The beginning of February was not without good news for Sun Tu. Just two days after the imperial court's war urging documents were delivered, Dong Ping finally led hundreds of elites from the Dongping Mansion to Qingzhou, which gave the local government and army some strength. promote. Because compared to the rural armies in other prefectures, although the troops in Dongping Prefecture are weaker than the Qingzhou Army, they can be regarded as truly elite divisions. Even if they are brought to the battlefield at this time, they can still fight head-on with foreign enemies such as Liaoxia and Xia. of.
Of course, with the exception of the Qingzhou Army and Dongping Prefecture, the other state's township armies still fail to meet Sun Tu's minimum standards. Even the Lingzhou Township Army under Chu Mingsheng, who still has some combat power, is actually better than the average army. The officers and soldiers are stronger, but there is still a big gap between the elites who can fight and win.
So what Sun Tu did in Qingzhou for the next period of time was to train troops, training the army of more than 10,000 people day and night, hoping to enable them to fight a tough battle before the real war with the Liangshan Po bandits.
At this time, Sun Tu's foresight was revealed, which was that he had to go against all opinions and only bring troops from various states to rescue Lingzhou, because the head-on confrontation with the Jin people made these officers and soldiers clearly aware of their own shortcomings, and they also understood how much training they had done. The lesson of sweating and bleeding less during battle is why the soldiers are particularly attentive in their training. They no longer need Sun Tu to send people to supervise them all the time, but they can really practice hard sincerely.
Of course, in addition to the training of soldiers and horses, Sun Tu also pays close attention to two important things. One is the maintenance of war horses. Although the armies are still dominated by infantry, he also knows that this is only temporary. When fighting out of Shandong, the cavalry still played a very important role, so he emphatically told Huangfu Duan and Duan Jing to stay with them and be sure to take good care of their horses. As for other things, they did not need to worry about them. As long as it involves raising horses, it requires money to give money and people to give to people.
Another important thing is naturally the development of firearms. Judging from this confrontation with the Jin people, we can know that firearms can turn the tide in today's battlefield, and even have the final say. In addition, Sun Tu is a time traveler, so he naturally pays more attention to the use and development of firearms. , which made his investment in this area continue to increase, hoping that one day these craftsmen would be able to create firearms more powerful than Polu bullets. However, it seems that it will take a long time to achieve this.
But as a result, Sun Tu spent money as fast as water, which made everyone who knew about it feel a little panicked.
Training soldiers and horses diligently is a waste of money. The daily food and clothing expenses of these many people are an astronomical figure. Even if they do bring food, grass and money when they come, they cannot withstand the high-intensity training. So in just over half a month, they had eaten up all the food they had brought with them, and could only eat from Qingzhou's reserves.
The breeding of horses and the research and development of firearms also require a large amount of investment. The latter is just that. It is still in the initial stage and the demand is not high, but the cost of more than a hundred horses is much higher than that of ordinary soldiers. But Sun Tu responded to Huangfu Duan's request, so the expense would be too high.
Even if Sun Tu had confiscated several cottages before, plus the property found from the homes of officials who were captured and killed, as well as Qingzhou's own money, food and taxes, it would still be impossible to fill up this bottomless pit for a while. Like a hole.
It was true that no one knew how valuable firewood and rice were. Only then did Sun Tu know how much money and food it would cost to raise an elite army of tens of thousands. Only the imperial court had such courage. Of course, there is another option, which is to plunder everywhere like the nomads or bandits in the north and feed the war with war, but this is obviously not something Sun Tu can accept.
Just when he was stretched thin with money and food, and was in dire straits, someone came forward to temporarily relieve his urgent needs. This person was Chai Jin, who had been almost ignored by him. In the afternoon that day, he actually sent someone to send a message to Sun Tu, saying that he wanted to talk to Sun Tu. Sun Tu didn't dare to be too casual about Chai Jin, so he took the time to rush over.
When Sun Tu appeared in front of him again, Chai Jin said: "Sun Dujian, it seems that your plans are not small!" From the recent changes in the city, as well as thinking about what Sun Tu and himself had said before, The conversation had already made him aware of some of this person's thoughts.
Sun Tu only smiled at him: "My plan is actually not contrary to the thoughts of Chai Daguan, so cooperation between you and me is the most beneficial choice for both parties. I wonder how you think about it?"
Chai Jin looked at Sun Tu and showed an unpredictable smile: "I can cooperate with you. Not only that, I can also provide you with a batch of food and money to help you accomplish things as soon as possible. However, I also have a condition. "
These words immediately surprised Sun Tu. The reason he had planned to recruit him before was because Chai Jin had a high reputation in the world and was a descendant of the Chai family. He might be able to use this status in the future, but he never thought about it. Get actual benefits from it. After all, Chai Jin has been in Liangshan for a long time. Even if he was rich and prosperous before, his family property would have been put into Liangshanbo's warehouse long ago. But now that he's talking like this, it's obvious that he's got some tricks up his sleeve.
Or maybe there is more than one skill at all. Chai Jin must have some skills to make such a big name in the world. How could he not understand the principle of leaving more escape routes? Now he was having a headache due to the shortage of money and food. Chai Jin's words were like handing him a pillow when he felt sleepy. How could Sun Tu refuse
So after thinking for a while, he nodded and said: "You said, as long as it does not violate national laws and morality, I will agree to it."
"It's very simple. I just hope that you, Superintendent Sun, will not kill all the brothers in Liang Shanbo. Although they have become bandits, they are probably forced to do nothing. I am fighting with their brothers, and I really don't want to see them end miserably." Chai Jin As he spoke, he looked at Sun Tu expectantly.
Sun Tu glanced at the other party in surprise: "Now that we have not sent troops to Liangshanbo, it is hard to say who will lose and who will win. How dare you make such a conclusion and conclude that I will definitely win?"
"Although I only have a brief knowledge of military affairs, I still understand some principles. Just listening to the drills of the officers and soldiers in the city during this period, you can tell that the combat power of the officers and soldiers here has far exceeded that of Liangshanbo. Moreover, we have learned this before. Sun Dujian is so powerful, even if they have a stronghold as a base and eight hundred miles of water as a barrier, they will still be hard-pressed to stop Dujian your mighty army!" Chai Jin smiled bitterly: "And the only thing I can do is, Just beg for mercy on their behalf and save some brothers.”
"You really have a deep brotherhood with them.
That being the case, I agree with you. "Sun Tu seemed to hesitate for a while, but in fact he was just pretending. Even without Chai Jin's request, he would not have killed everyone in Liangshanbo. Sun Tu also planned to pocket this power for himself. Used.
Chai Jin was overjoyed when he saw that he agreed. He hurriedly clasped his fists in thanks, and then reported an address. It was actually in Qingzhou, a village called Chenjiazhuang, which was also one of his properties. There are not only fertile fields and houses there, but also thousands of stones of food and a large amount of gold and silver hidden there, which is enough for the more than 10,000 soldiers and horses in Qingzhou for more than half a year.
When he learned this number, even Sun Tu showed surprise: "You actually hid so much money and food outside Liangshan?"
"This is not something I have hidden, but the entire Chai family's savings over many years." Chai Jin explained with some emotion.
Just this sentence made Sun Tu understand the profound meaning. Even though they were separated by a hundred years, and even though the Song Dynasty had already stabilized the world, the Chai family still did not feel relieved about what happened back then.
In fact, no one would be able to accept this kind of thing calmly. A former general suddenly rebelled, bullied others, orphaned and widowed, and took away the power of the Lao Chai family. Even if Zhao Kuangyin later made a lot of compensation, it still could not be changed. The fact that he stole the country. It can be said that in the eyes of the descendants of the Chai family, the Zhao family is just a group of thieves and robbers, not kings and emperors.
It's a pity that no matter at the beginning or later, the old Zhao family firmly controlled the military power, and it would be difficult for the descendants of the Chai family to regain everything. But even so, they are still making all preparations secretly, making friends with heroes from all over the world, hoarding property and fertile land through their identities and means, and then hiding it as capital for future counterattacks...
When an already wealthy and respectable family spends generations carefully hoarding money and food, the number must be extremely terrifying. After understanding all this, Sun Tu didn't pay much attention to the thousands of stones of food he reported. This thing should only be part of the property. The entire Chai family secretly owns only more than this number. Much, much more.
Seeing Sun Tu fall into silence, Chai Jin became a little uneasy. He suddenly thought of the saying that wealth should not be revealed. Could it be that his actions actually made the people in front of him more greedy
Under his anxious gaze, Sun Tu chuckled: "I see, then I would like to thank Mr. Chai Daguan for his generosity first. Don't worry, I will make you feel grateful for today's contribution in the future." It's all worth it. Also, if you really want to help the people in Liangshanbo, it's best to send them a letter to ask them not to resist stubbornly. This will save many casualties." After saying this, Sun Tu He stood up and left. At this time, he was not as calm as he seemed on the surface. He wished he could send people to transport all the belongings of Chenjiazhuang into Qingzhou City immediately.
Once the urgent need is solved, he only needs to train his troops and horses, and then wait for the time to launch an attack on Liangshanbo. It is time to see the truth!
But he obviously still underestimated the despicability of Cai Jing and others and their determination to get rid of him quickly. Just when everything was going in the best direction, a change was approaching...