Outside the west gate, County Magistrate Zhang, Chief Secretary Yao and Dianshi Li turned around and ran away without looking back.
Outside the north gate, Zhu Ping'an squinted his eyes and looked at the position of the sun. Feeling that the time was almost right, he jumped on his horse, rode to the front of the team, waved his hand vigorously forward, and shouted "Let's go".
Horses neighed and cows mooed, and there was a lot of noise as the army set out towards Taiping County.
More than 100 horse-drawn carriages were requisitioned this time, with an average of six people per carriage for more than 600 young men, so everyone had a carriage to sit in. Having a carriage made a difference, and the speed of the march was much faster than walking, and it didn't take long for them to reach Taiping County.
After entering Taiping County, Zhu Pingan cautiously sent out fifteen scouts, five in a group, to conduct reconnaissance in the first two miles. The terrain in this area was flat, so reconnaissance was relatively easy, and even untrained young men could do the job.
After entering Taiping County, we did not encounter any Japanese pirates. Perhaps the Japanese pirates were going to break camp and head to Taizhou Prefecture at noon, so all the leaders, both big and small, kept their Japanese pirates under control in Taiping County, ready to break camp and set off at any time.
"Fifty carriages will be in an arc in front, and fifty carriages will be in a straight line at the back. Everyone will walk in the middle."
When they were about ten miles away from Taiping County, Zhu Ping'an dismounted, raised his arm high, and gave orders to everyone.
This arrangement is to guard against attacks by Japanese pirates. If the Japanese pirates attack, our side can quickly retract the carriages to form a semicircular defensive formation, using the carriages as barriers and everyone defending inside the formation.
The young and strong men had no training, and with just a simple command from Zhu Ping'an, it took them more than ten minutes to form the formation.
"Everyone, please increase the distance between each other, raise the flags, and beat the war drums. Don't stop. Replace people when you get tired." Zhu Ping'an walked around the crowd and gave orders loudly to everyone.
The young and strong followed Zhu Ping'an's order and spread out a little. From a distance, the team seemed to be inflated and more than doubled in size. Those who didn't know the details would think there were more than a thousand people.
More than 100 flags were hastily made before departure, and they were all raised by the crowd. Among them were three general flags, which were 16 feet long and rectangular in shape, with a blue background and red borders, painted with a five-clawed coiled dragon, and inscribed with "Jingnan", "Lanshanwei" and "Qianjunwei" respectively. "Jingnan" represented Jingnan County, and Lanshanwei and Qianniuwei were the names of the two garrisons in the south. The rest of the flags were military flags, which were 8 feet long and triangular in shape.
After more than a hundred flags were raised, the silk banners fluttered in the wind, making the team look even more powerful, as if its size had doubled.
“Boom boom boom, boom boom boom…”
More than sixty large cowhide drums were placed on the carriage, and more than sixty strong men held drumsticks and beat them with their arms wide open, making the earth-shaking sound. The dust on the ground was shaken and flew everywhere, and the sound of the drums could be heard within a radius of three miles.
The earth-shaking drumbeats doubled the team's momentum.
"Dagang, take your men to cut some thick branches and tie them with ropes to the back of the fifty carriages at the rear of the formation."
Zhu Pingan said to Liu Dagang.
"Yes, sir."
Liu Dagang responded and led his men there. There was a forest nearby, and Liu Dagang and his men quickly cut a lot of branches and tied them to the carriage behind the palace.
In this way, when the carriage moved, it dragged the branches behind it to swing left and right, and dust immediately flew up.
"go ahead!"
After everything was ready, Zhu Ping'an ordered to continue moving forward.
The team marched towards Taiping County with flags flying, drums beating, and dust flying!
This scene is like a huge army.
When Zhu Ping'an and his party were still three miles away from the county town, the Japanese pirates on guard on the city wall of Taiping County vaguely heard the sound of drums. They stood up in confusion, stretched their necks to look into the distance. After about half a cup of tea, they saw from afar a huge army charging towards the county town.
The army had flying flags and was huge in size. The dust raised by the army as it marched was flying all over the sky.
There must be at least five or six thousand people.
"Report, a large army is coming from outside the city, carrying three large banners of 'Jingnan', 'Lanshanwei', and 'Qianniuwei', with hundreds of silk banners, and the sound of drums is deafening. The army is mighty, and there are probably five to six thousand people."
When the Japanese pirates saw this, their faces changed drastically. They threw away the bowls in their hands and crawled to report to their leader Honda Heihachi in the city.
"What? Five or six thousand people?"
Honda Heihachi, who was kneeling and having a meal in the lobby of Taiping County Government, couldn't help but change his expression when he heard the report from his subordinates.
Although the Ming Dynasty's army was weak, with only five or six thousand people, it was not easy to deal with.
Soon, as he stood up, Honda Heihachi vaguely heard the sound of war drums coming from outside the city.
"Baga! I want to see who is going to die?!"
When Honda Heihachi heard the drumbeat, he kicked the table away, drew his sword, and walked out with murderous intent.
At the same time, the Japanese pirates who were cooking in the city also heard the sound of the war drums and were suspicious and trying to find out the news. Soon, the news that tens of thousands of troops were coming outside the city spread among the Japanese pirates.
Seeing that the meal was about to be cooked, the leader ordered that after the meal, they should move camp to Taizhou Prefecture to join the main force. At this critical moment, a large army unexpectedly came to kill them! Suddenly, the Japanese pirates were in a state of panic.
"All of you, follow me to the city wall. I want to see who is the blind man who is seeking death!"
Honda Heihachi walked out of the county government office with a sword in his hand, pointed the tip of the sword at the Japanese pirates outside, and walked towards the city wall.
Soon Honda Heihachi led the Japanese pirates to the city wall, stood on the wall and looked out, and the huge army outside the city came into their sight.
The army outside the city stopped more than a mile away. In front of them was a row of chariots in a semicircle, probably more than a hundred of them. Behind the chariots, the team stretched for several miles, with flags waving, smoke and dust billowing, and the team was very powerful.
The big flag in the middle of the army had the word "Jingnan" written on it, and the two big flags next to it had "Lanshan Guard" and "Qianniu Guard" written on them. The "Jingnan" should be the reinforcements from Jingnan County. The "Lanshan Guard" and "Qianniu Guard" were two guard posts in Jinhua Prefecture close to Jingnan County. Did the guard posts in Jinhua Prefecture actually send troops across the border? !
Honda Heihachi stood on the city wall, looking at this mixed army from afar. Based on the flags and the size of the team, he made a rough estimate and found that this army had at least one or two thousand people, if not three to five thousand.
Not only that, Honda Heihachi also noticed that in the woods hundreds of meters behind the army, the shadows of the trees were swaying and dust was flying. He thought to himself that there might be a large army hiding in the woods.
This cunning Ming army, if I lead a large army to attack, the ambushers in the woods will take the opportunity to rush out and kill me by surprise... ... Honda Heihachi narrowed his eyes, and could not help but think of the figure in official uniform standing proudly on the Jingnan city wall.
Little did they know that in the woods, more than a dozen young men were running happily pulling on branches.