When I arrived in Hangzhou, it was noon.

As soon as I entered the city, I felt that something was wrong with the atmosphere, and I saw that the people coming and going on the street had no pride on their faces, as if they had suffered a heavy blow, and from time to time I saw a crowd gathering on the side of the road, as if they were emotionally crusading against something.

Shen Mo reined in the reins of his horse at the nearest crowd, and condescendingly listened to the gentleman in the middle generously stated: "Only one hundred and ten Japanese robbers are like a broken bamboo in the hinterland of my Ming Dynasty, like entering a no-man's land, all the way to the city of Nanjing!" The hundreds of thousands of heavy soldiers of our Ming Dynasty were helpless, and they were defeated repeatedly, and the number of people killed and wounded reached as many as four or five thousand! It has not been annihilated to this day! Such an incompetent army, not to mention compared with the beginning of the country, even the weak Song Dynasty army is 10,000 times stronger than it! ”

The people's anger was instigated, the self-esteem of the Ming people was seriously insulted, the green tendons erupted on the forehead, and the swear words gushed out, but they did not scold the Japanese Kou, all the spearheads were pointed at the absurd southeastern army of the Ming Dynasty, and the leaders of this army - Admiral Zhao Wenhua, Governor Yang Yi, Governor of Zhejiang Hu Zongxian and Susong Governor Cao Bangfu and others.

After hearing the general situation of the matter, Shen Mo was completely incredulous, although he was a literati, he knew the military situation in the southeast very well. He knew that the garrison army was a group of waste wood that was completely unusable, but he would never believe the sensational story that 'more than 100 Japanese soldiers killed more than 4,000 officers and soldiers and almost stormed the city of Nanjing'.

Because even 4,000 unarmed peasants are enough to beat a hundred masters like Yu Dayou and He Xinyin to the point that their mothers don't know them...... Unless, those 100 widows are the little devils who crossed over collectively, each with a crooked machine gun!

Shen Mo was thinking about whether to remind Hu Zongxian to deal with these rumor-mongers when he saw a commotion at the corner of the street, and the officers and soldiers of the Hangzhou Mansion appeared. As soon as they saw the fierce officers and soldiers, the crowd dispersed.

Under the guidance of the plainclothes patrol who arrived first, the officers and men arrested one activist after another. Shen Mo saw that the scholar who had just made a generous statement near him secretly blended into the crowd and wanted to escape, but he was arrested and quickly smashed to the ground from behind, and without saying a word, he punched him twice, and then tied up with five flowers.

Silence quietly left the street where people were on their backs, chickens and dogs jumping.

The large flat outside the governor's yamen is four acres square, implying that the imperial court rules the four directions. In the middle stands a three-zhang long flagpole with a bucket, facing the two huge stone lions on both sides of the gate and the stone steps, and the majesty is seen in the air.

At this time, there was not a trace of wind, and the big flag on the pole bucket hung listlessly and did not move. It was still early, but the vermilion gate of the governor's yamen was closed, and on the eight-character walls on both sides of the stone lion of the gate, there were notices of 'Zhongcheng going out on patrol', which seemed to explain this.

What surprised Shen Mo even more was that the Dengwen drum outside the gate was gone, leaving only an empty drum rack, which made people ask, has the governor's yamen moved?

Of course not. Shen Mo retracted his thoughts, and said to the hundred households who were about to call the door: "Let's go in through the back door." Then he turned his horse's head and went around the corner, and the group had to follow closely.

Calling the door open from the back and entering the courtyard, Shen Mo saw Wen Zhengming who came out, Wen Lao nodded at him with a solemn face, and the two walked to the front yard hand in hand.

Shen Mo asked softly, "I wonder what the Governor is looking for me?" ”

Wen Zhengming's face was worried: "It's a big trouble now. ”

Shen Mo said: "I heard some rumors outside......"

"Even if it doesn't hit, it's not far away." Wen Zhengming sighed and said: "My Ming suffered such a great humiliation, Your Majesty will definitely be furious." As a staff member of the governor's yamen, he naturally stood in Hu Zongxian's position to speak.

Looking at the flower hall in sight, Shen Mo frowned and said, "Who is inside?" ”

"Zhao Shilang, Hu Zhongcheng, and Lord Hou are still Zhou Governor's Mansion." Wen Zhengming sighed and said, "Hu Zhongcheng asks your Excellency to sit in the hall for a while, and then talk to you when those people are dispatched." ”

Nodding silently, Wen Zhengming led him to the ear room on the edge of the flower hall, opened the door curtain, and silently made a gesture of invitation.

In the flower hall, Zhao Wenhua sat on the main seat, and the rest of the officials sat on the left and right according to their dignity and humility. When Shen Mo entered the ear room, the meeting here was almost over, and he heard Zhou Peide, the prefect of Hangzhou, tired and worried: "Duke, the following officials are foolish, this matter must not be hidden, let's report it truthfully as soon as possible." ”

Zhao Wenhua said impatiently: "Those Japanese robbers have basically turned around the important towns of Jiangsu and Zhejiang, and I don't know if I can't hide it?" After a pause, he said: "This matter is definitely going to shake the heavens, when the time comes, you can all give me a good mouth, what should I say, what should I not say, I don't need to teach, right?" ”

Everyone hurriedly shook their heads and said, "Don't bother adults, I'll know." ”

"It's good to know." Zhao Wenhua said in a deep voice: "You don't have to worry too much, as long as you don't stab Lou Zi, everything is with me and my father." Saying that, he threatened: "If you talk nonsense, if there is any rumor, Lao Tzu will let him go around without eating!" ”

The officials hastened to ensure that they will be in the same boat and tide over the difficulties together.

Zhao Wenhua was a little relieved at this time, and asked again: "Have those annihilators who incited the people's hearts arrested?" ”

Zhou Peide and Hou Pizheng, the procurator of Zhejiang's criminal commission, said: "According to the prosecutor's office, the soldiers and officials of the Hangzhou government have all been dispatched, and they should have been arrested and brought to justice." ”

"You two hurry up and go to trial," Zhao Wenhua ordered: "No matter what method you use, let me find out the mastermind who is afraid that the world will not be chaotic, damn it, whoever causes chaos to Lao Tzu at this time, Lao Tzu will let his whole family die!" ”

Hu Zongxian, who had been silent, spoke up at this time: "Even if the trial is tried, don't arrest people indiscriminately, everything is focused on the situation of bullet suppression, and there must be no more chaos." ”

"Let's do as Zhongcheng wants." After Zhao Wenhua finished speaking, he also got up and said, "I'm also going back, I have to write a letter to Xiaoge Elder quickly and ask him to get an idea." ”

Hu Zongxian sent Zhao Wenhua out, and when he walked to the door, Zhao Shilang said to him meaningfully: "This matter can be big or small, Brother Meilin has to take care of it." ”

Hu Zongxian was stunned, and Zhao Wenhua hurriedly added with a smile: "Don't worry, as long as you have me for a day, brother, you won't suffer." ”

Hu Zongxian nodded and said, "Don't worry, the lower officials know the proportions." ”

"Very good, I don't have to worry about you doing things," Zhao Wenhua said with relief: "Recently, the season has changed, and my joints hurt a lot, can Mei Lin know where there is a hot spring, which can relieve my pain a little?" ”

'I want to stay out of it again!' Hu Zongxian scolded secretly, but said enthusiastically: "The Nanxi Hot Spring in Ninghai County is very good, and Qi Jiguang trains there, so it is also very safe." ”

"You can't be wrong with what you said," Zhao Wenhua was overjoyed and said: "I'll go to Nanxi, and I'll come back when I'm better," and said in the end, "During this time, I will ask Mei Lin Gong to take care of me more, and I will come back soon." ”

Hu Zongxian said respectfully: "Your body is important, so let's bubble more." ”

Sending Zhao Wenhua away, Hu Zongxian dragged his tired body to the ear room, Shen Mo got up to greet him, he waved his hand, sat down next to Shen Mo, took out a folding page from his sleeve and handed it to Shen Mo, and he hung his head and closed his eyes silently, recovering his spirits.

Shen Mo saw the word 'military intelligence' written on the folding, and when he opened it, it turned out to be the beginning and end of the incident: "On the first day of September, more than 200 Japanese people landed in Haiyan and suddenly invaded Beixinguan. When Hu Zongxian, the governor of Zhejiang, heard the news, he led the army to clear up, but this group of Japanese robbers had fled to the interior, and Zongxian led the army to pursue, after several fierce battles, when they arrived in Chun'an County, Yanzhou, only half of the Japanese were left, and then there was no trace of them. ”

Later, I learned that he had crossed the border to Nanzhili, robbed Hui, Ning, and Taiping, and a father and son of Cheng Chen in Wuhu County were killed in battle, and hundreds of soldiers were lost; Zhu Xiang, the commander of Jiangning Town, was killed in battle, and more than 300 soldiers died. Finally, he appeared under the city of Nanjing, and after pretending to attack the Da'an Demen of Waiguo, he retreated to Moling Pass. They marched to Liyang and Yixing, killing and wounding hundreds of garrisons, and finally arrived at Hushu Pass, where they were defeated by Cao Bangfu, the governor of Yingtian. ”

After reading it, I heard Hu Zongxian say softly: "According to the latest news, Yu Dayou led the army to chase to Yanglin Bridge and has annihilated all the remaining widows. ”

Silent and silent. I only heard Hu Zongxian say quietly: "You must ask, how could this happen?" Nanzhili and Zhejiang have a total of more than 100,000 troops, but they were stirred up by hundreds of Japanese robbers, which took 40 days, killed and injured thousands of people, not to mention, and let people touch the capital city, which greatly humiliated the great tomorrow, are your subordinates a group of pigs? ”

Shen Mo shook his head slightly and said, "Everything must have a cause, I know...... The pirates are not that strong, and our army is not that weak, but I would love to know the reasons for this result. ”

Hu Zongxian nodded and said slowly: "This is exactly what I want to tell you...... You know that I pursued these widows for seven or eight days, and if you were there at the time, you would know that today's result is not unusual. As he spoke, he recalled: "Those pirates were cunning and good at fighting, and they were extremely well organized. Most of them are ronins armed with swords, and these people are extremely strong in martial arts and extremely rich in actual combat experience, which has never been seen before. But the other few are the most terrifying, these widows are small, black-clad and masked, and they are especially adept at sneaking around, spying on assassinations, and spying on my army all the time. It is precisely because of the existence of such people that this group of pirates can always take the lead and stay away from the encirclement and suppression of our army. ”

(To be continued)