Carriages kept passing by on the street, and the people selling goods looked at them with confused eyes, and their hawking voices stopped unconsciously.
He muttered quietly, "What's going on? More than ten carriages have already left in half a day, and they're not from the same family. Could something have happened?"
"No way, what could possibly happen under the emperor's feet? You must be overthinking it. Come, let's continue drinking."
The old man, carrying a shoulder pole, looked very happy. He found a place to sit down and started to sell fish: "Fish! Fresh fish caught today are sold at a low price. Come and take a look."
Next to them was a wonton stall. A middle-aged man came over, leaned over to take a look, and said with a smile, "Uncle Wang, you're doing well today. You caught so many fish."
"Haha, that's not the case. I was really lucky today. I didn't even need to hit the fish; it just jumped into the net on its own."
Others also became interested: "Oh, there is such a strange thing, Old Wang, please tell us in detail and where you caught the fish. Let's go and take a look."
The old man smiled mysteriously and waved his hand: "That, you can't say. I'm old now, and I rely on big fish to make some money to eat and drink."
As they were talking, someone shouted, "Notice! Hurry and read the notice! Someone is saying there's going to be an earthquake in the capital, a big earthquake."
"The officials also found out in advance and started packing up and running. We should hurry home and pack up as well. It's important to get out of the city as soon as possible to save our lives."
The voice gradually faded away and everyone looked at each other.
Old Wang looked down at the basket of fish, and suddenly his eyes became filled with fear, and his body began to tremble.
"Something's wrong. This fish's reaction isn't right. Before the big earthquake in my hometown thirty years ago, fish also jumped out of the water like this. And the cats and dogs at home were barking."
"Young man, this old man is shameless. I'm going back to pack up and run away. You guys should hurry up and run too."
As soon as he finished speaking, he limped towards home.
Seeing this, the others became uneasy. They looked at each other and asked, "Has anyone seen a major earthquake? Was there anything unusual before it?"
The gray-haired old woman who was braiding the red rope trembled when she heard this, "I've seen it before, and it's exactly what Old Wang said. If it's true, I don't know how many people will die."
"Anyone who can read, hurry up and check the notice wall. The imperial court has posted it. If there's an earthquake, run away quickly. Otherwise, you won't be able to escape once it happens."
"It was like hell. The ground cracked, and an entire city was reduced to ruins in an instant. As for people... they were buried and died."
The old woman was packing up while talking, and when she was done she ran away with her bag on her back, not even bothering to set up the stall.
Seeing this, everyone felt increasingly uneasy. The bun seller pushed his buns away and ran away, shouting, "No more buns, no more buns. Let's get out of the city now while there are fewer people."
More and more people knew about the earthquake and rushed to the city gate. The carriages behind were forced to stay in traffic and became extremely anxious.
He lifted the curtain and shouted, "You untouchables, get out of the way! You have offended the master, and no amount of your lives will be enough to compensate you."
When the people heard this, they felt that something serious was going to happen. They were unwilling to give way and rushed towards the city gate, shouting, "Hurry up, those in front! We need to get out of the city."
The soldiers guarding the city frowned when they saw this.
"Brother, what's wrong with you? Why do so many people want to leave the city today? But what happened in the city?"
"Ah, brothers, don't you know? The city is in chaos. There's going to be a major earthquake. Anyone who doesn't run away now will die."
"We didn't see those carriages. The court knew about it in advance, but we knew it too late. But it's a good thing the notice was posted, otherwise we would have died without knowing it."
The soldiers guarding the city were confused. How could they not know what the notice was?
"That's impossible. The court didn't post any notices. Where did you see them? Who told you there was a major earthquake? It must be all just rumors."
The people shook their heads, their eyes full of determination. No matter whether it was true or not, they had to survive and escape from the city first.
The soldiers guarding the city were very panicked and called their colleagues home to tell them to pack up and leave the city quickly. If nothing happened, they could come back later.
Two days passed in a flash, and the capital city was basically empty.
The open space outside the city was filled with people, their eyes looking straight towards the capital, not knowing whether to go back or not. As they were struggling, the ground began to tremble slightly.
The water level on the river surface was dropping at a speed visible to the naked eye. Fish jumped out of the water and jumped towards the river bank. Dogs were barking frantically and were very restless.
With a loud bang, the ground in the direction of the capital city cracked, houses collapsed suddenly, and cracks appeared on the city walls.
The crack is centered in the capital and continues to extend outside the city.
Everyone shouted, "Hurry, run, run towards the open space, the earthquake is coming..."
After the big earthquake ended, several waves of smaller earthquakes came. The people hugged their loved ones and cried bitterly, not knowing whether they should be glad to be out of the city or sad that their houses collapsed.
The vibration was also felt in the villa far away from the capital.
Emperor Gan was shocked and ran to the courtyard in his inner clothes, shouting, "Come here, come here quickly, what is the situation in the capital, how many people have died?"
The shadow guard flew down and knelt on the ground. "Your Majesty, the earthquake in the capital was the most severe. Many houses were swallowed up, and thousands of people died."
"...Thousands? That doesn't make sense. The earthquake was so sudden, how could only so few people die?"
"In reply to your Majesty, I heard that someone had posted notices in advance warning the people to flee the capital. Most people believed them, which is why we didn't suffer such a great loss."
Emperor Gan was confused and said, "Notice, I didn't ask anyone to post a notice. Go and check who posted it."
If someone knew about it in advance, he must be a talented person. Recruiting him by your side would be better than wasting the life of the national teacher to calculate the disaster.
The shadow guard hesitated for a moment, but left.
＊
The earthquake affected a very large area. The Jiang family noticed something was wrong and immediately sent someone to investigate. After finding out the truth, they had complicated expressions, including shock and relief.
Jiang Baichuan got on the carriage and said in a deep voice, "Mother, the spies sent news that... the capital was hit by an earthquake and was almost reduced to ruins. Thousands of people died."
"Oh, and what about the Emperor?"
"Your Majesty has experts around him who naturally predicted the disaster in advance and fled. I don't know who posted the notice, but many people in the capital also fled, otherwise there would be even greater casualties."
The old lady lowered her head and drank her tea, her expression calm: "Yes, I understand."
Jiang Baichuan looked at her and asked softly, "Mom, did you know this a long time ago? You don't look surprised. This earthquake hasn't happened in a hundred years."
"There are rumors in the capital that the emperor is incompetent and God has sent down punishment. I wonder if these women know about this too."
The old lady paused and shook her head: "I only know about the earthquake, nothing else. Sixth Old Man, please stop asking questions. It's more important to hurry on."
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