The matter was so important that even Sun Tu did not dare to be careless, so he immediately summoned his generals to discuss the matter with the Chinese army.
Sun Dujian gave an order, and all the military generals who were now in Qingzhou naturally came to the scene. In just half an hour, the military conference hall was filled to capacity. There are really quite a lot of generals in the Qingzhou Army today. At a glance, there are dozens of them. In addition to the Qingzhou Army line brought up by Sun Tu himself, there are also some who were ordered to lead troops here before. There are military attachés from various states, but their positions are farther back.
After they listened to Sun Tu's story, everyone showed surprise and resentment. A few impatient ones even slapped the case and yelled: "How dare you, the dog thief! The general in charge of the capital is willing to lead his troops and annihilate those people." Let’s go to Zengtou City to avoid future troubles!”
Seeing everyone gearing up for battle, a satisfied smile flashed across Sun Tu's face. This was exactly what he wanted to see. If an army can be happy upon hearing of a battle and take the initiative to seek battle, it shows that they have confidence and belief, so that even if they encounter setbacks and powerful enemies in the future, they will not collapse in a single battle.
However, he did not rush to agree, but glanced towards the back of the seat, and finally fell on a general with a black face and leopard beard: "Zhang Tuanlian, you come from Lingzhou, you must have some knowledge about Zengtou City." I understand, do you have anything to say about this?"
Lingzhou regiment coach Zhang Yunfeng was frowning and thinking at this time. Hearing Sun Tu call his name, his body trembled slightly, and then he stood up and replied: "Captain, I think this fact is a bit weird. According to common sense, It is absolutely impossible for anyone from the Zeng family to do such a thing."
"Oh, how can you see it?" Sun Tu paid great attention to his statement and asked immediately.
"The governor doesn't know. The reason why Zengtou City has been able to establish itself in Lingzhou for many years and do many unjust things without being punished by the government is because they have been colluding with the local officials since the beginning. Department. It is said that they donate more than 100,000 yuan to the prefect and others every year, so that the government can turn a blind eye to what they do. Moreover, the current prefect Weng is also in contact with the Zeng family. We had a close relationship with the Lord and treated him like a brother, so how could he suddenly rebel and cut off his own path?"
The other generals originally wanted to refute him, but after listening to Zhang Yunfeng's story, they all looked thoughtful. Even Sun Tu nodded in approval and said: "If what you said is true, this matter is true. It is strange that Lingzhou is the foundation of Zengtou City, and no one would be so stupid as to do something that destroys the foundation."
"Could it be that there was a conflict between the Lingzhou government and Zengtou City that led them to act so cruelly? After all, the annual donation of 100,000 yuan is not a small sum. Who would be willing to take advantage of others in vain?" Yang Zhi said speculatively.
Zhang Yunfeng glanced at him and shook his head slightly: "This is also unlikely. At least I haven't heard of such a thing when I was in Lingzhou. Moreover, because Zengtou City is protected by the Lingzhou government, it earns a lot of money from black and white every year. The money withdrawn is hundreds of thousands, how can I care about this expenditure? Moreover, I have heard before that Magistrate Weng intends to marry one of his daughters to Zeng Suo, the third son of the Zeng family, how can he fall out at this time? ?”
Both parties are about to get married. It is indeed impossible for Zengtou City to collude with foreigners.
The invasion of Lingzhou by the tribe made everyone suspicious again. Even Sun Tu frowned tightly at this time: "This matter does seem too weird. Logically speaking, they really have no such knowledge. It’s necessary.”
"Captain, is it possible that what Zengtou City wants to deal with is actually not Lingzhou City, but another nearby city?" Zhu Wu suddenly reminded him after hesitating for a moment. Like several other brothers, after being captured alive by the Qingzhou Army, he finally surrendered to the imperial court after some persuasion, and was taken under Sun Tu's account and became a military counselor, a military advisor-like figure.
In fact, it can be seen from here that the powerful Liangshanbo heroes have a big problem, because the heroes from all walks of life come from three mountains and five mountains. In addition, they have not been around for a long time, so they do not have a strong sense of belonging to the village. It is easy to There are situations where people defect to other places. For example, most of the many heroes captured by Sun Tu this time have joined the Qingzhou Army.
Zhu Wu's words reminded Sun Tu, and his eyes lit up: "What Counselor Zhu said is reasonable. The piece of paper only said that they would be detrimental to a certain city, but it never mentioned that it was Lingzhou. Wow. Just because Zengtou City is in Lingzhou, we just take it for granted that their target is here, so some things can make sense."
"Having said that, one thing is still doubtful. Who is Zengtou City colluding with this time? The Liao people are hundreds of thousands of miles away from me in Shandong, and there are other prefectures in the middle. It is impossible to know the ghosts. Appeared here unknowingly, right? And Xia people are even more impossible." Zhu Wu became interested at this time, and quickly raised another question.
In response, Sun Tu sneered: "I already have the answer to this point. If this is true, the foreigners who colluded with Zengtou City are most likely to be Jurchens from the Jin Kingdom. The Jurchens are far away from me. Shandong is not far away, and the two countries have never had disputes before, so it is much easier for them to sneak into the Song Dynasty than for the Liao people. And more importantly, just two years ago, the Jurchens had a bloodbath Pass through a county town in the Song Dynasty!"
These words made everyone change their minds. Once the matter involved the Jurchens, it became more subtle. Because everyone already knows that Song and Jin have reached an alliance and will fight against the Liao Kingdom together in the future. Will the Jurchens really invade regardless of the friendship between the two countries? Also, if his family really sends troops to defeat it and it affects the overall situation, can Sun Dujian be able to shoulder this responsibility
Sun Tu glanced at everyone's faces, then said with a solemn expression: "Since the matter is related to the safety of the people of our Song Dynasty, and it is known to us, I have no reason to ignore it. If it is really the Jurchen's desire If they invade our state city, our Qingzhou Army should make them pay the price and hit them hard!" This set the tone for this matter.
Lin Chong had a worried look on his face: "Captain, if the court blames him later..."
"As long as something happens in our territory of Shandong, the imperial court will not dare to blame it! And I believe that even the Jurchens themselves do not want to break the agreement with our Song Dynasty. After all, compared to our Song Dynasty, the Jin Kingdom is more eager to Let's fight against the Liao Kingdom." Sun Tu said, looking around at everyone: "So the next thing we have to do is to find out the authenticity of this matter. If it is true, we have to find out where their goals are and where the women are. Where is the real person hiding!"
Seeing that Sun Tu had made up his mind, everyone
Without another word, everyone stood up and crossed their hands to accept the order: "I will obey the orders of the capital supervisor!" Many people were eager to try, thinking of making a contribution in this matter.
In this month, these generals who came from other places have gained a lot of experience. The Qingzhou Army's daily drills are so hard that they have never seen it before. However, it is precisely because of such hard drills that these rural soldiers have been reborn. They have grown up like this, and now they are all confident.
Now, there is finally an enemy that can be used to test the combat effectiveness of their own army. For these confident generals, of course they want to fight. This is related to the fact that they do not understand the fierce fighting power of the Jurchens. If they had really experienced how powerful the Jurchens were, they would not have such thoughts.
Naturally, Sun Tu could not pour cold water on everyone at this time, so he nodded happily and said: "I am very pleased that you all have such a heart. In this case, everyone should prepare well and use this battle to test our army. The real strength!" After saying that, his eyes fell on Shi Qian: "Shi Qian!"
"The end will be here."
"I order you to lead the disguised spies in the scout camp to rush to Lingzhou to investigate the relevant information and find out the true purpose of Zengtou City as soon as possible. Remember, if you really find out that there are Jurchens there, you must not act rashly!"
"The general will obey the order!" Shi Qian responded loudly, knowing that this was an opportunity for the scout battalion to make meritorious deeds.
"Zhang Yunfeng, Qin Fan, Peng Yue..." As Sun Tu called his name one by one, a group of military generals from other states and cities also came out, all of them looking forward to it. After reporting six or seven names, Sun Tu gave the order. : "You and others will lead our troops to prepare for battle. As soon as we find out the truth about Lingzhou, I will personally lead you and others to defeat the thieves and kill the enemy. I hope you will not weaken the momentum of our Qingzhou Army!"
"General, I will obey the order!" These people also crossed their hands and promised excitedly. After practicing for a long time, it was time to take them out to practice.
After giving instructions on all the relevant matters, Sun Tu let everyone disperse. In the end, only Lin Chong, Yang Zhi and other old brothers from the Qingzhou Army stayed, but their expressions were not as optimistic as those others. Even Luda frowned. After a moment, he said: "Sanlang... Supervisor, is it too risky for you to only arrange for soldiers and horses from various states to go there this time? If we really want to fight against the Jurchens, they may not be our opponents."
These words also immediately won the support of other people. They have all seen how brave the Jurchens are, and the Jurchen thieves were not the regular army of the Jin Kingdom. If they encountered the elites of the Jin Kingdom this time, just rely on How could those provincial and rural troops who had only been practicing for a month or two resist
Sun Tu glanced at everyone and knew that they were all concerned about this, so he nodded and said: "I know this seems a bit risky, but otherwise, these rural soldiers would not be able to truly grow. Even if they rely on this Liangshanpo is defeated by the overwhelming numbers of people. They will still have little chance of winning when encountering stronger enemies in the future. So it is better to temper them while you can still bear it. And I will be fully prepared this time, even if Zhenhe Even if the Jin people fight, they may not be at a disadvantage!"
Seeing Sun Tu's confident look, the subordinates who knew him well finally stopped talking, but they still had doubts and even apprehensions in their hearts...