 57 of the more than 120 craftsmen who were working in the workshop remained, and the rest were all killed on the spot......

Hu Luxian saw that his body was scorched black, and the official uniform on his body was still emitting black smoke, so he didn't say anything, turned his head to look at the other side, there were several rows of stretchers lying in the snow, and the people lying down were all scorched black, and many of their bodies were missing parts, and they had already lost any life......

He found the senior officer of the forbidden army and asked in a deep voice, "How long will it take for the fire to be extinguished?" ”

"Qi Yu Shangshu, the fire is too big to be cleaned up for a while, but now it is under control, we have dug pits and filled snow in several houses that have been burned up, and each fang has increased manpower, if the fire spreads, we can ensure that the fire is ......extinguished as soon as possible."

"Fortunately, it's going to be the New Year's Festival, and the more than 6,000 craftsmen in the workshop are not there, otherwise it is estimated that there will be thousands of dead and injured, and the loss will be huge!" Hu Luxian remembered the roar not long ago, and was terrified, "...... Thanks to the right minister's reaction fast enough, and the forbidden army battalion's movements were agile enough, this stabilized the situation, otherwise, I don't know what kind of big mess will happen this night! ”

"It's not enough for these people to suppress the fire, take my warrant, and then go to the patrol battalion to transfer people! Blocking the roads, not allowing the north and south streets to pass, and not allowing the leakage of what is happening here...... This is top secret and cannot be snooped on by outsiders! Hu Luxian's voice was full of emotion, he turned to look at the officials in the workshop, and said: "I'll go and report to the right minister and Taifu first...... you quickly organize people to transfer all the things in the workshop and protect them, quickly!" ”

After speaking, he stepped on the horse again and galloped towards the Right Prime Minister's Mansion in the east of the imperial city.

Zhao Yanshen was waiting for someone to come to report in the main hall, his face was as heavy as water, and he said:

"The fire must be suppressed as soon as possible, and the people in the vicinity must be expelled from their original residences, and no one can be allowed to approach that place, and those who leak the secret will be beheaded!"

Taifu Gao Yun and Xingtai Shangshu ordered Gao Zhen and Wang Lin, the governor of Gyeonggi to sit at the bottom of the position, also with a serious expression, listening to the right Prime Minister Zhao Yanshen issuing orders one by one, after that, Gao Zhen said suspiciously:

"Right Xiang, I don't know what is going on in Lianfang on the bank of the Zhanghe River, can you solve your doubts with Xiao Wang?"

Zhao Yanshen was silent for a while, and said expressionlessly: "There is the Lianfang built by the temple this year at the beginning of February this year, gathering nearly 7,000 craftsmen to specialize in building military equipment, as for what there is, this is not something that the old man can put his beak on......"

Zhao Yanshen's words were extremely cold and hard, and there were two meanings, one, this is confidential, and no one else should inquire about it, and second, he didn't know what it was.

Gao Zhen was stabbed, Jun's face was red and white, and he said:

"Shosakuji is definitely more than just building ordinary ordnance......"

"Shut ...... up"

Gao Run glared at his nephew warningly.

Young people have no sense of what they say and do......

"It's for your own good not to let you inquire, even if it's the Weiwei Temple and the Taiwei Mansion, you can't ask about it......"

Do you want to fight against Your Majesty?

Gao Zhen was ashamed to bow to the two, and after a while, Hu Luxian hurried over, "Thank you to the right minister, the fire can be suppressed soon......"

"Well," Zhao Yanshen nodded and asked, "Accident...... Or did someone do it on purpose? ”

"I've already asked, when it was an accident, they were trying a new recipe and accidentally caught fire......"

"How many workshops were destroyed?"

"A total of three workshops were burned, and more than 70 craftsmen died......"

Zhao Yanshen nodded, "Well, only three were burned, which is a great luck in misfortune, next year Yecheng will provide 30,000 sets of armor for the army, swords, guns, spears, bows, crossbows, and shields......

"Xia Guan understands, fortunately, although the explosion was large, it did not damage the surrounding workshops, and the waterwheel can still operate......"

Hu Luxian was very humble, and Zhao Yanshen didn't want to embarrass him more, so he only said:

"It's good to understand, the workshop that developed that thing will move out of the city and move to a more remote place, still on the edge of the Zhanghe River. It was too powerful to take such a risk, and at most send more sergeants to guard it. I'll write an excerpt for your majesty's guilt......"

"Good ......"

Zhao Yanshen turned his head to Gao Run: "Your Highness is tired of helping to appease the hundred officials and people in the city,"

Gao Run solemnly arched his hand and said: "This is the ...... it should be"

Zhao Yanshen said: "It's not that the old man is harsh, Your Majesty is in Jinyang, we stay in Yecheng, have the authority to supervise the world and implement policies, next year's affairs are not easier than this year, the official affairs of the Northeast and Jianghuai City are to be stared at by Yecheng, and the scientific examination will be held again in February." And...... Your Majesty will make a big move, Yecheng, as the center of the court and the rear of Your Majesty, must be as stable as Mount Tai! ”

"Wow!!"

Out of the right prime minister's mansion, Gao Run and Gao Zhen each dispersed back to the mansion, and before leaving, Gao Zhen called Gao Run: "Uncle Wang......"

Gao Run's hand holding the reins paused for a moment, and asked good-naturedly, "What's the matter?" ”

"I haven't figured out why I was asked to be a liner, I have no military power, and I have no governing power, where does the imperial brother want me to govern and what army?"

Xingtai Shangshu was supposed to be a branch of Shangshutai temporarily set up outside, and the temporary management organization set up in the place where he was stationed when he went out on the expedition was called Xingtai, which was considered a high-ranking position, but Gao Zhen was particularly confused when he sat on it, because he himself didn't know what his good brother Gao Wei wanted him to do, join the army and fight? It's not like that......

So he had nothing to do for more than two months in office......

Gao Yun showed a smile, "You kid is usually quite smart, why can't you even figure this out?" ”

"Want to understand what?" Gao Zhen was very confused, "Uncle Wang taught me ......"

Gao Run pointed at him a few times with a horsewhip and said:

"It's a good thing if you don't understand and think slowly, silly boy...... Let's take it for ourselves......"

…………

Today, when the information transmission is not yet developed, what happened in Yecheng can not be transmitted to Gao Wei's ears for the first time, at this time a grand banquet is held in the Taiji Palace, the palace is a staggered scene, silk bamboo and song and dance, symbolizing the four seas of the Gaoqi Dynasty Shengping, prosperity, the palace ladies with exquisite makeup gently point the board eyes with red sandalwood and ivory boards, and sing tactfully and lowly, sometimes the singing voice is thin like a trace of hair, there seems to be nothing, and like a wisp of green smoke, wisps, endlessly, hovering between the Zhuliang paintings, and then flying into the vast night sky......

Everyone in the hall stopped their cups in their hands, their fingers and ivory chopsticks gently tapped on the table, they watched and listened, almost holding their breath...... When the song and dance stopped, everyone nodded their heads in appreciation and praised them.

One of them stood up, bowed to the emperor, and said: "This year, the world is peaceful, and the great Qi is like the sun in the sky, and it depends on Your Majesty's hard work to have this prosperous scene...... and the kings of the Gao clan congratulate Your Majesty!" Long live our emperor! ”

All the kings worshipped: "Long live my emperor!" The noise came to his face, Gao Wei raised his hand with a smile, and said: "Today is a family banquet, everyone here is your own family, you don't have to be polite, ...... flat."

Gao Wei looked at the dense heads below, and felt a burst of trouble, these are Gao Wei's uncles, uncles, brothers and brothers, compared to the Northern Zhou Dynasty, which did not have a prince, the princes of the Northern Qi Dynasty are crawling all over the palace, with the prince, there will be fiefdoms, effective and loyal courtiers, and the emperors of the past dynasties have been able to give birth to children, which has caused Gao Wei to have a headache now...... If it weren't for the scruples of fame, his forty-meter-long broadsword would have been hungry and thirsty by now......

The kings saw that the emperor's mood was not high, and gradually stopped, and Gao Yuanhai, the king of Shangluo, was pushed out by the kings and stepped forward and said:

"At this time, it is the time of the New Year's feast, why is Your Majesty worried? Please speak up, so that the ministers can share your Majesty's worries. ”

All kings say yes.

Gao Wei smiled and said, "I have had insomnia all night after I became this emperor, and I haven't slept for a few days......

Gao Yuanhai and the others quickly heard the voice, everyone panicked, and hurriedly knelt on the ground and said:

"Your Majesty, why do you say such things? Now that I am leveling the whole world, Your Majesty is in power, who would dare to be half-hearted to Your Majesty? ”

"You don't have to be nervous, I know your loyalty." Gao Wei raised his head, signaling a little calm, and a relieved smile with a little melancholy in it, "It's just that if your subordinates are greedy for power and wealth, have evil intentions, and coerce you to rebel, will you oppose or not?" ”