Chapter 155 154 Pursuit

"I will set off early tomorrow with your uncle, taking the troops from Qianhu Station of the Rear Army to Pengze, pick up the troops from Qianhu Station of the Right Army and go directly to Nanjing."

While Wei Guangde was thinking, Wei Meng said again, "I'll leave the family to you."

Wei Guangde suddenly raised his head and looked at his father. He had never mentioned the Commander's decision before, but he did not expect it to be this.

"Dad, are you Zhen Fu?"

Wei Guangde couldn't help but say.

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

Father Wei said pretending not to care.

"Dad, let me go with you. As the saying goes, brothers fight tigers, and father and son go into battle. You and your eldest brother are both up there. I have no interest in being behind."

Seeing his father's brows furrowed and his eyes staring fiercely at him, Wei Guangde hurriedly added: 'I will just follow the army and I won't be in danger.

I estimate that the Japanese invasion in the south of the Yangtze River is so serious. In this military and palace examinations, we may have to come up with strategies to quell the Japanese. If we take a walk around the battlefield, we will be able to speak more clearly when the time comes, and it will be easier for us to shine.'

Wei Guangde knew what his father cared about, and it was of course the imperial examination.

As Wei Guangde finished speaking, Mr. Wei's brows relaxed and he looked thoughtful.

"Let's talk tomorrow morning."

It took a long time before Mr. Wei could hold back his words. He neither agreed nor denied Wei Guangde's proposal. He probably wanted to discuss it with his mother.

It is not dangerous to follow a large group of troops to exterminate the Japanese pirates. The Japanese pirates are probably frightened by now and have no intention of fighting with the officers and soldiers. They only want to escape for their lives.

However, Wei Guangde was very concerned. Last time, his father and the others went to fight the Japanese pirates. This time, his eldest brother also wanted to go, so he should follow him and just stay behind the brigade to see what the battlefield was like.

Wei Guangde didn't think he could become a famous general. When Father Wei asked him questions before, Wei Guangde thought that these Japanese pirates were difficult to fight and their whereabouts were too erratic.

If they really had to face them head-on, it's not like the Right Army had never fought Japanese pirates before, so even the two hundred men were easily defeated.

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

Yes, Wei Guangde also prepared a suit 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 war jacket is just much better than the ones issued by ordinary sergeants. There are more iron sheets in the inner layer and the cotton used is sufficient.

Zhang Ji took out the folded war jacket from the cabinet and was still wondering what happened to the young master. He wanted this thing so late at night.

"Help me put it on."

Wei Guangde quickly dressed and walked around the room several times.

However, due to the weather, wearing this outfit at this time makes me feel a little hot after a long time.

As for Wei Guangde’s clothes, what does he look like?

In fact, it is similar to the armor of the Eight Banners soldiers in the braided drama that Wei Guangde saw in later generations. It looks wider when people wear it.

"cloak."

Wei Guangde remembered that he and Zhang Hongfu had been to the arsenal, and they each took a cloak out of it.

Strictly speaking, this cloak is actually half-length, mainly because the cloak has long legs due to riding horses.

To be honest, the two of them, wearing battle jackets and cloaks, were racing horses outside Jiujiang City. It was indeed quite impressive.

Perhaps it was because Wei Guangde said that the Japanese match might be a question for the general examination and the imperial examination. Wei's mother seemed to agree to let Wei Guangde follow him to take a look, but she repeatedly asked Wei Guangde to follow his father and take care of things.

At the end of the second day, Wei Guangde asked Zhang Ji to carry the baggage and followed his father out the door, heading directly to Jiujiang Pier.

Previously, after Father Wei decided to take Wei Guangde to see the battlefield, he sent someone to inform Wu Zhankui. As the commander, he was also the commander of this group of troops.

On the dock, Wei Guangde was surprised to see Zhang Hongfu. The entourage behind him was also carrying luggage and seemed to be going out.

The two people soon stood together and started talking. When he learned that Zhang Hongfu was going to follow his uncle to see the battlefield, Wei Guangde was a little speechless.

It seems that during this expedition, Jiujiang Wei must have made up his mind not to work hard, otherwise he and Zhang Hongfu would not be allowed to go with him. No wonder his father is so easy to talk to.

Zhang Hongfu is destined to take on the position of commanding officials, so it would be good for him to get in touch with him as soon as possible.

What's more important is that now he doesn't have a military position, and no one can fault him for running away immediately if the wind blows in the wrong direction on the battlefield.

Behind him were a dozen strong and powerful men, all of whom were obviously selected from the Zhang family's personal soldiers and should be his bodyguards to protect him at all times.

The Wei family used to have twelve soldiers, four of whom stayed with the eldest brother in Bengshan Fort. This time, Wei's mother wanted to let them all go, but Father Wei still didn't agree.

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

Two of them, who had traveled with Wei Guangde in Jiangxi before, were also sent to his side as personal bodyguards.

Soon, two teams of troops from the general banner led by Qianhusuo of the Hou Army and Wei Meng boarded the ship, totaling more than 300 people. However, there were also a few empty boats accompanying them, which were going to Pengze to pick up the right army.

There was no conversation all the way. After the fleet set off, they 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 her cousin took a fast boat to Jiujiang.

All the men in the family have gone to the front line, and all the female relatives have been sent back.

I haven’t seen my eldest brother for more than half a year. It’s the same as when I saw him during the Chinese New Year. There is no change.

The four of them got together and chatted again. Cousin Wu Dong was very envious of Wei Guangde for passing the examination, and was also very curious about what Wei Guangde and Zhang Hongfu were going to do this time.

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

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

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

This newspaper was sent out the day before yesterday. Counting the time between when they received the news and when it was sent out, Wei Guangde estimated that by this time, he might have escaped south across Lishui.

Soon a map of Southern Zhili was placed on the table, and my uncle and dad gathered around the map and began to ponder it.

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 as close as possible and go straight to Liyang.

Wei Guangde went over and took a look. To the south of Liyang was Guangde, to the west was Yixing, and a little further past was Taihu Lake.

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

Wei Guangde calculated in his mind that the final outcome of this group of Japanese pirates would most likely be to be wiped out, but it was not ruled out that the civil servants would describe the Japanese pirates' escape as annihilation for the sake of face.

History is something that, to be honest, cannot be disbelieved, nor can it be fully believed.

Wei Guangde didn't say anything. He was just waiting for his uncle and father's decision, so that he could know their final decision.

Wei Guangde did not believe that his father and uncle had not discussed the strategy 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 their uncle and father were still discussing there, and only Zheng Yixiang, the Thousand Households of the Rear Army, seemed to have nothing to do with them.

I sat aside and didn't come up to look at the map.

Well, maybe he has discovered a long time ago that all the people in this room are actually related to each other, and he is the only one living alone.

Although he, like the Wu family and the Wei family, has long been rooted in Jiujiang Wei, he has also taken refuge with Zhang Tongzhi a long time ago. He is a close confidant, but he is not close to Wu Zhankui on weekdays.

Before coming, the Zhang family had already given him a message to act in accordance with Wu Zhankui's orders.

At this time, he simply stood up and walked to Wu Zhankui, "Command your lord, please go out and see your son."

"Go, be careful to comfort him, and don't cause trouble at this time."

Wu Zhankui warned that Zheng Yixiang was ruthless and was notoriously cruel to his soldiers.

Half of the money he had given for the expedition was taken away by him, and the soldiers at Qianhu Station in the rear army were quite dissatisfied with this.

After Zheng Yixiang left, not long after, he saw his uncle returning to the table. Wei Wencai and Wu Dong consciously gave way to their seats. At this time, Mr. Wei followed behind and stood in front of the table.

"Continue to move forward, enter Lishui from Wuhu, and go directly to Yixing. Maybe we can block them. If they choose to go straight to Suzhou to expand the Japanese pirates' forest, there will be no way. We can't catch up."

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

"The blockade is definitely not going to stop them. Moling Pass failed to stop the Japanese pirates, so we are destined to have no choice but to chase them."

Father Wei thought about it and nodded and said, take the boat straight to Lishui and disembark from there, which will indeed save you a lot of walking.

As for whether he can catch up or not, that depends on God's will.

Yes, it is difficult for a military attache to resist the temptation of meritorious service, especially if he can perform meritorious service and has a big shot behind him, so he is not afraid of his merit being taken away from him.

In the Jiujiang Prefecture's Si Yamen, 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 are already frightened, but no one expected that they would be bold enough to actually go to Nanjing City to commit suicide, and even swagger through the city in red clothes and yellow caps. Isn't this forcing the court to kill them?

Not to mention elite, this group of people is indeed elite, but they are already exhausted and have lost all their energy. It is the time to beat up the lost dog.

After the two reached an agreement, they naturally did not seek other people's opinions. Here, they represented the Wei Commander Division and Zhang Tongzhi's will.

Why did the front army belong to the right army and the rear army's Qianhu Station? Isn't it because these two thousand households were Zhang Tongzhi's people, and the two thousand households had to take care of each other.

Well, at this time, the Ming army already had a precedent of betraying teammates. Especially when they were suppressing Japanese invaders in Zhejiang, they had heard of many examples of soldiers who only cared about themselves and ignored their friendly forces.

The commanders of Jiujiang Guard are naturally good at learning, and they must not make such a mistake.

As for the solution, it's easy to do, that is, to combine people and horses who are integrated into each other. You can't control whether you take care of your own family or not.

The fleet continued to go down the river, and soon turned around Wuhu and entered Lishui until the ships 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 they did not stay here. Therefore, when Wei Guangde and others disembarked, everything in Guangtong Town was the same as before.

Although the houses in the town are in good condition, there are few pedestrians on the streets and it looks very depressed.
To be continued...