Some were weeping, some were calling for help.
There were intermittent sobbing and whining from the ruins.
The incident happened so suddenly that the government did not have time to block the nearby roads, and the whole city of Ningtai heard the shock.
Many people hurried to the place where the accident happened, because their friends and relatives lived there.
When they got to the ground, everyone was horrified, trembling uncontrollably.
The prosperous Fangshi seems to have been smashed into a big hole by a giant hammer, and the falling rocks piled up into undulating mounds, and the original appearance could not be recognized. Houses a little further away were smashed into pieces, and the streets were mixed with bricks, tiles, household items, and corpses.
Lime brick powder was everywhere, and a ghostly white layer was smeared around his eyes.
—The mutilated corpse, with the arm struggling to grab something under the rubble.
Some people couldn't help rushing in, looking for the Bodhisattva's blessing with tears in their eyes. Many people didn't even dare to step in, and they turned their heads and ran away in fright.
"Where is the doctor?"
"Save people!"
There were many living people trapped in the outermost houses. They banged on the doors and windows with blood on their faces, and then they were dragged out one after another.
It's like this, someone in their family will inevitably hit the back of the head or the forehead and die directly.
So the crying became louder and louder, and the people panicked and said everything.
Why did a good city wall collapse
Did the earth dragon turn over, or did the city god get angry? In particular, King Ning passed away a few days ago. Could it be that he offended some immortal
The strong smell of sulfur lingers in the wind for a long time.
Meng Qi stood expressionlessly under a collapsed city wall. The bricks and stones beside it seemed to be crumbling and not very reliable. Ordinary people did not dare to approach it at all. Only a few Jianghu people from Fengxing Pavilion came in time and looked around cautiously.
Everyone's face was ugly.
There are no enemy troops outside the city, but if there is, there is no way to block such a large gap.
Especially here is the east of the city, not far from the palace and the major yamen, not an outer city that can be easily given up.
"Meng Guoshi."
The autumn scenery came very quickly, she didn't sleep a night, and the bad news was about to exhaust her energy.
She didn't care to check the tragic situation around her, and like Meng Qi, she took the lead in running to the city wall, following the smell of sulfur and the signs of collapse to find the place where the gunpowder was buried.
"Six places in total."
Even though this place has been turned into ruins, clues can still be found according to the location of the collapse of the city wall.
Meng Qi unconsciously clenched his right hand. If this was decades ago, if he was still a general of Chu who led an army under his command, after the army entered a city, he would definitely check the hidden dangers. Check every inch. Because he has manpower, capable and loyal subordinates, he will cut off the risk before the enemy strikes.
But now he is negligent, because Ning Tai is negligent in Yangzhou, which is far away from the God-given King. After all, Fengxing Pavilion is not a decoration, although the city is mixed with fish and dragons, but in general, whether it is the government or the people of the rivers and lakes, whether it is King Ning's soldiers and horses or the spies of King Wu, they do not want to see the rapid fall of this royal city.
The interests of all the forces are at stake, and the enemy's minions (Pili Tang) have all been arrested and are closely guarded by the Fengxing Pavilion. Who would have thought that there would be an accident at this time
And it's a big leak.
The third person who came was Cheng Jingchuan, who was different from Meng Qi and Qigong. He came on horseback, and even though he responded quickly, it was delayed for a while.
At this time, officers and soldiers were already driving away the people, trying to arrest suspicious people.
Cheng Jingchuan stopped the conflict between the official army and the Jianghu people in time, and the Fengxing Pavilion also bought his account, so there was no other trouble.
Seeing such a tragic scene in front of him, Cheng Jingchuan was speechless for a long time, and his eyes were full of anger. If the people from Pili Tang were in front of him, he might be cut into eight pieces by him.
Qiu Jing took a deep breath, faced Cheng Jingchuan, who was devastated, and slowly said a sentence to Meng Qi, who exuded coldness all over his body:
"It's so weird."
Cheng Jingchuan frowned immediately, because no matter what he said, it sounded like Fengxingge was shirking responsibility.
It was the real Bai Yu of Fengxing Pavilion who secretly hid the people of Pili Hall and others, and the current predicament was caused by selfish desires. Although Qiu Si's plan was broken by accident, Qiujing made a strong return to reintegrate Fengxing Pavilion through this incident. , but for Cheng Jingchuan, the only benefit he got from this incident was probably Qiu Si's death.
Now a good thing has turned into a bad thing, and the city wall has been destroyed, which has changed the military deployment of the entire area under the jurisdiction of King Ning.
No matter how Cheng Jingchuan proposes a steady and steady approach, with layers of defense, no one will listen to him.
- Even if the city walls can be repaired in time.
Where is the wall that collapsed in front of me, but the courage of many people.
Who can guarantee that the army of the God-given King will not invade the city? Who can guarantee that they will not send manpower again to blow up the second section of the city wall? At that time, there is nothing to fight, it is better to clean up early and escape as far as possible.
Therefore, before the war started, people's hearts were scattered first. Cheng Jingchuan did not faint when he received the bad news, and he was considered to be able to withstand the blow of adversity.
Cheng Jingchuan tried his best to suppress his anger. He knew that this was not the time to blame each other. If Fengxing Pavilion provided cover for the people of Pili Hall because of internal differences, and led the wolf into the room, wouldn't his people have made mistakes? With such a long city wall, people have buried several places of gunpowder. How did these heavy gunpowders get into the city
Wait, Cheng Jingchuan keenly captured the problem here.
Although Ning Tai is not an iron and copper wall that a flies cannot enter, but compared to other cities, it is equivalent to having several layers of defense, which come from different forces. Even if these forces are opposed to each other, they are consistent in maintaining common interests.
How did Pili Tang hide from so many eyes and bring in the prohibited gunpowder? The cover that Bai Yu Zhenren gave them? No, Master Bai Yu is not a fool. It is reasonable for Pili Tang to bring some hidden weapons and arrows, but enough gunpowder for siege warfare is outrageous.
These thoughts slid through Jingchuan's mind quickly. He quickly turned from questioning and dissatisfaction to confusion, and finally successfully connected with Qiu Jing's words: "Qiu Pavilion Master is right, this matter is unusual, quickly dig the ruins, Examine the corpse."
Buried the gunpowder, it has to be detonated.
Looking at this scale, the person who ignited the fuse is estimated to have died on the spot, and now we can only check the dead body to find the suspect. -->>
— Is it an unidentified stranger? Or eat the city guards who are inside and outside
"I have an insider who came to my door." Meng Qi suddenly spoke, and pulled out a man in a black night suit from the ruins.
Qiu Jing and Cheng Jingchuan blurted out at the same time: "Is that you?"
"Oh, you all know each other?" Meng Qi looked at Li Kong'er, who couldn't say anything.
Then Cheng Jingchuan sold Li Konger in one sentence.
"She is Mr. Qiu's subordinate."
"It's the descendant of Kongkong Sect, and she should be the only female disciple of the same generation." Qiu Jing added, at the same time being surprised by Cheng Jingchuan's words, apparently she didn't know that Li Konger was still Qiu Si's subordinate.
Li Kong'er shook her head desperately, she was about to cry, and looked up pitifully.
It's a pity that the three people present... No, the two of them don't eat her way.
Longmai is blind, Qiujing is a woman, and Cheng Jingchuan is too aware of Li Konger's details.
"Mr. Qiu used her method... er, eclectic." Cheng Jingchuan hinted euphemistically, and continued, "To deal with the situation in the officialdom, it's no wonder Pavilion Master Qiu doesn't know."
A thief with excellent Qinggong, agile movement, and a pitiful and moving face, isn't he a natural spy? Although the beauty's plan is old, it can't hold up well, especially when facing official figures, they are only guarding against assassins. Li Konger doesn't carry a murder weapon at all, on the contrary, she wants to leave with "some" things.
Qiujing had previously felt that this woman made her feel uncomfortable, but after getting the answer, she suddenly realized that she had no opinion on Li Konger's frivolous appearance, because that was the way of survival for others, just like the sharp claws and teeth of beasts. In the same way, it is always used to attack the enemy to protect yourself.
"She saw the people of Pili Tang laying gunpowder 'a while ago'. She was going to sell the news to Huang Biejia, who was patrolling the city's yamen, this morning. It is said that it was the power of King Wu?" Meng Qi's words were very Subtle, and deliberately accentuated the sound of certain words.
All the smart people present, including Li Konger, her complexion changed suddenly, and despite trying her best to remain calm, she still showed a hint of horror.
She thought her lie was very clever. After all, she was also shocked when the city wall collapsed. She didn't expect it to be like this, so the disguise at that time could be said to be flawless. However, when such an emergency happened, Meng Qi was so angry that he still remembered a little thief, and he didn't give her a chance to escape, so he directly caught her here. Li Konger didn't even expect that the conflict between Cheng Jingchuan and Qiujing did not break out at all, and her old bottom was exposed at once.
"Why did you just say what you saw a while ago? Why did you sell such important news to King Wu's people?" Qiu Jing stared at Li Kong'er, who tried to justify it eloquently, but was restrained and couldn't release it at all. make any sound.
Cheng Jingchuan stared at Li Konger, the chill in his heart was slowly engulfing him.
Meng Qi removed Li Kong'er's hole, and the latter hurriedly called out: "Mr. Qiu's whereabouts are unknown, his servants are all dead again, and the corpses are in the hands of the Xuncheng Yamen. The slave family just wants to use this news to tell Huang Biejia. To make a deal, the slave family is too worried about Mr. Qiu's safety..."
Before she could finish her grievances, Cheng Jingchuan interrupted her unceremoniously, and said coldly, "So, you didn't see anyone from Pili Tang?"
"Yes, the slave family is all nonsense. The collapse of such a large-scale city wall, coupled with this movement, must have been caused by the Perak Hall." Li Kong'er nodded, looking at Meng Qi sadly, "The slave family It was just to get away."
Meng Qi reminded her with a blank face: "The news that you said you would sell Perak Hall was before the city wall collapsed."
Li Kong'er paused for a moment, and then argued forcefully: "This, this is all a coincidence, the most valuable news in Ningtai City right now, apart from Mr. Qiu's whereabouts, is only the movements of the God-given King and Pili Tang. up…”
"Kill it." Qiu Jing waved his hand lightly.
Li Konger was shocked, and Cheng Jingchuan sighed: "Qiu Pavilion Master really doesn't want to leave this useful chess piece to me, no matter what, the situation in Ningtai is turbulent now, and the nobles of the aristocratic family are thinking of migrating and fleeing for their lives. She's useless. Since there is suspicion of collusion with Pili Tang, let's kill it and be an example!"
"No no, I didn't collude with Pili Tang, it wasn't me!" Li Kong'er blurted out in confusion, "The person who buried the gunpowder was not Pili Tang, but Mr. Qiu!"
Qiu Jing turned his head slightly, Cheng Jingchuan closed his eyes, and silently concealed the grief and anger that poured out of his heart.
- The guesses that you don't want to confirm, the answers you don't want to hear, have finally come.
Before today, Meng Qi was very considerate of them, and now he is not in the mood for the corpses in the ruins.
"Things are very clear, in Qiu Si's original plan, Ning Wang died, General Cheng and Qiu Pavilion master were coerced by their respective forces and had to confront or even fight, but because of my existence, none of you He will die." Meng Qi looked around the two of them and said mercilessly, "If there is no spoiler from Pili Hall, after Ning Tai is completely messed up into a pot of porridge, in order to prevent Fengxing Pavilion from being completely divided, the master of Qiu Pavilion can only leave Jingzhou or other places. Qiantang County, just in time for the army of the God-given King to set off, Ning Tai is still far behind to enjoy temporary comfort, which is not in line with Qiu Si's expectations, so the collapse of the city wall is also something that has been prepared for a long time."
Qiu Si had already prepared for what would happen after his "death", whether it was a real death or a fraudulent death, so his death would not change the crisis of the collapse of the city wall.
Unless Cheng Jingchuan and Qiujing discovered the gunpowder here in advance, but... this is almost hopeless. Just looking at the timing of this choice can tell, others think that the best time for the city wall to collapse is when the king's army is under the city, but it is not. How could they not check the city walls when they were guarding? Now is the most chaotic time for Ning Tai, and it is also the most suitable day to defeat people's hearts.
"He wants everyone to know that apart from fleeing, there is only death."
Ningtai is in chaos, Qiantang County will not be much better, and rich families and families will flood into the southeast area.
Qiujing was forced to leave, in order to prevent King Tianshou from going to Jingzhou.
Cheng Jingchuan had no choice but to bring Ningdi troops and horses to set up a defense line in Jingzhou and Yangzhou. This battle would decide life and death, but this battle may not be won. Because people's hearts are broken, Ningtai's city walls can collapse. Can those officials and rivers and lakes who are afraid of death and have been fighting for their interests for many years go out and follow Cheng Jingchuan's autumn scenery
You must know that no matter who is the emperor, it doesn't matter to them.
Cheng Jingchuan has ambitions, and Qiujing has ideals. They have to try their best to maintain the situation in Jiangnan, and others can't bet on their lives.
The people of Jiangnan, business houses, and some noble families will all die in this war, but as long as those forces in the rivers and lakes, those tax collectors and small officials surrender to the King of Heaven, they will still have fame, fortune, power and wealth, so why bother
The momentum is like a torrent.