Huang Huan hung his head, and the house slaves all sided with each other, and they no longer had the qualifications to resist. The rest of the Huang family are also mourning, and they don't know what fate will happen next.

At the moment when the enemy of the White Lotus Sect is doing such a thing, let alone raiding the house, it is possible to be killed. Chen Zilong can completely arrest all the Huang family members in prison in the name of bandits, or even execute them directly, and it is useless to sue the court afterwards, because Chen Zilong still has the emperor standing behind him.

"Senior Huang, in fact, I don't understand very much, why do you want to do this when the enemy is now? After all, the money and grain collected from the Huang family is not too much? Chen Zilong said condescendingly to Huang Huan.

"What the hell are you trying to say?" Huang Huan lowered his eyelids and said, he had completely lost the arrogance just now.

"I wonder why you're doing that? Why do you have the courage to stand up to the government? Chen Zilong said lightly.

"Why?" Huang Huan laughed miserably, pointing to the hundreds of house slaves hiding on the side, "What else?" Just look at them! ”

"You say now that you want to free the slaves, and then you want to take away our fields and take away our fields, and you will definitely use other excuses in the future to forcibly occupy my family's business and take away other industries. If you don't resist, won't you be able to wait for death? ”

By now, Huang Huan had already let himself out, completely ignoring it, venting his dissatisfaction with Juntian's policy of freeing slaves.

"Oh, I see." Chen Zilong nodded, "But it's not right." I have already recruited Wan Xiangyong, why do you think you can do it over me, and why do you think you can resist the conscription of money and food? ”

"Of course......" Huang Huan just said two words, suddenly stopped, looked at Chen Zilong and sneered, "What, do you want to trick me?" No comment! ”

Chen Zilong smiled faintly: "You like to say it or not, it doesn't matter." It is nothing more than that there are other gentry with you, and you agree to resist at the same time. Even the White Lotus Sect bandits are coming from Wujiang, and you are ready to cooperate with the White Lotus Sect bandits. ”

Huang Huan's face changed greatly: "Chen Zilong, you have to talk nonsense, Lao Tzu has nothing to do with the White Lotus Sect!"

Even if he decided to break the jar, Huang Huan would not dare to bear the charge of the White Lotus Sect.

Chen Zilong no longer paid attention to Huang Huan and looked at the other Huang family members: "What about you, have you also decided to die?" ”

There were seven or eight children of the Huang family present, including Huang Huan's son, as well as his cousins and nephews. The men looked at each other, hesitated, and did not speak.

"The release of slaves from the fields is not to divide all the fields, the master will leave a certain amount of land, and the floating wealth will be basically unchanged, and will be divided equally among his family. However, if a serious crime is committed, they will be confiscated and all family property will be confiscated. Chen Zilong said lightly.

"I'm reporting." As soon as the words fell, the Huang family stood up and pointed at Huang Huandao, "It was my cousin who instigated us to come out and resist, saying that Mr. Zilong, you don't dare to do anything to us, and saying that other gentry will also stand up, and everyone will rebel against the Prime Minister's Office of Urban Defense together!" ”

"Huang Cheng, you dare to betray the Huang family!" Huang Huan was furious and pointed and reprimanded.

"Cousin, you do things by yourself, so don't implicate the family." Huang Cheng persuaded.

"Yes, Uncle Cousin, you do things by yourself, admit your guilt honestly." Other Huang family members also said one after another, and most of the people who spoke were Huang Huan's cousins and nephews.

"What are you doing, when are you still infighting?" Huang Huan's eldest son, Huang Boling, said angrily.

The other sons snorted, but they didn't say a word.

It is obvious by now that the Huang family has lost a lot of money, and they can't afford to make waves at all. Honest confession can also get leniency, and continuing to resist can only lead to a dead end. For the other Huang family, the field business is in the hands of Huang Huan's father and son, and they only receive some money and food every month to live, on the contrary, if they are separated, if they are really like Chen Zilong said that they do not move the floating wealth, they may live a better life, and naturally there is no need to go all the way with Huang Huan.

In front of everyone, there was infighting in the Huang family, and the other Huang family members put the responsibility on Huang Huan, and then took the initiative to expose and report, and which gentry were involved in the matter.

"Huang Huan's father and son gathered their families to violently resist the government, tried to confront the imperial court with other gentry, and colluded with the White Lotus Sect to surrender the city to the bandits, committing a heinous crime! Come on, arrest them, put them in prison for the time being, and wait for the court to deal with them!

The Huang family's behavior is bad and must be punished heavily! On behalf of the Prime Minister's Office of Urban Defense, this official decided that the Huang family's shops and workshops in the city would be temporarily under the control of the Prime Minister's Yamen, and all the materials in the city would be requisitioned and used to defend the city. In addition, a fine of 10,000 stone of grain and 200,000 taels of silver was fined! The rest of the Huang family was deceived by Huang Huan and will not be punished for the time being. Chen Zilong said in a deep voice.

He was only the prime minister of the city defense, and he was not an official of the imperial court, and he had no power to raid his house, but he could confiscate money, grain, and materials in the name of defending the city.

Huang Huan smiled miserably and was taken down with his son. The rest of the Huang family breathed a sigh of relief, and finally escaped the catastrophe, as for what will happen to Huang Huan's father and son, whatever, it is best to be executed by the emperor, so that he may be able to share more family property.

"Everyone is also dispersed, and when the White Lotus Bandit is defeated, I will start to change your household registration for you, and then divide the land." Chen Zilong said to the servants of the Huang family.

"Master Chen, can I join the Xiangyong Battalion?" A servant asked aloud.

Chen Zilong said: "The Xiangyong camp is now temporarily full, if you want to contribute to defending the city, you can temporarily act as a people's husband." ”

The Huang family has done it, and the next step is to keep someone responsible for receiving the confiscated money and food, so naturally Chen Zilong does not need to do it himself.

"Sir, several other gentry have sent people to bring money, food, and materials." As soon as I returned to the government office, someone came to report.

Chen Zilong nodded, and casually ordered Gu Yanwu to take charge of receiving it.

These gentry in the city are not stupid, and when they learned everything that happened in front of the Huang family's mansion, they knew that they were no longer able to compete with Chen Zilong.

As soon as the emperor's edict to release the slaves came out, the house slaves in their hands collectively rebelled and lost the power of the house slaves, they had no strength to fight against Chen Zilong again, and they could only bring humiliation on themselves if they went down, and ended up with the same fate as the Huang family father and son.

Gu Yanwu got busy, led people to accept money and food materials, and the city defense prime minister's office controlled the various warehouses to enrich at a speed visible to the naked eye, and all kinds of materials quickly piled up. In half a day, he received more than 500,000 taels of silver, more than 100,000 stones of grain, and countless other materials. These money and food materials alone are enough for the township to defend the city for a year!

Of course, it is impossible to really keep it for a year, because the food is enough for the village Yong camp to eat, but it is not enough for the millions of people in the city. Although the land in Wuzhong is abundant, in recent years, in order to maximize profits, most of the fields have been planted with cash crops such as mulberry cotton instead of growing grain. As a result, Jiangdong has a serious shortage of grain, and every year after handing over the grain, it is necessary to buy a large amount of grain from Jiangxi and Huguang.

"Therefore, the White Lotus Sect must be pacified quickly, and it is best not to kill them in Suzhou, otherwise it will bring great losses." Huang Zongxi said. The news has already arrived, and thousands of White Lotus Sect bandits have left Wujiang County and are heading towards Suzhou City.

Chen Zilong nodded: "What Brother Taichong said makes sense. Suzhou is not only in the city, there are countless workshops and shops outside the city, and hundreds of thousands of people live, if the White Lotus Sect bandits are killed outside the city, they will inevitably burn and loot, and hundreds of people's families will be ruined. ”

With money and food in his hands, more than 10,000 villagers, and the support of countless domestic slaves and hired workers in the city, Chen Zilong is now very confident, and he is no longer satisfied with passive defense, but wants to take the initiative to quell the White Lotus Sect and bandits, so that Suzhou will not be in the midst of war.

"You should still be cautious, our Xiangyong has just been recruited for a few days, they used to be hired laborers, they didn't even know how to use knives and guns, it's okay to defend the city, it's really a bit difficult for them to let them go to war with the White Lotus Sect bandits. If you lose, Suzhou City will be very dangerous. Yan Yingyuan reminded.

Once the initiative is lost, after all, morale will fall, and if the gentry take the opportunity to make trouble again, Suzhou may be difficult to hold.

Yan Yingyuan's words still have some truth, and Chen Zilong also hesitated. After all, he was a literati, and although he read a few military books, he didn't know how to lead soldiers or fight.

"Gentlemen, I think you can give it a try." At this moment, someone suddenly said.

Chen Zilong turned his head to look, and it was a Praetorian Guard officer in armor who was talking, named Shan Xiangming.

This time, the emperor sent more than 100 Praetorian Guard officers and soldiers, led by the battalion officer one-way Ming. Shan Xiangming is a veteran of the Praetorian Guard, who joined the Praetorian Guard in northern Shaanxi, and was promoted to a battalion officer in a few years, responsible for commanding more than 500 soldiers, with rich combat experience.

"Tell me how to fight?" Chen Zilong hurriedly asked, he still attached great importance to Yi Xiangming's opinion, after all, Yi Xiangming was an experienced officer, not a scholar who could only talk on paper.

"Pull the team out and face the enemy head-on in the field. Those White Lotus bandits were nothing more than a rabble, and it was not difficult to defeat them. One Xiang Ming said confidently.

Chen Zilong and Huang Zongxi glanced at each other, both a little speechless. If it were that simple, what else would you discuss?

"The White Lotus bandits are a rabble, but our township Yong camp has only been established for two days.....," Chen Zilong said reluctantly.

"It's okay, let them wave their flags and shout." Shan Xiangming said disapprerovingly, "Isn't there nearly two hundred Praetorian Guard officers and soldiers, gather them all together and fight against the White Lotus Sect bandits as a striker, as long as you can defeat the White Lotus Bandits with one blow, everyone will rush up again." ”

Is it that simple? Chen Zilong and Huang Zongxi both shook their heads slightly, with less than two hundred people to fight against five or six thousand White Lotus Sect bandits, they felt that this method was too hasty.

"Believe me, two gentlemen! Even if the villagers practiced for another month, they would not be able to take them out to fight, so it was better to gather the Praetorian Guard officers and soldiers who served as officers at all levels. In fact, there is not so much attention to fighting, and the bandits of the White Lotus Sect are not Jiannu, nor are they Mongolian cavalry, so they are very easy to fight. Seeing that the two of them refused to believe themselves, Yi Xiangming became anxious, "Two gentlemen, let's do it, you give me a hundred veterans of the Praetorian Guard, and another five thousand Xiangyong, I promise to defeat the White Lotus Sect bandits." ”

......

Outside Suzhou, a moored ship in the canal, Zhang Pu stood at the bow of the boat, his brows furrowed.

"Mr. Tianru, there is news in the city that Huanghuan and his son were taken by Chen Zilong, and the other gentry were frightened and took the initiative to pay money and food." A man in a short coat stood to the side and prayed.

Although Chen Zilong ordered the closure of the city, it could not completely isolate the inside and outside. Nearly one million people in the city, oil, salt, vegetables and vegetables, a large number of materials need to be supplied outside the city, and the feces and garbage generated in the city also have to be transported out, so the east and west gates have to be opened regularly every day for a period of time.

"What are they doing to eat Huanghuan, they can't stand it for a while!" Zhang Pu said angrily.

Any of the gentry in the city has hundreds of servants, and the combined strength is very large, even if Chen Zilong has tens of thousands of villagers in his hands, he may not be the opponent of the gentry. Because most of those villagers were hired workers, and they all relied on the gentry's workshops to earn money to support their families, how could they dare to do anything to the gentry?

And Zhang Pu didn't plan to rely on the gentry to defeat Chen Zilong, but just hoped that they could hold out until the arrival of the White Lotus Sect, and then the inside and outside should join forces to take Suzhou City. I didn't expect these gentry to even be able to do this, what is it if it's not waste?

"It is said that Chen Zilong took out the emperor's edict to release slaves and promised to meet Juntian, and the servants of the Huang family immediately dispersed and chose to betray the Huang family." The man sighed.

Zhang Pu gasped. Liberation slave hand, this is really a big killer!

Zhang Pu could imagine how ecstatic those servants would be when they heard that they could regain their freedom and get a share of the land. The gentry were able to control a large number of domestic servants because they had their deeds of sale, and if they chose to betray or flee, they would become outcasts. The edict of releasing the slaves made the deed of sale suddenly ineffective, and the gentry no longer had legal control over the slaves, and the slaves naturally did not need to listen to them anymore.

"Chen Zilong!"

Zhang Pu waved his hand and let the man go down. Seeing that there was no one around, he let out a low roar. These days, Chen Zilong has brought him setbacks again and again, making Zhang Pu almost crazy.

After roaring, he felt a deep sense of powerlessness, because Zhang Pu had already discovered that he had no way to take Chen Zilong.

With the support of the emperor, more than 10,000 villagers in his hands, sufficient money and food, and the edict of the release of slaves, Chen Zilong was almost invincible in Suzhou City.

Now the gentry in the city have disarmed and surrendered, because of the release of slaves, the domestic slaves are no longer obedient, Chen Zilong has completely mastered the city of Suzhou, and it is very difficult to think about the cooperation between the inside and the outside.

Even if the White Lotus Sect attacks, can it capture Suzhou City? Zhang Pu expressed skepticism.

But the situation is like this, and there is no other way but to pin all hopes on the White Lotus Sect.

Zhang Pu sat down cross-legged, closed his eyes, and thought carefully, thinking about how to help the White Lotus Sect conquer Suzhou City.

"Mr. Tianru, Chen Zilong has sent troops!" At that moment, a small boat quickly approached, and someone on board shouted loudly.

Zhang Pu's eyes opened.

ps: I'll keep writing, there's one more tonight.