The rise of the poor

Chapter 1977: Traitors and the Prisoner Surrender Ceremony
Before, Zhu Ping'an didn't take this rumor seriously, but after what happened today, he had to take this rumor to heart.

If Prefect Zhao surrendered to the Japanese pirates, then his recent bizarre behavior would be explainable.

He led a mob of 3,000 men to attack a fortified city guarded by more than 10,000 Japanese pirates.
Within the range of the crossbows and firearms on the city wall, they set up camp at the foot of the city wall without paying any attention to anyone around;

The bloated scholar was the first to charge into battle;
As soon as the Japanese pirates left, he recaptured the empty city. His timing was so precise.
Etc., etc
With the cooperation of the Japanese pirates, these will not be a problem.

As for other possibilities, they are impossible.

Don't ever say that the Japanese pirates were scared away by the 3,000 mobs of Zhifu Zhao. At that time, Zhifu Zhao had a strong city and elite troops, while the Japanese pirates had only 400 remnants and were just attacking the city. Not to mention that they now have more than 10,000 Japanese pirates.

Not to mention coincidence.

As soon as the Japanese pirates left, Prefect Zhao led his troops to recapture the empty city. Zhu Ping'an didn't believe this coincidence.

It was normal for the Japanese pirates to take care of the 3,000 mobs of Prefect Zhao before leaving.

The camp of Prefect Zhao was located within the range of crossbows and firearms on the city wall. It had no fences, chevaux de frise, sentry towers or gates. It was an unguarded, leaky crotch. It was effortless for the Japanese pirates to stab it.

Why didn't the Japanese pirates take care of the 3,000 mobs of Zhao Zhifu before leaving? The answer is obvious.

However, these are just speculations and there is no evidence.

But
critical moments
This hidden traitor deserves Zhu Ping'an's special attention. Moreover, Zhu Ping'an has a hunch that if he keeps a close eye on him, there will be surprises in the future.

When Governor Zhao "recaptured" Jiaxing, the ceremony of presenting captives at the Meridian Gate officially began in the capital, thousands of miles away.

Teams of Jinyiwei dressed in gorgeous Feiyu uniforms, holding embroidered spring swords in their hands, ran on the Imperial Road in front of the Meridian Gate. They ran all the way to the Meridian Gate, divided into two rows, and stood on the left and right sides of the Imperial Road as a guard of honor.

After the Jinyiwei stood still, the Jiaofangsi began to enter.

In addition to managing folk music and registered musicians, Jiaofangsi was also responsible for the rehearsal and performance of music and dance for the court, banquets, ceremonials, and operas. Today's prisoner presentation ceremony also required their performance to set off the atmosphere.

The skilled musicians ran on the Imperial Road like the Jinyiwei, holding various musical instruments. They ran to the Jinyiwei and divided into two rows, standing back on the left and right sides of the Imperial Road, right next to the Jinyiwei team.

Then, officials took their positions one after another.

First came the officials from the Honglu Temple and the Ministry of Rites who were in charge of the ceremony. There were two tall and burly officials who served as ceremonial officials. They stood in front of the Meridian Gate, facing each other from east to west.

Hundreds of major officials from the six ministries and in Beijing, as well as some foreign envoys in the capital, were divided into two rows according to civil and military officials in front of the Wulou, south of the Imperial Road, with civil officials on the east side and military officials on the west side, arranged like they were attending court.

After the officials came the soldiers who were responsible for offering the prisoners.

The Jinyiwei and the Changwei who were in charge of security, as well as the elite soldiers from the three major camps in the capital, totaling more than 5,000 people, were on guard between the Wumen Gate and the Donghua Gate.

The village head, gentry and elders who were invited to participate in the captive offering were seated farther away, on Donghua Road, and could just see Wulou from a distance.

As for the onlookers, they were even further away. They could not see the Meridian Tower or the Meridian Gate, and could only stand on the West Market Street. Further ahead, the factory guards and soldiers from the three camps set up barricades to prevent them from moving forward.

When the first rays of dawn appeared in the sky, the ceremony of surrendering prisoners officially began.

Liu Mu and other Zhejiang army soldiers escorted more than 400 captured Japanese pirates to Donghuamen and handed them over to the soldiers of the three major camps to continue escorting.

The curtain was raised for the ceremony of surrendering prisoners.

Soldiers from the three camps escorted more than 400 captured Japanese pirates out of Donghua Gate, with each Japanese pirate in shackles, and the procession stretched for hundreds of meters.

On both sides of the street, people who came to watch the fun gathered in three layers, so densely packed that there were countless of them.

Seeing the soldiers from the three camps escorting the captured Japanese pirates out, the crowd was immediately excited.

The Japanese pirate captives wore red prison uniforms and red hats. To be more precise, they were wearing ochre clothes, not the white color commonly seen in film and television dramas.

The reason why ochre clothes are used as prison uniforms is actually very simple, because prisoners are not worthy of wearing white prison uniforms.

After the Sui and Tang Dynasties, the hierarchy of clothing colors was highly strengthened. You had to wear clothing of the color of your status. You couldn't wear anything you wanted. If you did, you might be transgressing the law and would be punished. For example, officials of the fifth rank could wear purple robes, officials of the sixth rank and below could wear red or green robes, while clerks could only wear blue, and civilians could only wear white, so there was the saying "white officials".

Prisoners had a much lower status than ordinary people, and they were only fit to wear clothing lower than white, that is, prison uniforms.

Prison uniforms are the lowest grade of clothing, dyed ochre with red clay. They are easy to dye and resist getting dirty, so successive generations of prisoners can wear them.

On both sides of the street there were factory guards and soldiers from the three battalions who were responsible for maintaining order and security. While they were maintaining order, they shouted solemnly:

"Prisoners must present themselves at the Meridian Gate, and are not allowed to throw rotten vegetable leaves, rotten eggs, or other filth! Violators will be severely punished!"

"After we attend the surrender at the Meridian Gate and escort you out, I will let you go!"

These rules had been repeatedly explained to the onlookers by the guards and soldiers before the captive offering began.

The common people also knew the importance of things, so they kept the rotten vegetable leaves and rotten eggs in their hands and waited until the Japanese pirates finished the prisoner presentation ceremony and were escorted out of the Meridian Gate before throwing them away.

However, although you are not allowed to throw rotten vegetable leaves, it does not mean you are not allowed to curse.

The onlookers cursed the Japanese pirates one by one, and the Chinese national football team couldn't stop cursing and scolded the Japanese pirates.

"Damn you, those Japanese devils are fine, but you are originally the people of our Ming Dynasty. Why do you do something good but become Japanese pirates? You have lost all conscience, betrayed your ancestors, and harmed the people. You are really a disgrace to your ancestors for eight generations!"

"You damned Japanese pirates, you and your eighteen generations of ancestors, wait for the eighteenth level of hell, I won't even leave you a complete corpse, you will never be able to reincarnate!"

"Die, die, die"

Such a large number of common people, so many soldiers, and such cruel insults made the Japanese pirates, who had been devastated for days, extremely terrified.

The biting cold wind could not stop the people's enthusiasm for insulting the Japanese pirates. The insults that came one after another were like thunder, making the Japanese pirates, who were wearing only prison uniforms and barefoot, tremble even more.

In order to torture the Japanese pirates, they were only given a single piece of prison uniform and were not even given shoes, so they were left barefoot.

The cold wind, the insults, and the pushing along the way caused these Japanese pirates to suffer physical and mental damage.

By the time the Japanese pirates were taken to the Meridian Gate, their bodies and minds were on the verge of collapse.

"kneel!"

The ceremonial officer shouted loudly.

The officers escorting the Japanese pirates kicked them in the knees without mercy, forcing them to kneel on the ground.

(End of this chapter)