Although Zu Ting has a poor character and is greedy for power, he is still clear about the major rights and wrongs, and after refuting Wang Hong with a few words, he played a few detailed rules from Chen, and the prince was not allowed to play...... Zu Ting finally breathed a sigh of relief in his heart, and after the court discussion, he went back to the house to rest for a while.

He had not slept for more than two days, he was already extremely tired, and he fell asleep as soon as his head touched the pillow, and in the middle of the night, in the hazy way, he suddenly heard a mess of human voices, and heard the sound of his family running and stumbling, and he woke up and asked, "What happened outside, is it that someone is making trouble at night?" ”

The servant boy came in in a panic and said, "The head of the house, the palace is in a mess now!" ”

Zu Ting quickly stood up, pushed the door out, as soon as the door opened, the cold wind swept in, and he was shocked to see that the southeast corner of the palace, where the east palace was located, was facing the direction of his mansion, and a sky-high fire was ignited, and the firelight illuminated most of the sky.

Zu Ting's mansion was given by the emperor a few years ago, and it was very close to the palace, and the fire could be clearly seen...... Not only in the palace, but also next to the imperial city several nobles were also at a loss, everywhere there were servant boys and maidservants running around, some in the palace, and some outside the palace, all of them were like headless flies. Zu Ting's eyes widened, and he was completely sleepy, and hurriedly shouted: "Come on, prepare the car, change clothes, I want to enter the palace to ask to see!" ”

The family member was puzzled: "The palace is so chaotic, why don't the head of the family come back sooner?" ”

Zu Ting scolded: "With such a fire, I don't know how safe His Highness is, how can I sleep peacefully?" ”

The family then stopped dissuading him. Zu Ting dressed neatly and entered the palace, seeing that the guards on the side of the road were still there, his heart was only half stable, and his pace quietly sped up a little, for fear that the prince would miss a little.

Although it was already spring, it had not yet rained, the weather was still dry, and most of the buildings of the palace were made of wood...... The palace was already in chaos at this time, everyone was fighting the fire, running away, completely ignoring others, only one general was standing on a high platform in the distance, directing everyone to wet their clothes, holding a bucket and throwing themselves into the fire, he turned around, and saw Zu Ting walking towards him quickly, grabbed his arm and asked coldly: "What are you doing?" ”

Could it be that the fire is also rescued?

The Governor of the Right Reserve of the Fourth Rank in the Zhisu Palace was immediately a little overwhelmed, and he raised his fists and said blankly: "...... The last general was ordered to put out the fire. ”

"Where did the fire spread?"

"We demolished all the houses on the side of the wind, and if the wind didn't turn, the fire would be limited to that."

Zu Ting looked at the fire coldly, the entire building in front of him was completely covered by firelight, the smoke and flames were swirling, the huge pillars were burning, and there were bursts of beeping and beeping sounds, and the heat wave hit the face, scraping people's skin painfully, and a group of guards and eunuchs desperately poured water inside. Then he suddenly asked:

"How many people are on duty here on the palace road?"

"One thousand six hundred and eighty-three."

"How many people are fighting fires here?"

“…… One thousand six hundred eighty-three. "The general saw sweat on his forehead.

"There are less than 2,000 guards on duty in the palace, and you have all used them to fight the fire, it's ridiculous!" Zu Ting was furious, "The palace guards, isn't the main duty to protect all the ladies and highnesses?" You're all here to put out the fire...... I ask you, where is His Royal Highness the Crown Prince? ”

"Right compatibility, the last general is not derelict in his duties, the last general is fighting fires, it is on the orders of the queen's mother, and if you want to come to Your Highness, there will naturally be someone to protect you." The general hurriedly explained.

Zu Ting sneered, "...... Who will protect, let those eunuchs protect? Aren't former courtiers more reliable than eunuchs? Now that you've put on this armor, don't forget what your duty is, now gather some men and let them escort them immediately!"

The general hurriedly took the order, gathered a group of armored soldiers, gathered and deployed, and went to the Xuanguang Hall of the East Palace to protect the prince...... When Zu Ting arrived, he didn't see the prince, and after a long search, he found that His Royal Highness was standing at the foot of a dark wall with some servants with knives, watching the fire over there, the prince was obviously awakened, and the nine-chapter crown robe on his body was worn crookedly, but he was quite calm and not too frightened.

When he saw Zu Ting coming, he just nodded lightly, "I've seen the right phase." ”

Zu Ting glanced at the woman who was guarding the side, and stepped forward and said, "The minister saw His Highness, the minister's rescue was too late, which frightened His Highness...... Why didn't His Highness stay in a crowded place, and asked the ministers to find it for a while. ”

The prince blinked and said: "It's a mess outside now, there are only so few people around Lonely, in case there is a thief with bad intentions, how can Lone be born?" ”

There was a fire in the palace, and chaos had arisen, so the prince did not hurry to withdraw, but asked for safety first, which was a serious move...... Zu Ting was secretly surprised, the prince has always been silent, and the ministers thought that the prince was shy, who would have expected the prince to have such a thoughtful mind at such an age, and only after a while did he happily say:

"Your Highness has a point. It's much safer to stay here than to stay in a nearby place. ”

So he simply stood with His Highness, and after waiting for a while, several generals led people to report: "Your Highness, Right Minister, the fire in the palace has been controlled, the fire will not spread again, and Your Highness can rest in peace." ”

A group of armor soldiers stood guard outside the Xuanguang Palace, raising their spears horizontally, and all those who rushed towards this side were driven away...... But the crown prince stood motionless, and sighed weakly in his voice: "Right Minister, there is one thing I want to ask you." ”

"Your Highness said."

"Can Huainan be guaranteed, and can the king of Baling County win? …… Why have you been listening to your noisy and shouting in recent days, all of which are bad news, the master said that heaven and man are inductive, this war disaster and fire, is it a warning from God? The prince's black and white eyes looked at him, his eyes full of ignorance.

Zu Ting's tone froze, and he smiled bitterly: "Does Your Highness believe in the induction of heaven and man?" ”

"I don't believe it." The little fat man shook his head, "But Gu's master believes that he has been teaching Gu this recently." ”

Zu Ting was relieved again, feeling that His Royal Highness was really talented and intelligent, and he had not been taught badly, which was completely different from Yan Zhitui's rotten Confucian, and said with his head bowed: "Your Highness, the minister doesn't dare to say how sure he is, but the matter is man-made, and he can't not be saved because of difficulties, right?" Wang Lin still has a few chances of winning. ”

"Where's the odds?"

"The odds are still with Wang Lin, Pi Jinghe is in Huaibei, he can't move for the time being, Lu Qian's prestige is not enough to command the towns of Huainan, what the court can do is very limited, only Wang Lin can be relied on, Wang Lin has a foundation in Huainan, he is a generation of famous generals, and he can take on great responsibilities."

"He is the head of the army, can you rest assured if you don't send someone to supervise Grandpa?"

"Your Majesty has commissioned Wang Lin to recruit 30,000 or 40,000 villagers in Huainan on the spot. The imperial court is now unable to govern the situation in Huainan, so it is better to push Wang Lin's heart and don't send the rest of the people to hinder it, so as to avoid disasters. ”

"This is also what Your Majesty means, although the minister doesn't know where His Majesty's trust in Wang Lin is, but he is more than fifty percent sure." Speaking of this, Zu Ting smiled and said: "Your Highness will understand in the future, those who win the hearts of the people win the world...... In other words, if you want to control the world, you must control the hearts of the people in the world. ”

Wang Lin is far away in Huainan, and the disturbances of the Yecheng court are naturally impossible for him to be clear, and he has nothing to do with it, all his energy is now on the collapsed and chaotic battle situation in front of him, the weather is gloomy day after day, and the black clouds are pressing the city low, which makes people breathless.

A gray piece on the hillside in the distance, the big flag is violently in the wind, the vigorous and powerful "king" is clearly visible, like a tiger watching the prey, which makes people feel frightened from the bottom of their hearts, Shouyang has become a huge barracks at this time, recruiting soldiers and horses, training soldiers, a scene in full swing.

"The most important thing in archery is a flat word, and the trick is on both arms. This is true for both bows and crossbows, and the hands cannot tremble. Look at it, this point on the lookout mountain and the crossbow arm, as well as the instant firing of the target in a straight line, that's it, don't hesitate to aim and shoot the arrow immediately! ”

"Hold the gun steady, don't move, you will kill the robe if you go to the battlefield like this, everyone's gun head is pointing in one direction, you deviate in one direction, in case the other party is a cavalry, tear the mouth from you, and the whole team will bury you!"

On the school field, Wang Lin is teaching the recruits archery, he picked up the crossbow, squinted at the target, suddenly launched, the sound of the strings, a hundred steps away a straw man was shot through, the crossbow arrow castrated endlessly, continued to fly more than ten steps, slammed into the wall, into the wood.

The soldiers did the same, picked up their crossbows, adjusted their bowstrings, and filled them, and hundreds of crossbow arrows flew out and rained down on their targets...... Wang Lin put down the crossbow, smiled and said to the soldiers, "There is growth, practice hard", and then with his hands behind his back, he went to inspect other places like a leader, compared to Wang Lin's leisurely travel, Lu Qian, Wang Xiangui and others sat in this Shouyang for a moment and couldn't bear it, and they couldn't wait to immediately send troops south to conquer Wu Mingche, so they naturally couldn't get used to Wang Lin's passive slackness behavior.

But the military power is now in Wang Lin's hands, and the two of them are not easy to say it openly, so they secretly find Wang Lin's subordinate Wang Yi to lobby.

Wang Yi is the son of Wang Lin's old Shangguan Wang Seng Bian, when Wang Lin defected to the Northern Qi Dynasty, he also came with him, and is now the county guard of Leling, because Wang Yi has the talent to govern (the father of Wang Qi, the prime minister of the Tang Dynasty), Wang Lin specially recruited him to take care of military affairs...... Wang Yi's words still have a certain weight in Wang Lin's place, but when Wang Yi went to find Wang Lin with suspicion, Wang Lin said impatiently:

"Why do you always wishfully believe that you will win the battle? Lu Qian is just a scholar in the end, he doesn't think that it is great to have won so many battles, I have fought so many generals of the Southern Dynasty, did I say anything?

"He thinks he's right, and now it's not a defeat after defeat? I will also lose if I listen to him, tell him that since he is under my command, just listen to the order, and don't do this behind his back. ”