Chapter 365: Heavenly Fire
"Your Highness, do you think that General Xu and his men might have felt guilty and deliberately switched the bodies themselves to give the people in the city a chance to survive?"
Xiao Yunshuo shook his head and said coldly, "Didn't our men find a secret letter from the prefect and Prime Minister Zhao's confidants in the tent of General Zhao and his deputy last night? If he switched the fireball gunpowder, how would he explain it to them? Moreover, if he truly wanted to save the people of Youzhou City, he could have disobeyed orders. Even if he was convicted, he could have earned the reputation of protecting the people of Youzhou and refusing to kill innocent people. Then, the upright and honest ministers in the court, such as Teacher, would have spoken out in his defense and protected his reputation. A covert switch, like he's doing now, would only offend the people of Youzhou City and create the impression of incompetence in front of the Second and Sixth Imperial Brothers. No one with any sense would do such a thing that would please neither side."
Yuan Xu listened, thought about it, and realized that it was indeed true: "Your Highness is indeed amazing. However, if it wasn't General Zhao who did it, I really can't imagine who else in this world would be so capable of replacing an entire warehouse in one night without anyone noticing..."
Xiao Yunshuo couldn't figure it out either.
Speaking of which, this kind of strange thing has happened several times in the past few months since he was falsely accused of treason.
The Jinwang Mansion and the Shen Mansion in the capital, and even the emperor's private treasury, were emptied, as was the residence of the prefect of Daming Prefecture. Even the gold mine that Qu Wenmin had privately mined was inexplicably emptied of its gold. And now, what's happening outside the city...
It seemed as if someone was helping him secretly.
But... who is it?
Whether in the court or in the martial arts world, if there is such a powerful master, it is impossible that the Dark Cabinet has no records or news about this person.
Moreover, no matter who moved out so many things, there would always be clues left behind.
But he had used the secret cabinet to investigate, and the final conclusion he came to was - there was no clue at all.
Could it be that... God really sent ghosts and gods to help him?
Xiao Yunshuo has never believed in ghosts and gods, but in this matter, he really couldn't think of a more reasonable explanation.
He put aside the doubts in his mind for the time being and said, "Let's talk about this later. Since the kerosene has been replaced with water, those fireballs alone won't be able to cause a major fire in the city. Also, have Luo Yan arranged everything outside the city?"
Yuan Xu replied, "Yes, Your Highness. General Luo has sent a message. All arrangements are ready. We just need to wait for the signal from the city to start."
Luo Yan's men had been lurking near Youzhou City. After receiving a secret order from the city yesterday, they took action.
Xiao Yunshuo nodded and said, "Send a signal."
With a "whoosh!", a flare soared into the sky.
Luo Yan, who was lurking outside Youzhou City, looked up at the light that was not too obvious among the fireballs in the sky, raised his hand and signaled, "Go!"
Following Luo Yan's order, clusters of fire like stars appeared in the air in an instant, and then fell in one direction.
At this time, General Zhao, Deputy General Zhang and others outside the city also discovered the abnormality.
"General, we've thrown so many fireballs and kerosene, but why hasn't the city caught fire yet? It's really strange!" Lieutenant General Zhang complained in a low voice.
General Zhao's face darkened. He was about to say something when a soldier who was responsible for carrying kerosene accidentally fell to the ground. The wooden barrel of kerosene in his hand hit a sharp stone and shattered instantly, and the liquid flowed out.
His team leader immediately came up to him and slapped him in the face: "Idiot! Didn't I tell you to be careful? If this kerosene catches fire and burns you to death, it's not a big deal. But if you implicate others, I'll kick you to death!"
The soldier shrank his head after being scolded and quickly knelt down to apologize.
General Zhao looked over there, feeling that something was happening that he hadn't noticed. Suddenly, a flash of lightning flashed through his mind, and he rushed to the front of the soldier.
Seeing this, the soldier's captain thought the general thought his punishment was too lenient, so he immediately knelt down and said, "This soldier is a rookie. Please forgive him this time..."
General Zhao pushed him away and whispered, "Get out of here."
He squatted down, dipped his hand in the liquid and smelled it, an expression of disbelief and surprise appeared on his face.
Lieutenant General Zhang, confused, came over and asked, "General, what's wrong with the kerosene?"
General Zhao sneered: "What's wrong? Don't you notice that this kerosene doesn't smell like kerosene at all?"
Lieutenant General Zhang listened, then sniffed hard and said indignantly, "Really... there's not even a hint of kerosene! Those bastards at the Quartermaster's Office must have given us kerosene mixed with water! This is simply too much!"
General Zhao sneered, "Mixed with water? This is just pure water, not a drop of kerosene!"
Upon hearing this, Deputy General Zhang's eyes widened: "How could it be!"
General Zhao ignored him and sneered, "No wonder the fire in the city hasn't started. These buckets of water are being thrown over there to help put it out! Send the order down, and have the quartermaster go get some kerosene immediately. If you're late, I'll hold you accountable!"
Before he finished speaking, there was a bang, and something fell from the sky and landed not far from General Zhao!
Following the dull cracking sound, the air was suddenly filled with a strong smell of kerosene!
"What's going on?"
General Zhao scolded coldly.
What kind of idiot was so clumsy as to throw a barrel of kerosene into his own camp?
Wait... their kerosene barrels are clearly filled with water...
Just as he thought of this, the soldier who had just fallen looked up at the sky in horror and shouted incoherently: "General... General, sky... sky fire!"
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