On the seventh day of the 10th month of the second year of Zhaohong, Hangzhou.

With several loud bangs, the water gates on the city walls on the east, west, south and north sides collapsed. Fires emerged from many houses in the city, and several waves of bandits were slashing with knives in places with dense crowds. Many people were walking in the crowds, rumors of "The Qiantang River collapsed, and officials had already escaped first" quickly swept the whole audience. The entire city was in a mess in an instant, and the people began to run out of the city.

The army and yamen runners all over the city got up and struggled to maintain order on the streets. Stampage accidents occurred everywhere, and some gentry and civilians fought to grab the ship.

Cao Hua ran outside the palace gate, and could hear the noisy sounds in the city from Baima Mountain. Countless torches dyed Hangzhou city into a sea of ​​fire.

King Kang was wearing a nightgown and anxiously ran out of the back house, angrily scolding him:

"How could it be possible to collapse several walls in a row?"

The staff member was sweating heavily and trotted behind him: "I don't know, the water gate falls in the direction. Even if it rains heavily even a few days ago, there is no reason for it to fall together..."

Cao Hua called Li Bairen and Han'er and stopped King Kang who was about to go to check the situation: "There must be a thief who tampered under the city gate. Since there was an accident, the rebels must have a backup plan. I'll go and check it out."

King Kang walked back and forth outside the palace: "How to do things in the city gate? Hundreds of defenders were stationed around him, could they be blind?"

Everyone was speechless. If the water gate collapsed, it would inevitably destroy the foundation under the city gate. Apart from the defenders, there were only corvee workers responsible for strengthening the city walls. These matters were personally responsible for the magistrates for many years. How could it be possible for a sudden mistake?

Dongdongdongdongdong-

Before I could figure out my thoughts, drums came again from a distance, with dense drum beats.

"It's the war drum."

The staff member's face changed drastically, and then turned pale: "Fang La... Fang La called..."

King Kang's body shook, his eyes full of incredibleness, and he murmured:

"How is it possible...How is it possible..."

Cao Hua's face was slightly cold. When he saw Song Yang wearing armor, he ran to this side and said:

"Song Yang, transfer the Hu Jie Army to protect the prince. If things change, leave the city immediately."

"no!"

King Kang came to his senses, carried his robe and was about to get on the horse, and said anxiously: "As soon as I leave Hangzhou, I will definitely lose the danger. Let the Hujie Army assist in defending the imperial guards to defend the gap in the city wall. Fang La must have sent a few advance troops into the city, and some others will be rescued."

Song Yang was in a dilemma: "Prince, Hujie Army is the private army of the royal family. The first responsibility is to protect the safety of the prince, and the second is to assist in defense of Hangzhou. There is a gap in the city wall now. If the rebels take the opportunity to break the city, the safety of the prince..."

"Hangzhou City is broken, where do you want me to go?" King Kang was anxious and did not listen to the advice at all.

Cao Hua was too lazy to talk nonsense, so he raised his hand and slapped King Kang faint, looking at several staff officials:

"Go to pick up the princess and princesses, pack up your things, I'll go to the city to check the situation. If something goes wrong, escort the prince out of the city immediately."

Song Yang thought about it and took people into the royal palace and packed up his things with hundreds of servants in the mansion.

In order to prevent Han'er from leaving, Cao Hua took Li Bairen and rushed towards the Xuanfu envoy's office just in case.

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Hangzhou is the central city of Jiangnan Road. The Song Dynasty has never tried its best to fight for two hundred years. A few days ago, I heard of a rebellion in Muzhou. Even if it was only more than 200 miles away, I still felt that it was far away, just like listening to a story. The officers and soldiers won the praises and used their troops like gods, and shouted the defeat and scolded them a few cowards. It was not much different from hearing the storyteller in a teahouse.

But when the war drums that had never sounded sounded throughout the audience, when bandits with swords emerged from all over the city and killed people when they saw them, they instantly brought the people and literati back to reality. The flesh-and-blood battlefield that they had only seen in books was already in front of them.

There were not many rebels who sneaked in with the collapse of the water gate last time. There were only about two hundred people, divided into more than ten groups and burned and killed everywhere in the city to create chaos. They were all masters of Fang La's army. Ordinary yamen runners could not defeat them, but the brigade of officers and soldiers could not catch them, and they turned upside down the whole of Hangzhou. Women and children, young and strong, ran around the streets and alleys, shouting loudly, "Beat people to death, kill people." One thing spreads to ten thousand people, and everyone ran around like a headless fly.

As the war drums sounded, the officers and soldiers returned to the city wall, the order in the city quickly collapsed, and even greater chaos began. The yamen runners shouted loudly to the people not to run around when they went home, but some gentry fleeing could not stop them at all. The civilians were dissatisfied when they saw the gentry boarding the boat. Under the provocation of those who were interested, they even had a conflict with the yamen runners, and the situation gradually became out of control.

Cao Hua rode a horse on the street and couldn't walk in an instant. He could only jump onto the roof to search for the thieves who were making trouble in the city. After killing two waves in a row, he found that his role was better than nothing. The Black Feather Guard had not returned yet, and the thief was walking everywhere. He could not kill him alone, so he could only return to the Xuanfu Envoy's Office.

The yamen was also in a mess, and the civil servants were headless and flies. The various countermeasures that were originally decided became decorations when they encountered changes. The chief officials were not inconsistent with each other's opinions, so they didn't know what to do.

Cao Hua rushed to the hall of the yamen and saw a group of officials running around in a mess, and said angrily:

"Where is the governor Zhao Ting?"

At first no one agreed, but it was not until he slapped a table that a minor official came over and said sweating profusely:

"I just took someone to invite the magistrate. The yamen runner said that the magistrate was not in the mansion. Some people around him saw Lord Zhao bringing his wives and concubines onto the carriage, and they didn't know where they went..."

"There is also the Tongzhi Wang, who is gone..."

"The sudden collapse of the water gate must have something to do with Lord Zhao. Lord Zhao may have already escaped for fear of crime..."

Cao Hua was stunned and said angrily: "Fang La ran away before he could call him. Who will guard Hangzhou when the magistrate ran away?"

Many officials also wanted to ask this question. Even the boss at the moment fled, and they were all in chaos and had no idea how to deal with it.

Seeing this, Cao Hua had to leave the yamen and go to the garrison of the Xiang army. The defense envoy Zhang Lu did not run away and led the Hunan Army to surround the thieves in the city to disperse the people. Chen Jian, the commander of the Liangzhe Road, and Zhao Yue, the commander of Lianjie, led the imperial guards to surround the rebels who rushed in from the gap in the city wall.

However, the situation was far more serious than expected. The impact of the escape of the chief official was far more than just the lack of position. Many officials who cherished their lives, saw that the limelight was wrong, directly brought their wives and concubines to the crowd to flee. The river in Hangzhou was well developed, and more than one exit, and a large number of ships rushed into the undamaged waterway. Several city gates were also secretly opened, and a large number of people fled out. The officers and soldiers could not stop it. Zhang Lu ordered the arrows to drive away the people. He never thought that the deputy general who guarded the city gate was cut off by the thieves first. The angry people rushed to the city gate and formed an internal and external cooperation with the rebels outside the city.

Cao Hua ran around all night, trying to contact the defenders everywhere to maintain order. Unfortunately, in front of an out-of-control city, a person's power was too small and he could not help.

The next morning, the long-lost morning light appeared above Hangzhou City.

Also appearing were the banner of the Holy Merit Fang La, and the slogan "The law is equal, and there is no high or low."

The endless bandit army appeared outside Hangzhou city.

The mountains and fields are everywhere, and the blades are as sharp as the sea.

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Chapter completed!