Chapter 1971 Morale surges
Tongxiang County is located southwest of Jiaxing Prefecture and adjacent to Hangzhou Prefecture.
At this time, a high platform was raised outside the city gate. Under the high platform, two to three thousand people stood densely, forming three distinct camps.
One camp is for the guards, there are about a thousand people, less than 30% are young and strong, the rest are the old, weak, sick and disabled, they are from Hangzhou Wei; the other camp is for the common people, about 100% are young and strong. There are more than a thousand people; there is another camp with only about 500 people, all dressed like servants, but one hundred of them are extremely tough and exude murderous aura, while the remaining servants are as lazy as stragglers.
There was a high platform in front of them. On the high platform, Zhao Chong, the prefect of Jiaxing, was looking at them complacently.
"I know there are many rumors about me, saying that I, Zhao Chong, am an incompetent fool who caused the fall of Jiaxing."
"Of course, there are also rumors that I am Zhao Mingcheng's second best in the Japanese siege. At that time, he abandoned the city and fled."
"There are even incredible rumors that I, Zhao Chong, surrendered to the Japanese pirates and was a traitor and a thief. I would like to give it to the Japanese pirates”
“Hahahaha, nonsense, pure nonsense, these rumors are self-defeating in the face of the truth!”
The prefect of Jiaxing stood on the high platform, heartbroken. He listed several "rumors" about him that have been circulating for a long time and cursed them as nonsense. His spittle flew everywhere like rain.
Everyone in the audience was buzzing. The person on the stage was the prefect. They did not dare to slander and refute in person, but they still had a strong feeling in their hearts. Forty thousand Japanese pirates attacked Suzhou, but they were almost wiped out by Zhu Ping of Suzhou. In the end, only more than four hundred people escaped. Japanese, and these more than 400 remnant Japanese attacked Jiaxing, but they captured Jiaxing City in one fell swoop. However, Jiaxing fell, but you did not live or die with Jiaxing, and escaped from the city with Lu Sheng.
In this comparison, if you, the prefect of Jiaxing, are not stupid, who is? ! If you didn't abandon the city and flee, who would abandon the city and flee? !
Of course, they did not dare to say these words to Magistrate Zhao’s face, they only dared to whisper a few words below.
Zhao Chong naturally noticed the reaction of the people in the audience, and in order to save his respect, he continued to tell lies.
“Those Japanese pirates are not ordinary Japanese pirates. Of the more than 40,000 Japanese pirates who attacked Suzhou, why were they the only ones to escape? It’s because they are the elite among the elite Japanese pirates, and each one of them is a warrior level. ”
"Do you know that dozens of Japanese pirates landed in Shaoxing half a year ago, burned, killed and looted all the way, attacked cities and villages, fought for more than a thousand miles, defeated officers and soldiers, and finally reached Yingtian City to show off their power?!"
"Each of these more than 400 Japanese pirates are at the same level as the dozens of Japanese pirates who show off their power under Yingtian City! Each of them is one for a hundred, catching arrows with his bare hands, invulnerable to weapons and weapons, charging into the formation, and heading towards everything. Invincible!"
"Suzhou Mansion and Mr. Zhu Ping'an, why did they destroy more than 40,000 Japanese pirates, but they could not do anything to these more than 400 Japanese pirates and could only watch them walk away? , because these Japanese pirates are so powerful, Suzhou Mansion and Master Zhu Ping'an are no match for them, and they can't do anything about them!"
"Dozens of Japanese pirates of this level can be defeated! After fighting for thousands of miles and defeating several cities, more than 400 Japanese pirates of this level raided Jiaxing that day! It's so annoying that I didn't know this information in advance, and Suzhou didn't inform us of it! The intelligence did not even inform us that there were Japanese pirates escaping to Jiaxing. This caused us in Jiaxing to be caught off guard and attacked by the Japanese pirates. We missed the first move and made one mistake every step. Although we were not afraid of sacrifice. , resisted bravely, but Jiaxing City still fell."
"After the fall of Jiaxing, I personally led my personal guards to kill more than ten Japanese pirates, broke out of the siege, and asked Governor Li Tianchong for help. We wanted to take advantage of the Japanese pirates' unstable foothold and lead reinforcements to kill them. But, no, not only did we not get the reinforcements, we were also imprisoned, and we missed the opportunity to recapture Jiaxing."
The prefect of Jiaxing was on the high platform, spattering excuses for the fall of Jiaxing, saying how powerful the Japanese pirates were and how heroic he resisted. It was all his fault that Suzhou did not inform them, and it was all his fault that the governor Li Tianchong not only failed to send him reinforcements, but also had him executed. Dalao, what he said was so sincere
He almost believed it himself.
It’s just that a lie is a lie after all. A lie is at least a thousand miles away from the truth.
"Why was there no notice? That night Suzhou sent people to shout to be careful about the Japanese pirates, and our village heard it."
"Zhifu Zhao seemed to be at his private residence in Hangzhou. He must have been arrested. When did he go to Governor Li for help?"
"This is not an explanation, it is clearly a cover-up."
Everyone in the audience did not buy Magistrate Zhao's explanation at all, and murmured and sneered in the audience.
"Okay, I know many people still don't believe me, it doesn't matter, I will convince you with actions."
Zhifu Zhao saw that his explanation did not convince everyone, so he had to grit his teeth He used his special move and waved his hand in one direction.
Soon, two servants walked out from the direction where Magistrate Zhao waved, carrying a heavy wooden box.
"Open!"
Zhifu Zhao ordered them.
The two servants opened the wooden box in response, and saw a bright silver light inside the wooden box, which almost blinded everyone's eyes.
"There are three thousand taels of silver in this box. This silver was not paid by the court, but by me, Zhao Chong. My hometown is in Hangzhou, and there is a house in Hangzhou that has been passed down from my ancestors for more than a hundred years. , yesterday I made a quick move at a price of fifty taels lower than the market price, and got eight hundred Two taels of silver; I reluctantly sold the 100 acres of paddy fields in Hangzhou passed down by my ancestors at a low price. Each mu was originally worth 10 taels of silver. In order to sell it quickly, I sold it for 8 taels of silver per mu. Yesterday, I bravely borrowed more than a thousand taels of silver from friends and some squires, and scraped together this sum. Three thousand taels of silver.”
“Some of you are reinforcements I borrowed from Hangzhou Guards, some are young and strong people I recruited, some are servants of my house and servants borrowed from other houses. No matter what your status is, each of you can receive one tael of silver. This is Today’s reward! From now on, you can get one tael of silver every day. Don’t worry about me defaulting on the debt. There are still many valuable things passed down from my ancestors in my hometown. Even if I sell iron, I won’t owe you a tael of silver. If I owe you a debt, , just let me be struck by five thunders from the sky and I will not die.”
Magistrate Zhao kicked the silver box and made a promise to everyone.
Everyone was immediately excited,
It was one tael of silver a day.
How much money can they earn throughout the year?
Now one tael of silver a day is a sky-high price.
Immediately morale soared. (End of this chapter)