Chapter 272 Coastal Japanese Trouble

Zhejiang,

Shaoxing Prefecture.

Shaoxing Prefecture, which was once bustling with people, is now closed, and the city walls are filled with patrolling soldiers.

There seemed to be a tense atmosphere in the air.

The reason for this is that recently, a large number of Japanese pirates have appeared in many places in Zhejiang, plundering cities in various places.

Not only Zhejiang, but also coastal areas were harassed by Japanese pirates.

Unlike in the past, when there were only a few groups of Japanese pirates, the number of Japanese pirates attacking the coast this time was extremely large, totaling tens of thousands.

Although these Japanese pirates were scattered everywhere, they still caused great trouble to various places.

Three counties and four towns under the jurisdiction of Shaoxing Prefecture have been robbed.

Three days ago, the city of Shaoxing was attacked by 2,000 Japanese pirates. The prefect of Shaoxing was killed, and a member of the Imperial Guard was killed in battle.

Although there were only two thousand Japanese pirates, these two thousand Japanese pirates were extremely skilled in martial arts and extremely powerful. With the combat effectiveness of the local soldiers in Shaoxing Prefecture, it was simply difficult to resist them.

These Japanese pirates are no longer ordinary bandits and pirates, but samurai from Japan. They are all a group of warriors.

Faced with a group of teams with extremely high mobility and extraordinary individual combat effectiveness, how can ordinary soldiers resist?

In fact, for the people of Shaoxing Prefecture, they are no strangers to Japanese pirates.

But since Qi Jiguang quelled the Japanese invasion, there have been very few Japanese pirates landing, let alone plundering the city in such an open and honest manner.

The sudden attack by Japanese pirates caught all the coastal prefectures off guard.

A middle-aged man wearing armor walked up the city wall. He looked to be in his forties and had a new scar on his face.

Seeing the visitor, the soldiers around them all saluted: "Sir."

The person who came was none other than the Shaoxing Guard's Qianhu Office, Qianhu Lu'an.

Three days ago, Japanese pirates attacked Shaoxing Prefecture. Lu An led his troops to rescue them, and the Japanese pirates were briefly driven away.

Since the Japanese pirates invaded Shaoxing, the Shaoxing Guard and the Shaoxing Prefecture sent troops to various places to suppress them, but the entire Shaoxing Guard only numbered five thousand soldiers.

The number of Jinyi guards in the entire Shaoxing Prefecture is less than two thousand.

These Japanese pirates were extremely cunning and did not choose to fight head-on. Instead, they dispersed into various places, burned, killed and looted villages and towns, forcing each place to deploy troops for rescue.

But in the face of the roving Japanese pirates, these people are completely useless.

The Jinyi guards in Fucheng, Shaoxing Prefecture were lured away, while the Japanese pirates gathered in secret and turned to attack Shaoxing Prefecture.

If Lu An hadn't led his troops in time, Shaoxing Prefecture might have been occupied by Japanese pirates.

Lu An stretched out his hand to support the wall and stamped on it, looking into the distance with a trace of sadness on his brow.

"grown ups."

A man from a household on the side stepped forward and said in a deep voice: "The three-day period has arrived, and our reinforcements have not arrived yet. It may be difficult for us to hold it alone."

Three days ago, before leaving, the Japanese pirates made harsh words and told them to hand over 500,000 taels, otherwise they would break into the city and massacre them. Now that the three-day deadline has come, there are no reinforcements.

I don't know if the reinforcements were blocked or if the person sent to deliver the message had an accident.

Lu An looked back at him and said coldly: "You have to defend even if you can't!"

"When Japanese pirates enter the city, all the people in the city will suffer."

The hundreds of households on the side were about to speak but stopped.

Including the government troops in the city, they were only two thousand people.

But with the passage of time, he knew very well what kind of fighting prowess his brothers had.

On the other hand, those Japanese pirates were not only ruthless in character, but also extremely strong in individual combat.

They were able to push back the Japanese pirates three days ago solely because of their numerical superiority. Even so, hundreds of people were killed or injured.

Less than a hundred Japanese pirates came that day.

If we come back today, it will definitely be an army of Japanese pirates.

Just then, a puff of smoke and dust rose up on the distant horizon.

From the smoke, several fierce horses ran out, and behind them, there were densely packed Japanese pirates, running fast.

Baihu's pupils shrank and he exclaimed in surprise: "It's a Japanese pirate!"

Lu An quietly clenched his hands, looked into the distance with a solemn expression, and shouted coldly: "Be alert!"

His face was extremely solemn.

Looking at the number of Japanese pirates, they must be at least more than 3,000.

Although they hate to admit it, facing such a large number of Japanese pirates, their chances of winning may not be great.

According to the recent news received, this group of Japanese pirates are definitely not pirates and ronin, but more like real Japanese warriors.

Of course, there are also some pirates and pirates among them, otherwise there would not be such a huge momentum.

To deal with these Japanese pirates, they often have to spend several times their troops, and now the defenders of Shaoxing Prefecture...

Lu An was not optimistic.

A group of Japanese pirates rushed to the city, but they did not rush to attack, but stood outside the range of their bows and arrows.

A Japanese pirate leader wearing red armor rode out, looked at the top of the city wall, and said with a ferocious smile: "Are you ready with all your money?"

Hearing this, Lu An shouted coldly with murderous intent on his face: "Japanese traitor!"

"My imperial army is approaching. I advise you to dismount and surrender as soon as possible to avoid losing your head."

Although he was worried in his heart, he knew that as a general, he must not show it.

Morale is already low. If he shows signs of cowardice again, the soldiers may lose their will to fight.

"Ha ha!"

"Are you waiting for reinforcements?"

"I will tell you, no need to wait, they are all dead."

Xiaozhutengshan waved his hand with a ferocious smile, and a Japanese pirate behind him stepped forward, holding a blood-stained package in his hand.

Xiaozhu Tengshan took the package, opened it casually, and took out a blood-stained head. He laughed and said, "This should be the general of our Ming army, right?"

"Ha ha!"

"He was so vulnerable that I personally cut off his head."

Lu An's eyes instantly turned red and he said angrily: "Japanese pirate, I'll kill you!"

The owner of the bleeding head is none other than his superior, Shaoxing Guard Commander Xu Zhengyu.

He was able to serve as Qianhu thanks to the promotion of his old boss.

Just a few days ago, they were drinking together and discussing the court's preparations for the establishment of a navy.

As officers, they naturally have higher knowledge than those big-headed soldiers.

General Qi's reputation is unknown to everyone in this coastal area.

As the imperial court prepares to build a navy, soldiers and generals from various coastal garrison stations can sign up to participate. If they can join, they will definitely have the opportunity to serve the imperial court with meritorious services.

The deterioration of the military system of the Ming Dynasty Guards is a general trend that cannot be changed by a few people, but there is no shortage of people in the army who are eager to serve the country.

The main reason is that more people are focused on Qi Jiguang's reputation.

Lu An was one of them. This boss even wrote a letter in person and wrote a letter of introduction for him.

Lu An stared at Xiaozhutengshan with his eyes extremely cold.

"Ha ha!"

Seeing Lu An's angry look, Xiaozhu Tengshan laughed louder and louder. He suddenly pulled out the Japanese sword from his waist and shouted: "Open the city gate obediently and spare your lives. Otherwise, when the general breaks through the city gate, no chickens or dogs will be spared."

!”

For a moment, many soldiers showed fear.

After all, they are local guardsmen and cannot be compared with the soldiers and horses in Liaodong and the important towns in Jiubian.

Lu An's face suddenly darkened.

It would be okay if Commander Xu was fine, but now that Commander Xu is killed in battle, the soldiers may have even less will to fight.

Xiao Zhutengshan then waved his hand again, and a group of Japanese pirates behind him escorted a group of ragged common people forward.

"Help!"

"Help!"

All the people shouted loudly with fear on their faces.

"brute!"
To be continued...