Chapter 67: Leaving the City to Slay Enemies

  "Huh? What?"

  Although the old governor was a civil servant, he also knew that in this era, every time the imperial court sent troops, they had to spend a lot of silver. There were many things like "family expenses" and "personal silver" that those generals played with. What? You don't give it? Well, if you dare not give them silver, those soldiers will dare to slack off and procrastinate. A journey that should have taken half a month could be dragged out for half a year. The imperial court didn't even dare to punish them. Now, the Ming dynasty was no longer an era where scholars were valued over military men. With years of war, the power of the military had grown stronger and stronger.

  So when Gu Zhi Fu was mentally prepared to be taken advantage of by the other party, he found that the other party was not as cunning as Qin Huai, but rather as loyal and dedicated as Yue Fei, and readily agreed. Anyone would be shocked by this strong contrast.

  "That's it, then trouble Ping Bao Hu for me! You can send troops now!"

  Although Gu Zhi Fu was still a bit dazed, he wasn't stupid. Seeing that Pang Gang had agreed to it, what reason would there be for him not to hurry and urge Pang Gang to send troops?

  It seemed as if he had seen through Gu Zhifu's mind, and Pang Gang looked at Gu Shou deeply and said, "Sir, let me change into good armor and gather the soldiers before following you up to the city wall."

  After finishing speaking, Pang Gang didn't wait for Gu Shou to respond and strode out of the great hall.

  In the hall, Kong's father and son, as well as Kong Rulan, all looked at Gu Shou with some displeasure. The relationship between Gu Shou and Sun Zili was clear to them. They wouldn't be unaware of the fact that Sun Xiyi had been brutally beaten by Pang Gang. If it weren't for the arrival of the Japanese pirates today, perhaps this Gu Zhifu would not have come to ask Pang Gang to send troops, but rather to frame him instead.

  "Dad, are you sure to let Pang...let him send troops? He is a guest army from Qingzhou and has nothing to do with Yangzhou at all." Kong Rulan looked at Kong Wen with concern and asked inexplicably.

  Kong Wen sighed and said: "This is probably unavoidable. If Pang Tong doesn't send troops, he will be at a disadvantage if someone else submits a memorial against him."

  Kong Lin, who was standing beside him, also indignantly said: "Hmph, letting Chao Dong go help them defend the city must be the idea of Sun's father and son. Otherwise, who would remember that Chao Dong still has several hundred soldiers? Father, just watch, if Chao Dong achieves meritorious service in this defense, it will definitely not be Chao Dong's good fortune to say, perhaps he will even be impeached by them on the spot."

  Kong Wen let out a long sigh and stopped speaking, the sinister and cunning behavior of Sun's father and son made his original intention to temporarily stay in Yangzhou begin to waver.

  On the city wall of Yangzhou

  "Father! The Japanese have come, they've come!" Sun Xi Yi shouted loudly in a terrified tone, pointing to the distance from atop the city wall.

  At this time, the city of Yangzhou was surrounded by dust and smoke, and dozens of Japanese pirates had appeared outside the city. Sun's father and son, who were guarding the city wall, looked at the constantly pouring Japanese pirates with a gloomy expression on their faces.

  At this time, more than a dozen Japanese bandits arrived at a place over a hundred steps away from the city wall. Seeing the tightly closed city gate, they shouted and scolded, with an extremely arrogant attitude.

  At this time, the defenders standing on the city wall had clearly seen the appearance of the Japanese pirates. They wore white or gray headscarves, wore large cloth robes, stepped on wooden clogs, and wore Japanese swords that were almost as tall as their bodies. One by one, they swaggered back and forth outside the city wall, each with an evil appearance.

  The defenders on the city wall were frightened, their faces as pale as earth, and they were trembling like cicadas. Seeing this situation, Sun Zhili was anxious, he called Zhao Qian, the defender of the army, and said in a trembling voice: "Zhao Defender, hurry up and order people to shoot arrows, shoot arrows quickly!"

  Zhao Qian's face jiggled as he said helplessly, "Sir Sun, it's not that I don't want to shoot the arrow, but this distance is simply out of range."

  Sun Zili did not listen to Zhao Qian's explanation, and in a hysterical tone, he shouted: "I don't care if you hit or miss, order the archers to shoot immediately, we must stop the Japanese at the city wall, otherwise let them rush in and everything will be over."

  "Hmm, okay." Seeing Sun Zili on the verge of madness, Zhao Qian only needed to give an order for the soldiers on the city wall to immediately fire arrows.

  Under Zhao Qian's command, a row of sparse arrows shot softly towards the outside of the city. Seeing the Ming army preparing to shoot arrows on the city wall, the Japanese pirates outside the city were not afraid, but instead stood in place pointing and gesturing. These arrows also fell unexpectedly in front of those Japanese pirates, which made them even more arrogant. Several Japanese pirates even took off their pants in public outside the city, turned their backs to the Ming army on the city wall, and showed off their white buttocks making a ghostly face. At this time, the Japanese pirates outside the city started booing loudly and shouting wildly, their morale reached its peak. Dozens of Japanese pirates were also looting everywhere, killing any civilians who resisted with their Japanese swords.

  On the other hand, the Ming army on the city wall was low in morale, standing at the battlements with their heads hung low and not daring to show their faces.

  "How outrageous! How outrageous!" The arrogant appearance of the Japanese pirates outside the city walls shocked and enraged Sun Zili, who couldn't help but lament: "Is it that there is no one in our great Ming dynasty's army who dares to fight the Japanese?"

  "Who says no one dares to fight the Japanese!"

  As soon as Sun Zili's voice fell, a loud voice rang out beside him, and then a tall figure slowly emerged from the stairs.

  "Pang Gang!" Sun Xi Yi, who was standing next to Sun Zhi Li, immediately had his anger ignited as soon as he saw Pang Gang.

  "Ah, it's you!" Pang Gang glanced at Sun Xi Yi standing behind Sun Zhi Li with disdain, ignoring this clown and walked to the city wall to observe the situation of the Japanese pirates outside.

  "You this coarse and rude martial artist, how dare you...how dare you be so disrespectful..." Seeing that he was actually being ignored, Sun Xiyu's body trembled with rage.

  At this time, the governor Gu Shou who was walking behind came to Pang Gang's side and looked at the wokou outside the city who were shouting continuously. He asked with some fear: "Pang Baihu, looking at the situation these Japanese pirates have more than 300 people, you should order the soldiers to go up on the city wall to defend the city quickly."

  Pang Gang didn't respond, and after a while, he said lightly: "A bunch of country bumpkins, not worth mentioning!"

  "Huh...Clay chicken, tile dog?" Gu Shou was speechless on the side: "Pang Baihu, you'd better take a closer look, there are over 300 Japanese pirates outside! They're fierce bandits who can take on ten people at once."

  Sun Xi Yi muttered under her breath: "Hmph, this coarse and unrefined martial artist is only capable of bragging here."

  "My eyes are still clear, I can see that there are over 300 people, but it's just over 300 people. As for the one who claims to be able to take on ten, this humble officer has not seen it with his own eyes and does not know about it." Pang Gang said expressionlessly: "Lord Gu, please give the order to open the city gate, I want to go out of the city and fight a decisive battle against the Japanese pirates!"

  "What, a decisive battle outside the city!" Gu Shou and Sun's father and son beside him couldn't believe their ears. Had he gone mad? Others were barely able to hide, yet he wanted to engage in a decisive battle with someone.

  "You didn't hear wrong, I'm indeed going to fight the Japanese invaders outside the city!" Pang Gang stared at Gu Shou and said word by word: "Think about it, Yangzhou City has thousands of soldiers and young men, but they were blocked in the city by a few hundred Japanese bandits. Mr. Gu doesn't know shame, but I, Pang, still know what shame is! If all the generals are afraid of the enemy like tigers, then who can our great Ming dynasty rely on to protect it?"

  Pang Gang's words made Gu Shou and Bing Ma guard Zhao Qian's face red with anger, but they couldn't refute him. After all, they were the officials in charge of Yangzhou City, and at least on the point of protecting their territory and pacifying the people, they were incompetent.

  Pang Gang finished speaking and turned around to leave the city wall, leaving behind a pair of glasses that had fallen to the ground.

  After a long time, Sun Xi Yi finally spat out saliva and scolded: "Bah! A coarse and rude martial artist, dare to speak so loudly in front of so many high-ranking officials. Truly ignorant of life and death. This time he leaves the city, eight or nine out of ten chances he will be killed by those Japanese pirates."

  Although Sun Zili hated to let Pang Gang die immediately in his heart, he couldn't say it openly, so he frowned and scolded his son: "The great enemy is in front of us, how can you cause trouble and disturb the military spirit? Don't retreat."

  "Hmph!" Sun Xiyu snorted softly and fell silent.

  Before long, the city gate slowly opened, and Pang Gang led more than 200 soldiers out of the gate in neat steps, heading towards the Japanese pirates.

  Thanks for the reward from classmate yi jian piao 123!