On the seventh day of the Lunar New Year, Qingzhou City.
The wind and snow that lasted for half a month finally stopped today, and the long-lost sunshine also showed its smiling face after the clouds dissipated. This has made Qingzhou City, which had been dormant for some time, become lively again. Pedestrians are constantly coming and going in the streets and alleys, and the shops of all sizes are decorated with lights and colorful decorations. There is a festive atmosphere everywhere.
The bandits in the three local mountains are gone, and the people are all motivated. In addition, it is also the New Year, so everyone naturally needs to relax, put aside the hard work and worries of the past year, and enjoy this rare happy time.
Everyone also knew who got everything that was hard-won, so whenever someone passed by the door of the huge mansion in the east of the city, they would subconsciously stop and spontaneously salute and greet Sun Dujian. happy New Year. Even if there is no one in front of the door at this time, it does not prevent everyone from making such a choice, because only in this way can they express their gratitude to Sun Tu.
At this time, Sun Tu, who was loved by the people all over the city, was really at home and did not go to the military camp or the Yamen to take charge. After all, it's the Chinese New Year, and now everyone in the government office and military camp has a holiday, so even if they have official business to attend to, they won't be able to miss it for a few days. And after the Lantern Festival, the eighteenth day of the first lunar month was the wedding day of Sun Tu and Ya'er, so he had to prepare everything at home.
Although he gave up all the things like three matchmakers and six certificates because he didn't like to be restrained, the wedding at this time still had too many details that required Sun Tu to participate in it. He always had to learn more, after all, do as the Romans do. The most important thing among them is to accurately control the time on the wedding day. This is a major event related to the fate of the newlyweds' life. Even Sun Tu dare not be too careless.
At this time, he and Ya'er were watching the relevant time process sent by Huang Wenbing, which made the two young men and women who knew nothing about it speechless: "It's really complicated to get married. It's more complicated than me leading the army to fight. Hard… "
Ya'er blushed and nestled into Sun Tu's arms. She nodded in agreement and said, "Yes, we have to work from morning to night that day. Ya'er is really afraid that something will happen to her."
"Don't worry, as long as I'm here, everything will be fine." Sun Tu said, glancing upward, looking at the specific date and hour above, and smiling helplessly: "This year is the year of Xuanhe again. Years have passed, if we change the reign name in just a few years, won’t the current officials find it troublesome?”
Yes, two years after the Chonghe Year, perhaps because the current emperor felt that the past two years were still not satisfactory, the current emperor actually changed the reign title to Xuanhe again. In fact, as early as July and August last year, the imperial court had already sent relevant official documents to all states and counties in the world. However, Sun Tu had not been in charge before, so it was not until today that he noticed that the imperial court had changed its reign name.
For those who were accustomed to the fact that the emperors of the Ming and Qing dynasties had only one reign name in their lives, and could even use the reign name to refer to the current emperor, Sun Tu still couldn't accept the fact that Zhao Ji changed his reign name so frequently.
After complaining about the change of era name, Sun Tu hugged Ya'er and once again delved into the details of the wedding day. At the same time, he sighed in his heart that in comparison, the modern weddings of later generations are more humane. Thinking about the so-called retro weddings of some colleagues and classmates in later generations, it was completely impossible.
Compared with the complicated ancient weddings, if they were really asked to follow the ancient rules, I am afraid that no couple would be willing to accept such a wedding.
While he was thinking wildly, the steward of the family came to the study and reported in a low voice: "Master, Magistrate Huang is outside asking for an audience." Although Huang Wenbing was only acting as acting magistrate, after more than a month, he was recognized by the people in the city, so everyone They all call him Huang Zhifu.
Sun Tu was a little surprised. On the first day of the Lunar New Year, Huang Wenbing had already come with others to wish him a happy New Year. Why did he come to visit him again just a few days later? Could it be that there was some trouble that he couldn't handle
Ya'er got up obediently and went back to the backyard, leaving the place to the man. After Sun Tu nodded in agreement, the housekeeper invited Huang Wenbing, who looked panicked, into the study. As soon as he saw Sun Tu, he said anxiously: "Captain, something big happened again. It's New Year's Eve. , sudden chaos broke out in Jeju Prefecture, and Yangshan bandits attacked three villages on Dulonggang at night. Although they failed to break the village, they also killed many people... "
"Huh? There is such a thing, please sit down and talk slowly." Sun Tu quickly raised his eyebrows when he heard this. After he sat down, he said again: "How did you know about this?" Now It is not so easy to convey news in this era. Even if Jeju and Cheongju are only two or three hundred miles away, it is impossible for such things to be conveyed so quickly.
"Back to the capital prison, the Jeju Prefecture just sent people to ask for help, and I only found out about this change from my humble position." Huang Wenbing took a breath and said: "The raid failed on New Year's Eve, and the Liangshan bandits simply besieged Dulonggang Sanzhuang. Zhujiazhuang, headed by Zhong, was in a precarious situation. When the Jeju government sent soldiers and horses to rescue them, they were defeated by the ambush troops of Liangshanbo. Seeing that the thieves were powerful, the Jeju government asked several surrounding state capitals for help. Now it has After four or five days, I don’t know if the Zhujiazhuang can be defended."
"You mean Liang Shanbo's group attacked Zhujiazhuang?" Sun Tu had not taken it seriously before, but now he finally became serious. Did the three attacks on Zhujiazhuang in the story still appear
As a very famous battle story in the Water Margin legend, Sun Tu is naturally very familiar with it. He even clearly remembered that the war between Liangshan and Zhujiazhuang was triggered because Yang Xiong, Shi Xiu and Shi Qian stayed at Zhujiazhuang overnight. Shi Qian stole a chicken and claimed to be a hero of Liangshan and angered the people in the village. They were caught. Woolen cloth.
But now, Shi Qian is still serving as the captain of the scout battalion in the Qingzhou Army. He is no longer sneaking around like before, let alone going to Zhujiazhuang to stir up trouble. How come Liangshan sent troops to attack Zhujiazhuang again? matter
Huang Wenbing saw Sun Tu's doubts and explained: "It is said that when Liangshan sent troops to rescue Erlongshan a few months ago, the back road was harassed by people from Dulonggang Sanzhuang, so they forged a grudge. But I didn't expect them to be like this. He was so bold that he attacked Zhujiazhuang on New Year's Eve and defeated the Jeju army..."
"Is this really what happened? It seems that the disaster that Zhujiazhuang suffered was caused by me, Qingzhou." Sun Tu said with a solemn expression. In fact, if we really count, Zhujiazhuang really helped Sun Tu a lot before. If the other party hadn't attacked from behind, I'm afraid Liang Shanbo's troops would have arrived at Erlong Mountain earlier. At that time, he had not yet led his army to attack Erlong Mountain. Once he was attacked from both sides, he would have been attacked from both sides. But something is terribly wrong.
Huang Wenbing nodded:
"So in my humble opinion, other state governments can ignore this matter, but we, Qingzhou, must help. In addition, this is also consistent with the cooperation between officers and soldiers of Shandong state governments that you, the governor, have previously promoted. Although no one has responded for the time being, this This matter is related to the safety of Shandong Prefecture, so we cannot sit idly by and ignore it."
"You're right, this point is particularly critical." Sun Tu also nodded with deep understanding and said: "If even our Qingzhou Army refuses to send troops to rescue, then the so-called Shandong government-military alliance will be empty talk."
Seeing that Sun Tu had made his decision, Huang Wenbing reminded him again: "But after all, Liangshan is not comparable to a small village like Erlongshan. They have strong soldiers and horses, and they are waiting for work. I'm afraid it won't be that easy for us to defeat them."
Sun Tu knew why he said this. He was obviously worried that he would suffer a loss at the hands of the Liangshan bandits because of his arrogance after defeating three mountains in a row. Then he smiled and said: "Of course I don't need to do this. Among the many bandits in the world, Liang Shanbo is the leader in terms of strength, and I won't trust him. By the way, can the person who came here provide details about the current strength of both sides?"
"According to the investigation of the Jeju Prefecture, nearly a thousand men and horses were used in Liangshanbo this time, and Zhujiazhuang and other three villages together had less than 500 villagers. Although the local terrain is complex and easy to defend but difficult to attack, the situation is still not optimistic. Huang Wenbing said even more solemnly at this time: "So the governor, if you really want to rescue the siege of Dulonggang, you have to send troops as soon as possible. But now that the road is blocked by snow, it is not easy to rush there as soon as possible, especially if there are too many troops and horses. …”
When Sun Tu heard this, he got up unconsciously and walked around the room thinking. Yes, it is not an easy task to help Zhujiazhuang and the others escape the siege, especially if you really lead people to kill them in a big way, it will only scare away the people in Liangshanbo. But in this case, if they don't give up, they can wait for their troops to retreat and attack Zhujiazhuang again. His soldiers and horses in Qingzhou can't stay in Jezhou forever.
In addition, the heavy snow has just stopped and the roads are severely blocked. A small number of people can still find a way to pass. Once there are thousands of people, it will be difficult to deal with.
"Let me think about it again and make a decision. But you can reply to him. This time our Qingzhou Army will definitely find a way to solve Jeju's difficulties!" Sun Tu promised.
As soon as Huang Wenbing left, Sun Tu called Lin Chong and other generals to his home to discuss the matter. After knowing the cause and effect of the matter, these people's attitudes were quite consistent. They believed that troops should indeed be sent to save Zhujiazhuang. However, they couldn't agree on how to send troops, and they couldn't even come up with a strategy that could convince everyone.
Seeing everyone talking incessantly, Sun Tu did not interrupt, and finally said: "I thought that the soldiers and horses that saved Zhujiazhuang were not very good, so the newly recruited soldiers and horses were all Don’t move, just select the elite from the two battalions A and B, together with the men and horses of the scout battalion, five hundred people will be enough.”
"Five hundred people..." Everyone looked at each other, obviously hesitant.
"It's not a life-and-death battle in the wild. As long as we can enter Zhuangzi and have the cooperation of the people from Zhujiazhuang, are we afraid that we won't be able to win?" Sun Tu smiled and said, "In addition, I already have an idea of how to get there. Now What we have to do is gather all the carpenters in the city to help me make something.”