Sun Tu glanced at Song Jiang, who had shut up again, and vaguely guessed some of his thoughts, but he did not reveal it. He just continued: "Of course, even if the imperial court can give us sufficient food, grass, weapons and equipment, our army will not be able to defeat Jiangnan in the future." It is not easy to make achievements. Not to mention that the topography of the south of the Yangtze River is very different from that of Shandong. There are many waterways and hills, which is not conducive to the elite troops' assault. We don't know much about the specific situation of Fangla's rebellion, so the top priority is to collect relevant information as soon as possible. intelligence."
"What the governor said is true. Knowing yourself and your enemy means you can fight a hundred battles without danger. If you really want to send troops to quell the chaos, you must first grasp the specific situation there." Qi Desheng agreed with deep approval.
"Captain, in fact, the official knows some of the inside story." Huang Wenbing suddenly said.
"Oh? Magistrate Huang, do you know much about things in the south of the Yangtze River?" Sun Tu asked happily. At the same time, he also felt a little strange. Huang Wenbing was from Jiangzhou and later became an official in Qingzhou with him. How could he Will you pay attention to the situation of Jiangnan thieves
Huang Wenbing also noticed his doubts and explained a few words first: "In fact, most of what I know comes from the official documents of the imperial court, and the others are said by my brothers who came to Qingzhou to seek refuge with me last year. He said before I have been doing business in Zhejiang for two years, but chaos broke out in Fang La and all my property was robbed. I managed to escape alone, but my savings for many years were also wasted."
"I see, let me tell you." Sun Tu felt a little ashamed in his heart. He had never paid much attention to the official documents in the imperial court. Now it seems that it is indeed inappropriate. After all, the contents of these official documents Still very useful.
Huang Wenbing then elaborated: "This Fang La was originally from Qingxi, Muzhou, and his family did not have some property. He was also very generous and righteous in his daily life. He had a good reputation in the local area and was highly praised by people in the world. "Speaking of this, not only him, but also many people present glanced at Song Jiang subconsciously, because his background was very similar to Song Jiang's, and the trajectories of the two of them were somewhat similar.
But quickly, he withdrew his gaze and continued: "Because of this, he has many brothers in Muzhou. In addition, there is a sect called Manichaeism in the local area, which is very popular among the people there. Over the years, there have been tens of thousands of believers in this sect, and Fang La is a member of this sect. Because of his forthright nature and his ability to make friends, he quickly occupied a high position in the sect, and those who were willing to follow his orders also Thousands.
"Originally, these were not problems, but it happened that two years ago, Zhu Meng's men went to Muzhou to conquer Huashi Gang. They took a fancy to the Fang family's property, and seized his father and brother on the pretext that there were beautiful stones hidden in their home. They waited for others, and finally forced them all to die tragically in prison, and the Fang family was ruined.
"At that time, Fang La was able to escape because he was rescued. Then after knowing that his father and brother were killed, he was determined to take revenge. Just as it happened, the people in Qingxi were exploited by corrupt officials and suffered terribly. In addition, there were also The Manichaeans instigated and fanned the flames, and finally the local people rose up to kill officials and rebel.
"In fact, with the strength of the people in Qingxi, they couldn't make much noise at all. However, the officials there did not do their job well. Not only did they fail to put out the rebel bandits in time, but they continued to act recklessly, and also brought trouble to the people in other surrounding counties. Also forced
After reaching a dead end, Fang La and the Manichaeans finally seized the opportunity to grow rapidly. When the number of troops exceeded 10,000, they were out of control. In just a few months, they expanded the anti-thief force to 50,000, and successively They captured Shouchang, Tonglu, Sui'an and other county towns, and in September and October last year, they successively defeated the two important towns of Xiuzhou and Hangzhou. Now half of the south of the Yangtze River has fallen into the hands of the rebels. Even though the imperial court has sent troops several times to clear it out since last year, it has not succeeded. On the contrary, it has further boosted the momentum of the rebels and further expanded their forces. Now it is said that he has powerful soldiers under his command. One hundred thousand…”
After saying this, even Sun Tu changed his color slightly and took a breath of cold air. The strength of Fang La's power was obviously beyond his expectation.
As a time traveler with limited knowledge of the history of the Song Dynasty, he knew Fang La's name from the book "Water Margin". However, in that book, Fang La is a supporting character among the supporting characters. Although he is regarded as the final big boss, his strength is obviously far inferior to Liangshan. Even though the heroes of Liangshan lost their troops and suffered heavy casualties in the battle of conquering Fangla, he was still in the end. They were defeated by the Liangshan Army.
And when Sun Tu thought about it, he could put down the Liangshan Rebellion in a month or two, so as long as he went all out, it shouldn't be too difficult to conquer Fangla in the south. But now it seems that I was too blindly optimistic before. The real Jiangnan Laqi power is much stronger than the small-time Song Jiang group.
Just a little bit of Fang La's army is much stronger than Liangshan's army, and that's the support of the local people. Although Huang Wenbing did not go into too much detail, Sun Tu could still draw a conclusion from it. Fang La's army could rapidly develop and grow to one hundred thousand in just one or two years, which must have won the hearts and minds of the local people. But what about here in Shandong? The people all focused on themselves and the government, so the Liangshan heroes who were isolated in the mountains were quickly pacified.
From this we can draw another conclusion. Fighting Liangshan Sun Tu in Shandong is a home battle, while going to Jiangnan to quell the rebellion is a complete battle in the court. Not only cannot he get support from the local people, but he even has to beware of sneak attacks and disruptions from behind. Woolen cloth.
And in the final analysis, all of this was thanks to Zhu Meng, who was engaged in Huashi Gang and made the rich land in the south of the Yangtze River a mess, and the people were in dire straits. But it was good for him, the instigator. At this time, he was still living in Suzhou, and the court had no intention of blaming him, but it threw a big problem in front of him.
In fact, not only Sun Tu, but also the faces of other generals present became extremely solemn after listening to Huang Wenbing's story. They were also a little frightened - one hundred thousand rebels was really a scary number, and that was only a year ago. According to the data, maybe after a year of development, and the people in Jiangnan suffering from the disaster of Hua Shi Gang, the number of soldiers and horses under his command will double, reaching an astronomical figure of two to three hundred thousand.
In comparison, the thousands of people in Liang Shanbo, the so-called strongest bandit in Shandong, were simply not enough. And Sun Tu was about to scream, "Water Margin is harmful to people." If he had known that the Jiangnan rebels were so powerful, he wouldn't have accepted the job so easily.
As if he thought Sun Tu didn't have enough headaches, Song Jiang also spoke at this time: "Captain, as far as I know, Fang La not only has many men and horses under his command, but also has many generals who are capable of fighting. Among his brothers, Fang Fei, The seven Buddhas in Fang are all very brave, and there is also one named Pang Wanchun, who is a rare hero in Jiangnan. He is both civil and military.
The best of both worlds... So we must not underestimate the enemy, we must be fully prepared before we advance. "
Which of your eyes can tell that I am underestimating my enemy? Sun Tu smiled bitterly in his heart, but nodded solemnly, and then asked again: "Brother Gongming, how do you know everything about the generals around Fang La?"
"Because Fang La sent people to Liangshan last year and wanted to recruit brothers like me to conspire with him, but he was declined by Song." Song Jiang did not hide anything and told the truth directly: "At that time, in order to convince our brothers, the people who came deliberately I reported the names of all the generals under Fang La, and several of them are well-known people in the green forest road in the south of the Yangtze River."
Sun Tu nodded. He guessed that the reason why Song Jiang made this decision was that he was reluctant to part with Liangshan's foundation, but more importantly, he probably felt that Fang La's uprising was more thorough than his own, and the two sides were not on the same page at all. people. After all, in Song Jiang's mind, it was only the traitors in the court who were wrong, and the emperor was only deceived by them, so he insisted on fighting against corrupt officials rather than against the emperor. But Fang La was different. He really wanted to rebel and was about to become emperor. This was naturally unacceptable to Song Jiang.
An army of more than 100,000 to 200,000 people, dozens of generals who are accustomed to fighting, and they have won the hearts of the local people, and have captured many cities to rely on. When these situations are put in front of everyone, even if all the generals are People who have experienced hundreds of battles feel a little panicked at this time. Just because they didn't want to weaken their own momentum, everyone didn't express their concerns directly, but their faces turned a little pale.
"This matter cannot be pushed away. The only thing we can do is to be cautious. After we send troops to Jiangnan, we must not be sloppy at all, let alone underestimate the enemy and advance rashly." Sun Tu glanced at the crowd with a serious expression.
"General, I will obey your orders!" Everyone responded solemnly.
After seeing everyone's nervous looks, Sun Tu smiled again and said: "Actually, you don't have to be so panicked. Although Fang La's soldiers and horses seem to be numerous, the real elites may not be able to compare with me. Shandong's most capable army. Moreover, he has now occupied half of the south of the Yangtze River, with dozens of cities in his hands. He always has to disperse his troops and garrison, so what we will face in the future will never really be hundreds of thousands of enemy troops. It's just passes and cities guarded by rebels everywhere. As long as we work together and use our troops effectively, it won't be too difficult to suppress the chaos in Jiangnan."
These words hit the point. After everyone thought about it carefully, they breathed a sigh of relief, and then responded again: "I will obey the instructions of the governor. Our army will win this southern expedition!"
"Okay, let's all disperse. When we go to each camp to discuss my decision in detail later, you must also pay attention to a certain degree of control. You must not weaken my own prestige!" Sun Tu said and waved his hand again.
So, everyone just dispersed, but they still had some worries in their hearts. Of course, in everyone's opinion, there is still some time before the actual southern expedition. After all, everyone has experienced how efficient the imperial court is in handling affairs. Within two or three months, rewards could not be issued, plus the mobilization of food, grass and baggage. , no matter what, we have to wait until next year to send out troops.
But sometimes plans often fail to keep up with changes. No one expected that something big happened in Jiangnan at this time, which made the imperial court completely angered. Then they immediately issued an urgent order for Sun Tu to send troops as soon as possible, and all logistical matters were handled quickly. …