Chapter 47: No Way to Defend Yourself
When Zhu Hao dragged Zhu Houcong to the yard, the fire in the warehouse next door had already spread across the prairie.
There was a lot of smoke before, and the fire looked fierce, but that was a deliberate illusion. A lot of water was poured on the wood near the fire, and there was a lot of wet hay. The smoke was big but the fire was small, giving outsiders the impression that the fire was spreading quickly. However, the main building material of houses in this era was wood, and the high temperature would dry the wet wood and wet grass quickly. Once the fire started, it would be impossible to control it in a small area.
The fire grew bigger and the heat wave was overwhelming, but to Zhu Hao, there was no major threat for the time being.
When I arrived at the door, I found that the yard door was blocked from the outside as expected.
"Fire, fire, don't come this way!"
The pointed hoe was blocking the door like a door god. It was he who had the door sealed.
Someone asked: "How can we put out the fire if we don't go in?"
The sharp-haired hoe said, "Why not throw the water in from the air?"
Those who were carrying wooden buckets and basins looked up and saw a raging fire and billowing smoke. The wall in front of them was more than ten feet high... It was not easy to spread the water over the wall, and most of the water would splash onto the wall.
"Open the door!" Zhu Hao shouted.
The sharp-haired hoe was talking, but when he heard Zhu Hao's shout, he turned his head and pretended not to hear anything.
"There is a child here, he is from your palace..." Zhu Hao continued shouting loudly.
The sharp-haired hoe pursed his lips and sneered.
Do you think I'm stupid?
How could I not know that you were the only one living in this warehouse?
Don't insult my intelligence, I won't be fooled.
"Old Li, there are people trapped inside, are you really going to just watch them die without helping?" Old Song couldn't bear to watch it any longer. He knew it was useless to persuade Jianmao Jue, so he went to persuade Li Shun instead.
Li Shun's face was gloomy.
It's not that he doesn't want to put out the fire, but putting out the fire now is risky and has little benefit. It's far less practical than killing Zhu Hao, the Jinyiwei spy...
Normally, these hard-working craftsmen should be honest, but after staying in the materialistic palace for too long, exchanges of interests are common, and they only care about their own interests after being influenced by them for a long time.
At this time, Lu Song finally brought the water dragon team composed mainly of guards from the Royal Palace Guard Department to put out the fire.
Sharp-haired Hoe hurriedly took the craftsmen forward to stop them, but this time they were obviously unable to stop them. The guards were obviously much stronger in size and momentum than Sharp-haired Hoe and his gang.
The sharp-haired hoe threatened: "Lu Dianzhang, if you don't listen to me, you will be responsible for what happens!"
Lu Song is very conflicted. To him, whether to save him or not is a dilemma. Zhu Hao knows his background. Zhu Hao said that if he dies, his identity will be revealed. Is it true?
At this moment, Zhu Hao shouted from inside the door: "Hey, there's a person in here, a child from your palace, named Zhu Si!"
Zhu Hao was ready now.
If the door was really blocked and he couldn't get out, he wouldn't just sit there and wait for death. At most he could climb over the wall. There were plenty of waste wood nearby to use as stepping stones. As for Zhu Houcong... it wouldn't be a big problem to leave him at the door. After all, the fire hadn't come over yet, and the black smoke was mostly rising upwards. The surroundings were still safe for the time being.
As long as he goes out, Jianmaoqiao and others will see that blocking the door is useless. Will they just stand there and not put out the fire?
As long as the door is opened, Zhu Houcong can be rescued.
At this time, Zhu Houcong coughed a few times and showed signs of waking up.
"Don't listen to that kid's nonsense, he is the only one in there..." said the sharp-haired hoe.
Lu Song was shocked.
The craftsmen outside didn't know about the matter of "Zhu San" and "Zhu Si". As the chief of the royal palace's ceremonial guards and his wife was Zhu Houcong's wet nurse, he knew the reason behind it. In addition, he learned the inside story from Zhu Hao and asked his son to help pass on the message...
"Open the door!"
Lu Song rushed forward.
When Jianbahao was about to stop him, Lu Song had already picked up his sword and knocked the man down with the scabbard.
"You'll be in trouble. Just wait for bad luck!"
Jianmao covered his head and cursed. He relied on the support of Hou Chun and Yuan Zonggao behind him, and he was indignant and threatened with gritted teeth.
The guards from the palace's ceremonial guard department were there to put out the fire. Without further ado, they went up to pull out the wooden stick that was wrapped around the door knocker, opened the door, and saw Zhu Hao, who was on fire, lying behind the door with a half-dead child.
Lu Song's eyes were about to burst out. He grabbed the bucket and poured the full bucket of water on Zhu Hao and Zhu Houcong with a "splash". The phosphorescent fire was extinguished instantly.
… …
…
A group of people worked together to carry Zhu Hao and Zhu Houcong out of the door.
The people were temporarily moved to an open area at the alley entrance.
The fire was growing bigger and bigger. Even though more and more people came to put it out, because the fire was fueled by tung oil and the best time to put it out was missed, the fire spread completely. It was impossible to control the fire at this moment, and they could only try to minimize the losses.
Some people rushed into the yard and wanted to enter the warehouse to put out the fire, but were blocked by the thick smoke. Finally, the group of people could only retreat from the yard and pour water inside. No one dared to approach.
Zhu Hao sat there, pouting his lips and pretending to be aggrieved while watching the fun.
Lu Song was originally directing the firefighting, but later on he could only have people stand on the fire wall and use long poles and hemp to block the flying sparks to prevent the fire from spreading and burning nearby houses.
More and more people came to the palace after hearing the news.
Among the high-ranking officials in the palace, the eunuch Zhang Zuo was the first to arrive with his men.
When he saw Zhu Houcong lying on the ground, he was so scared that his knees went weak. Fortunately, his followers supported him in time, otherwise he would have collapsed to the ground.
"Your Highness..."
Zhang Zuo's reaction caught the craftsmen present by surprise.
It is common knowledge that Prince Xing has only one son. The Crown Prince is the future master of the palace and their little master.
Although I have never seen the little master, I know that I will have to rely on him for a living in the future.
The person who was rescued by Zhu Hao was actually the Prince of Xingwang?
"Don't worry, Zhang Fengzheng. I've checked and the prince is fine. He just choked on the smoke and fell into a coma." Lu Song hurried over to comfort him.
Zhang Zuo cried out to the sky: "Oh my God, who the hell is it that wants my Xingwang Mansion to be extinct?"
Hou Chun, who had just arrived at the fire scene, and Li Shun, Jianmao Zhuo, Daxi and others who had been at the scene for a long time, all realized that something was wrong. Hou Chun looked around and walked over to Zhang Zuo and said, "Zhang Fengzheng, I've found out that this fire is related to Zhu Hao!"
Zhang Zuo immediately shouted: "Catch him!"
Immediately, guards from the palace's ceremonial guard department came over and held Zhu Hao down.
Zhu Hao shouted, "I was the one who rescued the people from the fire. Why are you accusing me?"
"ah?"
Zhang Zuo instinctively believed that Zhu Hao was sent by the hostile forces. When he heard "his own people" say that it was Zhu Hao who set the fire, he did not need to think much and ordered the arrest without further explanation.
But after hearing what Zhu Hao said, he suddenly became confused.
Come to think of it, would a child set a fire?
Looking at Zhu Hao's clothes that were burned with holes all over them, and his black body, it was obvious that he had just come out of a fire scene...
Would an arsonist trap himself in the fire?
Lu Song said: "Zhu Hao saw the fire with us, and he rushed into the fire regardless of the danger and rescued the prince! Not only did he not do anything wrong, but he actually did something great."
Lu Song didn't have time to think about whether it was Zhu Hao who set the fire. Now he had to say so in order to protect Zhu Hao and himself.
What’s more…
Lu Song didn't lie.
"Why the fire?"
Zhang Zuo questioned Hou Chun.
Hou Chun was at a loss for words, and Li Shun said, "Maybe it's because the weather is dry..."
Lu Song said: "Zhang Fengzheng, it is more important to put out the fire first. As long as the prince is okay, it will be fine."
…
…
When the fire was almost burned out, people started to go into the yard to put it out.
It's too late to mend the fold after the sheep have been lost.
Everything that could be burned in the warehouse was burned down, leaving only black ruins at the scene.
As they were not clear about Zhu Houcong's condition, Zhang Zuo and others did not move Zhu Houcong away immediately. They just asked the invited doctor to make a careful diagnosis... Zhang Zuo was knowledgeable and knew that the person being rescued from the disaster site was still a fragile child, so it would be safer and more effective to rescue him on the spot.
When Yuan Zonggao, the chief secretary of the palace, brought people to the scene, the fire had almost been put out.
"Yuan Changshi, someone set the fire intentionally!" People who went in to check the fire scene first could naturally tell the difference between natural fires and arson.
There was tung oil everywhere inside, and there were sporadic fires, and the fire did not start in the warehouse.
Yuan Zonggao first glared at Zhu Hao with anger.
The palace's vigilance against Zhu Hao was all caused by him. Just when he wanted to wrongly accuse Zhu Hao like everyone else, Lu Song had already gone over and explained the situation in general.
"…I don't know why the fire started, but Zhu Hao was not inside at the time. He rushed in after the fire started and rescued the prince."
It's not about setting fire to harm people, but about saving people...
Even with Yuan Zonggao's intelligence, he was confused for a moment.
Yuan Zonggao asked, "Why is the prince here?"
"this……"
Lu Song couldn't answer.
"Who discovered the fire first?" Yuan Zonggao asked again.
Everyone looked around.
The maid who first shouted that there was a fire had already returned to the inner courtyard. A delicate and frail girl would not participate in such a task as firefighting.
Then most people looked at the pointed hoe.
Lu Song said: "When we came out, we saw a torch that had just been extinguished but was still smoking fell to the ground, and Jiang Maosun was standing there..."
Jianmaochu's real name is Jiang Maosun. Perhaps because his name is somewhat similar to Jianmaochu, people directly call him Jianmaochu.
"It's unfair...it has nothing to do with me."
At this time, Jianmaochu was completely sober and started to complain.
Someone immediately brought over the "criminal evidence" left in the corner. When the torch was handed to Yuan Zonggao, he frowned and looked at it, then threw the torch on the ground because it emitted a disgusting smell.
One of the guards who was drinking with Lu Song said, "Sharp-haired hoe, you still say it wasn't you who did it? You said you came out for fun, but not long after you came out, there was a fire here. How could it be such a coincidence?"
"yes."
The craftsmen who were drinking together at the time all felt that this incident was closely related to the pointed hoe.
The sharp-haired hoe defended himself: "I was just peeing in the corner, and this thing fell on my head. I saw there was still fire, so I peed and put it out!"
He was speaking completely the truth. Jianmaochu felt that he had never been so honest, but to outsiders, what he said was pure nonsense.
You said you were peeing and a burning torch appeared in front of you? Or did you put it out when you peed?
Even a three-year-old wouldn’t believe it!
"Why did you set fire to me? You blocked the door when I was saving people inside... Woohoo, you are all bad people!"
Zhu Hao explained the situation while crying.
Lu Song said: "Yuan Changshi, after we found out about the fire, Jiang Maosun deliberately stopped us from rescuing people, saying... he wanted to burn people to death... and put an end to it all..."
Originally, the sharp-haired hoe still had a chance to prove his innocence.
But it is an indisputable fact that after the fire broke out, he prevented others from putting out the fire.
If this fire really had nothing to do with you, why did you stop others from putting out the fire? It was you, Jianmao, who proposed to lock people in the door and burn them to death. Even Li Shun and others dared not deny this.
The motive for arson was there, and it was also a fact that he prevented people from putting out the fire. There were witnesses at the scene, and the torch that was extinguished by his urine could serve as physical evidence.
The sharp-haired hoe suddenly found that he had no way to defend himself.
