The emperor looked at the overview map of Gongyuan in his hand, and then looked at the corresponding candidates.
There are two rows of dormitories in that area from west to east, with sixty rooms in each row.
The candidates in these dormitories are in danger!
He glanced around and looked at the names one by one, and saw Su Yizhao's name in the dormitory on the 15th.
He was no stranger to this name. A previous rural examination fraud case was related to this child. The fourth child came back and praised the child highly, saying that the child was extremely intelligent and a natural politician.
He was still looking forward to this son, so he felt very heavy at the moment.
On the easternmost side of the other row, No. 56, he saw Su Yijue's name again.
One glance at this name tells you that he and Su Yizhao are two brothers.
Carefully write down the names of other candidates. I don't know how many of these candidates will survive.
"Report!" The Minister of Dali Temple went straight into the main hall without waiting for the announcement from the Ministry of Rites.
"Your Majesty, the fire has been put out and the scene is being cleaned up at the moment."
Su Jinxun immediately asked: "How?"
Kang Shiwen took a deep breath, "It's too terrible to look at!"
Su Jinxun's heart sank, and her lips trembled a little.
"The dragon gate has been burned and deformed, and the rubble and walls have collapsed a lot. I ordered people to pry it open and go inside. All they saw were charred and piled bones."
All the ministers' eyes were slightly wet when they heard this. This is the most instinctive reaction of a person before death.
The gantry was locked, and they probably wanted to open it and escape. But the gantry was made of iron-clad wood, and the wood inside had been soaked, so it was not easy to catch fire and difficult to burn.
There were still big iron chains locked outside. How could these people escape? They could only be burned alive.
Kang Shiwen didn't want to describe the tragic scene he saw. There were bloody fingerprints on the iron door. One could imagine how painful it would be before death.
"How many candidates have died? Have they been counted?" After a brief silence, the emperor asked.
"I was counting the people before I arrived. In addition to those who were burned by the fire, there were also those who were crushed to death by beams, masonry and rubble. There are broken arms and limbs under the rubble. The number of people cannot be fully counted yet."
Kang Shiwen sighed, "Some were seriously injured and were crushed under the rubble. I am still sending people to search for and treat them. Before I came, I only found 167 survivors."
"One hundred and sixty-seven? There are 531 candidates for this examination." The emperor did not expect that the casualties would be so heavy, and even he could not sit still.
"Yes! There are also twenty-three inner and outer curtain officers, forty-five patrol officers, and fourteen miscellaneous servants. These are all included."
Kang Shiwen already had the list in hand, and the number of people was far greater than what he had calculated before.
"Since I came to the throne, there have been two natural disasters. Unexpectedly, such a major event as the fire in the Gongyuan occurred. I am ashamed of my ancestors!"
The emperor was heartbroken. There were so many candidates who were the young people whose families had high hopes. How should they explain to the people?
"Your Majesty! These are not your fault. Natural disasters are beyond human control. The fire in the Gongyuan was also due to the negligence of the invigilators."
The chief minister E Chongming suddenly came out and began to criticize those officials verbally and writtenly.
"Your Majesty, the fire was originally under control and there was no wind before. But it was their negligence that caused the fire to spread rapidly."
Only then did everyone remember that the chief disciple's closed disciple should also be in Gongyuan!
They immediately looked at the chief assistant and found that he was also looking haggard at this moment, with a look of great sorrow on his face.
"Master Chief Assistant, I was indeed able to control it, but no one could have predicted this wind!" Wang Deng said quickly.
"You said you had been observing the fire outside Gongyuan, so why did you open the dragon gate when the fire was not big? After all, you are still afraid of taking responsibility for so many lives!"
The chief assistant was furious, his eyes widened, he pointed at Wang Deng and shouted: "How can you feel at ease?"
"How can I make my own decision when I handed a sign to the palace to ask for instructions? In the final analysis, the chamberlain on duty deserves to die. Cutting him into pieces wouldn't be enough to vent my anger."
How could Wang Deng not be afraid? Chunwei was in charge of the Ministry of Rites, so how could he not panic when such a big mistake had happened?
Although what I said just now is true, I am not without worries in my heart.
If he opens the dragon gate without permission, if the fire is under control, who will bear the blame? At the least, he will lose his official position, and at the most, he will have his home confiscated and be exiled. He can't afford the gamble!
"Master Kang, where is the list of survivors?" Su Jinxun didn't want to care about the confrontation between the two. He just wanted to make sure that the younger members of the family were safe.
"Already sorting it out! There will be news later." Kang Shiwen said.
"Okay! We will discuss accountability later. Now it is better to clean up the aftermath quickly and comfort the people and the families of the candidates who were killed."
The emperor interrupted the quarrel between the two and said to Kang Shiwen: "Confirm the list of victims as soon as possible!"
The candidates who were burned to death were so unrecognizable that they had no idea who they were. Now they can only deduce them from the list of survivors.
If no one can be found, they are already in distress.
After waiting for a while, the list of survivors was presented to the emperor.
"This is the current one hundred and eighty-six survivors, and the number of survivors is still increasing."
The emperor took a look at the list and found Meng Lingxi's name first.
I looked further down and found no children of the Su family.
"Take a look!"
The emperor took the lead in giving the list to the chief assistant. Although E Chongming made many mistakes in the past two years, he still contributed to the country.
E Chongming immediately took it and took a look. When he saw Meng Lingxi's name, he immediately breathed a sigh of relief and his expression became much calmer than before.
"Show me quickly!"
Su Jinxun couldn't wait any longer. He watched eagerly. Seeing E Chongming holding it in his hand and looking at it for a long time, he was so angry that he wanted to curse.
After a long while, E Chongming passed on the list, but when everyone saw his expression, they knew that his closed disciple was fine.
None of the other family members had any children taking the examination in Gongyuan. The names of these candidates were very unfamiliar to them. Seeing Su Jinxun was so eager, they directly gave Su Jinxun the list in their hands.
Su Jinxun looked up and down the list several times, even moving it over and over with his fingers, but the familiar name did not appear on the list.
Seeing his bad expression, everyone knew that his grandson's name was not on the list.
Su Jinxun didn't dare to think about it carefully, but walked aside silently and waited.
More than half an hour later, another news came from over there.
"Your Majesty! There are currently 315 survivors, of whom 189 complete skeletons have been found, and other skeletons are still being pieced together. The dormitories have been cleaned up, and no more survivors have been found."
Kang Shiwen said and presented the list again. The emperor took it in his hand and read it carefully, but still did not find the names of the Su brothers in it.
He sighed, this was probably the last list. The two Su brothers were in danger.
Su Jinxun got the list and read it carefully. After reading all the names one by one, his vision suddenly went dark and he fell to the ground with a plop.
"Su Siqing?" everyone exclaimed.
When the emperor saw this, he immediately shouted: "Quick! Call the doctor!"