As the winter months end and the twelfth lunar month approaches, the New Year atmosphere in Qingzhou City has gradually become stronger. After a whole year of hard work, people have put aside their work in the fields and choose to rest well at this time to have a good New Year.

But unlike the rest of the people, the movements in the Qingzhou military camp have become more and more intense. Not only are there shouts in the camp from morning to night, but it is heard all over the city. Every day, a large number of people lined up in neat rows to run around the city, which opened the eyes of the people in the city.

A tough battle is very likely to be imminent, which makes the generals at all levels in the army who come from Sun Tu dare to relax at the slightest time. Adhering to what Sun Tu said about sweating more in peacetime and bleeding less in war, letting the soldiers under his command practice hard day by day, so as to make these rural soldiers from various prefectures enter the real battlefield as soon as possible.

The effect of hard work and hard training over the past few days is quite obvious. At this time, this army composed of multiple people has gradually become a topic. Both the queue and the battle formation look similar. With the call, the movements of the soldiers waving their weapons are neatly and uniform, and they look quite imposing.

But even so, these manifestations still felt that it was far from enough to Sun Tu's eyes, because what they present now was just appearances. This army finally lacked a sense of spiritual energy. It was a mysterious but also clearly felt, from the army's solemn and fearless temperament.

Only when an army has this temperament can it truly be transformed. It can be called elite soldiers. Even if they face a powerful enemy or are in danger, they can be united and fight for the bloody path under the reasonable command of the general. However, this temperament cannot be obtained by ordinary practice. It can only be achieved by experiencing the test of life and death, baptism of war, and poured with iron and blood. Obviously, this official army is far from being this far away.

Perhaps, when they can defeat the mighty powerful enemies this time, the entire army will get that temperament and make a qualitative leap.

The soldiers in the army worked hard under the command of the generals under his command. As the Supreme Commander, Sun Tu didn't have to come forward to train troops in person. But he was not idle either. In the past few days, he had been studying the hiding place of the foreign army that might launch a raid on Shandong and their real target position this time.

However, because there were too few clues on hand, even though he had been discussing with Zhu Wu and others for a long time, he still couldn't get the idea. As a result, it seemed that everything had to be waited for the scout camp that Shi Qian brought to deliver the information in time.

As the best scout who is good at collecting intelligence, Shi Qian did not disappoint Sun Tu this time. Seven or eight days later, a scout team named Gao Hui brought back some important news and reported to Sun Tu:

"The Chief Executive, this time we conducted a careful investigation in Lingzhou and several nearby prefectures, but found that except for the number of suspicious peddlers in Lingzhou City, there were no signs of influx of people elsewhere. In addition, Zengtou City has recently seemed very low-key. The four gates of their small town were almost closed all day long. It took our brothers a lot of time to get into it. As a result, they were driven out before they could check it out."

"Only Lingzhou has more people? Ginsengs..." Sun Tu frowned. Of course, he knew that there were many ginseng in the Jurchens. It was expected that these guys entered Lingzhou City as ginseng merchants. But would they really set their target in Lingzhou? There is the foundation of Zengtou City. They are really so desperate?

Zhu Wu also looked suspicious. Seeing that Sun Tu had no intention of continuing to speak, he asked: "What about the situation in the county towns outside the city? Have you sent someone to investigate? Maybe those guys are cautious and will hide their hands in those inconspicuous county towns, and will suddenly attack when the time comes."

"This, we didn't have much staff in the past, so we haven't taken care of the county town below. However, according to reason, the county town is a place that is more difficult to hide. After all, there are fewer people there, and suddenly there are many unknown people, so the government will definitely be alert."

"Well, what you said is reasonable, but if they were willing to spend some time and effort to break the whole into pieces, it would be difficult to find them. In addition, if they were really Jurchens, with their ability, it would be too difficult to hide in the wild for ten days and half a month, which would be even more difficult to find their whereabouts." Sun Tu glanced at Gao Hui with some praise. The scout team was clear-headed, but he was a talented person.

Suddenly, his heart moved and looked at Zhu Wu: "You said just now that they will take action as soon as the time comes, which is interesting. For foreigners, it is not easy to get involved in my Shandong territory, let alone hide here. But after they arrived, they were not in a hurry to act, but dragged it all the time. So tell me, what time are they waiting for?"

This really brought down Zhu Wu, who was a little strategic, and after opening his mouth, he didn't know how to answer. If it was summer and autumn, he would have explained that the enemy should be waiting for the autumn harvest to grab the newly-entered grain. But now it's winter, all the food taxes to be collected have arrived. As long as they can really break the city, the property inside will belong to them. Why wait any longer?

"Could they be waiting for the subsequent troops to arrive, so our scouts couldn't find their whereabouts?" Zhu Wu said with a guess, but his confidence was not enough.

Sun Tu pondered for a moment, but still shook his head: "This should not be very similar. Since the other party has been planning for a long time and is determined to win, and has even been going to use the Zengtoushi card, how could it be that the minimum manpower is not ready? There must be another reason! By the way, have you found any other discoveries in Lingzhou this time?"

"This..." Gao Hui frowned and recalled, then said: "By the way, it is said that a batch of military rations would be delivered to Lingzhou before the New Year, but due to heavy snow, it was delayed. At that time, the defenders in the city mentioned this matter!"

Sun Tu's eyes immediately became sharp, he took a deep breath and looked at Zhu Wu. The latter was also shocked, but had to accept this fact: "They actually made their minds on Lingzhou!"

I thought that the intrusion of Zengtou City would inevitably exclude Lingzhou, but after a roundabout way, the target returned to the starting point. Sun Tu pondered for a moment and soon made a reason: "If this is true, the leader of this matter would not be Zengtou City, and it is even possible that they were forced to do so. No wonder Lin Chong could easily bring out the news after going to Zengtou City once. This should be because of his internal disagreement. Someone deliberately leaked out and wanted to use the government's hands to destroy this incident."

Zhu Wu also nodded and agreed: "What the capital surveillance said is very true. Lingzhou is the foundation of Zengtou City. They will never allow chaos in the local area. It is just because they are held back that they have to obey orders."

"That's easy to deal with. As long as there is a crack in the middle of them, and not a single heart, you can break it." Sun Tu immediately stood up, strode to the map on the side of the hanging, and pointed at the position marked Lingzhou: "No further ado, we will send troops to rescue Lingzhou!"

"Dujian, are you too anxious? Maybe they have other goals?" Zhu Wu asked in a little uncertainty.

Sun Tu shook his head firmly: "From all the information, our guess should not be wrong. Their target is Lingzhou! Soldiers are very fast, and there is no time to go. If we drag them down, we will be passive. After all, no one knows when the foreign thieves will take action. If they really wait until they take action, they will be killed again, and then our responsibility will be great."

Sun Tu's words made Zhu Wu's heart move, and he looked at him with admiration. He had just surrendered and did not know Sun Tu enough. In the past, he only heard other soldiers and the people tell him how Sun Dujian loved the people and how upright it was. It was not until today that he truly felt the true side of Sun Tu for the people, which made him truly respect Sun Tu.

Then, Zhu Wu thought of the so-called heroes in Liangshanbo who were under the banner of "doing the way for heaven" but plundered and killed people outside. Compared with them, Sun Tu is the just person who practices the way for heaven!

Thinking of this, Zhu Wu's spirit was immediately revived, and he hurriedly clasped his fists and said, "I am obedient to the order, and this time I will follow the governor to defeat this enemy!"

Sun Tu didn't care too much about the other party's mental changes, but just smiled faintly: "Beat the drum, gather the generals!"

With this order, the sound of drums quickly resounded throughout the entire military camp. In a short while, generals and officers at all levels rushed to Sun Tu's barracks one after another. After understanding what he said and the decision to send troops, everyone was convinced and asked for a fight.

However, as mentioned before, Sun Tuzhen only chose 3,000 troops transferred from other prefectures to rescue the siege, but kept the most elite Qingzhou army. Of course, to be on the safe side, he still brought 300 personal troops with him, all of whom had the longest time and the strongest combat power with him.

After everything was properly allocated and the other generals continued to train their troops in the city, Sun Tu led his troops to leave Qingzhou City in a mighty manner.

When the people in the city saw Sun Dujian's banner flying and leaving Qingzhou, everyone was confused. It was almost the Chinese New Year, why did Sun Dujian lead the army to leave again? Could it be that there was another war and some bandits were in chaos? But recently, Shandong has been so mediocre and no wars have been launched.
Chapter completed!