The Reborn Duke of Ming Dynasty

The city gate of Yangzhou Mansion is now wide open, and the refugees who escaped from Songjiang are pouring in like a tide. Looking at this scene, Zhang Fan seems to have returned to Qingyang Mansion. It’s just that at that time, the people in northern Xinjiang were hiding from Tartars; but now the people in Jiangnan are indeed hiding from Japanese pirates.

It's just a little different. The people in northern Xinjiang seem to have gotten used to it because they have been invaded by the Tartars for many years. Although it is very tragic, the people in northern Xinjiang obviously need to have a lot of experience.

But this Jiangnan is different. Although there have been examples of large-scale invasions by Japanese pirates, after all, there are only a few times, and the lives of ordinary people are still very stable. It is precisely because of the stability that the people here are not too With a lot of fleeing experience, most people were scared out of their wits when they saw the Japanese pirates attacking in groups, and they escaped without caring about packing their things.

It is precisely because of this that although Songjiang Mansion is only a short distance away from Yangzhou, and it only takes about a day to walk there, most people have been exhausted in just one day, and the most important thing is the food problem. , it is precisely because there is no experience in escaping that many people have not considered this issue, so although this land in the south of the Yangtze River is not as good as the yellow sand desert in the northern border of the Ming Dynasty, it still makes these people who have walked all night are almost ashamed. Apathetic look.

On the city wall of the east gate of Yangzhou City, Zhang Fan and his party were standing there, looking at the crowd below who were still pouring into the city, their faces were heavy.

"My lord, although this Yangzhou City is not small, it is almost full of people now," Wang Meng said from the side.

This is indeed a problem. Now that people are fleeing, they naturally want to live in Yangzhou City, which is surrounded by strong walls. Although Yangzhou is not small, it also includes counties and other places around it. The city of Yangzhou is already full of people, and now almost half of the people from Songjiang Mansion have arrived here, and the remaining half have all fled to Hangzhou Mansion.

Originally, Wang Dezhao was not going to open the door. After all, it was a choice for him to open the door at such a time. The imperial court did not expressly stipulate the method of handling such a time. It was entirely up to the local officials to decide on their own, but For Wang Dezhao, he had to choose this way. It was not that he was too stingy and refused to distribute food to these fleeing people.

If he ordered the gates to be closed and not opened, nothing would happen to him in the future, but if he ordered the gates to be opened, he might be rewarded in the future, but what if the refugees mixed in with local people and what happened? If it is destroyed, he will have to bear all the responsibilities, which is not what he wants.

Fortunately, now that Zhang Fan is here, Wang Dezhao dare not disobey his orders, and if he is held accountable in the future, Zhang Fan will stand on top of him, so what is he afraid of.

However, according to Zhang Fan's intention, the gate of Yangzhou City is now open, but Zhang Fan also has to consider Wang Dezhao's concerns. This kind of special operations personnel who infiltrate, assassinate, sabotage, etc., so this is also very troublesome.

There was no other way but to observe with human eyes. Although the Fusang people looked exactly the same as the people of the Ming Dynasty, there were still some differences. Zhang Fan told them that as long as they saw a particularly short person, Then we must pay attention.

Moreover, in order to prevent the omissions of this method, there is a special person to register the household registration of everyone who has entered Yangzhou City. If there is someone who has never been seen by others, it is natural to step up. Fortunately, there were not too many such people this time, otherwise Zhang Fan's current manpower would not be enough to do it. After all, they still had to protect Zhang Fan's safety.

"I see the current situation. I'm afraid that all the people who fled to the north have come to Yangzhou." Zhang Fan looked back at the overcrowded city and said, "Isn't there a Suzhou mansion on this road? There is a person there." Didn't put it in, what's going on?"

"My lord, it's really just like this," Liang Chao who was next to him replied. He had asked many refugees before and learned about their situation along the way, "On the one hand, the prefect of Suzhou did indeed order to close the city gates. And it also ordered the guards guarding the gate to absolutely not allow a fleeing civilian to enter, and secondly, it is estimated that the prefect of Suzhou ordered to open the city gate, and it is estimated that not many civilians would enter."

"What's the matter?" Zhang Fan was very puzzled when he heard his words. There was a nearby place, and the city gate was opened for them to take refuge, and there were food supplies. Why didn't they go in, but they had to run twice as far to get there This Yangzhou city came to take refuge.

"This... my lord, that's what happened," Liang Chao said. "Firstly, Suzhou Mansion is too close to Songjiang Mansion. Second, there are some problems with the fall of Songjiang Mansion. The people said that in the past, even if there were even three or four Japanese pirates coming ashore to rob even a hundred miles away from Songjiang, the Songjiang Mansion would ring the bell to warn the people, but this time, the people in Songjiang Mansion didn't hear the bell at all, or It was a signal that could warn them when they saw the fire, and the only thing they could remember was the screams heard by the people living in the East City when they were ugly,"

"You mean, Songjiang Mansion didn't have any defense at all, or even resisted, and those Japanese pirates entered the city gate openly?" Zhang Fan asked, "Don't you mean Songjiang Mansion doesn't close the city gate at night?"

"This is impossible, my lord. The imperial court has expressly stipulated that the gates of Dazhou counties like Songjiang Mansion must be closed at night," Liang Chao replied, "but this time, there was no warning at all. It’s like someone inside helped open the city gate to let them in,”

"Are you saying that the defenders of the city were bought?" Zhang Fan asked, "How are those defenders now?"

"This... I don't know about the humble job. After all, the pirates entered through the east gate. After the common people found out, they all fled to the west. They don't know what's going on at the east gate," Liang Chao said. Was the person bought by the Japanese pirates?"

"No, I don't think so," Zhang Fan said, "If it is said that they were bought, why are there not those few people who have entered the city of Yangzhou now? Could it be that they stayed in Songjiang Mansion and took the money but returned it?" Have you sold your life to the pirates?"

"My lord means..." Liang Chao had already guessed what Zhang Fan was thinking.

"That's right. From my point of view, it's not bribery with money, but with knives," Zhang Fan said. "I'm afraid those people are already dead."

Liang Chao thought about what Zhang Fan said, and it was indeed true. It was too dangerous to buy it with money. If something went wrong on the way, wouldn’t the entire army be wiped out? Compared with sneaking into the city during the day and killing him at night It is much better to kill the guards guarding the city gate, and then open the city gate to let your own people in.

"How many Japanese pirates attacked Songjiang Mansion this time," Zhang Fan asked.

"The humble staff has already sent some good men to Songjiang to investigate this morning, and it is estimated that tonight we will know the number and movements of the Japanese pirates who attacked," Wang Meng replied, "The rest of the fleeing people, they patronize I don’t care how many Japanese pirates attack here, but according to my estimates, it would take two to three thousand people to flee the entire Songjiang Mansion from the city.”

"Two to 3000 people," Zhang Fan repeated the number, his brows furrowed deeply, "They are in charge of the border defense in the Songjiang area. Could it be that they didn't notice any movement? The two to 3000 people are so silent The land captured Songjiang Mansion," said Zhang Fan, although his expression hadn't changed much, but extreme anger could already be heard from his voice.

Anyone who encounters this matter will be angry. Two or three thousand people have captured a city under their noses, and no defenders have discovered it. Could it be that the opponents are all "chaotic waves".

How could Wang Meng not understand Zhang Fan's anger, but he still had to explain to Zhang Fan that, according to him, the generals in charge of coastal defense along the coast of Songjiang Mansion, it is said that after receiving warnings from others, they did not take it seriously at all. For one thing, even after the person read Zhang Fan's letter, he laughed a few times, and after saying that it was impossible, he burned Zhang Fan's letter with a candle.

It is precisely because of this that no one has patrolled the seaside in the Songjiang area these days. Until yesterday, after the Japanese pirates invaded Songjiang Mansion, they were still staying in the military camp dozens of miles away. Now something happened. That person was in a hurry, and even foolishly led his subordinates to try to take Songjiang Mansion back again, but no one would take him seriously. After all, Songjiang is a big city near the sea, and the city defense is not weak. There are things like cannons. There is nothing missing, and it's not that Japanese pirates don't know how to use those things.

Originally, he planned to let the matter of respecting and loving that person go first, so as not to distract Zhang Fan, and then go to trouble with that person if necessary in the future. Now it seems that Zhang Fan doesn't need to punish that person specially. Now there are enough pirates stationed in Songjiang Fucheng for him to drink a pot.

"How is the situation on the other two sides, Huai'an Mansion and Ningbo Mansion," Zhang Fan asked.

"The situation is not good," Liang Chao said. "When the news was sent over there, the Japanese pirates had already entered the city. It looks similar to Songjiang's situation."

"My lord, what should we do now," Wang Meng asked.

What else can I do, Zhang Fan now has only one solution in his mind: "Notify the nearby defenders, leave half of each battalion to guard the nearest state capital, and the other half will go to Suzhou Prefecture for me to prevent further advances by Japanese pirates." Offensive, let’s do this now, other things have to wait.”