C4219 (1/2)

Why was there no northwest corner of Beijing? There were many legends that involved Feng Shui, Tu Yao, legends, etc. However, there was one kind that was closer to science!

This was because in the northwest corner of the Capital, when Zhu Di was building the Beijing, there was a large lake called Reed Pond!

This was the entrance to the Capital's lake, and at the beginning of Ming Dynasty, the area of this pond was many times larger than Tongzhi. If one wanted to build a city wall with a right angle, he would have to gather a large number of people to fill the lake!

On one hand, it would be a waste of manpower and resources, and on the other hand, the city walls would be built on the lake-filled land, so the foundation would definitely not be as stable as other places. From a military defense point of view, it was a weakness of the Capital's defense system.

As a result, Yao Guangxiao used a few superstitious methods to block the entrance of the Emperor and the people of court.

As the population multiplied, through the development of the Ming and Qing dynasties, the population became more and more, and the consumption of resources became more and more, the size of the reeds pond had shrunk to be many times smaller than Tongzhi's!

But even if it was reduced by a few times, the reed pond still extended from the Deisenmun all the way to the west gate. It was a vast expanse of water, and this reed pond could even feed dozens of Fishermen s without any worries.

Jade Spring Mountain's water flowed from the west to Reed Pond, and then through the river channel into the secret door on the west side of Deisenmun, and into Capital's cistern!

It could be said that this reed pond was the transit point for the Capital's water source.

And today's fire had started from the storehouse s and camps on both sides of the reeds pond!

The reeds were an important commodity to the Paleogene. The reed matting at home, the reeds on the roof that were thin, the reeds for granary, and even the reeds mixed with soil were all the raw materials for the house!

Every year, no matter if it was the military or civilian, Capital used a lot of reeds. Not only did they have to harvest and use them, they also had to buy several hundred thousand cars of reeds nationwide every year in order to consume a year's worth of resources!

The reeds pond itself produced reeds, so out of habit, the court set up a public treasury that stored reed materials here!

The camp that stretched for more than ten miles, at least seventy to eighty thousand cars of reeds were hoarded here, not to mention the reed mats and grass curtains that had already been woven!

What was even more terrifying was that there would definitely be a haystack around the Barracks and this was an even more flammable object!

It was precisely because danger was important that the court had never dared to slack off in their control over the fires in the Capital. Especially in this kind of autumn weather, when the water level in the reeds pond was dropping so that the reeds could be harvested, the various clans of the Barracks would have to arrange several Tin patrols every day.

At around 9: 30 in the evening, when even the dogs couldn't be bothered to bark in the silence, suddenly, smoke rose up from more than ten places around the reed pond, followed by flames that soared into the sky!

Not only the reeds pond, even the storehouse around the royal aunt's grave started to light up in flames. In an instant, fifty to sixty points of fire started to burn at the same time!

When night fell, the Capital started a level four or five northwest wind. Although the wind was not strong, it was still strong enough to start a fire. Not even fifteen minutes had passed, and on the west side of the Deisenmun, it had already become a large fire belt!

The entire Base Camp was in an uproar, countless Tin and his screams of agony could be heard from within the flames. Official commanded the civilians and soldiers to start fighting the fire, but how could those buckets of water, which relied on their human resources, stop the spreading of the fire?

To use an idiom like 'a cup of water being thrown at a train with a cup of water' was too much of an image!

Today was the day of celebration for the Emperor's Grand marriage and universal population. Many of the civilians and soldiers were too drunk drinking too much that they couldn't even form an organization in such a short time of time, let alone a large-scale fire brigade. There were even people who were burned to death in their houses without being able to escape!

It could really be said that this was Red Lotus Hell. When Tongzhi went to the Jingshan to command the entire situation, the campsite outside the Deisenmun and the storehouse had already been turned into a pile of fire. Soldiers on the city walls were so frightened that their weapons fell to the ground.

”Buddha!” He had burnt the sky... ”It's like the sky's been burnt down …”

Flames, reeds, fodder, wood, barracks... There was even the sound of the fire medicine being ignited!

As the temperature of the flame increased, it swirled into a whirlwind of fire, lifting the red coals of fire into the air. Then, the whirlwind twisted its devilish waist and scattered the flames even further!