Do you know: I am the crown prince

Chapter 377 Guess
The garrison troops from Jiangzhou and other places, plus the 20,000 troops sent by Zhao Xing, were a considerable force.

However, the scope of the rebellion was too large, and the small number of troops was not enough to defend the state and county towns and suppress the rebellion.

Moreover, those traitors are very different from the previous traitors.

The Song Dynasty experienced countless rebellions over the years.

Generally speaking, peasant uprisings lacked effective organization and discipline, which is why they were able to be quickly suppressed.

However, the rebels this time were very unusual. Not only did they not plunder everywhere, they also did not gather together on a large scale.

Instead, they were scattered all over the place, forcing the imperial court to divide its troops to guard various cities.

Whenever they wanted to concentrate their forces to suppress the rebels, these rebels would pretend to attack the city.

Although Prime Minister Shen was not familiar with military affairs, he was qualified to be a prime minister. He also knew that he could not be led by the rebels, so he proposed to withdraw some troops from various cities to quell the rebellion.

With the city there, it is not easy for the rebels to break through the city. If the rebels really have the courage to attack the city, we can take the opportunity to catch them all in one fell swoop.

However, officials in Jiangzhou and other places collectively opposed it for fear of losing the city.

For local officials, the most important thing is to keep the city intact.

This is when the difference between civil officials and military generals comes into play.

Regardless of whether Prime Minister Shen is a prime minister or not, he is the imperial envoy sent by Zhao Xing to supervise disaster relief.

We can completely ignore those who oppose the forced deployment of troops.

However, faced with opposition, Prime Minister Shen did not insist at first.

It was not until two days ago that he felt something was increasingly amiss and resolutely proposed to withdraw troops to quell the rebellion. However, before he could take any action, hundreds of thousands of rebels surrounded Jiangzhou City.

There were thousands of soldiers in Jiangzhou City, so it was not breached. However, Prime Minister Shen was frightened.

You have to know that Jiangzhou City is a provincial capital, and one of the most important cities in Jiangnan. Once it is lost, the impact will be too great, and no one can afford the consequences.

After listening to this, Song Chaozhong frowned. He thought that this time the rebellion would be easy to suppress and it would be his chance to gain credit.

But after listening to what Mr. Shen said, I felt it was a very tricky situation.

"Mr. Shen, colleagues!"

Song Chaozhong bowed to everyone and said, "The army has traveled day and night and is exhausted and needs to rest. Please give me detailed information about the rebels. After I have a thorough understanding, I will start to suppress the rebellion and will not let these rebels continue to plunder!"

"General Song, don't worry. I will have someone send you the information about the rebels right away," said Prime Minister Shen.

"Then it's Mr. Lao Shen!"

"General Song, now that we have finished our business, I have ordered people to prepare a banquet in the best restaurant in the city to welcome you!" said the governor of Jiangzhou with a smile.

"I appreciate Zhizhou Chen's kindness, but the rebels have not been wiped out yet. I am very tired from the long journey, so I will forget about the welcoming banquet. When I put down the rebellion, wouldn't it be nice to attend Zhizhou Chen's celebration banquet?" Song Chaozhong said with a smile.

"Haha, then I'll wait for good news from General Song. The rebels are rampant and the people in Jiangzhou and other places are the ones who suffer. When General Song puts down the rebellion, I'll have to offer a glass to General Song on behalf of the people of Jiangzhou at the celebration banquet." Chen Zhizhou said with a smile.

"sure."

After some greetings, Song Chaozhong left the prefectural office and returned to the military camp with the farewell of a group of Jiangzhou officials.

"General, that rebel was so bold that he actually dared to attack Jiangzhou City!" Gu Tingwei said angrily, "It's only because Your Majesty is merciful, otherwise these people should be executed!"

Song Chaozhong frowned and said, "Don't talk nonsense! Even if there is no imperial decree, it is impossible to kill them all. Otherwise, if there is a rebellion in the future, won't they fight to the death?"

"So this is the reason why His Majesty ordered the execution of only the main culprit." Gu Tingwei said suddenly.

"What do you think? Many things are not as simple as they seem on the surface. You should observe more, think more and talk less when encountering things." Song Chaozhong said. He still remembered the kindness of the Gu family, so he reminded Gu Tingwei.

If what he just said were to get out, it would cause a lot of trouble.

"I've taken note of it. Thank you for your advice, General!" Gu Tingwei bowed.

Song Chaozhong nodded and said, "Go prepare some tea, a guest will be arriving soon!"

"General, who wants..."

Gu Tingwei was about to ask, but when he thought of Song Chaozhong's words, he stopped and bowed, "Yes!"

Song Chaozhong looked at Gu Tingwei who was leaving and shook his head slightly.

Not long after Gu Tingwei left, a personal soldier came in and reported: "General, Prime Minister Shen is here!"

"understood!"

Song Chaozhong straightened his clothes and walked out.

"Why didn't Mr. Shen let anyone know in advance when he came so that I could go and greet him."

Not long after Song Chaozhong left the tent, he met Prime Minister Shen, bowed to him and smiled.

"It seems that General Song guessed that I was coming. So I feel relieved." Prime Minister Shen said with a smile.

"Haha, Lord Shen has been in Jiangzhou for some time. I just arrived and thought that Lord Shen would give me some advice. I have ordered people to prepare tea. Lord Shen, please come in!" Song Chaozhong said with a smile.

"General Song already guessed that I was coming, so why did he need my advice?"

"You are joking, Mr. Shen. I know nothing about the situation in Jiangzhou. I am just looking forward to your coming."

The two men exchanged a few pleasantries, and Song Chaozhong welcomed Prime Minister Shen into the tent.

After Gu Tingwei brought the tea, Song Chaozhong asked him to leave.

Shen Xianggong put down his teacup and said seriously, "General Song, this rebellion is a little unusual. Jiangzhou and other places suffered from floods, and the people needed government relief. But after the people rebelled, apart from looting some county government warehouses, they did not harm the rich families in the city."

"Without moving the rich families in the city, where will the food and fodder come from when there are so many rebels?"

"Mr. Shen, do you mean that someone is providing food and fodder to the rebels?" Song Chaozhong asked in surprise.

"That's right. Otherwise, where would the food and grass come from when there are hundreds of thousands of rebels?" said Prime Minister Shen.

Song Chaozhong was silent for a while, then asked, "Has Prime Minister Shen found anything?"

"No!" Shen Xianggong shook his head solemnly and said, "I suspect that the people who provided the rebels with food and fodder were some wealthy families in Jiangzhou. If the food and fodder were transported from other places, it is impossible that there would be no clues at all with such a large amount."

"Only the local wealthy families could give me any clues. I even suspect that some officials in Jiangzhou are involved."

"It would be troublesome if we did that."

Song Chaozhong said solemnly: "The enemy is in the dark and we are in the light. Maybe our every move is being monitored."

"I am also worried about this. I came here this time to remind you to be careful." said Prime Minister Shen.

"Has Prime Minister Shen reported this to His Majesty?"

"I sent the letter to Bianjing yesterday."

"That's good." Song Chaozhong said, "No matter what, I have to go out tomorrow. I'll have to trouble Prime Minister Shen to take care of the food and grass. The army only has three days' worth of food and grass now."

(End of this chapter)