In the east of Mayi City, in the backyard of a brothel.￠￡
Mayi County Lieutenant Liu Wuzhou walked around the room with bloodshot eyes.
He hadn't slept for two days, but he didn't feel sleepy at all at this time, because he was always in a state of excitement. For him, this was a life-or-death moment.
Come on, Mayi County, well, at least the city of Mayi County is his. Liu Wuzhou has the final say. He wants to chop off the head of that old man Wang Rengong, and those bastards who look down on him and oppose him will all die.
The first difference.
If you can't survive it, don't worry about anything.
How could he sleep peacefully at such a time?
Moreover, Wang Rengong sent someone to ask him to go to the county governor's house for important matters. He was not found, so he sent people all over the city to search for his accomplices. Apparently he was aware of the crisis.
Yes, it's almost time to show off.
At this time, the chessboard was already covered with chess pieces. Liu Wuzhou, who was good at hiding in the dark, made good use of his identity as a local snake to avoid being hunted by the prefect in Mayi City, and continued to use his cronies and minions step by step.
The chess pieces kept falling.
Nowadays, the city of Mayi is in a state of panic and is surrounded by crises due to the game between the two military and political leaders of Mayi.
Liu Wuzhou was not feeling well. He had been being chased around like a mouse these past few days.
As time went by, Wang Rengong and others became more and more uncomfortable. Wang Rengong spent half a year isolating Liu Wuzhou from the Mayi officialdom, but now, the entire city seemed to be isolating the Mayi officialdom.
The common people, who had endured a winter of hunger, gradually became hostile to the people in the government, instigated by rumors. Conflicts continued to occur throughout the city.
When the prefect Wang Rengong started, he was quite orderly. Moreover, he was very confident. He was even happy to see this happen.
Because it was he who pushed Liu Wuzhou into such an embarrassing situation, and now there was only one last step left.
As long as Liu Wuzhou is caught, the charge of inciting a civil uprising can be directly pinned on his head, and there is no need to transport him to Jinyang. He will directly kill Liu Wuzhou and calm everything down.
But now that Liu Wuzhou has disappeared, the city is becoming more and more chaotic. The fierce folk customs of Mayi City are undoubtedly revealed at this time. Neighbors form gangs.
Some were guarding their own territory, some were out to plunder, and some simply gathered together and began to circle around the several granaries in Mayi.
The operation of the county governor's office gradually came to a standstill, and the natives of Mayi City, especially the lower-level officials, began to complain more and more about the county governor's office.
What they were most worried about was the safety of their families, so they ran back one after another and guarded the entrance to their homes.
Mayi City is rapidly entering a state of anarchy.
Wang Rengong still wanted to hold the Mayi defenders who were gradually approaching him in his hands. Of course, he had also led troops in battles, so he did not have much hope for the current Mayi defenders.
Sure enough, the Mayi garrison, which had always been half-dead and half-alive, was like a piece of scattered sand.
What was even more frightening was that several military generals who had already walked several times in front of him were shouting: "Hurry up and open the warehouse to store food. Otherwise, even if you pile mountains of food in front of the soldiers, it will be useless."
This is the truth. The soldiers also have families and children who need to be fed. The county magistrate has been guarding the granary. They only need one meal to satisfy themselves, but their families are already too hungry to bear it.
Moreover, the city was in chaos, and the soldiers were in panic, and most of them wanted to run home to take a look.
At this point, the contest between Liu Wuzhou and Wang Rengong has been completely concentrated on a few Mayi warehouses.
But for both of them, there was actually no choice.
The prefect Wang Rengong did not dare to open a granary to store grain. There was not much grain in the Mayi granary. Opening a granary would not help. It would probably immediately trigger a riot, causing the people who did not grab the food to target the county government.
Liu Wuzhou had no choice. He could only follow the trend, provide food to the people, and then look for other ideas.
In fact, the key that ultimately determines the outcome is just the age of the two people.
Wang Rengong was old and could no longer put himself in dangerous situations to comfort the generals and officials in person. Even with all the hard work, he could no longer reach beyond the county government.
And Liu Wuzhou was in his prime, full of energy and commanding his men, and was always ready to go to the critical point personally.
In this way, the confidence they gave to their subordinates was completely different. This was the key to success or failure. If Wang Rengong were ten years younger, he would not have given Liu Wuzhou such an opportunity.
But it can't happen now. In just a few days, the advantage has turned into a disadvantage, and the disadvantage will soon turn into collapse. Many people have realized that the civil uprising is coming.
As a result, the number of people who came to the county government to ask for orders quickly became less and less. In the eyes of many people, the aging Wang Rengong was not a trustworthy official.
Rather than being tied up with him and accepting the anger of the people in the city, it is better to go back quickly and guard the walls of your home.
In the back house of the governor's house, Wang Rengong, the prefect of Mayi, was wearing a cloak and looking at the old tree in the courtyard in trance. The sound of coughing was always with him, and his body was also trembling in the spring cold.
He had already felt the smell of death. At this time, no one knew what the old man was thinking. Only he knew that they did not think about the Mayi chaos that had failed, nor did they think about the man he had brought from Dongdu.
How hateful is the captain of Mayi County?
What appeared in front of his eyes was the blue sky, clear water, and green mountains of his hometown, as well as those childhood playmates, and the beautiful face of his old wife who had passed away for many years on their wedding night.
Immediately, he bent over in pain, coughed hard for a while, straightened up and waved away the old servant who came up to beat his back.
Panting, he ordered: "Go, tell Wang Sheng and the others that they don't have to guard the county magistrate's house anymore. Go and open the gates of the four cities so that they don't have to come back. They can all go home."
"Well, tell them that they don't need to come to see me. My children are all in my hands. If they can keep my children safe, that's loyalty. They don't have to wait here to die together..."
"Go quickly."
The old servant hesitated to speak, and finally turned around and left.
Soon, the old servant turned around, followed by two tall guards, standing silently not far away.
Wang Rengong took a look but didn't say anything. At this time of year, those who could still stay with him must have been determined to die. They must also understand that they would never fight out of the rebel army like they did in the past.
A bloody road, protecting him as he rushed out.
"Master, it's cold here. Your body... you'd better go in and rest."
Wang Rengong smiled and said nothing.
The old servant continued, "My master's actions have saved countless lives, and they will be blessed in the future... Like Liu Wuzhou, who is good at causing chaos, and there will be countless casualties in the city. After this thief died, he was destined to be in the Abi Hell, and he will never be reincarnated."
"
Obviously, the old servant hated Liu Wuzhou so much that he did not forget to curse him viciously.
Wang Rengong laughed, followed by a series of coughs.
"Don't say it's a joke. It's just a winner and a loser... You make one more trip and tell Chen Dalang to lead his troops back to Yanmen. Don't get stuck in the city. When you get back, tell Chen Xiandi that Wang Yuan really feels for him.
There is no way to repay the kindness of helping each other and the friendship for many years. I only hope that he can judge the situation and don't want to be like me and still think about saving the building from collapse..."
Wang Rengong is already making arrangements for his funeral. The situation is over, as evidenced by the deserted county government.
Opening the four doors is just to give some people who are willing to leave the city a way to survive. When there is a riot in the city, who dies and who lives depends on God's will. It's not like Wang Rengong has never seen what the red-eyed mob will do.
.
In his view, this is a mess with no winners or losers.
After the riot, what will be left in the city of Mayi? Liu, Wu and Zhou's generation will definitely gather strong men to start another war, and the rebellion will be born.
As a local minister, Wang Rengong was a complete failure. He failed to trust the king and failed the people of this place. From his perspective, life was meaningless.
This is a loyal minister. There is something sad about it, but it is not without respect. As the last ember of the Sui Dynasty, it is about to be extinguished.
At this time, Mayi County Lieutenant Liu Wuzhou and the desolate Wang Rengong were exactly the opposite.
His right-hand man, Huang Ziying, finally came to him and told him with excitement that the big event would be that night. It would be better to raise a fire, rush into the governor's house, kill the old man Wang Rengong, and then turn around and call Wang Rengong the best.
Gong's men gathered together and surrounded and annihilated the Yanmen defenders scattered in several warehouses in the city.
After hearing the news, Liu Wuzhou immediately dressed up and was very willing to personally take people to the governor's house to see what Wang Rengong looked like when he was dying.
Should he kneel down and beg for mercy with tears in his eyes, or should he curse and die violently?
There is no difference at all. With one swing of the knife, the old man Wang, who was once aloof and did not take him seriously, can only fall to the ground and die.
Then, someone else came to report that the four gates of Mayi City were being opened.
At this time, Liu Wuzhou was a little anxious. Is Wang Rengong going to escape?
Then someone who was watching the granary came to report that the soldiers Wang Rengong had borrowed from Yanmen had given up guarding the granary and were gathering together.
Liu Wuzhou was a little panicked. This was obviously different from his script. Was he going to defend the county government? Or was he going to protect Mr. Wang and escape from Yanmen?
No matter what, he really couldn't stop it now.
The messy city of Mayi, which had been tortured by Wang Rengong and Liu Wuzhou, fell into a strange calm at this moment. When a group of people tentatively entered the granary and pried open the granary door...
The whole city of Mayi went crazy. The people didn't care what the two people's plans were. They only knew that the door of the granary was opened, and grabbing food was what they wanted to do most now.