The sound of artillery outside Luoyang City continued.
Prince Fu was flustered for a while amid the sound of cannons. As the sound of beautiful music continued to wash through his ears, and the graceful dancing postures in his eyes changed from time to time, he gradually forgot about the siege outside.
Not only Prince Fu and his son, but everyone in Prince Fu's palace did not take what was happening outside seriously.
The people living in Fuwang Palace have lived in peace for many years. If anything happens, it will naturally be resolved by local officials in Luoyang.
If the officials in Luoyang cannot solve the problems, the officials of the Henan Chief Envoys Department can solve them. If the officials of the Henan Chief Envoys Department cannot take care of them, the imperial court will take care of them.
The King of the Ming Dynasty lived in Fuwang Palace. In the eyes of everyone in Fuwang Palace, the court would not let anything happen to Fuwang Palace.
Cannons were blaring outside the city, but the inside of King Fu's Palace remained the same. People in the palace were doing their usual errands, and some people who had nothing to do even started betting on when the cannons outside the city would stop.
Unlike the relaxation in Prince Fu's Palace, Luoyang City was already in chaos.
The doors of every house were closed, and the shops on both sides of the street had their doors closed, leaving only the waiters to guard the shops.
Ordinary people even hid at home.
In addition to the officers and soldiers running around on the street, there were also ruffians who took advantage of the chaos and looted everywhere.
Some shops were smashed open by tigers on the street, fighting for the property inside. Even some officers, soldiers and government officials joined in, rushing into the shops and looting.
Magistrate He Shuiqing and fellow magistrate Ran Yuncheng came out of Fuwang Palace and returned to the government office.
In front of the government office, the two met the Luoyang County Magistrate who was waiting here.
"The two Shangguan officials are back." The Luoyang County magistrate quickly walked over to greet them.
He Shuiqing, who walked out of the sedan, looked at him with a frown and said, "Didn't I order you to go to a wealthy family in the city to collect money and food? Why haven't you left yet?"
"The lower officials have already gone. I just came back not long ago. I knew that the two superior officials had not returned from meeting His Royal Highness Prince Fu, so I waited for the two superior officials outside the mansion." The Luoyang County Magistrate bowed and smiled with him.
As He Shuiqing walked into the government office, he asked, "How much food did those big households donate?"
"Five stones." said the Luoyang County Magistrate who was following him.
He Shuiqing stopped when he heard this, frowned and said: "The family only contributes five shi of food, which is a little less. How much money can we get? If we have enough money, we can exchange the money for food. Right now, food is more important than money."
"There was no money, only five shi of grain, and it was not one family that gave out five shi of grain, but several families that combined only had five shi of grain in total." Luoyang County Magistrate explained.
"What? This is all you need."
He Shuiqing, who was standing in front, had not yet spoken. Ran Yuncheng, a colleague who had returned from Fuwang Palace, stared hard at the Luoyang County Magistrate.
The Luoyang County Magistrate hung his head in his arms and said awkwardly: "I went to those houses, but I didn't even see the owner, only the housekeeper."
"You are such a useless piece of trash. If you can't do such a small thing well, what's the use of the imperial court raising you?" The prefect He Shuiqing couldn't help but scolded the Luoyang County Magistrate.
Without the support of Prince Fu's Palace and the failure to obtain money and food from several large households in the city, it became more difficult for the government to hold Luoyang City.
The Luoyang County Magistrate lowered his head and did not dare to talk back.
Ran Yuncheng, a colleague on the side, said to the county magistrate: "You didn't explain your interests to those families and let them know that the money and food donated were to defend Luoyang City."
"I've said it, I've said everything I can say, and my words are almost worn out, but the housekeepers from those houses only replied to Xiaguan one sentence. They said that defending the city was a matter of the government and had nothing to do with them, and they also said that Luoyang The city is under siege, and food from outside cannot be transported in. There is limited food in the city. From now on, the prices of food sold in several food stores will increase." Luoyang County Magistrate told the story bitterly.
"Rebellion, rebellion, these are still the people of the Ming Dynasty. They don't want to work together to fight the rebels outside the city, but they think about making the country difficult to make money. It is simply worse than the rebels."
After hearing what the Luoyang County Magistrate said, the prefect He Shuiqing became so angry that he cursed the big families in Luoyang City.
"The top priority right now is to think about how to defend Luoyang City and repel the rebels outside the city. As for the families in the city, wait for the rebels to retreat and there will be plenty of time to deal with them." Ran Yuncheng, a colleague, comforted the other party.
He Shuiqing snorted coldly and said: "For the sake of the enemy, let them go for now."
It's just a mouthful.
Everyone knows that such a wealthy gentry is not something they Luoyang local officials can touch if they want. Even for the stability of Luoyang, the officials on the ground in Luoyang often have to rely on the local wealthy gentry.
"How are the young men recruited? How many have been recruited? Have you arranged to go to the city wall to defend the city?" Ran Yuncheng, a colleague, asked the Luoyang County Magistrate three times.
The other officials were absent, so he could only ask the Luoyang County Magistrate about the situation of others.
Hearing this, the Luoyang County Magistrate showed hesitation.
Thinking of what he saw in the city, he finally chose to pretend not to know.
He shook his head at his colleague Ran Yuncheng and said, "I haven't seen anyone else, so I don't know much about letting Qingzhuang defend the city."
"Didn't the others come back?" Magistrate He Shuiqing had a bad feeling in his heart.
The prefect of Luoyang shook his head and said, "I didn't see him."
At this time, colleague Ran Yuncheng said: "Recruiting young people is more troublesome. They may be busy, so why not go back to the government office and wait."
"Okay, let's go back first." He Shuiqing walked towards the Yamen again.
Tongzhi Ran Yuncheng and the Luoyang County Magistrate followed.
At this moment, the sound of rapid horse hooves came from the street behind him.
He Shuiqing stopped in front of the stone lion of Fuya, turned around and looked in the direction where the sound of horse hooves came from.
A horse was riding not far away, galloping along the street towards the government office.
There were no pedestrians on the street at this time.
Most of the people riding horses riding in the streets are government officials.
The rider quickly arrived outside the government office, jumped down, rushed to He Shuiqing in a few steps, and said breathlessly: "The North City has been lost. The thieves outside the city have entered the city through the North City Gate."
Hearing this, the expressions of He Shuiqing and others suddenly changed.
You must know that it has not even been an hour since the sound of the cannon.
"Why did Beicheng fall so quickly? Isn't it because we sent young men to defend the city?" Ran Yuncheng, a colleague, said with a dark face.
The rider said angrily: "How can there be any young people to support me? I didn't see any young people. There were only a few soldiers and horses guarding the city. The rebels outside the city kept firing, and several rounds of artillery came down on the city." There are just a lot of casualties, and there is no support in the city, so of course we can’t hold it.”
"That shouldn't be the case! We have already sent people to recruit young men to defend the city. How come it has been so long that young men have gone to the top of the city to participate in the defense of the city." Ran Yuncheng, a colleague, frowned.
However, at this moment, the Luoyang County Magistrate was heard saying: "The person may have escaped."
When he mentioned the people who had escaped, he was certainly not talking about the young men in the city.
