Xu Ying, like Han Xiufeng, always paid attention to the news in Yangzhou, and successively sent more than a dozen spies to Yangzhou City and Fairy Temple and other places.

At two o'clock, the spies sent back the report of the fall of Yangzhou City overnight, Xu Yingguo called the friends to discuss the countermeasures for a while, and the shop soldiers sent Han Xiufeng about the fall of Yangzhou, the thieves and bandits, and the Taiyong battalion was a major general who planned to rush to the aid of Yangzhou, so he could only camp on the spot at Wanfu Bridge and prepare to defend Liaojiagou's official document.

The worst fears have finally happened!

Tai Yong's battalion gathered a total of hundreds of temporarily recruited villagers, and Xu Ying was not at the bottom of his heart about whether Liaojiagou could be defended, but he didn't have even a little confidence, and he only hoped that Han Xiufeng and his fellow villagers could keep an hour and an hour, and a day could be counted.

In short, he was going to prepare for the worst.

Because once the bandits cross Liaojiagou to the east, they will be able to drive straight in, and they will be able to besiege Taizhou in two days at the latest. Because of this, he didn't even bother to eat breakfast and took a few relatives out to inspect the city defense.

Xu Ying had just walked for a short time, and Zhang Guangcheng's cousin Zhang Guangsheng came back, said hello to the doorman and went straight to the back office. He is Zhang Zhigao's nephew, and although Zhang Zhigao is not a director, he is still the main hall of Taizhou, and the door is not easy to block, so Zhang Guangsheng can only enter.

As soon as he saw Zhang Guangsheng, Zhang Zhigao's illness was immediately cured, and he took the letter and looked at it carefully for a while, then raised his head and asked, "Guangsheng, where are our people?" ”

"Uncle, all of our people are waiting outside the ya."

"Where is Zhang Shoubei and Yang Jianjiao?"

"All said and done, they will wait for you to ascend."

"Okay, you go out and call someone first, and I'll go to the lobby!"

Uncle can finally retake charge of Taizhou, Zhang Guangsheng was excited, and hurriedly turned around and said: "Xiaocui, wait for the master to change clothes!" ”

"Oh, here we are." The girl guarding the door relieved herself and hurriedly pushed the door and walked in.

……

Although Zhang Zhigao was seized by Xu Ying not long ago, the master of Xingming, Qian Gu and more than a dozen long-term followers were not dismissed like this, and as soon as he received the news of Zhang Guangsheng, he walked into the inner office from the back door, and hugged Zhang Zhigao, who had just changed into an official uniform, and went straight to the signing room.

The injury on Master Hu's buttocks didn't get better for a month, and he couldn't move, so he naturally couldn't go out to patrol the city with Xu Ying, and was lying on the couch reading official documents, only to see Zhang Zhigao, who was supposed to lie on the bed and wait for death, actually swaggered in with his soul, he was stunned all of a sudden, he didn't know how to deal with it, and even forgot to get up and salute.

"Mr. Hu, where is your master?" Zhang Zhigao asked coldly with his hands behind his back.

"I ...... My lord has gone out to inspect the city defense, Master Zhang, you ...... How did you come out and you got better? ”

"Thanks to your master's blessing, this official's illness is almost cured." Zhang Zhigao didn't bother to look at him, turned around and stared at the bookshelf, looking at the familiar printing box on the shelf.

The old master reacted, and immediately walked over and took down the wooden box, put it on the case and opened it, took out the official seal and looked at it, and then put it in and covered it: "Master, the big seal is intact!" ”

"Okay, take the official seal, and I will ascend to the hall with the master!"

"Yes!"

Master Hu suddenly realized why Zhang Zhigao came to get the official seal, and stood up with severe pain and asked, "Master Zhang, what are you doing here?" ”

"What does this official want to do, is it difficult to report to you?" Zhang Zhigao snorted coldly and shook his hand away.

Master Hu was anxious and was about to stop him, but he was stopped by Zhang Zhigao's long entourage: "Mr. Hu, as the saying goes, you grow wisdom by eating a trench, why don't you have a long memory?" Don't forget how you got that board, don't do it again. ”

"You...... You......! ”

"Don't you, mine, this is the business of the big man, you and I can't intervene or intervene, you better have to recuperate."

As he spoke, Zhang Zhigao had already strode into the lobby.

A few soaps guarding the front of the hall were taken aback, and they forgot to come forward to salute for a while.

Zhang Zhigao didn't care about them, so he walked to the back of the public case and sat down, touched the seal box that the old master had just sent to the case, and then looked up and said: "Li Jiu, go and call the nine rooms Jingchengquan, let them bring all the official documents these days, and the official wants to see what official business needs to be done." ”

"Yes!" The head of the soap squad reacted and hurriedly bowed down to receive the order.

At this time, there was a noise outside.

I saw Zhang Guangsheng leading a group of villagers to break into the yamen with high spirits, and drove all the family members brought by Xu Ying from Yangzhou aside. Immediately afterwards, Zhang Garrison of the Taizhou Battalion, Wu Qianzong of Caobiao, Master Yang of the Taiba Supervision Office of the Lianghuai Salt Transportation Division, and the civil and military officials who were distributed to Taizhou for probation all came.

They went up one after another to salute, congratulating Zhang Zhigao on his recovery, and no matter how stupid the nine-room scribe and the third-class official were, they understood that Taizhou had "changed the sky", and they hurriedly went up to greet him.

When Xu Ying received the news and rushed to the state office, Zhang Zhigao was sitting in the hall and reporting the thieves to a group of civil and military officials and the gentry who had just arrived and discussing countermeasures. This situation made Xu Ying, who had the final say in the morning, feel like an outsider, and the big and small things in Taizhou seemed to have nothing to do with him.

"Brother Xu is back," hate it, but the surface article still has to be done, Zhang Zhigao got up to greet him as soon as he saw Xu Ying, and while motioning to his family to bring a chair, he arched his hands and said sincerely: "A few days ago, Zhigao occasionally contracted a cold and was too sick to be a director. If it weren't for Brother Xu's move to Taizhou, I really don't know how much official business would have to be delayed, so Brother Xu would have bothered! ”

Xu Ying never thought that his illness would be miraculously cured, he bowed back, and then said with a gloomy face: "At the moment of the great enemy, these are all matters within Xu's responsibility, why did Brother Zhang say this?" ”

"Yes, the bandits have occupied Yangzhou, and Taizhou can no longer fall into the hands of thieves. As the governor of Taizhou, Zhigao has the responsibility to defend the territory, as long as there is a breath of air, the bandits must not be allowed to succeed! Zhang Zhigao paused, then turned around and said: "Everyone, as Master Xu said, the enemy is current, Zhigao vows to live and die with Taizhou, but Zhigao alone can't stop the bandits, and I have to ask for your help, everything depends on you." ”

"Master Zhang's words are serious, I can't really talk about it, and everything under the officials is based on Master Zhang!"

"Master Zhang, the lower officials all listen to you, we will guard what you say!"

……

A group of civil and military officials scrambled to show their loyalty, Xu Ying's face was blue with anger, and he was thinking about how to clean them up, Zhang Zhigao turned around and said: "Brother Xu, the lower official has already arranged a place for you to stay, please Brother Xu moved to the post house to rest for a while, and then go to see him when the official has arranged everything." ”

Xu Ying couldn't hold back any longer, stared at him and asked angrily, "Zhang Zhigao, do you dare to commit a crime?" ”

"Why did Master Xu say this?" Zhang Zhigao pretended to be very innocent, and said neither humbly nor arrogantly: "The lower official is the main hall of Taizhou, and the affairs of Taizhou are the responsibilities of the lower officials. Taizhou Zhengtang is in charge of Taizhou affairs, I really don't know where to start with the following crimes? ”

"Then what do you think of this official, do you still have this official in your eyes?"

"You are the chief arrester of our Qing army in Yangzhou Prefecture, and about the green camp and theft arrest in Taizhou, the lower officials will naturally submit a document to the post office to report to Master Xu. And this is my Taizhou Prefecture Yamen, neither the Yamen of your Tongzhi Master Xu, nor the post house where Master Xu stays. ”

"Do you think this official moved to Taizhou to relax?"

"It's definitely not a scattered heart, why did you move to Taizhou, it is clearly written on the official document."

Xu Ying suddenly realized why Zhang Zhigao had no fear, because before he came, the prefect's yamen had issued an official document to Taizhou, but the official document only mentioned that he had moved to Taizhou, and did not say that he should be in charge of Taizhou's affairs, nor did it say that he should be in charge of Jiang's defense affairs.

Two days ago, if Zhang Zhigao dared to do this, he could send someone to Yangzhou to find Zhang Tingrui and even Yang Dianbang. However, it's not two days ago, Zhang Tingrui and Yang Dianbang are greedy for life and fear of death and don't know where they went, not to mention that they can't be found for a while, even if they find them, they don't count now. In the final analysis, Zuo Erguan is not a Zhengyin official after all, even if the grade is higher than that of Zhizhou, but without the support of the prefect, then he, the chief arrester of the Qing army, is a "shaking his head"!

Xu Ying gritted his teeth in anger, and was silent for a while before asking coldly, "What if the official doesn't leave?" ”

Zhang Zhigao sneered: "Master Xu, you are not only an official, but also a Jinshi, and others don't know the rules of the imperial court, so it's impossible for you not to know." ”

Thinking that even if he didn't leave, these civil and military officials in Taizhou would no longer obey the same orders as before, Xu Ying didn't want to be bored with himself, and he didn't want to just leave, so he looked at Zhang Zhigao and asked: "Zhang Zhigao, this official can go, but before leaving, there is one thing to ask clearly, how do you plan to defend this city?" ”

"Even if Master Xu doesn't ask, the lower official will go to the post office to report when he turns back." Zhang Zhigao looked back at the crowd and said righteously: "As the parents of Taizhou, the lower officials cannot have the grace of the saints, and the lower officials cannot be ashamed of the people under the rule, and they cannot only guard the state city but ignore the lives and deaths of the people outside the city. Therefore, when the lower officials arranged the city defense matters, they led the young man to carry the coffin to the Baita River for fortification, even if he fought to the death, he would block the bandits in the Baita River, and never let the war spread to the boundary of Taizhou. ”

"No!"

"Why not?"

Xu Ying was anxious, pointed at him and asked angrily: "Zhang Zhigao, there are only two or three thousand young people in the city, don't divide the troops, defend the city, maybe you have a few chances of winning." Once the troops are divided and the city is abandoned to intercept, not only does it have no chance of winning, but it can't even defend the state city! ”

"Master Xu, if the lower officials listen to you, then what is the difference between the lower officials and being a shrunken turtle?" Zhang Zhigao snorted coldly and said-for-tat: "It's still the same sentence, Xiaguan, as the parent official of Taizhou, can't just protect the people in the city, regardless of the life or death of the people outside the city." Xiaguan has already put life and death out of the way, Master Xu, if you are afraid of death, then stay and defend the city, Xiaguan must go out of the city to intercept it! ”

"Xu will be afraid of death, Xu will not come to Taizhou if he is really afraid of death!"

Please don't be as good as agitating generals, Zhang Zhigao is waiting for Xu Ying's words, and asked with a bit of mockery: "Master Xu, if you are really not afraid of death, why don't you rush to Yangzhou?" Now that Yangzhou is lost, why don't you go to the Fairy Temple for fortification? ”

As soon as Zhang Zhigao's voice fell, Zhang Shoubei, who had long hated Xu Ying, couldn't help but say: "If the bandits want to commit my Taizhou, they will either take the Wanfu Bridge or go through the Fairy Temple along the Salt River." Master Han, Li Changjing and Zhang Ergongzi have been fortified at Wanfu Bridge, and we have nothing to worry about, but there is no one to guard the fairy temple. ”

"There are no soldiers under him, how can this officer guard?" Xu Ying asked angrily.

Zhang Zhigao struck while the iron was hot and said: "If Master Xu really wants to go, the next official can divide a thousand young people!" ”

How could Xu Ying not know their sinister intentions, but he couldn't get off the shelf, and then thought that staying in Taizhou would not only be angry with these villains, but also that Zhang Zhigao was such an old bastard, and Taizhou couldn't hold it nine times out of ten, so he simply gritted his teeth: "A thousand young and strong is a thousand young and strong, you wait for this official, let's see!" ”

vertex