The rise of the poor

Chapter 1974 Unbelievable

Pots of thick rice porridge were cooked and served with piles of pickles, which became the dinner for the army that recaptured Jiaxing.

Although it was just porridge and pickles, the portion was large and filling, and everyone drank the porridge with gusto.

In order to show that he shared the same hardships with the soldiers and to put on a show, Governor Zhao also had his meals with the soldiers outside the tent.

However, the food his old servant brought to him made his show seem a little awkward.

The soldiers had thick porridge and pickles, but he had four dishes and a soup, stir-fried pork slices, hand-shredded roast chicken, braised lion's head, a plate of green bean sprouts with vinegar, and a bowl of tofu and crucian carp soup, which was so delicious.

Everything is afraid of comparison. Looking at the delicious meal of four dishes and one soup in front of Governor Zhao, the surrounding soldiers suddenly felt that the thick porridge in their hands was not tasty, and the pickles suddenly tasted like wax and were difficult to swallow.

"Assholes, who told you to cook for me? Didn't I tell you that I will eat whatever the soldiers eat?"

When Prefect Zhao saw that the situation had changed, he immediately stood up, pretended to be furious, and scolded the old servant who brought the special meal.

"Cut all the food into sauces and distribute them to the soldiers' pots and stoves as a reward for the soldiers of the three armies."

In order to restore his image, Prefect Zhao ordered that the four dishes and one soup from his small kitchen be chopped into small pieces and distributed evenly to all the pots and stoves in the camp.

Zhao Zhifu's efforts to save the situation did have some effect. As the soldiers privately commented, "At least he is still willing to put in some superficial efforts."

"Now that you have eaten and drunk enough, everyone should go to bed early. Tomorrow morning, I will lead you to recapture Jiaxing!"

After the show dinner, Prefect Zhao asked everyone to go to bed early. He also set an example by turning around and going back to his tent to sleep.

what? !

We're going to sleep now?! We haven't even set up night guards?! We haven't arranged night patrols?! We haven't set a password to enter the camp?!

After hearing what Prefect Zhao said, the centurions of Hangzhou Guards and other officers and soldiers could not help being stunned when they saw that Prefect Zhao was about to go into his tent to sleep.

It would have been fine if they didn't build fences, watchtowers, or barricades before, but why didn't they even set up security and passwords when they went to sleep at night?!
Although the Hangzhou Guards had lax military discipline and poor training, they still knew these basic things.

Night guard, night patrol, and passwords for entering and leaving the camp are probably the most basic.

If there are no alerts, no night patrols, and no passwords, the military camp will be completely defenseless. It will be very easy for Japanese pirates to sneak in, and everyone's lives and property will be unsafe.

They can't help but worry.

So, when they saw that Prefect Zhao was about to go back to sleep, they hurriedly stopped him and reminded him, "Sir Zhao, don't we set up alerts, arrange night patrols, or set passwords?!"

"No need, everyone just record the money and go to sleep." Magistrate Zhao waved his hand without any worry.

Still sleeping peacefully, can we sleep well? !

Everyone was speechless for a moment.

"Sir, what should we do if the Japanese pirates sneak into the camp at night?" The captain of Hangzhou said worriedly.

"Sleep well, the Japanese pirates won't come at night; this is also part of the empty city plan! Besides, I am here to support you, what are you afraid of? Go to sleep quickly and gather your strength, we will recapture Jiaxing early tomorrow morning."

Prefect Zhao waved his hand, laughed, and urged everyone to go to the tent and sleep to recuperate.

Uh

Yes, there is the tent of Prefect Zhao in front. If the Japanese pirates want to sneak into the camp, they will first steal the tent of Prefect Zhao. With the tent of Prefect Zhao and his personal soldiers as a buffer, they still have time to escape.

Everyone slept lightly at night and paid attention to the movements in Prefect Zhao's tent. Once there were any unusual movements in Prefect Zhao's tent, everyone would run away for their lives.

Thinking of this, everyone stopped insisting and went into their tents one after another to recuperate.

There were also people in the camp who were worried about the Japanese pirates and spontaneously monitored their movements in Jiaxing City to prevent them from sneaking out of the city and stealing the camp.

Hundreds of meters away, on the city wall of Jiaxing, the Japanese pirates lit torches and bonfires and walked back and forth on the city gate.

However, they monitored for most of the night and found that the Japanese pirates in Jiaxing City showed no signs of leaving the city to set up camp.

Could it be that the Japanese pirates in Jiaxing City were really frightened by our empty city strategy? !
Prefect Zhao was really good at what he said. He said that the Japanese pirates would be frightened and mistakenly think there was an ambush in the camp and would not dare to sneak into the camp.

Unexpectedly, the Japanese pirates did not dare to sneak into the camp. At least from the time they arrived at the city of Jiaxing until now, they did not dare to leave the city.

This made Prefect Zhao somewhat famous in the camp.

In the evening, Zhu Ping'an once again received news about Prefect Zhao, and he was stunned.

"What's the trick behind this, Magistrate Zhao? How dare he set up camp only 500 to 600 meters below Jiaxing City? Isn't this too close?! It's within the range of crossbows and firearms."

"Also, not only did they set up camp so close to the enemy, but they didn't even put up fences, barricades, trenches, watchtowers, and other defensive measures?"

"Not even arranging guards and night patrols?!"

"Is Magistrate Zhao so brave?"

Zhu Ping'an sat in the study, frowning and thinking for half an hour again, but he still couldn't figure out what Prefect Zhao was up to.

As for the empty city plan mentioned by Prefect Zhao, Zhu Ping'an just curled his lips and didn't believe a word of it.

In the end, we can only draw the same conclusion as last time. Prefect Zhao must have other reasons for doing this.

Perhaps, Prefect Zhao did this in order to lure the Japanese pirates out of the city, even at the cost of using himself as bait.

There must be a large army mobilized by the Yan Party hiding behind Prefect Zhao. Once the Japanese pirates leave the city, they will take the opportunity to recapture Jiaxing.

Perhaps, there is a mystery behind the 3,000 mobs assembled by Prefect Zhao, and some of them may be elite troops mobilized by the Yan Party.

Otherwise, it would be hard to explain why Prefect Zhao's behavior was so bizarre.

Well, according to intelligence, the one hundred or so guards around Prefect Zhao are extraordinary in bearing, murderous, and extremely brave.

It is said that before Magistrate Zhao was imprisoned, he did not have such a group of personal guards around him, but after he was released from prison, he suddenly had such a hundred personal guards.

This also indirectly confirmed Zhu Ping'an's conclusion that these one hundred guards were mobilized by the Yan Party to assist Prefect Zhao.

The army that the Yan Party mobilized to assist the prefect Zhao in retaking Jiaxing was really extraordinary. The Zhejiang Army scouts had been scouting for so long but had not found any clues. On the one hand, the Zhejiang Army scouts did not dare to alert the enemy and did not dare to get too close to the battlefields of the two sides. On the other hand, it also showed that the army mobilized by the Yan Party was extraordinary.

"Probe again and report back. Keep a close eye on every move of both sides in Jiaxing. Scouts are on duty. Don't miss a single moment."

Zhu Ping'an ordered his Zhejiang Army scouts to conduct close reconnaissance. Only by knowing both the enemy and oneself can one win every battle.

(End of this chapter)