The new forbidden army fought large households all the way, raised grain and grass, opened granaries, and helped the people.

Not only did Tong Guan's attempt to trap the neck of the new forbidden army by delaying the supply of grain and grass fail, but also, under the propaganda of Zhou Bangyan and others who made up lyrics and songs and wrote articles, the morale of the new forbidden army was even higher, and it was also loved and praised by more and more people.

Wu Song instructed: If there are those who are willing to join the new forbidden army, they can join after assessment.

The Song Dynasty emphasized literature over military force, and at this time there was a saying that "good iron does not hit nails, and good men do not serve as soldiers", and it is considered a very shameful thing for criminals to be assassinated and filled with soldiers.

However, seeing the high morale and mighty military appearance of the new forbidden army, as well as the enthusiastic scene of rewarding meritorious deeds after conquering large households, many young and strong men expressed their desire to join the new forbidden army.

However, Wu Song naturally did not accept all the comers. He carefully recalled the requirements for conscription in the pre-modern people's army, formulated strict standards for physical fitness and literacy, and carefully examined those who asked to join. Generally speaking, only about five out of ten people who signed up were able to successfully pass the examination and become a member of the new forbidden army.

In this way, the new forbidden army, which originally had 5,000 men when it left Bianjing, quickly expanded to 7,000 men.

In the eyes of those in the know, this is nothing short of a miracle.

Because, the Great Song army in this era can be said to be generally seriously lacking. On the one hand, it was because the officials had to eat empty salaries, so they often lied about the number of troops, and on the other hand, because Song Huizong wanted to build a large number of buildings and halls, and needed a large number of people, so he drew them from the army.

Like the new forbidden army under the command of Wu Song, not only is there no shortage of personnel, but also constantly recruits troops and horses, and it is seriously overstaffed, which is simply unique.

And despite the fact that Tong Guan was in the way, and the new forbidden army was even deprived of the normal supply of grain and grass, Wu Song was not worried. By fighting large households, the new forbidden army did not worry about food and grass. You must know that at this time, some big households are really rich and rival the country, and the grain and grass hoarded by the family of a landlord and bully like Zhang Dahu in Qinghe County is enough for thousands of new forbidden troops to eat.

Wu Song was also very emotional: social wealth is so concentrated in the hands of the imperial court and landlords and bullies, and the common people have no surplus food to make a living, no wonder the Great Song Dynasty will be in crisis, and there are people everywhere who rebel.

The fortress is always broken from within, and if a country wants to perish, the strength of external enemies is one aspect, but the chaos and decay within oneself is the most fundamental reason. This was the case in the Qing Dynasty in later generations, and the same was true in the Great Song Dynasty at this time.

Since he has traveled to this era, Wu Song hopes to change this situation, to have a peaceful and peaceful environment for himself and Pan Jinlian, and to prevent the people of the world from suffering from misery.

Therefore, he commanded the army and accelerated the march in the southeast direction.

Zhang Desheng and Wang Huan were both confused: "Liangshan is in the east of Bianjing, but now the new forbidden army has been going to the southeast, obviously deviating from the correct goal, could it be that General Wu doesn't plan to go to Liangshan to suppress bandits?" ”

Wu Song said: "Don't talk nonsense, shake my military heart!" It was the emperor's order to go to Liangshan to suppress bandits, how could our army disobey it? However, we must first go to the southeast and find someone that our army desperately needs! ”

He didn't say who this person was, so Zhang Desheng, Wang Huan and others didn't dare to ask, and they just cared about carrying out military orders.

Gradually entering the mountains, some water appeared, and the day became barren. In this way, there should be no big players to fight. However, Wu Song had no intention of stopping the army and ordered the army to continue to advance.

The current Wu Song is no longer the young man in Qinghe County who looked up to people and had strong blood.

Now that he is the commander of the First Army, coupled with the practice of "Situ's Testament" and the residual memory of some situations as a traverser, Wu Song's decisions are becoming more and more difficult to guess and always proved to be correct.

Therefore, the whole army resolutely carried out his orders.

What exactly is going to be done, Wu Song doesn't say, and everyone doesn't ask. Anyway, I believe that General Wu has his own strategy.

Until this day, the scouts sent by the front army came back and reported: "The front has reached the Mangdang Mountains!" ”

Wu Songxin said: "Sure enough, it's here." In fact, he is still a little uncertain in his heart, worried that the remaining memories of his previous life are wrong, and he is worried that the story of the Water Margin in his previous life is not true. So, he asked the scout, "What did you find in the mountains?" ”

Scout report: "We haven't gone deep into the mountains. However, I inquired with some people along the way, and I heard that this Mangdang Mountain is also very unpeaceful, there were many strongmen in the past, and since last year, a large group of bandits have gathered, and they occupy the mountain as the king here, and the local officials began to attack once, but they were defeated, and they never dared to come again, nor did they dare to report to the imperial court! ”

Wu Songxin said: "It seems that the memory is correct, it is this place, there should be so many people." He ordered the scouts to continue their spying efforts and report back immediately.

He then ordered the army to continue its accelerated advance.

"Wait! Wait, sprinkle home! ”

At this moment, only a muffled thunder was heard, and a man and a horse chased after him from behind. Immediately, the man was five big and three thick, with a majestic figure, but he was a big monk.

Wu Song saw it from afar, and was happy in his heart: The person who came was not Lu Zhishen, who was it?

Wu Song hurriedly greeted him. Lu Zhishen was naturally very happy to see Wu Song. He was dusty, and he didn't have time to rest, so he explained to Wu Song the situation of his escort to Lin Chong.

It turned out that Wu Song's expectation was good: the two tolerances Dong Chao and Xue Ba who were responsible for escorting Lin Chong

, sure enough, they were all bought by Gao Yanei, and they planned to give Lin Chong the result in a place called Wild Boar Forest.

At that time, Dong Chao and Xue Ba had already tied Lin Chong to a big tree, and they were about to beat him with a stick. At this time, fortunately, Lu Zhishen happened to arrive and saved Lin Chong.

Lu Zhishen originally planned to kill these two black-hearted tolerances on the spot, and brought Lin Chong to join the new forbidden army. Unexpectedly, Lin Chong still thinks that killing is a blatant killing of officials, which is no different from rebellion, and will make Gao Yu sit on the charge of attempting to rebel and kill government personnel, and then he will have no future. As for joining the new forbidden army under the command of Wu Song, he was even more reluctant.

In desperation, Lu Zhishen had no choice but to let go of the two tolerances for the time being, but warned them not to abuse and hurt Lin Chong again.

The place where Lin Chong was originally assassinated was Cangzhou, which was far away in the north. It is almost to the border of the Great Song Dynasty, and it will take at least half a year to go there from Bianjing.

Unexpectedly, at this time, the imperial court actually came to another piece of paper, saying that Lin Chong did not need to assassinate Cangzhou, and he could be charged on the spot. Lu Zhishen guessed that this was Gao Yanei's father and son who wanted to solve Lin Chong's problem nearby, but Lin Chong insisted that this must be because the imperial court had discovered his grievances, and even because he had divorced his wife, Gao Yan's father and son finally stopped targeting him and treated him lightly.

Lu Zhishen persuaded him not to listen, so he had to send him to the barracks to settle down, and told him that he could come to the new forbidden army at any time if something happened.

Then, Lu Zhishen hurried back to catch up with the new forbidden army. After all, he was a soldier, and he was forced to become a monk. He wanted to go back to the army so much, he wanted to go to war again.

Wu Song said in his heart: People like Lin Chong will never wake up if they don't see with their own eyes that they are facing a dead end, and they don't care about him. Fortunately, Lu Zhishen came back so soon, the brothers were reunited, and there was another first-class general in the army.

He was very happy, and immediately ordered to give Lu Zhishen wine to wash the dust, but Lu Zhishen laughed and said: "Brother is not in a hurry, wait a minute, you see what my brother and I have brought you!" ”