The hundreds of people who suddenly burst out from the dark woods were as brave as tigers. Even if they faced the Liao army who were fighting desperately, they would not be at a disadvantage in the slightest. Especially when the first few people entered the enemy group, it was like a tiger entering a flock of sheep. A Zen staff as thick as a goose egg was used to stir up the wind. It really flew and fell, and there was almost no one on its way forward. enemy.
Beside him, there was a man holding two knives, walking like flying, and killing with blood splattering, like cutting grass, his body was everywhere, and the screams never stopped. In comparison, the few people following them seemed to be much more restrained. However, the swords and long forks came one after another, but they also killed the Liao army. They could only retreat continuously, and there was no resistance at all. Power.
When Sun Tu saw this, his face was filled with surprise. He narrowed his eyes and roared: "Qingzhou Army, kill the enemy!" Regardless of the minor injuries on his body, he swung his sword to kill again.
This roar once again boosted the morale of the Song Army, and with the added support, the remaining officers and soldiers of the Qingzhou Army were all motivated to fight back with all their strength. In just a short moment, those Liao troops were squeezed into a very small area, and their numbers were continuously reduced, with casualties everywhere.
Their leader was killed, and the Song army suddenly received reinforcements. The blow to the Liao army was undoubtedly extremely fatal. At this point, they couldn't even muster the courage to resist. As the two parties attacked from left to right, the remaining two hundred people were completely reduced to fish on the chopping board, and they were all dead and injured in the blink of an eye. After all, almost no one was left alive.
When Sun Tu stopped shouting, only two or three people in the Liao army were still standing. Surrounding them were all their fallen comrades. The eyes and faces of these people were completely covered with fear. No more Khitan people should be seen. Some were extremely violent, and a few of them were shaking like dead leaves in the autumn wind. There was no need to give orders anymore. As the Song army pressed forward, they obediently dropped their weapons, raised their hands high, and shouted for mercy.
It was only then that Sun Tu smiled and looked at the few old and new friends who were striding over, and asked with confusion: "Brother Lu, Second Brother Wu, Brother Fan, why are you here together?"
It turned out that this sudden appearance of troops was the elite of the Qingzhou Army headed by Lu Da, Wu Song and other Sun Tu brothers. In addition, Fan Qi, Zhao Huang and others who had promised him to settle down his family before New subordinates will come to join the army.
The last person who came up to meet him was Xiao Li Guanghuarong. It was he and Fan Qi who fired arrows in time to save Sun Tu at that critical moment. It can be said that Sun Tu should not have died this time. It was God's blessing that sent them here in time. But at the same time, Sun Tu had more doubts in his mind. How could these two people get together if they didn't know each other? Especially for Ruda and the others, if they were to count their distance, they would not be able to reach the north no matter how soon they set out from the south of the Yangtze River, let alone appear in the wilderness not far from Zhuozhou.
Lu Da and Wu Song both laughed and looked at Hua Rong: "Let's let brother Hua Rong speak. He is probably the one who deserves the credit. But it's a long story."
"Oh?" Sun Tu blinked curiously, then waved his hand and said: "In that case, let's get the things in front of us settled first.
Not too late. "The so-called matter at hand is naturally to deal with these dead and alive Liao troops. Following his order, the Qingzhou soldiers quickly got busy, cleaning the battlefield, treating their injured brothers, and finishing wounds on the enemies who were not dead. , and moved the corpses aside. At the same time, they tied the prisoners with ropes and guarded them.
At the same time, the camp became more and more lively. Many brothers reunited. Even though a bloody battle had just occurred, everyone's emotions were still high. So they lit a fire on the spot, took out food, talked about their farewells, and made the forest before dawn as noisy as a market during the day.
Sun Tu did not stop the brothers from having a rare moment of relaxation. He just called Luda and others to him. While sharing food with them, he asked again about his previous doubts.
This time, Hua Rong was finally able to tell everything in detail: "The general doesn't know. In fact, my brothers and I had already set off from Jiangnan to Bianjing before receiving the imperial court's order, and we were on the way to Bianjing. Then we know that you were ordered to conduct the Northern Expedition. And we went to Bianjing precisely to wish the general a happy New Year and to report truthfully the progress of Jiangnan in the past two years."
"I see." Sun Tu was not in a hurry to ask about the development of Jiangnan in the past two years. He just said: "Is that why you can appear in the north so quickly? But, how could you walk with Brother Fan and the others and come here? here?"
"This is because Yanmen Pass refused to let us in. Although we have taken out the relevant tokens, they still refused to believe our identity and only placed us outside Guancheng." Hua Rong smiled bitterly. Said: "It is said that they are afraid that there will be some evildoers from the Liao country among us, just in case..."
Sun Tu was stunned for a moment, then laughed and shook his head. This happened because of him. When he captured the Liao spies at Yanmen Pass that day, he gave repeated orders to the defenders to strictly guard the pass in the future and not give anyone the opportunity to enter and leave the city at will. Unexpectedly, this attack actually affected his subordinates, making them unable to pass through.
But now it seems that this time it was a mistake. Sure enough, I heard Hua Rong say again: "At that time, we were eager to go north to join the general, so I thought of finding another path to bypass Yanmen Pass, and at the same time, I was also looking for a guide nearby. After all, we had never been here before, and we didn't know where to go. He is good at finding roads hidden in the mountains. Unexpectedly, this search actually led us to find Brother Fan and others, and they also wanted to bypass Yanmen Pass and go north... "
Fan Qi immediately accepted his words and said: "General Sun, our brothers have promised you that as soon as you have settled your family, we will come to the north to join you and fight the foreign enemies together. We are saved by you, and we should do our best to help you." , so I rushed here after I had no worries! Only Yanmen Pass was closed, so I thought of finding another way out."
Sun Tu laughed: "So you all got together in one place, took a long detour, and showed up here?" He was even more filled with emotion. All of this was really a coincidence. If it weren't for various antecedents, he might have died. Xiao Yanping's arrow fell.
"Originally, we were about to climb over the mountain forest in front of us, but the scouts who stayed behind discovered that someone was following the traces we left. Just as a precaution, we decided to look back. Unexpectedly, we saw you, General. Encountered danger and was besieged by several times the enemy
, so we didn’t think too much and came to the rescue. Hua Rong said again, but Sun Tu was amazed again.
It turns out that there is still this key. What I sent people to track before was not the traces of the Liao people, but Hua Rong and others who entered the mountain first, and they were later aware of their whereabouts. Obviously, they were indeed careful enough. The original intention of turning back was to launch a surprise attack on possible enemies in the rear, but in the end they saved themselves and caught the Liao army by surprise, which was considered to have achieved the set goal.
After figuring out all the causes and consequences, Sun Tu sighed again: "Thanks to you for showing up here this time, otherwise, my brothers and I would have died here."
"By the way, General, why are you leading troops here? And there are only so many brothers around you?" Wu Song asked the question that all of them had from the beginning.
In front of his brothers, Sun Tu naturally said what he had to say directly, so he told his story along the way. Whether it was to kill Gao Qiu, or to seize power from Tong Guan and fight to a draw with the Liao army, in the end he detailed the current dilemma between the two armies and his purpose of going to Zhuozhou to meet with Pharmacist Guo...
These things were much more dangerous and exciting than their experiences. Luda Wusong and the others were dumbfounded. After a while, they all sighed: "The general is worthy of being a general. What he does can shock the world. We admire him!"
Sun Tu waved his hand to stop their flattery, and then asked with concern: "By the way, you said you wanted to report to me the changes in Jiangnan in the past two years, but has there been any progress?"
"We in Jiangnan have undergone great changes in the past two years." When he mentioned this matter, Ruda became interested and said with joy: "Since we have completely controlled the military and political power in various places in Jiangnan according to the general's wishes, we have put away all the exorbitant taxes and miscellaneous taxes. In addition, relying on the food hoarded by the Fangla rebels, the people were allowed to rebuild their homes and cultivate fields from the beginning. In just two years, the people in Jiangnan have returned home and live and work in peace and contentment. In the past year alone, they have harvested The money and food provided are enough for the officials in various places to have food and drink, and there is still a large amount of surplus that can be used to raise troops."
Sun Tu nodded, this was something he had expected. Jiangnan was originally the richest region in the world. In the beginning, it was only because of the excessive exploitation of the imperial court, the widespread corruption of officials, and the creation of countless tricks that harmed the people that the people were in dire straits. But now, all bad governance has been wiped out, and under Sun Tu's instruction, the tax supply to the court has been greatly reduced. As a result, both the military and civilians in the Jiangnan area are naturally very prosperous.
When these words fell into the ears of Fan Qi and the others, they were greatly surprised and yearned for them. You must know that their life in Daming Mansion is very tight, and imagining the wealth in Jiangnan really makes them cry with envy.
But this was just the beginning, and things that really shocked them came one after another: "It was precisely because there was surplus in the army that we followed the general's instructions when he left and began to cultivate craftsmen and innovate gunpowder firearms. By the time we left, Gunpowder has been greatly developed, and in addition to more powerful bombs, we have also created a new batch of firearms. As the general once said, mines can be buried underground to deal with enemy troops. There are also a batch of small-scale projectiles that are lighter and can be fired with bows and crossbows, which we call thunderbolt bullets... "