Outside Hangzhou, the roads are muddy, the countryside is vast, and the green early rice sways in the wind.

It rained a little last night. After the rain stopped, the air seemed fresh. Willows by the river swayed, the breeze was gentle, and there was a faint fragrance in the air.

Yet, amidst this beautiful scene, dozens of people were seen desperately running out of the city, occasionally falling down in the scramble to get ahead.

The leaders of these people were dressed in gorgeous clothes, and the rest of their followers were also wearing silk clothes and woven shoes. They all looked like wealthy people.

But at this moment, everyone was exhausted and out of breath. After leaving the city, they saw a small boat dock. They didn't care about being dirty, and crawled to the dock and jumped onto a passenger ship.

After agreeing with the boat owner on where to go, without even asking the price, everyone got into the cabin, breathing heavily, and finally had time to rest for a while.

"Brother Zhou, luckily you have a cousin working in the government office, otherwise we would have been in big trouble this time."

"Yes, no one expected the imperial court to suddenly start arresting people. Furthermore, the news was concealed from the higher-ups. My brother only received the news at the last minute this morning and risked his life to deliver the letter to me."

"It's over, it's over. There are still many people in the city who haven't escaped. When we came out, the government had already started searching everywhere. They..."

"We can't care about so many things now. What matters most is saving our own lives."

Several landlords sighed and groaned.

They were big landlords in the Changzhou area. Not only did they have a family fortune accumulated over generations, they also owned many shops in Changzhou city.

But at this moment, these wealthy people fled Hangzhou in a very embarrassed manner with their entourage.

It was just because when they were preparing for today's protest in the inn in the morning, the cousin of the landlord surnamed Zhou suddenly ran to tell him a terrible news - the court was going to arrest people.

Upon hearing the news suddenly, they hurried out of the inn where they were staying. As soon as they hurried out of the city, they saw countless soldiers pouring in from various city gates. All the city gates and water gates began to close. It was obvious that the court was going to shut down the city and beat the dog.

This made them extremely frightened, but they were also glad that they were lucky enough to have learned the news early and escaped.

"Bang!"

At this moment, a loud noise suddenly came from outside.

While everyone was still in shock, someone shouted outside: "Boatman, what's going on?"

"Gentlemen, what's going on?"

I heard the boatman outside not answering the people in the cabin, but talking vaguely to someone else.

The people in the cabin were in a commotion, but before they could react, someone lifted the door curtain and glanced inside the cabin. Then, with a grin, he said, "According to the Prime Minister's order, the entire city is sealed off. No one is allowed to enter, but no one is allowed to leave."

Everyone inside had a pale face, looking lifeless.

After a while, the landlord surnamed Zhou quickly took out a small bag of silver from his pocket and handed it over tremblingly, saying, "Sir, please do me a favor."

The officer's face changed slightly, and he instinctively wanted to take it.

But he subconsciously retracted his hand. If it were in the past, he would definitely have taken it and shared the money with his brothers, so that everyone would benefit.

But things are different now.

For clerks like them, they can take the civil service examination if they have made meritorious contributions.

Once there is one of his brothers who is more ambitious, he will share the money with them on the surface, and then turn around and report to the Transport Commissioner or the Censorate.

At this critical moment, isn't that a blessing for your brother's future?

And the most important thing is that the salary of clerks is now linked to their performance, and merit can increase their performance.

Therefore, if many people are arrested in this operation, the credit will definitely be great. Although it is obviously unlikely to achieve first-class merit and be eligible to take the civil service examination, it would be nice to get second- or third-class collective merit and a higher salary.

Even though that salary is far less than the money in front of him, it is still much better than taking bribes and being reported by his brothers and becoming a prisoner from a clerk.

So his expression fluctuated for a few breaths. After considering the pros and cons, he slapped the silver from Landlord Zhou's hand and shouted, "He is indeed the one the court wants to arrest. Brothers, surround the boat."

In an instant, the surrounding yamen runners surrounded the boat. Under the threat of knives and guns, the people on the boat were forced out, tied up with ropes, and sent to the yamen.

At this time, the city of Hangzhou was in chaos.

Xia Song's plan was quite thorough. All the city gates were closed, including several water gates, and no one was allowed to enter or exit.

Originally, the West Lake was outside Qiantang Gate, Fengyu Gate and Qianhu Gate.

There is even a West Lake Street next to the west city wall, but in order to prevent people from escaping by boat, all the rivers in the city are now blocked, and there are officials everywhere inside and outside the city.

There were only a few thousand landlords left who were protesting, and Xia Song mobilized more than 10,000 imperial guards from various states in Liangzhe Road, plus thousands of officials from various government offices in the city, almost 15,000 people, to search and arrest people everywhere in the city.

On the streets of Bianmen Wa City, a large number of police officers and soldiers were running quickly.

"Quick, this way."

“Go, go, go!”

"Don't hit my stall."

"Bang!"

"My stall!"

"Sir, they ran that way."

"Chase!"

Dozens of landlords and their followers in front fled in a panic, knocking over more than a dozen stalls and making the street a mess.

The original vendors haven't been out setting up their stalls recently.

But the landlords and their followers who fled in panic at this moment made some vendors who had to make a living and were forced to come out to make money cry without tears.

Because these people were fleeing everywhere, there was chaos inside and outside the city.

Especially as the news that the imperial court was searching the whole city spread, the landlords were completely panicked and only thought about escaping.

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