Soon, Ahudala and his entourage rushed to the place where the explosion and fire occurred in the west of the city.【】
Along the way, Ahudala kept thinking about the cause of the explosion.
According to his opinion, it is not uncommon for fires to occur after earthquakes, but it is very strange for explosions and fires to occur, because if there are not a large number of flammable materials stacked together, it is impossible to produce an explosion effect.
What kind of flammable substance could that be?
At this moment, two words flashed in Ahudala's mind: kerosene!
From the time he returned to Qingyuan Pass until now, Ahudala has searched the entire Haoyue City, but he has never found anyone who still has a large amount of kerosene that can be sold to the outside world.
If the explosion just now was really caused by kerosene, it means that the quantity of this batch of kerosene is definitely quite large.
Ahudala secretly made up his mind that if he knew who had secretly hidden a large amount of kerosene and caused such a huge waste, he would not let him go lightly.
After almost a stick of incense, Ahudala and his party finally arrived at the fire scene.
What caught fire was an inconspicuous old house. At this time, the raging fire not only engulfed this house, but also nearby private houses, restaurants and various buildings were affected. The streets were filled with fire, and it was out of control.
Ahhudala shouted to an attendant: "Hurry up and notify the city defense army and ask them to send people to put out the fire!"
"Yes, Second Prince." The attendant immediately agreed, pulled the reins and galloped away.
Immediately afterwards, Ahudala jumped off the horse without hesitation and quickly rushed into the crowd of people fighting the fire with several followers.
.....................
About a quarter of an hour later, Weiyuan General Lu Zihao came to the scene of the fire with many city defense troops.
After Ahudala saw it, he immediately rushed forward and said: "General Lu, you are here!"
Lu Zihao looked at Ahudala in surprise, quickly took out his handkerchief and said, "Second Prince, your face..."
In the recent time, Ahudala has been directing the people to put out the fire, and his fair and handsome face has long been blackened by smoke.
"General Lu, forget about this and let everyone put out the fire!" Ahhudala frowned, thinking how could he still be in the mood to wipe his face at this time.
Lu Zihao suddenly woke up and immediately responded: "Yes, yes..."
The next moment, Lu Zihao commanded the city defense troops to rush towards the fire scene.
After nearly an hour of hard work, the fire was finally put out. At first glance, most of the street was burned into ruins, with cries and screams everywhere. It looked like the losses were very heavy.
Ahudala was exhausted, but when he saw women, children and children crying and crying on the roadside, he couldn't help but go up to comfort them.
Just as he was comforting the people, Lu Zihao ran over: "Second Prince, the fire has been put out."
Ahhudala felt very heavy and asked: "Are there any casualties?"
Lu Zihao nodded and said in a deep voice: "Go back to the Second Prince and find three corpses, two seriously injured and about ten slightly injured..."
"Alas!" Ahudala closed her eyes in pain and sighed heavily.
Lu Zihao said: "Second Prince, you are tired after working for so long. It's time to go back and rest. Leave this place to us."
Ahudala shook his head and said: "Don't worry, I still have something to investigate."
After that, Ahudala took several followers and walked towards the burning old house.
Lu Zihao hurriedly followed and asked: "Second Prince, where are you going?"
Ahudala said: "General Lu, please lend me some people to help clean up this yard. I have to go in and see what caused the fire."
How dare Lu Zihao not agree to the second prince's request? He immediately turned around and called in dozens of soldiers from the city defense army to clean up the old house.
As the saying goes, there is strength in numbers. After the city defense soldiers worked together to clean up, a passage into the old house was finally opened.
Ahudala immediately took his entourage, lit torches and got into the black ruins.
Not long after entering, Ahudala and others made a "click, click" sound under their feet. Judging from the feel of their feet, it should be a hard object similar to tiles.
Ahudala was immediately frightened and hurriedly lowered the torch to check the situation under his feet.
Several people shined torches and found that there were debris blackened by fire everywhere under their feet.
Ahhudala immediately picked up a fragment, put it under his nose and smelled it carefully. He was horrified and said: "It is indeed kerosene!"
Immediately afterwards, Ahudala wiped the fragments vigorously with his sleeves. Only then did he realize that the fragments on the ground were not tiles, but broken pottery shards from the pottery pot used to put fire oil. They were from the explosion just now.
Blast them like this.
Seeing the second prince inspecting the pottery fragments, the followers around him also picked up the pottery fragments at their feet and examined them carefully.
After a while, someone suddenly shouted: "Second Prince, look, there are words on this piece of pottery."
"Show me!" Ahudala hurriedly took the piece of pottery.
By the light of the torch, Ahudala saw a fragment of the bottom of a clay pot with the words "Ping An Tang" on it.
"Ping An Tang?" Ahudala was extremely puzzled. According to his memory of visiting Haoyue City these days, there was no business called "Ping An Tang".
Ahhudala couldn't think of it himself, so he asked the people around him: "Who knows where the Peace Hall is?"
The followers shook their heads to express their ignorance.
Ahhudala looked at the pottery fragments and thought for a while, then said: "Let's go out first and find the owner of this house. We will find out after asking!"
After coming out of the old house, Ahudala immediately found Lu Zihao and asked him very seriously to seal off the old house and find the owner of the old house for questioning.
Lu Zihao didn't hesitate at all, he immediately shouted the order and started looking for the owner of the old house in the crowd.
While waiting for the search, Lu Zihao said: "Second Prince, I think that the fire must have been caused by the turtle turning over. It is estimated that the owner was not at home at the time, or he was frightened and escaped, so...
.That’s why I accidentally led to the current consequences.”
Ahudala did not answer, but nodded slightly, and then asked: "By the way, General Lu, have you ever heard of the name 'Ping An Tang'?"
"Ping'an Hall?" Lu Zihao immediately tilted his head, frowned and started thinking.
Soon, Lu Zihao said: "Second Prince, I will remember that there is no store called Ping'an Tang in Haoyue City. On the contrary, there used to be a business called Ping'an Tang in Jiezhou City in the Sheng Kingdom, but that was all many years ago.
Later I heard that 'Ping'an Tang' had changed owners and would no longer use this name."
"General Lu, are you sure?" Ahudala was startled. Lu Zihao's words immediately reminded him of something.
Lu Zihao nodded vigorously and said: "The general is sure. The brother of the general went to Jiezhou City a few years ago. He told me personally."
Ahudala immediately fell into deep thought and did not make a sound for a long time. Lu Zihao did not dare to disturb him and could only stay aside quietly.
"Second Prince, General Lu, the owner of this old house has been found."
Suddenly, a soldier's voice reached Ahudala's ears.
"Where is he?" Ahhudala asked hurriedly.
Immediately, two soldiers brought an old man with a gaunt figure to Ahudala.
As soon as the old man saw Ahudala, he knelt down and said in a tearful voice: "Second Prince, please spare your life. This fire has nothing to do with this villain. I am just a caretaker of the house. The earthquake was severe just now.
I was frightened and ran out in a panic. It’s really none of the villain’s business..."
Ahudala did not ask about the cause of the fire. Instead, he stared at the old man and asked in a deep voice: "How many jars of fire oil are contained in this house?"
The old man Guoji replied without thinking: "Back to the second prince, about three hundred altars."
Ahudala immediately asked: "Let me ask you again, when were these three hundred jars of fire oil placed here?"
The old man immediately shook his head: "I don't know. I only know that it has been here for a long time, at least four or five years."
Ahuda's ramen noodles were as heavy as water, and he gritted his teeth and asked again: "Who put it here?"
The old man said with a mournful face: "Second Prince, these villains really don't know. When the villain first came here, he heard a man who guarded the house say that everything here belongs to the city defense army.
Don’t move around!”
Immediately, Ahudala's eyes fell on Lu Zihao's face.
Lu Zihao was stunned for a moment, and then he shouted: "Second Prince, don't listen to his nonsense. All the things of the city defense army are stored in the warehouse. You saw it when you went there last time. This place is not a city defense at all."
The army's warehouse has nothing to do with the city defense army!"