Chapter 193 Natural and Man-Made Disasters (Seeking Monthly Tickets)
The same situation occurred everywhere in Handan City, and the entire city fell into chaos.
The Zhao Palace was located at the highest point. Zhao Yuanxi and Ying Zheng stood in front and witnessed the disaster.
The buildings in the city collapsed in large numbers like paper-mache floors, the earth walls cracked, and the collapsed houses caused fires. Thick smoke rose everywhere in Handan City, and soon flames began to appear.
People began to flee like headless flies, but there was no way to hide. They could only watch the fallen wood burying them. Those who managed to escape lay on the streets wailing.
By the time the shaking stopped, Handan City had become a ruin.
The wind blew up dust and thick smoke and began another round of destruction.
"Hurry, save him!" Zhao Yuanxi grabbed Ying Zheng's arm and said in panic.
Since the earthquake occurred at night, most people were resting in their houses. Less than one-third of the people escaped, and many people were trapped under the houses. If the fire swept through the entire city of Handan, these people would have been burned to death.
Most of the Qin army camped outside the city of Handan. The soldiers needed to guard against enemy sneak attacks at all times, so once there was any unusual movement, they were the fastest to react and also suffered the least damage in this disaster.
Now only the Qin army has the strength to rescue.
Ying Zheng didn't hesitate. "Zhao Gao, send a message to Meng Tian. Tell him to take people to put out the fire first, and then search and rescue the people in the city."
"promise!"
The people in Handan City had just woken up from the fear of the earth dragon turning over when they saw tongues of fire rising in the distance. They shouted in fear, "The fire is burning!"
Those trapped under the beams began to struggle and scream as they watched the thick smoke approach. "Help! Help! Please save me!"
A child sat in the rubble, crying loudly, and next to him were his parents who were buried under the rubble, their life or death unknown. Their blood dyed the broken bricks on the ground red.
There were cries of despair everywhere, it was like hell on earth.
Meng Tian was counting his soldiers. Except for five people who did not have time to escape and were hit on the head and fainted, and a small number of people who were slightly injured, the remaining 30,000 people were fine.
Just then, Zhao Gao hurried over and brought the king's order.
Meng Tian quickly led his men to take action in Handan City.
There were too many fire points, at least hundreds of them in the entire Handan city. Meng Tian divided the city into hundreds of blocks and ordered the centurions to take their men to put out the fires everywhere.
The Qin State's black-armored guards were moving around in Handan City.
When the people of Zhao saw them, they were so frightened that they dared not make a sound and hid themselves, thinking that they were planning to take advantage of the fire to rob. However, they never expected that the terrifying black-armored guards passed them and picked up buckets, wooden basins and water tanks to start putting out the fire.
Everyone seemed to wake up and started to save themselves and joined the fire brigade.
Those who were farther away from the fire rushed to rescue those still buried under the rubble.
Within the chaos, there is more chaos.
"Don't steal my money! That's the money I use to buy medicine for my son!" The lady hugged a man's thigh and screamed.
The robber kicked the woman hard in the chest and said, "Get out of here! I just want some of your money, don't be so ignorant!"
He was born a bandit and was used to being domineering. These days, the Qin army was patrolling the city day and night, but he didn't dare to take action for fear of causing trouble. Now that the Qin army is unable to take care of itself, it is a good opportunity for him to make a fortune.
When he has robbed enough tonight, he will escape from Handan while the Qin people are still not reacting. By then, the sky will be high and the sea will be wide, and no one will be able to do anything to him.
Disasters have fostered the evil of these people.
There were many people who thought the same as him. Ever since Handan City fell, the city had been in chaos. However, due to the threat from the Qin army, these people hid and dared not make any noise. Now that they had such an opportunity to steal money, how could they let it go?
Meng Tian drew his sword and killed the robber, shouting, "If anyone comes across someone taking advantage of the situation to rob, they will be killed without mercy!"
"promise!"
He continued to lead people to put out the fire and ignored the woman.
The woman suppressed her fear and retrieved her purse from the robber's arms. The gazes of the people around her made her quickly hide the money. She hugged her son and hid in a corner, trembling, "My dear son, mother will protect you."
Meng Tian's move frightened those who were ready to make a fortune. Even if someone wanted to take advantage of the opportunity, they had to think twice.
The fire did not die down until daybreak.
Zhao Yuanxi looked at the remaining wisps of green smoke and breathed a sigh of relief. They would face even more difficult problems next.
There are at least 300,000 people in Handan City, plus 200,000 surrendered Zhao troops. These people must be resettled, otherwise there may be a riot.
In fact, the riots broke out on the night of the earthquake.
The captives tried to escape by taking advantage of the earthquake. If Wang Jian had not arrived in time and frightened them, the prisoner-of-war camp would probably have been in chaos.
Not only that, the roving soldiers and generals who were wandering around in Handan City also instigated many people to rebel, and the Qin army could only suppress them everywhere.
It can be said that Handan City is now a bomb that may explode at any time.
The easiest way is to kill all these people!
But Zhao Yuanxi disagreed!
"You can't do this! They've surrendered and are no longer part of the Zhao army."
Ying Zheng rubbed his brows. "There are 300,000 Zhao civilians and 200,000 captives. The Qin army can only control one of them now. Tell me, should I kill the surrendered or the civilians?"
He has been troubled by the chaos in Handan City these days.
There were only 300,000 Qin troops left in Handan. In addition to sending a large number of people to deal with post-disaster matters, they also had to prevent the Zhao people from rioting. If they took care of both sides, they would probably not be able to handle either side well.
If those Zhao people were willing to obey, he would not have to give such an order.
Moreover, feeding and drinking 500,000 people was too heavy a burden for the Qin army.
Zhao Yuanxi slammed his fist on Ying Zheng's desk. "Until the situation demands a choice between the two, I forbid you from issuing such an order!"
"I am the King of Qin, and everyone must obey me!"
"I am the Queen Mother, you have to listen to me!"
Zhao Yuanxi and Ying Zheng glared at each other, neither of them willing to give in!
"Zhao Gao, pass the order down."
"No one is allowed to go!" Zhao Yuanxi smashed the table in front of Ying Zheng in half and shouted, "No one is allowed to go!"
"How dare you! Are you crazy?"
"I think you are crazy!"
She pointed outside and shouted, "They just want to live, what's wrong with that? If you insist on burying all 200,000 surrendered soldiers alive, how will the people of Zhao look upon you, and how will the rest of the world look upon you! Are you going to kill them all too?"
Ying Zheng was so angry that his face turned blue and he sat back down.
Zhao Yuanxi also calmed down. "Give me seven days. After seven days, I will make those people settle down, but you have to give me the right to mobilize the army. If it still doesn't work, I won't stop you anymore."
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