On the official road leading to Yangzhou Prefecture, more than 10,000 Ming troops were lined up in an orderly line and slowly moving forward. A large flag with the word "Yang" was standing high in front of the team, indicating that the coach of this team was Yang Cong, the new governor of Zhejiang Direct.

Originally, civil officials and generals such as Hu Zongxian and Qi Jingtong did not want Yang Cong to take risks in person. The battle between 10,000 and 30,000 pirates and Japanese pirates was too dangerous. If something happened to the Governor, it would be amazing.

However, Yang Cong refused to listen to the dissuasion and insisted on leading his troops to the expedition himself.

This made Hu Zongxian and Qi Jingtong feel so worried. At this moment, they were still full of sadness and didn't know what to do.

Yangzhou City is actually not far from Jinling City, only about 200 miles away. However, Yangzhou City is a bit far from the seaside, and the nearest coastline from Yangzhou City is more than 300 miles away.

Yang Cong originally wanted to arrive at Yangzhou Prefecture City first, arrange the defense of the Tunwei and the evacuation of the people, and then rush to the coast to intercept pirates and Japanese pirates according to the situation, but something happened less than a day after he set out.

He was driving a horse and leading his army to move forward on the official road. Suddenly, a rapid sound of horse hooves came from the front. Then, he saw a cavalryman running towards this side with a postman with a flag on his back.

Eight hundred miles of speed up!

When Yang Cong saw the words on the flag, his heart was shocked. Generally, if nothing big happens, local officials would not dare to use the eight hundred miles to urgently interrogate. Could it be that the pirates and the Japanese pirates had already fought?

Sure enough, the postman shouted urgently from a distance: "Report, Governor, the territory of Haimen County, Tongzhou was attacked by Japanese pirates."

So fast!

He didn't delay much. He received the news that afternoon and led his army to set off the next morning. It was less than twelve hours before Mao Lie came to report the message. The Japanese pirates came so quickly.

He raised his hand to take the expedition document presented by the postman and saw that his mouth almost turned irritated.

The Yangzhou Prefect's urgent report: More than 10,000 Japanese pirates invaded the Haimen County of Tongzhou. Yangzhou Guards, Gaoyou Guards, and Yizhen Guards all said that it would take at least three days to summon people to support them, and beg the Governor to send troops immediately.

Don’t the commanders of Yangzhou Guards, Gaoyou Guards, and Yizhen Guards want to do it anymore?

They were obviously afraid of the enemy and were afraid of fighting. Otherwise, how could it take three days to assemble individual horses? Fortunately, he went on the road after receiving the news, otherwise the entire Tongzhou would probably be robbed by pirates and Japanese pirates!

These guys are so greedy and afraid of death, so how can they be regarded as the third-rank military position?

He really wanted to order the commanders of Yangzhou Guards, Gaoyou Guards, and Yizhen Guards to withdraw all the commanders. However, the Japanese pirates have already landed at this moment, and it would be useless to withdraw them. After thinking about it, he suppressed his anger and raised his hand and said aloud: "Map."

Soon, a personal guard took out a roll of map from his arms and stuffed it into his hands.

He opened the map and frowned.

These Japanese pirates obviously have guidance from experts, because Yangzhou Guards, Gaoyou Guards, and Yizhen Guards are all in the northwest of Yangzhou Prefecture, while Haimen is in the southeast corner of Yangzhou Prefecture, with a distance of at least three or four hundred miles in the middle. Even if you receive the news, it will take five or six days to gather a large army immediately!

This was also his negligence. He did not notice that the three major guards in Yangzhou Prefecture were not on the beach. It was different from the Suzhou Prefecture next to him. Zhenhaiwei and Taicangwei were less than a hundred miles away from the coastline. If Japanese pirates attacked, they would only be able to reach the support in one day.

There is no way, the area he is responsible for is too wide, with one capital and four provinces, so it is impossible to only pay attention to Yangzhou, so this mistake was made.

At this moment, Yangzhou Guards, Gaoyou Guards, and Yizhen Guards have gone to intercept them. It is definitely too late to delay time. His current location is closer to Haimen than the bases of these three garrisons, so it is better to take his subordinates to support him directly.

He thought for a while and then ordered: "I ordered Gaoyou Guard to immediately draw troops to Xinghua for support, Yangzhou Guard to immediately draw troops to Rugao for support, and Yizhen Guard to immediately draw troops to Taixing for support. If these three places are captured by pirates and Japanese pirates, I will take the heads of Xiang Shang, the commander of the three guards!"

As soon as he finished speaking, the three messengers behind him bowed and said, "As for orders", and then rushed towards the northwest.

He looked at the map again, then ordered loudly: "Shixian, march quickly, go to Taixing, and rush to Tongzhou to support it."

When Qi Jingtong heard this, he hurriedly bowed and said, "I will obey the order."

Then, he directed the army to the southeast and ran straight towards Taixing.

This marching is not about running wildly, it is called escaping for life. Generally, normal marching is jogging, and there is time limit. At most, you have to take a break after running for about an hour. It is good to be able to advance about a hundred miles a day. If you run faster or run for a longer time, the infantry will run so that their limbs are weak and even cramps all over. Then it is not about rushing over to kill the enemy, but to die.

Although Yang Cong was anxious, he did not dare to let his infantry run wildly. He would order camping and rest after traveling a hundred miles a day. Even if Tongzhou kept reporting urgently, he had never acted recklessly. He should rest or rest, and he was still very careful about where he should be careful.

Nothing happened on the first day. Apart from the caravans who hurriedly avoided them, they basically encountered no one.

The situation was different the next day. Civilians fleeing on the road one after another, one after another, were all in panic.

Obviously, the Japanese pirates were really ready to come and make the big deal this time. Before they entered Tongzhou, they encountered fleeing civilians. I don’t know how many Japanese pirates came.

On the third day, the army had just been moving for about an hour. Yang Cong was about to order a rest on the spot. A cavalry suddenly rushed from the southeast direction. A long distance away, the scout immediately shouted: "Report, Governor, a large number of Japanese pirates were found about ten miles southeast direction."

What do you mean by these things?

He originally planned to lead his army to Tongzhou City first, repair it, understand the situation, and then decide how to clear out these landing pirates and Japanese pirates. Unexpectedly, he was still dozens of miles away from Tongzhou City, and then he encountered a large number of Japanese pirates. Under normal circumstances, this was basically impossible.

Because pirates and Japanese pirates are coming to plunder, they are not here to fight to the government army. Generally speaking, when they hear that the government army is coming, they can't hide in time. How could they run over and fight to the government army like they took the wrong medicine?

It is obvious that this pirate and Japanese pirates came for him, and Yan Song wanted him to suffer a big defeat.

At this time, it is safe to go. These pirates and Japanese pirates still don’t know what tricks they will play.

Yang Cong thought for a while, then ordered: "Shixian, order everyone to form a formation on the spot, the guards form a mandarin duck formation to guard all directions, and the Shenji Camp formed a square formation in the middle."
Chapter completed!