Early in the morning of August 24th.

As the sound of drums and trumpets continued to sound, various flags fluttering in the wind slowly removed the Huzhou city gate. Following behind these flags were teams of distinctly armored and full of spirits in the Song Dynasty. They were lined up in an order, and their weapons were flashing with cold light under the rising sunlight, which made many people in front of the city gate feel awe from the heart.

I was also inspired by this that the entire momentum of the official army became more and more exaggerated. With the orders issued, the army began to set off south, really murderous, majestic, and magnificent.

After getting Sun Tu's approval, the generals did not delay any more. They only took two days to prepare and set out south today. Next, nearly 100,000 generals divided their troops into three groups and marched south to capture various prefectures and counties, so as to completely quell the Fangla Rebellion and clear obstacles ahead.

With the experience and confidence accumulated after winning the battles in the past few times, the spirit of these Song Dynasty officials was very different from when they were in Jinling. They no longer had their fear and timidity, but only had their belief in the victory of the anti-army. Especially when several masters walked out of the city gate slowly, the soldiers even shouted in unison: "Today, we will fight the thieves and chaos, our army will win!" The roar rushed into the sky, shocking the birds that had just come out of the forest to fly all over the sky and panic.

After feeling the thrilling performance of the entire army, Zhang Gun and the other two were even more energetic and laughed. Then they pulled out their swords, pointed to the front with whistle and shouted loudly: "The army sets off!" Another cheer like a tsunami, tens of thousands of troops suddenly accelerated and strode towards the south.

Judging from their mental outlook and performance, we can infer that the entire army has absolute confidence in the future going south to quell the rebellion. In their opinion, the enemy pointed by the troops will collapse and be invincible. When will it take Hangzhou, it depends only on when you can get there.

This is certainly a joyful progress, but some people feel bad. At least many Shandong soldiers who stayed in Huzhou City looked dissatisfied. A veteran of Qingzhou Army who stood at the top of the city and watched the army leave with great power even spat and said disdainfully: "What kind of majesty is shaking in front of me! If our brothers hadn't fought hard in front of us and took down Huzhou City, they would have been scared to retreat."

It was not until he said that he realized that there were a few more people around him. When he turned around, his face changed so much that his confidants changed. However, Sun Tu, Zhu Wu and several other confidants came to the city leader to see the army set off, obviously hearing his complaint words.

Just as the veteran was uneasy and didn't know whether he should admit his mistake on his own initiative, Sun Tu's hand gently rested on his shoulder and patted him again, without any intention of blaming him. After a while, he said: "Dong Ping, Yang Zhi, although you have never said it clearly, you are actually very dissatisfied with my concession? After all, this is a merit that is within reach, but someone else easily took it away."

"I dare not be humble." Dong Ping and Yang Zhi, who were accompanying each other, quickly replied in a low voice, but Sun Tu's smile: "You are afraid, so you still have this idea in your heart. In fact, it's not just you, I'm afraid that all the brothers who stayed in Huzhou under my order are unwilling or dissatisfied with this, but they just can't tell me directly." This time, the few people stopped talking, and everyone understood that he had something in his words. However, Song Jiang smiled and said, "Actually, it's reasonable for you to make this arrangement. Our army has repeatedly fought for Danyang, guarded Changshu, and defeated Huzhou. In any battle, it was not a fight to the death with all their might. The soldiers were already exhausted. If they continued to continue to greed for merit, once they became the last step, the damage would be too great. Therefore, it is the safest idea to stay in Huzhou for the time being."

Sun Tu glanced at him and smiled softly: "This is indeed one aspect I have considered, but not all. In the past year, my Shandong soldiers have made enough contributions, and the price we have paid is also huge. The previous rewards have not been obtained yet, so why should we seize the credit again and win all the military achievements of the quelling rebellion in Jiangnan, but not give other troops the opportunity to make contributions?

"Only by distributing the merits of the fight against the thieves this time to several armies, and our Shandong army has an absolute first merit, we will get more benefits when the court rewards it later. Therefore, at this time, we let Huaibei and Jingnan wait for the wing army southwards not to let them seize our merits, but on the contrary, it is to use their power to make the merits bigger."

The other people's reaction was a bit slow. Song Jiang, who had many years of experience in officials, immediately understood: "The general is wise and admires his humble position."

In fact, this is a strategy of playing games with the court and sharing credit. If Sun Tu relied on the authority of his commander of the three armies to suppress other officials and troops, it would naturally be no difficult for them to make a lot of credit. Even with his iron fist and the powerful combat power of the Shandong Army, it is very likely that Jiangnan would be completely pacified by his army and horses.

But will this really make him and the soldiers of the Shandong Army get the greatest benefits? Only those officials in the court who suspect them and are enemies of Sun Tu will interfere, at least they will have to pay off their merits, and even if they have high merits and no rewards will be made.

But if Sun Tu dragged all other troops into this great victory and everyone would have made contributions to the court together, the situation would be completely different. Although the soldiers of these troops did not seem to have a very strong position, they actually have their own backers. In this case, in order to gain more benefits, these generals would naturally make the court recognize through their own ways that the pacification of Jiangnan was a great contribution. In this way, the Shandong army, as the first contribution, could naturally maximize the interests.

It seems very good to eat alone, but if you really have a big appetite, you can only eat more when you eat with many people, because the ingredients were richer at that time. What Sun Tu wants to do now is to make this table of food bigger and richer, so that more people can participate. This is also in line with the court's previous attitude towards rewards after winning Huzhou. If there was no such great victory near Suzhou, the contribution of defeating Huzhou might have been forced to be suppressed...

With Song Jiang's explanation, the others realized it. They were unwilling to calm down, but they complained a little more about the court, and they felt that the officialdom was deep, and it was indeed not something that they straightforward warriors could understand thoroughly.

Dong Ping frowned afterwards and said, "General, Bei Zhi is still a little worried. If they really want them to conquer the city and finally defeat Hangzhou, then will the contributions of our Shandong Army be blocked by them?"

This question really caused concerns from others. Yes, no matter how much you make, how important it is to conquer Suzhou and Huzhou is. But once you finally take Hangzhou, or even kill or capture the thief Fang La alive, they can change to another army. This is the result of someone else. The hard work of their Shandong army in the end became a wedding dress for others.

Sun Tu shook his head and laughed: "You are too worried. If Hangzhou is so easy to fight, why should I have to garrison here to rest? Although the anti-army army is now declining, they still claim to have hundreds of thousands of troops and their strength is above all the official troops. How can they easily defeat it? As for Hangzhou, it is even more impossible to be destroyed in a short period of time. Pang Wanchun and Fang Shi Buddhas are still there, and this battle will be repeated."

Seeing that Sun Tu said so confidently, everyone believed it. After all, almost every judgment made by Sun Tu over the years has been accurate, which has made his soldiers convinced him and regarded his orders as the standard.

Sun Tu then said: "And this will be of great benefit to our Shandong Army establishing authority among other armies. If they fail in Hangzhou or elsewhere, they will have to rely on our Shandong Army soldiers to break the enemy and seize the city in the end? Everything in the army is respected by strength. As long as we are strong enough, they can convince them and will surely make these soldiers and horses unite with me in the future. Even by their word of mouth, maybe all the troops in the world will respect our Shandong Army, making our status difficult to shake again!"

This is Sun Tu's most profound idea in this matter. Now he is not only focusing on the little bit of flies in front of him, but starting to plan for the future. He is very clear about his strengths and foundation. Only when the Shandong Army is strong enough, famous enough, and becomes the supreme existence in the minds of the world's Xiang Army, can he, as the commander of the Shandong Army, become a hero and idol in the hearts of all soldiers. Once he has this layer of divine light to protect his body, no matter how conspired and tricked the treacherous people in the court have, he should not easily attack himself.

Others may not be as far as he could see, but they were already impressed by their general's foresight. They immediately clasped their fists and said, "The general's vision is long-term, and we can't compare with each other. I admire him..."

Sun Tu hurriedly helped the two of them up and said with a smile: "Of course, all this I said is just an idea. If you really want to do it, it still depends on you, and the brothers below will work together and do their best. But there is one thing I just want you to remember that the Battle of Jiangnan is far from pacified, and the only one who can finally capture Hangzhou and quell the chaos is my Shandong army!"

"I understand!" Everyone responded loudly in unison, and even the unwilling soldier in his heart straightened his back and shouted loudly. Then, someone suddenly shouted: "The Shandong army will win, General Sun will be majestic!"
Chapter completed!