Suzhou is a place of great prosperity and prosperity, with only one mansion, the grain tax paid to the court accounts for one-tenth of the Qing Dynasty, and there are countless famous families.

Relatively speaking, the recognized four riches are the Shen family who deals in silk, the head of the family Shen Mingshao, the Pei family who deals in Chinese medicinal materials, the head of the family Pei Jinen, the Han family who runs the pawnshop of Qianzhuang, the head of the family Han Yingjie, and the Song family who operates the tea mountain and handicraft industry, the head of the family Song Wenze.

Of course, there may be a few low-key rich people who will surpass them in wealth, but these four people are the most famous at the time.

On the evening of May 29, the four masters gathered in the garden of the Song family, although there were delicious food and wine on the table, the melodious singing of Kunqu opera came to their ears, and the pond was sparkling and the green bamboo swaying, but everyone was worried.

Han Yingjie picked up the wine glass, put it to his lips and put it down, shook his head and said: "The people in the surrounding prefectures and counties have run out, and since the flag people fled, officials in Suzhou Mansion have begun to disappear one after another, and the Qing Dynasty is almost over!" ”

"Alas~~" Bei Jinen also sighed: "In fact, there are not many long-haired troops, only 15,000 people are full, if all the prefectures and counties work together, it is not impossible to fight, but the long-haired leader surnamed Wang has powerful means, one hand to show people, the other hand to kill fiercely, under the combination of grace and power, in just one month, it has set off a storm in southern Jiangsu!" ”

Song Wenze seemed to have thought of something, and hurriedly asked, "Old Shen, when will the musket and artillery you ordered from the foreigners arrive?" ”

Shen Mingshao smiled bitterly: "It will be July at the earliest!" ”

As soon as these words came out, there was a sudden silence in the banquet, although there were 5,000 people in the village, the weapons were mainly spears and knives, and the firearms were only a few arquebuses, how could this fight with the bandits? Will the bandits delay until after July? It's impossible to think about it, as for what kind of virtue the green battalion soldiers are, everyone knows it.

All of a sudden, the atmosphere was extremely dull, and the original beautiful Kunqu Opera, which I never got tired of listening to, fell into my ears at this time, bringing people a feeling of distraction.

Song Wenze couldn't help but wave his hand: "Go down!" ”

"Yes, sir!" Several pretty Youdan led the troupe to give a salute and leave.

As soon as a group of more than ten people turned out of the corridor, a person who looked like a housekeeper waved his hand and ran in, shouting, "Master, master, Lord Zhong has also run away!" ”

"What?" The four of them all stood up, their faces were extremely ugly, anyone could run, but Zhong Dianxuan couldn't run, he ran away, who would lead the thousands of green battalion soldiers? Scattering in a hurry is the best result, to put it mildly, after Zhong Dian's election ran away, Suzhou is like an undefended city, open the gate, let people come and go!

Song Wenze asked urgently, "What's going on?" Make it clear and tell the truth about what you have discovered! ”

"Yes, sir!" The housekeeper sorted out his thoughts and said: "Not long ago, someone saw Lord Zhong taking the whole family out of the south gate, more than a dozen sedan chairs, and dozens of cars and horses, this is obviously not coming back, and some people went to the government and Futai to visit, what officials, masters and the like are gone, the yamen is empty, there is a mess inside, and everything that is a little worth a little money has been turned over!" ”

Bei Jinen asked, "What about the political envoy?" What about the Ministry of Works, the Ministry of Households, and the Ministry of Households? ”

"This" The butler touched Xing's slippery head and said, "I don't know for the time being, but someone has already gone to inspect it, and news will come soon." ”

Shen Mingshao said weakly: "Don't look at it, you must have run away, even Zhong Dianxuan can't hold on, a few of them civil officials will stay and not leave, are they washing their necks and waiting for the bandits to kill?" What's the situation on the streets now? ”

The housekeeper added: "The shops on the street have been closed, and the escape has not only stopped at the officials and foreign merchants, but also many locals have joined, and the cars and horses are endless. ”

The four of them looked at each other, and Suzhou was completely messed up!

Han Yingjie couldn't help but say: "Everyone has run out, then let's hurry up and pack up and go, while the long hair hasn't come back to his senses, it's too late to leave now!" ”

Shen Mingshao, Bei Jinen and Song Wenze all jumped in their hearts, when people face danger, it is an instinctive choice to avoid it, but their family has a big business, can they be willing to leave?

Shen Mingshao strongly suppressed the urge to go far away, and after a slight struggle, he waved his hand: "The court officials can go, the Jin merchants, Zhejiang merchants and Hui merchants can also go, they are all foreigners, although there are losses, but they will not hurt their muscles and bones, but our industries are in Suzhou, this go, will inevitably be confiscated by the long hair surnamed Wang as an ownerless industry, don't you want the ancestral inheritance of hundreds of years?" Under the nine springs of his day, what face does he have to see his ancestors and ancestors? Think about it, but? ”

This is indeed a problem, Song Wenze took over and said: "Old Shen is reasonable, going far away is just the best strategy, why don't we give it a go?" Try to disturb the green battalion soldiers, and then organize the tenant farmers and villagers, or you can gather tens of thousands of horses! ”

Shen Mingshao shook his head and said, "What's the use of the rabble? Don't forget, the long-haired man surnamed Wang is good at buying tenant farmers and green battalion soldiers, even if we organize tens of thousands of horses, in the end it will be nothing more than giving them away. ”

"Hmm!" Bei Jinen agreed: "Yes, Taicang Zhu Yaoguang didn't have much evil, but because he organized the township to defend the city for Gu Lancheng, he was robbed of his family and exterminated, which is really miserable, if the soldiers we organized are defeated, I am afraid it will be the same fate." ”

"Oh, this doesn't work, that doesn't work, who is going to give you an idea!" Han Yingjie shouted anxiously.

Shen Mingshao looked at the southeast with his hands down, the color of struggle on his face became more and more obvious, and just as the three of them turned their eyes to him one after another, he suddenly said to himself: "The surnamed Wang received a lot of property from the Xiaodaohui, although a considerable part of the lawless things were returned to the original owner, but as he said, it was indeed not taken, and all of them were used in Shanghai, which shows that this person is not greedy for money, or rather, he has great ambitions, and only yellow and white things can't enter his eyes!"

He killed more than 1,000 people in Jiading and nearly 10,000 in Taicang, on the surface, he was a bloody and cruel man, but he was generous to the people, reduced taxes and taxes, and won the hearts of the people of Jiading, Baoshan, especially the Shanghai merchants.

I want to wait for a few families, although there are no good deeds that move the world, but abide by the ancestral teachings, by no means for the rich and unkind, and never deduct the wages of tenant farmers and hired workers, I don't think we will run into his gun, so we might as well fight, simply disband the village Yong, mobilize the mansions to temporarily maintain law and order in Suzhou, and wait for him to come to the door! ”

This is gambling, gambling on Wang Feng's character with his own net worth, but there is no chance of winning in the battle, run away, and reluctant to have a rich family property, to be honest, leave the fate to others to decide, this kind of taste is very uncomfortable, and it is also something they have never experienced.

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