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Runan City is not big or small, built by the river, since the rebellion in all directions, immediately closed the city to defend itself, sent people to the court for help, waiting for the order from above.

There have been a lot of orders, all of them are asking for soldiers and food, and they only comfort Runan City with empty words, claiming that reinforcements will arrive soon, but these days, the officials and people in the city see all the rebels coming and going, relying on the strong city walls and the unity of the upper and lower levels, to keep the city from losing.

On this morning, not long after dawn, a small group of men and horses galloped on the light snow on the road, and the officers and soldiers on the city tower immediately raised the alarm, and when they found that there was a larger crowd behind them, they issued a second alarm.

A small group of people in front arrived first, a carriage, fifteen or sixteen knights, all with scepters and flags, and all of them wearing official uniforms, and the first one shouted to the city: "Open the door to meet the Qincha!" Hurry up, the rebels are coming! ”

The pursuers were not far away, and the officer guarding the gate hesitated for a moment, made his own decision, and ordered the city gate to be opened and put in.

In this way, Xu Ji led people into Runan City, and the caller was Song Xingju of Jiangdong, and the other entourages were all strong soldiers carefully selected by Xu Ji, and as for the scepter, flag, and official uniform, they were all ready-made.

The officer ran down from the city tower and stopped the "Qin Cha": "Please wait a while, I will go and ask Bao Sanye to come over, and I will be there soon." ”

The person who guards the city is not a county guard or a county order, but a governor and a county lieutenant, so why is he called the "third master" instead of the "adult"? Xu Ji was puzzled in his heart, but his face was not revealed, and he said coldly: "Go and go back quickly, the city gate is closed?" ”

"It's closed, don't worry, the rebels can't attack it." The officer hurried away.

Xu Ji was riding in a canopy car, with no shelter in front of him, so he could look left and right.

The streets were empty, and only near the city gate were lined up with nearly a hundred soldiers, who were on guard, not the Qincha, but the rebels outside the city.

From time to time, the sound of gongs and drums sounded on the tower, and the soldiers on the ground understood the meaning, and immediately shouted the location and number of the rebels into the distance.

Xu Ji and Song Xingci glanced at each other, and tacitly canceled the first plan.

If there was a chance, they were going to grab the city gate immediately after entering the city, and put the Wu army outside, but now it seems that it is difficult to seize the gate, and it is even more difficult to guard the gate, the Wu army is still a few miles away, with their dozen people, they are by no means the opponent of officers and soldiers.

Xu Ji was accustomed to seeing the scattered officers and soldiers, and was surprised by the rigor of Runan City.

Fortunately, they still have a second plan, which can take the opportunity to hold the defenders in the city hostage, and even persuade the guards to join the Wu army.

General Runan is the "Bao Sanye" in the mouth of the officer.

Bao Sanye had already received the news, and it didn't take long for him to come on horseback, almost bow his head to Xiang Qin, step up to the city tower, observe the situation, and prepare to defend the city.

Xu Ji was stunned again, this Bao Sanye was slightly fat, with lush beard, wearing a brocade robe, no armor, no official hat, completely the appearance of a deputy rich man, and what was even more strange was that he had no respect for the imperial court, and just nodded, as if they were relatives who hated each other, and had to deal with it casually when they met.

The sound of gongs, drums, and shouts above and below the city became one after two quarters of an hour.

The Wu army outside the city saw that the city gate was not opened, so they did not attack.

Bao Sanye went downstairs, came to the front of the car, and said with a smile: "I don't know if the business is coming, the grass people are far away, and they look at Haihan." ”

Xu Ji couldn't pretend to be confused anymore, and deliberately put on an arrogant demeanor, "What about the officials in the city?" ”

"Ran away, didn't you see the letter we sent to the Eastern Capital?"

"I was ordered to tour the cities of Luozhou, and I came out early." Xu Ji vaguely passed.

Bao Sanye believed it and said with a smile: "I see, please go to the mansion to rest first, and then go to see you after I have arranged the matter of defending the city." ”

Bao Sanye said, and without waiting for Qin Cha's permission, he stepped up to the city tower again.

The officer defending the city took the messenger to the county guard's mansion.

The streets were empty, but there were many people in the county guard's mansion, all of them were ordinary people with their families, occupying almost all the rooms, and only one public hall was unoccupied.

I heard that the imperial court sent a messenger, and the people Hula surrounded them, all of them saying good things about Bao Sanye.

"Without Bao Sanye, we don't know how many times we will die......"

"How big an official is the imperial court going to seal Bao Sanye?"

Xu Ji stopped in the courtyard, calmed the people, and then squeezed through the crowd and entered the public court.

The officers were busy answering questions and introducing the situation in the city.

It turned out that there were Wenchen county guards and military generals in the city, and the news of the defeat of the officers and soldiers in Mengjin came, and the two fled overnight, taking away thousands of soldiers, claiming to go to aid the eastern capital, but in fact they fled to Jizhou.

All the officials in the city ran away, leaving behind an unguarded city and thousands of people who had fled from nearby for refuge.

At the critical moment, a man named Bao Dun stood up, speaking of this person, he has some reputation in Runan, his ancestors have been in business for several generations, he also traveled to the north and south when he was young, and the money he earned was used to buy land and land, and he never went out again at the age of thirty, and devoted himself to farming, hiring martial artists and teaching gentlemen, and leading the children of the clan to learn martial arts.

Bao Dun had a manor outside the city, and there were also residences in the city, and together with the rebels, he led his people into the city, and the local officials valued his fame and respected him, and invited him to leave with him when he fled, but Bao Dun categorically refused, thinking that it was difficult to leave, and the people were innocent, and they could not give up easily.

Appreciating his courage and leaving behind some armor and staff and food and grass that could not be taken away with the army, Bao Dun first selected dozens of soldiers from his clansmen, climbed the tower, gathered the people of the city, analyzed the pros and cons, and called on everyone to protect themselves.

"There are cities, people, and food, with these three things, Runan City will not be broken for ten years! Thousands of troops outside the city come and go with him! Bowdon aroused the enthusiasm of the crowd, and thousands of people joined the army on the spot.

Bao Dun first arranged shelters for all the evacuees, requisitioned all the empty houses in the city to relieve the soldiers of their worries, and then made a book to facilitate the distribution of food and clothing.

The makeshift patchwork army was overwhelmed, so Baudun decided to defend the city to the death, dividing his troops into several teams, each of which was dedicated to one section and taking turns to defend it, while he himself led several teams of men to help defend the city.

Before the arrival of the Wu army, Runan City had been attacked by several chaotic soldiers, the scale was large and small, all were repulsed, the morale of the soldiers and the people was greatly improved, and the cooperation became more and more skilled.

The officer was one of the very few officers and soldiers who remained, and his admiration for Bao Dun was overflowing, "When the county guard was leaving, he appointed Bao Sanye as the regimental training envoy, but Bao Sanye said that he had not been appointed by the imperial court and did not dare to take over the official position privately, so we were only allowed to call him 'Third Master'." As soon as the upper errand comes, Bao Sanye will be able to be an official justifiably, and it will be more convenient to defend the city. ”

The sound of gongs and drums outside became urgent again, and the officer took his leave, "I have to go to defend the city, please go on a business trip and drink tea for a while." ”

Many people probed their brains at the door, and the officers drove people away and closed the gate.

The scene in the city was not at all similar to what Xu Ji expected, and said to Song Xingju: "You don't know that it is a group of people who are guarding the city? ”

Song Xingci blushed, "I don't know, looking at their posture of defending the city, it is no different from the officers and soldiers......"

"Actually, it's a good thing, there are no officials in the city, we can't see our flaws, the whole city is headed by one person, as long as Bao Dun is held hostage, Runan can go down immediately." Xu Ji smiled, unwilling to embarrass Song Xingju.

Tang Weitian opened his mouth and said: "It sounds like this Bao Sanye is a very good person, we really want to kill him?" ”

Xu Ji shook his head and said: "It is useless to kill, but to arouse the anger of the people, I will still focus on persuasion later, and if persuasion fails, you listen to my orders, capture Bao Dun alive, and don't hurt him in the slightest." ”

The people said yes, and stood on both sides, waiting for the lord of the city, Bao Dun.

"Pretty much bad!" Xu Ji suddenly realized his mistake and said to Song Xingju: "You go and invite Bao Dun to come, be harsh, remember that your identity is a tolerance sent by the imperial court, and Bao Dun is just a commoner." ”

Song Xing immediately understood, and hurriedly ran to find Bao Dun.

Tang Weitian thought for a while before he came to his senses, and said with a smile: "No, honestly waiting here, how can it be like being an official?" I also went out and yelled and yelled. ”

"You're going to put on a show?" Xu Ji asked.

"Haven't you ever eaten pork and never seen a pig run? I can't pretend to be an adult, pretend to be a tolerance to oppress the people, I will, who else wants to go with me? ”

Immediately, three people responded, they were taller and more imposing.

When the four of them came out of the hall, there were soon scolding and scolding outside, Xu Ji was worried that they were overdoing it, but Tang Weitian and the others came back soon and brought wine, fruit, and preserved meat.

"It turns out that there are a lot of good things, all of which are hidden and let us drink weak tea." As soon as Tang Weitian saw the food, he didn't care about everything.

Song Xingci came back with Bao Dun, Tang Weitian and the others hurriedly put away the wine and meat, walked to the door to stop the others, and only allowed Bao Dun to enter the hall alone.

"The rebels are coming to the city, and the city is not good at treating the superiors......" Bao Dun stepped forward, and when he was about to kneel, Xu Ji hurriedly got up, stepped forward to help him up, and said with a smile: "Bao Gong is polite, I know that defending the city is a big matter, but I am in a hurry, so I have to ask Bao Gong to come over." ”

"The rebels have no intention of attacking the city for the time being." Bowun was a little surprised by Chincha's politeness.

Xu Ji glanced out of the hall and saw twenty or thirty soldiers standing in the courtyard, he nodded to Song Xingju, signaled to close the door, and then turned to bow to Bao Dun.

Bao Dun hurriedly returned the salute, "Why is this?" ”

"The eastern capital is about to be lost, the world is one after another, I don't know what to do, what is Bao Gong's opinion."

"Huh?" Bowton looked confused, "This ...... How can the grass people understand these things, only the orders of the superior are obeyed. ”

Xu Ji took out a seal from his arms and offered it with both hands, "In this case, please Bao Gong take this seal and be a county guard from now on." ”

Bao Dun had quite expectations for the official position in his heart, and originally thought that the regimental training envoy was too small, so he politely refused, hoping that the imperial court could seal a larger official position, but the guard of a county was beyond expectations, it was too big.

"It's the imperial court......" Bao Dun took the treasure seal and was stunned, it was clearly an empty seal, without any words on it.

Xu Ji said: "The imperial court is unable to protect itself, and has long abandoned the counties outside, how can it be willing to seal the official position?" Bao Gong responded to every call, when he was a hero, why should he concentrate on the official position of the Tiancheng Dynasty? If you can raise your arms and call again, the county guard is also a petty official, and the prince and prince are close at hand. ”

Only then did Bao Dun realize that he had received a fake messenger, and he hesitated a little in his heart, and shouted: "Someone! ”