The Humble Administrator's Garden and Lu Garden are across the water from each other. Such a big commotion in Lu Garden naturally could not be hidden from the Xu family of the Humble Administrator's Garden.

Both Zhao Hao and Lin Run guessed correctly that it was the Xu family who fanned the flames of this civil unrest.

It was originally just a traditional drama of weavers fighting against dog eunuchs, but the Xu family took the opportunity to create chaos, making the situation out of control.

But Xu Fan learned his lesson this time. He commanded remotely from far away in Songjiang and refused to get involved in trouble.

The person who executed his will in Suzhou was Xu Xu, the manager of the Humble Administrator's Garden... At the beginning, Xu Xu went to the prefectural government office to ask for help, but because of his bad attitude, he was beaten by Cai Guoxi and all his teeth fell out. He always hated him deeply.

This time, Xu Xu had the opportunity to take revenge, so he would definitely target Cai Guoxi. He first set fire to the prefectural government office, and then drove him out of Suzhou, thus venting his anger.

In the past few days, Manager Xu has been asking his subordinates to stir up trouble everywhere to prevent the situation from calming down and causing big things to become small and small things to disappear like before.

The effect was very good. The riots continued for several days and there was still no sign of stopping.

This made Manager Xu quite proud, and he even had the illusion that he was the master of Suzhou.

It is really like 'Wine does not make people drunk, but people make themselves drunk; flowers do not make people charming, but people make themselves charming'.

It was not until he heard that several senior leaders of the Dongting Merchants' Clan came into Lu Garden from outside the city and convened a meeting of all the weavers in the city that Xu Xu suddenly woke up.

"How dare you, old Lu Kuang? How dare you do this?" Manager Xu was so angry that he showed his golden teeth and grinned.

I thought to myself, if you want to have a meeting, just hold it secretly. Why do you have to hold a big meeting right under my nose? This is simply showing disrespect to me, the dignified Lord of Suzhou, Chief Steward Xu, right? !

"I will take people to surround Lu Garden and go in to catch the spies and traitors!" The men shouted angrily.

"What are you yelling about?" Xu Xu rolled his eyes at his subordinates in frustration and cursed, "There are so many foremen in the yard, and which one of them doesn't have dozens or even hundreds of people under him? Don't you know that it's hard to offend the public?"

"Then wait until those weavers leave and give Lu a severe lesson, letting him know that we have the final say in Suzhou City now!" the subordinate suggested again.

"That's not right." Xu Xu shook his head and said, "The Lu family is so prosperous and powerful that if we offend Lu Kuang, we will just make enemies for the old man."

"Then let them do whatever they want?" The men were angry and unwilling.

"Of course not, but you have to use your strength in a targeted way." Xu Xu gritted his teeth and asked:

"From which gate did the man surnamed Liu enter the city?"

"Changmen." The subordinate replied in a muffled voice: "When Xiaoyi of the Lu family led people to rob Changmen, he said that he wanted to leave a way out of the city for his old man. But in the blink of an eye, he let the government's running dogs in."

"So, the army will most likely enter the city through the Changmen Gate tonight?" Xu Xu pondered for a moment, and swept a cold gaze over everyone.

"Specified."

"Gather the people and take back the Changmen Gate before dark. I don't think the government troops can enter the city tonight. Who will believe the nonsense of the Lu family and the Dongting Chamber of Commerce tomorrow?"

Xu Xu ordered sternly: "Don't be afraid, everyone. There are only a thousand soldiers outside the city. We can't attack by force!"

As he spoke, his eyes fixed, and he said in a sinister voice: "The master has already arranged for the censors to impeach him. If it drags on for another ten days or so, Lin Run and Cai Guoxi will all be kicked out!"

"Okay!" The excited subordinates were immersed in the pleasure of confronting the government and couldn't extricate themselves.

~~

As it got dark, torches lit up the sky in the training ground outside Panmen.

After resting for half a day, the thousand officers and soldiers had enough food and drink and were ready to go.

A group of civil and military officials surrounded Lin Run and came in front of the officers and soldiers.

Captain Feng ordered all the soldiers to listen to the instructions of the Zhongcheng.

Lin Run only made a brief mobilization, but repeatedly emphasized the military discipline after entering the city.

No looting during chaos, no killing or raping, no leaving the team without permission, orders must be obeyed, otherwise you will be punished by military law!

He knew these guys too well. If he kept a close eye on them, they would be soldiers, but if he let his guard down, they would turn into bandits.

This is also the reason why Lin Run was unwilling to mobilize a large army to quell the riot. Although that would be quick, the secondary damage it would cause would even far exceed the riot itself.

"Let's go." After saying everything he needed to say, he waved his hand, mounted his horse, and led the army out of the parade ground.

~~

At the same time, the ownership of Changmen had changed.

These days, the Xu family's servants have been connecting with each other everywhere and spending a lot of money, and have actually formed a citizen's self-defense force of a thousand people composed of ruffians and thugs.

They wore red headscarves, carried iron bars as high as their eyebrows, and acted tyrannically, smashing and looting everywhere. The chaos in Suzhou today is mostly due to this "citizens' self-defense force."

In the afternoon, Xu Xu gave an order and the servants gathered a self-defense team. They rushed to the gate tower of Changmen City as soon as it got dark and beat anyone they saw!

Lu Yi and his less than two hundred weavers were caught off guard, beaten to a pulp, and fled in panic.

In a blink of an eye, the law enforcement team captured the Changmen Gate. The cheers of ghosts and wolves rang out, and everyone had the illusion that they were invincible.

Just as they were getting excited, people on the city gate tower saw a fire dragon coming from the south outside the city.

"The government troops are here, quickly block the city gate!" Manager Xu, who led the team personally, quickly ordered everyone to block the city gate.

The Self-Defense Force quickly used wooden sticks to prop up the locked city gate. Still not satisfied, they had carts of bricks and stones brought in to completely block the city gate.

Xu Xu stood on the top of the city wall and looked at the fire dragon that seemed to have no end in sight, and couldn't help but gasp.

"Why does it feel like there are more than a thousand people?"

"Yeah, at least two or three thousand..." The people below also became frightened.

"Could it be that Lin Run has sent more troops?"

"With so many people, they will storm the door even if they can't get it opened, right?"

Xu Xu's scalp tingled. He didn't have the courage to confront the soldiers head-on.

"Quickly send some people over here, and let's make a big noise so they don't dare to attack!"

"yes!"

His men hurried to gather people, but Suzhou City was obviously affected by the curfew of the Dongting Chamber of Commerce tonight, and the streets were much quieter than in the past few days.

They banged gongs and shouted in the streets, knocked on doors to call for people, and transferred 200 people each from the nearby Panmen and Qimen. After a lot of effort, they finally gathered a thousand people to reinforce Changmen.

Now there were a full two thousand people standing on the Changmen Tower and the city walls on both sides, and he felt less panicked.

Xu Xu ordered them to light torches as well, so that they could shine brightly against the two or three thousand people outside the city, making it difficult to distinguish who was better.

He felt that he was able to recover. He put his hand on his sword, held his head high, and walked around the city wall, cheering his men loudly.

"The government troops are worse than shit! The only army capable of fighting, the Qi family army, has already gone north, and those left behind are a bunch of rubbish."

"They think they can attack the city? They will never succeed in their lifetime!"

"If you successfully defend the city tonight, I'll take you to visit the girls in the red-light district!"

It would be fine if he talked about anything else, but as soon as this was mentioned, everyone on the city wall immediately shouted with excitement, and their morale seemed to be extremely high.

Xu Xu nodded in satisfaction, and just as he was about to continue to enjoy his role as city lord, he saw one of his servants running up in a panic.

"Oh no, sir! The government troops have entered the city!"

p.s. I took a half-day break during the day and just finished coding two chapters. The next chapter will be here soon.