"Lost, it's on fire~"
"Quickly put out the fire, put out the fire!"
The panicked screams disturbed the tranquility of the night, giving Youtun City, shrouded in the haze of war, a hint of conspiracy.
A fire broke out in a street not far from the north city wall. The flames shot into the sky and soon ignited a row of houses.
"Here, come and put out the fire!"
"Call more people, quickly!"
Figures kept rushing out of the darkness, frantically fetching water to put out the fire.
It was also a hardship for these civilians, who had to build the city wall during the day and put out fires at night.
The camp next to the north city wall was in chaos, but Zhang Lan, a member of the Changzi camp who was responsible for the security here, was still sleeping soundly~
"Hululu~"
"Hulu~"
His fat body took up the entire bed, and his snoring was loud.
There were a few drops of crystal saliva hanging from the corner of his mouth, and he smiled sillyly, not knowing what sweet dream he was having.
"boom!"
"Bai, Master Baihu! Something happened!"
"Sir, wake up! Something happened!"
The door was suddenly kicked open, and Zhang Lan's close confidants stumbled in, shaking the sleeping Zhang Lan desperately:
"Sir! Wake up!"
"Hmm~ It's so late at night, why are you howling!"
Zhang Lan opened his eyes drowsily. He was so angry that he started to curse:
"Get out of here, don't disturb my sleep!"
The confidant said with a sad face
"There's a fire, sir!"
Zhang Lan turned around impatiently and continued to sleep, facing the inside:
“If there’s a fire, it’s a fire. If we send people to put out the fire, isn’t that the end of it?
If you have anything to do, we’ll talk about it tomorrow, so get out of here! "
"Yes, it's us. The place where we hide the food is on fire."
The confidant said tremblingly:
"Food, food!"
"Where? Where did you say?"
Zhang Lan suddenly sat up from the bed, completely sleepless, with a face full of panic:
"The row of private houses in Beixiang?"
"Yes, that's it!"
"It's over~ Food, food!"
Zhang Lan rolled out of bed and ran out without wearing any shoes, screaming:
"Put out the fire, put out the fire quickly~"
The fat body disappeared in a flash, even bringing up a gust of wind.
The cronies were stunned. Is this the speed a fat man should show?
…
When Zhang Lan rushed to the scene of the fire with no clothes on, he was stunned.
The flames shot up into the sky, burning more and more fiercely. An entire row of seven or eight private houses were engulfed in flames.
And three of them happened to be where he hid his food.
The civilian workers who came to put out the fire carried large and small buckets and kept pouring water, but the fire showed no signs of slowing down.
Because there are places where straw is piled up in front of and behind private houses, it starts to spread quickly and cannot be stopped at all. There happened to be a bit of evening wind tonight, which helped the fire.
"Plop~"
Zhang Lan fell to the ground, his face pale and his eyes dull:
"Why, how could this happen?
Put out the fire! Come put out the fire for me! Hurry! "
"Master Baihu! Why are you here?"
Gu Sinian appeared at the scene of the fire in time, and his eyes were filled with tears from the thick smoke. He looked like he had been putting out fires at the scene.
"Put out the fire, put out the fire quickly!"
Zhang Lan seemed to have seen a savior and grabbed Gu Sinian's arm:
"I order you! Assemble everyone and put out the fire for me immediately!"
"Sir, the fire is too big! Why don't you stay away first!"
Gu Sinian supported Zhang Lan and said:
"Brothers are putting out the fire, don't worry, adults!"
"Leave me alone, put out the fire first!"
Zhang Lan was so anxious that he almost jumped up from the ground, spinning around in circles.
"Why are you panicking! Is the sky falling?"
At this moment, a faint shout sounded from behind the two of them.
The person who came was none other than Zhang Lan’s immediate boss and Zhang Lan’s so-called backer, the Captain of Changziying:
Zhang Jingyuan.
In his forties, his cheeks are rough and his skin is dark, which are all caused by the excessive wind and sand blowing at the border.
"Du, Lieutenant Commander."
Zhang Lan shrank his head in fear and stood up with Gu Sinian's help.
Zhang Jingyuan frowned and said:
"There are hundreds of households, how can you behave appropriately if you are not well-dressed? Hurry up, put on your clothes!"
"Yes, I know my fault despite my humble position."
Zhang Lan hurriedly put on his clothes. It was obvious that this uncle had prestige in his heart.
Gu Sinian also pretended to straighten his back and called him Captain. After all, this man was a seventh-grade military attaché, the same level as the magistrate of Fengchuan County.
Zhang Jingyuan asked coldly:
"It's so good, how could there be such a big fire?"
Zhang Lan looked confused. He was sleeping soundly, but he didn't know why the fire broke out.
Gu Sinian hurriedly spoke:
"Going back to the captain, there is a lot of straw and debris piled up here. Maybe someone accidentally splashed sparks on it, and it caught fire all of a sudden.
But Captain, please rest assured. According to my understanding, this is a row of abandoned houses, empty! "
Zhang Jingyuan breathed a sigh of relief when he heard this:
"That's not a big deal, just put out the fire. Be quiet and don't disturb the general and the rest!
I see that the fire is very big now and cannot be controlled for a while. First put out the fire from the outside, and then control it inward little by little without causing chaos. "
Fires are common in military camps. As long as the food or weapons are not burned, it is not a big deal. Zhang Jingyuan has already experienced this.
"No, you have to put out the fire quickly, uncle!"
Upon hearing this, Zhang Lan immediately became anxious:
“It will be too late if we don’t save him!
There is food in this house..."
The words stopped abruptly in the middle of the conversation. Zhang Lan suddenly realized that the food in it was something he had withheld privately, and even his uncle, who was a captain, didn't know about it.
If you say there is food in it at this time, how can you explain where the food comes from?
Even if Zhang Jingyuan is willing to protect himself, there are still hundreds of people fighting the fire. If the news spreads, his hundreds of households will be wiped out.
"have what?"
Zhang Jingyuan frowned and said, "I didn't hear you clearly."
Gu Sinian said uncertainly:
"Master Baihu, did you just say there is food in this place?"
"Ahem. No, no."
Zhang Lan's face was stiff and he shook his head:
"You heard wrong."
Gu Sinian raised his sleeves seriously and said:
"There is really nothing? My lord, please think about it again.
If there is something valuable inside, even if the young one rushes in at the risk of his own life, he still has to carry the thing out! "
Zhang Lan's head was covered with black lines, and he almost gritted his teeth and said:
"Really, I thought about it carefully, but there is nothing!"
Zhang Lan really wants Gu Sinian to rush in, but how many kilograms of food can your small body carry?
"Okay, if you don't have anything, just put out the fire."
Zhang Jingyuan glared at Zhang Lan:
"Just watch here, don't be frizzy!"
"promise."
Zhang Lan is about to cry but has no tears. All his food has been burned, so he still has to stand here and watch it being burned?
How miserable~
Zhang Jingyuan left, and Zhang Lan collapsed on the ground again in despair.
Two civilians not far away whispered:
"Look at how Lord Baihu seems to have lost his soul? Didn't he just burn down a few empty houses?"
"You don't understand this, don't you? The name of our 100-year-old family has the character "LAN" next to the character "水". What does it mean?"
"What?"
"Idiot, it means you are afraid of fire! You can only defeat it with water!"
"It makes sense~Brother, you are so knowledgeable!"
"Hehe, Chengzhengchengzheng!"
"You, you guys~"
These few words dealt a fatal blow to Zhang Lan. The man from a hundred households rolled his eyelids, his energy and blood surged, and he fainted on the spot.
…
The sky gradually became brighter, and the fire in the alley in the north of the city was finally put out, and thick smoke rose into the sky.
Gu Sinian, who had not slept all night, was walking around the house, very excited.
After a while, Zeng Lingchuan and Blacksmith sneaked back from outside, their faces full of joy.
"nailed it?"
Gu Sinian rubbed his hands excitedly.
"no problem!"
Zeng Lingchuan raised his eyebrows proudly and said:
“All the grain was taken away, several bags were hidden by us, and the rest was sold to black market grain dealers.
There are hundreds of taels of silver! If we were not in a hurry to sell, we could still sell more points. "
"Whatever you can sell is whatever you want, it'll be fine."
Gu Sinian asked one more question:
"The remaining food must be hidden well so that no one finds it."
"Don't worry, Zhang Lan can't find it even if he digs three feet into the ground!"
Zhang Lan thought that all the food was burned by the fire, but in fact, before the fire broke out, all the food was moved away by Gu Sinian and others, and was taken to the black market overnight to be sold.
Make sure there is no proof of death.
"Very good, haha!"
Gu Sinian sneered:
"Hmph, don't you want to deprive us of food?
Then I will try to drain the firewood from under the cauldron, and I won’t leave you even a grain of rice! "
…
Zhang Lan was lying on the bed with dull eyes, his hands and feet were cold. He always liked to eat and drink a lot, but now he couldn't drink a drop of water and had no appetite.
His henchman crept in and cautiously called "Sir."
"Get out, get out of here!"
Zhang Lan was furious:
"I told you, don't bother me!"
In order to become one of the 100 households, Zhang Jingyuan's family had given money to him, hoping to get back the money through these military rations, but he didn't know that a fire had completely burned them all.
"Sir, please don't be impatient."
The confidant licked his face and said:
"Sir, I just went to the fire scene and noticed something strange. There were not many ashes on the ground, only small puddles here and there.
Logically speaking, if we put dozens of bags of food there, no matter how big the fire is, there won't be even ashes left, right? "
Zhang Lan's brows suddenly wrinkled:
"you mean?"
"Ahem.
The villain guessed, is it possible that the food was taken away before the fire broke out? "
"What did you say?"
Zhang Lan trembled all over, his eyes suddenly became cold, he walked quickly into the inner room, and opened the wooden box under the bed with a clear purpose, and then his eyes became confused again:
"That's not right, the key is here~"
As everyone knows, after Zhang Lan rushed to the scene of the fire, Xiao Liuzi returned the key while there was no one in the camp, without anyone noticing.
The confidant looked at the key and couldn't make up his mind, so he had to say:
"Anyway, this matter is a bit strange. Where did the fire start? It happened to be where we hid the food?
No one usually goes to that row of private houses, so why did it burn down? "
"What you said makes sense."
Zhang Lan's eyes narrowed slightly, he raised his fat palms and said:
"If the food was really stolen, they must have hidden it somewhere.
There is so much food, so easy to find.
In this way, you go to each camp one by one to see if any bold guy has done anything! "
"good!"
