Zhu Ping'an bid farewell to Zhang Neitai, and visited Chu Xiong and other colleagues in the office one by one. He declined Chu Xiong's invitation to dinner, and left the office for the main destination of this trip - Yingtian Military Ministry Yamen.
"I am Zhu Ping'an, the assistant judge of the Jiangsu and Zhejiang Provincial Criminal Investigation Department. I have come to seek an audience with Minister Zhang and to review the detailed files on the recent Japanese invasion." Zhu Ping'an showed his official badge to the guard at the Ministry of War and stated his purpose.
"Greetings, Sir Zhu. Please come in, Sir Zhu." The guard verified Zhu Ping'an's badge and respectfully let him pass.
After entering the Ministry of War, an officer led Zhu Ping'an inside and led him to an empty room to wait. After pouring tea and water for Zhu Ping'an, he said respectfully, "Master Zhu, please wait a moment. I will go and report."
"Thank you." Zhu Ping'an bowed.
The messenger went out to report and soon returned. After returning, he said to Zhu Ping'an with an apologetic look, "Master Zhu, it's really unfortunate. Master Zhang is meeting someone at the moment. Please wait for a while."
"No problem. May I ask where the detailed files on the recent Japanese invasion are stored? Can I check the files on the Japanese invasion while waiting?" Zhu Ping'an asked.
"The recent Japanese invasion files are stored in the archive room next door. Please follow me, sir." The officer replied, leading Zhu Ping'an to the archive room, pointing to one of the bookshelves and saying to Zhu Ping'an, "Sir, this is the detailed information on the recent Japanese invasion. You can read it at will and put it back to its original place after reading."
"Thank you." Zhu Ping'an bowed to express his gratitude.
The archive room was filled with bookshelves like a forest. Without the guidance of the servants, Zhu Ping'an would never have been able to find the files on the Japanese invasion by himself.
Standing in front of the bookshelf, Zhu Ping'an looked around carefully. This bookshelf was full of files on the Japanese invasion, which were registered and filed according to date. So I only need to search among the Japanese invasion files from the last five days.
There were quite a few files in these five days, as many as twenty. Each volume recorded a Japanese invasion, and twenty volumes meant that more than twenty Japanese invasions had occurred in these five days. This showed how rampant the Japanese pirates had been during this period.
"On November 20th of the 31st year of the Jiajing reign, Japanese pirates came from the east, landed in Wenzhou Prefecture, and attacked Yongjia County. The magistrate Tang Yi led his troops to attack, but was ambushed by the pirates. Magistrate Tang was defeated and injured, and retreated to Luomen Town. The Japanese pirates divided into three groups and plundered Yongjia County... Not this one..." Zhu Ping'an opened a file and found that it recorded the Japanese invasion in Yongjia County, so he put it back and picked up another file.
"On November 21, the 31st year of the Jiajing reign, more than 2,000 Japanese soldiers surrounded Ningbo Prefecture but failed to capture it, so they divided their forces to rob Fenghua and Xiangshan counties. Peng Manying, the magistrate of Xiangshan County, was so afraid of the Japanese that he abandoned the city and fled. The residents of Xiangshan County suffered... ... and this was not the only one..."
Zhu Ping'an opened the file, glanced through it quickly, shook his head slightly, and put it back in its place.
"On November 21, the 31st year of Jiajing, more than 1,800 Japanese pirates invaded Putian County and Zhendong Guard in Fujian. Dai Hong, Gao Huai, Zhang Luan (Luan) and other commanders of the Ming army died in battle. On the 23rd of the same month, the Japanese pirates invaded Pinghai Guard in Xinghua, Fujian and Fuqing. Qiu Zhen, Bai Ren, Yang Yimao, and Dong Qianzhen, the commander of Quanzhou Guard, led troops to suppress the Japanese pirates, but were ambushed and died in battle..."
Then, Zhu Ping'an looked through three more files, none of which were about the group of Japanese pirates that landed in Shaoxing Prefecture.
It was only when I turned to the sixth book that I found the news about a group of Japanese pirates that landed in Shaoxing Prefecture.
Zhu Ping'an read through the files of the crimes committed by this group of Japanese pirates one by one and looked at them carefully.
"Oh, no wonder this group of Japanese pirates were able to pass through the Huizhou Pass..." Zhu Ping'an couldn't help but sighed when he flipped through a file.
At first, I was wondering how these 150 Japanese pirates could pass through the natural pass with the help of cold weapons.
Now, this file has solved my doubts.
"On November 23, the 31st year of Jiajing, the Japanese pirates fled from Shaoxing to Chun'an County from Changhua and Yuqian County. The magistrate of Chun'an County, Hai Rui, strictly guarded the county town of Chun'an. The Japanese pirates bypassed the county town and broke through three towns in Chun'an County. The magistrate of Chun'an County, Hai Rui, led his troops to attack, but was defeated by the Japanese pirates head-on, with more than 100 casualties. The magistrate of Chun'an County, Hai Rui, retreated to the county town and invited soldiers from Changhua and Yuqian counties to attack the Japanese pirates together. Before the soldiers from Changhua and Yuqian counties arrived, the Japanese pirates had already broken into Huanggouyuankou in She County from the Panshan Mountains of Chun'an. There were more than 600 officers, soldiers and civilians guarding the Huizhou Pass. The Japanese pirates slaughtered two villages before breaking into the pass. They held the heads of villagers and went to the pass to block the gate. The guards of Huizhou Prefecture were very frightened when they saw this. They did not fire a single arrow and fled in panic. The Japanese pirates then broke through the pass and entered Huizhou, and robbed Jixi..."
After reading this file, Zhu Ping'an couldn't help but sigh. No wonder the Japanese pirates entered Huizhou so easily. It turned out that the officers, soldiers and militiamen guarding the pass of Huizhou Prefecture had the advantage of time, place and people, but they were frightened and fled when they saw the Japanese pirates!
They fled without fighting, they were defeated without fighting. The great natural pass became a decoration, an undefended decoration!
What an incompetent army, killing civilians.
Zhu Pingan was speechless!
After sighing, Zhu Ping'an continued to look through the files, carefully reading the details that were not recorded in the Tangbao.
"Sir Zhu, Minister Zhang wants to see you." Zhu Ping'an had just finished reading the files when the officer came in to report.
"Thank you." Zhu Ping'an bowed to express his gratitude, quickly put the file back to its place, and followed the servant to meet Zhang Jing.
"Your humble servant Zhu Ping'an pays his respects to Lord Zhang." After Zhu Ping'an entered the room, he immediately bowed to Zhang Jing to greet him.
"Master Zhu, you are here. Please take a seat." Zhang Jing nodded slightly and pointed to the chair next to him.
Zhang Jing looked very tired, as if he had not had a good sleep for several days. He had dark circles under his eyes, and he looked weak and drained of energy.
This was Zhu Ping'an's second visit to the Ministry of War to meet Zhang Jing. He still remembered that Zhang Jing was still aloof and aloof when he met him last time. This time, his treatment was obviously much better than last time, and he was even given a seat. Perhaps his performance changed Zhang Jing's opinion of him because of the last visit.
"Thank you, sir." Zhu Ping'an thanked him, sat down, and said politely, "I didn't make an appointment in advance. I'm sorry for disturbing you today..."
"There's no need to say these clichés." Zhang Jing waved his hand and asked, "How is your regiment going now?"
"I was just about to report to Lord Zhang..." Zhu Ping'an briefly reported the overall situation of the Zhejiang Army again. Because he had just reported it to Lord Neitai, he was more familiar with it this time.
"Well, it's OK..." Zhang Jing listened carefully and said lightly, then looked at Zhu Ping'an and said seriously, "You can't command the army with kindness, and you can't command the money with justice. You need to be more strict in training your soldiers. You must not be lenient to these surrendered bandits. If necessary, kill a few typical ones to set an example..."