The imperial capital was in chaos. It was chaos almost all of a sudden.
More than 700 criminal cases occurred the day before yesterday. Many shops were looted by thugs. Some of these shops were opened by relatives of civil servants and domestic slaves. Some were owned by nobles.
Sap beatings and various robberies also occurred frequently on the streets, and the vast majority of the victims were civil servants, nobles, and people who worked around them to earn a living.
Different factions of the City Fox, Society, and Rat in the capital also went to war. These people originally relied on certain forces to control a certain territory. They occasionally had some changes, but overall they maintained a balanced situation.
But now, it seems that they plan to redefine the capital's sphere of influence.
Chongzhen naturally set this fire, and was always paying close attention to the reactions of all forces.
Starting from the day before yesterday, the public security in the capital suddenly became chaotic. However, he remained unmoved. He sneered in his heart. It was just a small fight, just to scare me.
The day before yesterday, mainly the shops, hotels, brothels, and casinos of Donglin's industry were rioted by gangsters. Many businesses were smashed. The emperor didn't take it seriously. Donglin was tossing his nobles like this. It would be wrong if they didn't react.
.
However, the struggle soon escalated.
The Xinghua House in Jinyu Hutong, the first-line brothel in the capital, was suddenly raided by the Military and Horse Division in the early hours of yesterday morning, and a large group of officials who violated the rules and engaged in prostitution were caught on the spot.
The madam arrogantly claimed that this place was taken care of by the men from the Ministry of War.
But the military commander was determined, and not only sealed the brothel, but also took away all the disheveled guests. They searched it in the middle of the night, and waited until noon to take away the prisoners along the busiest streets in broad daylight.
Let these officials cover their faces with their sleeves and be miserable.
From the beginning to the end of the Ming Dynasty, officials were prohibited from entering Fengyue places. The main reason was that no one took care of this matter. If they really dared to take care of it, it was clearly stipulated by the laws of the Ming Dynasty.
This incident angered the civil servants.
In the afternoon, many of the nobles' properties were damaged by gangsters. Soon, the gangster forces attached to the nobles took revenge before dark.
At night, there is originally a curfew. Except for the special policy of Huangcheng North Street, which allows people to go out on the streets all night, Beicheng only postpones the curfew by one hour, while Nancheng still maintains the curfew.
Both the Patrol Battalion and the Military and Horse Division have the right to maintain public order, and the powers of both sides overlap. This is the embodiment of the emperor's divide and rule strategy. However, now both sides are out to catch the city foxes and rats protected by the other side at night.
Last night, the whole Beicheng was in chaos. There were fights and robberies everywhere. Some people even took the opportunity to set fires. Dozens of fires broke out in the capital.
During the day, Chongzhen listened to the Jin Yiwei's report and remained unmoved. He continued to review the memorials from various places. Every quarter of an hour someone from the Jin Yiwei came to read the most trustworthy situation report.
Chongzhen listened and worked. Occasionally, a sneer appeared at the corner of his mouth.
However, at night, he was awakened by the sound of gongs.
This was the alarm signal of a fire in the Imperial City. He sat up suddenly. The Queen also woke up and was panicked when she heard the sound of the gong. She didn't know whether it was the Forbidden City or the Imperial City that was on fire.
In the history of the Ming Dynasty, there were frequent fires in the palace, burning the queen and concubines one after another. When they heard about the fire, they were all frightened. Chongzhen himself also experienced fires. When he was a child, a fire in Li Xuanshi's palace frightened him. There must be shadows all over.
Chongzhen put on his clothes, walked out of Kunning Palace, and took the eunuchs on duty to Qianqing Palace. At this time, the eunuch of the Supervisor of Ceremonies hurriedly came to report.
"Your Majesty, there is a fire in the stolen goods warehouse. Manpower is being organized to put out the fire."
Chongzhen felt nervous. Last year, he started to crack down on the eunuchs. All the confiscated property was placed in the stolen property treasury. This was a huge sum of money.
He hurriedly asked: "What's going on? I have repeatedly told you that you must pay attention to fires. It is dry in autumn, and there are cloth, silk, furniture and other flammable items in the warehouse. Why is it still on fire?"
Suitang eunuch Ning shivered and said: "I really don't know the reason. When I found out, the fire had already started. Twelve large warehouses caught fire at the same time. The flames started all at once and engulfed the whole house. The fire inside None of the little eunuchs on night duty ran out."
Chongzhen yelled: "Where are the Jin Yi Guards Fire Army and where are the Fire Guards in the palace? We haven't sent all the people there yet. How many things can be snatched out?"
Guan Ning said: "Your Majesty, all the people who can be sent have been sent by the princes. He is personally directing the fire fighting over there. I originally wanted to mobilize the fire shops in Beicheng. But suddenly dozens of fires broke out in Beicheng in the middle of the night. The officers and soldiers of Huo Ding have all been transferred to put out the fire. There are no more pumps and waterwheels left."
The fire protection work of the Ming Dynasty Palace is also managed by the Imperial Guards. There is a Five-City Military and Horse Command Department in the north city that is responsible for fire theft matters in the capital. There are 112 "red shops" in various streets in the capital, and each shop has 10 fire officers and soldiers. That is, There are a total of 1,120 fire brigade personnel in the north and south cities. Usually, if there is an occasional fire, these people are enough to deal with it.
At the local grassroots level, there is a general manager responsible for fire robbers. According to the "Wanshu Miscellaneous Notes", at that time, there were residents' organizations such as workshops and shops in Wanping County, Beijing. Each time a shop was laid, there were three to five firemen, and the general manager was responsible for it. manage.
They take turns keeping watch at night, ringing the watch and ringing the bell to remind people to pay attention to the fire robbers. They are the watchmen in the movie, carrying lanterns and banging their wooden clappers, shouting something, the weather is dry and things are dry, be careful of the fire.
In some places, patrol bunks (watch bunks) are also set up for the commanders and firemen to rest and avoid rain and snow. The patrol bunks are equipped with knives, guns and other weapons, as well as fire hooks, buckets and other fire-fighting equipment. And modern fire-fighting equipment The fire brigade is similar and is part of the police organization.
However, the one in charge of fires now is the Military and Horse Division. Fires broke out everywhere in the city, and even the imperial city was on fire. The responsibility lies with the Military and Horse Division.
Chongzhen knew in his heart that this was revenge for the soldiers and horses going to the brothels to raid civil servants.
These officials were actually paraded through the streets. No one could hide it. Their official positions must have come to an end. This was a huge blow to the officials in Donglin.
Now after dark, fires are breaking out all over the capital, and the soldiers and patrol battalions are arresting the city foxes and rats protected by each other. As a result, the fires are expanding. Autumn is a season when the weather is dry, the wind is strong, and the wind direction is very unstable. Once this fire starts, it will spread quickly.
What's even worse is that even the imperial city's stolen property treasury was on fire.
Here are all the properties confiscated by Chongzhen in the past two years. In the financially strapped Ming Dynasty, these things were the emperor's heart and soul. The emperor must be furious. This time, the Bingma Division will definitely be punished.
Chongzhen wanted the two sides to have a quarrel, but it was not his original intention to cause such a quarrel.
Chongzhen was so anxious that he took the eunuchs and warriors who were on duty at night and went out of Xuanwu Gate to the top of Jingshan Mountain. Looking around, he saw that all sides of the North City were on fire. There were fires everywhere. You could even faintly hear the cries of the people.
Voice.
The wind is very strong tonight, with level 5 winds.
Most of the houses in this city are made of wood, and it is dry in autumn. If a burning, wind-blown flame falls on a neighbor's house, it will immediately ignite the grass on the roof.
Living in the capital has been difficult since ancient times, and rice in the capital is expensive.
In fact, since ancient times, the most expensive thing in the capital has been a house. The Song Dynasty was the dynasty with the highest salary for civil servants. None of the prime ministers could afford to buy a house in Tokyo, so many people lived in rented houses.
Therefore, alleys in the capital are generally narrow, and people buy a piece of land to build as many houses as possible. This is especially true for poor people's courtyards. According to regulations, when buying land to build a house, both parties must give up three feet as an alley. It is also required to have a parapet and the same height.
Wall, used for fire protection and isolation.
However, many times, in order to build more houses and save money for building materials and labor, people build houses intensively and refuse to build high parapets to prevent fire. This makes it very easy for the whole camp to burn down once a fire breaks out.
Because of the strong winds in autumn, the wood of the old house is rotten. Once a fire breaks out, the flames will burn explosively. Many pieces of wood and other combustible materials such as cloth will carry flames and be evaporated by the heat and fly to other neighbors' houses.
Many of the roof tiles of old houses have weeds growing on them.
The Imperial Capital is located on the line of the Great Wall, close to the outside of the Great Wall. Every year, sandstorms bring a large amount of soil to fall on the roofs. The Imperial Capital is very green, known as half city palace wall and half city tree, and there are many birds.
When birds take grass seeds back to feed their young, some grass seeds often break away and fall on the roof.
In this way, grass seeds will germinate once the rainy season is over. It is a common phenomenon for grass to grow on various houses in the capital. In autumn, the weeds turn yellow, which greatly increases the risk of fire.
Chongzhen turned his head and looked towards Beicheng.
Imperial City North Street is ablaze with lights, and the street lights everywhere are lit all night long.
Because in the past two days, there have been many people making trouble in the city. The north city is very chaotic. But the north of Imperial City North Street is very quiet.
Chongzhen knew that this street and the one-mile area on both sides were bought and developed by Dingyuan Bo. This was also the only area in the capital that received a large amount of commercial taxes. The emperor was provided with more than 100,000 taels of silver a year.
income.
It was quiet and peaceful here. There was no fire anywhere.
Chongzhen saw many security guards patrolling the streets holding torches and long iron rods.
After Yang Fan's demolition team paid the money, they immediately carried out large-scale demolition and drove away all the residents. Except for the newly developed community, it was a wasteland with no people. Naturally, there was no way to cause trouble.
The limited number of communities, theaters, libraries, and Xinghe Supermarket, as well as the surrounding commercial streets such as Yandai Xiejie and Gulou East and West Streets, are all tightly protected by security.
Chongzhen used a single-channel telescope donated by Macao to observe carefully and found that all the entrances to the alleys of the streets adjacent to the community were blocked. The entrances to the alleys were blocked with wooden barriers. There were security teams wearing black clothes there to check people entering and exiting.
He seems to be looking at his ID.
Chongzhen knew that anyone who buys a house in such a community is called an owner.
This is what Princess Le'an told him. By the way, Chongzhen also has a house. It is also the king of the building, the largest villa, and he is also the owner. He, his family, and servants were also given owner certificates and access passes.
Obviously, facing the chaotic situation in the city, Yang Fan's community has begun to intensify the intensity of interrogations. No one without documents can even think of entering the community.
Chongzhen even saw that many carriages and sedan chairs were gathering from all over the North City towards the Drum Tower. Needless to say, he also knew that these were the owners who bought houses in these communities and took their families to take refuge in the communities. Now, everyone
I'm afraid this is the safest place in the city.
There are long queues at the gates of the five newly developed communities on the north side of Huangcheng North Street. They are all people waiting to enter. Many officials buy houses in this community and may not necessarily live here.
They have many houses. But now, they find that this is the safest place.
These communities have high walls and barbed wire fences, and round-the-clock security. There are also security teams on horseback patrolling the streets outside the outer walls. The surrounding roads are illuminated by street lights.
In the past, I only felt bright when looking at street lights, but now I have discovered that bright lights at night can give people a great sense of security. Criminals only dare to commit crimes in the dark, and they dare not be exposed to street lights.
Chongzhen sighed. The fire in the stolen goods warehouse had burned half the sky red. I'm afraid even if the fire was extinguished, nothing would be left.
He went back in a very bad mood. The matter was at this point, and it was useless to express his emotions.
The nobles clearly understand in their hearts what is going on with so many things that have happened during this period. Their performance today is to tell those who are ready to take action that they are not soft persimmons who can be manipulated casually.
When Chongzhen returned to Kunning Palace, the queen sat on the drum stool in fear, clutching her handkerchief nervously.
"It's nothing, Queen, don't worry, go to bed early."
Although Chongzhen was lying on the bed, he never fell asleep again.
The next day, he came to Qianqing Palace early and continued his work.
At noon, another explosive news came.
Li Banghua, the Secretary of the Ministry of War, did not know why he was not at home and continued to complain of illness. He went to a secret door and was assassinated on the way back. His servants, bodyguards, and maids were all killed. Fortunately, he was saved by the cavalry of the patrol camp.
Chongzhen's eyelids jumped when he heard that the struggle had reached this level, this level.
This was something he didn't expect. He didn't want to cause such a big fuss. He just wanted Zhang Shize and Yang Fan to separate from the Xuanwu Army so that he could control the army.
Obviously, the noble group could not tolerate the emperor's long-term protection of Donglin and suppression of the nobles.
Yesterday, a fire broke out in the imperial city's stolen goods warehouse, which was like tearing out the flesh of his heart. This was Donglin expressing his dissatisfaction with him. At the same time, he blamed the Soldiers and Horses Division.
Today, the Minister of War was assassinated in the street. This was because the nobles showed him their determination.
This is the time to completely break up the relationship. The nobles have already made plans to overturn the table.
Chongzhen panicked for a moment, things were out of his control. He set the fire with his own hands, but the fire burned so hard that he lost control.
He sat on the chair in despair. His nobles dared to kill even the Minister of War, and they even plotted against a minister before. There was nothing they dared to do.
Last night, even the Imperial City was set on fire. This shows that maybe the Forbidden City is not very safe. He himself is not that safe either. After all, Concubine Zheng is still there. He can't cover the sky in this palace with just one hand.
If Xungui and Concubine Zheng are forced to cooperate, then it will be fine.
After all, until now, the power of King Fu's family cannot be underestimated. It's just that they are all dormant.
This chapter has been completed!