During this time, the officials sent by Mr. Zhao to check the supplies reported to him that the treasury was empty. There was no food, weapons, or gunpowder, and even the Changping warehouse had been emptied.

"Are all the warehouses empty?" Mr. Zhao asked in disbelief.

"Yes." The stewards were speechless and said, "The six warehouses in the city are in a mess, just like they were robbed."

"It was just robbed." Several ambassadors of the Treasury who were brought back to report reported with sad faces: "The wealthy families in the city said that Zeng Yiben would rob everything after the city was broken anyway, so it's better for them to come first. Only with money and food can they defend the city for the government...How can we stop them? We can only watch them smash the treasury door and move away everything that can be moved."

"Where are the three shifts of yamen runners in the prefecture and county? Aren't there Captain Tan's soldiers? Why didn't you ask them for help?" Zhao Shouzheng said angrily. The emperor didn't need hungry soldiers, so how could he lead people to defend the city without money and food?

Uh, it seems like I don’t even have anyone…

"The servants in the government office are all guarding the government office and have no time to take care of themselves. The county dare not get involved in this mess. As for the soldiers brought by Mr. Tan, they belong to them..." Several ambassadors looked at Tan Yong beside them in fear and swallowed their words at the same time.

"..." Zhao Shouzheng already understood. There must be no one who was more aggressive than them in snatching...

"I, I have no other choice..." Seeing Mr. Zhao looking at him unkindly, Tan Yong explained in a panic, "We retreated to the city too hastily, and we didn't bring enough food and fodder. The navy has landed, and we need to replenish a lot of supplies. Since the war is imminent, we can only requisition them temporarily..."

"If the war wasn't imminent, I would have chopped off your head long ago!" Zhao Shouzheng snorted coldly and interrupted him, "No matter how much supplies you have taken, I won't let you return them, but you must issue a detailed list and submit it in a register. You can't just mess around like this!"

"Oh, yes." Tan Yong nodded with a bitter face, and retreated to a distance to let his captains count the supplies in their hands.

"Boss, why are you so afraid of him?" Several centurions were a little dissatisfied and asked in a low voice: "When Gou Sima was here, you didn't act like a grandson?"

"You know nothing." Captain Tan spat fiercely, "They are the same positions, but different people make a huge difference! Gou Zhongwen was born a poor scholar, which is like a widow sleeping - there is no one above her. It is also like a widower sleeping - there is no one below him. Without support and orders, he can't use his power no matter how great it is. Why should we be afraid of such a person?"

"Then this Sima Zhao," the centurions asked with wide eyes, "is he different?"

"Of course it's different. Are you blind? Didn't you see the scene when he took office? Five hundred people, two horses per person!" Captain Tan grinned and said, "Although the prefect will make a big fuss when he takes office, it's all government troops. But what about this Sima? Those are all his own people! And those guards are all strong and capable, and each of them has two Western pistols on their waists. The equipment of the governor's guards can't compare to this. If we dare to get angry, we can be wiped out on the spot. Do you believe it?"

"Oh my god..." The centurions gasped. "So fierce?"

"That's not the most amazing thing." Captain Tan lowered his voice and said in disbelief, "When the gentlemen came to greet each other just now, I heard that among the aides who came with Lord Sima, there were actually two Jinshi and more than a dozen Juren. Do you know what this means?"

"What? A Jinshi master doesn't want to be an official, but a staff member?" The centurions felt it was ridiculous and said, "When did the Juren master change to a wholesaler? I heard that there are only two Juren masters in the Governor's Office."

As for the Jinshi masters, there is not a single one!

"I also find it incredible, but Shu Fuan, Yi Qin, Shunhan and others all agree with it, which means it's not fake." Captain Tan sighed, "It also means that his background may be greater than the governor."

"How is that possible?" The centurions were stunned.

"I'm saying it's possible, but no matter how big or small it is, let me ask you, do we dare to mess with such a Sima?" Tan Yong rolled his eyes at them.

"Don't dare to offend." Now all the centurions admitted their fear. "The leader still sees further than us!"

"Of course, otherwise how can I be the boss?" Tan Yong snorted complacently, and then lowered his voice and ordered: "In a word, everyone, cheer up and serve carefully. If something goes wrong, don't blame me for not pleading for you!"

"Yes." The hundred households responded hurriedly.

~~

Similar conversations also took place in various places in the city. Tan Yong, a warrior, could see the extraordinaryness of Mr. Zhao, so how could Shu Fu, An Yi, and Qin Shunhan turn a blind eye?

In fact, they were in the officialdom and got more information. They knew that this Zhao Erfu was not an ordinary Sima. His father was Zhao Liben, the Minister of the Southern Ministry of Revenue in the Jiajing Dynasty, and he had a deep connection with the officialdom in Beijing. He himself was also very capable and ranked first in the country in the assessments for many years. It was only because he offended the emperor and was beaten in the court that he had to be the Tongzhi in this hellhole of **zhou.

But everyone believed that he would be recalled to the capital one day. Because according to legend, he was the son-in-law of the son of the then-official Zhang Daxueshi. If the emperor was in a good mood one day, Zhang Daxueshi would take the opportunity to make a suggestion, and the matter would be settled.

There are even more outrageous rumors that Zhao Zhuangyuan is having an affair with the eldest princess. Haha, how is that possible...

In order to persuade the wealthy people in the city to attend the meeting, Shu Tongpan and his men tried their best and even brought out the most unreliable gossips to increase the weight of Mr. Zhao.

But the effect was immediate, and those big dog owners were curious about it. If for no other reason, they would come just to see this amazing iron-butt champion.

After all, in the 200 years since the founding of the Ming Dynasty, there have only been more than 60 top scholars, which is even rarer than a university scholar! How can you not go and see it?

Besides, when people are in panic, they also have to listen to the wind direction to see whether they should leave or stay, fight or make peace?

So, an hour later, more than a hundred leading figures in the city gathered on the gate tower of Guangji Gate to pay homage to the newly arrived Sima Zhao.

"Sima, what is the order for you to call us here?" After the greeting, an old man in his sixties with extraordinary demeanor asked.

Wu Cheng'en behind him quickly reminded Master Zhao that this man was called Liu Zixing, with a courtesy name Binzhi and a pseudonym Jianhu. He was a Jinshi in the 20th year of Jiajing. He had served as the magistrate of Linhai County in Zhejiang Province, the director of the Ministry of War, the imperial doctor, the councilor of Fujian, the military governor of Jianchuan in Sichuan, the councilor of Guangxi, the provincial judge of Fujian, and the left governor of Guangxi. Later, he retired to his hometown on the grounds of illness.

Because the Ming Dynasty divided the candidates into southern and northern lists, Guangdong shared the southern list of admissions with Zhejiang, Huguang, Jiangxi, and Fujian. These provinces were either large provinces for imperial examinations or provinces with large populations. What could poor, weak, and helpless Guangdong Province use to compete with them? Therefore, except for the three underdeveloped provinces of Guangxi, Yunnan, and Guizhou, Guangdong had the fewest number of admissions in each subject of the imperial examination in the country, and they were basically concentrated in the Pearl River Delta.

For a prefecture like Chaozhou, which is far from the provincial capital, it is a great honor for the whole prefecture to have one Jinshi in each exam. The last Jinshi was in the 44th year of Jiajing, and in the Longqing period, he had shaved his head for two consecutive exams. As the saying goes, things are precious because they are rare. The weight of a rural Jinshi in Chaozhou Prefecture is much greater than that in Suzhou Prefecture. Liu Zixing is the highest-ranking official, so he naturally became the leader of the gentry who has the final say, and his influence in Chaozhou is greater than that of the prefect.

Under normal circumstances, this old man Liu would never come whenever he was summoned. Not to mention being the co-magistrate, even if he was the prefect, he would have to visit him first and get his approval before he could secure the position of the prefect.

Liu Zixing came here at such a low level, apparently because the great bandit Zeng Yiben was at the gates of the city, and they had to put aside their pride and unite to resist the foreign enemy. As for what he actually thought, only he knew.

Seeing this senior who represented the local power asking questions, Zhao Shouzheng did not dare to be arrogant, and hurriedly bowed deeply and said: "I should have visited Mr. Hu in person, it is really rude and impolite."

"During this extraordinary period, there is no need to be polite." Liu Zixing said with great understanding, "Zeng Kou may attack the city at any time, Sima Zhao should stop talking nonsense, we will have plenty of time to get close in the future."

"Yes, I will tell you straight away." Mr. Zhao nodded gratefully, and said in a deep voice to the dog owners with different expressions: "I believe that the masters have already told you the general situation, so there is no need for me to repeat it. The purpose of my inviting you here is also very simple - to borrow people, food, money and weapons from you, so that I can lead everyone to defend Chaozhou City!"

After Zhao Shouzheng finished speaking, the city wall fell into a despairing silence...

Some of the gentry looked up at the sky, some counted ants, some stood with their eyes closed to rest, and some even looked at him with mocking eyes.

Even the calm Liu Zixing sighed softly. Although all the officials who summoned the gentry to a meeting, no matter what the reason was, no matter how much they said, their purpose was always the same, which was to make them bleed. But this champion was too straightforward, he didn't even bother to cover up his purpose.

What’s the difference between this and robbery?

And the biggest problem is that other people either ask them to pay money or do the work, but why is it that this iron-butt champion wants it all?

So no one wants to get over it? Bleeding is not enough, and we have to amputate his limbs? It's like dreaming about marrying a wife - just wishing for good things!

If it weren't for the fact that these people had big businesses in the city and couldn't just leave, they would have gone downstairs and stopped serving long ago.

"Why don't you speak?" Seeing that they were silent for a long time, Zhao Shouzheng asked again: "Don't you understand Mandarin?"

"I understand." This time someone finally answered. A man in his forties wearing a round collar said coldly, "But we are a small family with no one, no money, no food, and no weapons. I am afraid that we will disappoint Sima Zhao."

"Really?" Zhao Shouzheng didn't seem annoyed, but just smiled and said, "Where did the 100,000 taels of silver, hundreds of thousands of dan of grain, 3,000 sets of armor, 2,000 sets of bows and arrows, and 1,000 muskets in the treasury go?"

Seeing that Sima Zhao was actually settling the bad debt at this critical juncture, the atmosphere on the city gate tower suddenly became more stagnant.

ps. Two updates in a row, with one more to go.