The Song Dynasty has been deliberate for 16 years, only to know that it is the Water Margin

Chapter 249 The Great War Begins (Chapter)

It was not until the afternoon when the sun was westward that Zhao Tun left Battalion No.14.

Large and small vehicles return with a full load.

Two thousand soldiers, all of them were smiling, their clothes were bulging, and their shoes and boots were full of hard goods, even when they walked, they couldn't move their legs. What's more, they were covered in armor caps, so heavy that they couldn't lift their heads. .

There are more than a dozen boxes, almost all of which are gold and silver, even copper coins are rare.

Zhao Tun sent someone to deliver two boxes to his family, and took the rest to Wang Qing Palace.

He killed someone in the No.14 Battalion today. This matter must be reported. As for the money collected, apart from appeasing the soldiers below, he couldn't take it all by himself, and transported the bulk to the palace.

Wang Qing was overjoyed when he saw this, and it didn't matter if he killed a few people. He didn't understand the matter of killing chickens to make an example of monkeys, as long as he suppressed the people below, it would be fine. As for receiving so much money, he didn't expect it.

Zhao Tong told Wang Qing about today's events in detail, including punching Pan Zhong off his horse.

Wang Qing smiled suddenly: "Isn't it true that you haven't even made a single move?"

Zhao Tong said: "Your Majesty, it's just that General Pan is drunk, otherwise I wouldn't be able to defeat General Pan with just fists without using weapons."

Wang Qing shook his head and said: "Gu knows Pan Zhong's martial arts, even if he is not drunk, he is still no match for Aiqing."

Zhao Tang said a few more words of modesty, and then left. When he returned to the mansion, he saw two people coming to give gifts.

Puzzled in his heart, he asked and found out that he was the leader of the fourth and fifth small armies.

One of these two leaders was called Wu Shun and the other Liu Heihu, and each brought 5000 taels of silver. will be strictly controlled.

As soon as Zhao Tang heard it, he understood that these two must have received head fees, so they wanted to protect the soldiers below, and protecting the soldiers below was equivalent to protecting their own future income.

The money was naturally accepted, and the person sent it away politely. There was nothing else to say, it was all for the sake of money.

In the next few days, people would come to give gifts from time to time. Zhao Tang knew that these people were the same as Wu Shun and Liu Heihu. It wasn't that they couldn't control their subordinates. Send them money?They can't go to grab it for no reason.

After Zhao Tun received the money, he had the choice to carry out inspections. When he met generals who were dissatisfied, he would fight. This is what the bandit army eats. As long as you are ruthless and skilled in martial arts, no one will cry and go to Wang Qing's side. Complain.

At present, Wang Qing’s uprising has not been too long, and many rules have not been established. Any rebellion has such a process. At first, it was chaotic. The rules will be truly established, and then the rules will have real binding force.

Zhao Tun went to many military camps, he was soft on the money, and even fought several times. Needless to say, killing people, he got a ruthless reputation, and was nicknamed Li Yanwang by the bandits below.

As for the silver, Wang Qing sent some more from time to time, and even Wang Qing trusted Zhao Tong more and more.

In private, Zhao Tong went to drink with Du Po when he had nothing to do, and he knew a lot of information about Li Zhu's swordsmanship. According to Du Po, Li Zhu's sword speed was the only one he had ever seen in his life.

Li Zhu, nicknamed Mr. Golden Sword, used a golden long sword. This sword was as fast as lightning in the sky. The color and momentum were almost the same, the only difference was the size.

According to what Du Po said, Li Zhu's sword technique is called the one-character electric sword, and he was defeated by this sword technique at the beginning. As for Li Zhu's other sword techniques, Du Po didn't know.

Zhao Tong pondered, Li Zhu and Zhou Tong used nine kinds of swordsmanship in the competition, but it is very likely that there are more swordsmanship than these, but now even Du Po only knows this one, and almost no one under Wang Qing's command knows any more. There is simply nowhere to go further.

Zhao Tong couldn't think of any other way to do this, and he couldn't deliberately approach Li Zhu to investigate, so he could only make a plan slowly.

That night, Zhao Tama held a small banquet in the mansion, and invited Liyana to come over. There were not many dishes on the table. Nowadays, the ingredients in Luzhou City are frighteningly expensive. If he hadn’t gotten a lot of silver taels recently, I’m afraid that this meal would not be included. I can't even invite a small banquet.

After the banquet, the two discussed the military situation. Wang Qing reported that the Song army in Haozhou had already marched halfway.

Liana Zha asked, "Is the Song army going to turn to Shouzhou soon?"

Zhao Tong nodded: "Tomorrow at the latest, if there are no accidents, I guess I will rush to Shouzhou today."

Liana Zha said: "Then what will Wang Qing do here?"

Zhao Tong said: "Sending troops to rescue is certain, but regardless of whether Shouzhou is lost or not, a big war is imminent."

Lianazha said: "I'm afraid that the soldiers here have not yet arrived, and Shouzhou has already been taken over there."

Zhao Tong laughed and said, "Isn't it just a good time to use your three-way strategy to send troops to Luzhou?"

Liyana frowned and said, "I've thought about this again. If there are too many reinforcements in Luzhou, they might be blocked from the road."

Zhao Tong smiled and stretched his waist: "Then don't worry about it, anyway, I can rest assured of the coach over there, I don't bother to worry about it, everything will be adaptable."

Lianaza looked at him: "The battle is imminent, so don't think too much about it..."

Zhao Tong shook his head and said: "It's useless to think too much, just adapt to the situation. By the way, don't you want to open the scriptures tonight?"

Lianazha said indifferently: "You still want to open the scriptures? There have been three rounds, and thousands of people have been rotated. Everyone only recognizes the right envoy of the light. Even my prestige as a saint is not as high as yours. "

Zhao Tong laughed and said, "How do we distinguish each other? It's not the Uighur Mingjiao."

Liyana stared at Zhao Tun with bright eyes, and said, "What exactly do you want to do? I know you are not the crown prince of Song Dynasty. Could it be that you want to... This kind of thing is common in Uighurs."

Zhao Tong shook his head and sighed slightly: "It's just for self-protection, you will know in the future."

Liyanazha was puzzled: "Now that you are in power, if you win this battle again, your prestige will be higher, so how can you talk about self-protection?"

Zhao Tong laughed and said, "The Great Song Dynasty is different from the Uighurs. It's always complicated. You won't be able to figure it out even for a moment."

Liyanazha was silent for a few breaths and said: "If there is a time, you can go back and forth."

Zhao Tong laughed and said, "Why is this? Could it be that you have to be a door-to-door?"

Lianna Zha suddenly said angrily: "So what if you come to the door, you said that you will protect yourself."

Zhao Tun hecked twice, and suddenly said: "I met you that day, and heard music in the small courtyard. Later, I asked Diya, what kind of pipa did you say she was playing?"

Lianazha said: "It's called a 72-string pipa. It's actually a kind of qin. It's somewhat similar to your zither. It has 72 strings. The body is square and wide, and the sound is pleasant and wonderful."

Zhao Tong said: "I've never seen this kind of qin before, but when I listened to it for a while that day, I felt like an oriole and a lark, and I never forgot it."

Lianaza looked at him and said, "Do you want to hear it?"

Zhao Tong smiled and said, "Could it be lucky?"

Lianaza said, "You...follow me."

The two went out to the next mansion, and after a while they walked to the door of a small hall.

Li Yanaza opened the door, and Zhao Tun couldn't help but see a bright light. The decoration in this small hall is quite elegant and exquisite. Many things are Uighur style, which looks unique. Even the floor is covered with large and bright blankets. Clean and tidy right up to the front door.

Zhao Tang looked into the hall, glanced at Lianna's little white boots, and said, "This...do you want to go in barefoot??"

Lianazha was stunned when she heard the words, and said, "Li Fei, what do you want to do?"

Zhao Tong said: "I heard that Uighurs are good at singing and dancing, and their dancing posture is beautiful, especially that kind of dance...with a string of small bells hanging on their bare feet."

Lianazha looked at him suspiciously: "Where did you hear that?"

Zhao Tong said: "Of course I heard about it in Longyou, how did the Central Plains know about it, after all, across the Longyou Western Xia, no matter the temples or the market, they don't know much about it."

Lianazha said softly, "Barefoot...and dancing with little bells on?"

Zhao Tong said: "That's it, just move it a little, and the little bell will make a pleasant sound."

Lianazha suddenly said softly, "Do you want to see it?"

Zhao Tong nodded hurriedly.

Liannazha smiled sweetly: "It's a beautiful idea!"

After she finished speaking, she walked into the hall, and Zhao Tong touched her chin and followed her in.

There is a qin near the flower wall in the hall, and Zhao Tun saw at a glance that it was the 72-string pipa.

I saw that the square of the piano was wide, and the big head, which resembled a zither, was cut off from the side. The strings on it were densely covered, and I didn't know how to play it.

Lianazha walked to the back of the piano, flicked her fingers lightly, and the piano immediately made a pleasant sound.

Zhao Tong laughed and said, "Sure enough, it's the music that day, but it's the sound of birdsong."

Lianazha smiled and said, "General Li, what song do you want to hear?"

Zhao Tong said: "I don't know Uighur music, I just pick up good ones, don't want those sad and sad ones, I feel melancholy after listening to them."

Liyana Zha rushed to Zhao Tun for Uighur etiquette, and then said with a smile: "General Li, please take a seat."

Zhao Tun sat down on the chair, and saw Liannazha also sat gracefully, raising her hand to reveal slender white jade fingers, stroking the surface of the piano, concentrating for a moment.

Suddenly she moved her fingers, and she heard the beautiful and flexible piano sound flowing out from her fingers in an instant, like silk flowing through her heart, soft and peaceful, soft and comfortable.

As time goes by, the sound of the piano becomes more and more beautiful, like the ding-dong of the spring water in a small stream, jumping cheerfully, and like the orchid in the valley, with silver bells on the horse, and then suddenly a hundred birds sing together, the tone is clear and cheerful, which is intoxicating , as if in the spring forest, like a dream...

After playing a song, Zhao Tun reflected on it for a moment, stroked his palm and said: "It's really a good song, it's fascinating, if it's played in a beautiful place with mountains and rivers, the sound will be even better!"

Liyanazha looked at him and said, "The Uighur has many beautiful places, such as picturesque mountains and rivers, singing birds and fragrant flowers. Would General Li want to go and have a look?"

Zhao Tong said with a smile: "I yearn for it, but there are so many miscellaneous things, I don't know when and what month we will see each other."

Liyanazha's expression darkened slightly when she heard the words, then she became cold and said, "You don't even go to Longyou anymore?"

Zhao Tang looked at her, paused and said: "General Shangguan thinks that in my capacity, I will lead the desolate and barren Longyou Protectorate, why?"

Liyanazha frowned slightly when she heard the words, and suddenly exclaimed at the next moment: "You...you just said self-protection?"

Zhao Tong smiled slightly, and said: "One day, I can go to Longyou, where the sky is high and the earth is far away, and I have a basis for advancing and retreating."

"But..." Lianazha hesitated: "Li Fei, your so-called self-protection, shouldn't you protect yourself from the court of the Song Dynasty? If that's the case, the Western Army is there..."

"Western Army..." Zhao Tang thought for a while, "Western Army is indeed a problem, but I'm afraid that one day, Western Army will be too busy to take care of itself."

Li Yanaza's eyes sparkled, and she said, "The Uighur is beautiful, the mountains and rivers are beautiful, and the people are also beautiful."

Zhao Tang glanced at her and said with a smile, "That's right, so the troops who have conquered that area since ancient times are not just for grape wine and cantaloupe."

"Li Fei, what do you mean!" Lianazha blushed slightly when she heard the words, and said softly.

Zhao Tun got up and walked in front of Liyanazha, bowed his head slightly, and said in a low voice: "Let's do a dance for this king, the kind with little bells hanging on bare feet."

Liannazha's face was blushing, and said: "Li Fei, don't dream, I won't dance for you, you haven't seen any dance in Tokyo, you and I didn't want to see dancing!"

Zhao Tong wondered, "What are you watching if you don't watch dancing?"

Lianazha said softly: "You know it yourself!"

Zhao Tang smiled, and suddenly stretched out his fingers to pick up the pointed snow-white chin, and said, "What does this king know?"

Li Yana's eyelashes trembled, her eyes were a little hazy, Zhao Tun looked at her peach-like cheeks, and couldn't help but leaned down slightly...

At this moment, Diya's urgent voice suddenly came from outside: "General, is the general there?"

Liannazha was shocked immediately: "Dia?"

Zhao Tun gave a "hmm" and looked up to the outside.

Liannazha stood up and went out to look, and saw Di Ya calling around in the courtyard. Seeing her go out, she hurriedly said, "General, King Huai sent an order to let General and General Li enter the palace immediately to discuss matters!"

"Going into the palace to discuss matters... at this time?" Zhao Tang looked at the sky, it was already slightly dark, with cloudy clouds gathering, it seemed that a storm was about to come.

Lianaza whispered: "I'm afraid it's not what you said..."

Zhao Tong nodded: "It's very possible, I'll go back and change my clothes, and enter the palace right away."

After a while, the lights in Wangqing Palace were brightly lit, and the civil and military classes stood above the main hall.

I saw Wang Qing sitting on the top with a livid face, suddenly threw a booklet down, and cursed: "Zhao Tun is cunning, the Song army didn't come to suppress Luzhou at all, but turned around and went straight to Shouzhou halfway."

The people below all showed surprise when they heard the words, Fang Han said: "Your Majesty, Shouzhou must not be lost, I think you should send troops to rescue immediately."

Gong Duan also said: "What Privy Secretary Fang said is true, Shouzhou and Luzhou are the horns of each other. If Shouzhou loses, Luzhou will lose its defense in the northwest direction, and it will all be exposed in front of the Song army."

Fan Quan frowned and said, "Shouzhou has the most soldiers besides Luzhou. There are more than 6000 people. Moreover, the city is high and the river is deep. It won't fall so soon."

Duan Er said at this time: "What's the use of a high city and a deep river? Don't forget how we conquered Shouzhou at that time!"

Fan Quan shook his head and said: "How is it compared to today? Although Shouzhou had Song troops defending the city before, it was nothing like a fake. Our army only feinted twice, and those Song troops were so frightened that they didn't dare to defend the city. They just abandoned the city and fled. , now Shouzhou is defended by our Huai army, and there are generals like General Yuan Lang, so we will not lose it for a while."

Duan Erdao: "Since this is the reason, we must go to the rescue as soon as possible."

At this time, Wang Qing looked at Li Zhu from above and said, "What does the Prime Minister think about this matter?"

Li Zhu said: "The Song army didn't dare to attack Luzhou directly because Luzhou had many soldiers and generals. They were afraid that they would not be able to defeat Shouzhou for a long time and then attack from behind. Now that they are turning to Shouzhou, they must have plans to attack the city with lightning. Let me rescue them. Don't worry, since this is the case, we not only need to rescue Shouzhou immediately, but also need to send more troops there, as long as the speed is fast enough, we can still create a flanking situation, right now we are fighting for time, please hurry up and order rescue!"

Wang Qing shouted "Okay" when he heard the words, looked down, and said: "Feng Tai and Liu Yuan, I will give you three thousand soldiers each, and you will be the vanguard, and you will go to Shouzhou immediately in two routes!"

The two immediately yelled "The minister takes orders" and left the palace immediately.

Wang Qing said again: "Gong Duan!"

Gong Duan hurried out of the shift and said, "The minister is here!"

Wang Qingdao: "I will make you the Marshal of the Army and Horses, Du Po will be the Deputy Marshal, Li Xiong, Bi Xian, Pan Zhong, Qiu Fei, Shi Jun, Li Ji, Liu Yijing, Shangguanyi, Gong Gang, and Xi Sheng will be the generals. Thirty thousand soldiers, set off at dawn tomorrow!"

Gong Duan yelled to accept his orders, and led Du Yuren and others out of the hall, then Wang Qing looked at Li Zhu and said, "Prime Minister, do you think this arrangement is appropriate?"

Li Zhu said with a smile: "Your Majesty's arrangement is very good, there are no mistakes or omissions, even the Luzhou side should step up defense, be careful that the Song soldiers divide into two groups to attack."

Hearing the words, Zhao Tang took a peek at Li Zhu, thinking that it was really an old fox, and he didn't know how Zongze would arrange it, whether he would fight Shouzhou with all his strength, or if it was true as Li Zhu said, he would send some soldiers to harass Luzhou.

However, there is no problem in how to do the two, each has its own advantages. On the battlefield, there are not many things that go straight up and charge face to face.

Wang Qing thought for a while, looked down and said again: "Li Fei!"

Zhao Tun hurried out of the shift and said, "The minister is here!"

Wang Qingdao: "At the moment of the war, you will be temporarily dismissed from the internal and external inspection duties, and you will be appointed as the Luzhou Left Defense Envoy to monitor the internal and external defenses, and you will take up the post immediately!"

Zhao Tong said: "The minister takes orders!"

Wang Qing said again: "Zhuo Mao, let you be the right defense envoy of Luzhou, supervise the internal and external defense of Luzhou, and take office immediately!"

After appointing the two men, Wang Qing mobilized some generals and arranged the defense of the city before announcing the disbandment of the dynasty.

When everyone left the palace, it was already raining lightly outside.

Zhao Tun can't go back to the mansion right now, he has already been appointed as the left defense envoy, now he has to patrol the city defense with Zhuo Mao.

After a brief discussion, the two of them allocated half of the city to each other, and led troops to check against the light rain.

At this time, the entire Luzhou military camp started to move, Feng Tai and Liu Yuan each ordered [-] soldiers and rushed towards Shouzhou under the light rain.

These two generals, six thousand soldiers, did not have any luggage, but each carried two or three days of dry food, but wanted to go into battle lightly, and catch up with the Song army as quickly as possible, and then dragged on for a while, waiting for the army behind to catch up. arrive.

As for Gong Duan's [-] troops, they couldn't go into battle lightly, and they couldn't leave immediately. All kinds of preparations had to be complete, food, grass, carts and horses were all indispensable, and they were busy until the sky was about to light before they were almost safe.

Zhao Tun patrolled all night, and finally came to the gate of the north city, where Gong Duan's army gathered. At this moment, the light rain was not clear, and the smoke was rising, and the camps were full of people, and there were endless noises, obviously they were having dinner.

About half an hour later, the sky was bright, and soldiers from all over the village came out to gather, and there was a mass of darkness.

As military orders were passed down, the flags were opened, and the sound of horseshoes sounded slowly, followed by the sound of hurried steps, and then various vehicles "squeaked" and mixed together and began to move forward.

Zhao Tun watched the army leave all the time, just turned his horse and wanted to go back to the mansion for dinner, at this time Zhuo Mao led his people to rush over, saw Zhao Tun and said: "General Li, please stay. Zhuo has something to discuss with General Li."

Zhao Tong looked at Zhuo Mao, this Zhuo Mao was also a famous general under Wang Qing, he was from the same town as Li Zhunai, both were from Jingnan,
Zhao Tong said, "General Zhuo, what is there to discuss?"

Zhuo Mao said with a bitter expression: "General Li, you and I are Luzhou defense envoys, it's better to fight in front of the formation, so there is no half a break for daily inspections, I think it's better to discuss a way, which will not delay the defense, but also can Take it easy on each other."

Zhao Tun glanced at him, saw his face was dusty and smelled of alcohol from the night, he knew it was difficult, so he said in his heart: "I don't know what General Zhuo can do?"

Zhuo Mao said: "It's because I couldn't think of a solution that I came to discuss with General Li."

Zhao Tong pondered for a moment and said, "I have a method here, but I don't know if it works or not?"

Zhuo Mao heard the words and said happily: "General Li, please come and listen."

Zhao Tong said: "You and I patrol half the city back and forth, not to mention the waste of time and energy, both of us are still tired, I think it's better to divide the day and night, one person patrols for six hours, and then replace the other person to patrol again, that's great ?”

Hearing this, Zhuo Mao just thought about it, and said happily: "General Li's method is feasible, it will not delay the work, and it will give you time to rest. I don't know who will patrol the day and who will patrol the night?"

Zhao Tong laughed and said, "It's convenient for General Zhuo, but I'm fine here, I can feel free day and night."

Zhuo Mao thought for a while and said with a smile: "Brother, I'm going to take advantage of it. You don't know, brother Li. I'm willing to drink a few sips at night, but now I'm afraid of getting drunk, so why not just patrol During the day, can I trouble Brother Li to patrol at night?"

Seeing that he was being polite, Zhao Tong also smiled and changed his address and said, "Brother Zhuo, what are you talking about? I have nothing to do with you, I just need to patrol the night, but today I have to trouble my brother to stick to it during the day."

Zhuo Maoxi said: "It's okay, it's okay, but it's a matter of several days, then it's settled like this, Brother Li will go back to the house to fix it, and come to replace me at night."

Zhao Tong nodded and bid farewell to the other party, then arranged for his soldiers to change defenses, and then went straight back to the mansion.

After he went back, he took off his armor, and Yao Pingzhong came to lead the horse. The yellow horse had changed its temper a little since the battle with Pan Zhong that day. Looking at his head, as if he couldn't open his eyelids, Yao Pingzhong frowned.

Zhao Tang went back to the house to rest after eating less, and slept until night. After getting up and tidying up, he went to change the guard with Zhuo Mao.

After three days like this, there was finally a battle report from the front. It turned out that Shouzhou had fallen, and the battle ahead was unfavorable!

(End of this chapter)