Chapter 46: Cruel and Brutal (Part 2)
When the sharp-bristled hoe staggered towards the alley, Zhu Hao had been waiting behind the abandoned chimney on the roof for a long time.
Seeing Jianmao's smug and unhurried look, Zhu Hao threw a burning branch into the yard. The flames followed the tung oil on the ground and burned towards the warehouse.
Watching the fire spread, Zhu Hao felt suddenly more cheerful for some reason.
A single spark can start a prairie fire.
Jianmao walked to the foot of the wall, fiddled with his clothes for a while, and then went to the bathroom happily under the wall.
At this moment, Zhu Hao threw a lit torch down from a great height. With a "bang", sparks flew everywhere, scaring the pointed hoe. He stopped halfway through peeing, his body shivered violently, and he quickly looked up to see what was going on.
Zhu Hao certainly would not stay in the high place and wait to be caught in the act. While throwing down the torch, he had already climbed down the roof to the side of the back wall, slid down the mottled wall tiles, and quickly left the crime scene.
The flames in the yard spread quickly, but because the fire was not big at the moment, Jianmao had no idea what was happening. He looked around and found that there was no problem, so he poured the remaining half of his urine over and put out the torch.
At this moment, a maid who was entering the mansion from the east wing suddenly stopped and pointed at the warehouse yard and shouted, "There's a fire."
Jianmaochu was stunned for a moment, and quickly tidied his clothes. He stepped back ten steps, and then he saw thick smoke rising from the wall in front of him... The wind was blowing to the north, and the alley was on the south side of the warehouse. How could he see the white smoke rising from the yard from under the wall?
"Ah."
Jianmaochu seemed to have thought of something, nodded slightly, and a knowing smile appeared on his face. He was about to turn around and leave when he found that people from the kitchen yard were swarming out. The leader was Lu Song, who came to treat them to drinks this time.
"The fire is coming out. Put it out!"
The palace is well-equipped with fire prevention facilities, and there are two large water tanks filled with water in the east wing for emergency .
Lu Song and his men came hurriedly over. Jianmaochu rolled his eyes, stepped forward and stretched out his hand to stop Lu Song and others.
Lu Song glared at the sharp-bristled hoe.
At this time, people had already seen the torches in the corners still emitting blue smoke. Lu Song's heart skipped a beat and he thought, this guy just said he was coming out to have some fun, could he be out to set fire?
Then he realized where the fire started and felt a sense of regret.
Just when he was about to ask Jianmao what conspiracy he had against Zhu Hao, Jianmao set fire to the warehouse where Zhu Hao lived right under his nose?
"Fire!"
Lu Song waved his hand with a firm attitude.
The people behind hurriedly looked for wooden barrels, wooden basins, pumps, hemp racks and other fire-fighting tools, but most of them were drunk and didn't know what to do for a moment.
The sharp-haired hoe sneered, "Lu Dianzhang, you have to listen to me today... You can't put out this fire!"
Originally, Lu Song was not sure that it was the sharp-bristled hoe that set the fire, but after hearing what the other party said, he no longer had any doubts in his heart and shouted angrily: "Are you crazy?"
"I'm not crazy... Don't you think about why the fire broke out for no reason? Do you want to obstruct what the higher-ups are doing?" The sharp-haired hoe said this, actually wanting to remind Lu Song that it was obvious that someone wanted to set fire to Zhu Hao and kill him, thus resolving a major safety hazard in the palace.
The fire has just started and no one is hurt yet. If you run to put it out, won’t you ruin the whole plan?
Even if you want to put out a fire, you have to wait until it is almost burned out. It is not too late to save it after people are burned to death.
Lu Song was stunned, and a look of hesitation appeared between his brows.
He looked up at the direction of the yard. The gate was closed, as if someone had blocked it on purpose, intending to trap people inside and burn them to death. If Zhu Hao was really dead, he would not need to contact Zhu Hao again, and the risk of exposure would drop sharply. Wouldn't that be solving a big problem for himself with the help of someone else?
I was thinking to myself, "It's better for that child to be dead than alive."
But then he thought of Zhu Hao's warning.
Zhu Hao once said that if something unexpected happened to him in the palace, someone would leak out the fact that Lu Song was a spy from the Imperial Guard. Wouldn't that be playing with fire and getting burned?
"What are you standing there for? Put out the fire!"
Lu Song was furious and shouted at the two guards and the craftsmen who were watching the fun behind him.
The two guards from the palace's ceremonial guard department naturally listened to him and hurried to get fire-fighting equipment.
But the craftsmen just looked at Li Shun who followed behind, as if Li Shun was the only one who could make the decision on the scene.
Li Shun was not in a hurry. He glanced at the yard where thick smoke was rising, shook his head, and did not express anything.
"What are you doing? Put out the fire!"
Lu Song would never have thought that these craftsmen could remain so calm when witnessing the fire in the warehouse.
Just when Lu Song was getting nervous and was about to call for help from the Royal Guard, he saw a short figure walking towards him slowly from the direction of the alley.
It was Zhu Hao.
Everyone's first reaction when seeing Zhu Hao...
What the hell?
The sharp-haired hoe shuddered and quickly turned back to look at the door, cursing in his heart, "Are the people above so unreliable? Before setting the fire, didn't they check whether this guy was inside?"
What's going on?
That……
Isn't this fire set in vain?
"There's... there's a fire, hurry up and put it out." Zhu Hao is a talented actor. Right now, he is more nervous than anyone else about the fire in front of him. He looks at everyone present and asks for help.
The sharp-haired hoe was very smart and did not rush to put out the fire. Instead, he threatened, "You kid, I asked you to watch the warehouse, how come there is a fire inside? Tell me, did you set the fire? Do you know what a sin this is?"
Zhu Hao wanted to laugh. Yes, I was the one who set the fire. You are absolutely right.
But he said, "I've said before that if the tung oil barrel leaks, it will catch fire if you're not careful. You didn't believe me... I wasn't even in there, so how could I have set the fire?"
"That's your responsibility too!"
The sharp-bristled hoe refused to give in.
Lu Song was so angry that he didn't have time to think deeply. He wanted to eat the sharp-haired hoe in front of him alive, and called out to everyone, "Put out the fire!"
There were few responses after the previous calls.
At this moment, the craftsmen finally realized that the fire did not burn the victim, but would burn their tools and the property of the palace. It was more important to put out the fire first.
"Old Li, say something and stop them from putting out the fire!"
The sharp-haired hoe attacked Li Shun, "If there is any loss in the palace, just let this kid pay for it... If there is any accident while fighting the fire, who will take responsibility?"
Li Shun hesitated for a moment.
Although Li Shuncai was the leader of this group of craftsmen, Jianmao Zhuo was Hou Chun's chief officer, who was actually a man of Yuan Zonggao, the chief secretary of the royal palace. What's more, what Jianmao Zhuo said made sense. Now that the fire did not burn on Zhu Hao's head, they had to do something about it afterwards and not let the fire burn in vain.
"You...how could you do this? There was a fire and you didn't put it out? My...my things are all in there!"
Zhu Hao was so anxious that he almost cried.
But I was thinking in my heart, everyone, don't be anxious, the fire is not big enough to destroy the traces I arranged in advance, the danger level is not high enough, thank you for your cooperation!
"Lu Dianzhang, quickly call someone to put out the fire!"
Zhu Hao turned his eyes to Lu Song for help.
Lu Song's body shuddered. He might have been "obstinate" before, but when he saw Zhu Hao's nervous gaze, he suddenly sobered up and his thoughts became unusually clear.
It was this guy who asked me to buy some wine and treat the East Courtyard guys to a drink, saying that he wanted me to spy on whether there was any conspiracy against him, but in the blink of an eye, something went wrong here! ?
Is it such a coincidence?
Could this matter be related to this kid?
The reason why Lu Song was in a hurry to put out the fire was because he thought Zhu Hao was in the yard and he was afraid that Zhu Hao would be burned to death and his identity would be exposed.
Now he is not so supportive of firefighting.
Fire prevention measures were taken when the palace was first built. The buildings were separated by a large distance. The warehouse, in particular, stored a large amount of wood, and was a top priority for fire prevention. Special fire escapes and fire walls were built, so no matter how big the fire was, it would not spread to other courtyards and cause a tragedy of burning down the entire camp.
Anyway, I didn't start the fire. I was just a bystander. If it is true as Jianmao Zhuo said, and the responsibility for the fire is finally put on Zhu Hao, it will be beneficial for me to drive this little guy out of the palace.
so.
Lu Song chose to ignore Zhu Hao's request for help.
But Zhu Hao no longer cares about these.
He didn't care whether these people could put out the fire or not, he just needed to go into the fire scene himself.
"My things, including my father's relics, are all in there. I want to take them out..."
Zhu Hao acted out his whole act. While everyone was still hesitating about whether to put out the fire, he was already crying and shouting, and regardless of everything, he opened the door and rushed into the fire.
Lu Song did not expect that Zhu Hao would dare to rush into the fire. He stretched out his hand but only grabbed the corner of Zhu Hao's clothes and failed to hold him.
When they went to chase him again, they were blocked by Jianmao Qiao and Li Shun.
Li Shun said: "Lu Dianzhang, this is our East Court's business, you don't need to worry about it... Sharp- haired hoe, why don't you find someone to put out the fire quickly!?"
Li Shun suddenly "got it", mainly because he saw Zhu Hao rushing towards the fire. Originally, the fire didn't burn this guy, but now he took the initiative to rush in to die, and you still tried to stop him? Lu Song, you really don't have any awareness at all!
The sharp-haired hoe looked very proud and shouted: "Fire! Fire! Fire!"
It was like he was singing a duet with Li Shun. Although the sharp hoe made a loud noise, he did not actually take action. His thief eyes were still looking at the open door, wondering whether to seal it tightly to ensure that Zhu Hao could not get out and burn to death in the fire...
…
…
The alley was in chaos.
many people.
But most of them were there to watch the fun. Almost everyone thought that the fire was set by Prince Xing's Mansion in order to burn Zhu Hao to death, and no one was willing to put out the fire.
It's not their own property, so they don't have to pay for it if it burns. Putting out the fire might even ruin the palace's plan to eliminate the traitor.
In the end, whoever puts out the fire successfully will have to compensate for the loss of the palace?
Anyone who wants to put out this fire can do so.
There are also some people who love to steal things from the palace warehouse. If there is a fire and the losses cannot be counted, the theft will not be exposed. Why should I go to put out the fire and ruin my own job?
Most of these people are ordinary people who are very penny-wise and pound-foolish. Naturally, their little tricks cannot escape Zhu Hao's eyes. He has made elaborate designs specifically for this.
When Zhu Hao rushed into the fire, he immediately ran towards the house where he lived.
It was true that the fire was set in the yard, but he cleverly used tung oil to lead the fire to the warehouse. The warehouse was on the west side, but he lived in the ear room in the northeast of the yard. After the fire broke out, there was a lot of smoke here, but in fact there was no fire inside. When he rushed into the house, as expected, Zhu Houcong was still lying on the eight-immortals table and continued to sleep, and even the smoke could not wake him up.
Zhu Hao put on the clothes he had prepared long ago. It was a piece of cloth that had been burned by fire in advance. The surface was covered with black ash and holes, and was sprinkled with phosphorus powder. He helped Zhu Houcong up, lit a revolving lantern in front of him, and took it up to shine on himself first.
The phosphorus powder on the torn clothes instantly ignited.
Phosphorus fire is a low-temperature flame, with a temperature of only about 40 degrees. It looks like it is covered in flames but is harmless to people. He wants to give people the illusion that he is rescuing people from the raging fire.
Everything was ready, but the revolving lantern slipped out of his hand and broke into pieces on the ground.
"call……"
The fire started.
Zhu Hao picked up a wet blanket and put it on Zhu Houcong. He didn't have time to burn holes in Zhu Houcong's clothes, so he could only pretend that he gave Zhu Houcong the wet blanket, which represented a chance of survival, while he himself braved the raging fire to save people...
He covered his mouth and nose with a wet cloth, and also covered Zhu Houcong's mouth. Zhu Hao supported Zhu Houcong and walked out.
