By Hongze Lake.
For two days in a row, Yue Fei challenged Han Shizhong in front of the battle line, but the sneak attack that worried Han Shizhong the most did not appear for a long time.
"What does it mean?"
Han Shizhong looked at Hongze Lake in the distance in confusion. He couldn't understand Sun Lei's purpose. With the strength Sun Lei showed, there was no need to keep testing like this.
The trumpet sounded again, the flag of Monkey King was hoisted, and Sun Lei led the army outside Han Shizhong's camp.
Han Shizhong immediately ordered his troops and horses out of the camp. He could not show weakness. Although the fighting had been difficult in the past few days, he finally managed to survive without hesitation. Now the morale of the army is strong.
"General Han, after how many days of fighting, do you still dare to fight?"
Sun Lei looked at Han Shizhong with a smile. He was really a man. He had been fighting for several days and still had the courage to go out and fight.
"Huh, why don't you dare!"
Han Shizhong waved the pen knife in his hand and looked at Sun Lei coldly and said.
"He is indeed a hero!"
Sun Lei sighed and smiled.
"How to fight today!"
Han Shizhong looked at Sun Lei and asked, Wang Jin, Lin Chong, Lu Zhishen, Yue Fei, Qin Ming and others have taken turns to fight in the past few days, but today there are not those people around Sun Lei.
"Today? No fighting. General Han is leaving. I'm here to see him off!"
Sun Lei shook his head slightly.
"Send you off! What nonsense are you talking about? Do you think you can beat me?"
Han Shizhong frowned and looked at Sun Lei, but his heart became wary.
"Is it because Sun Lei is not ready to spend any more money? Is there any conspiracy in this?"
Han Shizhong thought quickly.
"General Han will know later! The military order will arrive in an hour!"
Sun Lei said.
"You forged military orders!"
Han Shizhong's face was gloomy. The military order was a secret. He didn't know it yet. How could the enemy know about it? Either the enemy forged the military order, or there was an enemy spy in the army, and the important information about the military aircraft had been discovered by the enemy.
Thinking of this, Han Shizhong tightened his grip on the pen knife in his hand. No matter what Sun Lei's tricks were, he would not fall for it and would not accept the foreign military orders.
"Look at what I'm saying, how could I do something as trivial as forging military orders? Besides, what's the point of transferring you back? Wouldn't it be better if I wiped out your army here?"
Sun Lei shook his head and looked at Han Shizhong and said, forging military orders would not make Han Shizhong abandon his weapons and surrender, so it would be meaningless.
"It was your army that crossed the river to annihilate Fang La, so your lone army will naturally be transferred back!"
Sun Lei pointed to the south and said.
"Crossing the river?"
Han Shizhong's face was gloomy, obviously he didn't believe it. Sun Lei's army was at the rear. How could the army dare to cross the river to fight at this time?
Seeing that Han Shizhong didn't believe it, Sun Lei didn't explain much.
"I've said my goodbyes, so let's say goodbye. I wish General Han a bright future!"
Sun Lei smiled and hugged Han Shizhong with a fist.
Han Shizhong just looked at Sun Lei coldly without saying anything, and he didn't know whether he believed it or not.
"Go back to camp!"
Seeing that Sun Lei's army was really retreating, Han Shizhong ordered in a deep voice.
As soon as the hour arrived, Wang Yuan arrived with people.
"Wang Xianfeng, why are you back?"
When Han Shizhong saw that the person who came back was Wang Yuan, he became suspicious. Wang Yuan cherished his life very much. He would be at a loss when something happened. This was what he despised the most. Those who served as generals should treat death as if they were home.
"The commander-in-chief has ordered the army to withdraw to Suzhou!"
Wang Yuan looked at Han Shizhong and said.
"Withdraw to Suzhou? Doesn't Sun Lei want to attack the city?"
Han Shizhong has no doubts now, because the visitor is Wang Yuan, who can also see Tan Zhen. In addition to military orders, he also received passwords, so it is impossible to cheat.
"The commander-in-chief has made a decision. The entire army will cross the river and quickly destroy Fang La. General Wang will defend Yangzhou City to buy time for the army!"
Wang Yuan said.
"General Wang is defending Yangzhou?"
Han Shizhong had a strange look on his face. What kind of desperate move was this? The risk is too great. If Yangzhou is not protected and the army is in danger, Jiangnan will never have peace again, and the annihilation of Fang La is far away.
"The imperial court has an order to destroy Fang La with all our strength!"
Wang Yuan said.
"But this is Sun Lei here!"
Han Shizhong pointed in the direction of Hongze Lake.
"Alas, Lieutenant Han, we can only follow orders!"
Wang Yuan said helplessly that this was an order from Tokyo and they could not disobey it.
"Command the entire army to withdraw!"
Han Shizhong could only shout an order.
…
Hongze Lake.
"Brother, Han Shizhong has withdrawn!"
Wen Huanzhang said.
"As expected, Jiangnan is rich and is also a major taxation area. Unlike our Shandong province, where we are poor, Tokyo looks down on money and food taxes."
Sun Lei smiled and said, Hangzhou, Suzhou, Yangzhou, and Huzhou in the south of the Yangtze River are at the forefront of taxation every year.
Now that Fang La is making such a fuss, the court taxes have been reduced sharply. Money is the lifeblood of the Song Dynasty. The Song Dynasty can be defeated, lose territory, be embarrassed, and accept anything, but it cannot be short of money.
"Brother, Haizhou has been captured now, should we continue going south?"
Du Bo looked at Sun Lei and asked.
"No, no more southward expansion. We can no longer stimulate Tokyo. Otherwise, there will definitely be movement from the Puzhou army."
Sun Lei shook his head and said, if they go too deep south, then Tokyo will definitely take action against Liang Shanbo.
"Actually, the relationship between us and the imperial court is very delicate now. The imperial court wants to destroy us, and we want to replace us. They are worried that we will threaten Tokyo to the west. We do not dare to move our army too far away from Liangshanbo."
Sun Lei said that he actually didn't want to be like this, but the actual situation was that Liangshanbo and Tokyo were constraining each other. This was due to their geographical location.
In Hongze Lake, the Liangshan fleet stayed for two days and then set off southward along the canal.
"This can be regarded as fireworks descending on Yangzhou in March, right?"
Sun Lei looked at the prosperous scenery on both sides of the Taiwan Strait and said with a smile. The catkins on both sides of the Strait were like smoke and the flowers were blooming like brocade.
"Brother, this season is the best in Jiangnan!"
Wang Dingliu said with a smile that March in the south of the Yangtze River is a good time to travel.
There were many merchant ships on the canal at this time. When they saw Liang Shanbo's fleet, they all pulled over to avoid it.
"Pay attention to this canal these days, don't let merchant ships block our way!"
Sun Lei looked at Wen Huanzhang and said, the canal is so wide. If the government forcibly recruits merchant ships to block the river, there will be some trouble.
"Don't worry, brother! I will find several big chambers of commerce to explain this matter later!"
Wen Huanzhang nodded and said, this matter is also simple. He directly told the chamber of commerce not to rush to stand aside, otherwise if the Liangshan army comes, they will confiscate the family and exterminate the clan. For those people, the family is far more important than the court.
It only took more than a day along the canal for the Liangshan army to reach Yangzhou City. At this moment, in Yangzhou City, the army had already crossed the river.
On Yangzhou City, there is only one flag with the word "王" flying in the wind.
"Wang Zhen!"
Sun Lei frowned deeply as he looked at the military flag on the city. This was the strongest defender in the Northern Song Dynasty. Facing the Jin army moving south, he could defend the isolated city of Taiyuan for nine months.
You must know that Wang Zhen faced the Jin army who was attacking the city and fortifying the stronghold. None of the five capitals of the Liao Kingdom could withstand the Jin army's attack. (End of chapter)
