Hangzhou Prefecture, Zhejiang

As one of the best cities in Jiangnan, there is no doubt that Hangzhou is rich. It not only covers a large area, but also has ten city gates.

Yes, everyone is right. There are as many as ten walls in Hangzhou, and the walls are more than ten kilometers long.

However, it is precisely because the city wall is too long that the troops guarding the city are seriously insufficient. Using five thousand soldiers to defend the city wall for more than ten kilometers is obviously a joke.

For this reason, Zhejiang Governor Pan Ruzhen even had dozens of hair whiter these days. Not only did he "borrow" all their guards from the hands of maritime merchants and salt merchants with both soft and hard work, he also recruited 13,000 young and strong men in the name of the governor. In this way, he finally collected 20,000 people and filled the city walls with more than ten kilometers long.

Just as Pan Ruzhen tried his best to strengthen the city defense, Li Zicheng led 70,000 bandits to the outside of Hangzhou City, and the atmosphere in the entire Hangzhou City immediately became tense.

In the morning, Pan Ruzhen, guarding Ma Sidi in Hangzhou, and a group of officers and officials, came to the gate of Qingbo Gate. Looking at the dense bandits outside the city in the distance, Pan Ruzhen and Ma Sidi's faces were very bad, and some civil servants looked pale and their breathing became rapid.

Ma Sidi pointed outside the city and said to Pan Ruzhen: "Governor, according to the report that he had not received two days and nights, the number of bandits this time was about 70,000, of which about 30,000 elite troops belonged to the old camp, and the remaining 40,000 were all regular barracks that had been trained for a period of time. Now the combat power of bandits has been greatly improved compared to before."

“Um…”

Pan Ruzhen stroked his beard and pondered for a while, turned his head and asked Ma Sidi, "Mr. Ma, you are the garrison of Hangzhou Prefecture. You are in charge of the entire Hangzhou military affairs. Now that the bandits are in the forefront, I wonder what strategy you have to defend against the enemy?"

Ma Sidi is a middle-aged man over 40 years old. Although he is not tall, he is quite strong. It looks a bit funny when he hangs a long knife around his waist.

It is said that when he heard Pan Ruzhen, who was the immediate boss, there were so many officials and subordinates around him watching him. He should have expressed his confidence and added some confidence to everyone, but he still shook his head: "Governor, it is not the governor who is the ambition of others to destroy his prestige. The day before yesterday, the old official sent a team of cavalry out of the city to fight the bandits, but the result was not optimistic.

The cavalry sent by Xiaguan and the bandits met more than twenty miles away from Qingchun Gate. The two sides fought for half an hour, and only half of the more than 100 cavalrymen who left the city came back, and the rest were all left outside."

All the officials around were surprised. The cavalry had always been known for their high mobility. In their opinion, even if they could not defeat the bandits, it should be no problem to escape. But even so, nearly half of them were killed or injured. Are bandits really that powerful?

An official next to him asked: "Ma Guardian, how are the casualties of the bandits?"

Ma Sidi said: "The casualties of the bandits are similar to those of our army."

"No!" The official said to Ma Sidi without hesitation: "As far as I know, our cavalry in Hangzhou City has followed you for several years. How could he fight like this with a group of mobs?"

Ma Sidi's face couldn't help but change his color slightly. As the saying goes, whether to hit someone or not, these civil servants are still as bad as ever, and they don't give themselves any face.

Ma Sidi, who was in a bad mood, ignored him and turned to look into the distance. The atmosphere was a little awkward for a moment.

The official who embarrassed Ma Sidi in front of everyone was named Fang Qiying, who was the magistrate of Hangzhou Prefecture.

As a civil servant, although he knew that the enemy was approaching now, the most important thing these people should do was to appease the military officers such as Ma Sidi. After all, they had to rely on them to kill the enemy. However, his contempt for the military officers had penetrated into the bones, so when he was not careful, a strong irony in his tone appeared.

It was Pan Ruzhen who fought, haha, "Okay, there are many bandits, and it is a credit for Lord Ma's cavalry to kill dozens of enemies after facing several times stronger enemies and retreat without losing their entire lives."

Logically speaking, when the governor came out to smooth things over, Ma Sidi should have stopped seeing the situation, but today he was rarely tough and said hard: "It's so that the governor and Lord Fang learned that the number of bandits encountered by the cavalry under Xiaguan after leaving the city this time was not many, only more than one hundred.

The reason why both sides suffered losses was indeed because the lower officials were too incompetent. It was better for the governor to withdraw the lower officials and find another good general to command the lower officials, so as not to miss the important matters of the governor.”

Pan Ruzhen's face slightly darkened, "What nonsense is Lord Ma talking about? The enemy is in front of you, and it is the time when you need you. How can you shirk responsibility at this time? Besides, if you remove you, who can get this position?"

Ma Sidi looked at Fang Qiying, who was calm and silent, and sneered: "It's good for the Lord Fang to see Lord Fang, it's better to let Lord Fang take over the errand."

"absurd!"

Before Pan Ruzhen could not speak, Fang Qiying, who was standing beside him, couldn't help but stand up and said in a teaching tone: "Ma Sidi, as a garrison in Hangzhou, it was your responsibility to protect the country and safe people. Now that the bandits are in the forefront, you are about to give up. What is your intention?"

"What's your intention?" Ma Sidi retorted without hesitation, "You, a judge who knows nothing about military affairs, dare to point fingers at me. I want to ask you what's your intention? Since you are so fond of fingers, then I might as well give you the guard position, and then I also pointed at me. What do you think?"

"You...you...you..."

Fang Qiying pointed at Ma Sidi, so angry that she couldn't speak for a moment.

If Ma Sidi's garrison seat is given up, those who usually seek Pan Ruzhen to run for officials will definitely be able to line up from here to Yongkin Gate. But now everyone knows that the garrison is a hot potato, and if you may have a life, you will have to throw it on the city wall. Fang Qiying is not stupid, so how could he agree to Ma Sidi's conditions?

Other officials looked at Ma Sidi with strange eyes. This guy always saw these civil servants shorter, but why did he suddenly become tough today? This matter is strange.

However, there were a few active minds who had figured out something, but looking at Ma Sidi's gaze seemed a little meaningful.

In fact, Ma Sidi also took the initiative to give up today, and he was quite stubborn. I always nodded and bowed to you bastards. Today, the bandits are besieging the city, and I don’t know if I can survive, why do I have to make things difficult for myself.

Sure enough, after he had confronted Fang Qiying, he felt that the civil servants around him had changed their eyes when they looked at him.
Chapter completed!