In the third year of Chuping of the Eastern Han Dynasty, in the second month of spring, it was a very ordinary night in Chang'an City. The moon had risen above the Western Mountains, and the stars were gradually shining brighter. Under the clear sky, the Weinan Plain outside Chang'an City looked extremely open, with oily grass.
The water turns into a faint blue color.
It was already curfew time, and all the lights in the city were gone. Only the palace and the city walls still had soldiers patrolling back and forth. But outside the city, there was another scene. On the northeast and west sides of Chang'an City, there were dots of firelight, like mayflies.
Wandering between heaven and earth, this place was originally the same as Luoyang City. It was a bustling market. But after Dong Zhuo moved the capital, the markets were forcibly moved into the city. These places became a wasteland, but in the end, they remained
There are some buildings where many homeless people who have nowhere to go live here.
The cold winter has passed, but for them who are barely clothed, spring is still cold. The homeless people light bonfires here and gather together in groups to keep warm. They count the hours and wait for the Yin hour to arrive.
, by that time, there will be some high-ranking scholars in the city helping people outside the city, but there are also many people who cannot wait until then and turn into corpses on the street, and then be cleaned up by the city guards a few days later.
But the south side of Chang'an City is not like this. After leaving Anmen, there is silence. Walking two miles south, you can see two small platforms and a broad temple, towering high on the flat wilderness.
It is the Sheji, Piyong and Ancestral Temple established during the reign of Emperor Gaozu. When Emperor Shizu established his capital in Luoyang, he built two new temples and one temple in Luoyang, but the offerings were different to show his feat of reviving the Han Dynasty. But now Dong Zhuo has moved the capital
Later, in response to Cai Yong's suggestion, all the emperors of the Han Dynasty from Emperor Gaozu to the late Emperor were enshrined in the ancestral temple to show the Taishi's loyalty to the Han Dynasty. Therefore, a small number of sergeants were also sent to the ancestral temple to ensure the peace of the ancestral temple.<
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At this moment, two guards were holding fire sticks and patrolling back and forth in the Gaozu Temple. They had just changed their guard. Patrolling at night was boring and boring. Both of their faces looked quite bored. Fortunately, there was no officer patrolling here, and military discipline was therefore relaxed.
Quite a few, so they took it a lot more casually. After only visiting the ancestral temple, they chatted under a laurel tree.
As warriors, what they talk about is the latest war.
One person first said: "Have you heard? Guo and Li are invincible in Nanyang. Yuan Shu's Jing army cannot be united. The remnants of Sun Jian who almost defeated our army that year were directly defeated and retreated to Runan this year.
Even Li Min, the prefect of Yingchuan, was captured alive and will be sent back to Chang'an soon to celebrate his victory!"
Another person laughed and said: "Who hasn't heard of this? I went to the city to buy biscuits in the morning, and the army went crazy. They all praised Guo and Li for their unparalleled bravery in battle!" He paused for a moment, and then said mysteriously in a low voice:
"I also heard from my brother-in-law that the grand master is also very happy and will promote them to generals soon!"
Speaking of this, the two of them couldn't help but feel sad when they thought of their comrades who had made great achievements on the front line, but who had nothing to do, and who were guarding the ancestral temple with some other people here. Then they changed the topic to the Yizhou war: "But I don't know how the Yizhou war is. I heard
Zhao sent Jun Yuan to contact Jialong Renqi of Yizhou. It has already been two months since the uprising, so why is there no news?"
Another person said: "It's not going well. My brother-in-law said that Zhao Jundun Bingjian has not seen reinforcements from Jia Long and Ren Qi for a long time. If the sword pavilion cannot be conquered this month, Zhao Jun will also withdraw his troops."
”
The two began to sigh again. When talking about the reasons for the failure of the war, they both felt that it was because of the mediocre commander and the miscellaneous troops. Although the commander who conquered Shu this time was Taiwei Zhao Qian, he had always been famous, but he was not a Liang general.
Both of them were quite distrustful, so they discussed who could lead the army to fight again.
Let's talk about Lu Bu first. "A man who sells his goods for glory will have courage. How can the Grand Master let him lead the army alone?"
Talking about Xu Rong Niufu again. "Bingzhou is under great pressure. The Grand Master asks about the situation on the front line every ten days. Where can we transfer people from there now?"
Talking about Duan Xuan, Yang Ding, Niu Fu and other generals, they all felt that they had their own shortcomings. In the end, the Chariot and Cavalry General Huangfu Song was the best, but it was a pity that the Chariot and Cavalry General's identity was sensitive and the Grand Master did not dare to reuse him.
During the discussion, someone suddenly asked in a low voice: "Did you hear any noise?"
The other person was startled, shook his head and looked around, but when he saw his companion's face was serious, he couldn't help but whisper: "Where is it?"
As soon as they finished speaking, they heard a strange noise not far away, which seemed to be in the grass in the corner of the courtyard. Could it be that some vagrants had come in to steal food? The two of them glanced at each other and tiptoed towards the source of the sound.
When they were thirty steps away, they hurried forward, pulled out their knives and shouted: "Who is it! Come out!"
Just as the two of them were tense, a short and long black shadow moved out of the wormwood, slowly revealing its black and dirty dog's head in the firelight, and whined at the knife, begging for mercy. It turned out to be a fast dog.
The starved wild dog was a surprise to both of them. One person laughed and said: "What an ugly dog." The other person said: "There is not much meat in the stew."
After kicking the dog's head twice for nothing, the two of them laughed and headed towards the main entrance. They didn't notice that in the Zhongzong Temple three rooms away, a wisp of black smoke floated up in the clear night, followed by the slow firelight, and soon rolled up.
The raging hot wind blew up and swallowed up the ancestral temple quickly, out of control.
By the time the guards of the ancestral temple gathered in front of the door, the smell of burnt smoke had reached the door. The guards coughed repeatedly, but they couldn't agree on the situation of the fire. The leader, Du Bo, knew that the fire in the ancestral temple was a serious matter, so he hesitated for a moment.
, just now he slowly said to his subordinates: "The fire is so big, how can we alone quell it? We'd better go to the city and invite the adults."
Which master to invite is a question. Logically speaking, one should report it directly to the Grand Master, but not only Du Bo is worried, the guards are also worried that they will be severely punished when the Grand Master is angry, so no one is willing to be the envoy.
, at this time one of them said: "It's better to tell the rider first and let him take charge of the overall situation."
As soon as this statement came out, Uncle Du was greatly appreciated and immediately sent him to Huangfu Song's mansion to ask for instructions.
The soldier ran all the way to the city and knocked hard on the door of Huangfu Song's house. Cang Tou heard that it was military information and did not dare to neglect it. He immediately went to report Huangfu Song. Huangfu Song was confused, but he still wore a robe hastily.
He quickly walked out of the mansion, went to the soldiers, and asked, "What's the emergency?"
When he learned that it was a fire in the ancestral temple, he was greatly surprised. He said gently and reproachfully: "You should go directly to the palace to report to the Grand Master, why are you here?"
The soldier lowered his head and said nothing. Huangfu Song knew that he was afraid of being blamed, so his compassion prevailed for a moment. Whatever he thought, I will report to Dong Zhuo and deal with the matter at the same time. It was urgent and I couldn't take care of so much.
.Immediately called up his only son Huangfu Jianshou and asked him to go to the palace to report. He took the soldier to find the captain of the city gate. He reluctantly borrowed 800 soldiers, found some buckets, wooden shovels, and some special fire extinguishers.
Leather bag and splash tube.
Everyone was busy for most of the night, and it was not until Chen hour that they finally put out the fire. It was already dawn, and Huangfu Song stood at the burning Zhongzong Temple with his sleeves rolled up. There were black charcoal everywhere, but the residual heat had not dissipated.
The well water used to extinguish the fire simmered into streams of burnt and smelly steam, which made Huangfusong feel wet and hot. His whole body was soaked with sweat, and he was extremely uncomfortable. However, the ancestral temple was in a mess, and three of the imperial temples were burned down.
The beams have collapsed, and the four imperial temples have become dilapidated buildings that cannot be used. The remaining imperial temples also need to be repaired.
While he was resting, the guards outside the door came in and reported: "Chariots, the Grand Master is here." Huangfu Song quickly ordered the remaining soldiers to continue cleaning up, while he wiped his face with the remaining well water, hurriedly put it on and threw it away.
The robe on the stone tablet went to the door to greet Dong Zhuo.
There was a tall warrior standing in front of the door, it was Lu Bu. Behind him, hundreds of people were crowding around a soap-covered cart. A huge figure could be vaguely seen on the cart. Huangfu Song first saluted Lu Bu and then walked over to the gate.
In front of the car, salute and greet Dong Zhuo.
Dong Zhuo stood up from the car. Over the past year, he had aged very quickly, and his belly and face had gained weight. He walked down tremblingly and glanced at Huangfu Song, only to see that he was covered in gray dirt and water stains.
The guards around him all showed admiration for him, and couldn't help feeling disgusted in their hearts. However, they still pretended to be affectionate and smiled at him: "Yizhen, as long as you are here, there will be no damage to the ancestral temple."
Dong Zhuo was a native of Liang, and was used to being straight-forward, but doing this kind of intimate gesture against his will seemed extremely artificial. Huangfu Song felt bad in his heart, but he could only smile bitterly and tell the truth about the damage to the ancestral temple, and apologized in public.
He said: "I came down too late, causing serious damage to the ancestral temple. This is my fault. Please ask the Grand Master to punish me."
Unexpectedly, Dong Zhuo clapped his hands and said, "Yizhen thinks I am stupid and unaware? The fire in the ancestral temple was a warning from heaven, and it was also caused by the negligence of officials in the court. What Yizhen does in daily life, in my eyes, how could he be derelict in his duty? Now?
Come to think of it, it’s probably because Duke Zhao is having trouble attacking Shu, and God has given me a signal to withdraw my troops!”
Having said this, Dong Zhuo immediately said to Cai Yong who was accompanying him: "Immediately give an order to Zhao Qian to return to the capital with his squadron, and to remove him from the post of Taiwei and replace him with Ma Dafu (Ma Rixi)."
Speaking of this, he didn't even go into the temple to watch, but said to Lu Bu: "I'm busy with official business, and I'm counting the time. Today, Li Jue's military report is due. Let's go back first." Then he walked back to the car.
Finally, he said to Huangfu Song: "I will leave the repairs to the Ancestral Temple to the driver." After saying that, he waved to the driver and turned back to the city, leaving Huangfu Song standing there with a look of astonishment. p>
The ancestral temple was originally in charge of Taichang, so Huangfu Song had to go to discuss the matter with Taichang Liu Xiao. In the evening, Huangfu Song took the car home and saw several children playing on the road. On a whim, he gave some candy to the children. The children were talking and laughing, and he relaxed. Just when he was about to start again, he was shocked when he heard the words "The emperor is as handsome as the moon, and the true sky covers Chang'an." He turned around and asked the children who taught them this. He said he didn’t know, but he heard it from other children, and said that the word had already spread and was being sung in the streets and alleys.
When Huangfusong returned home, he immediately summoned his relatives and said bluntly: "Someone wants to kill me! I may not be able to escape!"