Two days later, Pang Wanchun had personally led 20,000 elite troops as vanguard troops to the city of Suzhou, and then he saw an incredible and amazing scene-

There were already many defenders on the top of Suzhou city, waiting for battle, and swords, guns and arrows stood there like a forest. People would be shocked when they looked at it from a distance. With just a rough sweep, he had already calculated that there were five or six thousand soldiers and horses deployed on the top of the city. If there were any possible reserves, the defenders in the city were no longer under their vanguard army.

What surprised him even more was the Sun-word banner flying high above the city. This was the general banner he had been very familiar with recently, and it was Sun Tu's banner. This changed Pang Wanchun's face again: "How could Sun Tu appear here? Or is it just their bluffing strategy?" He really couldn't believe that the Changshu defenders would defend the city without the commander of the three armies, and repeatedly fought to repel his full-strength attack.

How should we act now? An extremely critical question has been placed in front of Pang Wanchun. According to his previous plan, since he personally led the forward to attack Suzhou, he naturally wanted to get back Suzhou immediately. But judging from the current defense of Suzhou City, it is likely that he could hit a wall here and suffer heavy losses.

But Pang Wanchun knew more about the consequences of delaying it. When the Song army in Changshu came to pick him up, even the Song army in Jinling broke up their tacit understanding and sent troops after knowing the battle in Suzhou, the battle surrounding Suzhou City became more and more difficult.

After quickly weighing and thinking in his heart, he finally made up his mind: "Send the orders to launch an attack on Suzhou North City. We must concentrate all our troops to take down this city gate first!" To be honest, even if the facts were in front of us, Pang Wanchun still couldn't believe that the Song army could recruit thousands or even tens of thousands of people to defend the city in just a few days after taking Suzhou. In his opinion, the seemingly heroic defenders on the city were mostly ordinary people who were forced to go up the city. As long as they attacked themselves, the defenders would inevitably be in chaos and collapse!

Until now, he believed that the number of Song troops who could travel south quietly from his nose was certainly not large, perhaps only a few hundred people, so how could he defend such a big city as Suzhou?

When Pang Shuai's order and speculation were issued, the Wu army soldiers, who were already a little frightened, quickly calmed down and immediately launched the first wave of offensive against Suzhou City Gate amid the sound of drums and whispers.

Sun Tu, who had already seen the enemy coming from the city, just smiled relaxedly when he saw this. Under his command, the newly recruited soldiers began to act in an orderly manner. When the enemy rushed to the city, bows, arrows, wood and stones and other weapons to defend the city had already fallen like raindrops, and the enemy screamed in a row, and the momentum of rushing forward was immediately stopped.

This Suzhou City is not comparable to a small county town like Changshu. The city walls here are twice as many as those in the county town. In addition, various complete weapons can greet the enemy below as if they don't have money. Even if the guards are only those who have never fought much, their lethality is not much weaker than the elite of the Shandong Army. Moreover, as the enemy continues to fall, the originally uneasy soldiers let go of their hands and feet, and the attack range of arrows and stones is also larger, causing more casualties to the Wu army.

The Wu army, who had already consumed a lot of physical strength due to the rapid march, was even more unstable after facing such a tough resistance. Before Pang Wanchun could order the withdrawal, he retreated in a mess, leaving only about two hundred corpses under the city, but he could not even touch the walls of Suzhou City.

When they saw the fierce enemy who was fighting in a panic, the army in the city made waves of noise and cheers, and they were more confident in defending the city. In particular, the wealthy businessmen soon brought a box of copper coins and a large amount of wine and meat to the top of the city to reward the soldiers. The morale at the top of the city was even more enormous, and the cheers were heard, spreading straight to the Wu army formation that had been withdrawn for several miles.

The reason why Sun Tu was able to raise such a city-guarding army in just a short period of time was naturally due to the strong support of a group of merchants and landlords led by Su Mao. After agreeing to his request, these merchants actually spent a lot of money and food to recruit the people in the city to defend the city together.

It is said that there must be brave men under heavy rewards. With the response and publicity of many merchants in the city, and some of the actions of the Wu army themselves were not very popular, Sun Tu gathered a team of thousands of people to guard Suzhou City.

Of course, the combat power of such an army that is mostly composed by ordinary people is naturally far from comparable to that of the Wu army, which has become large and established. However, as long as you obey the orders of dispatch, it is enough to rely on the city.

Moreover, Sun Tu had another intention to recruit people to defend the city together. Seeing the Wu army retreating, he immediately went down to the city, recruited Su Mao and some famous old village chiefs in the city, and asked, "How many of the people I asked you to look for?"

"If you say to General Sun, there are actually not many young and strong people in Suzhou who were pulled away by the anti-army army. So far, only two or three hundred families have been found. I wonder if it is enough..." Su Mao said with some uncertainty. They did take a lot of thought, but the effect was not ideal.

Sun Tu smiled, "It's enough. As long as they do as I told you, even a hundred people will be enough to accomplish things. You can let them go to the city later. Don't worry, I will keep them safe. And I believe that they don't want their children to die in this Suzhou city in vain."

Su Mao hurriedly agreed, and immediately brought people there, calling all the people with a nervous look on their faces. Most of these people were old, weak, women and children, and they were wearing shabby clothes. They were obviously poor families in Suzhou City.

Seeing this, Sun Tu comforted them again and promised that as long as the matter was done, he would not harm them and their families, and would also give some money and food to subsidize them. This made these people feel grateful and even their timidity faded a lot.

After noon, with the sound of drums and whistles again, the Wu army sent troops to attack Suzhou again. Although they suffered a considerable loss at the city before, the Wu army was not really discouraged. This time the offensive was even more powerful than before.

As they rushed to the city like a wave, there were no arrows, wood and stones falling on the top of the city this time, which made the Wu army a little uncomfortable. Many people slowed down, and they were careful, fearing that some big killing weapon would suddenly be taken out from above.

In the distance, Pang Wanchun stared at Suzhou City even more nervously: "What are the medicines that the Song army is selling in the gourd? Could it be that some chaos in the city, so they are not guarding the city gate?"

The answer was soon revealed, and more than a hundred people suddenly appeared on the top of the city wall, and a loud voice shouted loudly: "Brothers of Wu Jun, you can attack slowly and see who are in the top of the city wall! They are the people of Suzhou, your parents and relatives. Are you planning to attack your relatives?"

As soon as these words were said, the movements of the soldiers who were about to shoot the arrow stopped, and many soldiers even looked up at the old or tender faces above.

At this time, an old man shouted excitedly: "San'er, are you below, San'er? I'm your father. Don't take such risks to go against the court. Now General Sun has promised to give my family twenty coins, and the previous things have been written off. Come back..."

Then, the others also found their relatives and shouted: "Huzi, it turns out that you have joined the Wu army. I thought you had already... come back quickly. The government no longer cares about the previous things. My family's land has also been brought back. Don't do anything wrong again."

"Mr. Langjun, our children are thinking about you. Don't take risks there anymore, come back soon..."

The calls of relatives immediately made the Wu army, which rushed to the city, stop completely. Many of them were so excited that they trembled all over, some were full of tears, and some responded loudly, which was confirmed that their father, wife and children were summoning themselves in the city, and they had lost their fighting spirit in an instant.

For the people of the Song Dynasty at this time, even joining the army was forced, let alone joining the rebel ranks. Before, they had no way to survive, so they rose up and took their lives to gain a way out. But now, with the pleading of their relatives, the hearts of these people immediately shook and were about to give up.

As for more other Wu soldiers, they were also affected by the summons from their relatives. The weapons in their hands slowly lowered, and their eyes were full of confusion. How great would it be if their relatives could also get compensation for money and land like the people of Suzhou, and summon themselves to put down their weapons and submit to them like they did.

However, the Wu generals were anxious and angry at this time, and some people shouted loudly, asking their troops to attack the city head immediately. But this time, the military order was useless. Almost no one dared to shoot an arrow at the city head. Even if there were a few who wanted to do it, they were blocked by the robes around them. The city was full of relatives of their own brothers. Once these people were really hurt, the entire Wu army would be divided and in chaos, and the consequences would only be more serious than now.

Pang Wanchun also immediately understood the importance of it. The expression on his face changed several times, and then he quickly ordered: "Ming Jin to withdraw the troops..." He could see that the morale of the entire army had now reached the lowest point. Even if the order was really strict, it would only cost some people their lives.

"Is Sun Tu the one who defends the city now? He is indeed powerful. He understands the strategy of attacking the enemy as the best at attacking the heart, and has used such despicable means to target our Wu soldiers..." Pang Wanchun sighed softly. At this point, he was convinced that Suzhou would not be able to be brought back. Even if the troops behind arrived and attacked the city with a large army of 100,000, Suzhou would not be able to be taken down in just a few days. It won't take long for the Song reinforcements from Changshu and even Jinling to be killed.

Now, there is only one best choice in front of him, give up Suzhou and lead the army to the south!
Chapter completed!