In the third year of Chuping of the Eastern Han Dynasty, in February in spring, it was a very ordinary night in Chang'an City. The moon had risen above the Western Mountains, and the stars were gradually shining brightly. Under the clear sky, the Weinan Plain outside Chang'an City looked extremely open, and the oily grassland was Into a deep blue water color.
It is now curfew time, and all the lights in the city have gone out. Only the soldiers are patrolling back and forth in the palace and on the city walls. But outside the city, there is a different scene. On the northeast and west sides of Chang'an City, there are dots of firelight, like mayflies. Wandering between heaven and earth, this place was originally the same as Luoyang City. It was a bustling market. But after Dong Zhuo moved the capital, the markets were forcibly moved into the city. These places became a wasteland, but in the end, they remained There are some buildings where many homeless people who have nowhere to go live here.
The cold winter has passed, but for them who are barely clothed, spring is still cold. The homeless people light bonfires here and gather together in groups to keep warm. They count the hours and wait for the arrival of Yin Shi. , by that time, some of the city's nobles would be helping people outside the city, but there were also many people who could not wait until then and turned into corpses dumped on the streets, which would then be cleaned up by the city guards a few days later.
But the south side of Chang'an City is not like this. After leaving Anmen, there is silence. Walking two miles south, you can see two small platforms and a broad temple, towering high on the flat wilderness. These are the Sheji, Piyong and ancestral temples that were established during the reign of Emperor Gaozu. When Emperor Shizu established his capital in Luoyang, he built two new temples and one temple in Luoyang, but the offerings were different, to show his feat of reviving the Han Dynasty. But now after Dong Zhuo moved the capital, at the suggestion of Cai Yong, he added Emperor Gaozu to the late Emperor. All the emperors of the Han Dynasty were enshrined in the ancestral temple to show the great loyalty of the Taishi to the Han Dynasty. Therefore, a small number of sergeants were also sent to the ancestral temple to ensure the peace of the ancestral temple.
At this moment, two guards were holding fire sticks and patrolling back and forth in the Gaozu Temple. They had just changed their posts. Patrolling at night was boring and boring. Both of them looked quite bored. Fortunately, there was no officer patrolling here, and military discipline was therefore relaxed. Quite a few, they were a lot more casual. After only visiting the ancestral temple, they started chatting under a laurel tree.
As warriors, what they talked about was the latest war.
One person first said: "Have you heard? Guo and Li are invincible in Nanyang. Yuan Shu's Jing army cannot be united. Sun Jian's remnant army, which almost defeated our army back then, was defeated directly and retreated to Runan this year. Even Li Min, the prefect of Yingchuan, was captured alive and will soon be sent back to Chang'an to celebrate his victory!"
Another person laughed and said: "Who hasn't heard of this? I went to the city to buy biscuits in the morning, and the army went crazy. They all praised Guo and Li for their unparalleled bravery in battle!" He paused for a moment, and then said mysteriously in a low voice: "I also heard from my brother-in-law that the grand master is also very happy and will promote them to generals soon!"
Speaking of this, the two of them couldn't help but feel sad when they thought of their comrades who had made great achievements on the front line, but who had nothing to do, and who were guarding the ancestral temple with some other people here. Then they changed the topic to the war in Yizhou: "But I don't know how the war in Yizhou is. I heard that Zhao sent Jun Yuan to contact Jialong Renqi of Yizhou. It has already been two months since the uprising, so why is there no news?"
Another person said: "It's not going well. My brother-in-law said that Your Excellency Zhao Jundun Bingjian has not seen Jia Long Renqi's reinforcements for a long time. If the sword pavilion cannot be breached this month, Zhao Jun must have withdrawn his troops." "…
The two began to sigh again. When talking about the reason for the failure of the war, they both felt that it was because of the mediocre commander and the mixed supply of troops. Although the commander who took Shu this time was Taiwei Zhao Qian, who had always been famous, he was not a Liang general, so Both of them were quite distrustful, so they discussed who could lead the army to fight again.
Let’s talk about Lu Bu first. "A disciple who sells his goods for glory will have courage. How can the Grand Master allow him to lead the army alone?"
Let’s talk about Xu Rong Niufu again. "Bingzhou is under great pressure. The grand master asks about the situation on the front line every ten days. Where can we transfer people from there now?"
Speaking of generals such as Duan Xuan, Yang Ding, and Niu Fu, they all felt that they had their own shortcomings. In the end, Huangfu Song, the chariot general, was the best. Unfortunately, the chariot general had a sensitive status and the Grand Master did not dare to reuse him.
During the discussion, someone suddenly asked in a low voice: "Did you hear any noise?"
The other person was startled, shook his head and looked around, but seeing his companion's serious face, he couldn't help but whisper: "Where is it?"
As soon as they finished speaking, they heard a strange noise not far away, which seemed to be in the grass in the corner of the courtyard. Could it be that homeless people came in and stole food? The two of them glanced at each other, then crept toward the source of the sound. When they were thirty steps away, they quickly moved forward, pulled out their knives and shouted: "Who is it! Come out!"
Just as the two of them were tense, a short and long black shadow moved out from the wormwood, slowly revealing its black and dirty dog head under the firelight, and whined at the knife, begging for mercy. It turned out to be a fast dog. The starving wild dog was a surprise to both of them. One person laughed and said: "What an ugly dog." The other person said: "It didn't even have much meat in the stew."
After kicking the dog's head twice, the two of them laughed and walked to the main entrance. They didn't notice that in the Zhongzong Temple three rooms away, a wisp of black smoke floated in the clear night, followed by the slowly rising firelight, and soon rolled up. A raging hot wind blew up and quickly engulfed the ancestral temple, out of control.
By the time the guards of the ancestral temple gathered in front of the door, the smell of charred smoke had reached the door. The guards coughed repeatedly, but they couldn't agree on the situation of the fire. The leader, Du Bo, knew that the fire in the ancestral temple was a serious matter, so he hesitated for a moment. , just now he slowly said to his subordinates: "The fire is so big, how can we alone quell it? We'd better go to the city and invite the adults."
Which master to invite is a question. Logically speaking, you should report it directly to the Grand Master. But not only Du Bo is worried, the guards are also worried that they will be severely punished when the Grand Master is angry, so no one is willing to be the envoy. , then one of them said: "It's better to tell the rider first and let him take charge of the overall situation."
As soon as this statement came out, Uncle Du was greatly appreciated and immediately sent him to Huangfu Song's mansion to ask for instructions.
The soldier ran all the way to the city and knocked hard on the door of Huangfu Song's house. Cang Tou heard that it was military information and did not dare to neglect it. He immediately went to report Huangfu Song. Huangfu Song was confused, but he still wore a robe hastily. He quickly walked out of the mansion, went to the soldiers, and asked, "What's the emergency?"
When he learned that it was a fire in the ancestral temple, he was greatly surprised. He said gently and reproachfully: "You should go directly to the palace to report to the Grand Master. Why are you here?"
The soldier lowered his head and said nothing. Huangfu Song knew that he was afraid of being blamed, so his compassion prevailed for a moment. Whatever I thought, I'll report it to Dong Zhuo and handle the matter at the same time. It's an emergency and I can't take care of so much. He immediately called up his only son Huangfu Jianshou and asked him to go to the palace to report. He took the soldier to find the captain of the city gate. He reluctantly borrowed 800 soldiers, found some buckets, wooden shovels, and some special fire-fighting leather bags. Bags and splash tubes. …
Everyone worked for most of the night, and it was not until Chen Shi that they finally put out the fire. It was already dawn. Huangfu Song rolled up his sleeves and stood in front of the burning Zhongzong Temple. There were black charcoal everywhere, but the residual heat had not dissipated. The fire-extinguishing well water had stewed into streams of burnt and smelly steam. Huangfusong felt wet and hot, his whole body was soaked with sweat, and he was extremely wet and uncomfortable. But the ancestral temple is in a mess. Three imperial temples have had their beams burned off and have collapsed. Four imperial temples have also become dilapidated buildings and cannot be used. The remaining imperial temples also need to be repaired.
While he was resting, the guards outside the door came in and reported: "Chariots, the Grand Master is here." Huangfu Song quickly ordered the remaining soldiers to continue cleaning up, while he wiped his face with the remaining well water, hurriedly put it on and threw it away The robe on the stone tablet went to the door to greet Dong Zhuo.
There was a tall warrior standing in front of the door, it was Lu Bu. Behind him, hundreds of people gathered around a soap-covered cart. A huge figure was vaguely visible on the cart. Huangfu Song first saluted Lu Bu, and then walked over to the gate. In front of the car, he saluted and greeted Dong Zhuo.
Dong Zhuo stood up from the car. He had aged very quickly over the past year, and his belly and face had gained weight. He walked down tremblingly and glanced at Huangfu Song, only to see that he was covered in dust and water stains. The guards around him all showed admiration for him, and couldn't help but feel disgusted in their hearts. However, they still pretended to be affectionate and smiled at him: "Yizhen, as long as you are here, the ancestral temple will not be damaged."
Dong Zhuo was a native of Liang, and was used to being straight-forward, but doing this kind of intimate gesture against his will seemed extremely artificial. Huangfu Song felt bad in his heart, but he could only smile bitterly and tell the truth about the damage to the ancestral temple, and apologized in public. He said: "I came down too late, causing serious damage to the ancestral temple. This is my fault. Please punish me by the Grand Master."
Unexpectedly, Dong Zhuo clapped his hands and said, "Does Yizhen think that I am stupid and unaware? The fire in the ancestral temple was a warning from heaven, and it was also caused by the negligence of officials in the court. What Yizhen does in daily life, in my eyes, how can he be derelict in his duty? Now? Come to think of it, Duke Zhao is probably at a disadvantage in his attack on Shu, so God has given me a signal to withdraw my troops!"
Having said this, Dong Zhuo immediately said to Cai Yong who was accompanying him: "Immediately give an order to Zhao Qian to return to the capital with his squadron, and to remove him from the post of Taiwei and replace him with Ma Dafu (Ma Rixi)."
Speaking of this, he didn't even go into the temple to watch, but said to Lu Bu: "I'm busy with official duties. Calculating the time, Li Jue's military report is due to arrive today. Let's go back first." Then he walked back to the car. Finally, he said to Huangfu Song: "I will leave the repair of the Ancestral Temple to the driver." After saying that, he waved to the driver and turned back to the city, leaving Huangfu Song standing there with a look of astonishment on his face.
The ancestral temple was originally in charge of Taichang, so Huangfu Song had to go to discuss the matter with Taichang Liu Xiao. In the evening, Huangfu Song took the car home and saw several children playing on the road. On a whim, he gave some candy to the children. The children were talking and laughing, and he relaxed. Just when he was about to start again, he was shocked when he heard the words "The emperor is as handsome as the moon, and the true sky covers Chang'an." He turned around and asked the children who taught them this. He said he didn't know, but had heard it from other children. He also said that the saying had already spread and was being sung in the streets and alleys.
When Huangfusong returned home, he immediately summoned his relatives and said bluntly: "Someone wants to kill me! I'm afraid I can't escape!"
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