Chapter 189 Don’t Let Them Down
Two days later, the biting northwest wind arrived as expected, howling across the capital.
Whenever this happens, the city is prone to flooding.
In previous years, there were only three or four places, but this year, after only one day of wind, flames appeared in six or seven places.
Fortunately, it was discovered in time and prevented the fire from spreading and causing a disaster.
The people in the capital were talking about this.
"This year's wind evil is very strong. The house next to my house almost caught fire. Fortunately, his son got up at night and quickly put out the fire."
"Who said it wasn't? You have to be careful. I don't even dare to light a fire to cook tonight. I'll just eat some dry food to get by and survive these few days."
"Fortunately, this wind will only blow for a few days. My firewood is tightly covered with oil paper. I just hope nothing goes wrong."
Such things happened frequently in previous years, and apart from the people who were worried, no one else took it seriously.
In the Duke Zhenguo's Mansion, everyone acted as usual.
As night falls, darkness spreads like ink.
The lights went out one by one.
Only a dim light was still coming through the window lattices of the study.
Xie Anran was dressed in plain clothes and sat quietly in the study.
The desk in front of him was piled with letters and calligraphy left by the Duke of Zhenguo.
A dark shadow slid over the wall like a night owl.
With his nimble figure, he lightly tapped his toes and jumped up the tree. He then weaved through the dense trees, avoiding the patrolling guards and quietly came to the back of the study.
The black shadow stretched out his finger, carefully poked a hole in the window paper, and inserted a thin bamboo tube into it.
He exerted a little force and slowly blew out a faint wisp of white smoke.
Xie Anran was immersed in the letter in his hand and didn't notice it at all.
A faint fragrance drifted into his nose.
He frowned slightly, but didn't take it to heart.
But not long after, Xie Anran felt his eyelids becoming heavier and he began to feel sleepy.
In the past few days, he was worried about the affairs of the Duke of Zhenguo and could not sleep at night. During the day, he had to deal with complicated affairs in the mansion and was already exhausted.
He just thought he was too tired and that was why he felt so sleepy.
Xie Anran stood up and wanted to go back to the bedroom to rest.
He had just taken a step when his body went limp and he collapsed to the ground.
He was startled and a sense of foreboding came over him.
No, if I was just sleepy, why would I feel weak all over?
Moreover, the noise caused by his falling down was quite loud, so the servant guarding outside should have knocked on the door and asked.
Before he could think clearly, his eyelids closed uncontrollably.
Everything in front of my eyes went dark, and I completely lost consciousness.
“Squeak—”
The sound of the door being pushed open was particularly harsh in the silent night.
A black shadow flashed into the study, he bent down, carefully searched Xie Anran's body, and soon found a bunch of keys.
Among them, there is a key with a unique shape and strange serrations on it.
This is the key to the storehouse of the Duke of Zhenguo’s Mansion.
The warehouse contains the huge wealth accumulated by the Duke of Zhenguo's Mansion over hundreds of years, including countless gold, silver, jewelry, and rare treasures.
The black shadow carried Xie Anran and quickly took him to the bedroom.
In order to ensure that he would not wake up midway, the black shadow also gave him a knife attack.
The warehouse is located next to the accounting office and on the side of the study.
This is the core area of the Duke Zhenguo's Mansion, and almost all the guards are on strict guard here.
As white smoke spread throughout the mansion.
Everyone fell into a deep sleep.
Several dark shadows appeared silently behind the guards and suddenly stretched out their hands.
There was only a crisp "crack" sound, like the sound of a branch breaking in the dark night.
The guard's neck was broken in an instant, and before he could even make a sound, he fell straight to the ground and became a cold corpse.
Half an hour later.
There was no one standing in the Duke Zhenguo's Mansion.
The entire mansion fell into silence.
Dark shadows gathered in front of the warehouse door.
The leader opened the door and said, "Move all the valuables to the carriage at the back. Don't make any noise."
"yes!"
Everyone filed in.
…
The hour of Chou.
The warehouse that was originally filled with gold, silver, jewelry, and rare treasures had been looted, leaving only empty shelves and miscellaneous items scattered on the ground.
The dark figure holding the sword pulled off the veil on his face, revealing a cold, expressionless face. It was Jin Zhi.
"Set fire and leave no one alive!"
Following an order.
Flames quickly spread from all over the Duke Zhenguo's Mansion.
But in the blink of an eye, the flames from all places gathered together to form a raging sea of fire.
The flames rising into the sky illuminated half of the sky in the capital city red.
Soon, people in the surrounding houses were awakened by the sudden fire and heat wave.
Shouts came one after another.
"There's a fire in the Duke of Zhenguo's Mansion!"
"Quick, put out the fire!"
But the fire was so big that it was impossible to get close.
The ministers living on both sides of the Duke Zhenguo's Mansion looked at the spreading fire and worried that it would affect their own homes, so they hurriedly urged the servants to pick up buckets of water and rush forward to put out the fire.
But this is just a drop in the bucket.
Buckets of water were poured on it, but they were instantly evaporated by the fire.
The fire showed no signs of abating, but became even more intense with the help of strong winds.
"It's over. I'm afraid everyone in the Duke of Zhenguo's Mansion will die in there."
"Don't worry about them. It's important to protect our own home. Don't let the fire spread!"
Not far away.
The dark shadows hid at every entrance and exit, watching quietly to make sure no one could escape.
The fire burned mercilessly for more than two hours, until dawn, when everything burnable in the Duke Zhenguo's Mansion was reduced to ashes, and the fire finally gradually died out.
The Duke Zhenguo Mansion, which was once majestic and magnificent with exquisite scenery everywhere, is now completely unrecognizable.
The entire mansion was charred black, with broken walls crumbling in the morning breeze and a pungent burnt smell in the air. The scene was horrific.
Soldiers from the capital came to clean up the mess.
A total of fifty-six bodies were carried out from various bedrooms.
Among them were the Duke of Zhenguo’s wife, concubine, six children, and a group of servants.
Jin Zhi stood at the front and sighed, "I didn't expect that among the fifty-six people, not a single one survived. The fire broke out in the middle of the night, and I'm afraid they were all fast asleep at that time."
The officials who came to investigate the fire nodded repeatedly, "Master Jin is right. I saw many people crawling to the door, but with the thick smoke and the heat wave, they couldn't make it out."
"Let's bury them all." Jin Zhi got on his horse and said, "I will go back to the palace to report the situation to the emperor. You are responsible for the follow-up and must handle it properly. The Duke of Zhenguo is a rare loyal minister of Darong and has made great contributions to Darong. We must not let them down."
"Yes, I will remember this!"
"Gee!" Jin Zhi swung the whip and spurred his horse to gallop.
But when he reached the street corner, he couldn't help but look back and look at the charred area.
This is the fate of disobeying the emperor.
It's not that the whole family was executed, but that not a single corpse was left!
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