It was dark outside, but the tent was still as bright as day because of the lighting of more than a dozen torches and candles.

Sun Tu and his main generals were gathered in front of a somewhat rudimentary map of the Jiangnan region, discussing the next use of troops. After he explained Zhu Mian's order, he put his finger on Danyang, and said with a solemn expression: "I always feel a little strange about this matter, in the case of sufficient troops, the thieves let Jinling go, and it can be said that they are afraid that there are more than 100,000 officers and soldiers guarding here, but what about Danyang?" There are thousands of soldiers and horses in the sky, and they even dare to attack Wuxi, Changzhou, why did they let go of this place alone? ”

"Is it because the city is terrainnic, easy to defend and difficult to attack?" Song Jiang frowned and said. As a northerner, he is still quite unfamiliar with the terrain of the city here in the south of the Yangtze River.

Sun Tu glanced at Shi Qian on the side: "Can the scout camp find out the geography around these cities?" ”

Shi Qian hurriedly replied: "Although there are some hills and ups and downs near Danyang, there are plains inside and outside the city, and there is no danger to defend. In addition, it is reported that the garrison of the city does not exceed 10,000, as the governor said. However, their defenses were quite tight, and our scouts were almost taken down by them as a small work. ”

"Oh? It's funny, the scouts we sent to Changzhou and Wuxi haven't encountered such a situation, why is Danyang, which is closer to Jinling, so nervous? Sun Tu's question was not answered for the time being, so he could only return to the topic just now: "So in this way, it seems that Danyang is a little weird." ”

"What does the jurisdiction mean is that Danyang is also the target of the anti-thief, but we haven't received the relevant news yet?" Dong Ping asked with a solemn expression.

"Exactly, but I'm more worried about it than that, but their real intention of sending a few people to storm the cities so much is only to take advantage of my unpreparedness to take Danyang!" Sun Tu clenched his fist and hammered hard at the place where Danyang was on the map: "If that's the case, we will be passive." ”

"If you can, you can't, and if you can't, you can't, and if you attack it, you can't, this is a plan to attack the east and the west!" Zhu Wu nodded in agreement: "You really can't be unguarded." After all, Danyang is only two or three days away from Jinling, and once it is lost, Jinling will be in danger, and there will be risks at all times, and the morale of the people and the army will be affected. ”

"That being said, would a thief really pay such a big price for this one reason? If there is a mistake, not only will Danyang not be able to take it, but he may also lose his troops and break the spirit of the previous few big victories. Qi Desheng also frowned slightly and put forward his opinion.

Song Jiang followed up and said: "What Commander Qi said is reasonable, although what he said is a bit secretly in line with the art of war, but this is only speculation after all, those thieves may not think so much, it is only because Danyang is too close to Jinling that they dare not send troops to attack." If we really dwell on this, it will only disturb our thoughts. ”

Song Jiang's words also have some truth, at least until it is found out that Danyang has other more important values and functions, many people can't believe Sun Tu's judgment. This made Sun Tu's brows lock deeper, their concerns were indeed reasonable, and he couldn't come up with more clues for a while.

After all, leading troops to fight is not child's play, we must judge the situation and choose the most correct way to use troops, otherwise once a mistake is made, it will not be as simple as one or two people dying. Even if Sun Tu, as the chief general of the three armies, has the absolute right to speak, and has a strong premonition at this time, he still can't act arbitrarily and forcibly let the soldiers go to Danyang.

At this time, Zhu Wu spoke again: "Ruler, I think we can still ask someone to see if there are other more important qualities in this Danyang." ”

"Huh? Who are you talking about? ”

In the puzzled eyes of everyone, Zhu Wu smiled and said: "Isn't there Xie Mo in our camp, he is a well-known person in Jiangnan, presumably as long as it is a matter of Jiangnan, nothing can be hidden from him, and Danyang is naturally no exception." ”

"Yes, bring Xie Mo here." Sun Tu perked up when he heard this, and hurriedly ordered. He really forgot about it, as long as Xie Mo could give some conclusive explanation, the matter would be settled. If Danyang is really nothing special, then even if the anti-army really uses a trick to take it, it is not too much of a problem.

After a while, Xie Mo was invited into the tent by his own soldiers, and after listening to Sun Tu's explanation, he quickly began to think about it. After a while, Fang Cai said slowly: "If I remember correctly, just a month or two ago, when Suzhou fell, and Zhu Mian led his army to retreat north, he settled in Danyang, and therefore left an elite of his men there. Also, it is said that after that, he secretly transported the grain and grass in Jinling and the surrounding official warehouses to Danyang for storage, trying to make it a logistics granary! ”

"Is that true?" As soon as he said this, all the people changed color. If there is really such a thing, the status of Danyang City will immediately be very different, and once it is lost, the blow to the officials and soldiers will be too great.

Xie Mo nodded solemnly: "My sources have always been reliable, and I can't be wrong." ”

Sun Tu also pondered for a moment: "Shi Qian mentioned that there was a strong garrison before, maybe it was because there was a large amount of military food hidden in the city. It's just that I still can't figure out one thing, why did Zhu Mian do this, isn't it safer to put the grain directly in Jinling? ”

"Is it to make it easier to transport the front line when troops are sent to quell the chaos?" Song Jiang explained casually, but Sun Tu shook his head and denied it: "If you really have this thought, you can store the grain in Changzhou." ”

Wu Yong suddenly spoke: "He may be guarding against all kinds of officers and soldiers, right?" He had also mentioned before that he had been holding the grain and grass of all the military horses, and he was afraid that he would be worried that someone would rob him, so he simply hid it in another city. is the so-called cunning rabbit three holes, be prepared. ”

Sun Tu nodded slightly: "This makes some sense, but it's not enough." ”

At this time, Shi Qian spoke again: "Zha Shi, not long ago, our scouts found in Danyang that there were many chariots and horses heading towards the Yangtze River at night, I don't know what was loaded on them, could it be grain?" ”

"It makes sense for them to send grain to Jinling or other cities, but what is the reason for sending it to the riverside......" Dong Pinggang shook his head to express his incomprehension, Sun Tu had already clapped his hands, and his eyes flashed: "That's right." Why do you say that he, Zhu Mian, took all the army's food in his hands and did not give it out? ”

"To control these armies?"

"No, it's not enough to rely on food alone, and if you really run out of food, these officers and soldiers won't give him face, and then I'm afraid that Jinling will be chaotic in an instant."

"Could it be ......" Zhu Wu instantly thought of something, and changed color and said: "Is he taking these grains to Jiangbei to sell them to make a profit?" Just this word made everyone present change color again, with disdain and anger.

Sun Tu's face also became gloomy: "If the news we have gathered is good, I'm afraid it will be so." That's why he secretly hoarded food in Danyang, and the three caves of the cunning rabbit were on the one hand, and more importantly, it was to make a profit from it. This time, when more than 100,000 troops came to Jiangnan, the imperial court must have allocated a large amount of military rations, and he hit the idea on these grains. In order to hide people's eyes, he hid the grain in Danyang, and then sent his own team of cronies to guard the ......"

"Zhu Mian should be damned!"

"What a damn thing!"

All the soldiers were immediately angry and shouted and cursed. This really touched the bottom line of the big guys, when the soldiers were born and died for the Great Song Dynasty, Zhu Mian, the sinner who caused the chaos in the south of the Yangtze River, not only did not want to atone for his crimes, but also intensified his efforts to steal and sell military rations, which was really heartbroken.

Sun Tu sneered: "He thought he had done a good job, and he did hide from all the military horses, but he didn't expect that what he did was found by Fang La's anti-army work." That's why they set up today's plan, in order to take Danyang and seize the large amount of grain hoarded in the city. Once the military rations are exhausted in the hands of the enemy, I am afraid that hundreds of thousands of officers and soldiers will have no fighting spirit, and they will be able to win without a fight and take the entire territory of Jiangnan! ”

After listening to Sun Tu's final analysis, everyone's faces became more and more solemn, and only then did they know that Danyang had become the key to the victory or defeat of this battle, and they no longer dared to be as careless as before.

"What are we going to do, Shohar? Now Zhu Mian only asks us to save Changzhou, we can't disobey the battle, right? Song Jiang still said with some uneasiness: "If we make a mistake in judgment, the enemy really only wants to take Changzhou, and we go to Danyang again, I am afraid that the consequences will be serious." ”

This is also the most difficult problem to solve at present. All this is Sun Tu's inference, and no one can be 100% sure that the anti-army is going to take Danyang. It can be said that from his own point of view, Sun Tu led the army to rescue Changzhou without ignoring Danyang is the most correct choice, because in this way he will definitely be fine.

Xie Mo couldn't hold back a little: "Sun Chan, please also take the overall situation as the priority and send troops to rescue Danyang!" If Danyang is lost, I am afraid that Jiangnan will inevitably fall completely, and more innocent people will suffer at that time. As he spoke, he bent down again and again, and sent Sun Tu to kneel.

As for the other generals, they didn't have much thought, just waiting for Sun Tu to make a final decision. For a while, everyone in the tent focused their eyes on Sun Tu, and the pressure was all on him.

Sun Tu's gaze quickly swept over Changzhou and Danyang on the map, and he was also making trade-offs in his heart. Finally, after a long while, he suddenly raised his head: "Dong Ping, Song Jiang, and Qi Desheng listen to the order, and the three of you will lead me to lead the 17,000 Shandong Army and the Huainan Army to rescue Changzhou together——"

After saying a while, he stood up: "And I, on the other hand, led the elite of the Qingzhou Army and divided my troops to Danyang in case of accidents!" ”

Although everyone still had doubts about this strategy of dividing the troops, after facing Sun Tu's firm gaze, everyone still swallowed back the words that came to their mouths. Sun Tu's prestige in the army is extremely high, and his subordinates dare to question it, especially when he has made a final decision.