Sun Tu glanced at Song Jiang, who had shut up again, and vaguely guessed some of his thoughts, but he didn't break it, just continued: "Of course, even if the imperial court can give us enough food, grass and weapons and baggage, it will not be easy for our army to make achievements in Jiangnan. Not to mention that the topography of the south of the Yangtze River is very different from that of our Shandong, with many waterways and hills, which is not conducive to the assault and killing of elite soldiers, and we don't know much about the specific situation of Fang La's anti-army, so the top priority is to collect relevant information as soon as possible. ”

"What the capital eunuch said is very true, there is a way to know oneself and know that the other side will not be defeated in a hundred battles, and if you really want to send troops to quell the chaos, you must first grasp the specific situation over there." Qi Desheng echoed thoughtfully.

"Metropolitan eunuch, in fact, the lower officials know some of the inside information." Huang Wenbing said suddenly.

"Oh? Governor Huang, do you know much about the affairs of Jiangnan? Sun Tu suddenly asked happily, and at the same time felt a little strange, Huang Wenbing was from Jiangzhou, and then he followed himself as an official in Qingzhou, how could he pay attention to the situation of the thieves in Jiangnan?

Huang Wenbing also saw his doubt, so he explained a few words first: "In fact, more than half of what Xia Guan knows comes from the official newspaper of the imperial court, and the rest is said by my brothers who came to Qingzhou to take refuge in me last year. He had been doing business in Zhejiang for the first two years, but as a result, Fang La was in turmoil, his belongings were robbed, and he easily escaped alone, but his savings for many years were also wasted. ”

"I see, then you can tell me about it." Sun Tu was a little embarrassed in his heart, he had never paid much attention to the official documents of the imperial court, and now it seemed that he really shouldn't have done it, after all, the content of these official documents was still very useful.

Huang Wenbing then elaborated: "This Fang La is originally from Qingxi, Muzhou, but his family has some industry, and his people are also extremely generous and righteous on weekdays, and he has a good reputation in the local area, and he is highly praised in the rivers and lakes. Speaking of which, not only him, but many people present subconsciously glanced at Song Jiang, because this kind of background is similar to Song Jiang, and the trajectories of the two of them are somewhat similar.

But soon, he retracted his gaze and continued: "Because of this, he has many brothers in Muzhou. In addition, there is a local sect called Manichaeism, which is deeply believed by the people there, and has tens of thousands of followers over the years, and Fang La is a member of this sect, and because of his bold nature and friendship, he soon occupied a high position in the church, and there are thousands of people who are willing to obey his orders.

Originally, these were not problems, but two years ago, Zhu Mian's subordinates went to Muzhou because of the expedition to Huashigang, and fell in love with the Fang family's property, and locked up their father and brother under the pretext that they had beautiful stones hidden in their home, and finally forced them to die tragically in prison, and the Fang family was ruined.

At that time, Fang La escaped because he was rescued, and then after knowing that his father and brother were killed, he was determined to take revenge. It just so happened that the local people in Qingxi were exploited by those corrupt officials and corrupt officials, and there was Namanichaeism in the middle of it, which instigated and fanned the flames, and finally made the local people rise up to kill the officials and rebelled.

"In fact, with the strength of the people in Qingxi, there is not much movement at all, but the officials there are not effective, not only failed to extinguish this anti-thief in time, but continued to do mischief, but also forced the people of other surrounding counties to a dead end, and finally let Fang La and the Manichaean people seize the opportunity to grow rapidly, when the army exceeds 10,000, it is out of control, and in just a few months the anti-thief force expanded to 50,000, and successively laid down Shouchang, Tonglu, Sui'an and other county seats, and in September and October last year, Xiuzhou, Two important towns in Hangzhou. Now that half of the south of the Yangtze River has fallen into the hands of the rebels, even if the imperial court has sent troops to clean up several times since last year, it has not succeeded, but it has further boosted the momentum of the rebels, and further expanded their strength, and now it is said that he has 100,000 soldiers under his command......"

After saying this, even Sun Tu didn't feel the slight change of color, and gasped, the strength of this Fang La's power was obviously beyond his expectations.

As a traveler with limited knowledge of the history of the Great Song Dynasty, he still relied on the book "Water Margin" to know the name of Fang La. However, in that book, Fang La, as a supporting role in the supporting role, is regarded as the final big boss, but his strength is obviously far inferior to Liangshan, even if the heroes of Liangshan lost their troops and suffered heavy casualties in the battle of Fang La, but he was defeated by the Liangshan army after all.

And Sun Tu thought that he could quell the Liangshan Rebellion in a month or two, so as long as he went all out, it shouldn't be too difficult to break Fangla in the south. But now it seems that he was too blindly optimistic before, and the real Jiangnan Laqi force is much stronger than the small-scale Song Jiang gang and gang.

Only one point of Fangla's army is much stronger than the Liangshan army, that is, the support of the local people. Although Huang Wenbing didn't say too much, Sun Tu can still draw a conclusion from it, Fang Lajun's rapid growth to 100,000 in just one or two years must have won the hearts of the local people, but what about Shandong? The people can all have their hearts set on themselves and the government, so the heroes of Liangshan who are isolated on the mountain will be quickly pacified.

In this way, we can draw another conclusion, fighting Liangshan Sun Tu in Shandong is the home battle, and going to Jiangnan to quell the chaos is a thorough field operation, not only can not get support from the local people, but even have to beware of them sneak attack and disturb from behind.

And in the final analysis, all of this is due to Zhu Mian, who made a mess of a rich land in the south of the Yangtze River and made a mess of the people. But it was good that he, the initiator, was still free in Suzhou at this time, and the court did not blame him at all, but threw a big problem in front of him.

In fact, not only Sun Tu, but also the other generals present also became extremely solemn after listening to Huang Wenbing's narration, and they were also a little frightened - 100,000 rebels is really a scary number, and that is still the data of a year ago, maybe after a year of development, coupled with the fact that the people of Jiangnan are deeply affected by Huashigang, the soldiers and horses under his command will double to an astronomical number of two or three hundred thousand.

Compared with one of them, the so-called strongest thief in Shandong, Kou Liangshanbo, and the thousands of people are not enough at all. And Sun Tu is even more about to call a pit father, the Water Margin is harmful, he knew that the Jiangnan rebels were so powerful, he couldn't have responded to this errand so simply.

It seemed that Sun Tu was not enough of a headache, and at this time Song Jiang also spoke: "Eunuch, as far as I know, Fang La's command not only has a large number of people and horses, but also has many generals who can fight habitually, and his brothers Fang Fei and Fang Qifo are extremely brave, and there is also a man named Pang Wanchun, who is a rare hero in Jiangnan, both civil and military...... Therefore, we must not underestimate the enemy, and we must be fully prepared to advance. ”

Which eye do you see that I mean to despise my enemy? Sun Tu smiled bitterly in his heart, nodded solemnly on his face, and then asked: "Brother Gongming, how do you know about the generals around Fang La?" ”

"Because Fang La sent someone to Liangshan last year, and wanted to recruit me and other brothers to conspire with a big event, but Song politely refused." Song Jiang did not hide it, and directly told the truth: "At that time, in order to persuade our brothers, the people who came deliberately reported the names of all the generals under Fang La, and several of them were famous people in the green forest road in the south of the Yangtze River. ”

Sun Tu nodded, he guessed that Song Jiang would have this decision, on the one hand, there was indeed a relationship between being reluctant to build a foundation in Liangshan, but more importantly, it should be that he felt that Fang La's uprising was more thorough than his own, and the two sides were not all the way at all. After all, in Song Jiang's concept, it was only those traitors in the court who were wrong, and the emperor was just deceived by them, so he insisted on opposing corrupt officials and not against the emperor. But Fang La is different, he really wants to rebel, and he is even about to become emperor, which is naturally unacceptable to Song Jiang.

More than 100,000 or 200,000 troops, dozens of generals who can conquer and fight, plus they have won the hearts of the local people, and have captured many cities to rely on, these situations are put in front of everyone, Rao is generals are all experienced in a hundred battles, and at this time I don't feel a little panicked. It's just because they don't want to weaken their own momentum that everyone didn't directly express the concerns in their hearts, but their faces turned a little pale.

"This matter can't be pushed off, the only thing we can do is to be cautious, and after sending troops to Jiangnan, we must not be sloppy and slack, let alone take the enemy lightly." Sun Tu swept through the crowd with a serious expression.

"The last general obeys!" And all the people answered in awe.

After seeing everyone's nervous looks, Sun Tu smiled again and said: "Actually, you don't have to be so flustered, although there are many soldiers and horses under Fang La, but the real elite may not be able to compare to my Shandong army of a hundred battles." Moreover, he has now stolen half of the south of the Yangtze River, dozens of cities in hand, and always has to disperse the soldiers and horses to garrison, so what we will face in the future can never really be hundreds of thousands of enemy troops, but just passes and cities guarded by the rebel army everywhere. As long as we work together and use our troops effectively, it will not be too difficult to sweep away the Jiangnan Rebellion. ”

This was to the point, and after everyone thought about it carefully, they were greatly relieved, and then replied again: "The lowly rank strictly obeys the teachings of the capital supervisor, this southern expedition, our army will win!" ”

"Okay, let's all disperse, and when we go to the battalions to explain the official's decision in detail, you must also pay attention to grasp a degree, and you must not weaken my own prestige!" Sun Tu said and waved his hand again.

So, everyone dispersed, but there were still some worries in their hearts. Of course, in everyone's opinion, there are still some days before the real southern expedition at this time, after all, everyone has learned what the efficiency of the imperial court is now, and there are no two or three months, and the rewards can't be given, plus the mobilization of grain and grass, so you have to wait until next year to send troops.

But sometimes the plan often can't catch up with the change, no one expected that at this time, something big happened in the south of the Yangtze River, which made the imperial court completely angry, and then immediately issued an urgent order for Sun Tu to send troops as soon as possible, and all logistics matters were completed quickly......