diskusbooks Chapter 803 Arriving in Taizhou and Capturing the Japanese Pirates
Chapter 803 Arriving in Taizhou and Capturing the Japanese Pirates
"As ordered!"
The two county governors quickly mounted their horses, took their followers, and led Shen Changgong and the Southern King's 20,000 troops towards Taizhou.
On the way, Lin Ran asked cautiously,
"With these 20,000 cavalrymen, the Japanese pirates will surely be wiped out. I just don't know the names of the two generals, and to which army do they belong?"
Shen Changgong said calmly,
"My name is Shen Changgong, and his name is Ma Ling."
"So it's General Shen and General Ma..."
Lin Ran still didn't know what these two names meant. Ningbo County Governor Li Hao was shocked and quickly dismounted and knelt down, saying,
"Your humble servant greets Prince Lanling and His Highness the Southern Prince."
Lin Ran was also surprised when he heard this.
"You two are actually princes?"
After he finished speaking, he was about to dismount and salute, but Shen Changgong shouted,
"Get up and move forward as fast as possible. We will spend the night in Taizhou!"
"Yes Yes Yes!"
The two county magistrates did not dare to delay and quickly stood up.
After coming out of the mountains and walking for a while, we arrived at the Taizhou city gate.
In front of the gate, there were many corpses of local security forces still wearing Chu army uniforms.
The Taizhou prefect said awkwardly,
"Your Highness, the Emperor's edict was sent not long ago. We had time to change the flags, but not the uniforms."
“This king knows that those who died fighting against the Japanese invaders were all heroes, regardless of whether they were from Chu or Yan.
Send five thousand men to gather the bodies of the fallen soldiers and civilians and bury them in peace."
"As ordered!"
They headed towards the government office.
When they stopped at the gate of the government office, they suddenly heard laughter and a woman's scream coming from inside.
"Has the Japanese pirates not finished running away?"
Shen Changgong made an encirclement gesture to the army, and the cavalry immediately surrounded the county magistrate's mansion.
He drew out his double swords, the King of the South also took out his broadsword, and Fairy Meiyan, Tu Que Ling and others also took out their weapons.
Everyone dismounted, and Shen Changgong kicked open the door of the government office.
Through the front yard, they saw seven or eight Japanese pirates sitting in the lobby of the government office, roasting meat over a fire in the middle of the hall, and each of them was holding a half-naked woman in his arms.
There was a stinking corpse lying on the ground, and this bloody and brutal scene made people even more infuriated.
When the Japanese pirates saw someone coming in, they immediately became furious. They drew their long swords, pushed away the women beside them, and rushed towards the crowd, screaming and yelling.
"Bagya Road!"
They rushed forward madly, full of fighting spirit.
Shen Changgong immediately said,
"Don't kill! Capture him alive!"
Everyone rushed forward and fought with the Japanese pirates.
Shen Changgong moved forward with both swords, and attacked a Japanese pirate directly. The pirate raised his sword and slashed at him like lightning. Shen Changgong blocked with both swords, and then twisted the sword in his left hand, and knocked the sword of the Japanese pirate away. Then he chopped the wrist of the Japanese pirate with his right hand.
The Japanese pirate screamed in pain and retreated repeatedly. Shen Changgong kicked the Japanese pirate in the chest.
The other Japanese pirates were also highly skilled in martial arts, wielding their samurai swords with great vigor as they fought with everyone.
But two fists are no match for four hands, and they were soon captured alive by the massive army.
Shen Changgong strode inside, and the women were so scared that they quickly shrank back.
"Que Ling, take them to the backyard of the government office to rest and find some clothes for them."
"As ordered!"
Tu Que Ling immediately stepped forward, put away his sword, and said to the women,
"Don't be afraid, you are safe. We are soldiers, here to wipe out the Japanese pirates, just follow me."
Upon hearing this, all the women burst into tears, some were excited, some were sad, and some felt like they had lost all hope in life.
After all, in this era, women regard chastity as more important than their lives.
At this time, the cavalry in the backyard also ran over and said,
"Your Majesty, there's no one in the backyard."
"Well, let's go."
Shen Changgong raised his head towards Tu Que Ling.
Tu Queling took the women to the back.
"It's so smoky and foul, is there a clean place where we can talk?"
Shen Changgong looked at the county magistrate Lin Ran and asked.
"How about we go to the study?"
"lead the way."
After entering the study, Shen Changgong and Ma Ling sat down and looked at the two county governors kneeling below and asked,
"You two did a great job. In this critical moment, you abandoned the people and ran away."
Upon hearing this, Ningbo County Magistrate Li Hao kowtowed and said,
"Your Highness, I am innocent. The Japanese pirates attacked in the middle of the night, using grappling hooks attached to ropes to scale the city walls, kill the defenders, and then break through the gates.
The defenders were caught off guard and most of them were killed or wounded. I was only rescued by the guards at the risk of their lives.
After escaping, I hid myself and investigated their movements. It was not until daytime that I discovered the number and movements of the Japanese pirates.
Then he quickly wrote a letter to the court at the post station to report it.
After sending out an expedited escort for 800 miles, I took a shortcut and headed towards Taizhou. I finally arrived half a day before the Japanese pirates, buying half a day of escape time for the people of Taizhou.
Your Highness, I am guilty of failing to defend the country properly, allowing the Japanese pirates to slaughter the people. I deserve to be cut into pieces.
But my crime is not to abandon the people!"
Lin Ran on the side also hurriedly explained,
"Yes, Your Highness, if Li Hao hadn't informed us in advance, Taizhou would have ended up like Ningbo.
Faced with the aggressive Japanese pirates, I had no choice but to order the more than 1,000 defenders to guard the west gate and north gate, and let the people escape quickly from the south gate and east gate.
Those soldiers also bought two hours for the people.
This allowed the people in the city to survive.
I have lost the city, Your Majesty, and I ask for your punishment."
After hearing what they said, Shen Changgong couldn't figure out whether it was true or not, but based on the current situation, it was probably true.
Shen Changgong waved his hand and said,
"Everyone, get up and sit down to talk. In your opinion, the Japanese pirates are most likely heading south to Wenzhou. They should be in the mountains between Taizhou and Wenzhou now, right?"
"Yes."
"So where did all the gold, silver, and jewelry these pirates stole go? They couldn't have taken the gold and silver with them on their way to war, right?"
"This... most likely was delivered to the nearest sea, where there are ships to pick them up. However, we didn't see where their ships were; they were too far away.
Perhaps they chose to plunder cities along the coast for the convenience of transportation."
Shen Changgong immediately said,
"Someone is coming."
"exist!"
"Send a pigeon message to Pang Lei, asking him to search for the pirates' ships and the small islands along the coast. The pirates may have hidden gold, silver and treasures on the ships or islands, so he can rob them.
These are the people's hard-earned money, we can't let them take them away!"
"As ordered!"
Shen Changgong stood up and said,
"Have someone hurry up and cook. Both the men and the horses need to rest. We will head south early tomorrow morning.
Where did you catch those Japanese pirates?"
"Your Highness, the Japanese pirates must have been captured by our guards and bailiffs and taken to jail."