In the clear blue sky, the incandescent sunlight made people dare not look directly at it. The clouds seemed to have melted and disappeared without a trace.
The ground was steaming hot and as stuffy as a steamer.
Zhao Shouzheng was standing in the shade, with a little boy beside him fanning himself, but his face was still covered in sweat, and it was unclear whether it was because of fear or the heat.
"Zeng Yiben, is he the Zeng Rentu who likes to massacre people?!"
"Yes." The intelligence officer nodded and said, "I heard that there is a great chaos in Chaozhou. They have gathered several pirate groups in Penghu, with a total number of 50,000. They have already captured Nan'ao Island and are preparing to go up the Han River and take Chaozhou City directly!"
"The government troops on Nan'ao Island are so vulnerable?" Zhao Shouzheng exclaimed at first, then waved his hand and said, "Just ignore what I said."
Then he quickly asked, "What's the situation in the city now?"
"The group is leaderless and in chaos," the intelligence officer said. "I heard that they can't even agree on the most basic decision of whether to defend or flee. When I passed by, I saw a long queue of wealthy people and common people fleeing."
"Is that so..." Zhao Shouzheng remained silent, just wiping his sweat with a towel. Actually, he didn't know what to ask. How could a scholar who grew up in a peaceful and prosperous place have ever seen such a scene?
Fortunately, we have the protection of two old gentlemen, Xu and Wu. Both of them have fought against the Japanese invaders. The former was the chief military advisor of the war against the Japanese invaders and had seen situations that were ten times more critical than this. How could this be?
The two men inquired carefully about the enemy's equipment, origins, training, food carried, and Lin Daoquan's movements, etc.
After all the questions were answered, the intelligence officer was allowed to go first.
I saw Mr. Zhao Er still standing there sweating profusely and with a pale face.
Xu Wei waved his palm-leaf fan and said with a smile: "Boss, are you scared silly?"
"Oh, it seems that the city is in great danger." Zhao Shouzheng finally came to his senses and took a dry towel to continue wiping his sweat.
"Then what should we do? Retreat to Zhao'an County?" Xu Wei said with a teasing smile: "That's a good idea. Zeng was originally recruited by the An army, and even rabbits don't eat grass near their nests."
"Retreat...is this appropriate?" Zhao Shouzheng asked in a trance.
"Why is it inappropriate? Don't you know that Zeng Rentu loved to massacre cities the most? Going to Chaozhou now is like lighting a lantern in a pit of toilet - looking for death, isn't it?" Xu Wei said with a smile.
"What do you think, Mr. Wu?" Zhao Shouzheng asked Wu Chengen again.
"If we want to retreat, we have to do it now. If we go any further we will enter Chaozhou Prefecture. If we retreat any further it will be considered deserting the battlefield and abandoning our post without permission." Wu Cheng'en said.
"What about retreating now?" Zhao Shouzheng asked back.
"At most, you can only be regarded as shrinking back and being scolded a few times, but you will not lose a few pieces of meat." Wu Chengen, the staff member, was much more qualified. He thought for Mr. Zhao Er and said, "Chaozhou is in such a mess now. Dong Weng really shouldn't wade into this muddy water. It's too dangerous. Those pirates don't care whether you are the top scholar or a high-ranking official. The number of prefects who have been killed in Fujian and Guangdong is too many to count with two hands."
After a pause, he continued, "Besides, doesn't Dong Weng know about the Ming officialdom? The more you do, the more mistakes you make, and the less you do, the better. Once you are stained by the fall of Chaozhou, you will never be able to wash it off in the future, and your official career will be over."
"Hmm..." Zhao Shouzheng nodded, covered his face with a handkerchief, raised his head and said weakly: "Let me think about it, let me think about it."
"But think about it carefully." Xu Wei crossed his legs, leisurely drank iced wine, and sang in Kunqu Opera style: "One step to heaven, one step to hell!"
"You said that I want to pee..." Zhao Shouzheng looked at him helplessly, and walked into the depths of the woods to urinate.
"You better stop talking." The writer glared at his wife and said, "Mr. Zhao spent a lot of money to support you, not for you to make fun of his father."
"Hey, I'm doing this for his own good." Xu Wei smiled heartlessly, "His son can provide him with hundreds of helpers, and we can also help him with strategies, but he has to make the final decision."
As he said this, he drank the wine in his glass and said, "If we really go to Chaozhou, there will be many difficult choices. This is just the beginning. If he doesn't have that awareness, he should go back to the county town as soon as possible, which will benefit both himself and others. At our age, we don't need to work ourselves to death in such a hot day."
"Alas..." The words were rough but true, and the writer was speechless.
The two talked for a while before they saw Mr. Zhao coming out of the woods with a pale face.
"Why, is this a lie?" The lonely painter laughed.
Wu Cheng'en glared at him and hurried over to ask, "Dongweng, shall I order you to turn back now?"
"No." Zhao Shouzheng shook his head and said weakly, "Let's go to Chaozhou."
"Ah?" Wu Cheng'en was surprised and asked, "Going to Chaozhou?"
"What else?" Zhao Shouzheng said with a sad smile: "If I go back, I will never be able to get hard again in my life."
"What?" Wu Cheng'en was stunned, thinking, what does this have to do with anything?
"Call everyone over here, I have something to say." Master Zhao said with all his strength.
"Uh..." Wu Cheng'en wanted to persuade him again.
"Go quickly!" the painter urged.
"Oh, okay." The writer had no choice but to do as he was told.
~~
Soon, except for those who served as guards, all the 500 people who accompanied them arrived.
Looking at Master Zhao again, he had washed his face and dressed neatly again. He was wearing a fifth-rank blue official robe and a double-winged black gauze hat. He was standing on a large rock very steadily.
He first asked Wu Chengen to introduce the shocking changes in Chaozhou Prefecture, and then said in a deep voice:
"To be honest, when I first heard the news, I wanted to turn around and run. But then I thought, I am the deputy governor of Chaozhou Prefecture. Now that the prefect is missing, I am the acting prefect and lead the people to fight against the pirates. If I escape from the battlefield, even if the court doesn't pursue me, I will never be able to sleep peacefully for the rest of my life."
"As the saying goes, the only difficulty in the world is death. I have made a difficult decision. I must fulfill my responsibility and go to Chaozhou!" He paused, took a deep breath and said to everyone, "But you are different. You are not officials appointed by the court, and you have no connection with Chaozhou. There is no need to take this risk. Especially the scholars, doctors, farmers, and merchants among you. They are all precious talents. Sacrificing any one of them will be a huge loss, so please go back."
"What are you talking about, master? We are the young master's servants. How can we abandon our master and run away?" A group of managers shouted.
"Master, if we leave you behind and go back, how can we face our teacher again?" The scholars also shouted.
"Since you want to defend the city, we are needed to contribute our strength!" The medical staff of Jiangnan Hospital said confidently: "It is our duty as doctors to save the dying and the wounded. How can we stand by and watch people die?"
"We, we..." The people from Jiangnan Agricultural College really didn't know what excuse to make, so they just said, "If they don't leave, we won't leave either. Otherwise, they are discriminating against us!"
"You guys are just teaching people how to farm. What's the point of defending the city?" Master Zhao was speechless.
"We can make saltpeter and explosives!" But they had other tricks. "And we can cook manure..."
When Mr. Zhao thought of the strong smell at Kunshan Agricultural College, he couldn't help feeling nauseous and thought that thing was indeed a powerful weapon for defending the city.
As a result, he persuaded no one to go back after a long time, so he could only bow to everyone and said: "I, Zhao Shouzheng, would like to thank you all for your help. If I can get through this time, I will definitely reward you handsomely in the future!"
When everyone heard this, they couldn't help but be excited. How generous would the reward for the Second Master be?
Xu Wei and Wu Cheng'en stood in the distance, watching Zhao Shouzheng stir up everyone's emotions, the latter couldn't help but nod with satisfaction.
What is more valuable than being brave is to persist in doing something even though you are afraid...
"The game of Chaozhou is alive." Xu Wei also showed a rare smile and said to the writer: "I will not go into the city with you."
"Where are you going?" the writer asked hurriedly.
"Chaoyang County." Xu Wenchang said lightly.
"Are you going to look for Lin Daoquan?" Wu Chengen looked at him in surprise.
"What else? Wait for the government troops to rescue? The government troops have to be able to get through as well?" Xu Wenchang rolled his eyes.
Not to mention that the government troops, which have always been slow to mobilize, would take a long time to reach Chaozhou City. Even if they could quickly complete the assembly and drive to the border of Chaozhou Prefecture, it was still unclear whether they could pass Jieyang County.
Due to historical reasons, the entire Chaozhou Prefecture held an extremely distrustful attitude towards the government and the government army. This was not the fault of the people, but the government and the government army themselves.
At this time, the Guangdong army marched into Chaozhou in large numbers, which would definitely cause them great panic, and they would believe that the government troops came to avenge Li Zhifu. If the contradictions were further intensified, it might even lead to another decade of chaos! No one could bear the responsibility!
"We can still wait for Zhao Hao." The writer didn't want to let his wife take risks.
"What a joke! Not to mention that he is thousands of miles away now, even if he is right in front of us, would he dare to lead a large army to attack Chaozhou?" Xu Wei raised his goatee and said proudly, "This time I will lift the siege of Chaozhou without spending a single soldier, so that he won't look down on us."
"Hey, look at you, you're already an egg, why are you still so arrogant?" Wu Cheng'en said depressedly.
"Single garlic clove is spicier!" Xu Wei rolled his eyes and said, "Alright, stop trying to persuade me. If you continue to persuade me, I will ask for more!"
"Don't bring up that matter." The writer felt that his soft spot was hit and he dared not say anything.
~~
At this time, Mr. Zhao finished his speech and came over to ask the two of them for advice.
"Gentlemen, what should we do after arriving in Chaozhou?" Zhao Shouzheng asked politely.
"So you have no idea. Just now it sounded like you have a wise idea." Xu Wei sneered.
"Hey, aren't there two gentlemen here?" Zhao Shouzheng scratched his head and smiled, "To be honest, my son said to me when he went north, 'Father, if you encounter difficulties, don't mess around. Remember to ask Old Wu if you are undecided, and ask Old Xu if Old Wu is undecided.'"
"Oh, hahaha." Xu Wei was very happy to hear that and laughed, "Luckily that kid knew not to bother me with trivial matters."
"Yes, it's not easy. Now I finally have something important to ask you for advice." Zhao Shouzheng hurriedly smiled and said, "I wonder what your plan is?"
"Just listen to Old Wu. Although he is not very talented, he has led the local militia to fight against the Japanese for many years, so he has some experience." Then Xu Wei said calmly: "Then wait for me to save you!"
When Wu Cheng'en looked at Xu Wei and said this, his whole body seemed to be glowing. He couldn't help but smile bitterly. This should be what Zhao Hao said about histrionic personality. He just likes to be in the limelight. The bigger the stage, the more excited he becomes...
P.S. Sorry everyone, the New Year is coming soon, and I have a lot more things to do. I got home at almost 8 o'clock today, and I rushed to finish writing a chapter. I will try to write it earlier tomorrow.