The Song Dynasty on the Sand Table

Chapter 377 Offering suggestions
Yue Wenxuan dispatched a total of twenty pairs of teams, totaling 320 people.

Fu Songqing was in such a group. Seeing that everyone around him was a veteran, he felt a little scared and didn't dare to speak.

Just as they were panicking, the captain of the Mandarin Duck Squad turned around and grinned: "Don't be afraid! As long as we're not all dead, you won't die either. Because one of the Mandarin Duck Squad's ironclad rules is: if a musketeer dies in battle, a melee soldier will be beheaded."

Fu Songqing: "Huh? There are such military regulations? So...so strict!"

The captain chuckled: "It is precisely because of our strict military discipline that our Northern Song Dynasty was able to conquer all directions. Do you think we are the same as those chaotic rabble of the pseudo-Qi, Southern Song, and pseudo-Chu?"

Fu Songqing: "..."

The Southern Song Dynasty was humiliated to be compared to the puppet Qi and puppet Chu dynasties. However, Fu Songqing did not know how to protest, because the Southern Song Dynasty was not necessarily able to defeat the puppet Qi and puppet Chu dynasties.

Emotionally, I don't want them to be ranked together, but in terms of ability, it seems fine to put them together.

This is very upsetting.

The captain grinned at the new musketeers: "There's another rule you need to remember: if I die in battle, the whole team will be beheaded. So... don't think you can slack off just because you're in the back; you have to fight to the death. Otherwise, if I fall, you won't be able to get back alive either."

Musketeers: "..."

The other three musketeers couldn't help but touch their bayonets, thinking to themselves: In an emergency, we also have to raise our bayonets to help our captain, otherwise we'll be beheaded when we get back.

Fu Songqing, however, thought differently. He wondered if the Southern Song Dynasty's military regulations were as strict, how could it have been so weak? But with such strict regulations, wouldn't the soldiers be unable to bear it and desert? Why didn't the soldiers of the Northern Song Dynasty desert?

There's only one reason: a hefty reward!

Only generous rewards can maintain the effectiveness of severe punishments; otherwise, morale would have already collapsed.

The Northern Song Dynasty could offer generous rewards, but could the Southern Song Dynasty do the same?
No!

With corrupt officials running rampant, where would the money for rewarding ordinary soldiers come from?

Without a generous reward, how can there be a severe punishment?

Ugh!
The large group quickly arrived at the foot of Liushan Mountain.

The guide sent by the local gentry pointed out the way: "Look... there is a hidden mountain path over here that leads directly to the mountain stronghold at the top of the mountain, but the bandits will definitely set up sentries on this road. We will be discovered at most when we climb halfway up the mountain."

The temporarily appointed bandit-suppression captain asked, "Besides this road?"

“There’s no road,” the guide said. “It’s all just rocks and dense forest.”

The team leader looked at the only mountain path and wondered whether they should go up from there.

Fu Songqing stepped forward from the side and advised, "Captain, if we attack up this road, the bandits are preparing to roll rocks down the mountain. Even our thickest shields won't be able to withstand it. I suggest we use a strategy instead."

Captain: "Use a plan? How?"

Fu Songqing: "We and the army have passed through Liushan before. The bandits on the mountain must have already seen the might of our army and must be afraid. Some people in the stronghold must already have the intention to escape. As long as they have this intention, we don't need to attack them by force."

"We can set fire to the mountain from the other side, making it look like we're going to burn down the dense forest and slowly advance. Then the bandits will naturally be afraid, and many of them will run away. We can then ambush them at the only road leading up and down the mountain and easily defeat them."

The captain pondered carefully: "This plan is excellent, the only problem is the number of people. The number of people pretending to attack the mountain by setting fire to it can't be too small, otherwise the bandits won't be afraid of us and won't run away. But our forces are limited, if we have too many people pretending to attack the mountain, we won't have enough to ambush at the mountain pass." Fu Songqing said: "We don't need too many ambush troops. As long as we gather all the musketeers, we'll have dozens of muskets. We can use two teams to protect these musketeers and then we can set up an ambush. On the other side, we can have more people pretending to attack by setting fire to the mountain, and we can also make more fake flags."

The captain frowned: "Wouldn't this break up the basic formation of twelve Mandarin Duck Soldiers escorting four musketeers? If this plan fails, and the formation is disrupted, the bandits will have an opportunity to take advantage, resulting in the sacrifice of a large number of musketeers. As the captain, I will definitely have to take responsibility."

Fu Songqing's heart tightened, thinking to himself: Oh no! Some generals in the Southern Song Dynasty were afraid of taking responsibility and dared not carry out bold tactics. Since this team has said so, they will most likely not agree.

But to his surprise, the captain grinned and said, "Damn it, what are you afraid of? If you take responsibility, then take responsibility. If you're too rigid, you might end up killing your brothers on the mountain path with falling rocks. You might as well try your plan."

After saying that, he added, "If this plan succeeds, I will reward you with a great achievement."

Fu Songqing was overjoyed, thinking: This captain is not what I thought.

The captain quickly began to make arrangements. The main force was positioned on the front of the mountain, while only two squads were stationed at the entrance to the secret passage on the back of the mountain to protect all the musketeers.

Then, the troops on the front began to set the mountain on fire!
Thick smoke billowed up from the front, and the dense forest caught fire.

The mountain bandits panicked as expected. Soon, some of the more timid bandits slipped down the only road. As soon as they reached the foot of the mountain, before they could even stand still, dozens of musketeers and two squads of soldiers lying in ambush attacked...

Muskets and rockets were fired at the bandits with great enthusiasm.

The bandits were thrown into chaos and collapsed instantly, with all the survivors kneeling down in surrender.

The bandits of Liushan were easily quelled.
-
When Fu Songqing returned to Sizhou City with the bandit suppression team, he was greeted by Yue Wenxuan and Gong Erniangzi at the city gate.

The captain stepped forward and loudly reported on the progress of the bandit suppression operation.

Interestingly, Fu Songqing thought the captain would deny all the credit and say that it was his own idea. However, the captain did not lie and told Fu Songqing the whole story about how he offered the idea.

Gong Er Niangzi nodded: "Fu Songqing, you have made a great contribution by offering a plan to suppress the bandits. We will make up for the eighty lashes you originally owed by the military.

Fu Songqing was overjoyed. The rewards were not important; what he wanted most was to avoid the eighty lashes and save face.

Ah, no!

He almost forgot the real purpose of this bandit suppression mission. What he should be happy about is that the grain route has been opened, and a large amount of grain can be transported over soon to reinforce the people of Sizhou.

The people were not disappointed...

A few days later, a large amount of grain arrived as reinforcements from Chuzhou.

Also arriving were officials from the engineering and agricultural schools.

When the people from the Northern Song Dynasty arrived here, they immediately set out to vigorously promote production.

This move also reassured the local gentry and common people...

Since the goal is to boost production, this isn't a "quick buck and leave" situation, but rather a plan to properly develop this place, which is the best thing for the locals.

(End of this chapter)