More and more people gathered outside the city gate of Suzhou, all of them fleeing with their elderly and children and their families.
They fled to Suzhou City in panic, fearful and terrified. When they saw Suzhou City right in front of them, they couldn't help but smile and put their hearts back into their stomachs.
"We have arrived at Suzhou City. We are saved. We don't have to worry about being killed by the Japanese pirates who suddenly appear."
"Mom, we've reached Suzhou City. We're safe."
The common people who fled to the city of Suzhou couldn't help but shed tears of excitement.
But before they could fully smile, the people who had arrived in Suzhou City received a shocking piece of news, which poured cold water on their excited faces:
Suzhou City is closed!
Later, the common people went forward in disbelief, and found that the city gate was indeed closed. They pushed the door hard, but it did not budge at all. No matter how hard they pushed, knocked, called, or banged on the door, the heavy iron-clad city gate did not budge at all.
"The Japanese pirates are coming. To prevent them from attacking and seizing the city gates, the city gates are tightly closed. No one is allowed to enter or leave."
"You guys retreat quickly!"
Warnings from the guards inside the city gate were heard, causing the common people gathered outside the city gate to quickly disperse.
"General, sir, help us, open the city gate quickly and let us in. The Japanese pirates are coming soon. If you don't open the city gate, we will die. Please, I beg you."
"Please, open the city gate. We don't want to die. Open the gate and let us in."
"General, Master, we kowtow to you. The Japanese pirates are about to attack us. Please be kind and let us enter the city and save our lives. Saving a life is better than building a seven-story pagoda. Saving the lives of so many of us, General, Master, your merits are enough for your whole family to become immortals."
The people fleeing outside the city gate banged on the gate hard, begging the guards inside to open the gate and let them in. In order to enter the city, many people knelt on the ground and kowtowed, their foreheads bleeding. However, no matter how many nice words they said or how much they begged, it was of no use. The city gate remained closed.
"There are still hundreds of thousands of civilians in the city. We are responsible for their lives. What if there are Japanese pirates among you, or if they suddenly appear and seize the gate when we open the city gate for you?!"
"Go quickly, escape to other places, don't gather in front of the city gate."
The guards at the city gate became more and more impatient. After explaining so many times, they finally got too lazy to explain anymore and just drove people away.
"Open the gate, open the city gate..."
"If you don't open the door, we will break it down..."
The common people outside the city became more and more desperate. They started begging, then threatened, and finally took action. They banged on the doors with their hands, kicked on the doors with their feet, and even picked up bricks and stones from the ground and smashed them hard.
However, no matter how hard they smashed the door, it was useless. The gate of Suzhou was too solid and covered with iron sheets. It was not a shoddy construction. Even using a battering ram or a wooden ram would have been difficult to break the gate open, let alone using a few bricks with their bare hands.
Their hands were bleeding, but the city gate did not move at all, leaving only some shallow marks, not even the skin was hurt.
"Open the door, open the door, please, at least just let my mother and the children in."
"Mom, mom, I'm scared. Are we going to die here? I want to watch the fireworks during the New Year. Woo woo woo..."
The common people outside the city gate wailed in despair. At first, it was the children crying, then the women and the elderly also cried, and finally many people cried in despair. The whole city was filled with crying, which merged into a sea of weeping.
Outside the city of Suzhou, ordinary people left their homes and came to flee every moment. When they arrived at the city gate, they joined the sea of despair and crying after learning that the gate was closed and would not be opened.
For a while, there were constant cries of men, women, old and young outside the city. The cries were so deafening that they almost overturned the city wall.
"What's going on under the city?"
The Suzhou prefect Shang Weiwei was inspecting the defense on the city wall. Before he even got onto the wall, he heard deafening cries from below the city. He quickened his pace, walked up to the wall, and looked down to see what was happening.
As soon as he looked out, he saw tens of thousands of refugees crying in despair outside the city.
"Are these people fleeing from nearby villages and towns?!"
Prefect Shang looked at the hundreds of common people crying outside the city, and saw them carrying the elderly and children, and large and small bags, and he immediately understood.
"Damn it! Why don't you open the city gates and let the people in?" Prefect Shang became furious.
"Sir, we can't open the gate. The Japanese pirates are very cunning. Who knows if there are any Japanese pirates among the people below? It's not the first time or the second time that the Japanese pirates pretend to be civilians to defraud the city. Moreover, there are so many civilians below the city, tens of thousands of them. Even if we open the city gate, they can't get in for a while. If the Japanese pirates suddenly rush out, it will be difficult to close the city gate with so many civilians blocking the way. It will be easy for the Japanese pirates to seize the city gate. At that time, not only these tens of thousands of civilians, but also hundreds of thousands of civilians in the city will fall into the clutches of the Japanese pirates and be destroyed in an instant."
"There are hundreds of thousands of people inside the city, and only tens of thousands outside the city. It is clear at a glance which is more important."
"Please consider the hundreds of thousands of people in the city and the overall situation first. The city gates must not be opened."
When the officials following Prefect Shang and the generals guarding the city heard that Prefect Shang was going to open the city gate to let the people in, their faces turned pale with fright and they hurried forward to persuade Prefect Shang not to open the gate.
"If we don't open it, aren't we ignoring the people outside the city?! If the Japanese pirates come, how can they survive outside the city? No..." Prefect Shang shook his head vigorously, he really couldn't bear it.
"Sir, if the gate is opened, it would mean disregarding the lives of the people in the city. There are no more than 20,000 people outside the city, but there are hundreds of thousands of people inside the city, which is more than 30 times the number outside the city."
"Your Excellency noticed just now that the Japanese pirates haven't come yet, and the guards at the city gates were so frightened that they couldn't close the city gates for a long time. If we open the city gates now and let the people in, and the Japanese pirates suddenly come out, the consequences will be unimaginable, and none of us can bear this responsibility."
The officials who followed him hurriedly advised him not to do so, fearing that Prefect Shang would insist on opening the city gates.
"Alas, this..."
Prefect Shang closed his eyes and pondered for a long time. He couldn't help but let out a long sigh and no longer insisted on opening the city gate.
The people outside the city begged, cursed and cried at the same time. Some of them, seeing that the current gate would not open, went along the city wall to try their luck at another gate. The result was predictable. They changed two gates, but both were exactly the same and tightly closed. No one was willing to open, and they could not help but cry around the city.