The winter moon has passed and the twelfth lunar month is approaching, and the flavor of the New Year in Qingzhou City has gradually become stronger. After working hard for a whole year, people have put down their work in the fields and choose to take a good rest at this time and live a good New Year.
But what is different from the recuperation of the common people is that the movement of drills in the Qingzhou military camp is becoming more and more intense. Not only are there shouts and shouts in the camp from morning to night, they can be heard all over the city, and there are a large number of people lining up every day. The neat team running around the city opened the eyes of the people in the city.
A tough battle is very likely imminent, which makes the generals at all levels in the army from Sun Tu down dare not relax at this time, adhering to what Sun Tu said: sweat more in peacetime and bleed less in war. Let the soldiers under his command train hard every day, in order to enable these rural soldiers from various states to join the real battlefield as soon as possible.
The results of the hard training over the past few days are still quite obvious. At this time, this army composed of many people has gradually taken on a proper look. Both the queue and the battle formation look similar. Following the orders, the soldiers in each row waved their weapons in a uniform manner, which looked quite impressive.
But even so, these performances still feel far from enough in Sun Tu's eyes, because what is shown now is just the appearance. After all, this army lacks a spirit, which is mysterious and mysterious, but it can also make people feel more confident. People can clearly feel the fearless temperament coming from the army.
Only when an army possesses this temperament can it truly be transformed and be called an elite soldier. No matter how powerful the enemy is, even if they are in danger, they can work together as one and fight under the reasonable command of the general. Way to go. But this kind of temperament cannot be obtained by ordinary training. It can only be obtained by going through the test of life and death, baptized by war, and forged with iron and blood. Obviously, the current army is far from reaching this level.
Perhaps, when they can defeat possible powerful enemies this time, the entire army will be able to acquire that temperament and achieve a qualitative leap.
The lieutenants of the army were training hard under the command of their generals. As the supreme commander, Sun Tu no longer had to train in person. But he has not been idle. In the past few days, he has been studying the hiding place of the foreign army that may launch a surprise attack on Shandong, as well as their true target location this time.
However, because there were too few relevant clues at hand, even though he had discussed with Zhu Wu and others for a long time, he still couldn't figure it out. In this way, it seemed that everything had to wait for the scout battalion brought by Shi Qian to send the information in time.
As a scout who is best at collecting intelligence, Shi Qian did not disappoint Sun Tu this time. Seven or eight days later, a scout team leader named Gao Hui brought back some important news and reported it to Sun Tu:
"Captain, I have conducted careful inspections in Lingzhou and several nearby prefectures this time, and found that except for a group of suspicious ginseng traders in Lingzhou City, there is no sign of a large influx of people elsewhere. Also, Zengtou City seems to be very low-key recently. The four gates of their small town are closed almost all day long. It took our brothers a lot of time to get into it, but they drove us away before we could investigate carefully. Come out."
"Only Lingzhou has many troops? Can Ke..." Sun Tu frowned
He frowned. Of course he knew that the Jurchen territory was prolific in ginseng. It was expected that these guys would enter Lingzhou City as ginseng merchants, but would they really set their target in Lingzhou? That's where the foundation of Zengtou City lies. Are they really so desperate
Zhu Wu also looked suspicious. Seeing that Sun Tu had no intention of continuing, he asked: "What about the situation in other counties outside the capital? Have you sent people to investigate? Maybe those guys are cautious. They will hide their manpower in those inconspicuous counties and just wait for the opportunity to attack suddenly."
"Well, we didn't have many people this time, so we haven't taken care of the county town below. But logically speaking, the county town is a more difficult place to hide people. After all, there are few people there, and suddenly there are many people with unknown origins. The government will definitely be alert."
"Well, what you said makes sense, but if they are willing to spend some time and effort to break them into parts, it will not be easy to find them. Plus, if they are really Jurchens, with their ability, in the It's not too difficult to hide in the wild for ten days and a half, but it's even harder to find their whereabouts." Sun Tu glanced at Gao Hui with some approval, this scout had a clear mind and was a talented person.
Suddenly, something moved in his heart and he looked at Zhu Wu: "You just said that they will take action when the time comes, which makes sense. It is not easy for foreigners to sneak into our Shandong territory, let alone hide here. . But they didn’t act in a hurry after arriving, but instead kept delaying. So tell me, what time are they waiting for?"
These words really stunned Zhu Wu, who had some strategy. After opening his mouth, he didn't know how to answer for a moment. If it were summer and autumn now, he would have an easier time explaining that the enemy was probably waiting for the autumn harvest to snatch the newly stored grain. But it's winter now, and all the food taxes that should be collected are in the treasury. As long as they can really break the city, the property inside will be theirs, so why wait any longer
"Is it possible that they are waiting for the follow-up troops to arrive, so our scouts have been unable to find their whereabouts?" Zhu Wu guessed, but he was not confident enough.
Sun Tu pondered for a moment, but still shook his head: "This probably doesn't seem like it. Since the other party has been planning for a long time and is determined to win, and even wants to use the Zengtou City card, how can it be possible that they haven't even prepared the minimum manpower? ? There must be another reason! By the way, did you find anything else in Lingzhou this time?"
"This..." Gao Hui frowned and recalled, and then said: "By the way, it is said that a batch of military rations was sent to Lingzhou years ago, but it was delayed due to heavy snow. At that time, there were still some garrison troops in the city. Mentioned this matter!"
Sun Tu's eyes immediately became sharp, he took a deep breath and looked at Zhu Wu. The latter also looked shocked, but had to accept the fact: "They actually have their mind set on Lingzhou!"
I thought that the intrusion involving Zengtou City would definitely exclude Lingzhou, but after a full circle, the target returned to the starting point. Sun Tu pondered for a while, and quickly came to another conclusion: "If this is true, the leader of this matter cannot be Zengtou City, and it is even possible that they were forced to have no choice. No wonder Lin Chong went to Zengtou City once and could easily bring the message out
, this should be due to internal differences within him, and someone deliberately let the news out, hoping to use the hands of the government to disrupt this incident. "
Zhu Wu also nodded in agreement: "What the governor said is true. Lingzhou is the foundation of Zengtou City. They will never allow chaos to occur there. It is only because they are being held hostage that they have to obey orders."
"That's easy to handle. As long as there are cracks among them and they are not united, we can break them one by one." Sun Tu stood up immediately, strode to the map hanging on the edge, and pointed at the mark. Looking at Lingzhou's position: "Without further delay, we will send troops to rescue Lingzhou right now!"
"Captain, are you too impatient? Maybe they have other goals?" Zhu Wu still asked with some uncertainty.
Sun Tu shook his head firmly: "Judging from all the intelligence, our guess is not wrong. Their target is in Lingzhou! The troops are quick and things should be done without delay. If we delay it any longer, we will be passive." , after all, no one knows when those foreign thieves will take action. If we really wait for them to take action before rushing over, I am afraid that countless people will be killed, and then our responsibility will be huge."
Sun Tu's words made Zhu Wu's heart move, and he looked at him with admiration. He had just surrendered not long ago and didn't know Sun Tu well enough. In the past, he had only heard from other soldiers and civilians how Sun Dujian loved the people and how upright he was. It was only today that he truly felt Sun Tu's true side of serving the people. This made him really appreciate Sun Tu. Tu gave birth to a heart of respect.
Then, Zhu Wu thought of those so-called heroes in Liangshanbo who used the banner of "doing justice for heaven" but went out to rob and kill people. Compared with them, Sun Tu was the just one who did justice for heaven!
Thinking of this, Zhu Wu's spirit immediately perked up and he hurriedly clasped his fists and said: "I obey my orders, this time I will work with the governor to defeat this enemy!"
Sun Tu didn't pay too much attention to the change in the other person's mind. He just smiled lightly: "Beat the drum, gather the generals!"
Following this order, the drumming of drums soon resounded throughout the entire military camp. Soon, generals and officers at all levels rushed to Sun Tu's barracks. After understanding what he said and the decision to send troops, everyone obeyed and asked to fight.
However, this time Sun Tuzhen, as he said before, only selected 3,000 troops transferred from other state capitals to rescue the Ping invaders, but left the most elite Qingzhou Army behind. Of course, to be on the safe side, he still brought 300 personal troops with him, who were the soldiers who had been with him the longest and had the strongest combat effectiveness.
After everything was arranged properly and other generals were allowed to continue training their troops in the city, Sun Tu led his troops and left Qingzhou City in a mighty manner.
When the people in the city saw Sun Dujian's flag flying and leaving Qingzhou, everyone was a little confused. It was almost the New Year, why did Sun Dujian leave with his army again? Could it be that there is another war somewhere and some bandits are causing trouble? However, things have been very peaceful in Shandong recently, and there have been no wars.
So a theory began to spread that Sun Tujian was requisitioned by the imperial court to quell the chaos. This immediately made the people panic, fearing that Sun Tu's departure would cause big chaos like before. Nowadays, the people of Qingzhou can no longer live without Sun Tu, and regard him as the patron saint of the whole city...