In the midsummer season of June, even the morning is unbearably hot, especially after the sun rises from the east. The blazing sunshine seems to dry out all the moisture on people's bodies.
But even in such weather, there is still a team running around Jiangzhou City at a constant speed and neatly. Their uniform slogans have attracted the attention of many Jiangzhou people inside and outside the city: " Be loyal to the country and protect Jiangzhou!"
This team is naturally the Jiangzhou rural soldiers who have been ignored by everyone in the city before. However, since they conducted a series of drills under the orders of the newly arrived Sun Tuanlian in May, they have gradually gained the attention of many people. . Especially in the past month, they have been shouting slogans and running around the city in unison every morning, which makes it even more special.
You must know that nowadays, soldiers and horses from all over the Song Dynasty, let alone the rural soldiers, even the Xiang army and even the Forbidden Army do not train like this team every day. Perhaps only the last elite Western soldiers of the Song Dynasty who are ready to fight against the Xixia people at any time can This tradition will be maintained.
What is even more striking is that the daily drills of these rural soldiers are completely different from what everyone imagined. Some people have seen these rural soldiers lining up in a row in the military camp, squatting and jumping, watching Just like frogs, it is really ugly and ridiculous. Some people have even seen these country soldiers lying on the ground, relying only on their hands and feet to support the ups and downs of their bodies. It is really indecent to the extreme.
When these rumors spread throughout the city, the rural soldiers became an extremely weird army in the eyes of many people. Everyone even secretly said that the new Sun Tuanlian was a lunatic who did not understand military skills. Only those in the middle and back offices of the court can obtain this official position. It's hard to say whether this statement was spontaneously thought up by the common people, or whether it was a rumor deliberately spread by someone.
Only those who are in the rural soldiers know how much these seemingly weird drills arranged by Sun Tu have changed the entire army. In just over a month, the formerly muddled country soldiers have undergone a transformation. The soldiers are much stronger both physically and mentally than before. Those who would be out of breath when just starting to run for a while, now After running three sections of the city wall, they still had some energy left. Only the sweat on their heads and bodies showed that they were engaged in strenuous morning exercise.
When they turned back from the east city wall to the north, Yang Zhi in front of him suddenly shouted: "Sprint with all your strength, the first 100 people who return to the military camp today will have meat to eat!"
Following these words, the soldiers who had been saving their strength immediately shouted loudly, suddenly exerted force on their feet, and rushed towards the military camp in front with all their strength. During the roar, more than 300 people seemed to be running away. They galloped away like wild horses, and no one was willing to lag behind.
After more than a month of training, everyone has become accustomed to the reward and punishment system advocated by Sun Tu. Every day, he would prepare one or two bites of fat pig to add food to the soldiers, but only those who were the best in today's training were eligible to enjoy the meat. It started with the first fifty people, and later it was increased to a hundred people.
With this reward in front of them, the soldiers' training these days is particularly strenuous. Even if they have been trained to the point of being unable to walk the day before, they will still rush to the military camp in time to join the training the next day. And let
What surprised people was that as they practiced over time, they clearly felt their progress, and now they no longer feel sore all over their bodies at night as before.
After all these people ran to the military camp and took a short rest, the group leader brought them food such as water and dry biscuits. After eating, these sergeants would first do a few sets of frog jumps and push-ups specially prescribed by Sun Tu, and then Yang Zhi and Luda would lead them to practice the battle formation moves with guns, sticks and swords.
Although there were only five or six moves that came and went, all the soldiers practiced extremely seriously. They used all their strength in every slashing and stabbing move. After practicing until noon, everyone would disperse and rest in the camp. Wait until the sun sets before starting a new round of training.
Today's training looked no different from usual. The only difference was that Sun Tu was not watching as usual, giving guidance from time to time. In fact, Sun Tuanlian did not appear in the military camp today at all. At this time, he was actually in the state government office.
In the Second Hall of the Prefecture Government Office, the main hall of the Zhizhou Official Office, more than a dozen important civil and military officials from Jiangzhou City were all present. After seeing the gloomy face of the prefect Cai Dezhang, the expressions of these people also looked particularly solemn. These people gathered together, but no one spoke for a long time. Only when someone picked up a teacup and took a sip did they make some noise.
After being silent for half an hour, Governor Cai finally said, "You must have known what kind of situation Jiangzhou will face this time, right?"
Everyone looked at each other and nodded silently. Only Sun Tu, who had been in the military camp recently and had not cared about other things, still looked confused: "Prefect, what happened?"
Several colleagues looked at him with surprised eyes. Only Yuan Wang opened his mouth and explained: "Just three days ago, three official ships from Tokyo were attacked by water bandits on the Xunyang River at night. As a result, not only the property on the ship was They were robbed by these thieves, and even the people on the boat were poisoned. Among them was Jiang Qian, a Jiangzhou official who had just retired from the position of minister of the Ministry of Industry. In the end, only two boatmen jumped into the river to save their lives. , and brought the news back to Jiangzhou City."
Sun Tu finally understood why everyone present was so nervous. Even he was shocked when he heard this incident and could not calm down for a long time. The Minister of Industry is already considered a high-ranking official in the court. Even if he has become an official, his status is still here. Those water bandits actually dared to attack him, and their nature was no different from killing an official to rebel.
What's even more troublesome is that this group of water bandits has been causing trouble on the Xunyang River for more than a year. As local officials, they have been letting it go without any idea of eradicating it, which has led to today's disaster. If the court really wants to pursue it, what will happen here? Not one of the officials could escape his involvement, including himself, who had only been in Jiangzhou for a few months for team training.
"I used to be more tolerant to the water bandits because I didn't want to fight rashly, but I didn't expect that they not only didn't want to fight back, but also intensified their behavior. I will never tolerate them again. This time, we must rush to deal with these bandits before the court orders a reprimand. The water bandits have been completely wiped out, do you have any thoughts?" Cai Jiu waited for a moment before revealing his intention.
Everyone bowed their heads slightly, secretly thinking that what Cai Taishou said sounded nice, but in fact he was just trying to excuse his family.
. As early as last year, after the water bandits appeared in the Xunyang River, Jiangzhou City had actually sent troops to exterminate them several times, but the result was failed every time. Especially the one in March this year, which caused heavy losses. , Not only killed more than a hundred officers and soldiers, but also took the lives of several military attachés.
It was precisely because of the government's failure in suppressing bandits that the water bandits became increasingly arrogant and completely blocked the entire Xunyang River. They even attacked official ships and killed high-ranking officials this time.
But with the number of soldiers and horses in Jiangzhou City now, can they really be wiped out? Everyone who knew the inside story felt that they had no confidence in their hearts, so they did not dare to answer the prefect's words.
Sun Tu fell into deep thought after being shocked. In fact, he had been thinking about a question, why this bandit, known as the "fierce dragon", was so rampant that the government sent out several troops but failed. He couldn't believe it if there was nothing fishy about it.
Although the military equipment of the Song Dynasty was weak, compared with the former Tang Dynasty or the Liao Kingdom in the north, it was not necessarily difficult to control the place with the combat power of the official army. But the officers and soldiers here in Jiangzhou were defeated by the water bandits one after another. This is too abnormal. They are not Liangshan heroes who have many good soldiers and occupy an absolutely advantageous location.
Thinking of this, Sun Tu couldn't help but glance thoughtfully at Lin Henian, the governor not far in front of him. He had commanded the battles against bandits several times. Could it be that he was the problem
His guess was suddenly interrupted by Cai Jiu's roll call: "Sun Tu."
Sun Tu quickly cheered up, stood up and clasped his fists: "I'm humble and obey orders."
"I heard that you have worked extremely hard in training the local soldiers in the past two months. Have you ever thought about taking this opportunity to eliminate evil in Jiangzhou?" Cai Jiu said with a hint of expectation in his eyes.
Sun Tu immediately responded: "I have already heard about the vicious Jiao and water bandits who have been doing evil on the Xunyang River for a long time. I am willing to lead my countrymen to attack and defeat this bandit!"
Cai Jiugang smiled with satisfaction at this answer. Lin Henian, who was already a little uneasy, immediately stood up and said: "Prefect, I think this approach is too dangerous. This year, our officers and soldiers have been here several times. The water bandits' men suffered heavy losses. In March this year, we even sent thousands of troops but failed to gain any advantage from them. It is even more impossible to win with only 300 rural soldiers, but only increased casualties... "
"What do you mean by Lin Dujian?" Before Cai Jiu could react, Yuan Wang had already asked first.
Lin Henian answered with a tacit understanding: "In fact, in the past few months, Xiaguan has learned a lot and thought of some ways to defeat thieves. As long as the troops are sufficient, they will be able to defeat thieves in one fell swoop. Sun Tuanlian, the country soldiers under your command have gone through this period It’s really time to practice the training in real combat, are you willing to obey my orders and jointly send troops to suppress the bandits?”
At the same time that he had just expressed his intention, Yuan Wang looked at Cai Jiu, who had changed his expression, like a double act: "Prefect, I think what Lin Dujian said is true. Only a more than 300 rural soldiers can do it." It is impossible to defeat the thieves, but if the Xiang soldiers and the rural soldiers join forces, we will surely win in one battle!"
Seeing the two men singing in unison like a double act, Sun Tu knew that even Cai Jiu would not be able to insist on sending only his own team to suppress the bandits this time.