In the main village of Liangshan, all the village leaders stared at the battle situation in the water village below with inexplicable expressions of horror. They would never have imagined that in just one night, everything would be turned upside down. The three villages they regarded as their strongest reliance and defense line How could Shuizhai be in such a desperate situation!
When the fire suddenly broke out last night accompanied by the sound of killing, everyone on the mountain ran out to find out what was going on. Song Jiang immediately sent people to three water villages to inquire about the situation. Due to the influence of darkness and distance, the water villages on the mountain were The people inside cannot truly grasp the battle situation below.
Then not long after, terrible news came back one after another. First, Xizhai had been lost, and the three leaders did not know whether they were alive or dead. Even the brother who went down the mountain to inquire about the situation was almost caught by the army, and he finally managed to run back to the mountain. . Later, the bad news came from Beizhai that Zhang Shun had been captured, and Zhang Heng had no choice but to open the door and surrender...
When these two pieces of news came back to the village, the brothers in the village immediately exploded. Many people shouted that they wanted to go down the mountain to kill the enemy. Chao Gai, who had not healed from his old wounds, was even more angry because of his anger. He vomited blood and fell unconscious on the spot. This made Song Jiang immediately scrambled. While treating Chao Gai, he comforted the brothers, tried his best to suppress everyone's reckless actions, and finally regained control of the situation.
In fact, anyone with a cool head will understand Song Jiang's good intentions. At this time, the morale of the soldiers in the village is already in chaos. Once the brothers who are not opponents of the government and army actually kill and rescue them, they will only play into the enemy's hands, and most likely they will lose their soldiers and generals. The result will only make the situation worse.
After spending this unpredictable night in agony, when the sky brightened and everyone turned their attention to the water village below, they realized that a greater crisis had arrived. The officers and soldiers have actually gathered all their forces to target the only remaining Dongzhai. And looking at the layout of those fire ships, many people have already guessed their true intentions. There is no solution to this situation!
"Brother, what should we do? We have to think of a way. We can't just watch the Dongzhai fall, and let Li Jun and other brothers get involved!" This time everyone was really anxious, even Hua Hua Rongdu couldn't help shouting, and some of the brothers who were good friends with Li Jun and others were impatient and once again offered to go down the mountain to support Dongzhai.
"Brother, in my opinion, we might as well take this opportunity to send troops from the southwest and recapture the two water villages first!" Huang Xin is the calmest among the brothers on the mountain, and he also proposed the most reasonable solution at this time. Suggestion: "Looking at the posture of the official army, all the naval forces that can be invested should have been placed in front of the East Village. The other two villages must now be empty of troops, so we can use our troops."
"What Brother Huang Xin said is true." Wu Yong also hurriedly agreed: "And as long as we recapture these two water villages, we can rescue the East Village again, which can reverse the current situation."
Song Jiang quickly weighed and thought in his mind, and finally nodded: "What you said is true, just do it. Tell the brothers to prepare to kill and take back the village!"
But just as he issued this order, several black smoke billowed from the northwest two directions, and then the sky-high flames continued to rise from the two water villages. When everyone screamed in surprise, Song Jiang's whole body trembled, and his expression turned extremely ugly: "Sun Tu, you are so ruthless!"
Unexpectedly, Sun Tujing
Without giving them a chance to make a comeback, they actually set fire to two villages at this time. In this way, these two water strongholds were completely destroyed. Even if everyone in Liangshan really went down the mountain desperately and recaptured these two places, what was left to them was just ruins, and they might not even be able to find a few ships. , so naturally it would be impossible for them to rescue Dongzhai based on this.
Everyone who was preparing to go down the mountain was dumbfounded. At this time, they had no idea what to do. Someone shouted loudly: "Since the army has deployed heavy troops in our water stronghold, the military camp at the foot of the mountain must be empty. Why don't we take this opportunity to attack their main camp. This will not only force them to retreat, but maybe we can also win."
Although these words received responses from many people, Song Jiang, Wu Yong and others smiled bitterly and shook their heads. This was simply an unrealistic delusion, because it was impossible for them to kill them from Liangshan Village at once.
On the only way down from the village, there is a pass that is difficult for apes to cross. That pass not only cut off the possibility of the army attacking the mountain, but also completely cut off the possibility of the Liangshan army going down the mountain. Even if they quickly rebuild the bridge at this time, it will not be accomplished in a moment. If they have that time, the army will have already defeated Dongzhai.
At this moment, Song Jiang and others felt a little regret in their hearts. If they had known this, they should not have cut off the Yuannan Crossing and only relied on a few checkpoints to resist the army. Now, this has really shot oneself in the foot, and trapped thousands of people in the family to death in the mountain stronghold.
"It doesn't work this way or that way. Are we just going to watch Dongzhai fall completely? Brother, we have to come up with an idea to save people..."
"That's right, if you have to save people, save them first before mentioning anything else!" Song Jiang reacted suddenly, and after a moment, he made a decision. He immediately called a brother and gave some urgent instructions. Although everyone could not accept such a result, at this point, it seemed that there was no better choice, and in the end they all acquiesced to his arrangement.
After a while, Song Jiang's confidant hurried down the mountain and arrived at Dongzhai, where he saw Li Jun who was undecided. At this time, a long time had passed since the ultimatum issued by Sun Tu. Seeing that the army was about to raise fire, everyone in the water stronghold was also hesitant. When they saw someone coming down from the stronghold, they hurriedly looked at him. Li Jun even more He asked urgently: "Brother Gongming, is there anything you can do?"
"Brother Gongming has an order for Leader Li to abandon Dongzhai immediately and lead his brothers back to the mountains to think of other options."
This decision made everyone stunned. Obviously, no one expected Song Jiang to come up with such a countermeasure. But after careful consideration, Li Jun still agreed that this was not a solution. This was the best idea to ensure that the brothers would not be harmed. As for Dongzhai, he could only try to take it back later.
At this time, the shouts of the officers and soldiers rang out again: "Master Li, have you made a decision? If you are willing to surrender, quickly open the gate of the village. If you don't make any noise, we will have no choice but to attack with fire!"
Li Jun was secretly resentful in his heart, and at the same time he had already quickly devised a countermeasure. While he asked people to quickly gather and retreat to the mountain road behind, he himself ran to the bamboo building in front of the stockade and shouted to the officers and soldiers outside: "It's over. At this point, I, Li Jun, just want to admit defeat and ask Superintendent Sun not to harm the lives of my brothers.
"
"Sun Dujian has always been kind. As long as you sincerely surrender, we will not make things difficult for you. Not only that, we can also ask the court to appoint you as an official." The answer from the other side was straightforward.
But Li Jun put forward his own conditions: "It's okay for me to open the stronghold and surrender, but you need to remove those fire ships first. It's not that I can't trust Sun Dujian's sincerity, but it is related to the safety of hundreds of brothers in the stronghold. I have to be cautious. If I open the village gate and you take advantage of the situation and set fire to the boat, we will die without a burial place!"
Naturally, the soldier who sent the message could not make the decision regarding this request. He could only quickly return to report and see what his own governor thought.
When Shan Tinggui and others heard this request, some people began to doubt Li Jun's purpose: "Superintendent, could this be a delaying strategy by the bandits? I always feel that their request is a bit strange."
"At this point, can delaying solve any problems? Now that the two northwest villages have been destroyed by us, even if the bandits on Liangshan Mountain want to go down and rob them, it will be useless. We are even more determined to win the East Village, even if we give him two or three days. All the time is of no use, let alone only half an hour." Sun Tu smiled and waved his hand and said: "Since they have requests, let's show them our sincerity and pass on my military order to withdraw the fire ships first. The rear. But don’t let down your guard, brothers. I have prepared bows and arrows and everything else. After all this is done, go and urge them to open the gate of the village."
At that moment, the officers and soldiers took action quickly. The fire boats that had been arranged before slowly dispersed and retreated to the rear. Taking advantage of this opportunity, the defenders in the village, led by Li Jun, quickly withdrew along the mountain road to the village. Just because they retreated in a hurry, they no longer bothered to take away other things. Many weapons, clothes, armor, ships and other items were left in place, and they did not even dare to set fire to them, for fear that once the smoke started, the officers and soldiers would be destroyed. Know their purpose.
When the fire boat was withdrawn and the officers and soldiers sent people forward to urge them, the village was completely silent, and no one responded at all. When the soldier called a few more times, but still no one responded, he realized that the situation had changed and quickly returned to report.
And when Sun Tu sent people to kill the stronghold again, and even used ropes to climb up the stronghold wall and look inside, everyone was surprised to find that the water stronghold was empty, not even a ghost was left. The hundreds of people here actually fled up the mountain under the eyes of the officers and soldiers!
This result made everyone very angry, and they all yelled at the thieves for being cunning and dishonest. Sun Tu, on the other hand, looked around in front of the village and smiled instead of getting angry: "This Li Jun is quite a character. He actually knows how to preserve his strength and retreat proactively. But even so, it's not a bad thing for us, at least. In this way, we can capture one of their water strongholds again without spending a single soldier. In this way, Liangshan's water stronghold has been destroyed by me and me, so can he still hold on to his last stronghold?"
These words made everyone react, and then the previous anger turned into joy again. Yes, although the enemy retreated, they still won a key victory. Moreover, the officers and soldiers defeated the three most difficult water fortresses in Liangshan in one night at the minimum cost. It was really a rare battle. A great victory.
Next, it’s time to think about how to rely on this to launch an attack on Liangshan’s main village.