"General Wang, for the safety of hundreds of thousands of people in the city, please understand and wait until I and others have finished their identification and confirmed that there is no problem with the general and his party. I will then open the city gate and respectfully welcome you and your brothers into the city. When the time comes, I will definitely bow down to you and your brothers to show my apology and respect."
Faced with General Wang's arrogant and domineering scolding, the deputy general explained the whole story on the city wall with sweat on his face.
"Get lost, don't give me these nonsense. If we say that it is for the hundreds of thousands of people in the city, this general and my thousands of soldiers braved the bitter cold, the counterattacks and traps of the Japanese pirates, and resolutely went out of the city to pursue the Japanese pirates, putting their bodies and lives at risk. This is truly for the hundreds of thousands of people in the city! You are a coward who dares not to leave the city. What qualifications do you have to say that you are doing it for the people of the city in front of us?! Hurry up and get down and open the city gate. Prepare all the chickens, ducks, fish, meat, and hot broth for our brothers. This general will reward these brothers well."
General Wang continued to hold the whip in his hand, pointed at the deputy general on the city wall, scolded him severely, and ordered him to come down and open the door in a domineering manner.
"General..." The deputy general was scolded so much that he could hardly lift his head. He struggled to persuade him again.
"Fuck you, are you the general or am I the general? If you still recognize me as the general, get down here and open the door for me! This damn weather, I just chased the Japanese pirates and fought with them. I was sweating all over. The sweat has frozen. I'm almost frozen to death! My brothers are almost frozen to death too! Stop talking nonsense, get down here and open the door for me!"
General Wang whipped the horse's buttocks hard, spurred the horse forward two steps, pulled the reins, and scolded the deputy general aggressively.
The deputy general was scolded so much that he could not say a word. He could only turn around awkwardly and look for help to the newly arrived Suzhou prefect Shang Weishi.
"Was General Wang always so domineering in the past?" Shang Wei, the prefect of Suzhou, asked as he walked toward the parapet just after arriving.
"The general is usually fine, but he speaks more harshly when his subordinates have different voices." The deputy general hesitated and explained in a low voice.
I don't know whether he was speaking the truth or not.
After hearing this, Prefect Shang nodded without comment, strode to the parapet, and shouted to General Wang below the city with a laugh, "Haha, General Wang, why are you so angry?"
"I... ... "
General Wang was about to curse after hearing this teasing, but when he looked up and saw that it was Prefect Shang, he stopped cursing and swallowed it back into his stomach. He clasped his hands together and bowed, saying, "I didn't know you were coming. Please forgive me for not being able to perform the full ceremony. Please forgive me, Prefect Shang."
"General Wang, you are too polite. At this critical moment when the whole city is fighting against the Japanese pirates, why do you still care about those empty formalities?"
Prefect Shang waved his hand and said with a smile.
"Thank you, Your Excellency. Just now you asked me why I was so angry. It was because I felt wronged. Of course, my feeling wronged was secondary. I felt wronged mainly for my brothers. The Japanese pirates are approaching the city, and the lives of hundreds of thousands of people in the city are in danger. Your Excellency cares about the people, and I also care about the responsibility of defending the border!"
"Today, the Japanese pirates attacked the city again, but were defeated by me and my soldiers. The Japanese pirates were so desperate that they imitated Lord Zhu outside the city and used the general's cannonballs to attack the city. The Japanese pirates pulled a cart of cannonballs with a carriage and rushed to the city gate. At the critical moment, they were fortunately startled by my arrow. The Japanese pirates dropped the fire starter and ignited the cannonballs in advance, killing and injuring a large number of Japanese pirates. The morale of the Japanese pirates was greatly reduced, and they were defeated on all fronts. In order to achieve success in one battle and prevent the Japanese pirates from repeating the same trick and pushing cannonballs to blow up the city gate, I had to put my life and death aside for the safety of the people in the city, and go out of the city to chase the Japanese pirates and defeat them, so that they dare not spy on Suzhou City. I am Xiaoming, a powerful general. With a wave of his arm, a thousand soldiers put their heads on their belts and followed me out of the city to chase the Japanese pirates."
"After we left the city, we experienced more than 30 battles, big and small, and forced our way into the sword forest and the rain of swords. Our swords were bent and our quivers were empty. Almost all of us were injured... We risked our lives to protect Suzhou City, but in the end, we fought one battle after another and returned to Suzhou City, which we had risked our lives to protect. We wanted to drink a sip of hot soup and eat a bite of hot food, but we were locked out of the city gate?! We still need to distinguish whether this is treating me and my brothers who went out of the city to drive out the pirates as traitors and pirates?!"
"I feel wronged, and even more wronged for my brothers. My Lord, the city we risked our lives to protect is treating us like this. To be honest, I feel really disappointed. If I can't even let my brothers enter the city to drink a sip of hot soup and eat a bite of hot food, how can I have the face to ask my brothers to fight for me in the future?!"
General Wang was very emotional and cried out his grievances to Prefect Shang. His eyes became wet with excitement.
"General Wang, I understand your feelings. I will not let you suffer any injustice. I have just ordered the largest restaurant in the city to prepare the most sumptuous food and wine for you. I have also specially called the most famous knife for making mutton soup in the city, and brought fifty kitchen helpers to make ten pots of mutton soup and two thousand mutton and green onion pancakes for you. I have also transferred a hundred jars of old yellow wine from the winery for you. I guarantee that you will eat and drink well. In addition, after the war, I will reward you according to your merits, and I will never let you down."
Prefect Shang looked at General Wang and his soldiers outside the city, waved his hand, and made a loud promise to them.
"Thank you, Master Fuzun." General Wang clasped his fists in thanks, then turned around and shouted to those behind him, "Why are you still standing there like an idiot? Hurry up and thank Master Fuzun."
"Thank you, Lord Fuzun."
"Hahaha, did you hear that? We have meat soup to drink, meat pies to eat, and wine to drink. We can also be rewarded according to our merits. It's really worth it for us to risk our lives and follow the general out of the city to chase the Japanese pirates."
"Thank you, Your Excellency. I am willing to die for you!"
The group of people behind General Wang started shouting, each of them was extremely excited and yelling.
"Zhang Heizi, you coward, did you hear what the Lord of the Palace said? The Lord of the Palace has prepared wine and food for us, as well as mutton soup, mutton patties, and old yellow wine. Why don't you come down quickly and open the door so that we can go into the city and enjoy it."
General Wang, taking advantage of Prefect Shang's words, once again waved to the deputy general on the city wall and gave an unceremonious order, urging him to get down from the wall and open the city gate.
"Don't worry, don't worry, General Wang, just be patient. It takes time for the restaurant to prepare the food, and the mutton soup needs to be cooked for a while. Before inviting you into the city, I will do a simple identification, which is also responsible for the hundreds of thousands of elders and villagers in the city. I believe that General Wang will understand, right, General Wang?"
Shang Zhifu said with a smile outside.
"Need further identification?" General Wang was stunned.
"General Wang, do you have any questions? Feel free to ask." Prefect Shang said with a smile.
"No, no, we'll just do the identification. But please speed up, Your Excellency. We're hungry, thirsty, tired and cold outside the city." General Wang shook his head and said helplessly.
"Okay, okay." Prefect Shang nodded with a smile.