Chapter 402

Su Qiao also confidently mobilized the troops.

The Japanese pirates numbered roughly over three thousand.

At this moment, Suzhoucheng had over ten thousand combat-ready soldiers!

Even after deducting the more than six thousand servant youths, the remaining Suzhou Guard garrison forces still numbered over twenty-five hundred, plus about a thousand elite private soldiers.

This total was enough to deal with the Japanese pirates!

Su Qiao summoned Song Qiao and his several deputy generals.

"Song Qiao, I order you to immediately assemble four thousand troops, go set an ambush, and be sure to annihilate the main force of the Japanese pirates; do you dare?"

Song Qiao had been waiting for this opportunity.

In the past, he had no battles to fight, so naturally he could not earn merit.

Now, in this battle against the Japanese pirates, the pirates' calculations had basically fallen into Su Qiao's schemes.

Not to say there was a hundred percent certainty, but seventy or eighty percent was there!

Why did I join the army in the first place, if not to establish merit and achieve greatness?

Upon being asked by Su Qiao, he knew the long-awaited opportunity had arrived.

Thus, his face flushed red as he suppressed his excitement; his eyes burning, he stepped out of the ranks, clasped his hands, stood below the hall, and shouted loudly: "This subordinate naturally dares! Please, my lord, issue the order; this subordinate will surely not fail your trust!"

"Good, then I leave it to you!"

"Yes! Speed is precious in war; this subordinate is leaving now!"

……

As Song Qiao was taking the elite troops away, Zhang Xueceng felt somewhat uneasy.

After Song Qiao left, leaving only the two of them, he could not help but speak: "My lord, the elite troops have all been taken away by General Song; although more than five thousand remain, they are all untrained irregulars. If the Japanese pirates suddenly attack, can Suzhoucheng be defended?"

Although Su Qiao considered Zhang Xueceng, such a civil official, to be useless mud that could not be plastered on a wall, he had not expected him to be such trash!

That's right!

In Su Qiao's view, he was trash!

If it were not for still hoping the other party would help coordinate some trivial matters in Suzhoucheng.

Su Qiao really wanted to remove him immediately!

However, since it was still a time of presenting a united front against the enemy, Su Qiao showed no cracks on his face.

Instead, he comforted him with kind words: "My lord Zhang, rest assured. Not only are the Japanese pirates merely over three thousand, but even if they doubled in number, we could still rely on the advantage of our strong walls to block the Japanese pirates!"

"Currently, there are five thousand youths in the city, plus nearly a thousand city guards, plus Yamen Runners, Constables, Embroidered Uniform Guards, and so on, adding up to nearly another thousand; that is nearly seven thousand people. If a real crisis occurs, other families in the city can also provide quite a few servant youths. With so many people, does my lord Zhang still worry?"

As soon as Su Qiao finished speaking, Zhang Xueceng actually listened.

The look of worry vanished from his face, and he regained his previous composure.

It was just that his smile was slightly awkward. "I am not worried, I am not worried. This subordinate overthought it; I did not expect my lord to be fully prepared and strategizing from behind the scenes!"

"Hmm, dangerous matters do not require you, but you must handle the logistical affairs for me well. Otherwise, others will all have merit, while you, a senior Fourth Rank official of the court, will have no effect at all; at that time, I will not be able to protect you!"

Su Qiao did not forget to give him a warning.

Zhang Xueceng was startled; looking slightly fearful, he repeatedly agreed: "My lord, rest assured; this subordinate will absolutely not make a mistake. This subordinate will go busy himself now."

It was already past the Hour of Zi in the middle of the night.

What the hell are you going to busy yourself with?

Oh, that's not right; Song Qiao was just assembling troops and leaving.

Su Qiao waved his hand indifferently. "Go."

……

After Song Qiao finished assembling the troops, he immediately led them out of Suzhoucheng, heading straight for the ambush site.

To prevent exposing their figures, they specifically did not light torches; a long dragon relied solely on the dim moonlight in the sky for guidance.

Fortunately, most people did not suffer greatly from night blindness.

After all, they were in Suzhou and Hangzhou, where they could occasionally eat fish and such.

The prevalence of night blindness was greatly reduced, allowing marching at night.

Men held mouth-pieces; horses had their hooves wrapped!

The marching speed was not fast, but it was concealed.

Before dawn, they managed to avoid alerting the Japanese pirates and hid in the woods on both sides of the road.

……

Fujita Goichiro and Koga and the others had already been hiding in the predetermined mountain hollow for nearly a day and a night.

Not a single movement!

The scheme of deliberately making tracks to lure the Great Ming army into pursuit was thought up by Fujita Goichiro.

They did not go to Ningbo Prefecture because the three men, Kimura, sent out by Koga, had completely vanished.

It was as if they had sunk into the sea, making him feel a trace of unease.

He thought it over and decided not to go to Ningbo Prefecture, but to strike the fattest target: Suzhou Prefecture.

However, whether Suzhou Prefecture was prepared and whether there were many Great Ming troops, they were unclear.

After thinking it over, Fujita Goichiro and Koga discussed methods together and finally chose this Safe and steady method.

"According to logic, the Great Ming army should have discovered us here; why have they not come yet? Could it be they have seen through our scheme?"

Koga asked Fujita Goichiro.

Fujita Goichiro frowned, a trace of worry appearing on his face. "We will wait another half day. If the Great Ming army makes a move, and our scattered people still have not sent back news, let us wait patiently a bit longer!"

"Does General Fujita mean the Great Ming army reacts slowly?"

"Yes. I have not dealt with the Great Ming army for the first time; their bureaucratic thinking is very serious. To mobilize troops requires a long time; we can wait patiently."

Fujita Goichiro said with considerable pride.

Indeed, he was guilty of countless crimes, having plundered many villages along the Great Ming coast, and many common people had fallen victim to his cruelty.

However, he possessed this confidence and remained calm.

Ogasawara did not. "General Fujita, it is not that I doubt your judgment, but we still need to be vigilant. We have entered the Prefecture boundaries of Suzhoucheng in the Great Ming for so long, yet we find that almost no one remains in the nearby villages; this is clearly abnormal. It is possible news of our impending surprise attack has leaked. We must remain vigilant at all times!"

"Hmm, what Mr. Ogasawara says is correct; I was somewhat careless. Very well, I will send more people to scout the situation now!"

255, the onset of the dog days!

Fujita Goichiro followed Ogasawara's suggestion and sent another group to scout the situation.

But they encountered members of the Embroidered Uniform Guard.

The Embroidered Uniform Guard was already searching for spies near Suzhoucheng, and the appearance of these new Japanese pirate scouts made them overjoyed.

They swarmed forward to hack, kill, and capture them!

The Japanese pirate scouts were also startled.

They had emerged from the valley where they were originally ambushing, with the sole purpose of scouting the situation.

But what was going on?

They had finally managed to approach near Suzhoucheng to scout the situation as the leader General required, so how did they run into the Embroidered Uniform Guard?

When a large crowd of Embroidered Uniform Guard charged forward, the hearts of the Japanese pirate scouts collapsed.

They wanted to flee, but they simply could not escape!

The Embroidered Uniform Guard had dogs they had gathered; no matter how they hid, they could not hide at all.

After several attempts, the Japanese pirate scouts, having nowhere to turn, picked up their swords, turned around, and fought the Embroidered Uniform Guard to the death.

Fortunately, they were not stupid; they did not run toward the location where the Japanese pirates were ambushing, but chose the other side, intending to mislead the Embroidered Uniform Guard.

Each one was extremely fierce, and not a single one surrendered.

Even when captured by the Embroidered Uniform Guard, they acted quickly like trained death knights, immediately biting through the poison fangs in their mouths to commit suicide.

This left the Embroidered Uniform Guard quite depressed.

The value of the dead and the living is completely different.

Without capturing any prisoners, their merit was greatly reduced.

However, even if only corpses remained in the end.

The Embroidered Uniform Guard dragged them all away and sent someone to report to Su Qiao.

"So, the Japanese pirate scouts appeared suddenly and walked straight into the net the Embroidered Uniform Guard had laid out," Su Qiao said to himself.

Su Qiao murmured to himself.

Ma Kui and the others dared not disturb Su Qiao's train of thought, so they simply nodded repeatedly. "Yes."

"Then the Japanese pirates must be growing impatient; I believe Song Qiao will soon bring good news." A hint of a smile appeared on Su Qiao's face.