The Reborn Duke of Ming Dynasty

That night, at the Zhang family in Yangzhou, since Zhang Yufang's family left, Zhang Fan even took the initiative to put all the servants of the Zhang family on a long vacation, and gave each of them a sum of money. Now, Zhang Fan is alone here. one person.

No, it can’t be said that he is the only one, and some of his subordinates also lived in, but Zhang Fan also explained that the master bedroom cannot be entered, and there are only a few people who live in, but none What damage has been done here.

For the past few days, Zhang Fan has spent the nights alone. Although he lived alone for a long time in his last life, it is different now. The nights alone are indeed true for Zhang Fan now. It’s a bit lonely, and the current situation is not like when he was marching outside. It’s also a good choice to chat with a group of people. Now it’s impossible for Zhang Fan to call Wang Meng or Liang Chao to come in and have a long talk with him. Not to mention whether they agreed or not, that situation always made Zhang Fan feel that it was really "basic".

The above are all Zhang Fan's own random thoughts, but in fact, the reason why he did this is that he was really bored in his heart. During the day, the scene of those fleeing people pouring into the city of Yangzhou has been recalled in his mind. , making him even more upset.

In fact, it’s not like he hasn’t seen this kind of situation before. It’s not like he hasn’t seen this kind of scene when he was in Anhua County. It’s just that the impact at that time was different from what it is now. I saw this kind of scene with my own eyes once. Although there were not too many people who fled because of the Tartar attack at that time, Zhang Fan saw it with his own eyes after all. The worried faces of those people are still in his mind. still pops up from time to time.

Originally, Zhang Fan thought that after having this kind of experience, he was already immune to this situation, but today, he was shocked again. Firstly, there are many people in the south of the Yangtze River. The appearance is really surprising.

Secondly, what Zhang Fan saw today was from the gate of the city. Although he was standing at a higher place this time, he could not see the expressions on the faces of the refugees too clearly, but the so-called Standing tall and looking far away, Zhang Fan saw a scene he had never seen before. Behind him, the buildings in Yangzhou City have not changed at all, and they are still the same as before, reflecting the long history and prosperity here. , but the crowds on the street were so dark that Zhang Fan's heart trembled when viewed from a height; when he looked down the city, a steady stream of people were still crowding into the gate of Yangzhou City. Wang Dezhao followed Zhang Fan's wishes, and in order to prevent any accidents at the gate of the city, he mobilized a large number of government servants to help maintain order. Zhang Fan at the gate could always hear the shouts of the guards and the voices of the refugees. Crying, these two voices mixed together, it really makes people feel too sad; looking forward, there are still a large number of people on the road behind, and the continuous flow of people is moving towards this side, as if it is endless .

Especially when Zhang Fan came down from the city gate and walked back, he came into close contact with these refugees and saw their appearance, how could Zhang Fan not have any thoughts in his heart.

But this is only part of what Zhang Fan feels upset about now. The other things are about the appointment of him issued by the court. Of course, Zhang Fan is not saying that there is anything wrong with it, but he cares about other things. Since Long Qing has decided to The mobilization of Qi Jiguang and his Qi family army to stop the invasion of Japanese pirates is enough to prove that the court attaches great importance to this matter, but Qi Jiguang is too far away from here, and there are no available generals and troops around. They attacked Huai'an Mansion, Songjiang Mansion, and Ningbo Mansion. Although Zhang Fan didn't think there would be more Japanese pirates attacking other places, the troops in other places must strengthen their defenses.

If you want to mobilize troops from nearby, the only way to do so is from Henan and Huguang, but Zhang Fan doesn't think it's appropriate to mobilize troops from there. With Qi Jiguang's arrival, after all, it will take more than a day for the official document in Zhang Fan's hand to travel from the capital to here, and after more than a day, Qi Jiguang's team is estimated to have passed the capital by now. Judging by the dispatch of troops from Huguang, it didn't take much time.

Secondly, Zhang Fan was worried that if his transfer order passed, there would be some quarrel over there again, or he would not listen to him at all. In that case, it would be a waste of effort. He has the right to directly command the army, but obviously he has not yet obtained the imperial edict, and it is not clear in the official document whether he has the right to command the troops of these four provinces or all the troops. However, Zhang Fan believes that since the imperial edict does not If it is written clearly, then the officials and generals in other places will probably not buy his account.

The attack of the Japanese pirates this time was a bit beyond Zhang Fan's expectations. Originally, they thought that the Japanese pirates would choose a place, or a province, to attack, but now, Huai'an Mansion and Songjiang Mansion belong to the Southern Zhili Province. Yes, and the Ningbo Mansion is in Zhejiang. Zhang Fan, who was still a little confused at first, suddenly realized that the other party was a Japanese pirate and not a person from Ming Dynasty. They may not know these things at all, and the reason for choosing these three places as the target of attack is also obvious. After all, these three places are the places closest to the East China Sea in this area. For Japanese pirates, it is really very convenient, and these three places are relatively concentrated, not too far away. Wanting to come, Ashikaga Yoshiaki also understands that his manpower is not too sufficient, and he wants them to have a good relationship with each other. take care of.

Thinking of this, Zhang Fan suddenly became vigilant. He hurriedly got up from the bed, put on his clothes indiscriminately, and called Wang Meng over.

"My lord, I don't know what's important to call me at such a late hour," Wang Meng asked as soon as he came over.

"You go now and ask someone to send a letter to Hangzhou Mansion overnight," Zhang Fan said to Wang Meng while sitting there writing, "give this letter to the governor of Zhejiang and ask him to send a warship to Ningbo Mansion Let me patrol the return road between Songjiang Mansion, in case the Japanese pirates will meet up from both land and water, "

"My lord, what you mean is that the Japanese pirates attacked our three cities at the same time, just to distract us," Wang Meng thought of the reason when he heard Zhang Fan's words, and said, "Those Japanese pirates really think so ,"

"Whether they think so, I don't know," Zhang Fan said worriedly, "But no one can say for sure about this kind of thing, and we still have to guard against it. Be the first to prevent, now we have let those Japanese pirates seize the opportunity, but we must not be fooled by their tricks again," Zhang Fan said, and the letter under his hand had already been written.

"Yes, my lord," Wang Meng responded, and took the letter from Zhang Fan, but he did not leave immediately, but asked, "So, my lord, there are Japanese pirates in Huai'an mansion now, and Huai'an mansion Between Songjiang Mansion and Yangzhou Mansion, do you think..."

"Now we are short of manpower," Zhang Fan thought for a while and said, "If the Japanese pirates really intend to distract us, they probably won't come around to attack Yangzhou on the road, but no one can say for sure about this kind of thing. I'll write another letter right now, and you send someone to Yingtian Mansion, hand it over to Hai Rui, and ask him to bring troops to guard against it," Zhang Fan said, and the pen in his hand started to move again.

When Wang Meng got the two letters and was about to turn around and leave, Zhang Fan stopped him again.

"By the way, why haven't the people you sent to Songjiang to investigate the situation during the day come back?" Zhang Fan asked about this matter. He has been attacking by Japanese pirates for a whole day now, but He still didn't know the situation in Songjiang Mansion, "It's not like something happened,"

"This humble position is also strange," Wang Meng said, "but the humble staff sent this time are all experts in this field. These people were originally scouts in the army, and they shouldn't have anything wrong. Thinking about it, Songjiang's If there is any change in the situation of the pirates on the border, it will be delayed."

"Well, that's it, then go quickly," Zhang Fan nodded and said after hearing this.

After Wang Meng left, Zhang Fan suddenly felt very tired, but he didn't feel sleepy at all. He really had a lot of troubles in his heart. Distraught, Zhang Fan walked out of the room and came to the yard.

The sky is full of stars and the breeze is slightly cool. This is the most calming and refreshing situation in this summer season, but Zhang Fan at this moment can't calm his heart at all.

As he was walking, he suddenly heard some noises. Thinking that he didn't know which one hadn't rested yet, Zhang Fan walked over out of curiosity.

Zhang Fan walked in, although he couldn't hear clearly, he could hear the voices of a man and a woman. He couldn't help but wondered. The servants of the Zhang family asked him to bring them home. How could there be a woman here? of.

After walking a little further, Zhang Fan heard the man's words.

"We should le**e here, It's too dangerous. (We should leave here, it's too dangerous,)"

Hearing this sentence in English, Zhang Fan remembered that Richard and Joanna were still here. It wasn’t that he didn’t let them go, but perhaps because Joanna was a soldier, she insisted on staying here, although Richard De, the foreign minister, wanted to leave this dangerous place very much, but he was a man after all, and the woman who was traveling with him said he wanted to stay, and her attitude was tough, so he could only bite the bullet and stay.

Zhang Fan followed the voice and walked in the direction of the two,