There are many palaces in the Forbidden City. Although the Ministry of Internal Affairs sends people to repair them every year, it is impossible for all palaces to be repaired in place, only some important places.
Yinzhen asked about the situation of Cining Palace and Chengqian Palace one by one. When he learned that everything was safe, he breathed a sigh of relief and ordered Sixi to ask all the maids, eunuchs and guards in the Forbidden City to dig out all the collapsed places.
to rescue those trapped underneath.
Si Xi agreed, but did not step back immediately. Instead, he looked at Yinzhen carefully. He was brought out by Li Dequan. The latter knew at a glance that he must have something to say, so he glared and whispered.
He scolded: "If you have anything to say, just say it quickly. Don't say the first sentence and hold back the second sentence."
Hearing this, Si Xi quickly kowtowed and whispered: "To inform Your Majesty, the east half of Fengxian Hall... has collapsed."
"What?" Hearing that the Fengxian Hall collapsed, Yinzhen's heart immediately twitched, and his face darkened. Sixi quickly added: "Before I came, I ordered everyone to do their best to remove the cards enshrined in the Fengxian Hall.
The displacement comes out, at this moment..."
Before he could finish speaking, a gust of wind was already passing by him. There was no shadow of Yinzhen in front of him. Li Dequan quickly followed him. When he passed by Sixi, he saw him still kneeling on the ground in a daze and shouted: "It's not too fast."
Keep up."
Only then did Sixi react and quickly followed the two of them out of the Yangxin Hall. In fact, there was also a small area of collapse in the corners of the Yangxin Hall, but Yinzhen couldn't care about it at this time. He only rushed to the Fengxian Hall, where
He did not want E Niang's spirit to be disturbed while he was enshrining the memorial tablet for E Niang.
The Fengxian Hall is on the east side of the Forbidden City. Yinzhen ran all the way. Li Dequan was able to keep up at first, but the man behind him couldn't catch up with his old arms and legs. He could only be supported by Sixi, who was out of breath and hung behind him.
Along the way, everyone they saw looked uncertain and filled with endless fear. Just when they saw Fengxian Hall, the ground shook again, and this time it was more powerful than the last time.
"Your Majesty, be careful!" Seeing Yinzhen staggering in front, Li Dequan didn't know where he got the strength to throw away Sixi's hand, and ran forward to hold Yinzhen in three steps at a time, holding him with the other hand.
He clung to the nearby trees to steady his body.
But the disaster had just begun. The strong earthquake caused the trees that were originally rooted in the soil to loosen up. Even the ground bulged and cracked. A huge gap stretched out and reached the feet of several people in an instant. Li Dequan's face was frightened.
They were all green. They watched the cracks coming and even forgot to give way. However, Yinzhen reacted quickly and shouted loudly: "Let go!"
Li Dequan subconsciously let go of his hand holding the tree trunk. The next moment, he felt his whole body rising into the air. He was forcefully pulled aside by Yinzhen, barely able to avoid the gap that was enough to swallow him. Sixi behind him also rolled around.
They avoided it, but the few eunuchs and maids behind them were not so lucky. They fell into the huge gap amidst the miserable screams. The result, which you don't have to think about, is bound to be death.
The shaking of the ground has not stopped and must be undulating, followed by the sound of the palace collapsing not far away. Just hearing the crash makes me feel horrified. Yinzhen has been lying on the ground the whole time, and running away at this moment will no longer be possible.
They were seeking death. Fortunately, they were outside at the moment, and this was an open space. They didn't need to worry about being crushed by the collapsed palace. They only needed to avoid the fallen trees.
The shock wave lasted for a long time, and the crack in the ground stopped expanding during the shock wave, and was then closed and even arched, as if an invisible hand was squeezing it.
When the earthquake stopped, Yinzhen wiped his face and got up. Looking around, he saw that most of the palace, which was still in good condition, had collapsed and was completely devastated.
Li Dequan also stood up in disgrace. When he fell down, he accidentally hit his forehead on a sharp stone on the ground, causing a gash. He was bleeding continuously and looked very scary.
"Your Majesty, Your Majesty, how are you?" Li Dequan didn't care about himself at all. He only looked at Yinzhen nervously. If something happened to the Emperor, he, the chief internal officer, would die ten or eight times and it wouldn't be enough to compensate him.
"I'm fine." Yinzhen agreed casually, keeping Fengxian Hall in mind, and ran over quickly again. When he saw the situation of Fengxian Hall from a distance, his heart suddenly sank, and the entire Fengxian Hall collapsed.
The ruins were ruined, and no intact place could be found. There was a cry for help from the ruins of the ruined wall. It seems that many people were crushed underneath. Those palace people who were lucky enough to escape were digging hard.
I want to rescue people.
Sixi, who was running after Yinzhen, was dumbfounded when he saw this situation. He was afraid that Yinzhen would think that he was giving the reward indiscriminately, so he stammered and explained: "Your Majesty... Your Majesty, when the slave saw it before, I gave him the gift."
The palace is still... not like this..."
Yinzhen ignored him at all and didn't even take a look. All his thoughts were on the Fengxian Hall, which was no longer the same. He walked stiffly towards the Fengxian Hall. All...all the shrines and tablets were suppressed.
Below, including Huang Ama and E Niang...
When the palace attendants saw Yinzhen coming, they knelt down and saluted in front of the ruins. Yinzhen stared at all this blankly, his eyes gradually became focused, and then he shouted loudly: "Li Dequan!"
"The slave is here!" Li Dequan wiped the blood from his face and ran to Yinzhen to wait for his orders.
Yinzhen pointed at the pile of ruins and said word by word: "Ask people to dig up this place. Be sure to bring out all the ancestral tablets intact. If one is destroyed, I will only ask you."
"Slave, I obey!" Li Dequan quickly agreed and called several palace officials to order them to quickly transfer their manpower to dig out the Fengxian Hall first.
"Sixi!" After saying this, Yinzhen turned his attention to Sixi again, "Hurry up and find out the damage and casualties in the palace, especially the Cining Palace and the Sixth East and West Palaces. Don't miss anything."
Si Xi knew that the situation was urgent and did not dare to neglect it. Just when he turned around and was about to leave, a beautiful figure hurriedly walked over. When he took a closer look, it was Ling Ruo.
As early as the first earthquake, Ling Ruo was worried about Yinzhen's safety and asked Shuixiu to help her go to Yangxin Hall. Unexpectedly, when she got there, she learned that Yinzhen had gone to Fengxian Hall and came back again.
When the second earthquake happened, she happened to be walking
Near the pavilion, Shui Xiu panicked and wanted to take shelter in the pavilion, but was pulled to an open place by Ling Ruo. She remembered a book she had read before that said that hiding in buildings is the most taboo during an earthquake.
Being pressed down below is far less safe than being in an open space.
What happened was exactly as she expected. The pavilion collapsed during the earthquake. On the contrary, they stood in the open space unharmed.
As soon as the second earthquake stopped, Ling Ruo couldn't wait to rush to Fengxian Hall again. The capital had not experienced an earthquake in more than a hundred years, let alone such a strong earthquake. She was really worried that something would happen to Yinzhen.