Pots of thick rice porridge were cooked and served with stacks of pickles, which became the dinner for the troops who recaptured Jiaxing.
Although it was just porridge and pickles, the portion was huge and filling, and everyone drank the porridge with open stomachs.
In order to show that he shared the joys and sorrows with the soldiers, and for show, Magistrate Zhao also ate with the soldiers outside the tent.
However, the food served to him by his old servant made his show seem a bit embarrassing.
The soldiers had thick porridge and pickles, while his had four dishes and one soup, stir-fried pork slices, hand-shredded roast chicken, braised lion's head, a plate of vinegar-soaked mung bean sprouts, and a bowl of tofu and crucian carp soup, which was so delicious.
Everything is afraid of comparison. Looking at the four dishes and one soup in front of Magistrate Zhao, the surrounding soldiers suddenly felt that the thick porridge in their hands did not taste good, and the pickles suddenly tasted like wax and were difficult to swallow.
"Bastard, who asked you to cook a small stove for me? Didn't I tell you that I will eat whatever the soldiers eat!"
When Magistrate Zhao saw the situation turning sour, he stood up immediately, pretended to be furious, and scolded the old servant who brought the small stove.
"Cut all these meals into minced meat and distribute them evenly into the soldiers' cooking stoves to reward the soldiers of the three armies."
In order to restore his image, Magistrate Zhao ordered all four dishes and one soup from his small stove to be chopped into minced meat and distributed equally among the pots and stoves of the entire camp.
Magistrate Zhao's rescue efforts are still somewhat effective. As the soldiers privately commented, "At least he is willing to do superficial things."
"After you have eaten and drank enough, everyone should go to bed early. Early tomorrow morning, I will lead you to recover Jiaxing!"
After a showy dinner, Magistrate Zhao asked everyone to go to bed early. He also set an example and turned around to go back to the tent to sleep.
ah?!
It’s time to go to bed?! There’s not even a night watch?! There’s no night watch?! There’s no password to enter the camp?!
After hearing what Magistrate Zhao said, the soldiers of the Hangzhou Guard were stunned when they saw that Magistrate Zhao was about to go to bed.
It was fine if I didn’t build fences, sentry towers, and keep horses away before. Why don’t I even set up a warning or set a password when I sleep at night?!
Although the Hangzhou Guards had poor military discipline and poor training, they still knew these basic things.
Night vigilance, night watch patrols, and passwords for entering and exiting the camp are the most basic.
Without warnings, night watch patrols, and passwords, the military camp would be completely undefended. It would be too easy for Japanese pirates to get in, and everyone's property and life would not be safe.
There's no reason why they shouldn't worry.
Therefore, when they saw that Magistrate Zhao was about to turn around and go to sleep, they quickly stopped Magistrate Zhao and reminded him, "Master Zhao, we are not going to set up a guard, arrange a night watch, or set a password?!"
"No need, everyone can just settle down and go to sleep." Magistrate Zhao waved his hand without any worry.
We can still sleep peacefully, can we sleep?!
Everyone was speechless for a moment.
"Sir, what should we do if the Japanese pirates sneak into the camp at night?" Hangzhou Baihu said worriedly.
"Don't worry, the Japanese pirates won't come at night; this is also part of the empty city plan! Besides, I have my own guard in front of you. What are you afraid of? Go to bed quickly and recharge your batteries. We'll be there early tomorrow morning.
Jiaxing has been recovered."
Magistrate Zhao waved his hand, laughed, and urged everyone to go to the tent to sleep and recharge their batteries.
Well
Also, with Magistrate Zhao's camp in front, if there were Japanese pirates who stole the camp, they would steal Magistrate Zhao's camp first. With Magistrate Zhao and his soldiers' tents as a buffer, they still had time to escape.
Everyone slept lightly at night and paid attention to the movements in Magistrate Zhao's camp. If there was any unusual movement in Magistrate Zhao's camp, everyone would run away to escape.
Thinking of this, everyone no longer persisted, and one by one got into their tents to recharge their batteries.
There were also people in the camp who were worried about Japanese pirates and voluntarily monitored the movements of Japanese pirates in Jiaxing City to prevent them from leaving the city and stealing camps.
A few hundred meters away, on Jiaxing City, Japanese pirates lit torches and bonfires and walked back and forth on the city gate.
However, they monitored for most of the night, and the Japanese pirates in Jiaxing City showed no sign of leaving the city to steal their camp.
Could it be that the Japanese pirates in Jiaxing City were really frightened by our empty city strategy?!
Magistrate Zhao really had two tricks up his sleeve, saying that the Japanese pirates would be frightened and mistakenly believe that there was an ambush in the camp, and would not dare to steal the camp.
Unexpectedly, the Japanese pirates really did not dare to steal the camp. At least from the time they arrived at Jiaxing City to now, the Japanese pirates have not dared to leave the city.
This gave Magistrate Zhao some fame in the camp.
In the evening, Zhu Ping'an once again received news about Magistrate Zhao, and then he was stunned.
"What kind of trick is this, Governor Zhao?! How dare you set up camp five or six hundred meters below Jiaxing City!? Isn't this distance too close?! It's within the range of crossbows and firearms."
"Also, not to mention setting up camp at such a close distance, you didn't even take any defensive measures such as fences, horse barriers, trenches, and sentry towers?"
"Even, there are no security or night watch patrols?!"
"Is Governor Zhao so brave?"
Zhu Ping'an sat in the study, frowning again and pondering for half an hour, but he still couldn't figure out what Governor Zhao was doing.
As for the empty city plan that Magistrate Zhao said, Zhu Ping'an just curled his lips and didn't believe a word of it.
In the end, we could only come to the same conclusion as last time. Magistrate Zhao must have had other reasons to rely on him for his actions.
Perhaps Magistrate Zhao did this to lure the Japanese pirates out of the city, and he even used himself as bait.
There must be a large army mobilized by the strict party hidden behind Magistrate Zhao. Once the Japanese pirates leave the city, they will take the opportunity to regain Jiaxing.
Perhaps, the three thousand ragtag group formed by Governor Zhao had some secrets, and there might be some elites mobilized by the strict Party among them.
Otherwise, it makes no sense to explain why Magistrate Zhao behaved so unbelievably.
Well, according to the detective report, the one hundred or so personal guards around Magistrate Zhao are of extraordinary bearing, full of murderous intent, and extremely brave.
It is said that before Magistrate Zhao was imprisoned, he did not have such a group of personal guards around him, but after he was released from prison, he suddenly had a hundred personal guards.
This also allowed Zhu Ping'an to confirm his conclusion that these one hundred personal guards were mobilized by Yan Dang to assist Magistrate Zhao.
The army mobilized by Party Yan to assist Magistrate Zhao in regaining Jiaxing was truly extraordinary. The Zhejiang Army's scouts had been conducting reconnaissance for so long but could not detect any clues. On the one hand, the Zhejiang Army's scouts did not dare to alert the enemy and did not dare to get too close to the battlefield between the two sides.
This aspect also illustrates the extraordinary power of the army mobilized by Party Yan.
"Explore again and report again. Pay close attention to every move of both sides in Jiaxing. Scouts will be on duty. Don't miss a moment."
Zhu Ping'an ordered the Zhejiang army scouts under his command to conduct close reconnaissance. Only by knowing one's enemies and one's own selves can one be victorious in a hundred battles.