In September, the eagle flies, and hunting is the time.
The sky is vast and the wilderness is endless. Hundreds of horses are rolling around the hills, galloping in the wilderness north of Nanjing, the former Liao Kingdom, now north of Youzhou City in the Song Dynasty. Accompanied by the shouts, all kinds of wild beasts, big and small, were frightened and fled in all directions, and those chasing after them and shooting arrows were none other than the Song Army soldiers led by Sun Tu who were currently guarding Youzhou.
It has been more than two months since Sun Tu completely captured the Sixteenth Province of Youyun, but for them, there is still too much aftermath work to deal with. Wanting to completely capture a city that has been occupied by other countries for many years is not just a matter of conquest and fighting on the battlefield. How to manage these cities later will truly test the ability of the people in power. This is naturally a big problem for Sun Tu and his subordinates. Dilemma.
Fortunately, Sun Tu had a lot of useful people under his command, and he didn't have many prejudices against ourselves and enemies. He quickly selected some talented Han people from various cities who were willing to submit to him. Only then did he let Yi A series of cities, mainly Youzhou, began to slowly recover from the war.
Of course, there were many twists and turns. In just two months, two rebellions broke out in Yunzhou and Jizhou. The remnants of the Liao army coerced the local Han people into rebellion. Fortunately, the Song Army had already been on guard against this change, and immediately took decisive action to suppress the rebellion, and was extremely ruthless in the process of suppressing the rebellion. As hundreds of rebel heads were hung in the four cities, these cities Finally stabilized again.
As the most important city in Youzhou City, Sun Tu did not dare to be careless at all. In the past two months, he had been diligent and walking on thin ice. At least with the arrival of the autumn harvest, abundant food, and the iron fist suppression of other cities, Finally, those rebels who were ready to move fell into silence, at least for a short period of time, they did not dare to cause trouble again.
It was precisely because of this that Sun Tu was able to steal half a day's leisure, and followed by a group of soldiers to hunt in the wilderness north of Youzhou. Since he was interested in hunting for his own entertainment, it was impossible for Sun Tu to be like a shameless and boastful Emperor Mazi in later generations who not only recorded how many wild beasts he had shot in his life, but also relied on thousands of troops to drive away all kinds of wild beasts. He appears under his own arrows, but truly hunts wild beasts by his own ability.
For this reason, he even asked the other personal guards to go far away. He and Yue Fei were the only ones who galloped along the road. When they saw the beasts escaping in the grass, they opened their bows and fired arrows to knock them over. Sun Tu's luck was not bad today. In just half a day, he had two deer and five hares. In front of them, there was a frightened fawn that kept running away and was forced to a more open area in a panic.
With two soft whistles, Sun Tu and Yue Fei fired arrows almost at the same time, but only one arrow hit the back of the deer's neck, causing it to fall to the ground with a thud. The other arrow grazed the deer's body and nailed it. In the mud on its side. It was Sun Tu who hit the target, but Yue Fei missed again.
This was not the first time that he had behaved so badly today. Along the way, Yue Fei had gained almost nothing, and every arrow he fired was always slightly off, allowing his prey to escape. But this time, such a big deer was within twenty or thirty steps, but he still missed it. This was really unreasonable. Even his own face became increasingly different.
But Sun Tu was not in a hurry to step forward to check the prey at this time, but
Suddenly he tightened the reins and looked at the annoyed Yue Fei and said, "Pengju, are you worried?"
"I..." Yue Fei opened his mouth, but for a moment he didn't know what to say, but he couldn't hide the tangled look on his face.
"Actually, I have noticed it a long time ago. In the past two months, you have always been absent-minded, and you have done some wrong things before. This is not like you before. Tell me, why is it so wrong? You and I are the masters. Brothers are just like family members, so there is no need to hide them." Sun Tu said, looking at each other with sincere eyes.
Feeling Sun Tu's sincerity, Yue Fei's face became more ashamed. He finally understood that the reason why General Sun suddenly took time out to hunt this time and specifically called him out was obviously for his own sake.
After another period of hesitation, he finally said: "General, I do have some things that I can't figure out, and they have been bothering me. That's why I have been feeling restless for the past two months, and I don't seem to have any thoughts about anything."
"We are not in the military now. Privately, we should treat each other as brothers and sisters." Sun Tu smiled again, emphasizing the closer relationship between the two parties, and then asked: "What do you have? If you are troubled, tell me, senior brother, and I will listen and see if I can help you with some answers."
Yue Fei felt his heart become even warmer, and finally opened his heart and said: "Actually, my thoughts have a lot to do with you, senior brother. To this day, I still can't figure out why you let Yelu Dashi and his men leave that day. Isn't it like letting the tiger return to the mountain? Originally, in Jizhou City, maybe with just a few more battles, we can completely wipe out the last elite of the Liao Kingdom, just like we did with the Jurchen Kingdom."
"So that's why. I think you are not the only one in the army now, there are many people who have the same question." Sun Tu nodded, "You are right, our army was indeed able to conquer Jizhou in one go. , and wiped out this elite Liao army. But have you ever thought about how powerful the Liao people who are trapped in the desperate situation will be by that time, and how much casualties they will cause us? Although it seemed at that time It seems that our army is strong, but in fact we are also exhausted and we really can't accept too much damage. If we really attack Jizhou violently, it will be the result of losing both sides. This is what I don't want to see. Because we The ultimate goal is only to recapture the Sixteen Youyun Provinces, not to really destroy the entire Liao Kingdom."
After hearing this, Yue Fei frowned again: "But that is a perfect opportunity after all. The Liao Kingdom has been our Song Dynasty's biggest enemy for many years..."
"That was before, but it may not be the case in the future, because we have recaptured the Sixteenth Province of Youyun, and we can no longer be passively beaten as before." Sun Tu said seriously: "What's more, even if we really destroy the Khitan Liao Kingdom, we Can the Central Plains sit back and relax
"You have also read history. You should know that for thousands of years, there have always been foreign enemies in our Central Plains. On the northern grasslands, from the Huns to the Turks, and now to the Khitans and Jurchens, no country has been destroyed because of us. This will prevent future troubles forever. In this case, why do we have to fight with the Liao people to lose both sides, instead of each taking a step back and getting what we need? What's more, leaving the Liao Kingdom as a great enemy is not good for us, the Song Dynasty. It's a complete bad thing. At least we understand them better. At least the two sides could coexist peacefully in the past few decades. It's better than a sudden encounter with the Jurchens.
Wouldn't it be better to be an enemy of a tribe that has risen but is even more barbaric and ferocious
"In addition, as long as the Liao Kingdom is still there, once the nomadic tribes in the north rise, they will be the first to bear the brunt. For our Central Plains, they have become a natural barrier. This is not much more beneficial than the complete destruction of a country. ?”
After hearing these long words, Yue Fei was confused for a while. Even though he was young and mature, he had his own set of opinions, but he still couldn't keep up with Sun Tu's rhythm. After being silent for a long time, he was still a little worried and said: "But senior brother, aren't you afraid of the dangers of raising tigers? If we miss this opportunity, even if we take back the Sixteenth Province of Youyun, the Liao people may still be a serious problem for us in the future. .”
"Of course this is possible, but after we Han people own this large land for raising horses, the situation will be very different from the previous hundred years, and I believe that the Liao Kingdom will not be able to pose any threat to us in a short time. .”
Seeing the confusion on Yue Fei's face, Sun Tu explained patiently: "Do you think I let Yelu Dashi go just because I didn't want to cause any more casualties? No, I let him go to make Liao Kingdom more chaotic. .
"After this disaster, although the Liao people's vitality was severely damaged, I think some people have also woken up from their previous arrogance and drunkenness. Yelu Dashi must be one of the best. But what he wants to do, and It is bound to cause conflicts with the original vested interests, and even create a rift with the current Emperor Yelu Yanxi of the Liao Kingdom. Especially when he, as a defeated general, takes the responsibility of the great sinner who lost the entire Sixteen States of Youyun. After returning to the Liao court with your identity, you will be more likely to be convicted. Let me ask you, if it were you, what choice would you make after facing such a situation? "
"I..." Yue Fei was stunned for a moment. Originally, he would have replied without hesitation that of course he obeyed the court and would not resist even if he was sentenced to death. But then, he thought of the current situation in Liao Kingdom. , thinking that once Yelu Dashi was killed, the entire country and nation would fall into the abyss, and he hesitated unconsciously.
Sun Tu took the opportunity and said: "Although Yelu Dashi has been defeated by me several times, in my opinion, it is just his bad luck. His character, mind, and ability are not inferior to mine. Such a person has great ambitions in his heart." , how could he be willing to be killed? So he would definitely fight back, and with his huge reputation in the Liao Kingdom and the army, even Yelu Yanxi might not be able to deal with it. After all, the Liao Emperor's reputation in the country But it's extremely bad. If it weren't for his misbehavior, the Jin people wouldn't have been able to rise.
"So if my prediction is correct, with Yelu Dashi's return, there will be great chaos within the Liao Kingdom, and there may even be an incident where the emperor is abolished and a new emperor is established."
"This... how is this possible?" Yue Fei was really shocked this time. He had never thought that any minister would dare to do such a rebellious act. This was very different from the idea of loyalty to the emperor that he had always regarded as the norm. There is a big difference, they are completely opposite.
Sun Tuze suddenly stared into his eyes and asked loudly: "What's wrong with this? Emperors, generals, and ministers, would you rather be kind? Let me ask you, what is loyalty when it comes to serving the country with loyalty?"
After talking so much and going around so much, Sun Tu finally revealed the key purpose of today's in-depth discussion with Yue Fei!