Suffering such a fiasco, Wang Zunde, who was originally still high-spirited, seemed to be ten years old overnight, and his hair was much grayer, and he waved his hand weakly, "Come on, put them in prison, and wait for them to fall." Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 info"The pro-soldiers of the superintendent came in and took away the depressed Xu Ting and Sun Tianbiao.

Wang Zunde looked at everyone, whether it was Mu Tianyan and other chief officials of the three divisions, or Haibei and Hainan guarding the road, Yu Baocheng, the prefect of Guangzhou, and even Gao Shunqin, the always tough inspector, avoided his gaze, as if he was deliberately avoiding something.

Wang Zunde seems to have a mirror in his heart, and those who can sit in this hall are all people who have been in the officialdom, and everyone understands that with the fiasco of last night's battle, the death knell above the head of him, the governor of Liangguang, has sounded, and it is only a matter of time before he is dismissed, and it is difficult to say whether he can save his life with his temper today. Although it is not yet to the point where the wall is falling and everyone is pushing it, at least most of the reverence of these officials for him, the Governor, has gone.

Wang Zunde shook his head and sighed: "The official is incompetent, he failed to exterminate the thieves, but let the thieves be so arrogant in the provincial capital, and the responsibility for the crime is borne by the official." ”

Mu Tianyan and the others secretly breathed a sigh of relief when they heard this, although Wang Zunde was arbitrary in the matter of suppressing thieves, which led to today's situation, but his character is still remarkable, and if he carries the matter down, everyone will be much safer. If he ignores the indiscriminate bite and puts the blame on everyone, although he cannot reduce his own responsibility, these officials present will also be dragged down to some extent.

With his tone, the officials cheered up a lot, changed their previous silence, and opened their mouths to offer advice.

"From the humble point of view, since the thieves cannot be repelled, it is better to sit down and talk on both sides. The few conditions put forward by the thief are not too difficult. Yu Baocheng suggested.

The rest chimed in.

Haibei also said: "Yes, these thieves don't seem to be unreasonable. ”

"Except for the silver can be less, the rest of the conditions are easy to say. Let's talk about the withdrawal of troops, anyway, they have already been defeated, and the left and right are going to be withdrawn, so it is better to send a favor. ”

……

Wang Zunde looked at the gossip of everyone coldly, and through their faces, he could see the true thoughts in his heart, which could be summed up in nothing more than one sentence: The battle is what your governor wants to fight, and now that he is defeated, hurry up and negotiate the conditions with others, so that the family can withdraw from the army, so as not to make it difficult for everyone.

According to Wang Zunde's inner thoughts, although the battle was defeated, the thieves were not able to attack the city, as long as he could be the governor for a day, the city of Guangzhou would be defended for a day, and he would never give in to the thieves. This is not only to save the face of the court and the government, but also to preserve the last dignity of his king.

However, after listening to everyone's discussions, they all revolve around the core of negotiating with the thief, and the difference is nothing more than whether to fully agree to the other party's conditions, which is completely different from his ideas.

Wang Zunde coughed, wanted to speak righteously, understood the reason, let them retract this thought, and work together to defend the city of Guangzhou, so that the thieves can retreat from their own food. He was willing to take all the responsibilities in exchange for the concessions of these officials and agreed to his demand to defend the city of Guangzhou.

Before he could speak, he heard the sound of "boom", "boom", "boom" in the distance, which was endless, and he was stunned at the moment and asked, "What is this?" ”

After Wang Zunde arrived in the city of Guangzhou, the shelling had stopped, and although he knew about this kind of cannon that could throw shells across the city wall in Yu Baocheng's recital, it was the first time he heard the explosion of mortar shells.

Yu Baocheng said with a sad face: "The thief fired again......"

Wang Zunde was startled and moved outside the lobby, and the officials followed out. Even in the inner courtyard of the prefect's yamen, you can see the fire in the direction of the south gate, thick smoke billowing out, and the sound of explosions, cries, and houses collapsing from the south.

"Is there nothing they can do to stop them?" Wang Zunde questioned the crowd.

Yu Baocheng said cautiously: "Make the platform, the thieves' cannonballs are thrown in through the city wall, and they can't be stopped at all. Unless you open the gates and go out......"

He didn't finish the rest of the words, but everyone understands that the consequences of the fight are also in front of him, and the last armed forces in Guangzhou were almost dispatched last night, and they were beaten back. Maybe the mobilization of the army and civilians to defend the city can support it for a while, but it is absolutely impossible to go out of the city to fight in the field.

Wang Zunde looked at Yu Baocheng, and then looked at the other officials, these people either lowered their heads and studied the flowers and plants on the ground, or looked up at the sky and observed the white clouds, but they were all thinking in their hearts: If you can't stop people from firing, you can't fight when you go out of the city, you old man should make a decision quickly.

Wang Zunde sighed secretly in his heart, turned his head to look at the billowing smoke in the south, and the persistence in his heart contradicted the cruel reality in front of him, and he was entangled.

When he was fighting, a city gate defender rushed to the prefect's yamen to report: "The thieves sent someone to shout under the city, saying that if they do not agree to his conditions within today, the compensation will be increased to 200,000 taels!" ”

"Thieves dare to do this!" Wang Zunde was furious.

The defender's head shrank, and his voice was much quieter: "They also said that if they don't agree, from tomorrow, they will blow up the west gate, east gate, and north gate in turn, so that there will be no peace in the city of Guangzhou, until all the officials in the city take off their official robes......

Mu Tianyan and the others were shocked, they really let the thieves bomb around Guangzhou City, so it was not only Wang Zunde who suffered, but all their big and small officials had to be held accountable. Although being an official in Guangzhou is not as good as the Jiangnan area, it is also a rare fat difference, and they are reluctant to take off this official robe.

"Taiwan, the situation is pressing, make a decision quickly, and let the thieves return to Qiongzhou, otherwise the people in the city will die innocently!"

"Make a table, negotiate with the thief, let the merchants get together for 100,000 taels of silver, if you are afraid of disturbing the people, let's go to the head office......"

"...... Production"

Everyone was anxious, and they didn't care about the official's physique, so they forced Wang Zunde to the palace one after another. As long as Wang Zunde nodded, they could give out the 100,000 taels of silver, whether it was the prefect or the political envoy, or other officials, it was not difficult for each person to get together a few thousand or ten thousand taels of silver, as long as the official position was still there, the silver could be earned again.

Wang Zunde closed his eyes in despair, these officials were just about to tear their faces, if they did not agree, they were afraid that they would not be able to get out of this door with any orders, this governor was no different from dismissal in their eyes, and their usual fear and respect were gone.

At this point, the shelling paused, as if quietly waiting for him to make a choice.

After a long time, he opened his eyes, "Go to the city gate." ”

(To be continued.) )