"Could it be..." Zhu Su and Zhu Di looked at each other. Both brothers felt something was wrong.
"What?" Zhu Xi, who had just come out of the tower, was still confused. He saw two younger brothers, Zhu Su and Zhu Di, rushing out in one stride. When Zhu Su and Zhu Di stepped onto the city wall, they saw a soldier crying and being pulled down by the guard Cao Yuan. The rest of the soldiers shook their eyes and looked out of the city with unbearable expressions.
"It's the people who haven't had time to escape into the city..." Zhu Di murmured as he looked outside the city. "Should have thought of it earlier."
"Well..." Zhu Su also bit his lip. The Japanese pirates were completely unconscionable, and it was actually normal to use such siege methods. The reason why people were allowed to take refuge in the city temporarily was to prevent such a situation.
But after all, I still had some hope for Zhang Li, hoping that he would still care about the friendship between his compatriots, so he was unwilling to think about it.
But he forgot that there is nothing that cannot be exploited in the hearts of such desperate careerists.
The more than a thousand people under the city gradually came closer, as close as an arrow could reach, and then they stopped. From the city tower, it can be seen that those people are indeed ordinary people. Most of them are wearing coarse linen clothes, and there are even old, weak, women and children, all of whom are crying. Dozens of Japanese people straddled their waists with Japanese knives, holding long whips in their hands and shouting. Almost without looking, the whip was whipped down on the faces of the crying people.
Cao Yuan looked at Zhu Su and saw that Zhu Su's face was ugly, but he had no intention of urging him to release the arrow. After hesitating, he did not order the arrow to be released.
"Listen, guard on the city!" Under the city, among the Japanese who were driving away the people, a Han voice came out.
"These people are all your people in Suzhou! Some of them are your beloved relatives and friends!"
"According to Zhu Ming's law, if you kill people indiscriminately, you will not be able to escape punishment."
"But if we capture that little Zhu Su and open the city gate, we will not only be reunited with our relatives and friends, but we will also lose the gold and silver marquis reward!"
"Wait, do you want to kill your relatives, friends, brothers and sisters with your own hands and be blamed by Zhu Ming's puppet government, or do you want to open the door and dedicate the city to enjoy the food and drink?"
"Think about it for yourselves!"
Under the city wall, there were several sounds of shouting, cursing and whipping. The cries of nearly a thousand people suddenly became louder, and the pace that was originally slowing down also accelerated a little.
"..." On the city tower, the Suzhou guards suddenly became commotion. In fact, a few people's eyes were looking towards Zhu Su. Zhu Su's eyes swept away like cold lightning, and the sergeants immediately retracted their eyes.
"Don't listen to them! Everyone take your positions!" Cao Yuan, the city wall guard, shouted the order with fear in his heart.
The soldiers were obedient, but their hands and feet were no longer as nimble as before. Although no one really dared to come up to capture Zhu Su, it was a fact that the morale of the army was already floating.
"Your Highness." Di Meng quickly raised his shield to protect the three princes behind him, fearing that these Suzhou guards would be detrimental to Zhu Su and others. "The morale of the military is unstable. These beasts and thieves actually use ordinary people to attack the city... What can be done now?"
"What else can we do? They're just common people." Only Zhu Xi looked disdainful. "Are there any Japanese pirates that are difficult to deal with?"
"Second brother, please stop talking." Zhu Di knew that Zhu Su didn't like hearing this, so he stopped Zhu Xi and said: "Lao Wu, this is a method commonly used by those grassland aliens."
"The solution is not difficult. As long as the commander gives the order first and starts the killing, the soldiers will naturally have no scruples..." He said and looked at him hesitantly.
"Fourth brother, I know." Zhu Su frowned and was speechless. Although Zhu Xi and Zhu Di were brothers, he was the only one among the three who held an actual position. If the coach has to give the order, he is the one who has to do it.
Although he couldn't bear it, he also knew his priorities clearly.
"What I'm worried about is the morale of the military..."
The grassland war example mentioned by Zhu Di is also different from this one. In previous dynasties fighting on the grasslands, most of the troops used were drawn from other places. Therefore, when the barbarians use this method, the defenders often only worry about whether the court will punish them. After getting the guarantee from the commander, they have no worries.
The situation in Suzhou is rather special. The elite soldiers of the Suzhou Guards were transferred to Yunnan by the former commander Wu Liang, Marquis of Jiangyin. Now most of these soldiers are Yang Lu's local signs to fill the vacancies. Born and raised here, there is no guarantee that among the people under the city, there will be people who are related to them.
It's fine if he takes action himself. He has no foundation among the Suzhou Guards. If he takes action himself, the soldiers won't be able to bear to take action, or they may directly mutiny...
"Cao Yuan." Zhu Su called the guard Cao Yuan, who was still close to him. "Let your men be on the front line. If these people attack the city fiercely... I will give the order when the time comes, so there is no need to hold back."
Those people under Cao Yuan were all surrendered soldiers. In the previous battle against Zhang Ren, these people acted very decisively in order to show their intentions. In Zhu Su's heart, they were more trustworthy than the soldiers under Yang Lu.
"Yes." Cao Yuan did not hesitate at all. Just as he was about to turn back to make arrangements, the voice repeated over and over again from the city shouted again. Even some civilians in the city at the base of the city wall heard the shouting.
"Listen to the beasts outside the city!" Zhu Su was extremely irritated, his mind became hot, and he shouted loudly.
"You are a Han Chinese, but you collaborate with the Japanese to oppress your compatriots."
"This is an act of traitor! You actually have the nerve to shout out loud! Didn't your parents teach you any sense of shame?"
"I have never seen anyone so shameless!"
The voice from the city was stagnant, and he was indeed speechless for a moment.
"Listen up, soldiers and civilians in Suzhou!" Zhu Su simply turned around and stated his interests to the soldiers and civilians in the city:
"I know that you and others admire King Cheng and think that the thief outside the door is the son of King Cheng, so he will definitely not kill you rashly."
"Now, have you seen it? The son of Prince Cheng, Zhang Li, is just a traitor who collaborated with the Japanese to harm our Chinese compatriots!"
"He has been collaborating with the Japanese. Over the years, they have pretended to be Japanese, burned, killed, and looted. They have already lost their conscience! You are waiting for King Mu Cheng Huizheng, but he only thinks about the glory and wealth of the past!"
"Think about Huang Chao! If such a thief broke through the city wall, would he give you a way to survive?"
The story of Huang Chao has been circulating in the city for a long time. Some hesitant soldiers and civilians were shocked when they heard this. yes! What's the difference between Zhang Li's use of common people as vanguards to attack a city, and Huang Chao's use of his troops to eat people?
They are all just unscrupulous beasts who regard the common people as props and two-legged sheep for the sake of their own glory and wealth!
"Don't worry about defending the city! I will bear all the blame and karma on my own!" Zhu Su seized the opportunity and shouted. "If the city wall is broken, Hecheng will definitely be plundered by Japanese pirates! You concentrate on defending the city! If you defend this city, I will give you many rewards!"
"The people below the city are also listening! It's not me and the soldiers who want to kill you, but Zhang Li's traitor and the Japanese want to kill you!"
"It doesn't matter if you are old or weak. If men still have the strength, don't be afraid of dozens of Japanese thieves. Why not turn against them and give them a blow to show off your integrity?"
"This king takes care of the orphans for you and others, and I also want to erect a monument to commemorate your righteous deeds today. I want you to be famous for eternity!"
Under the city, among the people, there were indeed bursts of noise. The Japanese escorting them kept waving their whips in an attempt to stabilize the situation.
"Your Majesty is right! Confucius said it was benevolence, and Mencius said it was justice! Although we don't have the power to tie a chicken and can't kill thieves, how can we attack the city for thieves?" Among the people, a man who looked like a scholar raised his voice. shouted. "There were only dozens of thieves, we killed them together!"
"Baga Yalu!" A Japanese pirate was furious and pulled out the Japanese sword from his waist. With the flash of the sword, the scholar's head suddenly disappeared.
"Killing people! Killing people! Japanese pirates killing people!!" Thousands of people were immediately in chaos.
(End of chapter)
