In August, the city of Qingzhou was prosperous and everything was prosperous. Thanks to the efforts of Sun Tu and his subordinates, Gao Xiang's harm to the city has become a thing of the past. The fields outside the city are now golden, there are many more caravans on the official roads, and the population in the city has increased compared to a few months ago. The number of new female soldiers has increased by 30%, and the strength of the army has greatly increased. Not only the number of new female soldiers has reached 800, but the number of male soldiers has also exceeded 2,000, and the combined Qingzhou Army has reached 3,000.
Under all this smooth general trend, there were only two things that made Sun Tu slightly worried.
One is that the soldiers and horses of the subordinate state governments are unwilling to obey his dispatch. When he knew that he was bound to fight Liangshan, in addition to continuing to train his Qingzhou soldiers painstakingly, Sun Tu also ordered that some of the rural troops from the various prefectures on Jingdong Road be transferred to Qingzhou for training. In this way, the troops of all parties on the battlefield Only in this way can we cooperate seamlessly and avoid the situation of each working independently.
However, after the transfer order was issued, no troops from the state government were sent. Instead, each of them found reasons to delay. Perhaps it was almost autumn, and the rural troops had to be busy in the fields, and they really couldn't get away; The government has been quite uneasy recently, and they dare not move the officers and soldiers away... Anyway, they all have the same idea, and Sun Dujian can't mobilize these nominal troops.
In fact, more than a year ago, when Sun Tugu was promoted by the imperial court to be the military commander of his route, the attitude of the state governments was quite cooperative, and no one even asked them to send troops to Jeju for training. But today is a good thing. Sun Tu's official position has not changed, but these people have changed their minds. In this regard, Huang Wenbing once speculated that this should have a lot to do with the fact that some people in the DPRK communicated to state officials early.
This time Sun Tu suddenly returned and went on a killing spree in Qingzhou, killing all the officials such as Gao Xiang. Naturally, this was a big taboo. The common people may applaud this, but for other officials, it is inevitable that they will not have the thought of the rabbit dying and the fox being sad, so naturally they will have other thoughts about Sun Tu. Some officials are even more worried that their generals will be affected by Sun Tu after following him for a period of time. If they do this to them when they return, they will really have no place to cry.
What's more important is that the pay and rations of these prefectural and rural armies are in the hands of local officials. As long as they don't nod, even if their generals want to lead troops to Qingzhou, they will not be able to do so. After all, there is no food supply, and hundreds of thousands of soldiers and horses will not be able to do so. It’s really hard to move even an inch.
If secretly asking the soldiers and horses of the various prefectures on Jingdong Road to disobey orders was a stumbling block for Sun Tu, then the officials in the DPRK, led by Gao Qiu and others, also put considerable pressure on Sun Tu from above. In just over a month after Zheng Guan left, the Ministry of War had issued several military orders urging Sun Tu to send troops to attack Liangshan as soon as possible.
Although Sun Tu would submit a reasonable statement to the court every time, there would be no response from above. Often, within a few days, new military orders would be delivered, and each one would be more severe than the last. If another general were sitting in this position, he would have been unable to withstand the pressure and could only hastily raise troops. But Sun Tu was so extraordinary that he didn't react at all, just pretending that the military order from the Ministry of War did not exist. .
However, the generals under him also know how much pressure Sun Tu is under now. In the past few days, Qingzhou has seen
The army was improving, and many people actually wanted to attack Liangshan again to avenge their previous humiliation. However, in the face of their active invitation to fight, Sun Tu still sternly refused, deciding that now was not the time to use troops against Liangshan.
In this seemingly prosperous situation, but actually filled with hidden worries, August finally came to an end. After entering September, it is the autumn harvest season.
Because Sun Tu had previously allocated the fields to his soldiers, he simply temporarily disbanded the rural troops and let them go home to harvest wheat and grain, thus completely cutting off the thoughts of some of his soldiers who were eager for revenge. Maybe when autumn comes and winter comes, and there is a heavy snowfall, we will have to wait until spring next year before raising troops.
What he wanted was such a result. The Qingzhou Army's vitality was severely damaged by several big defeats last year. This was not something that could be done by just coming and killing a few officials, and then comforting and training the soldiers to recover from the defeat. Only when you have rested enough and used time to wash away the original scars, you will not be afraid of returning to the old place when you go out again. Although Sun Tu didn't say anything about this to the outside world, he had already made a comprehensive plan. He would have to wait until February or March next year before using troops externally.
But sometimes plans often fail to keep up with changes. Just when Sun Tu thought that this year would pass so peacefully, a piece of news came that forced him to change his plans temporarily.
At noon on September 11th, two fast horses broke the tranquility of Qingzhou City. The two knights, whose bodies were covered with blood and dust, completely ignored the pedestrians coming and going at the city gate and sprinted with all their might. The people around them were so frightened that they screamed and hurriedly got out of the way. Many people even had their legs hurt. He stumbled and fell to the ground, turning the originally orderly city gate into chaos.
This made the defenders, who were just casually looking after the order here, very angry and nervous. After giving the order, more than 20 sergeants rushed up quickly, holding guns and knives to stop the two intruders on the spot. The leading officer He even stepped forward, raised his hand and grabbed the bridle of a horse, and shouted angrily: "Who dares to act so arrogantly in our Qingzhou City? I don't know that my governor has a strict order that no galloping horses are allowed inside or outside the city?"
The knight on the horse was really not prepared for this move from the opponent. He quickly stopped his horse with a cry of surprise, but he was almost thrown off the horse by the inertia. Although he stabilized, he looked particularly embarrassed and said urgently: "Dongping Mansion has an urgent military report. Please...please Sundu Supervisor to send troops to rescue as soon as possible..." After saying this, the man was so angry that he fell off his horse and passed out.
This time, the guarding soldiers were caught off guard. The matter was so important that they did not dare to pursue the crime of these two people who broke into the city gate. They turned to ask the other knight who was also controlled for the specific situation. Escort them into the city. But this commotion was quickly known to the people, and everyone had a look of fear on their faces. Unexpectedly, not long after peace broke out, trouble broke out in Shandong again.
Within half an hour, the two knights were brought to Sun Tu. At this time, after listening to the two people's stories, he frowned deeply: "Liangshan bandits suddenly invaded Dongping Mansion? How many soldiers and horses did they send, and you can't even defend the city?"
"There are five thousand Liangshan bandits coming this time, and
The leader is their copycat leader Chao Gai, and there are dozens of other big and small leaders. Although our Dongping soldiers are fully defending the city under the leadership of General Dong, the strength of the army is very different, and the city is not high enough, so I am afraid that it will not last long... "
"Five thousand Liangshan bandits suddenly came to Dongping Mansion?" Sun Tu frowned even more deeply, "The two places are hundreds of miles apart, and there are several state capitals in between. How did they manage to do so without being noticed? Appeared in Dongping Mansion?"
Regarding his question, no one in front of him gave a chilling answer. Obviously, when the Liangshan bandits appeared in their own territory with great fanfare, officials from various states unanimously chose to protect themselves, so a strange scene occurred. This army of five thousand soldiers and horses actually walked through the states and prefectures so arrogantly. Then they successfully reached Dongping Mansion, and depending on the situation, they were caught off guard.
"Damn it!" Sun Tu cursed in a low voice, not knowing who he was referring to. The two cavalrymen looked at Sun Tu eagerly at this time: "Sun Dujian, we have been asking for help all the way since we left the city. However, several previous cities claimed that there were insufficient troops in the city and they did not dare to send troops for rescue. They could only ask for help from the capital. I will ask you to save the people of our Dongping city from fire and water. If you are not even willing to send troops, then tens of thousands of our soldiers and civilians in Dongping will die at the hands of bandits." After saying that, the two of them knelt on the ground again and faced Sun. Kowtow repeatedly on the way.
Obviously, these two people were exhausted physically and mentally after being rejected many times. Now their only hope is the Qingzhou elite who once rushed to Zhujiazhuang and defeated the Liangshan Army, and Sun Tu, a great hero in the hearts of Shandong soldiers and civilians.
Seeing this, Sun Tu also sighed, stepped forward in person, helped them up and said: "You two don't have to do this, I am the military commander of Jingdong Road, and I have the responsibility to protect the safety of all cities under my rule. Since Dongping Mansion is in danger , how can I sit idly by and ignore it. Don’t worry, I will... "
Just when he was about to say that he would gather his troops and prepare to go to the rescue, Huang Wenbing beside him suddenly let out a low cough and winked at Sun Tu, who was looking over. Although he didn't know the purpose of his doing this, Sun Tu quickly changed his subject: "I will discuss with others to send troops to rescue Dongping Mansion as soon as possible."
The two people below didn't notice anything strange. When they saw Sun Tu agreeing to this matter, they were overjoyed. They hurriedly bowed and thanked him again, and then they were helped down to rest. It was only then that Sun Tu looked at Huang Wenbing who looked doubtful: "Why did you worry about stopping me from making a decision just now?"
"The governor and the subordinates always feel that there is something fishy about this matter. Why do the Liangshan bandits risk crossing hundreds of miles to attack Dongping Mansion, which has no hatred against them? Moreover, with the combat power of the Liangshan Army, Song Jiang Can the thought of waiting for the bandits really allow these two people to successfully break out and ask for help?" Huang Wenbing said with a frown.
When Sun Tu heard this, he felt that this was indeed strange: "Yes, what are they doing to attack Dongping Mansion for no reason? If they want to pick someone with a grudge, just come to our Qingzhou. If they want to pick someone who is easy to attack, Jeju and Dengzhou are both." It's a good choice, not to mention taking the risk of running to Dongping Mansion?" Thinking of the two officers and soldiers asking for help, Sun Tu vaguely guessed something: "Is the attack on Dongping Mansion just a cover, and their target is in my Qingzhou?"