The flames were roaring inside the granary, like a ferocious beast, destroying everything.
The grain was burned to a crisp, releasing thick smoke and a pungent smell.
The soldiers guarding the grain stood in front of the flames, and their figures looked particularly small in the firelight.
They are finished, and so is the granary they guarded.
As time went by, the flames in the granary became weaker and weaker.
Everyone was sitting slumped in the distance at this moment, looking at the granary that had turned into ashes.
In a distant village, villagers were awakened by the sudden fire.
When they saw the flames soaring into the sky, they were filled with fear and uneasiness.
The fire burned until the next morning.
Xu Shiji got up early.
Originally, he wanted to see the living conditions of the soldiers on the frontier, but when the frightened general guarding the grain came to him, Xu Shiji couldn't resist and swayed.
"Military advisor, granary..." The food guard general choked up and couldn't speak.
"What happened to the granary?" Xu Shiji was trembling all over.
"It's gone, the granary is gone!" As soon as the grain guard finished speaking, Xu Shiji fell to the ground where I was.
"military adviser!"
"military adviser!"
The people accompanying him quickly supported Xu Shiji.
After a while, Xu Shiji slowly came to his senses. Looking at the food guard in front of him, his heart was full of anger and unwillingness.
He gave repeated orders to guard the granary, which was the lifeblood of the entire army.
But now?
The granary was burned!
Xu Shiji didn't even know how General Shouliang said this.
The granary was burned, and all the food and fodder for the 100,000-strong army for half a year was gone. It was absolutely impossible for the frontier army to step out of the sand city.
Xu Shiji still couldn't hold it back, and a mouthful of old blood spurted out, and he passed out again.
…
<
br> It was already noon when the news reached Zhao Chen's ears, and he still found out about Xu Shiji's coma from Qin Sanpao's mouth.
I hurriedly went to visit and found out that the army's granary had been burned.
Zhao Chen didn't say anything. He felt relieved after seeing Xu Shiji's pulse.
Xu Shiji didn't have any major problems, but he was so angry that he vomited blood and fainted.
You'll be fine if you rest for a while.
"Your Highness, the military advisor is currently unconscious and there is no one in the army to take charge. Can you take charge temporarily?" Xu Shiji's generals looked at Zhao Chen.
Other generals also nodded, hoping that Zhao Chen could temporarily command the border army.
For the border army generals, they were comrades who had fought alongside Zhao Chen, so they naturally knew Zhao Chen's abilities very well.
Now that Xu Shiji is in coma, Zhao Chen is of course the best choice to take charge.
"There's no need for that, sir. Commander Xu will wake up later."
"But you bring the food guard here, I want to question you." Zhao Chen refused, and asked someone to bring the food guard.
Soon, the food guard general was brought in.
Seeing Xu Shiji unconscious, the food guard knew that he would die.
"His Royal Highness the King of Han, he is Liu Ji, the food guard general." A general said.
"Your Highness, please spare your life, I don't know what happened."
"The granary suddenly caught fire." Liu Ji, the food guard general, looked frightened and quickly begged Zhao Chen for mercy.
"Your clothes still smell of alcohol." Zhao Chen said lightly.
This sentence made Liu Ji turn pale.
"Tell me, what did you see?" Zhao Chen continued.
Liu Ji knew that he couldn't hide it, so he could only say honestly: "Because it was very cold yesterday.
, we thought no one would come to attack us, so we drank some wine with our brothers."
"I really didn't drink much." Liu Ji said quickly.
But no one would believe him.
"When we found out, all the granaries were on fire, and we wanted to put out the fire."
"I don't know why, but the fire can't be extinguished at all, even with water."
"Then the wind picked up again and there was nothing left!"
"You're such a bastard!" After Liu Ji said this, an impatient general pinched his collar.
"Put him down!" Zhao Chen said, and the general reluctantly dropped him.
"Did you come here again with traces of burning?" Zhao Chen asked again...??.
"Take it, take it." Liu Ji quickly took out two burnt black marks from his arms.
Zhao Chen took it and took a look and saw traces of kerosene on it.
The right hands immediately pinched together.
"No one was caught?" Zhao Chen's voice suddenly turned cold.
"No...no." Liu Ji shook his head.
"Kill him." Zhao Chen waved his hand and announced Liu Ji's death sentence.
"Your Highness!"
"Your Highness, please spare your life!"
"Your Highness!"
Liu Ji was taken down and soon became silent.
All the generals didn't know what to say now.
"Your Highness!" Xu Shiji woke up from his coma and shouted quickly when he saw Zhao Chen here.
"military adviser!"
"Commander, are you okay?"
"Commander, are you okay?"
A group of generals quickly stepped forward and asked.
It can also be seen that Xu Shiji's status in the hearts of the generals is still very high.
"fine."
"I'm fine, I'm just a little anxious!" Xu Shiji waved his hand and looked at the generals: "You go back and do your work first. I have something to say to His Highness."
After hearing what Xu Shiji said, all the generals bowed their hands and left.
Only Zhao Chen and Xu Shiji were left in the room.
After being silent for a while, Xu Shiji slowly said: "Actually, I have already heard what His Highness asked Liu Ji just now."
"Your Highness, can you clearly see what the burn marks are?"
"Black fire oil." Zhao Chen looked cold and stern.
"It seems that the real enemy is always inside." Xu Shiji sighed.
Of course he knows about black fire oil.
When Zhao Chen was still in Chang'an Academy, he discovered it with a group of students from Chang'an Academy.
This kind of thing had no practical application at the time.
But it was controlled by the Ministry of War, because the emperor's idea was to see if the people in the Ministry of War had time to come up with something.
But now, black fire oil appears.
They also burned down the grain depot of their own frontier army, which makes people feel ridiculous even if they say it.
Moreover, Xu Shiji concluded that those who burned down their own grain depots were probably their own people from the Tang Dynasty.
And these people were those in the court who opposed anyone mobilizing border troops to stop Goguryeo.
"Haha!" Xu Shiji suddenly laughed, then looked sad again.
He thought that the Tang Dynasty would continue to be strong and prosperous, but after only a short time, different voices began to appear within the imperial court.
In order to stop Zhao Chen and stop the border troops from stopping the Goguryeo army, they even burned down the army's granaries.
"Uncle Xu, you can rest assured and cultivate yourself. I will find out about this matter." Zhao Chen could only comfort Xu Shiji now.
But he will definitely find out the person behind Chang'an.