As night fell, the Zhejiang army set up camp outside the city, with bonfires lighting up like stars.
The Zhejiang troops were feasting on delicious food and roasting small fires, but many Yuan generals were still dissatisfied and kept scolding the officers and soldiers on the city wall, calling them black-hearted maggots, cold-blooded snakes and insects, and ungrateful wolves.
"What are you yelling about? Didn't you hear what the adults said? Without a few stupid teammates, how can our Zhejiang Army stand out? Before, more than 50 Japanese pirates besieged the city. The 100,000 soldiers on the city didn't dare to say a word and cowered on the high walls. However, our Zhejiang Army had only more than 800 soldiers. We attacked the Japanese pirates fearlessly and beat them to a pulp... Haha, the more cowardly the people on the city are, the more powerful we are. The comparison has already slapped the faces of the officials on the city. Didn't you see that those officials on the city didn't even have the face to show up?!"
"Hehe, it seems like it's a good thing that they closed the city gates. The pirates we chased away could scare them into closing the city gates. They are so cowardly. Are there any soldiers on the city who still have penises?! Hehe, I guess if they take off their pants, the soldiers on the city will all be little toothpicks, hahaha..."
"Hmph, wait till midnight, when the lord leads us to accomplish something great, we will surely be famous all over the world, and the officers and soldiers on the city wall will be infamous forever. By then, the swollen faces on the city wall will be bleed by us, and they will be so ashamed to tuck their pants in if they see us. Hehe, by then, anyone with a discerning eye will see how excellent our lord and our Zhejiang Army are, and how incompetent the Yingtian defenders are!"
…
After eating and drinking to their heart's content, and after some verbal battle, the Zhejiang army general began to laugh, feeling happy.
It was already dark, and after the feast, Zhu Ping'an ordered all soldiers except the fifty sentinels to go to sleep. Even if they couldn't sleep, they had to lie down on the straw mats, close their eyes and rest, to conserve their energy!
The Zhejiang troops eat well and sleep well, and the Japanese pirates are not bad either.
After the Japanese pirates safely evacuated to the southeast from the city, they initially ambushed in a woods and waited for the Zhejiang army to pursue them. When the Zhejiang army pursued them, they rushed out of the woods to attack and kill them. However, the Zhejiang army rushed forward and retreated quickly. After retreating, they never chased them again.
The Japanese pirates ambushed a lonely place.
"This Zhejiang army is too cowardly. When they first rushed towards us, I thought they were a strong army. I didn't expect them to be no different from other Ming armies. They are all so cowardly."
Nao Nabeshima walked out of the woods, spat out a mouthful of thick phlegm, and cursed sarcastically.
"The leader of this Zhejiang army is a royal relative, so how could he risk his life? He rushed over just now just for speculation. They have been hiding in the woods for who knows how long, until Songxia and others were killed in Yingtian City. They are sure that we will have no hope of retreating, so they rushed out to bluff and gain reputation. In the final analysis, it is just speculation. These royal relatives are the most cherishing of their lives, so they will stop when they see an advantage. If my prediction is correct, they will not come again until we set sail..."
Matsuura Sanbanro looked towards the direction of Yingtian, curled his lips in disdain, and showed contempt for the Zhejiang army.
"Does that mean they won't launch a mortar attack?" asked Nao Nabeshima.
Matsuura Sanbanlang nodded without hesitation and said confidently, "Yingtian is now a frightened bird, and the Zhejiang army is also speculative and cautious. If we don't turn back to attack the city, they will be thankful. How can they dare to pursue us?"
"Yo! Then let's go south to find a farm, eat and drink enough, and rest for a night. Tomorrow we will march southeast to Wuxi, enter Suzhou, set sail and go to the sea, and return to Hizen to report to His Highness." Naoko Nabeshima ordered.
"Onboard! Onboard!"
Hearing the news of returning to Japan, the Japanese pirates shouted excitedly. After fighting in the Ming Dynasty for so long and robbing so many precious gold, silver and jewelry, they also missed home and wanted to return home in glory and show off their prestige.
Suddenly, a group of Japanese pirates, led by Nabeshima Masao and Matsuura Sanbanro, sang Hizen songs and marched forward in a swagger.
After walking for a few miles, the pirates encountered a small village, but the villagers had fled with their families, taking away all the valuables and food, leaving behind only some worthless items that were inconvenient to carry.
From the stone tablet erected at the entrance of the village, we can learn that the name of the village is Guocun.
The Japanese pirates entered the village and looted it, but they didn't find much, only half a bag of grain.
Millet cannot be eaten directly and needs to be ground into rice. The Japanese pirates found it too troublesome, so they threw away the millet, cursed and continued on their way.
What they didn't know was that there was an inconspicuous but not difficult to find secret cellar in the backyard of the Zheng family in Guo Village, which contained a lot of grain, black meat, bacon and old wine. However, the Japanese pirates didn't search very carefully, and left without finding anything valuable after searching through the boxes and cabinets, thus missing out on such a secret cellar.
Not far from Guo Village is Niu Village. The Japanese pirates rushed into Niu Village after coming out of Guo Village. Niu Village was the same as Guo Village, in that only 1,200 villagers escaped, taking away all the valuables and food.
The Japanese pirates looted Niu Village but found neither much valuables nor much food to fill their stomachs. They were very angry and would have burned down Guo Village and Niu Village if they did not want to expose their tracks too much.
Similarly, the Japanese pirates did not search carefully and did not find a cellar under the wall of the largest and richest man's house in Niu Village. The cellar also contained a lot of food, pickled chicken and duck, and several jars of the best daughter's red wine.
After being defeated in Guo Village and Niu Village successively, the Japanese pirates entered Zhangjiazhai, and Zhangzhongzhai was also deserted.
However, Zhangjiazhai was indeed a famous and wealthy village nearby. The Japanese pirates found a cellar in the ancestral hall of the Zhang family in Zhangjiazhai. In the deepest part of the cellar were dozens of bags of grain, more than ten jars of flour, dozens of jars of good wine, dozens of jars of pickled vegetables, and dozens of bacon hanging on the top of the cellar...
Not only that, the Japanese pirates found two large black pigs, five goats, and a group of chickens, ducks, and geese deep in the garden of the Zhang family leader. There were also several bags of food on the ground, which were left for the animals to gnaw on. It was obvious that the Zhang family members fled in a hurry and had no time to take the animals away. They could only hide the animals in the garden and threw away several bags of food, intending to take them back home after escaping.
All these benefited the Japanese pirates.
The Japanese pirates occupied the most luxurious home of the Zhang family leader in Zhangjiazhai and used his two-story house as a temporary base camp. They concentrated all the food, wine, pigs, chickens and ducks looted from the Zhang family ancestral hall in the yard.
"Cook, kill pigs and sheep... My men have worked hard all day, so let's reward them well."
Naoko Nabeshima waved his hand and gave the order.
"General, wait a minute. To prevent accidents, in case the Ming people poison us, it is better to test it for a while before using it. Although the possibility is almost zero, the Ming people are cowardly and don't know where we are today, but it is better to be prepared. We will return to Feiqian to report soon, so it is better to be careful."
Matsuura Sanbanrou stepped forward, pointed to the grain and wine in the yard, and reminded softly.
"Haha, Sanbanlang, you are being cautious. However, there's nothing wrong with being cautious. So let's verify it first as usual." Nabeshima Masao smiled and nodded, directing the Japanese pirates to verify whether there were any problems with the food, wine and meat.
The pirates poured flour, pickles and fine wine into several basins to feed the pigs, chickens and ducks. After waiting for half an hour, they found that the pigs, chickens, ducks and geese were all fine. Only then did they feel relieved and slaughtered the pigs and sheep, stewed and roasted the meat, and made pancakes with flour...
Soon, the aroma of meat and wine wafted from the Zhang family's courtyard...