Reborn in Liangshan: I built the strongest lineup

"Brother, news has arrived: the imperial court has mobilized an army of 400,000, and they're already heading for us!"

As soon as the imperial army moved, Tianmu received the news and immediately relayed it back to Liangshan.

"Four hundred thousand?"

Ren Yuan was a little stunned. Really? Is Zhao Ji really that powerful?

"It's said to cost 400,000."

Shi Qian emphasized the word "claimed".

"So-called?"

Ren was taken aback at first, but then he understood.

"I understand now. The actual troop strength is probably only around 200,000."

"As expected of my brother, you guessed it right away! But brother, we must not underestimate our enemy. After all, 200,000 is not a small number. We Liangshan have never fought against an opponent with 200,000 troops before."

Shi Qian said that this was indeed the biggest job Liangshan had encountered in all these years.

"Shi Qian, tell me the specifics."

Xiao Jiahui wanted to know where this so-called 200,000 yuan came from.

"According to reliable sources, this time, Tong Guan has 150,000 troops, all of them elites from various Imperial Guard units. The naval forces from Sichuan and Jingzhou each number 15,000, totaling 30,000. They have already assembled near Jinling and are ready to head north at any time. Finally, there are 20,000 troops who are not with them; they are members of the Zhe family from the Western Army. So, in total, there are 200,000."

After Shi Qian said that, everyone did some mental calculations. In that case, to be honest, Tong Guan only had 150,000 people under his direct command.

"Brother, of Tong Guan's 150,000 men, Wang Qing is leading 50,000 as the vanguard."

Shi Qian added a final point.

"Wang Qing is the vanguard?"

Upon hearing the news, Li Zhu and Liu Min immediately stood up.

“Brother, let us go. If he is the vanguard, then most of his men must be the same ones from Huaixi. If we go, we might be able to persuade them to surrender.”

"Yes, brother! Let us go. Let's also call Boss Du. Back then, Boss Du had an unshakable prestige among the armies in Huaixi. With the two of us and Boss Du together, we can definitely get a lot of people to surrender."

Liu Min also felt that they could persuade them to surrender this time.

“Military Advisor Li, Military Advisor Liu, I’m not trying to discourage you two. To be fair, the fact that Wang Qing was able to lead these people to directly surrender and accept the amnesty shows that they were quite supportive of it.”

Shi Qian has his own views on the current situation.

"If you go now, I doubt you'll get much out of it."

Li Zhu and Liu Min initially wanted to refute, but upon closer examination, they realized that what Shi Qian said wasn't entirely without merit.

"If there's nothing else, Shi Qian, let Military Advisor Li and the others go."

Ren Yuan waved his hand, then said to Assistant Li:

“Brother Li Zhu, Brother Liu Min, I will have Boss Du and Brother Feng Tai go with you. As for Brother Ling Zhen, I will have him send an artillery regiment from the Divine Machine Army to support you. If we can’t reach an agreement, then we’ll just fight. Let Ling Zhen bombard you with artillery first, and then you can go up.”

Ren Yuan gave instructions to Li Zhu.

"Li Zhu will obey his brother's orders."

Li Zhu was very grateful because Ren Yuan's words just now revealed his care for the brothers in Huaixi.

My brother truly considered the Huaixi Army as his own!

"Brothers Zhu Wu."

"Brother, I'm here."

"You've made a difficult trip. Take some people and inform the people in the surrounding villages to pack their belongings and temporarily hide somewhere else. They can come to Liangshan or go to their relatives further away."

"Tong Guan's 200,000 men must have consumed a lot of food and supplies along the way. If the imperial court's grain transport is even slightly delayed, these people will definitely turn on the common people."

"Brother, but some people may be unwilling to leave their homes, what should we do?"

Zhu Wu nodded. There are quite a few people living around Liangshan, so if such a large-scale battle breaks out, it will affect the lives of the people.

Therefore, the safety of the people was a top priority for Liangshan before each battle.

"Those who are unwilling to leave, have the soldiers tell them to stay at home and not to clash with the Zhao Song army."

"If the Zhao Song army takes a fancy to their family's belongings, let them take them! Whether it's grain or livestock, don't resist, let them take it. When the war is over, Liangshan will compensate them."

Ren Yuan said he could understand the mentality of those who were unwilling to move. Not to mention now, in Ren Yuan's previous life, during the years when China was invaded, there were also people who were unwilling to go into the mountains to hide whenever the enemy swept through.

If they are unwilling to avoid it, then they must bear some risks. What Ren Yuan can do is help them minimize their losses.

"Understood, brother, don't worry, leave it to me."

Zhu Wu nodded, already starting to plan what to do.

"Shi Qian".

Ren Yuan then called out Shi Qian's name.

"What are your instructions, brother?"

"First, go to the Hall of Righteousness and bring out our large sand table. Then, have Brother Ma Ling summon all the legion commanders. The meeting will be held in the Hall of Righteousness in one hour."

"Yes!"

……

An hour later, the commanders of the Liangshan army all arrived at the Hall of Gathering Righteousness.

As soon as they entered, they saw that the large sand table of Liangshan had been put back up, and Ren Yuan was sticking some small flags of different colors on it.

"Brother, we're here."

The crowd spoke to Ren Yuan.

"Good timing, brothers, come and take a look."

Ren Yuan gestured for everyone to come over, then pointed to the sand table and said:

"Based on the intelligence from the Sky Curtain, the current situation is roughly as follows: Wang Qing's troops are expected to arrive at the front line of Liangshan in five days. I have already promised the two strategists that our Boss Du and Brother Feng Tai will lead the vanguard this time. Does everyone have any objections?"

"No! I'll listen to my brother!"

"That's right, that's right! Since Wang Qing is their vanguard, then our vanguard should naturally be Boss Du!"

……

Originally, everyone might have wanted to compete for the vanguard spot, but upon hearing that the opponent was Wang Qing, they wisely decided not to fight for it.

Du Xue's sworn brother, Wei He, died on the way to break through the siege because Wang Qing wanted to offer him amnesty.

So Du Xue always had a knot in his heart. He always wanted to ask Wang Qing why he couldn't tell the brothers in advance when he wanted to be granted amnesty!

"Brother, I..."

Du Xue and Feng Tai's eyes immediately welled up with tears after hearing Ren Yuan's words.

They never expected that Ren Yuan would actually remember what happened between them and trust them so much!

“Brother Du, Brother Feng Tai, if Wang Qing is willing to talk this time, then you can talk. If he is not, then you two don’t need to worry about him too much.”

"Brother Ling Zhen!"

"What are your instructions, brother?"

Ling Zhen walked out of the crowd, somewhat puzzled. Why did his brother call him?

“In your Shenji Army, pick a reliable regiment and have two brothers lead it as the vanguard.”

"Don't hold back with your Divine Machine Army's mother-and-child artillery this time, bring it out and use it!"

"If Wang Qing doesn't want to talk, just have the Shenji Army brothers blast him to smithereens!"

Ren Yuan declared with great confidence that he was not afraid of anything else now; since there were cannons, he would use them!

"Don't worry, brother. The Shenji Army's cannons have been eager to test their power for a long time!"

Ling Zhen said there was no problem; his Divine Machine Army had been starving for a long time!

……