Song Jiang, who had already led his troops to charge down the mountain and was about to engage the officers and soldiers with his sword, could not believe his eyes, because just when they entered the military camp, fully intending to take advantage of the chaos to harvest the lives of the soldiers, those who were originally The officers and soldiers who should have been in chaos and unable to fight back had quickly formed into teams, and then they assisted each other and turned into small military formations. When the brothers came to the front, they actually launched a Fight back.
In the eyes of today's knowledgeable people, as long as it is a night attack and the enemy is not prepared, breaking into the enemy camp means a victory, or even a one-sided massacre. But today, in front of this Shandong official army, the Liangshan Army completely miscalculated. The army was not in chaos, and the orders were clear. The whole team was united, and once the formation was completed, the entire battle situation was reversed in the blink of an eye.
Song Jiang was really dumbfounded. Of course, he couldn't have known that this was the result of Sun Tu's continuous training of his troops and horses for many years, and he had never slacked off. He had no idea that this was the real terrifying thing about Sun Tu's army. . Because the training they usually receive is far ahead of this era. In an army, they are actually divided into countless small teams, and then three or five teams are divided into groups, and three or five groups of people are formed into one formation. In this way, the entire Qingzhou Army was formed.
The men and horses of each battalion in the army also rest according to this rule. As long as they wake up in time and rush out of the camp, their respective captains will give the order to assemble, and then the higher-up officers will order the teams to assemble. Because they practice diligently on weekdays, they can quickly form teams according to their habits even in chaos, forming camps that can confront the enemy head-on, turning passivity into initiative.
Therefore, unless the enemy launches the most ferocious sneak attack with a force that far exceeds that of Sun Tu's troops, ordinary night attacks may not be able to disrupt the morale of his soldiers. With the shouts of the military attachés and generals, a solid defensive formation was set up, and the first wave of Liangshan Army's offensive was immediately resisted.
Then with a cry: "Crossbowmen, prepare!" the rear team quickly formed a formation. After shouting a word, hundreds of arrows were already retreating like raindrops towards those who had just been blocked, and they wanted to launch another offensive. The Liangshan Army swept away, and in an instant, screams could be heard from their ranks.
By this time, after seeing the terrible performance of the officers and soldiers, these Liangshan bandits were heartbroken and had no fighting spirit anymore. Some people turned around and ran towards the mountain road behind them amid the screams, while others panicked and ran towards the sides and front. Some fell into the water, and some just ran into the swords of the officers and soldiers who were stabilizing the formation. Suddenly, they screamed in agony. The sound was endless, and countless people were killed.
Leaders such as Lu Junyi, Hua Rong, and Yan Qing, who originally followed Song Jiang down the mountain, tried to fight for a while with their own bravery, but they were shocked to see their team's collapse after the encounter, and they were immediately discouraged. Angry, seeing that the enemy had surrounded them from both sides, they were also panicked, and quickly pulled Song Jiang, who was a little confused, back.
"Brother, we are defeated. Hurry back to the mountain. We cannot resist these officers and soldiers." Lu Junyi swung his sword to knock down an officer and soldier who attacked him, and reminded loudly that at this time he also I have developed a rare fear, knowing that this is definitely not the case.
The opponent of Zhi Guanjun.
It was only then that Song Jiang suddenly woke up and shouted: "Back off, back off!" Since the sneak attack has failed, continuing to fight will only cause more casualties to the brothers, so he can only give up in time and return to the mountain stronghold. One path is available.
So, what followed was a one-sided pursuit - the Liangshan army kept retreating and fled back to the mountains, while the official army was chasing after them in the rear. Those who fell behind were directly killed by them, and those in front had to be careful to keep shooting. The incoming arrows only traveled a short distance up the mountain, but the Liangshan army paid an extremely heavy price, leaving behind the bodies of nearly 300 brothers. The other 700 to 800 people had no choice but to retreat back to the mountain in a hurry, and Rely on the terrain of the mountain road to carry out delayed counterattack.
Originally, the officers and soldiers wanted to take advantage of the momentum of this victory to fight directly up the mountain. However, at this pass, an urgent order came from the rear, telling the troops to only fight to the foot of the mountain and not rush up again. Let Song Jiang and the others safely retreat to the mountain stronghold. It's just that the faces of those who retreated were filled with deep weakness and confusion.
This time they truly understood how terrifying and invincible the official army below was. Unexpectedly, even the sneak attacks that they thought they could easily succeed were easily defused by the enemy and were counterattacked. If they were to fight head-on, they would really have no chance of winning.
"Then Sun Tu is indeed the first-class famous general in the imperial court today. He can't be compared with us..." Lu Junyi sighed lowly. No one could refute this. Song Jiang even lowered his head, but he He didn't even have the strength to speak.
But what they didn't know was that what they faced this time was not Sun Tu at all, but just Dong Ping. Although Sun Tu's banner was erected in the military camp, he was currently in Beizhai. If they knew this was the case, the blow to them would only be greater.
The reason why Sun Tu was in Beizhai was because he was also wary of the Liangshan Army jumping over the wall to do something like this. Compared to the remaining defensive fortifications of the East Village and the strong military strength of the West Village, the North Village is the most empty. Therefore, as the commander-in-chief, he guarded Beizhai in order to boost the morale of the troops and prevent his soldiers from becoming disorganized after being attacked.
But this time he actually misjudged the enemy's target. When the fighting broke out in the west, he was really shocked. It wasn't until he saw the fire going up the mountain from a distance, and no fire broke out in the West Village, that he felt relieved. At the same time, he shook his head and said: "I didn't expect that they would avoid the truth and avoid the truth. It's really unexpected."
"Capital Supervisor, I think we can take this opportunity to kill and go up the mountain. Now the bandit soldiers on Liangshan must be empty and people are in panic. If we go up at this time, maybe we can defeat the enemy with one blow and capture and kill all the bandits!" Han Tao, the Yum general who was eager to perform and make meritorious deeds, suddenly made a suggestion.
These words immediately won the support of many soldiers around him: "Yes, Du Jian, Liangshan is ready for a battle, we might as well attack tonight."
Sun Tu's eyes quickly swept over them, and then he shook his head with a smile: "Don't worry, now that the Liangshan bandits are in our possession, why be in a hurry? We only have two thousand people here. If they attack rashly and are blocked by the terrain, they will be unable to follow up. This may
Affecting the advantages we have worked so hard to establish. What I want to see is to fight steadily and break through the thieves' nest at the minimum cost. "
"But..." There was someone who wanted to challenge him, but after Sun Tu glanced at him, he didn't dare to say anything. Sun Tu's prestige in the army is now at its peak. He can suppress all different opinions with just one look.
However, although everyone said nothing, their hearts were full of doubts. In the past, Captain Sun was always bold and straightforward, so why now he was a little procrastinating, even timid
This is not a denunciation of Sun Tu, but a conclusion drawn from the facts. Because in everyone's opinion, after breaking through the three water strongholds, Liangshan's main stronghold is already in the bag and can be easily obtained. They only need to march rapidly along the gentle slopes on three sides. The strength and combat power of the Liangshan Army cannot withstand this overwhelming offensive. But Sun Tu was lucky. This time he actually slowed down the pace of attacking the mountain. He just concentrated his troops on three sides without rushing to attack.
If they hadn't believed in Sun Dujian's character, they would have guessed that he had some ulterior collusion with the Liangshan bandits. Or maybe Sun Dujian was planning another good show to boost the bandits' self-respect, and deliberately did not destroy the Liangshan bandits in one go, but wanted to gain more benefits from the imperial court
In fact, everyone was wrong. Sun Tu did not rush to attack the main village of Liangshan because he had his own considerations, but it was not because he wanted to support the invaders to respect themselves, but because he planned to force the thousands of people in Liangshan to surrender and submit to him. !
The various actions of the court this time have made Sun Tu more vigilant. He knows that there is not much time left for him to strengthen his strength. Under such urgent circumstances, it is obviously unrealistic to continue to develop slowly as before. It is obviously unrealistic to recruit troops everywhere, so he must If you want to further strengthen the troops under your command, you have to annex some established armies. After he had almost completely taken the capable officers and soldiers in Shandong under his command, the only ones he could still fancy were the few thousand bandit soldiers in Liangshanbo ahead.
Moreover, the thousands of men and horses in Liangshanbo not only have a certain amount of fighting power, but dozens of their leaders are also brave and capable of fighting. As long as they are surrendered, their own strength will steadily increase, so that they can bargain with the imperial court. Only with the capital can you have the possibility to keep everything.
Therefore, Sun Tucai did not rush to launch the final attack on the main village of Liangshan. Instead, he only put enough pressure on the enemy by constantly stationing troops at the foot of the mountain. After their fighting spirit completely collapsed, he sent people up the mountain to persuade them to surrender.
Originally, the time had not come yet, but tonight's night attack made Sun Tu see that the opportunity had come. It is believed that after this battle, all the people on Liangshan Mountain will have no fighting spirit. If they use soft and hard tactics at this time, they will definitely be able to make these people submit to themselves.
Of course, in addition to these reasons, another reason why Sun Tu dared to make such a decision was that he knew the thoughts of Song Jiang and others. They were not willing to just be bandits all the time. As long as the opportunity was right, he could persuade them to surrender. The imperial court is not something that can be easily grasped.
So when it dawned the next day, the officers and soldiers had already sent people up the mountain. However, instead of taking the opportunity to launch an offensive, they rushed up and shouted: "My family wants to meet with Master Song, and I also ask Master Song to come down the mountain." See you!" The voice was heard far away and soon reached the Juyi Hall above.