The officers and soldiers let go of the Yamen servants and stood by with their swords in hand.
"Tell me, what's going on?" Wang Xingshan asked expressionlessly.
This time the yamen servant did not dare to hide it anymore, and said with a bitter look on his face: "The granaries and granaries in the city are all empty, and there is not a single grain of food left."
"Didn't the taxes and grain just come in?" Wang Xingshan frowned subconsciously.
The yamen servant smiled bitterly and said: "The price of grain has been getting higher year by year in the past few years. The grain that was just transported into the granary was sold by the county magistrate to several big households in the city. It was not just for the soldiers who were guarding the city." Porridge, I really can’t get any food out of it!”
After hearing these words, Wang Xingshan's blood surged up and his face became clouded.
At this time, he suddenly remembered that when he first came to Lingbao City with his troops, the Lingbao County Magistrate did not allow the soldiers in the army to garrison the granary in the city. Only the granary ambassador and the county government officials were close to the granary.
Only now did he understand that the granary was empty enough for rats to escape. No wonder the people in the government did not dare to let his soldiers guard the granary.
"General, I think you've said everything you need to say, can you let us go?" the officer asked cautiously.
It's okay to let them go to the countryside to collect food. After all, poor people are easy to bully, but they don't have the guts to deal with a group of rebellious poor people.
Wang Xingshan glanced at the government officials in front of him one by one, raised his hand and pointed at one of them, and said: "Go back to the government office and bring the county magistrate to this general."
"ah!"
The yamen servant who was pointed out was stunned for a moment, then said with a grimace: "Young man is just an ordinary yamen servant. The county magistrate cannot listen to you."
"You just go, I will have a team of soldiers follow you back to the Yamen to take the people." Wang Xingshan said coldly.
After hearing this, the yamen servant knew that he could not escape, so he had no choice but to agree.
Wang Xingshan called for a member of the Qianhu family and led a group of officers and soldiers to go straight to the county government office with the officials.
"General, where do you think we are? Can we leave?" One of the remaining government officials asked carefully with a smile on his face.
Hearing this, Wang Xingshan turned his head to look at the other party and said, "I almost forgot about you if I didn't speak. Wang Fu, keep an eye on them. If they dare to run away, just chop them down and throw them into the city."
"Yes." A soldier on the side stood up.
Several government officials were forcibly taken aside for custody.
"General, please have some porridge!" A servant brought a bowl of porridge with water.
Pots of porridge were cooked and delivered to the city wall. At this moment, there was only a little residual warmth left, and a thin porridge skin floated on the top layer of the porridge bowl.
Wang Xingshan took the porridge bowl, drank the porridge in several mouthfuls, and licked off the rice grains at the bottom of the bowl with his tongue.
After finishing the porridge bowl, he handed it to the soldier on the side and said: "This little thing can't keep you hungry. You go and lead a team of people to the city, whether it's robbing or killing, and get some anti-hungry food for this general." Come back and eat it right away, so be quick."
"Will this cause chaos in the city?" the soldier on the side asked worriedly.
There were thousands of defenders in the city. If he wanted to get a lot of food in a short period of time, he could only rob it, and rob it from the hands of the people. He was worried that even if he defended Lingbao City, his general would be affected by it. Things are affected.
Wang Xingshan looked outside the city and said with an ugly face: "I know what you are worried about. Do you think that based on the current situation, I can see the future?"
"General, you can leave Lingbao City. As long as the general gives the order, my subordinates will immediately take people to protect you, general, and retreat to Luoyang." The soldier said.
The soldiers and servants are all raised with their own money, and they are the most loyal.
Wang Xingshan did not get angry because of the persuasion of his own soldiers, but said in a calm tone: "No need to persuade, I have decided to fight to the death with the bandits in Lingbao City. As long as I can delay the court for a few more days, even if I die in Lingbao City is worth it, go quickly!"
The soldiers bowed to Wang Xingshan and took a team of soldiers and horses to the city to get food.
The so-called taking food means going to one house to rob one house, and not grabbing food, but only grabbing things that can be eaten directly, whether it is rice, vegetables, or meat, as long as it is edible, take it when you see it. .
Officers and soldiers who enter people's homes cannot just take food. As long as they see valuable things, they will take them away without giving them.
First, beat someone. If beating doesn't work, then just kill someone with a knife.
The officers and soldiers descended the city wall and started attacking the houses closest to the city gate.
Wang Xingshan, who was standing on the city wall, soon heard the cries from the people in the city.
He was stubborn and refused to look into the city. He forced himself to face outside the city and look at the smoke floating above the rebel army in the distance.
"General, what we do will lead to the impeachment of the imperial censor. Otherwise, we should have people withdraw first. Let the people in the county government solve the food problem." The soldier who stayed with Wang Xingshan said worriedly.
In his opinion, the people being robbed by officers and soldiers was not a big deal, but the impeachment of the censor was a big deal.
After hearing this, Wang Xingshan slowly turned around and said, "Do you think this general doesn't know the consequences of plundering troops? But look at the situation outside the city. Even if this general doesn't take action against the people in the city, wait The thieves outside the city broke into Lingbao City, and the people in the city could not escape the consequences of the war. Instead of letting the thieves loot and smash the city, I would rather take action first, so as to boost the morale of the army and kill the soldiers. food, so that the soldiers will not go hungry to face the enemy."
"General, there is no need to be so pessimistic. I believe that the general will be able to defend Lingbao City." The soldier said with relief.
Wang Xingshan sighed.
If he had a choice, how could he let the officers and soldiers go to the city to rob the people? When things got to this point, he had no other choice. Otherwise, the hungry defenders might not even be able to survive a round of attacks by the rebels.
"Let go, you despicable idiots, let go of me."
The sound came from the direction of the horse path leading to the city wall.
Wang Xingshan looked over, gritted his teeth and cursed: "This damn thing."
On the horse road, a fat middle-aged man was dragged up the city wall by officers and soldiers.
People were quickly brought to Wang Xingshan.
The middle-aged man was thrown to the ground by the officers and soldiers. Wang Xingshan's personal soldier who escorted him bowed and said: "General Qi, the magistrate of Lingbao County will bring him here."
"General Wang, what are you trying to do? I am the magistrate of Lingbao County. Your people treat me like this. If you can't give me an explanation, I will definitely report it to Guo Futai." Ling Ling Magistrate Bao County said with an ugly face when he saw Wang Xingshan.
He is a civil official and the other party is a military general.
Even though he couldn't afford to offend a commander-in-chief, as a civilian official, he had a group of fellow civilian officials, so he was not very afraid of Wang Xingshan.
"Where are you going in this costume of Magistrate Huang?" Wang Xingshan looked at Magistrate Lingbao in front of him with half-squinted eyes.
