In the lobby of the Yamen of the Anqing Prefect's Mansion, Wang Jinguo sat in the first seat, and dozens of men sat below him, these people were either middle-aged or elderly, although their appearance was different, but the only thing they had in common was that they looked pampered, and these people were the more famous gentry and wealthy families in Anqing Mansion.

Wang Jinguo glanced at everyone and then said: "Everyone, now tens of thousands of thieves have surrounded Anqing Mansion, and this mansion has sent a letter to the governor for help within a few days, but until now the reinforcements have not arrived, if the thieves are allowed to wreak havoc in Anqing Mansion, I am afraid it will be difficult to protect, you are all the tasks of Anqing Mansion with a head and a face, this official invited you today to discuss with you the plan to defend the city, please give me advice!" ”

There was silence in the lobby for a while, Wang Jinguo looked around, and found that these people either looked down at the uppers of their shoes, as if there was some rare treasure on the shoes, or they were brushing their beards and making a deep groan, and even worse, they were whispering to the people next to them and chuckling from time to time, but no one was talking to him, the prefect.

Seeing this, Wang Jinguo first surged up from the bottom of his heart, but then there was a burst of sadness, as the prefect, he can be said to have put down his dignity and shelf to discuss things with them, but these people put on a posture that has nothing to do with themselves, at this moment he suddenly had doubts about what he has done these days, in order to be able to keep Anqing Mansion He has been unable to eat and sleep for several days, but what about these people? But they are still drunk and dreaming of death, are these people really not afraid of the rogues coming in?

His heart was full of anger, and he wanted to have a seizure, but the words came to his mouth and he swallowed it again, after all, he was not a rookie who had just entered the officialdom, and more than 20 years of officialdom experience told him how powerful the power of those merchants and gentry was in the territory of Jiangnan.

If you really want to offend this group of people, let alone his small prefect, even the governor may have to weigh it.

Thinking of this, Wang Jinguo stopped talking, but sat on the chair and looked at everyone coldly, he wanted to see if these businessmen were really rampant and lawless, if this was the case, then there was no need for him to do any more useless work.

For a long time, an old man of about fifty years old who was sitting on the lower left of him seemed to feel the anger in Wang Jinguo's heart, only to see him look at Wang Jinguo and said with a smile: "Lord Prefect, we are naturally as anxious as you are in the siege of the city, but we are all grass people, and we don't know anything about military affairs, even if we want to give you advice and advice, we can't talk about it." ”

"That's right!" A middle-aged man with a horse's face next to him also echoed: "What the fasting lord said is good, we are all businessmen, and we can do business or something, but if we talk about military affairs, we will be invincible, do you think this is the reason?" ”

"Yes, yes, the white shopkeeper said it well, we will also do some small business, and we don't know anything about military affairs."

"Really?"

Wang Jinguo took a deep breath, and he didn't want to ink with these people anymore, so he said bluntly: "This official knows that you have a lot of nobles, so I won't waste your time, let's just say it directly." Yesterday, the king garrison told the official that the officers and soldiers guarding the city had not been paid for several months, not only that, but even those recruited young men began to complain, if it continues like this, I am afraid that it will not take a few days for the army's morale to disperse, have you thought about the consequences? ”

Perhaps it was Wang Jinguo's serious expression that frightened everyone, and a businessman asked with some disbelief: "Lord Wang said that it was funny, our Anqing Mansion has 5,000 defenders, plus the thousands of young men recruited, the number is tens of thousands, plus Anqing City is high and deep, and the rogues outside the city are only tens of thousands, how can we break through our strong city?" ”

"The city is high and the pond is deep?" Wang Jinguo sneered, "Since Shopkeeper Huang said so, why don't you ask Shopkeeper Huang to go to the city wall to defend the city in person, and let us see how Shopkeeper Huang defeated tens of thousands of rogues." ”

"Can't you do it?" The shopkeeper Huang was startled, and his two fat hands were like windmills, "It's just a small business, how can you use a knife to kill the enemy?" The prefect doesn't want to make such a joke with the villain? ”

Wang Jinguo snorted lightly: "Is it a joke, Shopkeeper Huang will go up to the city wall to see it in person." ”

"Alright." The old man named Fasting Gong spoke, "What the prefect said is also reasonable, now that the rogue soldiers are pressing the border, we, as the people of Anqing Mansion, naturally have the responsibility to contribute, but the old man dares to ask, how much silver does the prefect need me to wait?" ”

Wang Jinguo, who had been waiting for this sentence for a long time, did not talk nonsense, and immediately stretched out a finger.

"Ten thousand taels?" The fasting man nodded: "There is no problem, these silver can be made up by everyone equally." ”

Everyone in the hall also nodded, there are dozens of people here, and each person can make up a few hundred taels.

"The fasting man is wrong, it's 100,000 taels!" Wang Jinguo interrupted him.

"What...... 100,000 taels? Everyone let out an exclamation, and many people's faces became ugly, and the fasting man said with some displeasure: "Lord Prefect, there are not many people in our Anqing Mansion who have a net worth of more than this number, and as soon as you open your mouth, it is 100,000 taels, which is also a bit excessive, right?" ”

"That's right, 100,000 taels is too much, so each family will have to pay at least a few thousand taels."

"I can't get it anyway."

Everyone shook their heads.

"Excessive?"

Wang Jinguo really wants to kill these guys who want money and don't want to die, these bastards buy a skinny horse for more than a few thousand taels on weekdays, and now it is too expensive to spend a few thousand taels to keep them safe, are they full of feces in their heads?

Seeing Wang Jinguo's face turning blue, the fasting man was also worried that Wang Jinguo would really tear his face with them, although they were not afraid, but it was not good after all, so he snorted, "Lord Prefect, do you think this is good?" One hundred thousand taels of silver is not a small amount, and I really can't get it out for a while. Do you think this is good, the old man is cheeky to be the master, I will wait for 20,000 taels of silver to come out, and then after a few days when I have enough money, I will make a sum of silver to reward the soldiers who defend the city, what do you think? ”

"Twenty thousand taels?"

Wang Jinguo only felt that he had never been so tired, and he waved his hand weakly, "That's it, since you have made up your minds, this mansion won't say anything more, so be it." ”

The fasting prince nodded slightly at Wang Jinguo: "Since that's the case, then let's leave first." ”

With that, he stood up and walked out of the lobby first.

Wang Jinguo stared blankly at the figures of those businessmen walking out of the lobby for a long time without making a sound, and after a long while, he said sadly and angrily: "A group of fools, just wait for the city to be destroyed and people die!" ”