In the lobby of the Anqing Prefectural Office, Wang Jinguo sat in the first seat, and dozens of men sat under him. These people were middle-aged or old. Although their appearances were different, the only thing they were the same was that they looked pampered and lived a life of luxury. These people were the more famous gentry and wealthy families in Anqing Mansion.

Wang Jinguo glanced at everyone and said, "Everyone, now tens of thousands of bandits have surrounded Anqing Mansion and are in a mess. This mansion sent a letter of help to the governor within a few days, but the reinforcements have not arrived yet. If the bandits are allowed to rage, Anqing Mansion will be unable to protect you. You are all well-known tasks in Anqing Mansion. I invite you to discuss the plan to defend the city with you. Please give me advice!"

There was a silence in the lobby. Wang Jinguo looked around and found that these people were either looking down at the upper, as if there was something rare on the shoes, or stroking their beards to make me think. Some people were whispering to the people next to them and laughing from time to time, but no one spoke to him, the prefect.

Seeing this, Wang Jinguo first felt anger from his heart, but then there was a burst of sadness. As the prefect, he could say that he had put down his dignity and airs and discussed things with them, but these people acted as if he was not concerned about his own affairs. At this moment, he suddenly became suspicious of what he had done these days. In order to keep Anqing Mansion in, he had been unable to eat or sleep for many days, but what about these people? He was still drunk and dreaming. Are these people really not afraid of bandits coming in?

He was full of anger and wanted to have an attack, but he swallowed it when he said that he was not a rookie who had just entered the officialdom. More than 20 years of officialdom experience told him how powerful the power of those merchants and gentry in the Jiangnan area was.

If you really want to offend this group of people, let alone his little prefect, even the governor must consider it.

Thinking of this, Wang Jinguo stopped talking, but sat on a chair and looked at everyone coldly. He wanted to see if these merchants were really arrogant and lawless. If this was the case, then there was no need for him to do any useless work.

After a long time, an old man about fifty years old who was sitting at the lower left of his head seemed to feel the anger in Wang Jinguo. He looked at Wang Jinguo and smiled and said, "Master, we are naturally as anxious as you, but we are all a fool, and we are completely unaware of military and national affairs. Even if we want to offer suggestions for you, we have no way to start."

"Yes!" A middle-aged man next to him who was leaning on a horse face also echoed: "Mr. Jiezhai said it well. We are all merchants, and we are all good at doing business, but if we talk about military and national affairs, we will be able to do it. Is this the reason?"

"It's the extreme, the extreme, the shopkeeper Bai said it well, so we will do some small business and know nothing about military and national affairs."

"Yeah?"

Wang Jinguo took a deep breath and said bluntly, "I know that you have many noble people, so I won't waste your time. Let's just talk directly. Yesterday, Wang Shoubei told me that the officers and soldiers guarding the city had not paid any money for several months. Not only that, even the young and strong recruited people began to complain. If this continues, the morale of the army will be dispersed in a few days. Have you ever thought about the consequences?"

Perhaps it was Wang Jinguo's serious expression that scared everyone, and a merchant asked a little disbelief: "Mr. Wang was joking. Our Anqing Mansion has five thousand defenders, and the thousands of young and strong men recruited, with tens of thousands of people. In addition, Anqing City is high and deep in the city, and there are only tens of thousands of bandits outside the city. How can we break through our strong city?"

"The city is high and the pool is deep?" Wang Jinguo sneered, "Since Manager Huang said that, it would be better to ask Manager Huang to personally go up to the city wall to defend the city, and let us see how Manager Huang defeated tens of thousands of bandits."

"I can't use it?" Manager Huang was shocked, and his two fat hands were tilted like a windmill. "I'm just a small businessman. How can I use a knife to kill the enemy? Don't joke with the villain like this?"

Wang Jinguo snorted lightly: "Is it a joke? Shopkeeper Huang will tell if he goes up to the city wall himself."

"Okay." The old man named Jiezhai Gong spoke, "What the prefect said makes sense. Now that the bandits are in the forefront, we, as the people of Anqing Prefecture, have a responsibility to do our part. But I dare to ask, how much money do you need me to pay?"

Wang Jinguo, who had been waiting for this sentence for a long time, did not say nonsense and immediately stretched out a finger.

"Ten thousand taels?" Mr. Jiezhai nodded: "No problem, everyone can spread these silvers together and get them together."

Everyone in the hall nodded, there were dozens of people here, each of whom could get a few hundred taels.

"Mr. Jiezhai was wrong, it was 100,000 taels!" Wang Jinguo interrupted him.

"What... 100,000 taels?" Everyone exclaimed, and many people's faces became ugly. The Lord Jiezhai said with some displeasure: "Master, there are not many people in our Anqing Mansion with a net worth of more than this number. You can say 100,000 taels at the first time, which is a bit too much, right?"

"Yes, 100,000 taels is too much. In this case, each family will have to pay at least a few thousand taels."

"I can't get it anyway."

Everyone shook their heads.

“Excessive?”

Wang Jinguo really wanted to kill these guys who were worth money and life. These bastards usually bought a thin horse more than a few thousand taels. Now they can save a few thousand taels to ensure safety. Is it expensive to have their brains filled with feces?

Seeing Wang Jinguo whose face turned pale, the Lord Jiezhai was also worried that Wang Jinguo would really break up with them. Although they were not afraid, it was not good in the end, so he blew up, "Master, do you think this is good? One hundred thousand taels of silver is not a small amount, and I really can't take it out for a while. Do you think this is good? I'm a shameless man, I'll make a decision. I'll raise 20,000 taels of silver first, and after a few days of getting enough money, I'll raise a sum of silver to reward the soldiers guarding the city. What do you think?"

"Twenty thousand taels?"

Wang Jinguo felt that he had never been so tired. He waved his hand powerlessly, "Forget it, since you have decided, I won't say much, let's just do it."

Mr. Jiezhai nodded slightly at Wang Jinguo: "Since that's the case, let's say goodbye first."

After saying that, he stood up and walked out of the lobby first.
Chapter completed!