The moon is gone, the stars are scarce, and the world is down.

The sun shone all over the land, but it did not dispel the gloom in Gutian City.

In the county yahua hall, there was only leftover wine on the table, but a group of people were still sitting, with no intention of dispersing, but the atmosphere was silent and depressing.

This special feast, which lasted all night, was meant to discuss the response to the current crisis, or simply a "fundraising meeting".

Research, discussion, and grinding for four or five hours, but still no result.

Zhixian Xu He'an rubbed his sore back, squinted at the Zhong master book next to him, and saw that he had a dead face with his eyes closed, and it was estimated that there was nothing to hope for.

looked at the fat-headed and big-eared Wang County Lieutenant, and saw that he was holding a silver chopstick, repeatedly stabbing the rotten meat on the plate, seemingly bored, obviously without an idea.

Then he swept his gaze to the twenty or so squires in the hall, one by one yawning, sluggish, and a little indifferent.

Sighing lightly, Xu He'an was exalted and knocked on the desk, attracting everyone's attention.

"Ladies and gentlemen, we are running out of time, are we just waiting to die?"

Perhaps the squires didn't want to survive anymore, and Ranla began to respond.

"Let's make it up, let's make it up, the old man will add another fifty times, a total of two hundred and fifty runs, and if there are more, there will really be no more......

"I'll add another fifty too......

"A total of two hundred and twenty times, this is all the contemptible people's family resources......

A group of old fortunes have added money one after another, but they have picked and searched, but it is just perfunctory.

Xu He'an's face was bitter, and he had no choice but to look hard at County Lieutenant Wang.

Immediately, County Lieutenant Wang said dryly, "Let's take out more points, even if it is not enough for the bandits to accept, but it can also boost morale if it is used to reward the soldiers and people, and it is still possible to hold the city."

There must be brave men under the so-called heavy reward, but the squires do not think so.

"Those Wenmen just need to give some sweetness, but if you give too much, you will be insatiable."

"That's it, it's good to give each person a consistent two, we have six or seven thousand now, and it is estimated that there are still ...... left."

"They all live in the city, we pay for it, and they contribute their lives, which is fair and reasonable."

"If the ignorant people down there are too fed, they will be prone to trouble......

"It makes sense, if they give more this time, they will definitely get more in the future, and the untouchables don't read poetry and books, and they don't know loyalty, righteousness and morality, so they must not be too lenient."

The squire is gossiping, but the tone is surprisingly consistent, the duty of the grass people is dedication, why do you want so much money, just be able to eat enough and not starve to death.

Master Zhong originally had this view, but he also knew in his heart that if the bandits attacked, the other gentry might not be fine, but his own family might not be able to escape.

He turned in his heart and made a sincere and frank appearance, "You are right, but at this very moment, the bandits are all people who have no king's law, and if they really enter the city, who knows what they can do, we can be said to be grasshoppers on a rope, when we are in the same boat, whether it is a ransom or a bounty, the more the merrier, if everyone endures more pain, it should be ruined and the disaster will be eliminated."

These words are a little vague, but the gentry can still understand them, and there is actually some truth in what they say.

Although most of the gentry knew what was going on with the bandits, and some promised not to hurt themselves as a big gentry, what would happen when the time came, in fact, they were not very bottom-up, and they began to hesitate for a while.

After a while, someone said, "If you want me to say, Master Zhong, don't just sing high-pitched, that bandit is mainly for you, and it is our best duty if we don't send you out, but you should always take more money."

Master Zhong had no choice but to grit his teeth, "Then I'll go out for three thousand, this will be fine!"

Three thousand is a lot, and the most promised just now did not exceed three hundred, but the gentry did not think so.

Someone immediately broke the way, "Master Zhong's book is a bit boring, you have a net worth of 100,000 yuan, even if you don't count the Tiantu House, you should be able to get tens of thousands of yuan in cash, so you can give such a point?"

Master Zhong immediately retorted, "Don't spread rumors, I've been honest all my life, where did I get so much money!?"

"Rumors? Your granddaughter is saying everywhere that your fortune is nine figures, and that's fake?"

100,000 is 10,000 yuan, which is indeed a nine-digit ......

Naturally, Master Zhong would not admit it, "Children are not sensible, how can they be taken seriously when they say casually? If you don't believe me, you can go to my house to check, and you can clear my name as soon as possible."

Speak frankly and righteously, but the gentry don't eat it.

"This kind of words used to fool the people, you don't need to say it in front of us, who doesn't know who, anyway, how much I can wait, it's all compared to you, and it only adds up to more than you, which is enough righteousness, if it's not enough, then it's no wonder we stand by and watch."

Seeing that the gentry had reached an agreement and looked at him, Master Zhong knew that it would not work without cutting the flesh, so he had to close his eyes and leak a few words from between his teeth, "One, ten thousand, through!"

Immediately, the gentry also began to "generosity", at least double the previous amount, and then added more than 700 guan from the county treasury and Xu Zhi County's private individuals, making up 26,000 guan.

That's right, there is such a small amount of money in the county treasury, and it is only when Xu He'an is relatively honest.

Looking at the pledge slip in his hand, Xu Zhixian was full of emotion, this money is actually a few tenths of the property of all gentry, if it weren't for the sword soldiers, he would not have taken it out.

"Although it's still a lot short of 100,000, but if you think about it, the red eye dragon is the sky-high asking price, this money should be able to satisfy him, if he is really not satisfied, then we will recruit the people to be strong, five, ten, four or five thousand, and fight with the bandits!"

Next, under the urging of Xu He'an, the money of the gentry was finally sent to the county government one after another, and the copper coins and cloth were available.

Then when the gentry were looking for an excuse to leave, Inspector Luo, who was on duty at the head of the city, excitedly ran into the yamen.

"County Honor, good news, the bandits have descended, they have descended!"

Xu He'an immediately became excited, "Really!? The army of King Yan has arrived?"

Inspector Luo was stunned, "Huh? The army did not arrive...... Anyway, I didn't see it."

"The army hasn't arrived!?" Xu He'an's face turned cloudy in an instant, "The army didn't arrive, what did you say that the bandits have descended!?" Are you dizzy, or are you stupid!?"

The gentry also rolled their eyes wildly, and they all ridiculed the Luo inspection that made them happy in vain, and at the same time complained about King Yan.

"Three days ago, the shopkeeper of my shop in Fuzhou sent a pigeon letter, saying that King Yan would arrive in Fuzhou on the 19th, and it has been four or five days.

"I think King Yan is just a vain name, I heard that he brought only some baby soldiers, and he couldn't fight at all, and the princes of the court also let him mess around, our Great Song Dynasty's qi is ah......

"Hmph, if it weren't for King Yan's constant unconventional behavior, how could he have caused this chaos, but pitifully we would have to suffer......

"When they all arrived in Fuzhou, they didn't hurry up to send troops to quell the rebellion, and sat back and watched the county town under their noses being besieged by bandits, how could such a person afford thousands of miles of rivers and mountains!?"

"That is, if he can survive this time, the old man must contact his former colleagues and impeach him to the officials!"

Seeing that the gentry were fighting more and more vigorously, Luo Inspector, who had been stunned for a long time, finally came back to his senses, "Everyone, listen to me, from dawn to now, the bandits outside the city have not dug tunnels anymore, and they also shot a letter in, saying that King Yan sent a small force to arrive last night, and then forced the bandits to surrender, this letter has the seal of the official army, it doesn't look like a fake."

After speaking, he handed the letter to Xu Zhixian.

After Xu Zhixian read it carefully, he couldn't help but fall into doubt, "There is no problem with the seal form, but what is the official position of the commander of this special service team?"

The establishment of the Eastern Guard is different from that of the forbidden army, and the titles of officers are also different, but for the convenience of the outside world, there is usually a corresponding forbidden officer position, and an identity seal is made.

"No matter what his official position, the commander is the commander of a battalion, and with three or five hundred troops, it is possible to frighten the bandit army of the rabble." County Lieutenant Wang was happy.

Master Zhong also said, "Main Hall, why don't we go first

Let's go to the city and talk about it."

So, a group of people rushed to the south city wall with a belly full of suspicions.

Immediately, they found out that the bandits had indeed stopped the signs of attacking the city, and then let people shout outside, asking to meet with the generals of the official army.

Not long after, I saw the bandit leader Yang Xiao accompanying a few people wearing strange armor to thirty steps outside the city.

Xu He'an poked his head out boldly, "Dare to ask which one is Commander Wu Qiongwu?"

"I mean, the city is Gutian County? I will teach you to know that now that the rebel army has been recruited, you don't need to be afraid anymore." Wu Qiong responded loudly.

Xu He'an continued to ask, "I don't know how many soldiers and horses Commander Wu has brought?"

"Thirty!" Wu Qiong replied truthfully.

But when the city heard this, it immediately exploded, and the gentry shouted.

"Rely on the cup, make up a little nonsense, thirty people can force down more than 10,000 chaotic troops?"

"Otherwise, if you tell him how much, the bandits won't be able to get the official armor, and he won't be able to pretend to be too much."

"Oh, are we really hillbillies who have never seen the world? The old man can't count the number of forbidden soldiers he has seen, but he has never seen the appearance of these people."

"I think this must be a ruse of the bandits, trying to trick the city gates!"

Some people even shouted directly outside the city, "Stupid thief! Such a clumsy trick also wants to deceive people? What a joke! I advise you not to be embarrassed here."

Then Master Zhong shouted directly, "That's it, don't bother so much, the siege of the city is nothing more than to grab some money and food, we have raised 26,000 yuan, if you are willing to retreat, you can not hurt a single person, wouldn't it be better to go for nothing?"

It seems that he was still very concerned about his own life, for fear of angering the bandits, and then really attacked the city.

Wu Qiong was a little ridiculous when she saw this reaction in the city, so she planned to turn around and leave, and the city continued to be frightened in vain.

However, after Yang Xiao saw Master Zhong's book, his eyes were extremely red, his heart turned, and he persuaded Wu Qiong, "General, these old fortunes in the city are not good people, especially this one surnamed Zhong, who has been greedy a lot over the years, since they want to give money, let's not want it in vain, besides, didn't you say before that you couldn't directly dismiss the people, but you have to give them some money and food, instead of letting His Royal Highness King Yan break the bank, it is better to let these old fortunes bleed."

Wu Qiong couldn't help but look at Yang Xiao with some surprise when she heard this, "What you said seems to be quite reasonable, and they can only feel at ease when they give money, well, then do as you say."

After getting the agreement, Yang Xiao immediately negotiated with the city with great pomp, "Listen to the city, you are limited to give all the money within an hour, otherwise if there is one less son, Lao Tzu will immediately kill it and go to all the big families to get it!"

Xu He'an was a little stunned after hearing this, but the others seemed to have won the battle, and they were complacent to see through the plans of the bandit girl, and Master Zhong couldn't wait for people to transport the money and throw it down the city bag by bag.

As for whether the bandits will regret it after receiving the money, these people are not too worried.

It's useless to worry about it, if you really regret it, you will give a little earlier, after all, they really don't have the confidence to hold the city, and spending money to buy peace is also some kind of "fine tradition".

In the Song Dynasty, when the local armed forces were weak and the county-level government did not have the strength to deal with the bandits in the country, there were many cases of raising funds to send them out of the country.

Second, there is a way to steal, many times in these years, thieves are indeed more credible, and they generally don't do things that collect money and tear up tickets, otherwise the reputation spreads, and they will never be able to do similar transactions again, and they will be despised by their peers......

The city put away its bows and arrows and kept throwing money down, and the "bandits" ran to the city empty-handed, carrying or carrying the money back to the "camp" with joy.

This scene was harmonious and absurd, Wu Qiong shook his head, and when he saw Yang Xiao grinning, he asked casually, "How did you end up with that Zhong master?"

Yang Xiao didn't feel that there was anything to hide, so he said.

"This surnamed Zhong was originally a poor sour who couldn't even pass the exam, and he worked as a clerk in the yamen in his early years, and when Yan Mengbiao was in trouble in Shaoding, this guy was called to Chen Zhao's arrest army, and later he was stained

The light of the thief's credit is getting better and better, and he began to be the supervisor of the big performance silver field ten years ago."

"Don't look at the silver field now, it seems to be very depressed, not much silver is handed over to it, in fact, there are not a lot of silver mines dug up, but most of them were moved to other places by these dog officials to smelt, and then swallowed privately."

"The dog officials ate the meat that should have been in the court, but not only did they not give us miners a mouthful of soup, but they squeezed it even more fiercely, but the brothers could only swallow their anger in order to have something to eat."

"We also understand that this world is like this, as long as we can live, we don't dare to have any extravagance."

"It's just that more than five years ago, the silver market for the New Year still asked our brothers to go to the mine, and we thought that if we had money or not, we would have to have a Chinese New Year's Eve dinner, so we pooled money with everyone and got some pork to open meat."

"I only knew that after two bites, I pounced on a black dog and wanted to take the meat away, and when we saw that this dog was raised by the supervisor, although I was not happy, I didn't dare to stop it."

"But this beast grabbed one piece after another, and we were so angry that we chased after it, and we saw the granddaughter of the field supervisor kicking and playing with those pieces of meat."

"We saw her trampling things, so we couldn't help but go up and persuade her to return it to us, but this girl was unreasonable at all."

"What else do you say that we are pariahs, and the cheap meat we eat during the New Year doesn't even eat her dogs, and we should make cattle and horses for her family for generations, anyway, it doesn't look like a human language, and we can't remember so much, but we were so angry at the time that we didn't hold back and slapped that girl."

"Then the one surnamed Zhong had Lao Tzu's pants picked up in public and beat him with thirty strokes, and we didn't die, but I knew that the one surnamed Zhong would definitely try to kill us, so we simply pulled our brothers and ran out of the silver market."

"The man surnamed Zhong sent someone to arrest us, and in those months we hid in Tibet, but we were also killed by many brothers, and then we went back to the mine, and the man surnamed Zhong ran back to the county seat, and then we always had to make a living, so we started digging private mines, but this guy always sent people to make trouble......

The story was understated by Yang Xiao and said very simply, but Wu Qiong was also a person who had suffered hardships, so she naturally heard the bitterness and suffering in it, so she patted Yang Xiao on the shoulder.

"As long as what you say is true, His Royal Highness King Yan will seek justice for you."