Li Dongguo poked his head out and looked at it, and found that it was indeed impossible to pass the sedan chair, so he had to get off the sedan chair, lift the placket of the official robe, tie it around his waist, and walk towards the yamen under the protection of his own soldiers.

Li Dongguo finally passed through the open space, the pro-soldiers around him had already been squeezed around, only the leader and another subordinate were still trying their best to cover for him, just entered the door, a group of people poured out of the door, although the pro-soldiers tried their best to block, Li Dongguo was still hit by a masked man and staggered, and sat on the ground. He couldn't hold back the indignation in his chest anymore, and scolded sharply: "The dog slave who doesn't have long eyes, he dares to rush into this official, and he will take down the rod and punish fifty!" ”

But what Li Dongguo didn't expect was that the hooded man jumped up and scolded: "I don't have long eyes, I don't see who Lao Tzu is, hey!" Isn't this Lord Lee? How did you get here? At this time, the cloth wrapped around the head of the masked man fell off, revealing a chubby round face, which turned out to be the official of Pingyang, the prefect He Juzhong, but at this time he was not wearing an official robe, but a brown short coat, which looked no different from a peddler's pawn.

"Lord He, why are you dressed like this?"

Seeing Li Dongguo's surprised gaze, He Juzhong's old face turned red, and then he smiled bitterly: "Lord Li, the Shaanxi soldiers have mutinied, the thieves have entered the city, and it will be too late if you don't leave!" “

"Lord He, you are the parent official of Pingyang Mansion, and you have the responsibility to defend the land!" Li Dongguo asked in surprise: "In addition to the Shaanxi soldiers in the city, there are other armies, how can they abandon the gentry of the people in the city and leave?" ”

He Juzhong's face was red and white when he was questioned by Li Dongguo. Embarrassed, he replied with a wry smile: "Lord Li, you and I know what those main soldiers in the city are. Where can they resist those Shaanxi soldiers who are accustomed to fighting with the thieves and Tartars? You are clearly driving children to fight against the strong husband, you and I should go quickly, it is important to save our lives, it will be too late to be late! ”

Li Dongguo saw that He was resolute, and his tone became stern: "Lord He, in addition to the Shaanxi soldiers in the city, there are more than 1,000 main soldiers. There are still 500 people in the patrol battalion in my yamen, and there is still a chance to fight even though the thieves have not yet completely entered the city. Otherwise, even if the adult runs away from the thief today, can he still outrun the axe of the court in the future? “

Hearing the threat in Li Dongguo's tone, He Juzhong's face turned pale, indeed according to the law of the Ming Dynasty. If the defender of a certain city or a place loses the city. If I die in the city, the court will generally give it a gift, and my family will not be implicated, and I can get some benefits; But if you abandon the city and leave away, not only will your life be difficult to protect, but your family and relatives will also be implicated in various ways. It's not that he doesn't know this, but when people reach a critical juncture, the desire to survive overwhelms reason. At this time, he was stabbed out in front of Li Dongguo, and he had to face the cruel reality.

"Okay. Master Li, that official can only fight to the death! He Juzhong's face was gloomy and he arched his hand to Li Dongguo: "Lord Li, if there is misfortune in the future, please look at the past feelings, take care of it!" ”

"Lord He, don't worry!" Li Dongguo couldn't help but worry secretly when he saw He Juzhong's appearance of being about to go to the execution ground, as the saying goes, a general is the courage of the army, like He Juzhong's appearance, which soldier would be willing to go into battle with him? Thinking of this, Li Dongguo whispered to him: "Lord He, I still have 150,000 taels of silver in my yamen, all of which were not solved at the end of last year, and I will bring you 50,000 taels later, which will be used to reward the soldiers, and there will be brave men under the heavy reward, and they will definitely be able to defeat the thieves!" ”

"Really?" He Juzhong looked at Li Dongguo in surprise: "This is a big deal!" ”

"If the thieves are allowed to enter the city, the silver will be cheaper for them anyway, so it is better to use it to reward the soldiers!" Li Dongguo arched his hand and said: "I'll go back immediately to allocate silver taels, and I'll leave it to you here!" ”

"Good, good!" Hearing that with the silver, He Juzhong's face was also a little more bloody, he gritted his teeth and said: "If you can defeat the thieves this time, this official will definitely join all your colleagues to write to the court and say for Lord Li, and never let Lord Li bear this responsibility alone!" “

In the city tower of the east gate of Pingyang Mansion, Li Zicheng stood on the city tower, looking at the fires everywhere in the city, and the sound of "dedication to the city" with a Shaanxi accent, and his face was happy: "Nephew, you use this trick well, and it doesn't cost a single soldier to make more than a thousand officials and soldiers turn against each other, otherwise this Pingyang Mansion is not so easy to take!" ”

"Uncle praised it!" Li Guo said with a smile: "Actually, where did my nephew think about using a trick, but I heard that the captured kid also had a rice fat accent, and I felt that it was all a township party, and I couldn't do it." Later, I heard them say that they had not been paid for seven or eight months, and I remembered that uncle, you were also a post soldier, and everyone was a poor man, and they had no way to live, so why kill each other? ”

"Well said, everyone is a poor man, and they don't have a way to live to do this!" Li Zicheng said with a smile: "These two sentences can be worth thousands of troops!" Come on, pass on these two sentences, let everyone shout, as long as you put down your sword and gun and stand on the side of the road, you won't kill! ”

Li Dongguo returned to the yamen, and finally gathered two hundred patrol battalions, first distributed five taels of silver to each person, agreed to drive the thieves out of the city, and each person was given another ten taels, and beheaded the first-class reward of thirty taels of silver, and then loaded the 50,000 taels of silver into the cart and rushed all the way to the prefect's yamen. When he arrived at the prefect's yamen, he saw that He Juzhong had changed into an official robe, wearing a layer of leather armor inside, and also gathered four or five hundred people, Li Dongguo immediately issued two months' salary, and then repeated the previous reward, boosted morale a little, and then rushed all the way to the east gate. Along the way, you can see groups of Shaanxi rebels everywhere, walking through the open high doors, carrying bright torches, knives and guns in their hands, and their bodies are packages of different sizes, and behind the horses are women who have plundered, and the corpses lying on their backs are covered with blood, which is miserable.

"Lord He, if you can't bear it, you will have a big plan, don't worry about these for now, it's important to defeat the thieves and recapture the East Gate!" Li Dongguo whispered to He Juzhong: "As long as the East Gate is recaptured, these are just ringworm scabies." A backhand will calm it down! ”

He Juzhong nodded and did not speak, he naturally knew that things would not be as optimistic as Li Dongguo said. The land of Pingyang Mansion is fertile, since ancient times, the literary style is extremely prosperous, it is the disciple of the merchants, after making a fortune, it will also invite famous teachers, educate the children to take the imperial examination as officials, although the number of officials in the court is not as good as the southern Zhili and the two Zhejiang, Jiangxi These places, but in the north is also one of the few places where the literary style gathers. There are no less than thirty or forty gentry in the city whose children are officials in the court, and there are countless people of the same year, the same clan, and the marriage, and this mutiny. There are not a few people who have been exterminated, and even if they can defend Pingyang City this time, they will definitely not be able to escape the next Manchu Dynasty's attack, and the best fate waiting for them is to dismiss the official and go home.

The group walked through the drum tower. Around the corner in front of you is the street that leads directly to the East Gate Tower. Seeing that a group of about 200 rebels was besieging a high-gate mansion and blocking the road, He Juzhong saw this and shouted: "Disperse the rebels!" ”

Nadu Si responded, stepped forward and shouted: "Lord He of the prefect and Lord Li of Yandao are here, and they will not get out of the way!" ”

Probably because of the large number of people, the rebels did not follow the shouts of the capital, and a voice came from the crowd: "What a bird, my lord." owed Lao Tzu almost a year's salary, and his spirit came alive at this time. Get up, don't stop Lao Tzu from getting rich! ”

He Juzhong was about to order his subordinates to step forward and suppress, but was stopped by Li Dongguo, he ordered his subordinates to transport a silver box to the front of the battle, and shouted: "The thieves break the city, and you are waiting for the opportunity to make meritorious contributions, see if there is any, there is silver here, as long as you abandon the darkness and turn to the light, immediately pay two months' arrears first, drive the thieves out of the city, make up for all the remaining arrears, and reward them according to their merits!" “

Seeing the white silver ingots in the box, the soldiers were silent for a while, and the voice responded: "Okay, since there is cash, we will believe you again!" ”

Li Dongguo saw that the rebels were relieved, and immediately ordered the silver to be divided. Although he was born in Jinshi, but he is a native of Huizhou, his family has been doing business for generations, and he has seen the circulation of money since he was a child, and he is not a nerd who does not understand the affairs of the world, he let more than a dozen strong soldiers surround the silver box, so as not to be impacted, and each person's silver will be painted on the forehead of the rebels with cinnabar, so as not to let someone receive the silver and come back and pretend not to receive it again. In just one meal, the salaries of this group of rebels were paid, and the salaries of these rebels were paid, and the fierce look on their faces disappeared.

"Since you have received the military salary, eaten the king's fortune, and have been loyal to the king's order, now the thieves are breaking the city, and there are people who should cooperate with the outside, which is a heinous crime. If thou wilt drive the thieves out of the city, not only will thou be able to get rid of the old sins, but thou shalt give each of them ten taels of silver, and whoever beheads the thief will be rewarded with thirty taels of silver. ”

After listening to Li Dongguo's reward, the morale of this group of rebels recovered a lot, he knew that at this time, it would be too late, so he hurriedly drove this rabble with He Juzhong to the east gate, on the way Li Dongguo heard that the west gate and the north gate were on fire, knowing that this meant that the two city gates might have fallen into the hands of thieves, he glanced at He Juzhong, and also saw deep worry from the other party's gaze.

"Uncle, except for the South Gate, it's all taken down!" Seeing the agreed firelight rising, Li Guo's face was already full of ecstasy: "Work harder, this Pingyang Mansion is ours!" ”

"No, this Pingyang Mansion is already ours!" Li Zicheng said with a smile: "This south gate was originally left by me to the official army!" ”

"Siege the master must be que!" Li Guo was stunned when he heard this, and then reacted.

"Yes, you're growing up fast!" Li Zicheng said with a smile: "Pingyang is a government city, and there is a Yamen of Hedong Yandao, there must be a lot of officials and soldiers, if the four city gates are occupied, forcing them to fight with us, who wins and who loses, maybe let out a way, they are good, we are good!" “

"Hmm!" Li Guo nodded and asked, "Then when are we going to let our people go down to the city?" ”

"Almost!" Li Zicheng looked at the sky: "Take down the prefect's yamen before dawn!" “

At this moment, a soldier suddenly exclaimed: "Officers and soldiers, it's officers and soldiers!" Li Zicheng and Li Guo hurriedly looked in the direction of his finger, only to see a group of people appear on the street leading to the east gate, the light of the torches reflected the weapons in their hands, reflecting the luster of metallic colors, and there were more than 1,000 people.

"Damn, I shouldn't have scattered my forces to attack the West Gate and the North Gate!" Li Guo scolded remorsefully, he originally had more than 1,000 people under his command, but in order to control the West Gate and the North Gate, he sent one-third of his troops, and as a result, there were only seven or eight hundred people on hand, which was no longer advantageous compared to the number of officers and soldiers.

"That's it, everything in the world can be calculated!" Li Zicheng pulled out his waist knife and sneered: "Since the matter is in front of you, either you die or I live, just kill it!" ”

"Yes, uncle!" Seeing Li Zicheng so calm, Li Guo couldn't help but feel a little ashamed of his panic, he took three steps and two steps, and got down the city tower in front of his uncle.

He Juzhong saw that there were all human heads under the city gate, and he couldn't help but feel weak for a while, and he wanted to hit the horse backwards, but Li Dongguo's low voice came from his ears: "Lord He, why don't you beat the drum and kill the thief?" ”

"Master Li, the thief is powerful, do you think you have to be serious?" He Juzhong's voice trembled slightly.

Li Dongguo looked at the other party's blue and white face, and secretly scolded this colleague for being a waste, but he could only suppress the anger in his heart and persuade him: "Lord He, there is only one street here, the terrain is narrow, like two rats fighting in a hole, the brave will win, don't hesitate!" ”

"This-" He Juzhong listened to it, and felt that what Li Dongguo said made some sense, but he didn't dare to make him desperate, he thought about it and said in a low voice: "Master Li, why don't I wait for the first retreat, and then order the attack, the situation is unfavorable and there is a chance to retreat?" ”

When Li Dongguo heard this, he was angry, and he was about to scold, but he heard a long horn sound from the opposite side, and he didn't care about scolding He Juzhong, so he shouted to the herald on the side: "Quick, beat the drum quickly!" ”

However, Li Dongguo's order was still half a beat slower, and when the drums sounded on the side of the official army, the peasant army on the opposite side had already been killed, and the dozens of horsemen in front of them lined up in several rows, like a wall, all shouted loudly: "Lao Shaanxi will not fight Lao Shaanxi, let the fatal ones go to both sides!" Seeing that the thief army was so magnificent, and hearing the familiar country sound, the fighting spirit was like Tang Woxue, and they gave way to the side of the road, vacating a road, and shouted loudly: "It's all the township party, don't hurt the harmony!" Seeing this, the local sergeants in the back were already frightened, and they threw down their weapons, turned and fled, trampled on each other in the narrow streets, and fell to the ground. (To be continued.) )