After saving the Empress, I became the top scholar in the imperial examination.

…………

The explosion came unexpectedly, like a fire dragon suddenly bursting out of the ground!

"Bang!"

In a single moment.

The fiery red dragon horns tore through the earth, destroyed houses, and soared into the sky.

A clap of thunder startled them, and the flames transformed into a sea of ​​fire, turning half the sky crimson!

"Bang bang bang bang!"

The continuous explosions were deafening, causing temporary deafness and a sudden boom in the head.

Smoke and dust billowed from the Siamese embassy, ​​obscuring the moonlight. Inside, screams, shouts, and footsteps filled the air, creating utter chaos.

One by one, terrified people covered their heads and scrambled out of the embassy, ​​collapsing to the ground crying and screaming.

Ming Dong was originally standing outside the Siamese embassy, ​​with his back to the embassy.

When the explosion rang out, he was so frightened that he instinctively bent over to hide, his ears rang sharply, and his head spun.

A wave of hot air rushed towards my back.

Holding his melon-shaped hat, Ming Dong stumbled forward, but in an instant he realized what had happened. He turned around sharply and saw the embassy suddenly engulfed in flames. His pupils contracted, a chill ran through him, and his hands and feet instantly turned icy cold.

Thick black smoke billowed ahead.

Ming Dong, who was tall and wore a black melon-shaped hat, looked to be in his early thirties. At this moment, his mind was like a tidal wave, with countless thoughts surging through his head.

"Who broke into the embassy?!" "How could the Siamese have so much gunpowder in the embassy?!" "Where did they get the gunpowder?!" "Are the Siamese going to rebel?!"

"What about the envoys from the Southern Dynasty?" "How are they?" "Where are they?... "

"Are there traitors from the Church of Heaven among the people in the Siamese embassy?" "Or were these traitors already hiding in the embassy?" "Or was there some loophole that allowed them to slip in?"

At the same time, a whole host of doubts popped into his mind: "Impossible!", "The Siamese wouldn't dare!", "Arranging the Southern Dynasty envoys in the Siamese embassy was a temporary measure; they couldn't have predicted this and planted so much gunpowder in advance!", "With so many people guarding the embassy, ​​they couldn't have infiltrated...", "Impossible..."

As a third-class guard of the Sticky Rod Office, Ming Dong was always cautious and meticulous.

Otherwise, he wouldn't have been so highly regarded by the promising Yue Le, who appointed him to guard the Siamese embassy, ​​and later Mu Shu appointed him to take charge of the affairs there.

He was originally leading about a hundred men to guard the four sides of the Siamese embassy while directing fire squads in various streets to extinguish the fire at the southern embassy.

In addition to properly arranging all matters here, he also sent people to seal off the entrances and exits of Dongjiang Rice Lane.

People were immediately dispatched to guard the surrounding areas, including Bafu Hutong, Tongjia Alley, and Sixian Street.

Firefighters who come to put out fires are allowed to enter but not leave, to prevent thieves from taking advantage of the chaos to escape.

There are only about a dozen doctors who come here for treatment, and although they are allowed to go out to get medicine, they are all alone...

But who could have predicted...

The Siamese embassy exploded just like the embassy of the Southern Dynasty!

Besides the massive explosion, smaller explosions were also heard throughout the embassy.

The Siamese people, doctors, some wounded firefighters, militiamen, and soldiers from the Siamese embassy all ran or crawled out of the building, covered in dust and dirt, and ran to Dongjiangmi Lane, revealing half of their shaved heads.

Some people may have recently gotten a haircut, and their shaved heads look somewhat bluish.

Some of the laborers even had sparks on their bodies.

One person shouted, "Water!"

"Fire!"

"Quick, bring me some water!"

Several people carried water over.

Some people, disregarding everything, blocked the way for the loads of water being carried and poured the water on themselves first...

…………

"Thief... thief..."

His ears were filled with a piercing noise, and there seemed to be no other sound in the world except for these sounds. Mingdong shouted out a few syllables, but he couldn't hear what he was saying.

After a few moments, as several people rushed toward him in a panic, the indistinct, sharp noise gradually became clearer.

"Sir...Mingdong-sama..."

One of his subordinates, who had rushed into the embassy to rescue Renmin University, was blackened by the thick smoke and his eyes were red from the fumes. He emerged from the embassy and cried out anxiously to him:

"grown ups……"

"The envoys from the Southern Dynasty..."

"Gone...all gone...!"

My palms will be icy cold next winter.

"It's gone... Was it buried?"

Just as the coming winter felt like falling into an ice cellar.

Prince Hongfeng, the Prince of Yi's Princely Mansion, led a group of servants from various princely mansions on Wangfu Street. They arrived by carriage with fire extinguishers, water hoses, fire hooks, fire curtains, and other fire-fighting equipment to put out the fire.

Prince Hongfeng and the other princes and nobles, who had been excited, looked at each other, feeling bewildered and panicked.

They originally came here because they saw that the fire at the Southern Kingdom's embassy was almost extinguished, and they wanted to come and steal the credit.

But unexpectedly... it coincided with the explosion and fire at the Siamese embassy!

……

……

The moonlight was deep and bright.

Wangfu Street is very close to Dongjiangmi Alley.

It takes less than 15 minutes to walk there.

not long ago.

Xu Xiyin, who disguised herself as a member of the fire brigade from Bafu Hutong and came to put out the fire, was invited by Jia Shi'an to rest in the Siamese Embassy. She hid in a side room in the front yard of the embassy.

Jia Shi'an ordered his men to move the wounded laborers and soldiers into the embassy, ​​and soon a group of doctors arrived carrying their medicine chests.

Jia Shi'an looked around and found a doctor named Shen who was thin and similar in build to her. She asked this doctor to come into the side room to examine her.

As soon as the other party entered the room, she shouted the "password" and tricked him into revealing that the password for tonight was "Changbai Mountain" and "bear". Xu Xiyin immediately knocked the other party unconscious, stripped off his outer clothes and handkerchief, tied his hands and feet, and stuffed him under the bed.

After carefully dressing herself in front of the bronze mirror, she bowed and went out the door.

Just as she stepped out of the embassy, ​​a tall man in a black mandarin jacket called her over and ordered her to treat a guard's knife wound on his arm.

Xu Xiyin cursed her bad luck inwardly, but fortunately, she was a doctor herself. She cleaned the guard's wound, applied medicine, and bandaged him without revealing any flaws. Only then was she able to leave Dongjiang Rice Lane with her waist tag and password.

After leaving Dongjiangmi Alley, she pretended to have a limp and walked slowly towards Wangfu Street. When patrolling soldiers ordered her to move, she smiled bitterly, took out her waist token, answered the password, and complained in a hoarse voice:

"Officer, I've sprained my leg and my throat is hoarse from smoke inhalation, but that's not all. I'm not even talking about the consultation fee. It's this medicine... I'm even losing money on it... The officials from the Southern Dynasty just keep saying 'they'll pay' to get me treated... but I've never even seen what silver looks like in the Southern Kingdom... and the officials at the Imperial Household Department didn't even give me a receipt..."

The soldiers waved and laughed, "Trying to get a note from the sticky pole office? Dream on! Come on, let's go back and get the medicine."

Everyone has their share of illnesses and ailments, so they didn't make things difficult for the doctor.

Xu Xiyin's delicate eyebrows were hidden under a thick layer of black ash as she bowed and left.

Only when she heard the sound of galloping hooves and the Chaoyang Gate of the inner city opening wide did she breathe a sigh of relief, quicken her pace, and hunch her back as she walked toward the Prince Yi's Mansion on Wangfu Street.