It was dusk and the setting sun was setting, but the end of the sky was dyed with a blood red that made people palpitations.

The Liangshan Army still chose to retreat. Even though Sun Tu kept his promise and released Chao Gai and Wu Yong back, they did not launch an attack on Dongping anymore, nor did they stay outside the city for a long time, and went straight to the road.

It was Wu Yong who made this decision, because he had already seen that his brothers were no longer interested in fighting, so they were prepared to attack Dongping City, which had more troops, would only increase casualties, without any benefit. Moreover, King Chao's injuries intensified, which affected the morale of the entire army, so it would be better to take advantage of the fact that the official army did not dare to go out of the city to pursue and stop.

But did they really win this battle against Dongping?

On the surface, the Liangshan army did indeed invade Dongping Prefecture and plundered a lot of wealth and goods in the city, but can this really make up for their consumption and casualties in this siege? The previous fierce attack on the city alone caused hundreds of casualties, and the incident that occurred in Sun Tu later killed hundreds of people. Together, more than a thousand brothers fell in Dongping Prefecture, which was a big blow to Liangshanpo.

What's more important is that this battle with the Qingzhou army made the brothers fear the official army. Wu Yong and Chao Gai both fell into the hands of the official army. Once the news came back to the mountain village, the consequences were really hard to say.

Of course, if it were just like this, Wu Yong felt that it would not be unacceptable to be able to return safely. After all, this attack on Dongping Prefecture was more of a cover, and his real goal was set in Qingzhou City. However, after hearing Sun Tu's last words, he couldn't help but feel suspicious. Could it be that his plan was really seen through by him early in the morning, and will Qingzhou end in failure?

This idea troubled Wu Yong for a long time, and he still couldn't let go until he was in the middle of the night of the march. However, Chao Gai was seriously injured and had not healed. He could not find anyone to discuss. Now it seems that he could only pray that Sun Tu only realized that there was a change afterwards. In fact, Qingzhou City was not prepared, and he was just intimidating.

Wu Yong, who could only comfort himself like this, was actually very clear in his heart. With Sun Tu's talent, he might have seen the flaws long ago, and now he is just a trick. It is actually very simple to find out whether what he said is true or false. As long as he waits on the necessary road to Qingzhou, as long as he sees Sun Tu sending someone back to convey the message, he can tell that he is just holding on.

But the result disappointed Wu Yong, because after a whole night, they did not see anyone coming from Dongping - Sun Tu actually led his army to stay in Dongping, and he was completely worried about the possible changes in Qingzhou...

In fact, Sun Tu, who was in Dongping City at this time, did not have the heart to pay attention to what would happen in Qingzhou. Anyway, everything has been arranged and the employment of people is not doubted. Since we believe that Lin Chong and Shiqian can deal with any danger, let them find a way for themselves. What Sun Tu has to do is to stabilize Dongping Prefecture and take this as an opportunity to obtain the military power of Shandong prefectures!

When the Liangshan Army retreated and Sun Tu led the Qingzhou Army to defend the city, the people finally felt relieved. The people who were exchanged for the Liangshan Army captives were naturally grateful to him. As soon as they entered the city, they all knelt all over the ground, which took him a lot of talk to everyone.

Other people in the city cried constantly, their homes were destroyed, and their relatives were killed, which was an unbearable pain for any ordinary person. Sun Tu could only let some officials in the city come forward to calm people, but the effect was not very good. If you want to calm the people down, you have to live a while.

Just as the people cried, Sun Tu swept the two or three hundred Dongping defenders who had survived the disaster with a gloomy expression. These people were frightened by Sun Tu's aura and were afraid to look up, looking guilty. After a while, he said coldly: "Why was Dongping City easily broken by the Liangshan Army? I have seen that several city gates were intact, so why were the enemy's attacks the city gates? Also, where is your chief supervisor Dong Ping? He should be the first to be punished by the fall of the city!"

"Sun...Sun Dujian, let's hear the explanation of the last general..." Pang Xu, who was injured and almost dead, could not help but say after seeing that the soldiers did not dare to speak, he finally said: "We have indeed fallen into the Liangshan bandits' plan to cause the city to fall and the people suffer. However, this matter has nothing to do with Dujian Dong. He, he was ordered by the prefect to take it down the day before yesterday and threw it into the prison."

"Huh?" Sun Tu raised his eyebrows. He really didn't expect such an answer. He thought that Dongping's fall might be related to Dong Ping's rebellion, but who thought that this person was thrown into prison early in the morning. After a while, he asked urgently: "What's going on? Why did Dong Ping be taken by Cheng Taishou? What did he do?"

"This... I don't know about it." Pang Xu shook his head blankly, then looked at the subordinates around him. These people shook their heads, but some people still hesitated for a moment and said, "Besides, the reason why the city gate was deceived today was also due to the fact that General Pang wanted to see it again, but the prefect personally urged him, and then he ran to the west gate and gave an order to make the city gate open quickly and put it in the Liangshan bandit outside..."

Sun Tu's face changed again, and there was such an inside story? Then, he looked at the person who spoke: "Who are you? Do you know what the crime is to frame an official at will?"

"The villain Dong Jian is a personal soldier next to Dong Dujian. Everything the villain said is true and dare not deceive Dujian." He obviously had already made his promise. After answering loudly, he turned his head to look at the people behind him: "In fact, many people still see these things. Sun Dujian just asks them and knows the truth or false."

"Pang Xu, is what he said true?" Sun Tu's eyes settled on Pang Xu. When he was staring like this, his body trembled for no reason and felt obvious pressure. But after hesitating, he still said truthfully: "Go back to Sun Dujian, Dong Jian's words were true. It was the prefect who urged him several times that forced the generals to rush to open the city gate. When the generals realized that this was a conspiracy of the bandits, everything was too late to save them."

Seeing the chief general speaking, the other defenders finally had some confidence and followed up: "Dujian Mingjian, we were also present at that time. We all saw the prefect constantly asking General Pang to open the city gate and welcome reinforcements into the city... I hope the chief supervisor will make the decision for us!" As he said that, these people knelt down at Sun Tu one after another.

Sun Tu looked at the actions of these people and listened to their uneven testimony, knowing that what they said should be true. If only a few people blamed Cheng Wanli, they could explain that they were shirking randomly because they were afraid of taking responsibility. But now, when almost everyone said the same thing, this is the truth.

What's more, Sun Tu felt strange before, why, not long after the city was broken, Cheng Wanli, a civil servant, would fall into the hands of the Liangshan Army. With his identity, he could hide for at least a while, especially after he led his army to kill in time, the bandits in the city had no time to capture important figures. The only explanation was that he was near the city gate at that time, and this was in line with everyone's statement.

If what they said was true, then Cheng Wanli would be very problematic. He imprisoned Dong Ping, who could lead his army to defend the city, which greatly weakened the defense power in the city. Later, he forced the city to open the city without the fact that the city could still hold on. This made it impossible for people to suspect that Cheng Wanli had collusion with the Liangshan bandits.

Finally, after returning to the city just now, Cheng Wanli only thanked Sun Tu for a few words and then hurriedly left. He didn't realize anything was wrong at that time, but now he thought about it, his behavior was a bit guilty. Did he want to take advantage of the chaos in the city and escape with his family?

Once suspicion arose, Sun Tu no longer delayed and immediately ordered Yang Zhi and others to lead the army to defend the city. He took Pang Xu and Dong Jian and others directly to the prefect's office. If Cheng Wanli really had a problem, he would not let this traitor go.

When they arrived at the front of the government office, it was already dark. The gate of the government office, which was supposed to be lit with lanterns, was covered with black pennants, and no one was guarding him. Sun Tu didn't have much concern, so he immediately led everyone into the door and went straight into the inner hall. Only then did he see Cheng Wanli angry at the servants: "...Are you all wastes? You can't even see the lady?"

"Master, at that time, a bandit soldier suddenly entered the government office. The young men were really frightened and could only escape in all directions, so they didn't care about the young lady..." Someone plucked up his courage and replied in a low voice, but it was even more like adding fuel to the fire, which made Cheng Wanli even more annoyed and said furiously: "Barewell, I'm better to raise a dog than I do to raise you. At least it's more reliable than you at critical moments..."

"The prefect Cheng said this badly. It is natural for people to avoid misfortune when they encounter danger. It is too inappropriate for you to speak like this." As this sentence was said, Sun Tu walked in with a swagger.

Cheng Wanli's face changed a little. Although he was a little unhappy, it was not easy to get angry in front of Sun Tu. He could only smile and said with a forced smile: "Sun Dujian, you don't know something, they..."

"I said, their approach is not wrong. Whoever stipulates that slaves must give up their lives to protect the Lord? Let the life of a daughter be a life, isn't their life?" Sun Tu did not let him finish his words at all, and then interrupted directly: "And compared to the actions of some local officials who feed the salaries of the court, their small mistake is even more of a sin."

"What does Sun Dujian mean?" Cheng Wanli's face immediately became cold, and at the same time, his heart tightened. He vaguely realized that something was wrong. Not only because of Sun Tu's attitude, but also because of Pang Xu and Dong Jian who followed him in, Qiu Ba, who had been respectful to him before, was also looking at him with a strange look!
Chapter completed!