Standing at the top of the city, watching Zhang Shuye and Xuan Cangyong being "escorted" by five hundred sergeants to Lin'an, Song Jiang, Lin Chong and others showed some strange expressions on their faces. How could he send people away so easily and solve this seemingly difficult problem
They thought they were going to have another fight and use some tough or clever methods. As a result, the common people made a fuss, they were arrested, and Sun Tu had a conversation with them. The two nominal commanders and supervisors sent by the imperial court just gave up and left.
Seeing the doubts in their hearts, Sun Tu smiled: "The matter is actually very simple. They also have concerns after all. As long as I explain clearly, with the shrewdness of these two people, they will naturally make the least bad choice."
"But general, aren't you afraid that people will be held accountable if this matter is reported back to the capital?" After hesitating for a moment, Song Jiang still asked worriedly.
"That will have to happen in a few months. And by that time, as long as we have put down the chaos in Jiangnan and have great success, who can pursue such a trivial matter?" Sun Tu said, with a serious look on his face: "Already It's spring, and it's time to make the final call. How about it, has all the information over there been sorted out?"
Although Sun Tu has not continued to use troops in the past few months, this does not mean that he really does not care about Fang La's remaining troops who have retreated to Wuzhou. On the contrary, in the past few months, the Song army has sent no less than two to three hundred troops. A scout and spy, just to find out the opponent's details and defense strategy.
Seeing Sun Tudong asking, Dong Ping immediately responded: "A lot of intelligence has been sent back from the front. In fact, in terms of military morale, the rebel army has fallen to the bottom. Without generals like Pang Wanchun and Fang Shifo in charge, After losing Hangzhou, they already had a timid attitude within them. However, because Fang La was still there and Fang Fei was there to mediate, it was still peaceful for the time being. In addition, they had left all their main elite forces in Wulongling. They probably want to rely on the dangerous geographical pass there to stop our army from attacking. On the other hand, there are only a few defenders in Wuzhou. If we can break through the Wulongling Pass, we can attack Wuzhou in a day or night."
Sun Tu nodded: "What about the specific troop deployment?"
"Because of the geographical conditions of Wulong Ridge, there are only 30,000 soldiers, but all of them are elites. In Wuzhou, although there are 100,000 soldiers, most of them are mobs, and the city is not particularly tall and strong, so it must be destroyed It’s not difficult.”
"In other words, for us, the last hurdle is at Wulong Ridge?" Sun Tu narrowed his eyes.
"But it is indeed one of the rare dangerous places in Jiangnan. It is truly easy to defend and difficult to attack. Although there are only 30,000 people, the terrain is enough to block the attack of hundreds of thousands of people." Yang Zhi also said. A few of them have been studying the situation in Wulong Ridge recently, and they already know the mountain topography there very well. The more they know about it, the more worried they are.
"According to this, it is indeed difficult to attack Wulong Ridge. Is there a way around it?" Sun Tu asked again. But those who responded to him shook their heads: "Except for the Wulongling Pass, there are some passable trails, but it is impossible to send tens of thousands of troops in without being noticed. Also, Wuzhou This area was originally the place where Fangla raised troops, and the local people have become familiar with it.
Eyes, it is completely unfeasible to try to take a detour without being noticed. "
"It is extremely difficult to attack by force. The terrain there is not conducive to the deployment of the army at all, and it is even difficult to transport ordinary siege weapons. Therefore, it is indeed much more difficult to break through this barrier than it was for us to capture Hangzhou."
After saying these words, the faces of the generals who were still a little happy were immediately covered with a look of worry, because everyone knew that there was really not much time left for them, and they must break through Wulong Ridge as soon as possible. It's best to do it before summer.
This is not only because of the pressure from the court, but also because once summer arrives, the situation there will be more complicated. Although it is not in the southwest and other places, there are still poisonous miasma in that area, especially in summer, when the poisonous miasma comes together, there is a natural barrier to prevent officers and soldiers from sneaking in.
Just thinking of this gave everyone a headache, and some people even whispered: "It seems that unless we can fly over the ridge with wings on our ribs, we will never be able to easily break through this barrier."
Hearing this, Sun Tu's eyes lit up, and he suddenly smiled unexpectedly: "Things haven't really reached despair yet. Since we have been waiting for these days, we might as well wait a little longer. Prepare some things, and then you can break this level at the minimum cost!"
"Ah..." This time everyone was really incomprehensible. Everyone looked at Sun Tu with their mouths wide open, but Sun Tu only smiled as if he was giving it a try: "What we have to do now is to recruit all the skilled craftsmen in the city. Look for them, especially those who are good at leather-making." As he said that, his eyes fell on Tong Mu: "I'll leave this matter to you, won't you let me down?"
"...Okay, I'll do it right away, give me three days." Tong Mu only hesitated briefly before nodding and accepting the task. Although others still had doubts in their hearts, looking at Sun Tu's confident look and thinking about the miracles he had created in the past, they naturally chose to believe that under the leadership of General Sun, they could once again Create a miracle that easily breaks through the natural dangers of Wulong Ridge!
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Hundreds of miles away, Wuzhou City.
After these months of panic, the rest of Fang La's family finally slowly accepted the facts and calmed down. Especially when they saw the elite Wu troops rushing to Wulong Ridge one after another and knew the danger there, they finally gained some confidence.
The Song Army's lack of progress in the following months made them feel that things were promising, so after entering March, Wuzhou City was finally much more lively than in the previous months, at least it was revitalized.
As the backbone of everyone, as a person who has experienced ups and downs, Fang La finally came out of the emotions of self-blame and regret, and began to pick himself up again. From time to time, he discussed with the ministers below how to regroup strength and how to find opportunities to fight. go back. Of course, at least until Sun Tu was transferred, they would never dare to fight back again.
And the news brought by Fang Fei today made him even more discouraged: "You mean, the commanders and supervisors sent by Song Ting to Hangzhou were actually tricked by Sun Tu into leaving Hangzhou?"
"Exactly, judging from the information obtained by our informants, they were captured by Sun Tuche
He was under complete control and sent to Lin'an under house arrest. It can be said that the Song army in the south of the Yangtze River is still in the hands of Sun Tu, and they seem to have the intention to come west and attack Wuzhou. "Fang Fei also said with a solemn expression.
The Song Army can send agents to go deep into Wuzhou to investigate the news, and the Wu Army can naturally do the same. Although there is a serious lag in the transmission of intelligence, the news is still accurate and enough for people to take it seriously.
"He actually dared to do such a thing, what should we do?" Fang La was really frightened by Sun Tu. Just thinking about how people like Pang Wanchunfang Shifo were defeated by his men, he felt weak in his heart.
"Your Majesty, please don't worry so much. Even so, this has laid the foundation for his downfall. As long as the matter is publicized, let alone us, even Song Ting will never spare him. And what we have to do , just to delay time and not give him any chance to make meritorious deeds again."
"Yes, as long as we wait for a while and wait until Song Ting takes action on him, Sun Tu will be close to death. So Wulong Ridge is the key. We must hold it there. Wuzhou will be safe and we will have a chance to turn defeat into victory." Having said this, Fang Lasha stood up and strode to the huge map that had been hanging on the side. He moved his fingers back and forth over the location of Wulong Ridge: "Send another 20,000 elites there, and there must be no Lost. In addition, let the people there quickly set traps on other remote trails on the ridge before the Song army arrived. I will never let any Song army easily cross the ridge!" At this moment, he finally had something to say. They had the aura of these powerful men, and finally there was some air in their eyes.
Fang Fei was overjoyed and hurriedly clasped his fists and responded: "I have received the order, I will send someone to make arrangements right away. Also, just in case, I thought I could bury kerosene and other materials at the strategic points on the ridge. Once the Song army really If the fortress is breached, we will die with it."
"Okay, I'll do what you want. This time, we have no way out!" Fang La said, punching the map with a bang, but he had already made a desperate decision.
With the decree issued by him, an emperor with only one state, the Wu army moved again. The few 20,000 fighting troops left in Wuzhou set off in two days and headed straight for Wulong Ridge. As a result, the number of defenders there has reached 50,000, making that formidable pass truly impregnable. .
Of course, correspondingly, all the defensive forces in Wuzhou City have been exhausted, and those who are left are the old, weak, sick and disabled. As long as Wulongling is lost again, they will no longer have a place to defend, and they will not be far from complete defeat. .
On March 12, news came that 70,000 Song troops had set out from Hangzhou and headed west.
On the 19th, in front of Wulong Ridge, the Song Army's vanguard had arrived. Wu Song, the leader of the trapped camp, challenged him, but the defenders did not respond and just stood silently.
On the 23rd, the main force of the Song Army officially arrived in front of the pass. Although they did not actually launch an attack, strong pressure was already overwhelming.
In this mid-spring of the fifth year of Xuanhe in the Song Dynasty, a final battle that would determine the final direction of the chaos in Jiangnan, and even the future direction of the entire Song Dynasty, was about to begin in front of Wulong Ridge.
But to the surprise of the defenders, this time, the Song army did not rush to launch the most violent attack from the beginning, but...