Chapter 155 154 Pursuit

"I'll leave with your uncle tomorrow morning, take the troops of the rear army to Pengze, pick up the troops of the right army and go directly to Nanjing."

While Wei Guangde was thinking, Wei Meng said, "The family is in your hands."

Wei Guangde suddenly raised his head and looked at his father. He had never told him about the decision of the Commander-in-Chief's Office before, but he didn't expect it to be this.

"Dad, are you the pacification officer?"

Wei Guangde couldn't help but say.

"Yes, on the battlefield, those who dare to escape will be executed on the spot."

Wei's father pretended to be indifferent.

"Dad, I'll go with you. As the saying goes, brothers fight tigers together, and fathers and sons fight in battle. You and your elder brother have both gone up, and it's boring for me to stay behind."

Seeing his father frowning and staring at him fiercely, Wei Guangde hurriedly added: 'I will follow the army and won't take risks.

I guess that the Japanese invasion in Jiangnan is so serious. This time, the imperial examination and the palace examination may require a policy paper on how to suppress the Japanese. If you walk around the battlefield, you will be more likely to stand out. ’

Wei Guangde knew what his father cared about, which was naturally the imperial examination.

As Wei Guangde finished speaking, Wei's father's brows relaxed and he seemed to be thinking about something.

"Let's talk about it tomorrow morning."

After a long time, Wei's father finally said this. He neither agreed to Wei Guangde's proposal nor denied it. He probably wanted to discuss it with his mother.

As for following the large group of people to eliminate the Japanese pirates, it is not dangerous. The Japanese pirates are probably now frightened and have no intention of fighting the government troops. They just want to escape.

But Wei Guangde is very concerned. Last time, it was his father who went to fight the Japanese pirates. This time, his elder brother is going too, so he should follow and just follow the large group to see what the situation on the battlefield is.

Wei Guangde didn't think he could be a famous general. When Wei's father asked him questions, Wei Guangde thought that this group of Japanese pirates was not easy to fight because their whereabouts were too erratic.

If they really had to face each other head-on, the right army had fought against the Japanese pirates before, and the two hundred soldiers were easily defeated.

After returning to his yard, Wei Guangde asked Zhang Ji to take out his armor.

Yes, Wei Guangde also prepared a set of armor for himself, but it was not iron armor or leather armor, but the cotton armor worn by ordinary soldiers.

Wei Guangde's shirt was also thought of after wearing cotton armor. The double-breasted mandarin duck battle jacket was much better than the one issued to ordinary soldiers, with more iron pieces in the inner layer and sufficient cotton.

Zhang Ji took out the folded battle jacket from the cabinet, still wondering what happened to the young master, and he wanted this thing in the middle of the night.

"Help me put it on."

Wei Guangde, who was dressed quickly, walked back and forth in the room a few times.

However, due to the weather, it felt a little hot to wear this at this time for a long time.

As for what Wei Guangde looks like when he wears this outfit?

In fact, it is similar to the armor of the Eight Banners soldiers in the pigtail dramas that Wei Guangde has seen in later generations. It looks wide when people wear it.

"Cape."

Wei Guangde remembered that he and Zhang Hongfu had gone to the armory, and they each took a cape out of it.

Strictly speaking, this cape is actually half-length, mainly because when riding a horse, the cape is too long to get in the way of the horse's feet.

To be honest, the two of them were wearing battle jackets and capes and riding horses outside Jiujiang City, which was indeed quite impressive.

Perhaps because Wei Guangde said that pacifying the Japanese might be a question for the joint examination or the palace examination, Wei's mother seemed to agree to let Wei Guangde go with her, but she repeatedly told Wei Guangde to follow his father and take care of him.

At 12:00 on the second day, Wei Guangde asked Zhang Ji to carry the bag and followed his father out of the house, heading directly to the Jiujiang wharf.

Before, after Father Wei decided to take Wei Guangde to see the battlefield, he sent someone to inform Wu Zhankui, who was the commander of this group of people as the deputy commander.

At the dock, Wei Guangde was surprised to see Zhang Hongfu, and the followers behind him were also carrying luggage, as if they were going out.

The two of them soon stood together and talked. When Wei Guangde learned that Zhang Hongfu was also going to see the battlefield behind his uncle, he was a little speechless.

It seems that Jiujiang Guards should have made up their minds to work without exerting effort this time, otherwise they would not let him and Zhang Hongfu go with them, and it is no wonder that his father was so easy to talk to.

Zhang Hongfu is destined to inherit the position of deputy commander, and it is also good for him to get in touch with him earlier.

More importantly, he has no military position now. To put it bluntly, if the wind direction on the battlefield is not right, he will run away immediately, and no one can find a fault.

Behind him are a dozen strong men, who are obviously the best among the Zhang family's personal soldiers. They should be the guards who protect his safety at any time.

The Wei family used to have twelve personal soldiers, four of whom stayed with the eldest brother in Bengshanbao. This time, Wei's mother wanted them all to go, but Wei's father still disagreed.

Only six were taken away, leaving two to guard the house.

Two of them who had followed Wei Guangde to Jiangxi before were also sent to his side as personal guards.

Soon, the two teams of troops led by the rear army Qianhusuo and the general flag led by Wei Meng boarded the ship, with a total of more than 300 people, but there were also several empty boats accompanying them, which were going to Pengze to pick up the right army.

There was no conversation along the way. After the fleet set off, it arrived in Pengze in the afternoon. After a night's rest, more than 500 people boarded the ship again. At the same time, Wei Guangde's sister-in-law and cousin's wife took a fast boat to Jiujiang.

All the men in the family went to the front line, and the women were arranged to go back.

I haven't seen my eldest brother for more than half a year. He is the same as I saw during the New Year. There is no change.

The four of them got together and chatted again. Cousin Wu Dong envied Wei Guangde for passing the imperial examination and was also curious about why Wei Guangde and Zhang Hongfu followed him to the battle.

In two days, the fleet passed Anqing and received the latest news on the way. The Japanese pirates broke through Moling Pass and were now heading straight for Lishui.

Wei Guangde followed his uncle and father into the cabin and saw the news.

The Moling Pass defenders collapsed without a fight and failed to block the Japanese pirates' escape route.

This news was sent out the day before. Calculating the time, from when they received the news to when they sent the information, Wei Guangde probably had already fled south to Lishui.

Soon a map of Nanzhili was placed on the table, and his uncle and father began to ponder around the map.

As for whether they were considering how to eliminate this group of Japanese pirates or how to avoid this group of Japanese pirates, Wei Guangde was not sure. The latest order was for them to go ashore nearby and head straight to Liyang.

Wei Guangde leaned over to take a look. To the south of Liyang is Guangde, to the west is Yixing, and a little further away is Taihu Lake.

Are they planning to hide in Taihu Lake? Looking for an opportunity to escape inland?

Wei Guangde was thinking that the final outcome of this group of Japanese pirates was most likely to be annihilated, but it was not ruled out that the civil servants, for the sake of face, said that the Japanese pirates escaped and were completely annihilated.

To be honest, history is something that cannot be disbelieved or fully believed.

Wei Guangde did not speak. He was just waiting for the decision of his uncle and father, from which he could also know their final decision.

Wei Guangde did not believe that his father and uncle had not discussed the strategy to be adopted with Zhang Tongzhi. They must have had a plan. For Wei Guangde now, he could only wait and see how they discussed it.

At this time, cousin Wu Dong, Zhang Hongfu and eldest brother Wei Wencai also came over to look at the map on the table, while uncle and father were still discussing there. Only Zheng Yixiang, the captain of the rear army, sat aside as if it had nothing to do with him, and did not come up to look at the map.

Well, perhaps he had already discovered that everyone in this room was actually related, and he was the only one who was alone.

Although he had actually taken root in Jiujiang Guard like the Wu and Wei families, he had also long since surrendered to Zhang Tongzhi, a confidant, but he was not close to Wu Zhankui on weekdays.

Before coming, the Zhang family had already passed on a message to him to act according to Wu Zhankui's orders.

At this time, he simply stood up and walked to Wu Zhankui, "Commander, I will go out to see my men."

"Go, pay attention to comfort, don't make trouble at this time."

Wu Zhankui reminded him that Zheng Yixiang was a ruthless person, and he was notoriously cruel to his soldiers.

He had deducted half of the silver that had been issued for the expedition, and the soldiers of the rear army were quite dissatisfied with this.

After Zheng Yixiang left, not long after, he saw his uncle return to the table. Wei Wencai and Wu Dong consciously made way, and Wei Lao also followed and stood in front of the table.

"Keep going forward, enter Lishui from Wuhu, and go directly to Yixing. Maybe we can stop them. If they choose to go directly to Suzhou to meet the Japanese pirates in Tuolin, then there is nothing we can do. We can't catch up."

Wu Zhankui stretched out his finger and pointed at the black line marked as the Yangtze River. There was a small black circle in front, and Wuhu was marked next to it. There were also several black lines representing waterways.

"It is definitely impossible to block it. Moling Pass failed to stop the Japanese pirates. We are destined to chase them."

Wei Lao nodded after thinking about it and said that taking a boat to Lishui and landing there would indeed save a lot of distance.

As for whether they could catch up, it depends on God's will.

Yes, it is difficult for military officers to resist the temptation of military merit, especially if they can not only make merit but also have a big man behind them, so they are not afraid of their merit being embezzled.

In the office of the Command and Administration Department of Jiujiang Prefecture, Zhang Tongzhi called Zhang Shigui and Wu Zhankui together to discuss the pros and cons of this battle.

In fact, everyone with a discerning eye knows that this group of Japanese pirates is already a frightened bird, but no one expected that they would be so bold as to really run to Nanjing City to commit suicide, and also swagger through the city in red clothes and yellow umbrellas. Isn't this forcing the court to kill them?

Let alone the elite, this group of people is elite, but they are already exhausted and have lost their spirit. It is the time to beat the dog when it is down.

After the two agreed, they naturally would not seek the opinions of others. Here, they represent the Command and Administration Department of the Guard and the will of Zhang Tongzhi.

Why are the front army the troops of the right army and the rear army thousand households? Isn't it because these two thousand households are Zhang Tongzhi's people, and the two thousand households have a mutual care.

Well, at this time, the Ming army had already had a precedent of selling out teammates, especially when suppressing the Japanese in Zhejiang before, and heard of many battles that only cared about themselves and ignored friendly forces.

The commanders of Jiujiang Guard were naturally good at learning, and they must not make such mistakes.

As for the solution, it was also easy to deal with, that is, to combine the troops that were mutually integrated, and it was not their own family that cared about whether they took care of others.

The fleet continued to go downstream, and soon turned into Lishui in Wuhu until the ship docked, and the army began to disembark in an orderly manner.

The place where they disembarked was called Guangtong Town, which belonged to Gaochun. When the Japanese pirates went to Nanjing City, they passed by its border, but did not stay here, so the Guangtong Town that Wei Guangde and his men saw when they disembarked was still the same.

Although the houses in the town were intact, there were few pedestrians on the street, which seemed very depressed.

Obviously, after the Japanese pirates' disturbance, the people in the town were already panic-stricken, and they dared not go out for no reason.

Now, many doors or windows of houses near the dock are slightly open, and it is obvious that the owners are peeking at their group of government troops from behind the door.

Thanks to the trip to Zhejiang to suppress the Japanese two years ago, when they passed by Nanjing City on their way back, the Ministry of War allocated a set of mandarin duck battle jackets to each person.

After the military households found that this batch of battle jackets were high-quality goods, not the inferior goods usually distributed, they chose to keep them at home. Who knows when they will go to the battlefield again? With a better cotton armor, the chance of saving their lives will be a little greater.

Wu Dong and others naturally would not object to the military households taking off the new battle jackets and putting on the original tattered clothes. Their ideas are actually the same as those of their soldiers.

For this battle, the military households naturally took out the battle jackets and put them on, which also made them feel more secure.

However, at this time, the appearance of such an army still affected the people in the town.

Not long after, the head of the village and the head of the armor came to contact.

In fact, when they saw this Ming army, they also guessed that it was a large army coming to suppress the Japanese.

Looking at their attire, it was very different from the Ming army I had seen before.

Soon, the head of the village and the head of the Jia organized some meat to be delivered. It was not much, just enough for one meal, but it was good.

When the soldiers started to cook, Wu Zhankui was asking the head of the village about the situation.

"There should be a canal here that leads directly to Liyang on the map, but we didn't see it along the way. What happened?"

"Sir, that's old news. There used to be a Liyang canal here, and it did lead to Liyang, but I haven't seen that canal. It couldn't be used because of the accumulation of silt. It was abandoned after a long time."

"Is it fifty miles from Liyang?"

"About that."

As the conversation went on, Wu Zhankui didn't get much information. After all, in this day and age, ordinary people couldn't go out more than a few dozen miles, so they naturally didn't know the surroundings.

"Set off immediately."

After asking for the direction, Wu Zhankui didn't plan to drag his feet.

Although this battle could be fought or not, it was indeed an opportunity to make merit.

Since it is possible to take it, we should fight for it.

"Let's go to Liyang first to see if the Japanese pirates have left. Anyway, our goal is to chase them to Yixing. If we can't stop them, forget it."

Wu Zhankui said to Zheng Yixiang and Wu Dong. They were the captains of the army. They were the main force in the pursuit of the Japanese pirates. Naturally, the order should be given to them, even though Wu Dong was his son.

"Yes, sir."

Both of them followed the rules of the army and accepted the order respectfully.

The two left and returned to their respective troops to prepare for departure. However, after Zheng Yixiang turned around and left, he had no idea that a pair of eyes were staring at him from behind.