Rise From the Humble

After the reinforcements from several other city gates arrived belatedly, they did not escape the scolding from the prefect Shang.

The safer it became, the more dangerous it was for Shang Zhifu. Really, if Zhu Ping'an hadn't led the Zhejiang Army's magic soldiers to descend from the sky, Suzhou City would have definitely fallen into the hands of the Japanese pirates. Shang Zhifu would have either surrendered to the city or surrendered. .

One is to end the physical life, and the other is to end the political life. From now on, he will become a rat in the gutter and live in fear all day long. He does not know when his head will be cut off by the imperial army's anti-Japanese army and taken to Beijing. After his death, he will be infamous for thousands of years.

If that time comes, I will definitely choose to surrender to the city. Life is precious, but reputation is more valuable.

As a disciple of the emperor and a disciple of Confucius, how could he bear the sacrifice of the traitors and sacrifice his life? He could only die to thank the world.

You bastards, you are always obedient to yourself, and you keep saying that you obey orders and follow your own orders, but they dare to delay the rescue when their own lives are at stake. If it weren't for Zihou, their rescue would have turned into a funeral. , it seems that Suzhou Mansion needs to be reorganized!

After scolding all the reinforcements, Magistrate Shang didn't bother to look at them anymore. With a wave of his hand, he sent them all to Zhu Pingan's subordinates to take orders on the grounds that Zhu Pingan was the commander-in-chief of the city defense.

Zhu Ping'an was also furious about these belated reinforcements. If they had arrived earlier, how could the Zhejiang Army have suffered such heavy losses? Hundreds of casualties were suffered. This was the most disastrous incident since the Zhejiang Army was established!

Similarly, the defenders at the east gate of Suzhou City would not suffer such heavy casualties, with more than a thousand casualties:

If he hadn't been vigilant, Suzhou City would have fallen this time, and hundreds of thousands of people would have been ravaged by the bandits.

Thinking of this, Zhu Ping'an was also annoyed and arranged all these reinforcements to do dirty work, such as carrying stones, gold juice, etc.

After dinner, Zhu Ping'an gathered all the civil and military officials in the city and arranged to set up defenses at night.

"All officers are divided into three rounds, and they take turns to stay on duty at night. They must be wary of night raids by Japanese pirates outside the city. They must be 100% alert. Anyone who dares to neglect their duties will be severely punished. They may mistakenly think that they did not predict what they said!"

"Vice General Zhang, you are responsible for leading people to hang silver bells on the outside of the city wall. Once the soldiers on the night shift hear the ringing of the copper bells hanging on the outside of the city wall, they must immediately light up torches and warn. Once a Japanese pirate is discovered climbing On the city wall, shoot them with bows, arrows and fire guns as soon as possible, and stab them with spears and knives!"

"Liu Lieutenant General, you are responsible for leading people to build observation booths on the city wall. Build one every sixty meters. The observation booths do not need to be complicated, they are simple, strong and usable. Each observation booth is equipped with six observation posts, and two people are rotated in one shift. , stay on duty in the pavilion all night, and be sure to carefully observe every move of the Japanese pirates outside the city."

"Deputy Han will lead you to lead people to dig holes all the way to the base of the city wall and bury large tanks. A large tank will be buried every three hundred meters to prevent Japanese pirates from digging tunnels and sneaking into the city. Six people will be assigned to guard each large tank in shifts, two people per shift. Take turns and use the sound to judge whether the Japanese pirates are digging tunnels and in which direction. Once you hear any abnormal noise, report it to me immediately and be ready to dig horizontally or through wells at any time."

"Order other city gates to do the same thing."

Zhu Pingan issued orders one after another in an orderly manner. Magistrate Shang on the side couldn't help but nod his head as he listened and watched. He admired Zhu Pingan in his heart. He was thorough and orderly. Zihou was worthy of being Zihou.

As night fell, Zhu Ping'an changed into the cotton-padded armor worn by ordinary Zhejiang army officers and inspected the city wall under the escort of Liu Dadao, Liu Mu and others.

The reason why they wore the cotton armor worn by ordinary Zhejiang soldiers was because they were worried that the Japanese pirates outside the city would fire arrows and snipe the generals in the city.

Zhu Ping'an was assured of the Zhejiang Army, but he was not at ease with the other defenders. He knew very well what kind of soldiers the guards were. The guard system was riddled with diseases and was rotten from the roots.

The officers above were corrupt, occupying the land of the military camps, and deducting food and wages. At the same time, they also secretly forced the guardsmen to farm, log, open kilns, work and other private activities. The military households were reduced to slavery, causing the guardsmen to flee one after another. There is a serious vacancy, and the old, weak, sick and disabled are being chased and used to make up the numbers. How can we have combat effectiveness in this way?

Most of the soldiers in the guard below were just dawdling around, with no morale, poor military discipline, eating, drinking, whoring and gambling, and their combat power was extremely weak.

Zhu Pingan inspected the area and found several cases of dereliction of duty. Two people sat at the foot of the wall and slept soundly during the night watch, three people squatted at the foot of the wall gambling, and some people drank alcohol during the night watch.

"First use the sixty-year-old military staff as a warning! If you do it again, you will be killed without mercy!"

Zhu Ping'an was very angry, waved his hand, and ordered people to take him down on the spot. He first hit them sixty times with a military stick as a warning to others, and warned them that they would not be spared if they committed another crime.

Sixty military sticks were used to beat these people until their skins were torn to pieces, causing them to cry for their fathers and mothers. One of them fainted on the spot and was awakened by a basin of cold water.

After Zhu Pingan's rectification, the military discipline on the city wall immediately improved greatly. At least the night watchmen did not dare to neglect their duties.

"Zi Hou, it's late at night, go down and sleep for a while, leave the night watch to us."

Magistrate Shang saw that it was late at night and Zhu Ping'an was still patrolling the city wall over and over again, and he couldn't help but said with concern.

He was afraid that Zhu Ping'an would fall by surprise and no one would be in charge of the overall city defense.

"Master Shang, don't worry, I'm in good health. It's just for one night. It won't be too late to rest tomorrow. As I expected, the Japanese pirates will probably retreat after tonight." Zhu Pingan rubbed his temples a little and smiled. said.

"The Japanese pirates will retreat after tonight?! Are Zihou sure?" Magistrate Shang was very happy with Zhu Pingan's words.

"The Japanese pirate army has just attacked the city and suffered heavy casualties. It has already declared their failure. It is inevitable that they will withdraw their troops. Now they are still lingering under the city. Naturally, they are still unwilling to do so. Based on their current situation, night attacks are their last resort and fantasy. As long as our people remain vigilant and see through and extinguish their attempts to attack at night immediately, they can only abandon their illusions and withdraw their troops back to their Tuolin lair. They dare not delay, otherwise their Tuolin lair will not be protected." Zhu Pingan said with certainty.

"It will be hard work for Zihou. I will also be on duty at the city wall tonight. If you need anything, Zihou can call me at any time and I will fully cooperate."

After hearing this, Magistrate Shang gave a long bow to Zhu Ping'an.

"You're welcome, Lord Shang. This is Ping An's duty." Zhu Ping'an returned the greeting.

While Zhu Ping'an and the magistrate were facing each other, preparations for a night attack were in full swing in the Japanese pirate camp below the city.

"Matsumoto-kun, I heard that there is a ninja among your real Japanese who is good at assassinations, night attacks, infiltration, etc. Is this possible?"

Xu Hai asked a Shinwa.

"Yes, I have five ninjas under my command. They are very skilled. They are all good at assassination, climbing, and night attacks."

Takeo Matsumoto replied with pride.

"Go and call them here, I will be of great use." Xu Hai nodded with satisfaction and ordered.

"Hi!"

Takeo Matsumoto bowed his head.