The rise of the poor

The Japanese pirates, covering the rear, stared at the tightly closed city gates, sinking into despair and madness. Xu Hai's promises had all become a joke. What a load of rubbish! They could retreat into the city in the time it takes to drink a cup of tea! The city gates were closed; how were they supposed to retreat into the city?!
Xu Hai's promise of one hundred taels of silver and a woman was utterly absurd!

The Japanese pirates, who were covering the retreat, cursed in a frenzy and despair: "Those who betray their promise will die a horrible death! Those who cross the river and then destroy the bridge will die a horrible death!"

They rammed the city gate frantically, breaking their heads in the process; they hacked at the gate with their swords until the blades were dulled; they cursed, begged, and cried until their voices were hoarse. They tried everything, but to no avail.

The city gates remained tightly shut.

"We're dead! We're dead! We're going to die! We're doomed!"

"That bastard Xu Hai broke his promise and locked us out of the city, giving us no way to survive. Those damned government soldiers won't give us a way to survive either. If nobody gives us a way to survive, then we'll take someone down with us! We'll fight the government soldiers to the death!"

"Let's fight! Let's fight them! These damned government officials won't give us a way out, so let's fight them to the death!"

The Japanese pirates, who were covering the rear, turned around like trapped beasts, baring their teeth and glaring with bloodshot eyes. They frantically brandished their swords, ready to fight the Zhejiang army to the death.

They wanted to fight Xu Hai to the death, but Xu Hai had closed the city gates, so they couldn't get in. Since they couldn't fight Xu Hai to the death, they could only fight the Zhejiang army, since the Zhejiang army was outside the city and wanted them dead.

"If you won't give us a way out, then let's all die together!"

The Japanese pirates, who were locked outside the city gates, brandished their Japanese swords and charged madly into the Zhejiang army's formation.

"Pass down the order: those who kneel down and surrender will not be killed!"

Seeing the frenzied Japanese pirates charging towards him, Zhu Ping'an quickly gave orders to the messenger.

They should kneel down and surrender. We won't kill them now, but as for later, once we've captured all the Japanese pirates, we'll put them on trial. According to their crimes, those who deserve to be killed will be killed, and those who deserve to be imprisoned will be imprisoned. We won't let them off easily.

"By order of the lord, those who shout 'Kneel down and surrender' will not be killed!" The messengers quickly relayed Zhu Ping'an's order to the front lines.

"Kneel down and surrender, or you will be killed!"

"Kneel down and surrender, or you will be killed!"

"Kneel down and surrender, or you will be killed!"

As the Zhejiang soldiers advanced in orderly ranks like waves, they shouted loudly at the Japanese pirates charging towards them in a desperate attack. The shouts of the Zhejiang soldiers were like thunder, reaching the ears of the Japanese pirates.

"Holy crap?! Good heavens, what are those damn soldiers shouting? Kneel down and surrender or we'll be spared?! They're shouting that kneel down and surrender or we'll be spared! We've got a way out!"

"But we're not dead yet! The soldiers shouted that if we knelt down and surrendered, they wouldn't kill us. Damn it, we should just surrender! It was that bastard Xu Hai who betrayed us first. He promised us that we could retreat back into the city in the time it takes to brew a cup of tea while we were covering the retreat, but damn it, he betrayed us. While we were fighting desperately to cover the retreat, he actually closed the city gates!"

"If he does the first thing, don't blame us for doing the fifteenth. Surrender! The officers and soldiers are all saying that if we surrender, we won't be killed. We can live."

"Vote! Vote! Vote!"

Upon hearing the Zhejiang army's call, the Japanese pirates, who had originally prepared to fight to the death for every one of them, realized that they still had a chance to live. Whether to charge into the Zhejiang army's formation and be killed, or to kneel down and surrender to live, was not a choice at all. There was only one answer. Thump, thump, the Japanese pirates threw down their weapons and knelt down to surrender.

In an instant, the Japanese pirates were kneeling all over the ground; who would rather die than live?

"Haha, these Japanese pirates look like a field of crops, hahaha, it's time to harvest them."

When the Zhejiang soldiers saw the Japanese pirates kneeling on the ground, looking like drooping ears of rice in the cold wind, they couldn't help but burst into laughter.

Soon, the Zhejiang soldiers tied the hands of the Japanese pirates who had knelt down and surrendered with ropes and strung them together.

Zhu Pingan ordered a count of the prisoners; a total of 563 Japanese pirates were captured this time.

"Take them to the rear camp and keep them under strict guard. If they show any unusual behavior, attempt to escape, or engage in any other misconduct, they will be executed without mercy!"

Zhu Pingan ordered the prisoners to be taken to the rear camp, and assigned a sentry of soldiers to guard them closely, giving them the power to kill without mercy!

"Young Master, the city gates of Songjiang Prefecture have been closed by the Japanese pirates who have retreated into the city. We don't have battering rams, so we can't break down the gates. Should we gather gunpowder and blow up the gates?" Liu Dagang returned from the city gates and reported to Zhu Ping'an.

Zhu Pingan looked up and saw the Songjiang Prefecture garrison on the city wall. He frowned. Were the Songjiang Prefecture garrison puppets or were they terrified by the Japanese pirates?! There was no movement from the Japanese pirates inside the city gate, yet the garrison on the city wall still dared not come down to open the city gate for the Zhejiang army!

"Shout to the soldiers guarding the city walls and order them to come down and open the city gates immediately. If they delay the pursuit of the Japanese pirates, I will hold them accountable!"

Zhu Pingan, expressionless, gave the order, "If the defenders on the city wall do not react, then pile up gunpowder and blow up the city gate!"

"As ordered!"

Liu Dagang clasped his hands in acceptance of the order.

Soon, the Zhejiang soldiers shouted to the defenders on the city wall to open the city gate. While shouting, they piled gunpowder at the city gate, intending to blow it open if the defenders failed to open it in time.

"General, quickly send men down to open the city gates and welcome the reinforcements into the city!" a soldier on the city wall said to his general after hearing the shout.

"Are you crazy? The Japanese pirates are still watching us from below. If we dare to leave the city walls, they will storm them. Can you withstand their attack?! If they reach the walls, will we even survive?"

Immediately, some people objected.

"Most of the Japanese pirates have gone into the city, leaving less than a hundred men at the city gate. Open the city gate to welcome the reinforcements in. The reinforcements will annihilate the damned Japanese pirates, and only then will we be safe. Otherwise, if the reinforcements are blocked outside the city gate, the Japanese pirates inside the city will kill us sooner or later."

"The reinforcements outside the city are piling gunpowder onto the city gates. They've announced that if we don't open the gates, they'll have no choice but to blow them up with gunpowder, and they'll hold us accountable for delaying the battle!"

The soldiers defending the city had differing opinions.

Everyone turned to look at the general guarding the city. After a moment's hesitation, the general made up his mind and ordered, "Open the city gates!"

"Brothers in reinforcements, don't blow up the city gate! We'll come down and open it! Don't blow up the city gate, we'll come down and open it!" The defenders on the city wall shouted to the Zhejiang troops outside the city. Then a group of defenders walked down the city wall.

The Japanese pirates, who were watching from a distance, made a show of charging, which frightened the defenders who had come down from the city wall. Many soldiers turned around and ran away like startled rabbits.

"Hahahaha, you coward!"

The Japanese pirates who were monitoring them laughed and then turned and retreated into the city.

Seeing that the Japanese pirates who were monitoring them had left, the garrison breathed a sigh of relief and quickly ordered their troops to descend from the city wall.

Finally, the city gate creaked open.

"These cowards, what a waste of time! The garrison troops are utterly incompetent," Zhu Ping'an frowned in displeasure, ordering the Zhejiang army to line up and quickly enter the city. (End of Chapter)