Now the question that Sun Jiayan asked... It is the focus of the residents of Gucheng at the moment.

Ruian County can be said to be a big city, the city circumference is 1,140 zhang, converted into kilometers, that is, the circumference is more than 3.4 kilometers, in the ordinary coastal county, this number is definitely considerable.

It's just that since the expansion of the county town during the Jiajing period of the Ming Dynasty, the perimeter of the county city wall has maintained this scale, but in the past hundred years, the development of the entire county has long exceeded this range.

Now outside the city gate, as early as the Qianlong period, the people built houses there to set up shops, and today it has reached its peak, there are more than 3,000 houses and shops outside the city, and the households and businesses are not much less than those in the county.

And yesterday suddenly there was a rumor in the market, saying that the red thieves were approaching the county seat, for the sake of city defense, Sun Hanlin Qiangming made up his mind to burn down the more than 3,000 shops and residences outside the city, and soon this rumor spread all over the city, and everyone was uncertain.

In particular, the owners and tenants of these houses and shops are running around, and even went to the magistrate to ask for their lives, and handed over a lot of silver, just to know if this matter is true, and they also want to protect these 3,000 houses.

When Sun Qiangming thought of this, he was also angry: "Third brother, even you asked me about this, I, who is the second brother, will be honest with you!" ”

His own brother, naturally he didn't have many scruples when he spoke, so Sun Qiangming directly singled out and said: "The outside said that I was in charge of the matter, and I wanted to burn down the shops of these 3,000 residents, which was nonsense and a trick of Liu Juehu, but to defend the city, how could there be any dwellings outside the city?" At the beginning, Guilin defended the city, but also burned all the dwellings.

Sun Jiayan's face was ugly: "But the outside world says that this is the second brother's plan!" Second brother, you have to think long! You can't burn it, if you burn it, it's a resentment in half the city! "Those houses and shops are just outside the city walls, and some of them are simply attached to the city walls, and if these buildings continue to exist, then the walls of Ruian City will be in vain.

Even if it is not close to the city wall, the attacking side can use these buildings as a firepower and starting point for attacking the city wall, and can also demolish the buildings for siege purposes.

But the problem is that now Liu Chang has spread the news to Ruian County, and now that the Red Turban Army has not yet arrived in the county, Sun Hanlin is going to burn the property they have accumulated for decades, which makes many county residents with related interests point the finger at Sun Qiangming, who is the legendary presiding over Qifeng.

"I don't know how many people have worked hard in a fire together, but is there room for our Sun family and the red turban thieves to ease?" First of all, Sun Yiyan's eldest son Sun Daigu died at the hands of the Red Turban Army, and then Sun Qiangming's in-law Xu Muqian committed suicide in Hai'an City: "I heard that Liu Jiehu once opened his mouth to persuade his in-laws to surrender and protect his in-laws, but his in-laws said that he was martyred for me to defend the city, and for this reason, I had to deal with the red thieves to death, and then I said that so many lives of our Sun family died in vain, but I have to think about the eldest brother!" ”

At this time, Sun Yiyan is taking his second son to carry the spring breeze in the capital, and he has just been appointed to walk in the study this year, if Sun Qiangming has any political stains, I am afraid that he will not only have a ruined future, but even worry about his life.

Sun Jiagu listened to his brother's words and nodded: "The second brother said very simply, can you slow down, so that the nearly 10,000 businessmen outside the city have a buffer, and they can move their belongings out first!" By the way, what is the battle situation of the official army over there in Chashan, the magistrate said that the Yunsi led the army to return with a big victory, and the yamen said that the town and Taiwan left in a small setback, but the market said that it was a big defeat and left, and even the prefect Ruichun died in front of the battle! ”

Now that they are all clear, Sun Qiangming also told his brother the truth: "The market is right, my friend in the house sent me an urgent letter, the soldiers just passed the South White Elephant, and before they arrived at Chashan, tens of thousands of red turban thieves came from all directions, although the Jingyun Division and Zhentai fought hard to kill the Futai and led their own soldiers to block the dog thief of Liu Jiehu, after all, the enemy was outnumbered, and he returned defeated, and when he left the city, he had 3,700 soldiers and less than 2,000 soldiers to return to the city!" He sighed: "Ryan is already a lonely city now, if this is not the case, why should I be determined to provoke this half of the city!" ”

As soon as he said this, Sun Jiayan could understand his second brother's plight, but he still persuaded: "Second brother, why should you be this wicked person, this matter should have been handled by the county honor, otherwise even if the red thief is retreated, no one will know the second brother's plight!" ”

"County honor?" As soon as Sun Qiangming mentioned Zhang County's order, he gritted his teeth with hatred: "When death is on the verge of death, I only know how to make money, so I personally asked if I would raise 20,000 silver for the city defense first!" At this point, all you think about is money! ”

Sun Jiayan told his brother: "The second brother doesn't know about this? It is rumored in the market that the second brother wants to get a lot of money to run the city defense this time, saying that it is not 200,000 gold can not be returned to the thief, and 20,000 gold is raised first for the use of the soldiers defending the city. Of the 20,000 gold, the second brother gets half of it, and the remaining half is used for the officials in the city, and half is used for city defense! "Sun Qiangming was scared.!" This must be the method used by Liu Jue, hateful and hateful! I will post this pro-book to show my innocence, this time to defend the city, the county inventory silver is, do not need a penny of private money! Wait until the thieves retreat, and then find a way to fight for the upper peak, if you can't fight for it, then it is urgent to raise a sum of money for the aftermath. "Second brother, this is a scholar's opinion! Sun Jiayan took his hand and said: "Don't, once the red thieves besiege the city, just raising money and silver is not enough, if the second brother you post this article, where will the source of the salary come from!" But Sun Qiangming disagreed: "I handled my own donation, and the person who handled it took too much,

It's already full of grievances in the city, and now after such a slander, I'm afraid it's really a grievance of the whole city! It's not appropriate, it's not appropriate! ”

As the saying goes, there is no wind and no waves, in fact, although these rumors are from the Dragon Lance Battalion, they are the handiwork of Shi Huiji, who knows Ruian City well, and has a dead friend in the city, but a few words set off a storm all over the city.

In particular, Sun Qiangming handled the donation of his own nationality, and the people were very dissatisfied, and these rumors of Shi Huiji really hit the nail on the head: "It's to raise money, but isn't it a plan to get paid by the red thief, my Sun family has moved to Ruian since the fifth generation, and it has been more than 900 years, and it has been more than 900 years, and the generation is more prosperous than the next. Sun Jiagu in turn persuaded his brother: "Second brother, the grievances of half the city are also grievances, and the grievances of the whole city are also grievances, in my opinion, no matter what, keep Ruian, no, keeping our Sun family is the key!" ”

He gave an example and said: "Xu Muqian contacted the three hundred Taiyong for the second brother, and the two thousand seven hundred silver yuan have not yet been settled, in my opinion, no matter how many complaints, you will raise a military salary first, and do what the red thief said!" ”

"Raise 20,000 taels of silver first, half of it will go to my grandson's family, a quarter will be given to the officials in the city to share the profits, and the remaining quarter will be used for city defense!" Sun Jiayan said loudly: "Take advantage of the defeat of the Red Thief to send reinforcements to the Yun Division, and when you are resting, raise this money first!" "What do I want money for?" Sun Qiangming was stunned by his brother's words: "What are you going to do!" "If you don't make money, will there be less rumors in the market?" I'll do it for you! Sun Jiayan said unceremoniously: "The three brothers of our Sun family's generation, everyone has said two Jinshi, and no one remembers me, the third brother!" I'll do it! "Nonsense!"

"What about nonsense! Can you still kill me, the third child! Sun Jiagu said loudly: "Today I will make a fool of myself, as long as our Sun family is preserved, I will not be afraid of the resentment of the people in the city!" For so many years, when people talk about the generation of the Sun family, they have consciously or unconsciously forgotten Sun Jiagu, but mentioned the brothers of the two high school jinshi, and even Sun Qiangming realized for the first time that his brother had such a side: "You want to protect our Sun family?" ”

"The nine-hundred-year foundation of our Sun family can't be destroyed like this!" Sun Jiagu: "I'll do it, you pretend not to know about this matter and be surprised!" ”

Sun Qiangming glanced at his brother: "Then you can do it!" ”

He never thought that his third brother was so strong, and he was so weak.

The Red Turban Army rested in the Chashan area for two full days before re-advancing south, during which time they also captured many scattered Qing troops.

This time, the southward march was once again overwhelming, all the way south, and there were no villages with only white flags, most of them were half yellow flags and half white flags to remain neutral, and many villages directly put yellow flags on all trees, expressing full support for the Red Turban Army.

There are also many people in Ruian County who came to contact, and the original red thieves suddenly became volunteers, and they were eager for the Red Turban Army to break through Ruian County as soon as possible, for two reasons, one is that Sun Qiangming wants to burn down more than 3,000 houses and shops outside the city, and the other is that Sun Qiangming wants to raise 200,000 yuan, and the first phase will raise 20,000 taels of silver city defense fees.

The residents of Ruian County, whose interests had been damaged, suddenly turned to the Red Turban Army, and they hoped that the Red Turban Army could quickly break through Ruian City and save the people from fire and water.

Regarding this situation, Liu Chang had to admit that Shi Huiji had his Liu Jue style: "Yes, yes, you are familiar with the place, and your idea is very good!" ”

Shi Huiji said with a smile on the side: "How come we are also natives of Ruian, and we have dealt with the Sun brothers for so many years, it is not easy to come up with a few ideas, it's just"

He was a little suspicious: "With Sun Qiangming's personality, when he heard the news of my past, how could he avoid suspicion, and wait until he defended Ruian City to raise a sum of money for the aftermath, how could he change his temperament and do it according to my wind, and he also said that he would raise 200,000 taels of silver!" He couldn't understand, Liu Chang immediately asked: "Could it be that Sun Qiangming has any killer features!" Shi Huiji immediately thought: "It seems that Sun Hanlin wants to hire Taiyong!" ”

Liu Chang thought that he would go north to Taizhou in the future, and was very interested in the question of Taiyong: "Taiyong? Tell me about it! ”