CH 11

The County Magistrate Yang Rufu was awakened by the ruckus from outside.

He didn’t even have time to probably get changed, before the housekeeper burst in: “Laoye, things are bad! The Wukou are invading!”

Yang Rufu was shaken to the core by this information, his first thought was: I’m done for, I’ll lose my position.

His second thought: When Zhao Su came to see me, why didn’t I believe him?

During the Ming dynasty, there was a law that if a Government Official abandons his post, he will be given the death penalty. So even if he managed to save his own life, his career would be over.

So what could he do, desperately cling on and defend his land to his death.

But Yang Rufu was still mentally capable, he settled down and said “Quickly prepare my horse, let’s make haste for the city gates!”

At this time outside the city, the fighting was in full swing.

The Ming soldiers had been woken up in the middle of the night, caught off guard, they were hurriedly trying to ready themselves.

At the same time at the bottom of the city walls, a thousand Wukou were standing outside, it was not known when they had got there but they were ready to invade the city.

The people on top of the city wall were haphazardly shooting down towards the Wukou. The sky was black, the firing range was far so they were not particularly successful, and even wasted quite a few arrows.

When Company Leader Jiang had hurried over to the City gates, there were quite a few Wukou who had scaled over the wall and were already fighting with the Ming soldiers. At close hand to hand combat, blood was splattering everywhere and terrifying screams carried through the air.　

The news of Wukuo’s arrival spread like wildfire across the whole of the city.

Changle had been peaceful for more than ten years, when had they encountered a battle like this? The inhabitants of the city had all been woken up, hearing that the Wukou had arrived, there was panic everywhere. There were even people who were packing up trying to get out of the city running toward the next county.

Zhao Su was shaken by the scene he witnessed after opening the door.

The darkness of night didn’t stop the frenetic footsteps of the people.

There were screams and cries everywhere. Everyone ran around like headless chickens. The officials and merchants had already packed up their things and were leaving by carriage via the mountain road. The ordinary inhabitants were helpless, so they could only pray that the soldiers could stop the ruthless Wukou.

Once the Wukou entered the city, the consequences were obvious – the women harassed, the men murdered and homes looted. Everyone had never felt the shadow of death looming so closely above their heads as they did at this moment.

Lady Chen and the others in the household had already been instructed by Zhao Su to go and hide in the cellar. Here, it was at least a little safer than being outside with the bewildered people.

Zhao Su had made preparations very early one, at his home he had built a cellar that they usually used to store some dried food. Under emergencies, people were also able to hide there, plus there was enough food and drink for a few months. He had also acquired a few young and courageous servants, and made them train their bodies regularly, so that when it came down to it they could also aid in protecting the home.

Although it hadn’t been that long, they should still be of some use.

Of course, the best way was still to prevent the Wukou from entering the city. Otherwise, the consequences were unfathomable. Not to mention that his small shop would be destroyed but the livelihoods of tens of thousands of people in Changle County would also be ruined.

Zhao Su was standing at the entrance, frowning, he was deep in thought.

Housekeeper Dai was following him worriedly, unwilling to leave. “Gongzi, we should go down to the cellar now!”

Zhao Su hadn’t even had time to reply when suddenly someone arrived on a horse. The person shouted: “Is Zhao Su here?”

“Company Leader Jiang, you lead a thousand men to guard this city gate, if they dare to retreat, immediate execution!”

“Li Ming, you take the secret letter, and head to Fuzhou to seek reinforcements, we can hold out at most three more days!”

Everyone was ordered to leave. Yang Rufu didn’t even have time to wipe off the sweat, before hearing someone next to him say “Daren, the people are panicked if you allow the officials to leave first, I’m afraid that the people will be even more panicked, it’ll be more harmful for morale.”

Yang Rufu turned around and saw that Zhao Su was standing there. Zhao Su was clean and tidy and didn’t seem panicked at all.

He exclaimed: “Shao Yong, this official regrets not listening to you!”

Zhao Su cried back: “Before this day, I could not have been absolutely certain. As an imperial official, da-ren must consider carefully, please don’t blame yourself.”

Although Yang Rufu did his best to guard the city, their advantage was slowly disappearing.

The night was over, the light of day had finally come.

Looking around, the foot soldiers were exhausted, and falling asleep. Most of the soldiers who were on duty at the fortress seemed dispirited.

Company Leader Jiang was injured, he was suffering from three sword cuts to his body and an arrow to his waist and was being carried away. There remained less than ten high-ranking military officers who could still fight. Even if Yang Rufu couldn’t fight himself, he still couldn’t leave the frontline.

Unknowingly, Zhao Su had become his right hand man, helping to come up with ideas.

Perhaps it was because he had received scholarly honour, or perhaps it was because he was able to stay calm in this situation, Yang Rufu had given him tacit approval to be there, so others would not have said anything otherwise.

The Wukou invasion hadn’t stopped because it was daylight. To the contrary, as soon as it was daybreak, they were no longer gathered outside the city gates, but instead had scattered elsewhere. They were looking for a weak point in which to take advantage of and attack.

The foot soldiers had long stopped putting their entire strength into the battle. Usually, during training, they were already slack and idle, and they had now been exposed. If it wasn’t for Yang Rufu giving orders on the frontline. They would have probably given up and Changle would probably be in the hands of the Wukou now.

“Reporting to Da-ren! Leader Li has suffered from arrows, I’m afraid he probably won’t last much longer!” A soldier ran over panting. Since Company Leader Jiang had been carried over, there wasn’t really anyone else who could lead the soldiers. There was a vice-commander who had taken the initiative to volunteer, Yang Rufu, seeing that he seemed to be courageous and brave, had let him stand in for Company Leader Jiang.

What he was most afraid of had come to pass, Yang Rufu’s face went blank, firmly grinding his teeth: “B*stard Wukou! How many troops do we have left?”

“Less than five hundred people, da-ren, should we just fall back?” the soldier suggested bitterly, his eyes rolled backwards.

Yang Rufu looked at their disheartened faces, sighed silently to himself and then said: “You are the soldiers of the Ming Dynasty. You have the responsibility of defending the land and this country. If this battle is won, this official will present a memorial to the emperor to request recognition for your efforts. If we lose, our heads will roll under the emperor’s orders. The city is here, the people are here. The city falls, the people fall!”

“Yes!”

Zhao Su sighed secretly, and forced himself to hold his trembling right hand still, and returned the sword to Yang Rufu.

“Da-ren, please forgive Shao Yong for my insolence.”

No one was born a butcher, but seeing the soldier’s morale shaken just now, Yang Rufu understood Zhao Su had no other choice but to kill him.

“What you did was correct, this official cannot compare to you….” Yang Rufu didn’t finish his sentence. He was attracted by a light at the bottom of the city gates.

Angry and surprised: “Where did they get firearms from?!”

Zhao Su went to take a look, there was indeed a group of people with a few holding firearms firing at the city walls.

Arrows fell from the top of the city walls, but not even one came close to the Wukou.”

“Give me an arrow.”

He took an arrow from a soldier, and weighed it in his hand.

He pulled the arrow back to aim, holding his breath.

He had practiced this countless times.

The arrow shot from the bow.

The target was hit.

The target didn’t even have a chance to cry out.

Stones, boiling oil, boiling water, anything that could resist the enemy was thrown down the city walls.

The bow and arrows were left to the able archers.

The Wokou who managed to scale up the wall were surrounded by groups of people.

The situation almost reversed.

However, ordinary people have not received formal training after all. No matter how strong they are, they may not be able to beat those Wukou who have experienced many battles, cunning and agility. After a fierce battle, both sides suffered heavy casualties. But the Wukou finally temporarily ceased their attack, changing to guerrilla warfare. 　　

Yang Rufu and the others on this side weren’t in much better shape.

Looking over, all you could see was injured soldiers, even Zhao Su’s hand had been injured by an arrow, he hastily wrapped it up with a white cloth.

Some of the old and weak women and children bandaged them with medicines for wounds, while others helped them with medicinal tonics and carried the wounded soldiers. There were even unmarried ladies amongst them who came to help.

Shen Lexing took out everything he had in Hui Chun Tang, giving it for free to the soldiers.

Zhao Shenhai also sent out some of the Zhao clan’s able-bodied men to guide the city walls, and Zhao Nuan naturally volunteered. He actually voluntarily ran to the Crenel of the city walls to kill the enemy at close range, and sustained light injuries.

In the face of huge threats, in order to protect their homes, people put down their usual moral boundaries, and their will has reached an unprecedented unity. 　　

Zhao Su’s clothes were stained with blood, and his hair was a bit messy, but he was still thinking clearly. He continued to think about the battlefield situation and the advantages and disadvantages of the two sides in his mind, trying to find a way to hold on until reinforcements arrived.

He and Yang Rufu were leaning to one side, talking about how to prevent people from fishing in the muddy waters of the city, but they heard someone eagerly report: “Reporting to da-ren, the granary is on fire, and several private houses are also burning!”

Yang Rufu began to get nervous again: “Has the fire been put out?”

“The fire in the granary has been extinguished, and one of the houses is too big to be extinguished for a while…Ah, Zhao Jieyuan, you are here too. I heard people say that the house seems to belong to you!” 　　

Zhao Su’s face went blank.

His mother and the others were still inside!