On the other side, the old scholar who went to the thief camp for the second time was really scared to death by the reckless impulse of the young man Gao Xuan, the talented prince, until he was on the way back to Hangzhou City, he kept complaining: "...... Those thieves are rude and short-tempered at first glance, why do you bother to provoke this group of rough blanks! If I provoke the thief to be angry, won't I wait for this time to fall into the mouth of the tiger and lose my life in vain? ”

“…… Hehe, it's the so-called wealth and danger! How can there be fame falling from heaven in this world? Since we have won the fame of the prefect's protection, we will naturally learn about Entu and serve the lord bravely! What's more, senior, can't you see that this thief and his subordinates are clearly not of the same mind? can't even restrain his subordinates, it can be seen that this thief was really excluded in the Song Dynasty and was sent out to fill the army! The ancients did not deceive me! ”

Xiucai Gong Gao Xuan smiled disapprerovingly - I don't know that the fame of this prefect is guaranteed by the prefect, if it is placed in the peaceful years, it will be a fight for the head, but at the moment, the fame of the Ming Dynasty is almost the same as the life talisman, once the city of Hangzhou is broken, it may be more troublesome to have a fame on the body. This article was published by www. lwχｓ520。 com debut

“…… Hmph, then why did you even take out the reward of the king? Can't impress such wolf ambitions? The old scholar snorted coldly.

“…… It's not that I'm afraid that I won't be able to control my subordinates! Such thieves, as long as the prefect is willing to make heavy profits, why can't he be allowed to defect? ”

Gao Xuan, who felt very good about himself, sneered, stopped talking to the old scholar, and went to the Qinglou to report to the prefect.

It's just that Governor Liu's self-perception is not as good as Gao Xuan's - although his intelligence channels are also not very well-informed, but he has finally found out that the leader of this group of thieves outside the city is surnamed Sun instead of Li ...... So as soon as he heard Gao Xuan's report, Governor Liu understood: this idiot didn't find the right master at all, but randomly found a little leader of the thief, and the chicken and duck talked nonsense, and then excitedly reported to him!

As for the ink treasure that he wrote by himself just now and stamped with the official seal, it is estimated that it has been taken by an unknown thief to wipe his ass!

Looking at Gao Xuan, who was still smug and unconscious in front of him, Governor Liu's face changed for a while, but in the end, he rolled his eyes, and instead of opening his mouth to reprimand, he also comforted Gao Xuan with gentle words - in this critical situation, loyal and brave people are really rare, so it's better not to dampen his enthusiasm...... It wasn't until Gao Xuan was sent out that Governor Liu explained the truth to all the righteous people present with a depressed expression.

In this regard, not only the righteous men were very discouraged when they heard this, but even the courtesans who accompanied the wine were also worried and discolored.

However, at this moment, Gou Xunli, a native of Qiongzhou who claimed to have an enmity with the thief, stood up and said loudly:

“…… Ladies and gentlemen! Don't be discouraged! This thief has always been cruel and immoral, greedy and promiscuous, and wherever he passed, there was not one in a family of gentlemen. However, I have been raising scholars for more than 200 years, and everyone in the world has the imperial court in their hearts, how can it be easily suppressed by a thief with a momentary obscenity? As long as the prefect can select one or two people who are brave and loyal and familiar with the behavior of thieves, sneak out of the city, and contact the brave people from all over the world to join forces to fight the enemy, it will have a miraculous effect! ”

Listening to Gou Xunli's impassioned words, a glimmer of hope seemed to be ignited in Governor Liu's heart: "...... In this way, there should still be quite a few volunteers available in the countryside outside the city? I wonder if you are willing to go outside the city and contact the righteous people from all walks of life for this official? This government will guarantee his origin! ”

Before the others could react, Gou Xunli had already bowed to the prefect again, and replied calmly:

“…… The thief enters the prison, the lives are ruined, the world is alive, and the husband is responsible for it! Students are not talented, and they are willing to share their worries for adults! ”

Gou Xunli's words can be described as loud and sound, and the prefect was moved to tears at the moment, "What a strong man! Drink this cup! ”

And the rest of the righteous people's favorability towards Gou Xunli also increased greatly, and they raised their glasses to cater to him, full of flattery. After drinking a few glasses of Huadiao wine from each other, Governor Liu seized the gap and discussed with Gou Xunli about leaving the city, "...... I don't know when Gou Yishi will go out of the city? What do you need to get out of town? ”

“…… Prepare to go out of the city tomorrow, because students are not local indigenous, and they need to explore the geography of Hangzhou first. In addition, the students need to win the trust of others, so they dare to ask the prefect to lend a set of tokens in case they can go out of the city at any time, and prove their identity to the country gentry......"

Governor Liu agreed to this: "...... Well said, everyone, we are here tonight to give Gou Yishi a strong trip! I wish Gou Yishi a smooth journey! ”

So, in a warm atmosphere, the wine was drunk until the third pole of the moon, and everyone was so drunk that they went their separate ways......

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The next day, just when Zhang Dai, who was overly drunk last night, rubbed his head stinging because of a hangover, and lay down in the courtyard of the Zhang family in Hangzhou, Gou Xunli, a righteous man from Qiongzhou, did not go out of the city to contact the gentry, but hurried to Zhang's mansion to persuade Zhang Dai to flee quickly!

“…… What the? I waited until yesterday to venture into the city, and the trunk cage has not been opened yet, so today you let me pack up and run away? ”

Zhang Dai glared at Gou Xunli in disbelief, "...... Didn't you say at the banquet yesterday that the thief was cruel and immoral, greedy and lustful, and did not win the hearts of the people? It will inevitably be attacked by the rebels of the Quartet, even if it gains momentum for a while, it will not last, and will only flee in embarrassment in the end? Moreover, it seems that you yourself stood up yesterday to contact the righteous people outside Hangzhou, and the inside and outside should cooperate with Hangzhou to relieve the siege, right? Why did you change your hexagram in just one day? ”

“…… Oh, Zhang Gongzi, that's just a reassuring word to persuade Governor Liu and make him feel at ease, where can he take it seriously? ”

Gou Xunli smiled bitterly and waved his hand repeatedly, "...... The thieves were sharp, the soldiers were brave, and the firearms were mighty, and the Zheng family and Liu Xiang, who were rampant in the Fujian Sea in the past, were also wiped out in a battle in front of the thieves. Jiangnan, these landlords who can only suppress tenants to resist rent, are not the opponents of thieves...... The villain has a token from the prefect in his hand, and he can call to open the city gate at any time, so please make a quick decision! If you stay until the thieves are surrounded on all sides, you won't be able to walk! ”

-- According to Gou Xunli, who has a wealth of "experience in resisting the war," first of all, the south side of the Yangtze River has been peaceful for a long time, and the villages and towns have not fought for many years, unlike the northwestern and southwestern provinces, which are full of dock forts and towering watchtowers, and the so-called leader of the militia is just an ordinary big landlord who can mobilize hundreds of peasants to fight in the neighbors' territories during the slack season. As for the real evil battle, it has not been fought for generations.

What's more, the land south of the Yangtze River has always been a peaceful world before, and it is a first-class rich and prosperous place with humanities, so the gentry basically used their money to squander pleasures or make friends with eunuchs, and no one thought of raising a group of elite village guards. So now in the face of the thieves' blades, almost all of them are about to collapse at the touch of a button! According to the information he found in the city of Hangzhou, in the face of the attack of the thieves, no gentry could withstand it at all. Even if he gathered more than ten times as many strong men, he was still defeated by a small group of thieves with only a few dozen people, and he couldn't even defend his own Zhuangzi!

It can be seen that even if there are so-called "righteous people" in the countryside outside the city, they are not even in danger of their own day, where is there still spare strength to support Hangzhou?

Secondly, even if he really brought the rebels from the surrounding countryside, Hangzhou City would definitely not be able to hold it - before yesterday's meal of flower wine was drunk, Gou Xunli took the prefect's tokens and official documents and left the table halfway to investigate the city defense situation in Hangzhou, and then found that the whole city of Hangzhou did not even have a Hongyi cannon, only some tiger squat cannons with a very close range (each tiger squat cannon weighs thirty-six catties, that is, eighteen kilograms, you can imagine the size and power of this thing), and temporary wooden cannons. In the face of the shelling of the thieves, they can basically only hold their heads and be beaten.

But the thieves were on the Qiantang River, but there were huge ships, equipped with hundreds of heavy artillery. Before, he was just a small test of his skills at the tide gate, and he didn't even send people to land, so he easily destroyed the city tower from the ship and blew the city wall into a thousand holes. Now there are no more than one or two thousand thieves who are launching rockets outside the Wulin Gate. But the defenders don't say that they will go out of the city to counterattack, and no one even dares to go up to the city wall to defend against the enemy! Because those who dared to go up to the city wall were killed by the guns of the thieves!

What's even worse is that even though the offensive and defensive battles have been fought for several days, there are still very few soldiers and horses organized by the prefect's yamen to defend the city, and even if you count the people who have been temporarily requisitioned, the defenders of the whole city are only more than 4,000 people. Half of them were strong men who had just been requisitioned, and they didn't even have weapons, so they would only shrink down on the city walls and throw stones; The remaining half were beggar-like military households and tax collectors who only oppressed the good. The recruits who really have some combat effectiveness have not even seen half a hair - it is said that all of them were taken to Wenzhou by the governor of Zhejiang to guard the provincial border, and now I don't know whether they have been wiped out or are on the way back. Although Governor Liu looted a large amount of "peace thief donations", he basically didn't take out much money to recruit soldiers, and most of them were stuffed into his private pockets......

Therefore, even if he can summon people from all over the country with his incorruptible tongue, where will this military salary and weapons come from? Do you want the righteous men who gave their lives to fight against the thieves to pay out of their own pockets? Based on the experience of Gou Xunli, even if the rebel army that has to take care of everything can be reluctantly formed, everyone must be full of resentment, and it is even very likely that they will defect to the enemy as soon as they go into battle! Because robbing a big household in Hangzhou is much easier than robbing a thief!

Hearing this, Zhang Dai's mood was also half cold, but thinking about his clan relatives who were still in his hometown in Shaoxing, he couldn't help but hesitate a little. And Gou Xunli immediately gave him another dose of fierce medicine -- according to the information he inquired, the thieves who came from the Qiantang River and ravaged the provincial capital of Hangzhou were nothing more than a motley division of several thousand people. The other line of tens of thousands of elite soldiers and horses of the thieves, under the leadership of the rebel general Huang Shi, landed from Ningbo and swept all the way to the west, and its edge can be called like a bamboo. In the face of such a huge two-sided attack, Shaoxing, Shangyu and other places on the south bank of Hangzhou Bay were originally Wen Tian and Wu Huan, and the soldiers were outnumbered, but now even the gods are difficult to save!

In addition, although the thieves outside Hangzhou City had limited troops, they could not completely cut off the traffic between Hangzhou City and the outside world. But it completely blocked shipping on the Qiantang River, and all fishing boats and ferries would be destroyed. Even if Zhang Dai insisted on staying in Hangzhou, he could not find a way to continue south. Of course, if you don't want to be too troublesome, you can also go west to Chun'an and other mountainous areas in western Zhejiang to go around in a big circle...... It's just that this mountain road was originally difficult and difficult to walk, and now it is the time when the snow is closing the mountain, because of the invasion of thieves, bandits and bandits in the countryside are also rampant, and it is really unknown whether they can reach Shaoxing alive. Even if I really went to Shaoxing, I am afraid that it will be more than a month later, and I am afraid that even the daylily will be cold at that time......

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At this point, Zhang Dai's mind was finally completely shaken - he had naturally heard of the prestige of General Huangshi's sweep of Liaodong in the past, and he was also clear about how the garrison of Shaoxing City was abolished. Some of the walled forts and villagers who resisted the Japanese in the past have long since collapsed completely, and they cannot be restored in a hurry. If Huangshi really brought tens of thousands of people, or even sent a few thousand people to fight, Shaoxing would definitely not be able to hold it.

If the thieves hadn't come so quickly, and he could have a few months of buffer time to plan and deal with it, he might have managed to sneak back to his hometown, relying on his family's connections and power, as well as the money and food he had accumulated, to raise a team to defend Sangzi......

But now that half of Zhejiang is about to fall, there is no time left to deal with it calmly, even if he successfully crosses the Qiantang River and rushes back to his hometown, what use can he have? Don't talk about recruiting and training, it's too late to even build weapons temporarily!

If the worst happens, maybe Shaoxing City has been captured by thieves at this time! Faced with such a situation, what should he Zhang Dai do? Do you want to destroy your name and throw yourself into thieves to protect your clan? Or do you generously curse the thief and die? He didn't want to lose face at all, and he didn't want to die!

Then, although he had lived in the provincial capital Hangzhou for many years because he liked prosperity, Zhang Dai was still a Shaoxing person after all, and his feelings for the city of Hangzhou were relatively limited - since the hometown of Shaoxing, where the ancestral home and clan were located in the south, was now completely irretrievable. He Zhang Zongzi is not an official of the imperial court, and he has no responsibility to defend the land, so why should he follow Governor Liu to die in Hangzhou?

So, under Gou Xunli's repeated persuasion, Zhang Dai finally accepted his remarks of "nothing can be done, you have to save your useful body first, and wait for the coming day", and ordered the housekeeper to pack up his luggage and look for carriages, horses and ships......

And Gou Xunli was also relieved when he saw this--after finding out the details of the officials and thieves on the Hangzhou side, he was already so frightened that he wanted to pull out his feet and slip away. But if Zhang Dai, a nobleman, is trapped in Hangzhou and escapes from the battle, then even if Gou Xunli can successfully escape back to Nanjing, he will not be spared from Donglin to Fushe...... Now that I can escort Zhang Dai back, at least I don't have to worry about my own survival!

But on the other hand...... Hey, I don't know when the sad wish to avenge the thief will come true!

Looking at the servants and maids running back and forth in front of him who were busy cleaning up the soft ones, as well as the beautiful concubines who were sobbing quietly, listening to the sharp whistling of thieves and rockets in the air, Gou Xunli, who had fled all over South China all these years, finally couldn't help but let out a long sigh.

- Alas, who made this world so difficult? I really can't care about this for the time being, let's make sure I can survive first!