Chapter 82 Encounter

Yes, not only Jiujiang Guard, but all the guards that were transferred this time have been put on the fire.

After the news that the Japanese pirates may have attacked Ningbo Prefecture was said by the guard commander, all the generals knew that they had to fight hard once, otherwise they would definitely be held accountable later.

Losing cities and lands was a serious crime in the Ming Dynasty. Before departure, they knew that Huangyan County had been breached by the Japanese pirates. Taizhou Prefecture asked for help as if their father had died. Dinghai County was breached by the Japanese pirates, and now there were rumors that the Japanese pirates intended to attack Ningbo Prefecture.

For some reason, many people suddenly envied the people of Guanhai Guard they met before. They were able to escape from the battlefield alive. Although they could not get rid of the hat of being unfavorable in the battle, at least their lives were saved. Even if the court held them accountable in the future, it would be nothing more than putting the hat on the dead.

Although the living guard commanders would definitely be affected, the main responsibility could be escaped, and the dead would bear the main responsibility.

But now Jiujiang Guard is different from other guards. They ran away without fighting. That was cowardice. If the Japanese pirates had not been found before, everyone could still run to Yuyao, but now it is absolutely impossible.

It was good that Ningbo Prefecture was not lost. If Ningbo Prefecture was lost, I don’t know how many people in the guard command would have lost their heads.

"Sir, what is the final rule in the military tent this afternoon? We are all willing to follow orders and dare not disobey orders."

Wu Zhankui suddenly said at this moment.

"We are all willing to follow orders and dare not disobey orders."

As Wu Zhankui finished speaking, several thousand households around him and a dozen hundred households behind him all bowed in unison.

"Tomorrow, Anqing Guard and Luzhou Guard will be the front army, Chuzhou Guard will be the right army, and Jiujiang Guard will be the left army. We will go out to fight against the Japanese pirates. After eliminating the current Japanese pirates, the army will enter Ningbo Prefecture and rescue Cixi County."

"Yes, sir."

The generals below shouted in unison again.

With the end of the Jiujiang Guard meeting, the officers of the camp experienced a sleepless night.

On the second day, after breakfast, the army moved camp again. Anqing Guard was the front army, followed by Luzhou Guard, Chuzhou Guard, and finally Jiujiang Guard.

For such an arrangement, most of the officers in the camp knew how the order of the queue came from, so it was not surprising.

It's funny to say that the civil servant who went with the team this time was a fifth-rank official from the Nanjing Military Department. He turned a blind eye to it before arriving in Shaoxing, and saw that he encountered Japanese pirates. However, these guard commanders were afraid of the enemy and wanted to retreat to Yuyao City, which they naturally refused.

It was naturally dangerous to go directly to Taizhou, so they came to Shaoxing.

But if the Japanese pirates were discovered, if thousands of troops ran to Shaoxing without fighting, this official could imagine what the result would be after returning.

The pressure from the civil officials and the knowledge that the Japanese pirates intended to attack Ningbo Prefecture forced many commanders who were trying to avoid fighting to accept it and fight the Japanese pirates they found.

Winning would be the best, but if they can't win, they will have an excuse to retreat.

As for the queue, it was the result of the four commanders drawing lots.

No one wanted to be the vanguard, but the combat power of several guards was so strong, so they could only rush forward, hoping to eliminate the Japanese pirates in front of them by means of numbers.

It must be said that the commander of Jiujiang Guard was really lucky and actually drew the best lot.

After the military meeting ended, the news spread to the ears of the thousand households and the hundred households, and the previous dissatisfaction disappeared.

Soon, the military camp that was once full of people and horses and full of momentum was left in a mess. Only a dozen tents in the center were left untorn. Those were the tents of the military officials, and they had to stay here.

This road leads directly to Yuyao County, which is very important. The military officials stayed here to prevent the Japanese pirates from bypassing the anti-Japanese army and attacking Yuyao County.

Thousands of troops dragged their feet and their morale was low, but they could only slowly move eastward under the whip of the generals.

At this moment, the generals who had some connections in the military camp must be riding on horses. They were all famous generals of the time who thought about defeat before victory.

According to the information obtained before, this group of Japanese pirates had only a few hundred people, and should be less than a thousand. With thousands of people from four guards rushing forward, there was still a chance of winning.

It was just that the plan did not change quickly. After the army marched more than ten miles into Ningbo Prefecture, the situation took a sharp turn for the worse.

Wu Zhankui's team of the Right Army Qianhu was ranked second in the marching sequence of Jiujiang Guard. After marching for more than an hour, there was suddenly a chaos in front. It was vague that the soldiers of the guards threw away their helmets and armor and wanted to run back, but they were beheaded by their generals directly on the side of the road.

Soon, scouts from Jiujiang Guard came back and delivered the news that they were close to the villages and towns that had been looted by the Japanese pirates. Previously, the front army encountered a small group of Japanese pirates and caused chaos.

At this time, according to the military order from above, the troops had to start to deploy and continue to move forward in battle formation, with the goal being that village and town.

Jiujiang Guard was assigned the task of guarding the left wing of the army, so naturally the front army Qianhu began to turn left and speed up to catch up with the front army.

And Chuzhou Guard, which was further ahead of them, had also turned right and served as the right wing of the army.

However, the problems of several guards who were not used to training on weekdays were also exposed at this time. The transformation of the army's formation was not only slow but also chaotic. Fortunately, the Japanese pirates did not seem to expect that the Ming army would come again, so there was no large group of Japanese pirates at the beginning. If they had attacked the Ming army at this time, the battle would not have to continue.

Just when the Ming army stopped and began to adjust the battle formation, the news that a large group of Ming troops appeared ten miles outside the town also spread to the villages and towns.

"Do the soldiers of Guanhaiwei dare to fight back?"

A dark-skinned, sturdy man who had been exposed to the sun and rain on the sea for many years touched his bald head, then his palm touched the hair on the back of his head to his neck and scratched it again.

This man was obviously not bald, he just shaved the hair on the top and front of his head, which was the "moon-shaped head" popular among Japanese warriors at that time, so that outsiders would mistake them for Japanese at first sight.

However, because of their tall stature and full of Chinese, to be honest, they could only deceive outsiders.

Everyone who has seen Japanese knows that at this time, Japanese people were generally short in stature, and there would be no strong Japanese men who came to become pirates. If they stayed in Japan and worshipped any daimyo, they might become one of the fierce generals of the Warring States Period.

"It is said that the flag does not look like Guanhaiwei's. We have all seen the words Guanhaiwei, and the people who came back said it was not."

A Japanese pirate who also shaved his head into a moon-shaped head said below.

"I said that those guys were scared, how dare they come to die, could it be that the people from Linshanwei are here?"

The leader of the Japanese pirates said suspiciously.

Before this, although the pirates knew that the morale of the Ming army was low, the discipline was lax, and they didn't train much on weekdays, they were still afraid of the Ming Empire army that expelled the Tartars.

This time, the Japanese pirates were forced into a desperate situation, so they let go and rushed ashore to rob in a group.

Since the 26th year of Jiajing, the Ming court has increased its efforts to suppress the Japanese pirates, and the Japanese pirates have not had a good time. This time they are just trying to survive.