Di Meng, who had been preparing at the gate of the city, led Wu Wangwei to meet the common people who had successfully thrown away the Japanese pirates, and reserved a road for the cavalry to enter the city.
However, until all the cavalry entered the city and the thieves were completely approaching, some people with weak legs and feet were still left outside the city, running as hard as they could towards the city gate.
"Don't close the city!"
"Wait for us!"
"Don't leave me waiting!"
The people who were about to escape were crying and praying. But behind them, the army of Japanese bandits that came to cover them up had already caught up with them without the delay of the cavalry.
If the city gate is not closed at this time, the city will be in danger when the thieves rush to the city gate and drag the defenders into a melee at the city gate...
"...Guancheng!" Zhu Su gave the order to close the city gate with red eyes.
"His Royal Highness King Wu has an order! Close the city gate!"
"Close the city gate!!"
The city gate official, who had been sweating for a long time, immediately turned the winch of the suspension bridge at the city gate, and the heavy city gate slowly closed with a rumbling sound. Several people who were about to run into the city were anxious and accelerated their pace, but they still didn't have time to enter the city. They could only be left outside the moat in vain, looking at the city gate with blank eyes.
Immediately, the Japanese thieves got close to him and slashed him to death with their swords...
"Fire arrows!" Cao Yuan seized the opportunity when the thieves were blocked by the moat and released another wave of arrows, killing a wave of thieves.
Seeing no chance, the Japanese pirates raised their shields and retreated slowly.
The defenders of the city were considered to have won the first battle, but there was no excitement on either side of the city. No one cheered or rejoiced. The people who were lucky enough to be rescued into the city sat speechless and could only breathe. There are also people looking around for their relatives who ran into the city together. Many of them cannot find their relatives, shouting the names of their relatives and crying loudly.
"Lao Wu?"
Zhu Di saw Zhu Su looking blankly in the direction outside the moat, and pushed Zhu Su with some worry. There now, there are a pile of messy corpses lying there. It is no longer clear whether they are the thieves killed by the arrows or the common people who were hacked to death by the thieves. "Lao Wu, are you okay?"
"...It's okay." Zhu Su withdrew his stunned eyes. "Fourth brother, we won the first battle."
"Yeah, I won, haha..." Zhu Di forced himself to laugh twice, and finally stopped laughing. Zhu Xi looked at Zhu Su and then at the pile of corpses outside the city, and seemed to understand something.
"Your Highness." Qin Wangwei commander Deng Xuan and Gou'er came to the city wall full of blood. The dog knelt down and said to Zhu Su: "Fortunately, I did not disgrace my life and saved the body of Vincent."
"This little father-in-law is so handsome." Deng Xuan looked at the dog kneeling in front of Zhu Su with admiration. "Just now, when we were outside the city, the young father-in-law was galloping and killed three thieves in a row. He then turned around and shot a Japanese thief general with his bow and arrow."
"Even the Condor Shooters from Mengyuan in the north can hardly see such handsome skills!"
"Really?" Upon hearing this, Zhu Di looked at the dog up and down with interest. "Lao Wu, does your personal eunuch also have such handsome martial arts?"
"Your Highness, King Yan, is so complimentary." Gou'er lowered his head and bowed, extremely respectful. "It's Commander Deng who is provoking love. The dog doesn't have much merit."
Zhu Su smiled with satisfaction, turned to Deng Xuan and said, "Thank you for your hard work, Commander Deng. You were so brave just now. We can clearly see it in the city."
"Let the brothers of Qin Wangwei go and rest. I will send you rewards later."
Deng Xuan saw that Zhu Xi was speechless, so he thanked him and left. Zhu Su cheered up and ordered: "Dog, please send someone yourself to put the scholar's body in the coffin. I will pay tribute in person when I have an opportunity."
"Find someone to identify the scholar, and then find Mr. Luo."
"Let Mr. Luo and the storytellers capture the Zhang family's descendants from thieves and attack the city and kill innocent people indiscriminately. The story of this scholar's bravery and heroic sacrifice spread throughout the city, and everyone in the city knows it."
"The people below the city have a chance to be saved, thanks to this scholar who was shattered to pieces."
"Heroes have no vitality anymore. We can no longer teach heroes to lose their names."
"Yes." The dog responded respectfully. Although it was covered in blood, it was not dissatisfied at all. After just a few steps out, Zhu Su called him back: "Dog, wait!"
"What are your orders, Your Highness?" Dog hurried back and asked respectfully.
"...Get paper and pen." Zhu Su asked others to get paper and pen, and wrote a poem. "Show this poem to Mr. Luo and let him spread the name of the scholar throughout the city."
"Yes." Gou'er held the poem in both hands and stepped back with great concern.
"Lao Wu, that's awesome!" Zhu Di gave Zhu Su a thumbs up. "As soon as this method comes out, the people in the city who still have hopes for Zhang Shicheng's descendants will completely give up."
"I thought that as long as I could save these people, it would be a great merit..." Zhu Di said thoughtfully: "Is this the most important thing..."
"I didn't think so much." Zhu Su smiled slightly. "The scholars and the people who took the lead in resisting are indeed brave. If everyone is so brave, there will be no need to worry about bandits in the world."
"It's just that I couldn't save too many people in the end."
Zhu Xi looked at Zhu Su worriedly, patted his shoulder and said: "Lao Wu, I think the thieves will not attack the city again today."
"You go back to the city gate tower to rest. Don't get exposed to the wind here. Breakfast hasn't been eaten yet."
"...Yeah." Zhu Su nodded. Seeing that the thieves were out of range and retreated into the built camp, he entered the city gate tower with his two brothers.
…
In the city, Luo Guanzhong, who was responsible for reassuring the people in the center, gathered and mobilized a group of literati and students in the city, and was ready to disperse the students to calm the people at any time. Zhu Su is well aware of the power of these passionate readers. What's more, in this era, literate readers have a powerful influence in the hearts of ordinary people who are illiterate.
Organizing them to pacify the people would be much more effective than sending troops to suppress them.
When Luo Guanzhong saw the dog that was still full of blood, he asked worriedly: "My young father-in-law is accompanying your highness, why is it still stained with blood?"
"I heard that there was a battle with thieves in the east of the city. Is Your Highness okay?"
"Your Highness is fine. I am here to ask Mr. Luo to do something for you under His Highness's orders." Gou'er said, and then told Luo Guanzhong all about Zhu Su's instructions and what had just happened.
"...I didn't expect that there would be such a righteous man!" After hearing this, Luo Guanzhong couldn't help but kneel in admiration. "Although this scholar was young, he did not want to follow the thieves' wishes and died shouting about the righteousness of a saint."
"The scholars of our generation yearn for him! I will write a story about him so that everyone in the world will know that there is such a brave scholar in the Ming Dynasty!"
"His Royal Highness also composed a poem, and asked Sir to pass it on to you as well." Gou'er took out the piece of paper from his arms with great care and handed it to Luo Guanzhong with both hands.
"Oh? Your Highness has a poem?" Next to Luo Guanzhong, the great scholar Gao Qi, who was invited by the prefect Wei Guan and who was sitting with Luo Guanzhong, suddenly perked up after hearing this, and then he stood up involuntarily to face the thin piece of paper.
"His Royal Highness has not composed a poem since he came to Suzhou. I deeply regret it. Unexpectedly, I am lucky enough to hear it today!" Gao Qi opened his hand to take it, but suddenly realized, "Old friend Luo, open it quickly and take a look. , what poems did Your Highness write? But were you inspired by the iron horse fighting just now? "
"You're a poetry geek..." Lao Luo was quite amused. "Let me see what great work His Highness has done..." As he said this, he opened the folded page.
(End of chapter)
