The time was almost the same as Zhu Ping'an's estimation, that is, half an hour later, there was movement in the Japanese pirate camp.
After breakfast, the Japanese pirates began to dismantle their tents and pack up their belongings, including the looted gold, silver, jewelry, food, supplies, cattle, sheep, pigs and horses, preparing to return to their old nest in Takulin.
This time, their belongings were greatly reduced. Since the Zhejiang Army had given advance warning, most of the surrounding people fled to Suzhou City or hid in the mountains and wilderness, bringing their elderly and children with them and their belongings. The amount of property that the Japanese pirates could plunder was reduced by more than ten times compared to the past, and the casualties also increased greatly.
"Damn you Zhu Ping'an, it's all your fault. My harvest was greatly reduced, and I lost several good brothers. Don't let me run into you in the wild again, or I will tear you into pieces and grind you to dust!"
"That's right. I must tear him into pieces and scatter his bones and ashes. Only then can I vent my anger."
The Japanese pirates packed up their belongings while cursing the culprit Zhu Ping'an.
"It's just that he ran into the city quickly, otherwise I would have cut him into pieces in front of the city gate."
This was a Japanese pirate who was originally at the northwest gate. When they received Xu Hai's signal and rushed over, they just saw Zhu Pingan and other Zhejiang troops retreating into the city and closing the city gate.
He believed that if Zhu Ping'an had not retreated into the city, he would have been torn into pieces by their reinforcements!
real!
Leader Xu hated him to the core. It was said that Leader Xu talked in his sleep at night, saying that he wanted to cut Zhu Ping'an into pieces!
If Zhu Ping'an was blocked outside the city gate, he would definitely be chopped into pieces by Chief Xu!
"Brother Chen, Brother Ma, I'll trouble you to tell your subordinates to be relaxed on the outside but tight on the inside when we retreat, and to be ready to counterattack at any time. In addition, you each select 500 elite soldiers, and I will select 500 elite soldiers. We will gather the elite soldiers together and set up an ambush in advance on the road we must take to retreat."
Xu Hai looked at Suzhou City in the distance with reluctance on his face, then turned around and spoke to Chen Dong and Ma Ye in a serious manner.
This is an old tradition of the Japanese pirates.
Sometimes when the battle situation was not going well, they would deliberately retreat, but would secretly set up ambushes in dense forests, reed marshes and other places. Once the Ming army pursued and fell into the ambush, their ambush troops would rush into the Ming army's formation, killing the Ming army by surprise and defeating them.
This trick has been tried and tested and often succeeds.
Of course, sometimes when the battle went well, they would pretend to retreat, lure the Ming army to pursue them, and take the opportunity to ambush them.
In short, retreat, ambush... this is the old tradition of the Japanese pirates.
Hearing Xu Hai's words, Chen Dong and Ma Ye smiled at each other, "Hahaha, we have just told our subordinates to relax on the outside but tighten on the inside, and leave some loopholes when retreating, to see if we can lure the Ming army out of the city to pursue us. The elite troops have also been selected, but it's not 500 people, but 800 people."
Hearing this, Xu Hai couldn't help but burst into laughter. "Great! Great! The ones who know me well are Brother Chen and Brother Ma! Since Brother Chen and Brother Ma have each picked 800 elite soldiers, then 800. I will also pick 800 elite soldiers!"
"If the Ming army dares to chase us, we will make them pay the price." Chen Dong and Ma Ye said confidently.
"Leave?! Now that you're here, don't even think about leaving! I'm going to let them die here!" Xu Hai said gritting his teeth.
The defeat in Suzhou caused his reputation to decline greatly, and his momentum of taking off was almost interrupted. He wished he could massacre the entire city of Suzhou to vent his anger, especially that kid named Zhu, he wished he could cut him into pieces!
When the Japanese pirates were packing up their belongings and preparing to retreat, the Zhejiang troops in Suzhou City had already had breakfast and were recuperating in the tents set up at the foot of the city.
The 893 conscripted mules and horses were eating grass and drinking salt water at the foot of the city. The grass was mixed with fine grains and beans to replenish the energy of the mules and horses and improve their endurance and endurance.
Originally, only more than 400 mules and horses were requisitioned, and more than 400 good horses were forcibly requisitioned from the defenders in the city. A total of 893 mules and horses were requisitioned, all of which had been ridden by people and could be ridden right away.
Zhu Ping'an selected 893 Zhejiang soldiers who were good at riding horses according to the number of mules and horses, and they would follow him out of the city to see off the pirates. The rest of the Zhejiang soldiers stayed in the city to assist in defense in case of any accidents.
"Zihou, think again." Prefect Shang was still worried about Zhu Ping'an leaving the city.
"Don't worry, Lord Shang. I plan before I act. I have made arrangements long before entering the city."
Zhu Pingan smiled confidently.
Seeing that Zhu Ping'an insisted, Prefect Shang had no choice but to remind Zhu Ping'an to be careful in everything and to ride away if he found anything wrong. Safety was the top priority.
Zhu Ping'an naturally agreed.
After seeing off the worried prefect Shang, Zhu Ping'an instructed the remaining Zhejiang troops to wake him up in two quarters of an hour, or half an hour, regardless of whether the Japanese pirates had broken camp and set off.
Then, Zhu Ping'an went into the general's tent, put on his clothes and lay down to conserve his energy. He had to take a short nap to maintain his energy.
Having not slept the previous night, Zhu Ping'an quickly fell into a deep sleep after lying down.
After Zhu Ping'an and his men went to bed, the Japanese pirates were still packing up their tents and belongings. They had no organization or discipline, so the packing was slow and messy.
Two quarters of an hour later, Zhu Ping'an was awakened by the Zhejiang troops who stayed behind.
Zhu Ping'an walked out of the general's tent and stretched. It was good to be young. He had not slept all night last night. Now he had only slept for fifteen minutes. All the fatigue in his body disappeared and he was full of energy again.
"Have the Japanese pirates withdrawn their camp?" Zhu Ping'an asked.
"My lord, the Japanese pirates have not yet withdrawn their camp, and they haven't finished cleaning up the mess yet," the Zhejiang Army soldier replied.
It's really slow...
Zhu Ping'an curled the corners of his mouth, unable to complain about the Japanese pirates' organization and discipline.
"Sir, do you want to wake them up?"
The Zhejiang Army soldier pointed to a row of tents and asked, lying inside were the Zhejiang Army soldiers who were going to leave the city with Zhu Ping'an this time.
"No, let them sleep a little longer. It won't be too late to wake them up after the Japanese pirates break camp and set off."
Zhu Ping'an shook his head, walked up the stairs, and slowly walked onto the city wall.
By this time, the sun was already high in the sky, and the Japanese pirates outside the city had almost packed up their things. All that was left was to load food and supplies onto the carts.
The Japanese pirates also began to gather. The huge crowds of them were lined up in disorderly queues.
It can be vaguely seen that the Japanese pirates are gathering in three formations.
During the siege, they also learned the inside story of the Japanese pirates. The Japanese pirates were originally a loose alliance of four Japanese chieftains who had no leadership over each other, namely Xu Hai, Ma Ye, Chen Dong and Bei Tiao Michisan, among whom Xu Hai was the most powerful.
On the first day, in the battle in front of Fengqiao camp, the Japanese chieftain Hojo Michisan was killed in the explosion, and the Japanese pirates under his command were annexed by Xu Hai and his men.
There are only three groups of Japanese pirates left.
Today, it is understandable that the Japanese pirates have gathered into three formations.