Chapter 149 Unexpected
Unlike the easy battle on Li Hu’s side, the battle on Captain Qiu’s side was extremely difficult.

The fighting here has gradually died down, with only a few brave men left who are fighting desperately.

Captain Qiu was also wounded, his clothes were disheveled and covered in blood. He was protected by several guards from the Southern Pacification Division and sat on the stone steps at the main door. He was obviously blood-thirsty and shouted with gritted teeth, “Kill! Kill!”

At this moment, the sound of countless soldiers and horses shouting came from outside.

Then there was a shout of “What? What are you doing?”

Captain Qiu’s face suddenly changed and he stood up abruptly.

A large area of ​​firelight shone in, and a general led a group of imperial guards swarmed in, and immediately dispersed and stood in different places in the yard.

Zhongjing Hou Shi Ding appeared at the door and shouted, “Stop!”

The courtyard fell silent.

The people from the Southern Pacification Office stopped and were threatening the men with knives.

When they saw that they were the imperial guards, the faces of those men changed. They quickly exchanged a knowing look, raised their steel knives and tightened them around their necks. They fell down in the surprised eyes of Shi Ding, Captain Qiu and others.

“waste!”

Captain Qiu roared, “You are all useless. You are dead! Ah! Several months of hard work have been ruined because of you.”

The guards from the Southern Pacification Division all knelt down on one knee.

Shi Ding was so embarrassed that this was clearly a veiled attack!

“Waste! All of them are waste~”

Captain Qiu cursed angrily and kicked the captain of the Southern Pacification Division on the shoulder.

The captain of the Southern Pacification Division was kneeling on one leg, and when he saw him kicking, he instinctively dodged. Captain Qiu was already injured, and he stepped on empty air, lost his balance, and fell down. Fortunately, the captain of the Southern Pacification Division was quick-witted and knelt there, raising his hands to support him.

With a “slap” sound, Captain Qiu was angry and annoyed at this time. After being supported by the Captain of the Southern Pacification Division, he was slapped again. This time, the Captain of the Southern Pacification Division did not dodge and took the slap head on.

Shi Ding was already annoyed to death for not having caught anyone alive. Seeing Captain Qiu acting so crazy again, his brows immediately furrowed together.

Captain Qiu beat six or seven bandits in a row, but still couldn’t vent his anger. He walked to the corpses, cursing viciously and kicking the corpses on the ground hard with his feet.

Suddenly, one of the corpses moved, and the next moment it suddenly jumped up, and everyone saw a flash of white light before their eyes!
Captain Qiu widened his eyes in shock and horror, and hurriedly covered his neck with both hands, but it was useless. Scarlet blood flowed out through the gaps between his fingers.

Then with a “bang”, Captain Qiu fell down.

The “corpse” laughed, spat out a mouthful of blood from his mouth, and then fell down with a bang, still tightly holding the bloody knife in his hand!

There was silence, and the air seemed to have frozen.

“Commander-in-chief!” The captain of the Southern Pacification Division reacted and pounced forward.

“Commander-in-chief!” The other soldiers from the Southern Pacification Division were also awakened and pounced on him.

Shi Ding also woke up and shouted in panic: “Quick! Send him to the hospital!”

With great efforts, the guards of the Southern Pacification Office lifted up Captain Qiu and ran out.

Shi Ding was shocked and angry, and growled, “Search! Search this place thoroughly, don’t leave any place unsearched!”

“Yes!” The imperial guards immediately dispersed and rushed into various courtyards.

With a swish, Shi Ding drew his sword and went forward to examine the corpse himself.

The personal soldiers behind him also drew their swords and stepped forward to help search the body.

Shi Ding was disappointed. He didn’t find anyone breathing.

Someone shouted, “The outer city is on fire!”

Shi Ding and his personal soldiers raised their heads and looked into the distance towards the outer city.

The blazing flames lit up half the sky of the outer city!

Suddenly, there was the sound of hurried horse hooves outside the door.

Then a guard from the Imperial Household Department rushed in and reported to Shi Ding, “Commander Shi, there are thieves setting fire and killing people in the West Market. The people living in the restaurants that were set on fire are all gentry from the south of the Yangtze River who came to Beijing to buy land!”

Shi Ding’s eyes flashed with coldness: “Your Majesty is right.” He turned to the officer behind him and said: “You take the people to continue searching.” After that, he strode out. The night wind blew away the dark clouds, and the moon came out.

At this time, the moon had risen to the zenith. At this time, Emperor Yongchang and Dai Quan climbed up the Meridian Gate Tower and stood in the moonlight.

This is a good location. Looking forward, you can see the raging fire in the outer city that has burned half the sky red. Looking east, you can see little lights in the direction of West City. You can also faintly hear explosions coming from West City.

Emperor Yongchang’s face turned ashen, and his eyes were filled with murderous intent.

A gust of night wind blew up the cloak behind Emperor Yongchang.

Dai Quan said softly: “Your Majesty, the wind is blowing, let’s go back to the palace first.”

Emperor Yongchang stood there motionless: “Why is there no news from Daxiangguo Temple yet?”

Dai Quan paused and replied, “It’s time for some news to come.”

Before he finished speaking, the sound of footsteps was heard on the stairs nearby.

Dai Quan looked over immediately and saw a red-robed eunuch from the Imperial Household Department running towards him.

The chief eunuch knelt down before Emperor Yongchang and said, “Your Majesty, there is an urgent report from General Li that Bai Hongzhi’s body has not been found.”

Dai Quan was shocked: “What happened? Bai Hongzhi ran away?!”

The chief eunuch said, “General Li said that a restaurant had been prepared. The news must have leaked out, so Bai Hongzhi ran away early.”

Dai Quan’s face turned pale, and he fell to his knees beside Emperor Yongchang, with his head pressed firmly on the brick floor.

After a moment of silence, Emperor Yongchang spoke: “It’s just a stink bug, let it run away. Let Li Hu go to Daxiangguo Temple immediately and find out what’s going on for me!” At this point, his eyes flashed and murderous intent was revealed in his tone: “Tell Li Hu that I will allow him to do what he wants. Immediately suppress the rebellion and put out the fire!”

The chief eunuch: “As you wish.” He bowed his head, stood up and ran down.

Emperor Yongchang: “Stand up, can you solve the problem by kneeling down?”

“Your Majesty, I bow my head to thank you for your grace!” Dai Quan kowtowed three times before he got up.

Emperor Yongchang: “Let’s investigate carefully to see if there is something wrong with the Imperial Household Department.”

Dai Quan replied: “Yes.”

Emperor Yongchang was silent for a moment, then said: “The matter of Bai Hongzhi cannot be exposed to the public, so let’s investigate it slowly.”

Dai Quan: “Yes.”

“We also need to investigate the third brother.” Emperor Yongchang added.

“Yes.” Dai Quan answered, but he was surprised.

At this time, a burst of hurried footsteps was heard, and then another eunuch in red from the Imperial Household Department came running over.

Emperor Yongchang’s eyes flashed, and the eunuch had already run to him and knelt down.

The chief eunuch panted: “Bei, something happened in Prince Beijing’s mansion.”

Emperor Yongchang: “Go on.”

The eunuch breathed a sigh of relief: “Yes, it was the old soldiers of Ningguo Mansion. They took advantage of the chaos to rush into the second gate and directly ignited the gunpowder bags on their bodies. They rushed to the crowded place and killed many people.”

Emperor Yongchang was shocked!

Dai Quan was also shocked!

The eunuch continued, “If our people hadn’t reacted quickly and dragged the other two old soldiers out, more people would have died.”

Emperor Yongchang came to his senses and asked: “No evidence left behind, right?”

The chief eunuch said: “No, those old soldiers were also blown to pieces.”

Emperor Yongchang was startled at first, then he sighed: “What a loyal servant!”

As soon as he finished speaking, Dai Quan suddenly grabbed Emperor Yongchang’s arm, stared blankly at Dongcheng, and said in a trembling voice: “Your Majesty, Your Majesty, look!”

Emperor Yongchang was startled by his sudden action, and when he looked in the direction of his gaze, he was immediately shocked. Fires shot up into the sky in the East City, and a blazing fire was ignited.
(End of this chapter)