Chapter 268 The fire has started.
The New Year's Eve banquet was held in the main hall of the Qianqing Palace, and the banquet, which started in the evening, lasted until the second watch of the night.
After the banquet, the officials left the palace and went home to celebrate the New Year.
In the distance, the faint sound of firecrackers drifted in, crackling and popping intermittently, as if coming from distant streets and alleys, carried by the wind, sometimes present and sometimes absent. It was the people of the capital staying up late on New Year's Eve, driving away the mythical beast Nian, and welcoming the new year.
After the second watch drum sounded, the imperial city fell completely silent.
The eunuchs and palace maids who were keeping vigil on New Year's Eve returned to their posts, and the patrolling imperial guards marched in orderly steps through the passageway, the sound of their armor clashing echoing in the empty palace.
Two lanterns under the corridor of Qianqing Palace were blown out by the wind, and the remaining ones swayed precariously in the wind, casting the shadows of the imperial guards on night watch into varying lengths, which looked like wrinkled shadow puppets on the red palace wall.
Li Xun pushed open the door to the duty room in the left wing. The snow outside was heavier than before, and the wind, carrying snowflakes, stung his face, feeling as cold as a knife.
He said to the team leaders in the duty room, "Be on high alert tonight, and don't let those who set off firecrackers disturb the imperial procession."
The teams agreed and dispersed.
When the third watch drum sounded, the palace was as quiet as a tomb.
The snow was still falling, but less so than before, falling in fine, scattered flakes, like someone was sprinkling salt from the sky.
The patrolling imperial guards changed shifts, and their footsteps came from Chengtian Gate, approaching from afar and then receding into the distance, gradually disappearing at the end of the passageway.
The two lanterns under the corridor of Qianqing Palace that had been blown out by the wind had been relit at some point. The new candlelight was brighter than before, illuminating the area under the corridor clearly, and even the snow falling on the railings reflected a warm orange-red hue.
No one noticed that the firelight shining through the window of a side hall on the west side of the Qianqing Palace was a little brighter than usual.
It was just a little bit, like someone had added an extra wick to the lamp.
But that little bit of light quickly turned into two, then into four, and finally into one, shining through the window and reflected on the snow like puddles dyed red by the setting sun.
By the time the patrolling imperial guards realized something was wrong, the window of the side hall had already been burned through.
Flames licked out from the window frame, onto the wooden carvings on the eaves, onto the pillars under the corridor, and onto the red lanterns swaying in the wind.
The fire spread at an abnormally fast rate.
Almost simultaneously, several of the Imperial Guards' camps also caught fire, and flames erupted from the corner towers at the four corners of the palace, with raging flames shooting out from the arrow slits, illuminating half of the palace.
Thick smoke billowed upwards, carrying sparks and ash, mingling with the falling snowflakes and turning the entire night sky into an eerie gray-red.
"Fire!!"
"Fire! Fire! Help!"
Shouts rang out from all directions, one after another, like a flock of startled birds taking flight.
The imperial guards rushed out of their tents, some carrying buckets of water, some shirtless, some without even shoes, stumbling and running through the snow, bumping into each other, jostling together, creating utter chaos.
Amidst the chaos, the guards at Chengtian Gate saw Li Xun running from the other end of the passageway, fully armored, with a sword hanging at his waist and holding a bright yellow imperial edict in his hand, which fluttered in the firelight.
"His Majesty has decreed!" Li Xun's voice pierced the cacophony of firefighting cries, "The rebel army has breached the imperial city. My troops are ordered to immediately open the palace gates and allow reinforcements from outside the city to enter and quell the rebellion!"
The garrison captain at Chengtian Gate was stunned for a moment, looking at the imperial edict and then at Li Xun. The firelight flickered on his face, making his expression appear and disappear.
"Captain Li, this—"
"The imperial edict is here, do you dare to disobey it?" Li Xun's voice became even sharper as he thrust the edict forward, almost stabbing the captain in the face.
The captain glanced down at the imperial edict—yellow silk, vermilion annotations, imperial seal—everything was there. He gritted his teeth, turned, and waved to the guards behind him: "Open the palace gates!"
The heavy wooden door creaked open slowly, the sound of the hinges rubbing together sounding particularly jarring amidst the chaos.
The moment the palace gates opened, shouts of battle outside poured in like a flood bursting its banks. Torchlight surged in from outside the gates, like countless tentacles reaching out from the darkness, rushing towards the open palace gates from all directions.
Their footsteps crushed the red paper from firecrackers on the snow, crushed the melon seed shells and candy crumbs that hadn't been swept away yet, and shattered all the peace that should have been on this New Year's Eve.