After August, the Song army, which had won many consecutive victories, finally paused its pace of going south to fight against rebellion and stationed in Huzhou. After all, after continuous and high-intensity battles, even the elite of the Shandong army would have to spend time resting and recuperating, and the situation of other troops was even more difficult.

In this battle outside Suzhou City, they did defeat the Wu army and won the victory with great pleasure, but in fact they had a considerable casualty. If they only discussed the proportion of casualties between the two armies and not counted as prisoners, they would be quite similar. If they had not had the absolute advantage in military strength, it would be hard to say what the outcome of this battle would be.

As a result, the Jiangnan territory, which had fought fiercely for several months, finally achieved a brief peace. However, compared to the bright situation in the previous few months, in fact, under the seemingly calm water surface, the undercurrents were more than twice as turbulent than before. Many well-known figures such as gentry, landlords and merchants in Jiangnan have begun to seek a way out for their safety, and many people have even begun to send people to Huzhou to see Sun Tu and intend to surrender to the court.

This is a matter of course. Sun Tu spent his time spreading the proclamation of rebellion to various places in order to change the course of these local forces and abandon the darkness and turn to the light. With the successive victory of the official army, the influence of the proclamation expanded several times. Even those who were not too concerned about this in the past began to make a big fuss about Fang La and his gang's deep belief in Manichi rather than Confucianism, and persuaded the forces of various prefectures to betray the so-called Wu Kingdom.

As time went by, half a month later, no less than ten relevant forces from prefectures and counties secretly contacted Sun Tu, expressing his willingness to open the city and surrender at that time. Among these people, there were even gentry from some cities south of Hangzhou, who expressed this attitude. Obviously, the foundation of Fang La's rule over the Jiangnan land had been completely shaken with these failures. Just wait for the Song army to take advantage of the situation to move south, and could easily capture several cities without bloodshed, so as to attack the Wu capital Hangzhou, which surrounded the Wu capital, and completely fell into a desperate situation.

In a blink of an eye, the Mid-Autumn Festival has passed, and in late August, the climate in Jiangnan has become a little cool. But at this time, the atmosphere in Huzhou City was more enthusiastic than before, because all the people and horses left behind before finally arrived, causing the number of soldiers and horses in the city to rise rapidly, and also made the soldiers start to get ready, thinking that it is time to go further and fight to the south.

In the afternoon of that day, the chief generals of the three armies of Jingnan Road, Jingji Road and Huaibei Road came to see Sun Tu again and mentioned the old things again, hoping that he could use troops to the south again as soon as possible. Of course, their attitude in front of Sun Tu was still very humble. Although the four of them had similar official positions, they now have clear status in Jiangnan. Sun Tu is the commander of the entire army, and they are just following the orders of various generals.

Zhang Gun, the chief of Huaibei Road, was impatient and spoke the most straightforwardly, so he naturally started this: "General Sun, the situation is very good now, and the morale of the soldiers below is also high. It is time to take a step further, kill Hangzhou, and destroy this rebel!"

Sun Tu smiled and looked at him, then asked the other two: "Is this the purpose of you coming to see me today?"

Ren Shifan in southern Jing and Xu Shen on Jingji Road seemed much more steady. Even if Sun Tu asked this, they just said vaguely: "The time seems to be ripe. If you drag it for a while, it will not be a good thing to let the thieves recover. Of course, General Sun, you are good at using troops, and you must have your own opinions. We dare not make any decisions."

Although they said that, the real intentions of the two were quite obvious. They also hoped to expand the results of the battle as soon as possible, and it would be best to tie Fang La and his gang in one fell swoop.

It's ridiculous to say that when they were in Jinling, the Song army was afraid of the Wu army like snakes and scorpions. They were dragging or shirking each other, and none of them dared to take the initiative. But now, they are all competing for the first place and only regard the Wu army as a native chicken and a dog, as if they can completely wipe out the Wu army as soon as they send troops.

Of course, Sun Tu was still happy to see such changes in his mood, because only a confident and victorious army could win in the end. However, in order to prevent them from being careless and underestimating the enemy, Sun Tu still reminded him carefully: "Although our army has won great victories one after another, it was reported that although Pang Wanchun and Fang Shifo were seriously injured, they were not fatal. The injuries should also improve at this time. If you really want to use troops, you must be careful."

"General Sun said, but there is no need to be too ambitious to others. In my opinion, the rebels are at the end of their journey. As long as my army goes south, they will be able to sweep everything and reach Hangzhou! And as long as we reach this point, even if there are still a few thieves who dare to resist, they are just clowns and can't make any waves." Zhang Gun said with a smile.

Although the other two people did not speak, their expressions were obviously much different from this person's idea. Sun Tu could see that they were really anxious to send troops, but because of their own face, they did not make any decisions.

After a moment of silence, he asked again: "Have you thought about the logistics of food and grass? As far as I know, our food route has been stretched very long now. If we go south to Hangzhou, the consumption will only be greater. Until today, the rewards and money that the court promised to allocate have not been obtained. It is probably not enough to last for only our previous accumulation and the food we bought from all over the north."

"General Sun is a little over-concerned. We have calculated that if the food and grass are used closely, it will be enough for one or two months to consume. Moreover, the court has long allowed us to collect food on the spot. By then, as long as we break through a city, we can get supplements. Why worry about not enough food?" Ren Shifan had long been concerned about this and answered immediately.

But his words caused Sun Tu to frown: "General Ren, I remember very clearly. When I received this military order issued by the court half a month ago, I had a strict order to prevent the army from invading the people. Do you want to disobey the order?" At the end of his speech, he narrowed his eyes and his tone was already a little unkind.

Ren Shifan was stunned and hurriedly explained: "I naturally knew that General Sun had always loved the people as much as his son, and his soldiers under his command did not harm the people. But that was only for the people of the Song Dynasty, but what we faced next was the people under the rule of the thief, so why do we need to..."

"General Ren--" Sun Tu immediately interrupted his words, his eyes falling like a knife, "Which of the people in Jiangnan is not my Song Dynasty? They are just involuntarily and are surrounded by others to become people under Fang La's rule. Do you say this? Do you want to force another movement? "

This immediately made Ren Shifan feel a little confused about what to say. Xu Shen, who was standing beside him, quickly came forward to reconcile and said, "General Sun calmed down. Old Ren was just speaking quickly, so he said such words. In fact, we also know that the people in the south are innocent, so how could they think of harming them?"

"Yes, General Sun, in fact, in my opinion, although it is only a month's grain storage, it is enough for us to fight to Hangzhou. Moreover, during this period, we can also get supplements from warehouses in various cities along the way. In addition, the court will soon transport money and grain to the south, so naturally all problems will be solved." Zhang Gun also said: "And if we drag it like this, we will certainly have no worries, but the thieves will use this to restore their vitality. When they are united, it will be difficult to conquer Hangzhou."

"General Sun, even if we stay in Huzhou and do not continue to move south, the food and grass should be consumed. Why not continue to move south while the morale of the army is available now and there is enough food and grass?"

The three generals kept persuading each other, obviously they were determined to make Sun Tu nod and send troops. Seeing this, Sun Tu sighed again. In fact, these three people had reached a consensus long ago. Even if they really disagree, it would still be a problem to stop them today in two days.

After all, although Sun Tu is somewhat prestigious, he does not have the name of a head coach. If his reputation is not right, he will not be able to make all these generals obey their own wishes. At the beginning, because he could lead everyone to merit meritorious service, all the people could obey their orders, but now, in their eyes, he has blocked everyone's path to merit, and they have to have other ideas.

After slowly exhaling a breath of turbid air, Sun Tu finally made a concession: "Since all three of you are willing to calm down, I can't always stop you. Then you can send troops south."

But these words made the three of them confused. What does this mean? He doesn't plan to play with him anymore?

Sun Tu then added: "But what I mean is that your troops will clean up the cities of many prefectures and counties north of Hangzhou, and slowly advance the troops to Hangzhou, but you must not fight the main force of the anti-army. As long as you force them into Hangzhou and make it an isolated city, it will be a great achievement."

"Where is General Sun and the Shandong Army under your command?" the three of them said curiously.

"Huzhou is an important place in Jiangnan after all, and it is related to the food supply road in the rear. I will lead the army to defend here temporarily. When I really want to use troops to Hangzhou, it will not be too late to set off again." Sun Tu said his true purpose, but the three of them were stunned again.

Zhang Gun wanted to say something else, but was stopped by Xu Shen's look. The latter then smiled and said, "Since General Sun has made overall considerations, we should obey the order. In the past two days, our three troops were divided into three groups to sweep the city ahead as soon as possible, paving the way for General Sun's next victory."

After Sun Tu nodded in recognition, the three of them stood up and said goodbye with satisfaction. It was not until after leaving that Zhang Gun asked Xu Shen: "Brother Xu, why don't you let me convince Sun Tu again in the end?"

"Brother Zhang, haven't you seen it yet? Sun Tu is planning to preserve his strength. Even if such a great contribution is at your fingertips, he retreats. What does this mean? It means that he knows very well that he has offended too many high-ranking officials in the court before, and he has to rely on the tens of thousands of people under his command to save his life. He would rather make less contributions than be safe.
Chapter completed!