Although Fu Zhi had anticipated this, he was still startled.
As soon as Zeng Yue entered the city, he told him that Wang Mi’s loyalty was difficult to discern—it was still unclear whether he truly intended to submit or wanted to use this opportunity to harm the Emperor, so they needed to prepare in advance to protect His Majesty.
Fu Zhi was also afraid this was a scheme by Wang Mi and Liu Cong, so he agreed to their plan, obtaining about a hundred sets of guard armor for them. After changing, they stood by the Emperor’s side with the purpose of protecting him.
Besides Zeng Yue’s hundred personal guards, Fu Zhi also had palace guards hide in the buildings on both sides of the Ministry of Works to prevent accidents.
Although Wang Mi had been domineering all along the way, he had at least bowed to the Emperor, so Fu Zhi thought what would follow was their internal struggle, just like the struggle with Prince Donghai.
Who could have predicted that Zhao Hanzhang would kill at a word, not giving them any time to react at all?
Fortunately, Fu Zhi and the others had experienced many chaotic events, so they quickly recovered and had the palace guards come forward to help, killing all hundred-plus personal guards Wang Mi had brought into the palace.
Inside and outside the main hall of the Ministry of Works, blood pervaded the air. The courtyard was full of corpses and blood. Ji Yuan stepped through this blood with a clicking sound as he approached the hall, his shoes soaked with so much blood that they left one clear bloody footprint after another on the ground.
The situation inside the hall was no better. Zhao Hanzhang swept her blade across, slitting the throat of the last personal guard, then sheathed her sword and looked toward Ji Yuan entering.
Blood was everywhere on the ground. Ji Yuan avoided the bloodstains, chose a relatively clean spot to kneel, and reported, “Commander, all the rebels outside have been executed.”
Zhao Hanzhang nodded with satisfaction. “Good!”
Only then did she turn to look at the Emperor, seeing him still cowering in the corner, his face full of fear as he looked at the blade in her hand.
She immediately tossed the blade to a nearby personal guard, lifted her robe and knelt before him. “Your Majesty, the rebel Wang Mi has been executed. Please do not be alarmed, Your Majesty.”
Only then did the Emperor react. He hastily broke free from the eunuch supporting him and personally helped Zhao Hanzhang up. Still shaken, he said, “General Zhao, please rise. Wang Mi was a wolf and a tiger. Thanks to General Zhao’s decisive action, isn’t that right, Minister Fu?”
Fu Zhi calmly nodded. “Correct.”
His gaze swept over Zhao Hanzhang and Fu Tinghan, his heart sinking slightly. He said no more.
Zeng Yue led soldiers in to drag out the corpses in the room. Zhao Hanzhang said indifferently, “Cut off Wang Mi’s head and send it to Beigong Chun. He knows what to do.”
“Yes.”
Zeng Yue personally dragged out Wang Mi’s corpse. This once-notorious Qingzhou hero and great bandit certainly never imagined that after scrambling around for over ten years, he would not die at the hands of Liu Yuan, Gou Xi, or others, but at Zhao Hanzhang’s hands.
The Jin ministers witnessed Zhao Hanzhang kill—or rather, quell rebellion—and couldn’t help but fall silent. For a moment, the room was quiet with no one speaking.
Zhao Hanzhang invited the Emperor to go outside to look at the fire.
Dawn was about to break, and the fire was quite large at this time. Although Zhao’s army and Wang Mi’s troops were throwing water on it together, the fire was still difficult to control.
The Emperor and ministers finally shifted their attention, becoming anxious. “This fire cannot be controlled.”
“Therefore, please move to the eastern city, Your Majesty, to temporarily avoid the fire.”
Fu Zhi said, “Half of the troops outside belong to Wang Mi’s army. Once we go out and the news leaks, I’m afraid chaos will arise from chaos.”
Zhao Hanzhang said, “Then please send out the palace guards and servants to extinguish the fire together, Your Majesty.”
“This…” The Emperor couldn’t help looking at Fu Zhi.
In the palace, there were still over ten thousand people including guards, eunuchs, and palace maids all together, and there was a river in the palace city from which water could be drawn.
Zhao Hanzhang said, “Please make a decision early, Your Majesty.”
Zhao Hanzhang didn’t overstep and make the decision directly but let him decide. This was something he hadn’t expected.
After a pause, the Emperor said, “Good, have them go out to fight the fire.”
Thus, except for those at the Ministry of Works, all the other guards, palace maids, and eunuchs in the palace were sent out to fight the fire. The reason they didn’t send out the people at the Ministry of Works was to prevent news of Wang Mi’s death from leaking.
Now, it was Zhao Hanzhang’s people running errands to relay orders.
Seeing this, even though the ministers felt uneasy and anxious, they didn’t dare speak out openly. After all, the scene just now had been too brutal—she had actively invited Wang Mi as an ally, yet in the space of a single sentence, she had slit his throat.
Everyone quietly waited for news at the Ministry of Works.
The palace gates opened. Guards, palace maids, and eunuchs carried wooden buckets, basins, and other containers filled with water out. Zeng Yue mixed in with the crowd, carrying a bag, found a horse, and led a team of guards to chase toward the western city.
Fu Tinghan asked the officials from the Ministry of Works, “Do you have maps of the capital city here?”
The Ministry of Works official glanced at Zhao Hanzhang. Seeing her raise an eyebrow, he immediately lowered his head and said, “Yes.”
“I want maps of the capital, including the layout of buildings.”
That was confidential information, not meant for ordinary people to see.
But under Zhao Hanzhang’s gaze, the Ministry of Works official still obediently went to fetch them.
It was also coincidental—besides the Jingzhao Prefecture, only their Ministry of Works had these maps.
Fu Tinghan spread out the maps, stood on the second floor of the Ministry of Works looking outside, then turned his head to glance at the water clock. After quite a while, he summoned personal guards to give orders. “Demolish the buildings on Fourth Horizontal Street—demolish these two. On Vermillion Bird Street, demolish five buildings, here, and here…”
Now, just throwing water on the fire couldn’t stop it. Demolishing some buildings to create firebreaks was the best method.
He had to demolish all these buildings before the fire spread, so he also needed to calculate the speed of spread…
Zhao Hanzhang added, “Mobilize our troops, divide into five routes, go immediately!”
“Yes!”
Dawn gradually broke, but Luoyang’s fire still showed vigorous momentum. Although so many people had joined in, it still hadn’t weakened much.
Wang Shou led Wang’s army throwing water into the fire. The fire burned his face painfully, and the anger in his heart couldn’t be suppressed. He turned his head and saw someone actually pouring water on buildings that hadn’t yet caught fire. Furious, he ran over and kicked the person down. “You’re quite good at slacking off. The fire is over here—where are you pouring water? Are you blind?”
“General, this subordinate was told to do this by superiors, saying that buildings already burning cannot be saved, and the fire is large and difficult to approach, so we should pour water on nearby buildings. This way the fire won’t spread easily, and the fire’s momentum will weaken. This subordinate saw Zhao’s army and palace people all doing this.”
“Superiors?” Wang Shou narrowed his eyes and asked, “Who are your superiors? I’m your superior. Who exactly are you listening to?”
“But didn’t our general ally with Zhao’s army? This order came from a personal guard of Zhao’s army. The general is also in the palace, so…”
Wang Shou narrowed his eyes. Only then did he remember, “The general has been in the palace for quite a while, why hasn’t he come out? And he also deployed ten thousand men into the city—why haven’t they entered yet?”
The soldiers looked at Wang Shou quietly. How would they know?
But shouldn’t the priority now be to urgently fight the fire?
Just as they were thinking, rumbling sounds came. Several people immediately turned their heads to look, seeing two buildings not far away collapse. After demolishing the buildings, people immediately went forward to pull away the wood and other materials, then a continuous stream of people began pouring water on the adjacent buildings…
The soldiers of Wang’s army watched with hearts stirring, also wanting to demolish buildings and pour water. They urged Wang Shou, “General, this method seems effective. Let’s also stop throwing water into the fire and listen to them—pour water on buildings about to catch fire.”
“Shut up! At a time like this, you’re still thinking about fighting fires? You, quickly take a few men into the palace to find the general. You must find the general and get definite news, understand?”
“Yes.”
—