Fu Zonglong looked unhappy.
Cao Wenzhao's refusal made him very unhappy.
"Supervisor, you have to prepare for the worst!" Cao Wenzhao said.
Fu Zonglong frowned when he heard this and said, "You mean Jinan City can't be defended?"
"It's difficult." Cao Wenzhao whispered two words.
Snapped!
Fu Zonglong raised his hand and slammed it on the table, and scolded me: "Didn't you promise me that you would be able to defend Jinan City? How long has passed, and you told me that you can't hold it anymore?" Is it really impossible to defend, or you are unwilling to defend and want to preserve your strength."
Cao Wenzhao's attitude reminded him of Wang Chengyin.
He was not surprised by anything these generals would do in order to maintain their strength.
"The general will never dare to lie about the tiger bandit's attack on the city, let alone the governor. It is really difficult to defend the city with only the defenders." Cao Wenzhao felt the dissatisfaction in Fu Zonglong's tone. , looking bitter.
If he had known that the Tiger Character Banner would bring so many cannons to attack Jinan City, he would never have patted his chest in front of Fu Zonglong to ensure that he could defend Jinan City.
Fu Zonglong stared at Cao Wenzhao's face for a long time. After thinking about it, he felt that Cao Wenzhao was trying to trick him on this matter. It seemed that he really couldn't defend Jinan City.
Thinking of this, he said: "If we can't defend Jinan City, what do you think we should do next?"
"Leave the city and retreat toward Yucheng or Jiyang." Cao Wenzhao said.
As for Liaocheng, he didn't even mention it.
Because he knew that even if he retreated to Liaocheng, Wang Chengyin might not join forces with them, and he might not even let them enter the city.
Fu Zonglong looked thoughtful.
From the bottom of his heart, he didn't want to give up Jinan City. First of all, Jinan City's special status was very important, and relying on Jinan City, he could raise troops. More importantly, there was still a vassal king in the city.
If he really wants to leave Jinan City like this, the crime of losing the vassalship will definitely fall on him. There will be many impeachments in the court. He will definitely not be able to hold the position of governor, and he will even be locked back to the capital and sent to prison.
"There is not much left for us. Please make your decision quickly. Once the tiger thieves use cannons to collapse the city wall, it will be even more difficult to leave." Cao Wenzhao urged.
Fu Zonglong hesitated for a long time and asked: "Is there really no chance of holding Jinan City?"
"We can't defend it. The tiger thieves' artillery is really powerful. Our defenders can't even reach the city wall due to the bombardment. If the tiger thieves didn't want to waste casualties, I'm afraid they would have entered Jinan City by now." Cao Wenzhao added. Made a fire.
Fu Zonglong's face turned pale when he heard this.
I thought it would take some time for the soldiers and horses of the Tiger Character Flag to enter Jinan City, but I didn't expect that the opponent might enter the city at any time.
Cao Wenzhao continued: "The general has asked the general's nephew to lead a group of people to guard the camp, all of which are cavalry. As long as the governor agrees, the general's nephew will immediately protect the governor and leave Jinan City. "
"Forget it, I'll pack up my things and then we'll leave." Fu Zonglong finally agreed to leave Jinan City.
Even if he may be liquidated by the court in the future, with the connections he has accumulated over the years as an official, he may not die if his family spends some money to take care of it.
According to Cao Wenzhao's instructions, if he continues to stay in Jinan City, he will be captured by the people of the Tiger Flag.
He, the dignified governor of Shandong, did not want to be a prisoner of others, let alone surrender to the people of the Tiger Flag.
"Supervisor, please go back and take care of things. The general will ask someone to find the general's nephew." Cao Wenzhao said.
Fu Zonglong nodded.
Cao Wenzhao called a soldier he had brought over and asked him to go back to the camp immediately to find Cao Bianjiao and pull out all the cavalry in the camp.
Fu Zonglong also went back to his room to pack his things.
I simply packed two pieces of clothing and brought some money. I also needed to bring the main seals, official certificates and other things that prove my official status.
After tidying up, he was led by Cao Wenzhao to the side entrance of Houya.
This time they had to leave Jinan City secretly. Both Fu Zonglong and Cao Wenzhao knew that no one should know that Fu Zonglong, the governor, had abandoned the city and fled.
Once the news comes, the city itself will be in chaos.
They also need the city's defenders to hold on to Jinan City to delay their escape.
The reason for leaving was already thought out, which was to use the cavalry to deal with the artillery position of the Tiger Flag outside the city, and there were only about 200 cavalry out of the city, which was not a large number and could not be easily suspected.
As soon as Cao Bianjiao received the news, he immediately brought people to the Yamen.
When Fu Zonglong walked out of the side door of the back office, Cao Bianjiao immediately asked someone to help Fu Zonglong onto the horse of a soldier, and he shared the same horse with the soldier.
Fu Zonglong has been an official for many years, and riding a horse is not a difficult thing for him.
But he doesn't need to go to the battlefield, so he is certainly not proficient in equestrian skills, and the horses he usually rides are all honest, docile, and even castrated horses.
This time he was escaping for his life. For someone like Fu Zonglong who was skilled in riding skills, if he rode a horse alone, he would probably be left behind while escaping for his life.
Since everyone has decided to abandon Jinan City, Cao Wenzhao naturally has no intention of going back to defend the city. Instead, he will follow Cao Bianjiao's team and leave the city through the north gate of Jinan City.
The guard here at the North City Gate saw the Cao family's uncle and nephew leaving the city together. Although he felt something was wrong, he explained the reason well, and Cao Wenzhao had a high official position and was the most trusted general of the governor, so he asked his soldiers to open the door. After entering the north city gate, Cao Wenzhao ordered his uncle and nephew to leave the city.
Fu Zonglong, who was mixed in the team leaving the city, was not recognized by the guard.
Because Fu Zonglong had already changed into cavalry clothes before leaving the city. If you didn't look carefully, it would be difficult to recognize him as the governor of Shandong.
After all, no one would have thought that Fu Zonglong would abandon the city and flee at this time.
As for Fu Zonglong's characteristic of riding the same horse as others, it only made others take a quick look and stop paying attention.
It wasn't until the team left the city that Cao Wenzhao breathed a sigh of relief.
After the cavalry left the city, he didn't have to worry about Fu Zonglong being discovered by the guard at the North City Gate, and it didn't matter even if he was discovered.
They would ride away soon.
"Uncle, which direction are you going?" Cao Bianjiao came to Cao Wenzhao and asked.
Jinan City is surrounded on three sides. Only in the north can we see the soldiers and horses with the tiger flag. A fool can guess that something is going on here. If we go directly to the north, I am afraid that even a fool will be worse than a fool.
"First walk to the north for a while, and then turn to the west." Cao Wenzhao said to Cao Bianjiao.
After hearing this, Cao Bianjiao asked, "Are we going to Liaocheng to find Wang Chengyin?"
Going west was the direction to Dongchang Mansion. Apart from going to Liaocheng to meet Wang Chengyin, he couldn't think of any other reason to go in this direction.
"No, not going to Liaocheng."
(End of chapter)
