In early May, Sun Tu delivered the victory of pacifying the Liangshan bandits to the capital. In early June, Fang Qian was ordered to come to Qingzhou and told Sun Tu about the imperial court's rewards and orders. However, it was not until mid-July that the imperial court officially allocated relevant rewards. All the generals from Sun Tu were promoted and rewarded, which was a pleasure for the entire camp.

But this also reflects how low the efficiency of the Song Dynasty is now. It has been more than two months since it has been delivered to the meritorious officials. It is precisely because of this performance by the court that Sun Tu boldly speculated that his troops would not need to be moved within this year. After all, mobilizing the food, grass and supplies needed by tens of thousands of troops and then sending them to Jiangnan is much more difficult than sending money, grain, and food to Qingzhou. It will not be possible in less than half a year.

But an accident at the end of July made the court change its past style and become more resolute. In early August, a military order was sent to Qingzhou again, and Sun Tu ordered to send troops to Jiangnan immediately. The relevant food, grass and supplies would be sent to his army within half a month!

The reason why the court made such a change was that Fang La, Jiangnan, suddenly proclaimed himself emperor in Hangzhou City on July 27th, and named the country Wu and Jianyuan Yongle!

When this shocking news came out, the world was in turmoil, and the monarchs and ministers of the court were even more frightened. Even the literary and artistic emperor Zhao Ji, who had never paid much attention to government affairs, was furious because of it and immediately issued an order to send troops to quell the chaos in the south of the Yangtze River. At the same time, he also ordered the wing troops across the country to send troops to quell the thieves, naturally including Sun Tu in Shandong.

This matter has indeed touched the bottom line of the court. Because establishing a regime and becoming an emperor and becoming an ordinary rebellion are completely different concepts, the threat to the court is a hundred times greater than disrupting half of the Jiangnan area, and is the top priority that the monarchs and ministers in the court need to deal with at the first time. Because once Fang La's Wu Kingdom has gained a firm foothold in the Jiangnan area, it is tantamount to letting the Song Dynasty have another powerful enemy country. Moreover, compared with the Western Xia that was established decades ago, Jiangnan is a real wealth-rich place of the Song Dynasty and must not be lost.

Moreover, since ancient times, the Chinese nation has paid attention to legitimate reasons. Before, Fang La was just a bandit, so his strength could not expand rapidly. But once he openly proclaimed himself emperor and rebelled, the situation was very different. The people of Jiangnan who were already full of resentment for the Song Dynasty because of the Huashigang and heavy taxes immediately found the power to serve. Not only did the people of the two Zhejiang roads, which were rooted in the two Zhejiang roads, surrendered, but also the nearby Jiangnan roads, many people abandoned their homes and rushed to Hangzhou and other places to join the Wu regime.

Under such momentum, Fang La's Wu regime grew rapidly and expanded westward, attacking Shexian and other important prefectures on Jiangnan Road. They even had the posture of pointing directly at the imperial court in Suzhou Prefecture, the last important town in Jiangnan.

Zhu Xie, who was so scared that he had been preparing Hua Shigang for the emperor in Suzhou and planned to use this to atone for his sins, fled quickly and quickly fled to Jinling before stopping, which could be considered as giving up the entire Jiangnan Road.

When the news was sent back to the court, it caused an uproar in the court again. Then, some officials in the court who had not taken Fang La's anti-army as a son were now acting quickly as if they were hit with chicken blood. They issued decrees and orders everywhere, and the words became increasingly harsh. The Qingzhou Official Office where Sun Tu was located connected five military orders and orders in just half a month, urging him to set off and send troops immediately, almost every three days.

In fact, after knowing that Fang La actually dared to establish a country and become an emperor, the officials and generals in Qingzhou were also very surprised. Some people who were determined to ask Sun Tu for battle several times, hoping that everyone could lead troops to the south as soon as possible. The representative figures among them were naturally Song Jiang and Song Gongming, who had just surrendered to the court and was named the prefect of a certain place, and they were determined to serve the court.

After a few days, this loyal minister of the Song Dynasty, who was the leader of the thief a few months ago, had persuaded Sun Tu to send troops as soon as possible. Today, he re-mentioned the old story again. When Sun Tu summoned his generals to discuss the matter, he asked the Southern Expedition, and mentioned: "If the commander feels that the whole territory is a bit risky, the subordinate officials are willing to lead a unit to rush there first to protect the peace in the south of the Yangtze River."

Sun Tu looked at Song Jiang with a anxious look, and after a while, he said lightly: "This matter is very important. If I have no idea, I will not send troops easily. At least I have to wait until my troops are well trained to get off. Brother Gongming, I can understand this with the court, but I hope you will be at ease."

"But..." Song Jiang was waiting for further advice, but Wu Yong, who was beside him, gently pulled down his sleeve and stopped him from talking. Then he realized that not only Sun Tu, but many generals around him looked at him with a strange look. He felt a little shocked in his heart and finally stopped talking.

Sun Tu ignored Yu him anymore, but looked at Qi Desheng and Dong Ping: "How is the training of my troops now? Especially for the newly recruits who have just joined the army, are they lazy in their training?"

"The Chief Superintendent..." Dong Ping called out at first, then came to his senses and quickly changed his words: "Report to the commander, since the Liangshanpo, the soldiers in our army have not dared to slack off every day. Although there is still a big gap with the original elite Qingzhou army, they have changed their previous lazy appearance, especially the thousands of people obtained from Liangshan, which have made rapid progress and surpassed the ordinary provincial capital army."

"Well, that's great. Such elites are the foundation for us to serve the country and kill the enemy. We can't be negligent at all, and we can't ignore my plan just because some people are eager to make contributions." Although Sun Tu did not name Song Jiang, the meaning of hitting him in his words was quite clear, which made Song Jiang feel even more nervous and dared not look up.

He was so anxious that he was really out of control when he spoke. He actually wanted Sun Tu to divide his troops to him. What is this? Do you want to seize military power from Sun Tu? Even Qi Desheng and other trusted subordinates who had been following Sun Tu all the way dared not have such an idea, let alone a person who had just surrendered. Especially when he said that he wanted to get the original Liangshan troops back, it was even more unfair to Sun Tu's taboo.

So after this meeting, Wu Yong, who came to the deserted place, couldn't help but sigh: "Brother, you are too impatient. If you say such words in public, it will inevitably make Chief Sun suspicious of you."

"I am also worried about the world. Fang La was so bold that he openly proclaimed the emperor and established a country. He was so rebelous that everyone could punish him! But it was good that the Chief Secretary Sun had ordered and urged him repeatedly, but he was still as still as a mountain. Is this what the imperial officials should look like?" Song Jiang said with a frown.

"Brother, have you not understood what Chief Sun Qian thought until today? How much of everything he did was to strengthen his own strength, and how many were to the court? I'm afraid the former accounted for 80% of the time, so even if Fang La became emperor, it was indeed a great disaster to the Song Dynasty. Before he thought the time was ripe, it would be impossible to send troops to the south." Wu Yong saw it much more thoroughly than Song Jiang, and immediately pointed out the key to the problem.

Song Jiang had actually noticed Sun Tu's selfishness for a long time, but he had always denied it in his heart. Now, when he heard it, the worry on his face became more and more prosperous: "Sun Qian is too brave. As an official of the court, he actually has such thoughts. Are you really not afraid of being blamed by the court and taking his official position?"

"Brother, do you think with his prestige and military power here now, can anyone in the court really come here to seize power?" Wu Yong said and sighed: "But to be honest, I can't see through any of this person's plans."

"Then do you think he will send troops to Jiangnan this time?"

"This..." Song Jiang's question really made Wu Yong hesitate. If Sun Tu really had the intention of being unjust, it would be the best opportunity to openly raise troops at this time. Once it formed a trend of echoing north and south with Fang La in Jiangnan, it would inevitably make the chaos in the Song Dynasty uncontrollable, and the world would be in chaos by then.

However, Wu Yong obviously underestimated Sun Tu's character and ambitions. Although he had ambitions, he did not do such a thing as taking advantage of the situation. It was not that he had any loyalty to the Song Dynasty, but that he did not want to become a sinner in history.

Because Sun Tu knew very well that for the Song Dynasty, the biggest threat was the country established by the nomadic peoples in the north, and the Liao and Jin dynasties were the most terrible enemies. Once he also started a trouble and disrupted the entire Central Plains, the only ones that benefited would be the Liao and Jin dynasties. When they took advantage of the situation to invade the Central Plains, the Han people would fall into the hands of the Hu people - he did not want to see the tragic situation of the Five Barbarians turmoil invasion of China again appear on the Central Plains.

So Sun Tu's idea was very upright this time. He had to go to the south of Jiangnan to quell the Fangla Rebellion, but before that, he had to make full preparations. In addition to the food and grass that the court had agreed to, and the continuous training of his troops under his command, what he paid more attention to was the topography and landforms of Jiangnan and various first-hand information on Fangla's strength.

As the saying goes, knowing oneself and enemy, you will never be defeated in a hundred battles. In fact, after agreeing to Fang Qian's expedition, Sun Tu had already sent elite personnel from the scout camp to Jiangnan to investigate the relevant information. He had already made a decision and would never send troops easily before the spies sent the specific information.

After the Mid-Autumn Festival, the first batch of scouts finally returned one after another. After integrating relevant information and learning that several official troops were defeated in Jiangnan, Sun Tu finally announced his troops to send troops.
Chapter completed!