In an instant, Zhu Su turned around many thoughts, such as Fujiwara deliberately deceiving, Zhang Li's main force was not damaged, the Japanese army invaded, and many other possibilities. But he rejected them all one by one.
Fujiwara's frightened expression didn't seem to be fake. This guy doesn't look like a tough guy who can use his body as bait to lure the Ming army into the encirclement; Zhang Li's body has been found outside Suzhou City. Even if the main force is not lost, the Zhang family should be in disarray now without anyone; as for the Japanese country, Now that they have too much time to take care of themselves, they are even less likely to raise troops to invade the Ming Dynasty.
In the history that I am familiar with, I have never heard that the Japanese had enough power to launch a large-scale attack during the Hongwu period.
The most important thing is that before going to sea, the Jinyi Guards have actually collected enough intelligence, confirming that except for the two large bandits of Oi Tian and Zhang Family, there are no traces of other threatening bandits in the nearby sea area. But in this case, where did the foreign enemies appear?
"Now is not the time to think about this." Zhu Su quickly shook his head to expel unnecessary thoughts from his mind. "Di Meng, Brother Chang, let's take people to support the west first. After clearing out the enemies in the west, we will rush to support the east and south."
"Second brother, fourth brother, lead the people and stay here. Put the people and the luggage first!"
"Okay, go ahead!" Zhu Di nodded. The situation is unclear now, and if you rush to separate your troops for reinforcements, it will be easy for them to be defeated individually. Arrangement like this to save one person first and then rescue them one by one is the safest way.
Before Zhu Su and his party reached the beach, they heard the loud sound of weapons clashing. Even above the sea, there are fires bursting out from time to time. When they turned a slope, they saw a group of troops with kerchiefs on their faces, fighting each other with the Ming troops of the Taicang Guards. The enemy was so brave that they defeated the Taicang Guards in succession.
"Your Highness, I'm going to meet the thieves for a while!" Chang Mao saw a general who wielded two swords among the enemy troops. He was very brave in charging forward, but he couldn't hold back. He picked up the big spear and walked quickly. Run forward. Zhu Su was too late to stop him, so he had to let it go.
Zhu Su shouted to the Taicang Guards: "Everyone, hold your position, we are waiting for reinforcements to arrive!"
"Don't let thieves run rampant!"
"Who do you think is a thief!" The general with two swords had already gone through several battles with Chang Mao, showing no signs of inferiority. Hearing Zhu Su's shout, there was still time for a tit-for-tat exchange. He knocked away the big spear that Chang Mao had thrown at him with his knife, raised his arms and said, "Brothers, don't lose to these fake Japanese!"
"Kill him! My Ming Dynasty will always be there! Kill him!"
"Kill! Kill! Kill!" the troops wrapped in scarves shouted loudly. Murderous intent penetrates the sky!
"Fake Japanese? Will the Ming Dynasty last forever?" Zhu Su was shocked. Could it be that this double-sword general regards us as fake Japanese who are entrenched here?
"The opposite side is my Ming Dynasty's army!"
"We are also fellow Ming dynasties!"
The general with the two swords was stunned. When Chang Mao heard him shouting "The Ming Dynasty is forever", he had already turned his attack initiative into a gesture. "I am Chang Mao, Duke of Zheng, and I am here to report my life!"
"Zheng Guogong?" The general was also stunned. He put away his swords and pulled the handkerchief on his face: "We are officers and soldiers of the Fuzhou Guard..."
Now the two of them were sure that the flood tonight caused the Dragon King Temple to be flooded! Seeing that it was indeed the Ming army, the general quickly shouted, "We are all fellow Ming soldiers, stop them all!"
The four sides were still fighting, but the soldiers who were closer heard the shouts and stopped one after another. This group of people shouted together again, and gradually more and more people heard it, until the sound of weapons clashing completely stopped.
"Fuzhou Guard? Why are you here?" Zhu Su was surprised and confused. Just now they have been fighting in the darkness, and the fire is extinguished. When Duoduo lit the torch, the general saw Chang Mao's appearance clearly, and quickly knelt down on one knee and said: "The last general, Zhang He, the deputy commander of the Fuzhou Guard, has met the Duke!"
"Do you recognize me?" Chang Mao put away his weapon, a little surprised.
"Hui Guo Gong. The last general had seen the late King Kaiping Shenwei in the battle of Poyang Lake. The Duke of Guo and King Kaiping look very similar, so they got to know each other." Zhang He said.
Chang Mao suddenly realized. King Kaiping was the posthumous title given to him by his biological father, Chang Yuchun, after his death. Seeing that Zhang He was still half-kneeling, Chang Mao waved his hand: "There is no need to kneel. If you want to kneel, you shouldn't kneel to me."
"Your Majesty's fifth prince is here, you should salute him first."
"Your Majesty... Your Highness?" Zhang He was stunned for a moment. I can't imagine why there is a prince here.
When Zhang He bowed to Zhu Su in a cold sweat, he was horrified by his "crime" of attacking the prince. But he saw that the fifth prince was actually quite polite to him. He just waved his hand to indicate that it was okay, and then asked him and Chang Mao to rush to the southeast and stop the battle on the other two sides.
Fortunately, the southeastern two sides were just feinting attacks and their momentum was not large. Soon, the island became calm again.
Zhang He and several of his subordinates knelt down on the ground without saying a word: "The general accidentally attacked the three royal palaces, please forgive me!"
"You guy... you offended us and our king indiscriminately. Could it be that you don't have eyes..." Zhu Ping, who was frightened, was furious and pointed at Zhang He to get angry. Zhu Su quickly stopped Zhu Ping. "It doesn't matter. Those who don't know are not guilty. General Zhang also mistakenly identified us as thieves..."
"Please get up quickly."
"Lao Wu, this..." Zhu Xi was a little puzzled. Because of Zhang He's sudden attack, he lost several warships for no reason, and even suffered dozens of wounded soldiers. Even the losses during the previous attack on the island were not so great. Why was Lao Wu so forgiving...
At this time, Zhu Di quickly patted his hand to signal him to calm down. Zhu Xi was stunned, looked at each other with his two younger brothers, and then put away the anger on his face.
"Isn't General Zhang the deputy commander of the Fuzhou Guard? How did he end up here?" Zhu Su asked. He was extremely curious about these Fuzhou Guardsmen who appeared here.
"Back to His Highness King Wu, this is what happened..." Zhang He did not dare to neglect and quickly explained the reason for the incident.
It turns out that not only Susong, but also the coastal towns of the Ming Dynasty were robbed by Japanese pirates more or less every year.
Fujian is located on the coast, and the Fuzhou Guard is one of the Japanese guards specially established by the Ming Dynasty in the coastal area. After being transferred to the deputy commander of the Fuzhou Guard, the general named Zhang He worked hard every day to train the boat divisions and vowed to completely kill the Japanese pirates.
Sure enough, last autumn and winter, Japanese pirates came to attack the coast of Fujian again with ships. Zhang He, who had been preparing for a long time, launched an angry attack and directly caught up with the fleeing Japanese pirates at sea. He chased them all the way to their base and killed them all in one fell swoop.
When they heard that the Ming army was chasing them into the sea, the Japanese pirates around that sea area immediately rallied to attack. Zhang He's Fuzhou Guards had been practicing for a long time, but the Japanese pirates were vulnerable to a single blow. They felt like killing chickens with a sledgehammer. Feeling that it was not enough, he saw several groups of Japanese pirates coming together, so he bravely faced them.
This battle actually caused a large group of Japanese pirates to scatter in all directions. Zhang He led his boat division in pursuit and captured eighteen enemy leaders alive, more than ten Japanese ships, and countless bows, knives, and instruments. They pursued all the way to the Ryukyu Ocean, clearing many surrounding islands along the way, and finally found this island.
"The general never expected that our Ming army would be stationed on this wild overseas island..." Zhang He looked ashamed.
Looking at Zhang He who was scratching the back of his head and looking a little shy, Zhu Su and his party were shocked and speechless for a long time.
Zhu Xi also understood why the two brothers were so kind to Zhang He. This is not a madman who offended Wang Jia. He is clearly a brave and incomparable hero of the sea!
(End of chapter)
