Chapter 021 Disaster in Ningbo II
Because it is the National Day, I went out to play. I will update a chapter today and will update after the holiday. The novel is in the signing process. If you like it, hurry up and collect it.
"Why did the Japanese pirates attack Zhejiang again?" Zhang Wenda looked at the Zhejiang civil and military officials present and asked doubtfully: "Are any of you involved? I am not a fool. Don't think that you can hide everything. .”
Several military attaches leading by the Zhejiang Dusi followed Huang Sihai to the Songpu front line. The one with the highest official position left behind was Liu Aitao, the commander of the capital. This man wanted to speak, but he was followed by an official from the Procuratorate and Envoys Department next to him. He kicked it and immediately closed his mouth.
Obviously, in this kind of situation, everyone is a veteran. If you, a warrior, come forward, you will definitely make things dirty. Everyone, look at me and I look at you. The last person to speak was Ma Xuan, the right governor of Zhejiang, who spoke: "Sir Do you know that Lu Hua, the commander of Songjiang Guards, was escorted to Beijing years ago?"
Coincidentally, the person who escorted Lu Hua to the capital was none other than Chen Cao. Zhang Wenda was in the capital at that time. Regarding Lu Hua's case, the imperial court once reported that Lu Hua was slacking off in battle, and the final verdict was He was exiled and sent to Liaodong as a soldier. Zhang Wenda also knew something about it, but not completely.
Ma Xuan continued: "A group of Japanese pirates attacked Songjiang Guards a year ago. The commander, Lu Hua, was slack and refused to fight, and then he was caught. This should be how things happened."
...
"Lu Hua said at the time that he was unjustly accused." Chen Cao muttered for a moment, then looked at Zhao Xin and others: "He said that Japanese pirates were attacking, most of them were Han people, and a small number of them were real Japanese, related to sea trade. "
Lu Hua really only said so much...
"It turned out that he was sent to Liaodong."
Chen Cao thought about it carefully and realized that something was really strange about the matter. Then he woke up and realized that there might be an expert behind Lu Hua's incident. He was attacked by Japanese pirates and should be just a scapegoat.
"Sir, my subordinates sent people to investigate around Songjiang Guard. The caliber is similar, but the remnant of a sergeant who was killed by the Japanese pirates revealed something." Liao Yaowen looked a little tired. He had just returned from Songjiang Guard at a high speed: "Lu Hua has been doing maritime trade business with people from Zhejiang Province."
Chen Cao nodded, and finally had some idea of the matter: "There are few Japanese pirates. A so-called guardian country is no more than the size of a county in our Ming Dynasty. The largest population is only 70,000 or 80,000 people. The number of troops under one daimyo is only five." Ten thousand, at most three to four hundred people." He said, staring at the confused people: "This great name is not that great Ming'er..."
After seeing everyone relieved, Chen Cao continued: "I thought that the chaos in Ningbo must be caused by the various forces in Zhejiang because of the huge benefits generated by maritime trade, so such a thing happened. It's painful. We are still the people of Ming Dynasty."
Later generations generally believe that the richest people in the late Ming Dynasty were in Jiangsu and Zhejiang. This is indeed true. Even now, more than half of the taxes in the entire Ming Dynasty come from Jiangsu and Zhejiang. This is also the reason why emperors of all dynasties attach the most importance to the stability of Jiangsu and Zhejiang. Even if something happened A serious incident like the killing of Jin Yiwei was resolved with the consolation of many civil servants.
"Sir," Lin Guodong quickly walked into the big tent, ignoring Chen Cao who was talking, and said urgently: "As expected, your subordinates' scouts discovered many ships on the sea cliff, with lights flashing, and their targets were on the way. The fishing village beach ten miles away from the sea cliff."
Whoosh...
Chen Cao immediately stood up, ordered his men to wear armor, and was about to send someone to notify Zhang Tiande. Unexpectedly, before he could say anything, an explosion sounded and a raging fire broke out outside the camp.
"It's fierce fire oil..." Xin Zhao shouted in horror.
Chen Cao and others ran out of the tent and saw that the Nanjing Right Guards' camp at Guanhaiwei's original camp was on fire, and the sergeants were trampling on each other. To make matters worse, the Nanjing Right Guards were one of the few firearms units in Southern Zhili. , there were at least 3,000 firearms guards, and the camp for transporting gunpowder projectiles was close to Chen Cao's camp.
Sure enough, he just heard what he was thinking, and there was a loud noise, and Chen Cao was thrown to the ground by Xin Zhao...
Buzz…
Chen Cao felt that his ears were no longer his. The shock wave generated by the explosion overturned all the tents here, and nosebleeds flowed down his nose. Chen Cao couldn't help shaking his head. Xu Kaixian stood up and walked to Chen Cao's side, exerting all his strength. Shaking and shouting, Chen Cao took a long time to recover.
"Sir, let's go quickly..." Zhao Xin stood up, but his helmet fell off, and he pulled Chen Cao while walking.
Chen Cao broke free from Xin Zhao's hand, wiped away the nosebleed, and then shouted: "Lin Guodong, blow the trumpet to assemble. Xin Zhao, organize your men and prepare to fight. Bring me the Yanling Sword."
Lin Guodong and Zhao Xin: "Yes..."
Zhang Tiande was so drunk that the Japanese pirates' fierce fire oil ignited the gunpowder tent and exploded, as if he had fallen into the freezing water in December, and his whole body was shaking non-stop.
"Sir," the Nanjing Right Guard envoy quickly ran into Zhang Tiande's tent: "Japanese pirates are attacking..."
Qian Zhang was a man who had made meritorious deeds. He reacted quickly after the explosion. However, his soldiers were all temporarily recruited untouchables and had never been on the battlefield. Under such circumstances, except for the two hundred soldiers under his command to supervise the assembly of the formation. , most of the rest dispersed like birds and beasts, running around.
Finally, Zhao Tianlin and Hirata Gao led more than 2,000 of their men into the Nanjing Youwei camp, and the 500 warriors of Tsushima who came for reinforcements also joined the battle soon after.
Chen Cao had only 500 Jin Yiwei who oversaw the formation, plus 300 Lin Guodong's sergeants, 800 people. They were the army governors. The camp was built on the right rear of Nanjing's right guard, which was far away. It was inevitable that there would be deserters on Nanjing's right guard. Although They are not in the battle formation, but at this moment, there are no less than a thousand deserters just catching deserters.
"Quickly go to Hemingchang to report the news and ask them to come for reinforcements. The Japanese pirates are powerful and number more than 10,000 people." Zhang Zhang shouted loudly to his men. Although this guy was a playboy, he showed courage at this moment. Cross the knife to support Zhang Tiande.
"Bang bang bang..."
Various firearms such as fire guns, matchlock guns, three-eyed guns, and large iron cannons in the hands of the Japanese pirates, the two sides broke out fierce shooting. It was about two o'clock in the morning, the moon was dark and the wind was high, and there were injured people. People were screaming in pain, and the entire Guanhaiwei station was like a purgatory on earth.
The battle continued until the first quarter of the morning, which was around five o'clock in the morning. It was already bright in the coastal areas early, and the battle scene could already be seen clearly with the naked eye.
More than 10,000 people were defeated by more than 2,000 Japanese pirates.
"Sir," Zhao Xin ran to Chen Cao: "Nanjing's right guard was defeated, and the commander Zhang Tiande ran away."
Chen Cao turned to look at Xin Zhao with a look of indignation on his face: "The firearms unit, these young soldiers are really on vacation, what the hell..."
Zhang Tiande took advantage of the dawn and ran away from the side with the remaining 2,000 people of the Nanjing right guard, but there were still more than 1,000 people left in the Nanjing right guard. The leader was Zhang Tiande's nephew Zhang Zhang, and Zhang Tiande was blocking Zhang Tiande. The men at the front were Qian Zhang's men. Of the more than 3,000 people who had gathered, only a thousand were left, fighting bloody battles with the Japanese pirates.
"Get out of the way, let us pass." Zhang Liu, the deputy Qianhu who opened his mouth, yelled angrily while holding a knife.
And the person standing in front of them was Xin Zhao.
The Yan Ling knife in Chen Cao's hand has been replaced by two. The first two blunt knives were from killing deserters, and the blood all over his body was also the blood of deserters.
Chen Cao was blown by the sea breeze. In addition to being cool, there was also a trace of sadness. The Japanese pirates were on the rise, but the number seemed to be less than 3,000. The real Japanese were even less, but they killed the troops of more than 10,000 people. Fleeing, the Ming army was really rotten to the core.
"Nanjing right guard, if you dare to retreat again, you will be killed without mercy..." Chen Cao leaned on his knife and shouted towards Zhang Liu over there.
Xin Zhao took a deep breath, pulled out a brand new Yanling sword, pointed at Zhang Liu and said: "Nanjing right guard, if you dare to retreat again, you will be killed without mercy."
"Nanjing right guard, if you dare to retreat again, you will be killed without mercy..."
Hundreds of Jin Yiwei shouted in unison, their momentum was like a rainbow, and they were frightened when they opened their mouths. He clearly saw many right guard brothers kneeling far away from them, with long knives on their necks.
"Hey," Zhang Zhang let out a long sigh, then took a deep breath and shouted, "Brothers, it's time to give Nanjing Youwei a face, fight back."
"Kill..."
The momentum was great, but the actual effect was too little. Qian Zhang finally couldn't hold it anymore. The untouchables under his command began to collapse. Chen Cao's men were unable to kill them. After Zhang Zhang led his men to kill them, the situation was controlled for a while. , but it is a drop in the bucket.
Hirata Gao was killing people too fast. Zhang Liu was chasing a Japanese pirate with a knife. Hirata Gao came out from the front and slashed away with the Japanese sword in his hand. The knife in Zhang Liu's hand was broken with a sound, and blood flowed out of Hirata Gao's body. Face, this guy licked the blood from the knife with his tongue. This action became the last straw for this group of people, and the remaining Nanjing Right Guards began to collapse.
When Chen Cao saw this, he couldn't bear it any longer. He raised his sword and shouted: "Jin Yiwei, attack..."
Eight hundred people and 300 soldiers under Lin Guodong's command all went towards Zhao Tianlin. A fierce battle broke out between the two sides. The Japanese pirates' big guns and iron cannons had long run out of ammunition, and they were currently engaging in hand-to-hand combat.
Qian Zhang was covered in blood, and his armor was beaten beyond recognition by the Japanese pirates' big guns. This time he was committing meritorious service again, and he had to do his best. When Chen Cao came to him, he thought this guy was about to die.
Qian Zhang was a little surprised: "Chen Qianhu, are you so good at kung fu?"
"Sir, retreat. We have tried our best. The right guard of Nanjing is dead." Zhao Xin's face was also covered in blood. His face was scratched by the Japanese pirates, so his appearance was definitely disfigured.
"Back off, sir." Xu Kaixian had no fewer than five stab wounds on his body, among which the wound on his abdomen was the deepest and he was bleeding.
Chen Cao and Qian Zhang were close together, and Lin Guodong's men only had about a hundred people left. It is estimated that there are less than a thousand people still standing on the battlefield, either dead or fleeing.
Only then did Chen Cao see clearly that there were only a few hundred Japanese pirates left, and they were basically all real Japanese. They were all short and stubby, moved quickly, and were dressed in standard samurai uniforms. Some were rich and some were dressed as ronin. outfit.
"If you die, you can go back in time..." Chen Cao muttered, but the people next to him didn't understand, so they heard him continue: "My Ming Dynasty's soldiers only have soldiers who died in battle, and there are no soldiers who retreat. If you don't retreat... ."
"No retreat..." Qian Zhang also cheered...
"Don't retreat, don't retreat..."
More than a thousand people shouted in unison, and then, led by Chen Cao and Qian Zhang, launched a desperate charge towards the Japanese pirates.
The wind is blowing and the clouds are flying...
Only then did Chen Cao realize that the Japanese were really difficult to deal with. Even with his good skills, it was very difficult to kill a Japanese. Compared with the Tatars in Liaodong, the Japanese were much harder to deal with.
In terms of speed, Japanese pirates usually killed two or three people against each other. The opponent they killed was caught off guard. However, of the more than a thousand people who rushed in with their last courage, most of them died in less than half an hour, and the rest were all killed. The Japanese pirates were forced to the edge of the sea cliff.
I won't be a cliff jumper...
Chen Cao pulled Qian Zhang and said with a smile: "General Qian is really a good man. If everyone in our Ming Dynasty was like you, the Liao Dynasty would not have ended like this."
Qian Zhang also laughed, but it was a bit miserable. He was really hurt: "Brother, I really didn't expect that the domineering Jin Yiwei also has heroes like you. It's a pity that this battle is the last time we get to know each other. If there is a chance, I would like to fight with you." You are sworn brothers."
Chen Cao laughed loudly: "Okay, if you don't die, you and I will become brothers."
"kill..."
Several hundred people started the final battle, and the number continued to decrease. In the end, there were only less than a hundred people standing on the sea cliff.
Zhao Tianlin knew that there was a leading Jin Yiwei leader inside, but he did not expect that his opponent could be so capable. The Ming army guards troops he encountered in the past were like baggage troops, and left after delivering supplies.
"Sir," a Japanese pirate with a flag behind his back quickly ran to Zhao Tianlin and said quickly: "Sir, reinforcements from the Ming Kingdom are here."
Zhao Tianlin took a deep breath. It was obvious that he couldn't kill all the opponents in a short period of time, but he had paid such a high price, so he definitely couldn't let all the Ming soldiers live, so he ordered: "Kill, kill them all, we will come back later." withdraw."
"kill..."
For a time, Chinese and Japanese dialects were heard one after another. Chen Cao was not a fool. He took his last breath, brandished a long knife with a notch and rushed into the Japanese pirate formation like a desperate fight. He and Qian Zhang, who rushed in at the same time, fought forward.
Being able to kill one is a...
There are fewer and fewer people alive... This is the first time Chen Cao has felt Shura Purgatory since he traveled through time...
...
Chen Cao didn't know how long he slept. When he woke up, his upper body was naked, with unpleasant-smelling Chinese medicine applied on it. His lower body was also naked, but it was wrapped in a bandage, which did not reveal the color.
'Cough cough cough...'
Chen Cao's cough attracted people, the door was opened, and a maid walked into the room, and then ran towards the door in surprise. From time to time, a series of footsteps could be heard.
"Brother, are you awake?" The person who came was Qian Zhang, accompanied by Zhao Xin and Liao Yaowen. The group of people looked at Chen Cao with smiles on their faces.
"Am I not dead?" After Chen Cao's first words, he saw the sunshine outside the door clearly.
Zhang Wenda then walked in, and a group of people in the room saluted together. Zhang Wenda nodded, walked to the bed, and nodded with satisfaction: "Good boy, Ke Cang really did not misjudge the person. After this incident, no matter what, I will Your Majesty will definitely go to the meeting to ask for your merit."
Before Chen Cao lost his strength and fainted, Huang Chongtao, the commander of the capital stationed at Hemingchang, came quickly with reinforcements of 5,000 Ming troops to kill the Japanese pirates. Huang Sihai and Zhang Wenda also rushed to the Guanhaiwei station from time to time. Huang Sihai because The matter in Matsuura has been moved to Matsuura in advance, leaving only Huang Chongtao and Zhang Wenda waiting at Guanhaiwei to set off on a different day.
"You should rest first and recover from your injuries before talking." After Zhang Wenda said some caring words, he left with the others.
Chen Cao stared at the bandage on Xin Zhao's face, and then asked: "Where are the other brothers?"
Xin Zhao's smile disappeared, and then it was Liao Yaowen who spoke: "Lao Xu was seriously injured, and the treatment here is not good. He has been sent to Hangzhou for treatment. Although Lao Gao and Lao Han were injured, fortunately they were not alive. Lying in the camp, only eighteen of the five hundred brothers from our Qianhu Station are left."
Chen Cao sighed, then stared at Qian Zhang, and said with a forced smile: "Sure enough, we survived the disaster. After I recover from my injury, we will become brothers again."
After all, Qian Zhang was a guerrilla general, and the armor he wore was better than Chen Cao's half-body armor. Although he was hit by bullets, they were all blocked by the armor. He recovered after being injured and got out of bed after two days of rest: "Don't mention this. , we don’t need to sworn sworn brothers, you and I will be brothers in the future, I have to clean up the remaining soldiers, so you can rest first.”
Qian Zhang left Chen Cao and remembered Lin Guodong, so he asked Zhao Xin. At this time, Zhao Xin said: "This guy is very powerful. There are only a dozen of his 300 soldiers left. He himself was injured. It's not serious and he can walk around." .”
"My lord is so brave, even more powerful than in Liaodong. You went crazy when you killed the Japanese pirates. If you hadn't lost your strength, you would have killed some more no matter what." Liao Yaowen boasted with a smile.
Chen Cao showed a happy smile at this moment, and then his smile solidified: "Is there any news about Nanjing Right Guard?"
"Fuck..." Zhao Xin cursed after hearing this: "If Zhang Tiande's guy hadn't run away before the battle, we wouldn't have suffered such heavy losses. It's understandable that Guanhaiwei is newly built and has no combat effectiveness. This battle will all rely on the Nanjing right guard. "In the end, that guy took most of the people away," Zhao Xin got angrier as he spoke. By the way, he started greeting all the female relatives in Zhang Tiande's family, and expressed that he wanted to have an intimate relationship. When he looked at Chen Cao, his eyes were wrong, and then he remembered Zhang Tiande's daughter. She was Chen Cao's former fiancée, so she quickly clasped her fists and apologized: "My lord, I spoke uncontrollably. Please forgive me."
Chen Cao waved his hand: "Where is Zhang Tiande?"
Zhao Xin added: "The sky has eyes. This guy led his soldiers to a village thirty miles away from Heming Field to rest. However, Master Zhang came and knocked him into a trap. After learning that they had escaped, he immediately killed himself." Zhang Tiande has been arrested, and he might be on his way to Hangzhou now."
"The Zhang family is completely in trouble this time..." Chen Cao muttered silently, then shook his head, it was none of his own business anymore, what else was he thinking about.
"How long have I been asleep?"
"Sir, you have been sleeping for three days." Zhao Xin handed a glass of water to Chen Cao: "I heard that Master Zhang is preparing to encircle the Japanese pirates in Songpu. I don't know how the war is going."
Chen Cao didn't know what the war was like, but the news came back two days later, which shocked him. The Japanese pirates defeated the official army in Matsuura, and then sailed away on a sea ship.
"Fengcheng Hou's Beijing troops had just landed on the shore and fired a round of fire cannons. The Japanese pirates' boat had already gone away." The gauze on Zhao Xin's face had been removed, and as expected, a long scar was left, which looked very strange. hateful.
Chen Cao felt that this scar was very powerful, so he teased it many times, and then frowned and said, "This matter is not simple."
"Songpu was encircled. Our army had a total of more than 50,000 guardsmen. They surrounded the post from three directions. Behind them were the troops of General Qi, the general of Taizhou, but these people found a gap and ran away." Zhao Xin continued. Said: "By the way, they killed the Yanzhou guards who blocked them and were defeated."
When Chen Cao heard what Zhao Xin said, he smelled a hint of conspiracy, but he could only guess. He couldn't say such things nonsense, so he just thought to himself.
But things were not simple. Five days later, the local defense posts returned to their bases. Because Qian Zhang had made great contributions to the Guanhai Guards against the enemy, Zhang Wenda asked Qian Zhang to temporarily take over the post of Ningbo Counselor. This result started in Jiajing, but Fan Zhang temporarily took over , will eventually become a real job, let alone this mere military position.
Lin Guodong had better luck, with Chen Cao helping out. Lin Guodong also temporarily took over the post of commander of Guanhaiwei, recruiting troops to rebuild Guanhaiwei.
Not long after, Chen Cao set off to follow Zhang Wenda's ship towards Hangzhou. This time the Japanese rebellion in Ningbo was a bit weird. Chen Cao tested Zhang Wenda several times on the way, but the old guy kept silent or went off topic. Talking about other things made Chen Cao feel like a cat scratching his head.
Fifteen days later, after recovery, Chen Cao, Zhang Yanzong and other senior Jinyiwei officials returned to Nanjing, while Zhang Wenda returned to the capital with a series of events.
Arriving at home, Li Fengchun and Chen Qing were extremely concerned after learning that Chen Cao was injured. Coincidentally, Chen Cao saw Song Yin and Zhang Chen among the girls. They thought that they had already known each other since Chen Cao had been away for so long. intersection.
'No retreat'
These two words had already been spread before Chen Cao returned to Jinling, not to mention that this guy was also known as 'Nalan Rongruo' in Jiangnan. Such a talented person with both civil and military skills really embarrassed the people of Jinling. Of course , the one with the most beautiful face is naturally the Duke of Wei.
For this reason, Xu Hongji even specially served wine and invited many officials, Hou Bo and other high-ranking people in Jinling to participate in the celebration specifically for Chen Cao.
Not many days later, the imperial envoy from the capital arrived. Two things were to be done. The first was about the right guards of Nanjing who were involved in the Japanese rebellion in Zhejiang, and the second was to reward meritorious personnel.
Zhang Tiande escaped before the battle, resulting in the defeat of Nanjing's right guard and the annihilation of Guanhaiwei. Originally he belonged to the local guard station and was also a garrison. Xu Hongji was scolded for this, saying that he was incompetent in leading the troops. This matter was too serious. After the imperial meeting in the capital, Zhang Tiande was executed on the spot. The men of his family were exiled to Qiongzhou, and the women were sent to Jiaofangsi as slaves; deal with.
As for rewarding meritorious personnel, Zhang Wenda added the title of Prince Shaobao. For his age, the rank was already at the top; secondly, Zhejiang civil and military officials balanced their merits and demerits this time, and neither rewarded nor punished; Lin Guodong's His father, Lin Youcai, was imprisoned in the capital and threatened with death. Because of his contribution to the fight against the Japanese, he was actually given the post of commander of the Guanhai Guard. Qian Zhang was also promoted from a guilty Ningbo guerrilla to a general.
As for Chen Cao, he had made great achievements in supervising the war during this trip, and he was from Jinyiwei. Even Zhang Wenda, an old scholar who didn't like Jinyiwei very much, praised Chen Cao's behavior at the court meeting. In view of the fact that this guy is too young, He was only seventeen years old, and it was too easy for him to be proud of the rewards. According to the rules of the officialdom, and with Luo Sigong's change, Chen Cao was awarded the post of Fusi Town Governor of Weinan Town in Jinyi, while Xu Xianchun, the original Town Governor, was promoted to Nanzhen. The commander of Fusi was Tongzhi, who was tied with Zhang Yanzong. Of course, Xu Xianchun was actually in charge of Nanzhen Fusi.
