There was a pitch-black sky above the head, and flashes of lightning from time to time tore through the darkness of the night sky. The rumbling thunder made the people in the city tremble. When the heavy raindrops pattered down from above, even though it was just after dusk according to the time of day, Qingzhou City was already silent, and there was not a single soul in the streets and alleys.
However, in the Xiang Army barracks in the north of the city, more than a thousand soldiers were standing outside like javelins. No matter how thunder continued to explode above their heads, no matter how heavy the rain had completely soaked their bodies, these people had no trace of their skin. Shaking, he still stared ahead resolutely, listening to the lectures of his own capital supervisor Sun Tu.
At this time, Sun Tu looked as embarrassed as everyone else, completely wet from head to toe, but his voice was still loud, completely covering up the heavy rain: "I know that these past half a month You have practiced very hard here, and many of you have been injured and bled. You must feel that you have made great progress, at least you can be regarded as a real army. But you are wrong. In my opinion, you are still too far away from being called soldiers. You only know how to stand in line and walk in unison, and those simple battle formation killing methods can only prove that you have a strong body, but you still can't defend your country with this. Far from enough. Even in my eyes, you are just a group of weaklings!"
Hearing these obviously derogatory words, although the sergeants did not dare to speak out, their eyes showed dissatisfaction. But Sun Tu, as if he hadn't seen their expressions, still shouted loudly: "You may not agree in your hearts and think that I am being alarmist, but you are wrong. I am just stating a fact. You have indeed made progress, even You are better than the Jiangzhou rural soldiers I led before, but this is because you are physically stronger than the southerners, and you don’t have to worry about foreign affairs since you entered the military camp. In this way, you are only slightly stronger than the Jiangzhou rural soldiers. , really not worth mentioning.
"And you may not know how powerful our Qingzhou soldiers were back then. At the end of the Han Dynasty and the Three Kingdoms, Cao Cao was able to unify the north and make everyone in the world fear him because of the thousands of Qingzhou soldiers when he started. At that time, your ancestors only used the simplest Under the leadership of Cao Cao, we can sweep across the world and almost unify the Central Plains. As for you, you can only stay in this city until now. Let alone defend against foreigners, you just want to wipe out all directions for the people of Qingzhou. Even thieves and bandits can't do it. Don't you feel ashamed and shameful?"
Perhaps many of these people don't know who Cao Cao is, let alone what impressive achievements and records he had at that time, but they still understand how brave and good their ancestors were thousands of years ago. Sweeping the world, what an elite and victorious army it must be!
Finding that everyone's energy and spirit had improved again, Sun Tu shouted loudly again: "Let today's thunderstorm wash away all the laziness in you. From tomorrow on, give me 120% of your energy to practice with all your strength. I want to see a real Qingzhou elite army within three months that can make bandits from all over the world change their minds!"
After a pause, Sun Tucai shouted loudly: "Did you all hear clearly? Answer me?" When he shouted this sentence, another thunder exploded from above his head, but it was still heard by everyone.
Got this.
Without the slightest hesitation, these more than a thousand soldiers also roared in unison: "We will obey the orders of the governor!" The sound even overshadowed the rumbling thunder and spread to all directions, making the people in the city stunned. Heard it clearly.
Several generals such as Lu Da and others standing beside him were all impressed. They never expected that Sun Tu could completely condense the Qingzhou Xiang army, which was originally just a ragtag group, into a fighting force in a short period of time. team. In fact, only they know that the Qingzhou soldiers are now stronger than more than 80% of the local Xiang armies in the world.
In the final analysis, this is because Sun Tu was able to distribute all the money and food in place, so that the soldiers were grateful to him. The people in Qingzhou were originally simple and simple. These Xiang army soldiers had already fallen to the bottom and could hardly afford to eat. However, the appearance of Sun Tu changed their destiny, which naturally made them feel grateful. At the same time, Sun Dujian's orders were carried out without any compromise.
Of course, in addition to the dedication of the soldiers in training, their great progress is also related to their own physical strength that is stronger than that of the southerners, as well as the dedicated guidance of military masters such as Lin Chong and Yang Zhi. Since Sun Tu came to Qingzhou and entered the military camp, these people have not had a day off. Everyone is working hard to practice according to the rules set by Sun Tu, and they are almost able to follow orders and prohibitions as if they were using their hands.
But Sun Tu had greater expectations for them. As he just said, the Qingzhou soldiers were an important team of Cao Cao when he started thousands of years ago. With their strong combat power, he, who did not have much strength in the early stage, was able to pacify the entire north. The Central Plains almost swallowed up all the land south of the Yangtze River. So in Sun Tu's opinion, this Qingzhou Xiang army still has a lot of potential that can be tapped. Not to mention that compared with the elite border troops who have been fighting for many years, at least they can single-handedly wipe out all the bandits in Qingzhou. Flat.
After all the troops dispersed and returned to the camp with Sun Tu's permission, several generals came over. Among them, Huang Wenbing still had some doubts on his face. After thinking about it for a moment, he said: "Captain, are you doing this a little too much?" Are you rushing forward? In fact, these soldiers have trained hard enough, after all, too much is not enough."
"You are a little underestimating the potential of the Qingzhou soldiers. I found that they still lacked a lot of energy in their daily training, so I gave these trainings today. After all, I will let them go to a training camp soon. To test my edge, I have fought several battles with the nearby mountain bandits. If I can't fully arouse their murderous intent before this, I'm afraid there will be a lot of casualties on the battlefield." Sun Tu said with a solemn face.
"Ah? Sanlang, do you really plan to let this team fight against the bandits in the mountains after only practicing for more than a month?" Even Lin Chong felt a little incredible this time.
Sun Tu nodded seriously: "That's right. Earlier I asked Shi Qian to take some brothers from the scout camp to several nearby villages to investigate the specific situation. I'm just waiting for them to come back. Once the opportunity is right, I will send troops."
During this period of time, Sun Tu had selected about twenty elites from the Qingzhou Xiang Army to join the scout camp. He was solely responsible for the training of this team. After teaching them some special tactics of later generations, he sent the team out to the city.
Understanding the various situations of several mountain villages within a hundred miles can also be regarded as a kind of assessment and trial for them.
"Is this... too impatient?" Even Yang Zhi asked with some worry. You must know that a month or two ago, although most of these people were Xiang soldiers in name, they were actually the same as ordinary people. No difference.
"Time waits for no one. I must make some contributions and give an explanation to the court." Sun Tu shook his head and sighed. He knows his own affairs. After he came to Qingzhou, in order to protect himself or to achieve his grand goals, he completely broke the rules in the official circles of the Song Dynasty.
In a short period of time, I can cover up such things with my strong iron fist, but after a while, it will be difficult to tell. Once the imperial court really knows what he did in Qingzhou, there is no guarantee that Liang Shicheng and others will not take the opportunity to launch an attack. What he has to do now is to use his military exploits to silence these people and make the emperor and the people of the world believe that his series of decisions are all for the stability of Qingzhou.
Of course, it would be better if the Qingzhou Army could really have strong combat power, even so strong that the imperial court would be concerned. In fact, he has already heard that in the military states bordering Xixia in the west, the power of military generals has long surpassed that of civilian officials, and they have formed their own system, with the term "general". The civil servants appointed by the imperial court simply lost their right to speak and could only obey the orders of the generals.
This was completely unimaginable before, but because it was related to the stability of the Song Dynasty's border areas, and the generals there also held large armies, although it did not become a vassal town after the end of the Tang Dynasty, it was enough to make the court feel happy. If you are afraid of something, you can only turn a blind eye to it.
Now, what Sun Tu wants to do in Qingzhou is actually the same. As long as he has enough power, as long as the court has a little concern, and Tong Guan helps to speak, he will not be afraid of being framed. Since you have taken this step early, there is no possibility of looking back. You can only move forward step by step, mastering greater power, and finally the court can only pinch its nose and admit its existence.
Of course, he couldn't express these thoughts verbally at this time. The only thing he could say was to protect himself.
Neither Lu Da nor Yang Zhi thought deeply about it. Although Lin Chong was vaguely aware of something, he was introverted and would not point it out at this time. Only Huang Wenbing seemed to have seen through something. When he looked at Sun Tu again, his eyes flickered with other meanings.
However, such major events are still too far away for Sun Tu, who has just started. He still focuses on military training. In addition, there is another big thing that needs him to face
Just early this morning, the former Jiangzhou soldiers who had been sent out on patrol brought back news that a grain escort team had come towards Qingzhou. Judging from the flag they were flying, it was the transshipment envoy on Jingdong East Road who sent the yamen to Qingzhou. The rations have arrived. What Sun Tu has to do next is to get this batch of grain directly into his hands instead of letting Murong Yan get ahead of him. Only in this way can he ensure that he has no worries!
At the same time, it was precisely because he knew this news that Sun Tu felt that time was tight, and that was why he suddenly summoned the entire army for a training session in the rain just now.
Time waits for no one, we can only strengthen ourselves!