It's another year of saying goodbye to the old and welcoming the new. This is the first day of the Lunar New Year in the twelfth year of Ming orthodoxy.

In the city of Hangzhou, there is still the afterglow of the festival on the night of the Chinese New Year's Eve, and the smell of sulfur left over from firecrackers. Although the sky has not really brightened, many people have begun to get up and put on, that is the good man and woman who plan to rush to Lingyin Temple to take the first incense stick of this year.

As for those who do not believe in Buddhism, they are still in the warm bed, busy for a year, and they always have to rest well in the few days of this year's festival, and they no longer have to rush around for their livelihood, get up early and be greedy for darkness.

But their dreams were shattered by the sound of horses' hooves. The horse galloped from the still quiet street, leaving behind a wave of eagerness like a drumbeat, which made many people look surprised, what was the big thing, even on the morning of the first day of the new year, there was a fast horse galloping?

Several people who had already walked out of the house and came to the courtyard, by the faint morning light, were even more frightened - they saw that the man and the rider had a lot of blood on their bodies, and the knight on the horse looked even more shaky, as if he might fall from the horse at any time, obviously injured. And this person was wearing a big red mandarin duck battle jacket, which was the standard clothing of the officers and soldiers of the Daming Guard.

Is there some enemy attacking Zhejiang, or is there some rebellion somewhere? Those who are quick enough to make some conjectures at once, and the joy of the New Year is replaced by worry and uneasiness after the appearance of this man's ride.

When the knight rushed along the empty street to the front of the Zhejiang Commander's Envoy in the west of the city, he finally stopped, and the man on the horse fell directly from his horse because of inertia while pulling the reins.

Fortunately, this movement had already alarmed the people in the yamen, and the two guards on duty had already greeted him as soon as they saw him, so as soon as he fell off his horse, he was hugged by the two of them, and finally he was not hurt again. Still, the man's face showed a look of pain, and he groaned lowly.

It was only then that the two guards discovered that he had several wounds on his body, all caused by slashing with swords, the most serious of which had been stabbed in half, most of which were bloodstains on his body and on his horse. Seeing this, the faces of the two guards immediately became solemn: "Brother, where are you from, and where is the military report?" "This person didn't have a package on his back like a scout who usually transmits military information, and he didn't even have a weapon with him, which made them unable to see his identity and purpose at all.

The knight had already breathed a sigh of relief at this time, and said in a weak voice: "I am Pei Jie of Ningbo Weibaihu, something happened in Ningbo, ...... something happened in Ningbo" After saying this, he finally rushed with all his strength because of excessive blood loss, and he couldn't support it, and his hand only probed in his arms, and he fainted before he could take out something.

The two guards were even tighter, and hurriedly took out their hands in their arms, and took out a boxwood waist card, which was indeed engraved with the words Pei Jie of Ningbo Weibaihu.

A hundred households were seriously injured, and they rode all the way from Ningbo City to Hangzhou to report the news, what did the sentence behind the Ningbo accident mean, enough to make the two soldiers sweat on their foreheads in the early morning of the first day of the first lunar month.

Not daring to delay any longer, they immediately lifted Pei Jie and entered the yamen directly. Half an hour later, several fast horses rushed out of the door and galloped straight towards the city of Hangzhou. Pedestrians on the road avoided one after another, and a few people with some insight even recognized that the red-faced man at the beginning was actually the top boss of tens of thousands of officers and soldiers in Zhejiang, and Song Jianfei, the commander of Zhejiang!

Song Jianfei and his people soon came to the Yamen of the Zhejiang Political Envoy Division, and then without waiting for the guards in front of the door to pass through, he broke in directly. After a while, several more servants from the yamen hurried out and went straight to the nearby Hangzhou Mansion Yamen, Zhejiang Criminal Division, and other important yamen, and called the main officials of these yamen to the Yamen of the Political Envoy Department.

This series of actions made the atmosphere in Hangzhou suddenly become solemn, and the atmosphere of the festival was swept away, and everyone was talking about it, speculating about what kind of big things had happened, which could make these adults who were calm and calm in the past become so flustered and anxious.

It was also at this time that Lu Zhen learned that something had happened in the city.

He originally planned to leave for Suzhou today, but before he could leave, this series of changes occurred in the city. After a little inquiry, he found out that there seemed to be an urgent military situation sent, which made him muttered in his heart, I don't know what can happen here in Hangzhou during the New Year.

But since those adults were called by the political envoy Si Yamen, it was not good for him to leave as a government official and ignore it. So I had to put things aside for the time being, and took Lin Lie and them to the government to wait for news.

This is half a day. It wasn't until the afternoon that Hua Qianfeng turned back with a solemn face. This made those who knew him well feel a little nervous. Because this old man has no enterprising spirit, no matter how big things are, he can't seem to be nervous and careful, and only when things are closely related to his net worth and life, he will behave like this.

Seeing him turn around, Lu Jin, who had been waiting in his public hall for a long time, immediately greeted him: "My lord, what is going on?" Why did all the officials in the city be alarmed? ”

"Shansi, haven't you left Hangzhou yet?" Seeing Lu Zhen coming, Hua Qianfeng was obviously stunned, and then sighed again: "This time it's really a big deal." This year is unstable, and the city of Ningbo was actually captured by the Japanese invaders! ”

"What?" Lu Zhen couldn't help but shout. He didn't expect such an astonishing news to shock the whole city, and it was even more difficult to accept it.

At this time, although Ningbo City was not as rich and famous as later generations, it was only a coastal city, but it was also regarded as the top fortified city in Zhejiang. Even if it is not as easy to defend and difficult to attack as Hangzhou City, it is not something that can be captured by a mere Japanese robber.

You must know that at this time, the Japanese have not really become strong, and they have become a major scourge on the southeast coast of the Ming Dynasty, and they can kill the officers and soldiers of the local guard station without the power to resist. And although the officers and soldiers in Zhejiang are not good now, they are much stronger than in a few decades, and there is a strong city in Ningbo to defend, how can it be possible to let the Japanese invaders take the city?

Hua Qianfeng's whole face was wrinkled, and he sighed: "Actually, even the old man can't believe that this is true." Can...... Ningbo Wei Baihu risked his life to fight his way out of the encirclement, and the news brought back could not be fake.

According to him, this group of robbers was completely different from the rabble of their own people, a group of fierce and cunning fellows. On the night of the 27th day of the lunar month, they suddenly attacked Longshansuo and almost wiped out the garrison in it, and only a small number of them fled back to the city of Ningbo.

Subsequently, they broke into pieces before Ningbo City reacted, and burned and plundered at will in the territory of Fucheng. Obviously, they had local people as their guides, so they burned and killed all the way, and there was nothing wrong with it. In this way, the Ningbo garrison naturally could not sit idly by, and immediately dispatched troops and horses in and around the city to look for traces of the Japanese invaders. ”

Lu Zhen listened carefully, but his brows furrowed: "So, this is a conspiracy to divert the tiger from the mountain?" ”

Hua Qianfeng glanced at Lu Zhen with some appreciation, and then sighed and nodded: "Not bad." The generals of Ningbo Wei were completely unguarded, and still regarded them as ordinary wandering pirates, so they sent most of the garrisons in the city out. At the same time, because of the invasion of the Japanese pirates, the people of the surrounding towns fled into Ningbo City with their families. didn't think about it, but this happened to fall into their tricks, and it turned out that among the people who escaped the war, there were actually a lot of Japanese bandits. Moreover, the previous Japanese who seemed to be burning and looting everywhere also advanced purposefully, and when the officials and soldiers went out of the city to look for them, they had already approached Ningbo City. ”

"Divide the whole into zero, disguise yourself into the city, and then turn the zero into a whole, should the inside and the outside be combined?" Lu Zhen said softly his inference.

Hua Qianfeng nodded: "That's it, the city guards the emptiness, let the Wukou occupy the void, and the city gate was opened on Chinese New Year's Eve." Then the Japanese who had already been hiding under the city at night rushed in, and Ningbo City was lost.

"Although after the loss of the city, the officers and soldiers still insisted on resisting, but the result was ...... It was at this time that Pei Jie risked his life to go out of the city and rushed to Hangzhou to report the news. ”

After listening to the other party's story, Lu Zhen pondered for a moment before asking, "But what is their purpose?" The Japanese should know very well that even if they can really use their conspiracy to capture Ningbo for a while, they will not be able to hold it. As long as the local officers and soldiers quickly returned to help, how could a maximum of 1,000 Japanese soldiers be able to resist it? ”

"According to Na Pei Jie, this group of pirates must have come to save their chieftain. Some time ago, Ningbo Fucheng took a Japanese leader, and he planned to behead him after the year, but he didn't expect to cause such a disaster. ”

"My lord, what should we do in Hangzhou after knowing about Ningbo?" Lu Zhen has jumped out of a corner of Ningbo and began to focus on the whole of Zhejiang.

"Song Dusi's meaning was to immediately dispatch men and horses to Ningbo to assist the local officials and troops in finding and annihilating the Japanese invaders. At the same time, we have to dispatch men and horses to patrol the coastal areas and other places, and these Japanese robbers dare to attack our Zhejiang city so blatantly, and they absolutely cannot let them escape back to the sea! Hua Qianfeng's tone was serious and authentic.

This is indeed the most immediate reaction. Ningbo Wei is also under the jurisdiction of the Zhejiang Metropolitan Command Envoy, and now that there is such a big mistake there, the imperial court really wants to investigate it, and Song Jianfei's responsibility is not small. So the only thing he can do now is to make up for his mistakes and exterminate this invading Japanese invader on the ground in Zhejiang!

However, after listening to this arrangement, Lu Zhen fell into a deep groan, and only after a while did he raise his eyes to look at Hua Qianfeng: "My lord, there are a few words, and the lower officials don't know whether to say it or not." ”