After Zhu Ping'an received the pigeon message sent back by Liu Mu and his men, he became more certain of what he had in mind: the Japanese pirates wanted to lure the defenders out of the city.
Therefore, Zhu Ping'an wrote two more letters, sent the investigation results to Suzhou City using two carrier pigeons, and once again sounded the alarm.
Soon after the two carrier pigeons flew to Suzhou City one after another, the Japanese pirates, who had been silent all night, started moving again.
In the morning light, the Japanese pirates outside the East Gate, North Gate and Northwest Gate came out. They were crowded with people carrying ladders, shields, longbows, Japanese swords, muskets and other weapons, shouting and killing, and rushed straight to the city gate... ...
The Japanese pirates holding longbows stopped dozens of meters away from the city wall, drew their bows and aimed at the defenders on the wall to block arrows, thus covering the Japanese pirates' success.
The Japanese pirates who were rushing in the front, both old and young, with their fringe hair clearly visible, were carrying ladders and rushing straight towards the city wall.
Just like yesterday's scene reappeared.
Under the command of the general, the defenders on the city wall shot arrows, threw stones and rolled logs at the Japanese pirates who had succeeded in getting under the city.
They had already had the experience of repelling the Japanese pirates twice, so they were no longer as scared as they were the first time when facing the Japanese pirate army attacking the city.
When General Wang at the east gate saw the Japanese pirates attacking the city again, he was not afraid, but even felt a little excited and expectant.
Another chance to make a contribution.
Although the defenders on the city also suffered casualties, it has always been the case since ancient times that one general's success is built on the sacrifice of thousands of soldiers.
I am a general, and a general should not be kind to his troops. If the soldiers under my command die, they die, and I can just replenish them later.
Anyway, it’s not me who is dying.
He has his own soldiers to protect him and a chain mail armor made at a great cost, so he cannot be hurt by ordinary attacks.
"Concentrate your bows and firearms on their archers. These pirates have never learned their lesson and still use the same old tricks. If we kill their archers, they will be lambs to be slaughtered and their military merits will be sacrificed!"
General Wang ran back and forth on the city wall, giving loud orders, directing the officers and soldiers on the city to focus their fire on the archers below.
Seeing that the Japanese pirates had arranged the same formation as yesterday, except that they had increased the number of archers, General Wang became even more disdainful of the Japanese pirates under the city.
The Japanese pirates had no fighting power, the vanguard Japanese pirates who attacked the city were clumsy, and some of them were not in a hurry to finish their work. They were chopped down five times by the Japanese pirates who were supervising the army behind them. Only then did these vanguard Japanese pirates climb the ladders clumsily.
The leader of the Japanese pirates was also short-sighted and had poor command ability. He only had archers to cover the city three times. He had no siege weapons such as battering rams and catapults, and did not know how to dig tunnels or attack with fire.
From this we can see that no one in this group of Japanese pirates, from top to bottom, is capable of fighting, and their military merits were simply handed to them.
Isn't it because of his military achievements that Zhu Ping'an was able to rise from a seventh-rank county magistrate to a fourth-rank official? !
This time, good luck has also come to me, Wang Tieqiang. If I refuse the military merit that has been delivered to my doorstep, my ancestors will scold me as an unfilial descendant.
Soon, the officers and soldiers on the city wall concentrated their bows, arrows, firearms and other weapons on the Japanese pirate archers below the city. This time the Japanese pirate archers were even weaker than yesterday. Half of them were shot to the ground before they could even draw their bows.
"The Japanese pirates' archers are useless. Be brave and fight the Japanese pirates under the city fiercely."
"Rolling stones, wooden planks, throw them all down. I don't want a single penny from you, so don't save any for me!"
Seeing the Japanese pirates' archers being annihilated, General Wang excitedly gave orders, commanding the officers and soldiers on the city to ruthlessly harvest the Japanese pirates under the city and reap military merit.
Just like yesterday, boulders and logs fell like rain, the screams of the Japanese pirates under the city rose one after another, and there were casualties everywhere.
For a time, the Japanese pirates suffered heavy casualties, leaving behind at least hundreds of corpses, and it seemed that the Japanese pirates were about to withdraw like they did yesterday.
General Wang looked at the Japanese pirates outside the city who were already retreating with reluctance and caution, hesitating whether to lead his troops out of the city to reap some military merit.
Based on his decades of experience in the battlefield, he knew that the Japanese pirates were too weak and their leader was incompetent, and they were definitely no match for him. Once he went out of the city to pursue them, he would definitely reap great rewards and capture countless Japanese pirates. However, the reminder from Prefect Shang, "Be careful of the Japanese pirates pretending to be defeated, and don't go out of the city to pursue them," was still ringing in his ears. After all, Prefect Shang was a civil official of the fourth rank, the highest official on the ground in Suzhou Prefecture. In this world, the status of civil officials was much higher than that of military officials, so Prefect Shang still gave them face.
Although General Wang did not believe the reminder from Prefect Shang, and although General Wang firmly believed that Zhu Ping'an was just worried that veterans like them would steal the credit, and deliberately used these words to scare Prefect Shang in order to prevent them from leaving the city to pursue the Japanese pirates, so as to ensure that he, Zhu Ping'an, would get the title of the first place in military merit.
But, as I said before, we still have to give face to Prefect Shang.
The prefect Shang had just told me not to leave the city to pursue the pirates. If I were to leave the city to pursue the pirates at this time, wouldn't that be a slap in the face of the prefect Shang? !
If he offended Shang Zhifu, the head of Suzhou Prefecture, his life in Suzhou Prefecture would not be easy.
However, there are not many opportunities to reap military merits like this. I heard that the Japanese pirates are very fierce, and such useless ones are rare.
If I go out of the city to pursue the pirates, I will definitely be able to capture many of them. Even if I am not as good as Zhu Ping'an, I will be the second best. After all, everyone is hiding in the city and dare not go out to fight. Only I can go out of the city to pursue the pirates and capture countless heads... ...
Should we go out of the city and give chase
General Wang was hesitant, with a conflict between his inner thoughts and his desires. Various thoughts came to his mind and competed for supremacy.
"General, this is bad. Look, what's on that cart that the Japanese pirates are pushing? It's round. Is it a cannonball?"
At this moment, the deputy general's anxious voice rang out, interrupting General Wang's inner struggle and diverting his attention to outside the city.
Sure enough, following the deputy general's instructions, General Wang saw a group of six Japanese pirates, fully armored, holding shields, pushing a cart, and heading straight for the city gate. It was visible to the naked eye that the cart was covered with straw, and on the straw were black iron balls as big as sheep's heads. They were either cannonballs or something else. A rough count revealed that there were more than ten of them.
Danger, danger, danger!
What if this happens near the city gate
General Wang's hair stood on end and cold sweat broke out on his forehead. He hurriedly shouted, "Quick, quick, quick, shoot, shoot, shoot to death those pirates pushing the carts. Don't let them get close to the city gate."
Suddenly, a group of archers on the city wall shot arrows at the Japanese pirates pushing the cart.
However, the level of the archers on the city wall was poor. Even with so many people, not many arrows hit the target.
In addition, even if a few arrows were shot accurately, the Japanese pirates were fully armored and carrying shields, so the arrows would have no effect on them and posed no threat.
The Japanese pirates were still pushing the cart, quickly approaching the city gate, and were less than eighty meters away from the city gate.
"Where's the general cannon? Aim at the pirates pushing the cart and fire!"
General Wang was so anxious that he kept jumping up and down.