When Yang Zhi came to Sun Tu to report on the situation in Changshu City, it was already the fourth watch. But Sun Tu, who was injured and his face was still a little pale, did not look for a place to rest, but was looking at the bed crossbows and a few cans of fire oil placed on the side of the city wall in a daze.

"Under the jurisdiction of the city, all the rebels who still dare to resist have been purged, and those who surrender have also been temporarily detained, and even if there are some fish that slip through the net, they will not be able to make any waves. In addition, the soldiers of our army did not disturb the people in the city, and the last general also sent people to publicize the regulations on the safety of the people, and the people were still stable. Yang Zhi carefully went through the situation in the city one by one, and it seemed orderly.

When Dong Ping, Song Jiang and others were injured or did not arrive, Yang Zhi took on the heavy responsibility of coordinating all affairs, and judging from his performance at this time, he did a good job.

Sun Tu also showed a look of approval on his face: "Yes, you and your brothers have worked hard." This time, we can win Changshu so easily, everyone is meritorious, and I will reward myself at that time. ”

Yang Zhi smiled, and then said with concern: "You have not recovered from your injuries, and you have been traveling hard for days, so it is better to find a place to rest and recuperate your spirits." This side of the city is guarded by the last general, even if the rebels really kill, we are enough to deal with it. ”

"Hehe, I'm not worried that the rebels will come to seize the city after reacting, I'm just curious about the strange arrangement of the city's defense equipment here, and I always feel that there is some doorway here." Sun Tu smiled, and his gaze fell on the huge bed crossbow in front of him again.

This crossbow is an extremely powerful weapon of the Song army to defend the city, not only is it huge, it is open enough to occupy a square circle of one or two zhang, and the bowstring is also extremely thick and tight. The bowstring with more than three fingers thick wants to be completely opened, and I am afraid that it will take thousands of catties of strength to do it, which is beyond the reach of human power, so it has the title of eight bull crossbows.

Of course, it is impossible to use cattle and horses and other livestock to pull apart, which requires the use of some of these hooks, as long as someone constantly rotates in the rear, the bowstring can be slowly twisted backwards through the power of machinery, until finally, the bowstring buckle can be fastened at the rear bracket, and then fired with a mallet, you can shoot three spear-like thick and long special arrows out of the city, and its range is between one or two miles.

It can be said that this crossbow was the sharpest weapon to kill the enemy in the Great Song Dynasty, where firearms were still in its infancy, and it was much better than the artillery role of later generations. It is said that in the early Song Dynasty and the Liao State of the battle of Lanzhou, the Great Song Dynasty was in an extremely unfavorable situation, so what could it talk about with the Liao people, because it relied on this crossbow to shoot the Liao general, so as to win back a city.

Yang Zhi, as a man who has been in the army for many years, naturally knows a lot about this bed crossbow, and seeing that Sun Tu cares, he also frowned slightly: "To say it, the bed crossbow is indeed a bit strange here, because my Great Song army has always only placed such heavy weapons in important state capitals, and even our Qingzhou City has not been equipped with it, how can a small Changshu have it?" This should not have been created by the rebels themselves, and they could not have created it. ”

"It's not a problem, I've already seen it, there is a sign engraved on the back of this crossbow, it belongs to Suzhou City, but they transported it here." Sun Tu said, taking a torch behind the bed crossbow, so that Yang Zhi could easily see the engraved words Suzhou Xiangjun.

But then, Yang Zhi was even more strange: "In this case, what is the governor worried about? ”

"Why do you think they went to such lengths to bring this crossbow to Changshu? This city is not like Danyang, what is the important place of the anti-army, since there are already nearly 10,000 defenders, why bother with such efforts? After the other party also showed doubts, Sun Tu pointed to the dozen or so cans of fire oil on the side of the bed crossbow: "And this, don't you think it's a little weird to put these fire oil here?" ”

"This ...... Isn't it a conventional tactic to use fire oil at the head of the city to use it against the enemy? ”

"If, as you said, the amount of this fire oil is too small, it is enough to throw half a round down, and how much damage can it cause to the besieging army?"

This question really stopped Yang Zhi. Seeing that he was stunned, Sun Tu pointed to the bed crossbows again: "But if you use them to burn these bed crossbows, it will be enough." It shouldn't take more than a meal to burn all these bed crossbows, and nothing will be left. ”

"But why did they make such preparations?" Yang Zhi was completely blindsided this time, and said with a puzzled face.

"yes, that's what makes me feel weird. Why did they make such preparations before the outbreak of the great war, not only to bring the bed crossbow from Suzhou, but also to prepare for the destruction of the city after it was lost. Sun Tu said, a strange light flashed in his eyes: "Perhaps the only explanation is that they expected Changshu to be taken away by me." But in that case, why bother to bring these bed crossbows at the cost of weakening Suzhou's city defense? ”

"What does he think is a conspiracy here?" Although Yang Zhi was still confused in his heart, he had already caught up with Sun Tu's rhythm a little.

"I was just thinking about why, they will do this, they must have their own purpose. The only explanation is that they brought the bed crossbow in order to inflict maximum damage on our army, and at the same time, in order to prevent us from using this weapon after taking Changshu, they arranged this rear hand early. ”

"But ......" Yang Zhi became more and more confused, but before he could ask the doubts in his heart, Sun Tu waved his hand again, stopped his question, and said, "Do you remember the question I raised after the end of the battle in Sanyuanling yesterday?" Why would they set up an ambush in our path like a prophet? Even for this reason, he did not hesitate to transfer half of Changshu's soldiers and horses.

"I thought it was the anti-army who detected our movements and sent them back in time, which led to yesterday's ambush. But now that I think about it, it's not that simple. If this is the case, only the defenders here in Changshu should have time to react, and we will not face tens of thousands of elite rebels. The only reasonable explanation is that they knew early on that we would attack Changshu, so they mobilized troops and horses from Suzhou, and even Hangzhou and other places to rush here, and after knowing the exact time when we crossed Sanyuanling, they set up an ambush there! And everything here in Changshu is just another trap against us, but it is more clever and insidious than the ambush in Sanyuanling. ”

Yang Zhi was stunned by his reasoning, and only hesitated for a while: "This ...... How is this possible? How could the rebels know the overall plan of our army, and even know when we would pass through Sanyuanling? ”

"yes, that's the crux of the matter. There are two explanations, one of which is that their meticulous work is indeed very deep and their status is also very high, so they can listen to such important military information clearly and report it in time. But obviously, this is almost impossible, if such a person is really an important official in Jiangnan, who would take refuge in the thief regardless of his identity? Another explanation is that those who can control everything have long conspired with the anti-army, for example...... Zhu Mian! ”

After Sun Tu said his second guess, a sharp glint flashed in his eyes, and Yang Zhi also exhaled softly after being stunned: "What does it mean...... In order to deal with us, Zhu Mian has colluded with Fang La's anti-army? When he said this, he still couldn't accept such an answer.

Although Zhu Mian is greedy and cruel, in Yang Zhi's opinion, he is not a stupid person after all, how can he dare to do such a big rebellion, once he is found out, he will never recover? Even if his own ruler did have a lot of conflicts with him, it would not let him do such a reckless thing.

After being silent for a long time due to shock, he said again: "No, even if he really killed us because of Zhao Siliang's matter, he didn't have time to collude with them. What's more, he is the commander of my Great Song Dynasty in Jiangnan, how can those thieves easily accept his words? ”

"yes, it's really strange here, maybe he has been in collusion with the thief early on?" Sun Tu said in a low voice about his judgment: "But whether my guess is true or not, there is one thing we must plan for in advance, and that is that there may be a big crisis in the future." At present, they have already made up their minds to abandon this Changshu City, and then they will use this city as bait to drag us to death here. If this is correct, I'm afraid we're running out of time. ”

After a pause, Sun Tu had already straightened his face and shouted, "Someone! ”

Several heralds immediately stepped forward, and Sun Tu's gaze swept over their faces: "You set off immediately, go to the north to send a message to Lin Jiaotou and them, let them rush to Changshu between noon tomorrow, and let them come as soon as possible if the Huainan army has rested." In addition, two more people will go to Jinling, and send the good news that I have successfully captured Changshu, so that the officers and troops there can come and meet as soon as possible to discuss the plan of further attack on Suzhou! ”

A dozen or so heralds immediately answered the order, and then hurried down the city, and rode out of the city.

After listening to Sun Tu's order, Yang Zhi was a little confused again: "Commander, since you suspect that Zhu Mian may have colluded with the thief, is it a bit redundant to send someone to report the victory or something at this time?" ”

"No, this is a very necessary approach, because only in this way can I confirm whether there is a problem with Zhu Mian. I just hope that this is indeed my overthinking, and the follow-up soldiers and horses of my Great Song Dynasty can come as soon as possible. Sun Tu said, looking at the sky above again.

Now, it was the darkest hour before dawn, and the bad weather, with no stars and no moon, made the whole sky appear even darker, and there was no light at all.