"But...... The carriage is in ...... In this sea of fire, I'm afraid, I'm afraid I'm already ......" Lu Rong stammered.

The people in the carriage were burned to death, Lan Haochen and Lu Rong were not well protected, and the crime of dereliction of duty was enough to destroy the Nine Clans. knew that this was the case, and he had to stop the killer even if he died, at least he could be killed by his own life, so that he would not be killed together with the whole family.

Qiu Hengbo paused, and said, "Fool! This fire is just a way for that person to get out, he must have hijacked the carriage and left!"

Lan Haochen was stunned and said, "The carriage was not burned?"

Qiu Hengbo said: "I saw it in the back, and it disappeared in an instant after the carriage went to the roof, and it must have entered the secret passage that had been arranged a long time ago!"

When the carriage rushed to the roof just now, although Lan Haochen and Lu Rong were closer, their vision was blocked by the eaves, and Qiu Hengbo was far away, but he could see clearly.

Lan Haochen perked up when he heard this, and shouted: "Hurry! Hurry up and put out the fire! And hurry to the governor's yamen to deliver the message, and immediately block the city gate!"

It is very bad that the carriage is hijacked, but it is much better than being burned in the fire, as long as the people in the carriage can be rescued in time, it may not be impossible to atone for their sins. It was not difficult to track down such a conspicuous carriage, as long as the other party did not escape from the city, it would certainly be able to be pursued.

Lan Haochen and Lu Rong had already decided that they would definitely die, but at this moment, they seemed to have grabbed another life-saving straw.

※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※ there were 16 gates in the city, including nine in the inner city and seven in the outer city, and the closure of these gates had to be ordered by Yamen, the governor in charge of Gyeonggi's defense.

Lan Haochen and the others were not slow, and before the time for tea after the carriage was hijacked, the order to urgently block the city gate was issued.

When Niu Jia saw the fireworks signal rising into the sky, he was facing a large group of pigs in front of the city gate with great annoyance.

Zuo'anmen is the smallest gate in the outer city south of Beijing, and Niu Jia is responsible for guarding this gate.

Niu Jia's men only have thirty soldiers, but there are at least three hundred pigs in front of him, and each of them is fat and strong, no less than three hundred catties.

Today is the Duanyang Festival, and there are more people in and out of the city than usual, and it is almost noon, but suddenly such a large group of animals comes from outside the city.

The city of Beijing is not something that can be entered casually, ordinary people have to pay the city gate tax when they enter the city, and if they carry goods, they must also pay the transportation and commercial tax. According to the rules, the tax money collected must be handed over to the government treasury, but Niu Jia can also deduct some of it and fill it into his own pocket, otherwise the price of goods in the capital is so high, how can they, the gatekeepers, live with only that little money.

If the fat pig wants to enter the city gate, of course, he must also pay taxes according to the head, but when the soldiers guarding the city gate open their mouths to ask for money, the pig driver will not give it.

Driving the pigs were a dozen rude and sloppy country men, but the leader was a man in his twenties and dressed as a broad man. Although this man was dressed in a brocade robe and wore a square scribe's scarf on his head, he was born with large shoulders and a round waist, and a face full of meat, and his weight was by no means inferior to that of his fat pigs.

"What! You want to collect money from Ben Gongzi? Are you mistaken?" The fat pig boy spoke in a strange tone, which seemed to be the dialect of southern Guangdong, "You have to figure out that these Poria pigs fed with good medicinal herbs were brought by my son from afar to celebrate my uncle's birthday!"

"You don't know who my uncle is? Who else in the capital doesn't know, that is, Gonggong Liu in the palace, he specializes in serving Concubine Tian's mother! And do you know who my uncle-in-law is, that is, the third housekeeper of the family of Zhang Fengyi, the secretary of the Ministry of War, you little soldiers have to kowtow when they see him! Hurry up and move the barricades, so that my son can bring these pigs over!"

The soldiers were willing to release the soldiers before they received the tax money, and the two sides refused to give in to each other, and a stalemate broke out at the city gate.

Three hundred pigs could not enter the city, and the entire city gate was stuffed to the brim, not only blocking the pedestrians entering and leaving, but also arching everywhere, "humming" and screaming, and leaving a lot of things on the ground.

Although the fat pig boy claimed that these poria pigs were fed with medicinal herbs, but the yellow and white things pulled out were not much different from ordinary pigs, and all of a sudden, the stench at the city gate was stinking, and the soldiers and people who were guarding the city around covered their mouths and covered their noses.

The soldiers under him couldn't handle the matter, so Niu Jia had to step forward to deal with it himself.

He has been guarding this Zuo'an Gate for more than a day or two, and he has encountered many people who want to enter the city but do not want to pay money, and the most troublesome of them is this kind of guy who is related to high-ranking officials and nobles in the DPRK. This kind of person is fake and powerful, and his face is hateful, but he can't be rude to them, just because whether it is the eunuch in the palace or the housekeeper of Shangshu Mansion, it is not something that Niu Jia, a petty official of the nine grades, can offend.

Of course, he can't just let them into the city just because of what the other party said, if that is the case, he won't have to do the patrol of guarding the city.

"Hey, what's the matter, this son's name is your name?" Niu Jia asked as he stepped forward.

"Do you ask me? My son's surname is Wang, and his name is a southern character. The fat pig boy also saw that the person who came over was the leader of the soldiers defending the city, and immediately said with a big grin, "Hurry up and tell your men to remove all these woods, and this son is still rushing into the city to pay respects!"

"I said, Wang Gongzi, this tax for entering the city gate is a royal law set by the state, and even the royal relatives must abide by it.

"Don't come to this set!" But the fat pig boy didn't sell it, "I don't believe that the prince and princess still dare to ask them for money when they cross the city gate?" Don't think that this prince doesn't know, you must have swallowed most of the money you collect, these pigs are given to my uncle's birthday, and they have to be taxed, that is, to swallow my uncle's money, you are so bold!"

Looking at the group of pigs crowded in the city cave, Niu Jia frowned and said, "We don't have the courage to ask for the money of the father-in-law in the palace. So many pigs enter the city, and according to the law, they have to pay at least ten taels of silver in trade tax, and the prince will pay less, only five taels, how about it?"

"Five taels?" Wang Nan pouted and said, "Five taels is still too much, and this son can only give three taels of silver at most!"

Niu Jia was furious in his heart, but he couldn't show it, and said: "Okay, it's okay, three taels will be three taels! Wang Gongzi has paid the tax and silver, and I will tell the brothers to move the barricades." ”

The fat pig boy reached into his pocket, touched the old man for a long time before taking out three taels of broken silver and handing them to Niu Jia.

"You guys go and move the wooden fence and let this group of pigs in!" After receiving the silver tael, Niu Jia waved his hand and ordered his subordinates. It was a trivial matter to collect three taels of silver, and it was really troublesome for this large group of dirty and smelly fat pigs to huddle at the gate of the city, blocking all the people who wanted to enter the city behind.

Just as the barricades had been removed and the pigs began to crowd into the city gates, Niu Jia saw a fireworks signal in the distance.

This is the urgent military order issued by the governor's yamen, the signal to close the city gate immediately, Niu Jia, as a Jiupin inspector, has the responsibility of guarding the gate, of course he knows it. He was immediately shocked and shouted, "Close the city! Hurry up and close the city gate!"

The soldiers should claim to be, but now they want to close the gates, but it is not so easy, because the whole gate is stuck with pigs!

"Drive the pigs away and shut the gates for me!" Niu Jia shouted again.

The soldiers each went up with knives and guns to drive the pigs, but Wang Nan, the fat pig boy, shouted: "What are you going to do! These are Poria pigs, each worth hundreds of silver taels, can you afford to pay for the injuries?"

Although Niu Jia didn't know why he wanted to close the city gate, since the governor yamen used the fireworks signal that was only issued at the most urgent time to send the order, he thought that a hundred thousand urgent events had occurred and must be carried out immediately, and there was no delay in it.

"Where the military order is, the city gate must be closed immediately, Wang Gongzi, this is not acceptable!" Niu Jia said while commanding more than a dozen soldiers on the side, "You go to help, go and drive the pigs away and close the city gate!"

Where is the fat pig boy willing to obey, shouting and shouting: "What's the point! This son has already paid the silver taels, these three hundred Poria pigs are not allowed to close the door before entering the city, you few, go over and block the city gate!"

More than a dozen villagers who came to drive the pigs listened to the orders of the fat pig boy, and they all rushed to the top gate, and the soldiers were entangled together.

Don't look at these peasants wearing tattered clothes, they look very sloppy, but all of them are strong and strong, although the number of soldiers under Niu Jia is large, they are blocked by these people, and they can't close the city gate at all.

Seeing this, Niu Jia couldn't help but be anxious and angry, and shouted: "You dare to block the officers and soldiers, you want to rebel and fail! Quick, put down the jack gate!"

There are not only two wooden doors in the doorway, but also an iron gate, which weighs thousands of catties, and is used to control the lifting and lowering with a turntable twisting chain on the city wall, which is used to block the enemy besieging the city in times of crisis. Niu Jia couldn't wait for his soldiers to act, so he ran into the road with three steps and two steps, came to the city wall along the stone steps, opened the iron lock and turned the wheel, and was about to put down the jack gate.

However, Niu Jia just turned around, and he couldn't turn anymore, it turned out that the roulette wheel was held by a person, it was Wang Nan.

This fat pig boy also came to the city wall at some point, and was not stopped by the guards of the soldiers, but when he saw his whole body pounced on the roulette wheel, he let out a howl like killing a pig: "You can't let go of the gate! If you put down such a heavy iron gate, you will definitely kill my pig! You have collected the money and refused to let us into the city, and you still want to kill my Poria pig, and my son will go to the military department to sue you, and ask your uncle-in-law to fire you all!"

Niu Jia was angry and funny, and asked the soldiers next to him to pull this person away, but the fat pig boy was extremely heavy, and he held the turntable and refused to let go, while shouting, three or four soldiers couldn't pull him down with all their strength.