Gou was a member of the imperial family in the late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 376: Wanggongchang Explosion
Qianqing Palace.

Emperor Tianqi was reading memorials. He had finished his breakfast, but he had not yet finished reading the memorials on the desk. There was a cup of tea next to him, and the eunuchs serving him were on his left and right.

As I was watching intently, I suddenly felt a slight movement on the ground, followed by a rumbling sound as if coming from far away, and then the whole hall suddenly shook violently, and there was an alarming thunderous sound.

Emperor Tianqi's face changed instantly, and his reaction was quick enough. He jumped up without saying a word, dropped the memorial in his hand and ran out. His speed was comparable to that of Bolt.

Before the young eunuch serving on the side could react, Emperor Tianqi had already run to the palace gate and was about to run out of the Qianqing Palace.

At this time, the young eunuchs finally reacted and hurriedly ran out in panic. Not only the young eunuchs, but also several palace maids in the Qianqing Palace ran out in a hurry. However, when they had just taken a few steps, the whole palace shook violently, and the beams on it could not bear the force and fell down. As the beams fell, the tiles on the roof fell down like rain, and then even the pillars of the hall began to collapse.

"Oh, my mother......!"

"Hail, help..."

“Emperor….”

There were several screams. Some were hit directly by beams and tiles, and their brains burst immediately. Some were crushed under the fallen pillars and their miserable screams stopped abruptly after a few times. Some finally ran out of the palace gate, but could not escape the bricks and stones falling from the corridor and were crushed to death on the spot. Except for Emperor Tianqi, who was the first to react and the first to escape, no other eunuchs and palace maids survived in the entire Qianqing Palace.

Emperor Tianqi ran very fast. While running, he did not forget to raise his hands and cover his head and face with his sleeves. In a blink of an eye, he ran out of the Qianqing Palace.

When he reached the palace gate, Emperor Tianqi still did not stop. He ran directly along the stairs to the open space outside. When he ran to the open space outside the palace, Emperor Tianqi's legs went weak and he sat down on the ground, looking up blankly at the front.

The noise just now was so shocking that it was no exaggeration to describe it as the collapse of the sky and the cracking of the earth. The huge noise was accompanied by a violent shaking of the ground, and for a moment Emperor Tianqi thought that the sky had fallen.

At this time, looking forward, just in the southwest direction, a huge cloud of smoke rose into the sky. The smoke was terrifyingly large, and there were red and yellow flames rising in the smoke. At the same time, there were continuous explosions.

The smoke rose hundreds of feet into the sky, like a mushroom, covering most of the sky. At the same time, a whirlwind with a heat wave swept in. The whirlwind was so strong that it made it difficult for Emperor Tianqi to breathe. He couldn't help but fall to the ground, covering himself with his sleeves, his face pale and gasping for breath.

At the same time, at the construction site of the three main halls not far from the Qianqing Palace, Xu Xiancheng was also in a miserable state. He hid in a corner with his hands on his head and squatted on the ground. He barely escaped the disaster with the help of the huge stone lion beside him.

From the sky, all kinds of things fell down like raindrops. These things included tiles, stones, wood, debris, and people.

The most unfortunate ones were the craftsmen who were working on the roof of the hall. How could they stand there? Under the shaking of the earth, they all screamed and fell down from the roof. How could they survive after falling from a height of dozens of meters?
"Earthquake?" Xu Xiancheng's reaction was not slow, and he was in a good position at the moment of the accident. The huge stone lions beside him were big enough, heavy enough, and enough to shield him. But even so, Xu Xiancheng was hit by the flying bricks and stones and suffered some minor injuries.

Xu Xiancheng and others were stunned for a moment, and their first reaction after they came to their senses was that it was an earthquake. Earthquakes were not uncommon in the Ming Dynasty. They were also called "earth dragon turning over" and there were many records of them in history. Earthquakes had occurred in the two hundred years since the Ming Dynasty moved its capital from Nanjing to the capital, but there had never been an earthquake as severe as this one.

But when the shaking gradually stopped and the rumbling explosions subsided, Xu Xiancheng felt that this was not an earthquake, because earthquakes were not like this at all. When he left from under the stone lions, his eyes were immediately attracted by the huge smoke and dust in the southwest direction. Xu Xiancheng opened his mouth and was speechless for a while. At this time, he was more convinced that it was not an earthquake at all, because he recognized the location of the smoke and dust in the southwest direction at a glance. As an official of the Ministry of Industry, how could he not know where this place was?

"Wang...Wang Gongchang...?!"

Yes! It is Wanggongchang. Wanggongchang is where the workshops and warehouses of the Ministry of Industry are located, and the most produced and stored thing there is gunpowder.

Since Xu Xiancheng entered the Ministry of Works, he has been in charge of the renovation of the three main halls, but he has also learned about other situations in the Ministry of Works.

According to what he knew, the gunpowder workshop in Wanggongchang could produce 4,000 kilograms of gunpowder every day, and the gunpowder warehouse had a reserve of hundreds of thousands of kilograms of gunpowder all year round. This was still the normal storage capacity. Because of the reconstruction of the Juehua Island base, the Ministry of Industry had stored a large amount of military equipment including gunpowder there these days, and the storage of gunpowder alone exceeded one million kilograms or even more.

It is no wonder that the explosion of such a huge amount of gunpowder would have such amazing destructive power. Even the Forbidden City was affected by such an explosion, not to mention Wanggongchang, which was at the center of the explosion.

The current Wanggongchang has probably been razed to the ground, and everything on it no longer exists, not to mention the materials in the warehouses and the people who were guarding them.

Staring blankly at the scene in front of him, Xu Xiancheng couldn't understand how such a situation could happen in Wanggongchang? At this time, the screams and shouts from all sides brought him back to reality. Looking back, the entire construction site was in a mess, with countless dead and injured craftsmen, including many palace servants. Putting aside other things for the time being, saving people is the most important thing now. Xu Xiancheng hurriedly found a few people who were lucky enough not to be injured or slightly injured to rescue them. At the same time, he also thought of the Qianqing Palace not far from him. Emperor Tianqi was still in the Qianqing Palace. In a hurry, Xu Xiancheng took two people and ran towards the Qianqing Palace. As soon as he ran outside the Qianqing Palace, he saw a man lying on the open ground from a distance, not knowing whether he was dead or alive. Judging from the clothes he was wearing, this man was probably Emperor Tianqi.

"Your Majesty! Your Majesty!"

Xu Xiancheng hurried forward and shouted anxiously.

After just shouting twice, Emperor Tianqi, who was lying on the ground, moved. This made Xu Xiancheng immediately relieved. It seemed that Emperor Tianqi was still alive.

"Your Majesty, are you okay?"

"I... I'm fine... Help... Help me up..." Emperor Tianqi was terrified. His face was pale and he was so frightened that he had no strength left. He escaped from the Qianqing Palace just now relying on his instinctive reaction and the courage in his heart. Now that the incident was over, that energy had long been lost and he felt weak all over and had no strength at all.

He hurried forward to support the Emperor, but did not let him stand up, but let him sit down. At the same time, Xu Xiancheng said, "Your Majesty, I apologize," and reached out to touch the Emperor's body. After touching it a few times, he looked at the Emperor's body carefully, and then he was sure that the Emperor was not injured at all except that he was frightened and covered in dust.

Seeing that Emperor Tianqi still looked dazed, Xu Xiancheng took off the wine gourd hanging around his waist.

"Your Majesty, I have some wine here. Would you like to have a drink to slow down your mood?"

"Give it... give it to me..." Emperor Tianqi stretched out his hand to take it, but his trembling hands could not hold it steadily. Seeing this, Xu Xiancheng hurriedly helped to feed him two sips. After drinking the wine, Emperor Tianqi gradually returned to normal. As his face turned red, his body stopped shaking and he spoke much more fluently.

Far away from them, the mushroom cloud had not yet dissipated and faint cries could be heard from outside the palace. Even the Forbidden City was in chaos, with guards, eunuchs and palace maids running around like headless flies.

Frowning, Xu Xiancheng stood up and stretched out his hand to the crowd running in the distance, shouting, stopping a few people who were running around, telling them not to panic, the bombs were over, if something was going to happen it would have happened a long time ago, why are they running now? What does it look like to run around?
After Xu Xiancheng's stern shout, the few people came to their senses. When they saw Emperor Tianqi sitting on the ground, they hurriedly stepped forward and knelt down to apologize to the emperor.

Xu Xiancheng did not care about these things, nor did he ask for the opinion of Emperor Tianqi. He simply asked two eunuchs to stay among them to guard Emperor Tianqi, and asked the others to stop the other panicked people, notify the eunuchs with high status in the palace to restore order as soon as possible, and also immediately find someone to go to the harem to check on the empress, concubines and princes, count the casualties in the palace, and report as soon as possible.

After Xu Xiancheng's instructions, the few people did not move, but looked at Emperor Tianqi. Emperor Tianqi naturally understood their thoughts and waved his hand to them, and they responded and followed Xu Xiancheng's arrangements.

"Your Majesty, this is an urgent matter. I am temporarily..." Xu Xiancheng had not thought much about it at first, but only now he realized that the emperor was still there. He was directly commanding the guards and eunuchs in the palace in front of the emperor. He was immediately frightened and broke out in a cold sweat.

"It's okay, well done." Emperor Tianqi forced a smile. There was nothing wrong with Xu Xiancheng's subconscious arrangement just now. As for not asking for his instructions, Emperor Tianqi was not a stingy person and would not blame him.

Looking at the official in front of him who was about the same age as himself, Emperor Tianqi finally recognized who Xu Xiancheng was. In recent days, Emperor Tianqi had dealt with Xu Xiancheng several times and knew that Xu Xiancheng was a newly-appointed Jinshi and an official who was interning in the Ministry of Works. At the end of last year, Xu Xiancheng began to be responsible for the renovation of the three main halls. He worked very seriously, which made Emperor Tianqi quite satisfied.

Unexpectedly, Emperor Tianqi saw Xu Xiancheng's calm and composed side today. Although he was only a small sixth-rank official, his decisiveness just now was impressive. Moreover, Xu Xiancheng was the first minister to come to his side, which made Emperor Tianqi feel a little more favorable towards him.

"Are you Xu Xiancheng, the Jinshi who won the imperial examination last year and is now in charge of the three main halls in the Ministry of Works?" Emperor Tianqi asked.

"Your Majesty has a good memory. I am Xu Xiancheng." Xu Xiancheng replied quickly.

"Where is this?" Emperor Tianqi raised his hand and pointed in the direction of the mushroom cloud.

Xu Xiancheng replied: "I am not mistaken. It should be Wanggongchang that exploded just now."

"Wang Gongchang?" Emperor Tianqi was slightly stunned, his eyes thoughtful. Xu Xiancheng was waiting on the side without saying anything. After a long time, Emperor Tianqi nodded, and then turned his eyes to Xu Xiancheng: "You are good... very good..."

(End of this chapter)