Plan to cut off the nine states

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Ru'nan City is not too big or too small, and is built along the river. Since the rebellion broke out, the city was immediately closed and guarded, and people were sent to the court for help, waiting for orders from above.

There have been many orders, all for soldiers and food. Ru'nan City was only comforted with empty words, claiming that reinforcements would arrive soon, but in these days, all the officials and people in the city saw were the rebels coming and going. The city was saved only by the strong walls and the unity of the people.

This morning, not long after dawn, a small group of people and horses galloped in on the thin snow on the road. The officers and soldiers on the tower immediately sounded the alarm, and when they found that there was a larger crowd behind them, they sounded the second alarm.

A small group of people arrived first, a carriage, fifteen or sixteen knights, with scepters and flags, and all wearing official uniforms. The first person shouted to the top of the city: "Open the gate to welcome the imperial envoy! Hurry up, the rebels are chasing us!"

The pursuers were not far away, and the officer guarding the gate hesitated for a moment, made his own decision, and ordered the city gate to be opened to let the imperial envoy in.

In this way, Xu Chu led people into Runan City. The one who shouted was Song Xingcai from Jiangdong, and the other followers were all strong soldiers carefully selected by Xu Chu. As for the scepters, flags, and official uniforms, they were all ready-made.

The officer ran down from the tower and stopped the "imperial envoy", "Please wait a moment, I'll go and ask Mr. Bao San to come over, he will be here soon."

The people guarding the city should not be the county governor or the county magistrate, but the general manager or the county lieutenant. Why is he called "Mr. San" instead of "Sir"? Xu Chu was puzzled, but he didn't show it on his face. He said coldly: "Go and come back quickly. Is the city gate closed?"

"It's closed. Don't worry, the rebels can't attack." The officer ran away in a hurry.

Xu Chu was riding in a canopy car. There was no cover in front, so he could look around.

The street was empty. Only nearly a hundred soldiers were lined up near the city gate, waiting in a serious state. The target of their vigilance was not the imperial envoy, but the rebels outside the city.

From time to time, the sound of gongs and drums came from the tower. The soldiers on the ground understood the meaning and immediately shouted the location and number of the rebels in the distance. Someone passed the information down somewhere, and soon the whole city could understand the situation.

Xu Chu and Song Xingcai looked at each other and tacitly canceled the first plan.

If there was a chance, they originally planned to seize the city gate immediately after entering the city and let in the Wu army outside. Now it seems that seizing the gate is difficult, and guarding the gate is even more difficult. The Wu army is still several miles away. With just a dozen of them, they are definitely not the opponent of the officers and soldiers.

Xu Chu was used to seeing scattered officers and soldiers, and was surprised by the strictness of Runan City.

Fortunately, they had a second plan, which was to seize the city garrison commander when the opportunity arose, or even persuade him to join the Wu army.

The Runan garrison commander was the "Master Bao San" in the officer's mouth.

Master Bao San had received the news, and soon he rode over, nodded to the imperial envoy, stepped onto the city wall, observed the situation, and prepared to defend the city.

Xu Chu was stunned again. Master Bao San was slightly fat, with lush hair and beard, wearing a brocade robe, no armor, no official hat, and looked like a deputy rich man. What was even more strange was that he had no respect for the imperial envoy of the court, and just nodded, as if they were relatives who hated each other and had to deal with it casually when they met.

The sound of gongs and drums and shouts on and off the city became one, and gradually weakened after two quarters of an hour.

The Wu army outside the city saw that the city gate was not open and did not launch an attack.

Mr. Bao San came downstairs and came to the front of the car. He bowed and smiled, "I didn't know that the imperial envoy was coming. I am sorry for not welcoming you. Please forgive me."

Xu Chu could no longer pretend to be confused and deliberately put on an arrogant look, "Where are the officials in the city?"

"They ran away. Didn't the imperial envoy see the letter we sent to Dongdu?"

"I was ordered to tour the cities of Luozhou and left early." Xu Chu was vague.

Mr. Bao San believed it and smiled, "So that's the case. Please go to the mansion to rest first. I will come to see you after I have arranged the defense of the city."

Mr. Bao San said, without waiting for the imperial envoy's permission, he stepped onto the city wall again.

The city guard took the imperial envoy to the county governor's mansion.

The streets were empty, but there were many people in the county governor's mansion. They were all civilians with families, occupying almost all the rooms, except for one court room where no one lived.

When they heard that the imperial envoy was sent by the court, the people surrounded him and said good things about Mr. Bao San.

"Without Mr. Bao San, we don't know how many times we would have died..."

"How high an official position will the court give Mr. Bao San?"

Xu Chu stopped in the courtyard to appease the people, then squeezed through the crowd and entered the court.

The officers were busy, answering every question and introducing the situation in the city.

It turned out that there was a civil official county governor and a military general in the city. When the news of the defeat of the officers and soldiers in Mengjin came, the two fled overnight, taking thousands of soldiers with them, claiming to be going to support the Eastern Capital, but in fact they fled to Jizhou.

All the officials in the city who could run away followed, leaving behind a city without soldiers guarding it, and thousands of people who ran to seek refuge from nearby.

At the critical moment, a man named Bao Dun stood up. Speaking of this man, he was quite famous in Runan. His ancestors had been doing business for several generations. When he was young, he also traveled all over the country. All the money he earned was used to buy land. He never went out again at the age of 30, and devoted himself to farming. He hired martial arts masters and teachers to lead the children of the clan to learn martial arts and literature.

Bao Dun had a manor outside the city and a house inside the city. When the rebels broke out, he led his people into the city. Local officials valued his reputation and treated him with great respect. When they fled, they invited him to go with them. However, Bao Dun flatly refused, thinking that it was difficult to leave his hometown and the people were innocent, so he should not give up easily.

The county guard appreciated his courage and left some weapons, weapons, staffs, and food and grass that could not be taken away with the army. Bao Dun first selected dozens of healthy soldiers from among the tribesmen, climbed to the city tower, summoned the people in the city, analyzed the pros and cons, and called on everyone to protect themselves. .

"There is a city, people, and food. With these three things, Runan City will not be broken for ten years! Thousands of troops and horses outside the city will come and go with him!" Bao Dun aroused everyone's enthusiasm, and thousands of people joined the army on the spot.

Bao Dun first arranged accommodation for all the people who had taken refuge and requisitioned all the empty houses in the city to relieve the soldiers of their worries. Then he established a register to facilitate the distribution of food and clothing.

The improvised army was of no use, so Bao Dun decided on a strategy of defending the city. He divided his soldiers into several teams, with each two teams guarding a section and taking turns to guard. He himself led several teams to assist in defense.

Before the arrival of the Wu army, Runan City had been attacked several times by the rebels, both large and small, but all were repulsed. As a result, the morale of the soldiers and civilians increased, and they became more and more skilled in cooperating. Many of the orders came from Bao Dun. Temporarily created, very useful.

The officer was one of the few remaining officers and soldiers, and his admiration for Bao Dun was beyond words. "When the governor left, he appointed Mr. Bao as the regiment training envoy, but Mr. Bao said he had not been appointed by the court and did not dare to take over the official position privately. , we are only allowed to call him 'Third Master'. With the promotion, Third Master Bao will be able to become an official and defend the city more conveniently."

The sound of gongs and drums outside became more urgent again, and the officer said goodbye, "I have to go defend the city. Please wait for me for tea."

Many people poked their heads at the door, and the officers drove them away and closed the door.

The scene in the city was not at all similar to what Xu Chu expected, so he said to Song Xingcao: "Don't you know that the people defending the city are a group of common people?"

Song Xingcao blushed, "I don't know, looking at their posture of defending the city, they are no different from the officers and soldiers..."

"Actually, it's a good thing. There are no officials in the city, so we can't see our flaws. The whole city is headed by one person. As long as Bao Dun is held hostage, Runan will be ready immediately." Xu Chu said with a smile, unwilling to let Song Xing rule. Embarrassing.

Tang Weitian said: "It sounds like this Third Master Bao is a very good man. Do we really want to kill him?"

Xu Chu shook his head and said: "Killing is useless, but it will arouse people's anger. I will still focus on persuasion later. If persuasion fails, you follow my order and capture Bao Dun alive. Don't hurt him at all."

Everyone said yes and stood on both sides, waiting for the city lord Bao Dun.

"Almost bad!" Xu Chu suddenly realized his mistake and said to Song Xingcai: "Go and invite Bao Dun, and your words should be stricter. Remember that you are an official sent by the imperial court, and Bao Dun is just a civilian. ”

Song Xingcai understood immediately and hurried to find Bao Dun.

Tang Weitian thought for a while before he came to his senses and said with a smile: "No, waiting here honestly, how does it look like an official? I will go out and shout."

"Can you put on official airs?" Xu Chu asked.

"Have you never eaten pork and seen pigs running? I can't pretend to be an adult. I can pretend to be an official who bullies the people. Who else wants to go with me?"

Three people immediately responded. They were taller and more imposing as officials.

The four people came out of the hall, and soon there were scoldings and curses outside. Xu Chu was worried that they had gone too far, but Tang Weitian and others came back soon, bringing wine, fruit, and preserved meat.

"It turns out there are a lot of good things, and they were all hidden for us to drink weak tea." Tang Weitian ignored everything as soon as he saw the food.

Song Xingcao came back with Bao Dun. Tang Weitian and others hurriedly put away the food and wine, walked to the door to stop the others, and only allowed Bao Dun to enter the hall.

"The rebels are approaching the city, but the city did not treat the superior well..." Bao Dun stepped forward, and when he was about to kneel down, Xu Chu stood up quickly, stepped forward to help him up, and said with a smile: "Mr. Bao is polite, I know that defending the city is a big deal. , but I have urgent matters, so I have to ask Mr. Bao to come over. "

"The rebels have no intention of attacking the city for the time being." Bao Dun was a little surprised by the imperial envoy's politeness.

Xu Chu glanced outside the hall and saw twenty or thirty healthy soldiers standing in the courtyard. He nodded to Song Xingcao and signaled to close the door, then turned around and saluted Bao Dun.

Bao Dun hurriedly returned the greeting, "Why is this so bad?"

"The Eastern Capital is about to be lost, and the world is in chaos. I don't know what to do. What is Mr. Bao's opinion?"

"Ah?" Bao Dun looked confused, "This... ordinary people don't know these things. They only follow the orders of superiors."

Xu Chu took out a seal from his arms and held it up with both hands, "In this case, please Bao Gong take this seal and become a county guard from now on."

Bao Dun had high expectations for the official position. He initially thought that the Tuan Lian Envoy was too small, so he declined, hoping that the court would grant him a larger official position. However, the Governor of a County was beyond his expectations, as it was too big.

"It's the imperial court..." Bao Dun took the seal and was stunned. It was clearly an empty seal with no words on it.

Xu Chu said: "The imperial court is unable to protect itself. It has long abandoned the outside counties and counties. How can it be granted an official position? Duke Bao responds to hundreds of calls. He should be a hero. Why should he concentrate on the official position of Tiancheng Dynasty? If he can raise his arms and call again, the county governor will He is also a minor official, and the generals, ministers and princes are close at hand."

Only then did Bao Dun realize that the person he had brought in was a fake imperial envoy. He hesitated for a moment and shouted: "Here comes someone!"