He Shuiqing and Ran Yuncheng both looked in the direction of the visitor.
When such a person appeared on the street outside the government office, the two people's first reaction was that the Luoyang County Magistrate had returned with Qingzhuang, and they both breathed a sigh of relief in their hearts.
Unable to borrow soldiers and horses from Prince Fu's Palace, if they want to protect Luoyang City, the only thing they can rely on now is the young men found by the Luoyang County Magistrate.
"The Luoyang County Magistrate is really quite capable. The young man he found looks pretty good and is not as messy as he imagined." Ran Yuncheng said in a relaxed tone.
The stronger the young man is, the greater his help will be in defending Luoyang City.
"It's indeed good, even weapons are issued." He Shuiqing nodded in agreement and took a few steps towards the street to get a better look.
Ran Yuncheng, who was next to him, followed him.
However, at this moment, the military attache who had been silent suddenly said: "No, these people are not young and strong, they are thieves, and the thieves are coming!"
After returning from the North City Wall, he was very familiar with the uniforms worn by the Tiger Flag soldiers.
"Rebel, rebel!" He Shuiqing suddenly stuttered!
His body began to tremble uncontrollably.
When the rebels were outside the city, he was naturally not afraid of them, but now that the rebels were in front of him, as a scholar, he began to be afraid.
"They are rebels, they are really rebels." Ran Yuncheng, who was standing next to him, suddenly exclaimed, turned around and fled to the government office.
There was still a way to explain why Qing Zhuang had weapons in his hands, but Qing Zhuang, who was wearing armor of the same color, did not think it was Qing Zhuang who had been brought in by the Luoyang County Magistrate.
As the large group of people who appeared on the street got closer, people standing outside the government office could already recognize that the large group of people who came over were not the young men recruited by the Luoyang County Magistrate.
Magistrate He Shuiqing's actions were not slow either.
Following Ran Yuncheng, he fled back to the government office.
Two green cloth sedans were abandoned on the street, and several bearers rushed to squeeze into the government office, while not forgetting to close the door of the government office.
The only person who did not escape into the government office was the military attache who first discovered the identity of the visitor.
I saw him getting on his horse, urging his horse, away from the government office, and fled in the opposite direction to Beicheng.
The Tiger-Character Banner War Corps came from behind and surrounded the Luoyang government office.
"Come over and knock the door open." The leading captain called to his soldiers.
Four or five soldiers came up from behind, carrying a log in their hands.
The logs were found after entering the city and were specially used to deal with gates like the government office in front of them.
"One, two, three, hit."
winter!
"One, two, three, hit."
winter!
"One, two, three, hit."
Wow!
The latch on the back of the government office door was knocked open, and a gap was opened in the door.
The log that hit the door was moved away, and a group of soldiers rushed up, completely breaking open the door of the government office, and broke into the government office.
At this moment, fire broke out in the direction of the government office lobby.
"This is about self-immolation! Hurry, rush to the place where the fire is." The leader of the soldiers greeted him, and he took the lead in rushing towards the place where the fire was rising.
"Eternal God Emperor"
For no reason, fires rarely break out in such an important place as the government office, and even if a fire does occur, it will be put out quickly.
A group of soldiers quickly came to the place where the fire was.
The fire was already burning, and a beam fell down and fell in front of the door of the burning house, blocking the door.
Through the firelight, the soldier captain saw figures moving inside the burning house.
"Fight the fire, go put out the fire." The leader of the soldiers ordered his soldiers to put out the fire.
Fire fighting does not necessarily mean rescuing people, but houses are mostly made of wood, and the doors and windows are often made of pulp paper. They are very easy to burn. If the fire is not extinguished, it will only burn more and more vigorously. Therefore, the burned house will also more and more.
The tiger-character banner army has entered Luoyang City, so the government office is naturally its own.
As an officer in the Tiger Banner Army, how could he watch his belongings being burned down like this?
The government office is different from ordinary people's homes. There are many large water tanks filled with water in the government office. These water tanks are specially used to put out fires.
Some soldiers scooped water from the surrounding water tanks to put out the fire, and some soldiers dug up the houses on both sides, trying to create an isolation belt to prevent the fire from burning to the houses on both sides.
"Captain, we captured a few people from the next room." A soldier ran over to report.
In a wing room not far away, five or six men dressed in different styles were escorted out of the room by two soldiers.
The soldier captain squinted his eyes and looked at these people.
In particular, one of the men, who was well-built and wearing regular clothes, looked more like an official. The others were dressed in linen clothes and had thick knuckles. At first glance, they looked like people who often did hard labor.
"Bring him here." The soldier captain raised his hand and pointed at the man who looked more like an official.
Some soldiers brought the people over.
The body of the man being escorted was trembling slightly.
"Who set the fire?" The soldier captain did not directly ask the other party's identity, but asked about the fire.
The man raised his head and glanced at the burning government office lobby, then quickly looked away, lowered his head and said, "It's the prefect of Luoyang."
"Where are the others?" the soldier captain asked again.
The man hesitated for a moment and said: "The man is inside the fire scene. He doesn't want to fall into the hands of thieves...you."
"You should be an official too!" said the soldier captain, "Why didn't you follow him and set yourself on fire, were you afraid of death?"
The man who heard this lowered his head to his chest.
"It seems that I was right. Tell me, what do you do?" the captain of the war army asked him, and then added, "Don't even think about lying. There must be more than one person who knows you in Luoyang City. You can hide it even if you want." Can’t live.”
The man raised his head and said, "I am a fellow magistrate of Luoyang. As you said, I did not self-immolate with He Futai because I was afraid of death."
As he said that, he glanced at the still burning government office lobby with mixed emotions.
He admired He Shuiqing who set himself on fire in his heart. If it were him, he could be a loyal minister of the Ming Dynasty, but he couldn't die for the Ming Dynasty.
"Comrade Luoyang, a high-ranking official of the fifth rank. I met a Luoyang County Magistrate before. He was well aware of current affairs and took the initiative to beg for surrender." The captain of the soldiers laughed contemptuously.
Although there were not many good officials like him from the Ming Dynasty, he still admired officials like the prefect of Luoyang who committed suicide for the Ming Dynasty.
But the Luoyang Tongzhi in front of him, who was greedy for life and fearful of death, was the person he looked down upon the most.
"He is indeed a smart man, he knows when and what choices to make." Ran Yuncheng sighed with a wry smile when he heard the whereabouts of the Luoyang County Magistrate.
At the same time, he also knew that the last hope of defending Luoyang City was gone.
The soldier captain stared into his eyes and said in a cold tone: "If you officials are really smart people, you should let the people have enough to eat, instead of stacking various Dingkou field taxes on top of each other and forcing the people to survive. nothing."
