The Tenth Prince's Mansion is just across the street from Donghua Gate. The feudal princes heard the sound and came out to see, my dear, thick smoke was billowing from the Forbidden City, flames were rising into the sky, and it was set on fire again.
Seeing this situation, most of the vassal kings were still confused, but King Xiang immediately had a bad premonition: Fengtian Palace was set on fire before, and the Empress Dowager Sun encouraged some civil servants to write a letter asking the emperor to issue an edict to punish her.
It's okay now. If Cining Palace and Qianqing Palace are on fire again, they are the palaces of Empress Dowager Sun and Empress Qian. You can't blame the emperor for this.
If the Fengtian Palace was destroyed, the emperor would have to issue an edict to sin against himself. If the Qianqing Palace was destroyed, would Queen Qian need to issue an edict to sin against herself? Cining Palace is in danger, so does the Empress Dowager want to issue an edict to punish herself?
King Xiang was thinking about something, and he didn't know which vassal king was instigating the commotion and calling on everyone to go to King Qin to protect the palace.
In line with the mentality that the law should not be punished, dozens of princes and princes left the Ten Princes' Mansion and came to the Dong'an Gate, shouting for the imperial guards guarding the city gate to open the city gate.
Although the Jinyiwei were not interested in protecting the emperor at all, they were not aggressive enough to let the vassal king in at will.
The two sides faced off like this, refusing to give in to each other.
The vassal princes were not really in a hurry to enter, they were just bossing around outside the city gate, showing off their power to the imperial guards, and venting their dissatisfaction with the emperor.
The two sides were in a stalemate for less than two-quarters of an hour before officers and soldiers from the East City Army and Horse Division, West City Army and Horse Division, and Zhongcheng Army and Horse Division rushed to the outskirts of the imperial city and blocked all streets and roads.
The commanders of these three military and horse divisions are Guo Chang, Guo Cong and Wu Zhong, all of whom are relatives of the emperor.
The brothers of the Guo family and the Wu family are also in charge of the Jinyi Guards, which can be said to have complete control over the defense forces inside and outside the imperial city.
Less than a meal later, the six relatives of the emperor, Guo Chang, Wu Zhong, Wu An, Wu Cheng, Huan, and Hu Xuan, appeared outside Dong'an Gate.
Guo Chang was the emperor's father-in-law. He was in charge of the royal guards and also served as the commander of the Dongcheng Army and Horse Department. Naturally, he spoke better than the vassal princes.
Guo Chang waved his hand, and the Jin Yiwei guarding Dong'an Gate opened the city gate.
Guo Chang entered the imperial city with three thousand royal guards and let the vassal princes in as well.
However, what was different from what the vassal princes thought was that Guo Chang personally led two thousand guards in brocade to guard the areas of Wenhua Hall, Wenyuan Pavilion and the Cabinet Room.
There are also a thousand Jinyi guards guarding Wuying Palace, Ciqing Palace and other places.
In other words, these three thousand Jinyi guards only take care of the front palace area, and don't care about the harem at all.
Marquis Wenxin Guo Cong led another two thousand Jinyi guards to the Ministry of War, which was specially ordered by Zhu Qiyu. "The Journey of Zheng He's Envoy" and "Pictures of Sailing Ships from Baobao Shipyard from Longjiang Pass to Foreign Countries" are both stored in the archives of the Ministry of War. It would be great fun if some young people took the opportunity to burn them. .
As for how the harem was burned, Zhu Qiyu didn't care, nor did the relatives of the emperor.
The vassal kings did care, but everyone could only stay outside Qianqing Gate and watch the fire burning. But no one dared to take a step into the harem.
The etiquette of the Ming Dynasty was so strict that as long as you dared to step into the harem area, you would immediately become confused. When the time comes, the emperor will label you as a filthy harem, and he will not kill you however he wants.
The feudal princes could only helplessly look in three directions: because the feudal princes standing outside the Qianqing Gate found that the south side was not there, or that the three main halls in the south had been burned down ten days ago, so there was no need to look at the south side.
Then the Empress Dowager's Cining Palace to the west, the idle Yangxin Palace, the Xian'an Palace in the northwest corner, the Renshou Palace in the southeast, and even the Qianqing Palace to the north were all caught.
The princes were completely dumbfounded. Now, most of the Forbidden City would have been burned to the ground.
At this time, Queen Mother Sun was more anxious than the princes. Because since Taizong built the city of Beijing, I don’t know what these emperors were thinking. They all liked wood very much.
Surrounding each hall are wooden corridors.
It's fine now. Outside Cining Palace, all the corridors on all sides are on fire. Empress Dowager Sun and the eunuchs and maids in the palace were all trapped in the open space in the front yard of Cining Palace.
Queen Mother Sun was hurriedly pulled out of the palace by the eunuchs and maids, and she didn't even have time to put on her coat. Now standing in the yard, I can't help but shiver when the cold wind blows.
The incident happened in a hurry, and a group of eunuchs and maids, also dressed in single clothes, stood in the courtyard with Queen Mother Sun blowing the cold wind.
Only Gao Ping was wearing a brocade robe. Seeing that everyone had no outerwear, and the Empress Dowager shivering from the cold, she bravely came forward, knelt on the ground holding the brocade robe, and carefully asked the Empress Dowager:
"Your Majesty, the Empress Dowager, please don't take it personally. Use this brocade robe as a slave to avoid the cold."
Queen Mother Sun glanced at Gao Ping and recognized him as the eunuch under the name of Ruan An, the general manager of Cining Palace. He still knew the basics, but now that he was frozen like this, he didn't care about being polite, so he ordered Gao Ping to stand up and put the brocade robe on himself.
Not long after, Lu Zhong led hundreds of Jinyi guards to break through the already burning Cining Gate and rushed into the courtyard to escort them.
Seeing the door being rushed open, Empress Dowager Sun felt reassured. Lu Zhong was in a hurry, so he knelt down and shouted loudly: "Don't worry, Queen Mother, our general, Lu Zhong, is coming to rescue us. Please follow the Queen Mother. Even if you sacrifice your life, you must protect your mother." comprehensive."
Empress Dowager Sun nodded in appreciation, but when she took a step forward, her legs were already stiff due to cold and shock, making it difficult to move.
Gao Ping stood up again at this time and asked thoughtfully: "I am willing to risk my life and carry the Queen Mother out of the sea of fire. Please allow the Queen Mother."
At this time, there was no other way. Empress Dowager Sun could only nod and reply: "I am very pleased that you are so loyal and brave. Once you are out of trouble, you will be generously rewarded."
After Gao Ping heard the words and confessed his crime, he carried the Queen Mother on his back, and Lu Zhong opened the way in front. A group of royal guards surrounded him and rushed out of Cining Gate. Then he turned eastward, passing through Yongkang Left Gate and Longzong Gate, and came to In the square outside Qianqing Gate.
This square is also the place where Zhu Qiyu killed the maids and eunuchs of Qianqing Palace with a stick. At this time, the vassal kings gathered here to watch.
Seeing that Queen Mother Sun was being carried out by the eunuchs and escaping, King Xiang and others quickly stepped forward to protect her.
Queen Qian was not so lucky. She was also trapped in the square outside Qianqing Palace, but no one came to rescue her.
The Qianqing Palace has the same problem. The side halls on both sides: Hongde Hall and Zhaoren Palace are all wooden structures; the Qianqing Palace is also surrounded by wooden corridors. All at once.
Lu Zhong put down Empress Dowager Sun and asked for rescue.
Although Empress Dowager Sun usually disliked Qian, she couldn't bear to watch her daughter-in-law being burned to death. So he nodded in agreement and ordered Lu Zhong to lead the Jin Yiwei to go in for rescue.
Lu Zhongfu led the Jinyi Guards to rescue Queen Qian, and led everyone to fetch water to put out the fire, trying his best to stop the fire in Jiaotai Hall.
The last three main halls are different from the first three main halls.
As long as the Fengtian Hall is on fire, it will inevitably affect the Huagai Hall and Jinshen Hall, and eventually the three main halls will be burned down together.
However, among the last three halls, the distance between Kunning Palace and Qianqing Palace is relatively large. The Jiaotai Palace between the two is relatively small because it is used for the emperor and queen to have peace.
As long as everyone tries their best to control the spread of the fire in Jiaotai Palace, they can save Kunning Palace.
So while Queen Mother Sun and Queen Qian were surviving the disaster, hugging each other and crying, Queen Zhou held the prince and Princess Chongqing in her arms early, passed through Kunning Gate, and entered the Imperial Garden to take refuge.
(End of chapter)
