At the end of the game, amid the cheers of thousands of people of the Song Dynasty, Sun Tu led a group of team members to the high platform where the prince was sitting. He bowed down respectfully and said loudly: "Your Highness the prince, I am sorry for you." Disgraceful, finally defeated the Liao Envoy team, come here to pay the order!"
At this time, Zhao Huan had calmed down from the excitement just now. He waved his hands with a smile and said: "Sun Tu, when you have made great contributions to the court, you can quickly speak on your own." After everyone stood up according to the words, he said again: "As expected, you have not disappointed me this time. This meritorious service should be reported to the emperor truthfully, and your reward will definitely be indispensable." Having said this, he waved to Sun Tu again: "Sun Tu, please come closer. say."
Sun Tu was a little surprised. He didn't expect that the prince would actually favor him, but he still took a few steps and approached the high platform and looked up at the young man above him who was only a few years older than him: "I respectfully listen to your highness's teachings."
"You're very good. You really didn't disappoint me. I've seen what you did in Tokyo before. I, the Song Dynasty, will have to rely on talents like you in the future." The prince said with a tone. He said a few words of appreciation, and then took off a Tuanlong jade pendant from his waist and handed it to the chamberlain beside him: "Father, I had a good fortune the day before yesterday. Since you have won today, I can't wrong you. I will reward you with this jade pendant." is you."
Sun Tu did not refuse, and immediately took the Tuanlong Pei of high quality jade and first-class carving from the chamberlain with thanks: "I thank you, Your Highness, for the gift. I will sincerely abide by the prince's teachings and serve for our great Song Dynasty." I will do my best to repay the prince for his kindness."
Seeing that he was so on the road, the smile on Zhao Huan's face became even brighter, and he encouraged Sun Tu with kind words. When this kind of performance fell into Tong Guan's eyes, he was frightened: "When did Sun Tu get so much attention from the prince? It seems that his future is really unlimited. I will have to promote him well in the future. For my use.”
Although the Emperor of the Song Dynasty, Zhao Ji, was at his peak in the Spring and Autumn Period and was far from the time when the prince could hold real power, as a minister, especially a minister who did not have a good reputation, he had to leave a way out for himself. As long as he could have a good relationship with the prince, even if he had a few Ten years later, even after he died, he could still preserve the wealth of his family with this love of monarch and minister.
Sun Tu didn't know that Tong Guan had made a new decision because of Zhao Huan's attitude towards him. He just fulfilled his duty as a minister and thanked the prince. After chatting, Zhao Huan suddenly looked at him with a smile. He and the teammates behind him asked: "I'm really curious. Your outfit is really weird, but who came up with it?"
Sun Tu had already thought of the words when he took out these uniforms that were more conducive to everyone's performance of their skills. He immediately took them out again and said: "Back to your highness, this is what I learned from a friend who went overseas to do business." , because I feel that wearing this outfit is more convenient for Cuju, so I changed into this outfit."
After talking to the prince for a long time, Sun Tufang was allowed to lead other teammates around the field like those victorious players in later generations to pay tribute to the surrounding audience who had not dispersed and were still cheering for them. This made The atmosphere in the stadium became lively again, and it was up to them to go up and sign autographs for the people who were about to become their fans.
It was only after all this was done that Sun Tu discovered that the prince had quietly left the scene at some point. After all, the other party's identity is there, and it is impossible for him to have too much contact with ordinary people. At this time, those Liao people who had failed also followed Chen Xiangnan and the others with their heads down.
Come over.
Chen Xiangnan's face looked a little ugly. When they saw Sun Tu, they didn't even smile at all. They just said dryly: "Today's battle only made us realize how powerful Cuju is in the Song Dynasty. It really opened our eyes."
Then Yelu Jian also took a step forward and looked at Sun Tu with a half-smile: "Sun Dutou is really good at using military tactics. We really admire him." At this time, he had already called Sun Tu. Back to before.
Sun Tu had no intention of evading, and greeted him with the same smile: "General Yelu is so complimentary. I'm just picking up people's wisdom. As the saying goes, soldiers never tire of deceit."
"Well said, no matter on the court or on the battlefield, as long as you can achieve the final victory, you don't have to worry too much. You can have this awareness, which really makes me admire you even more. Show your weakness first, and then continue to consume with absolute defense. The physical strength of my Daliao warrior is so great that when I finally seize an opportunity, I suddenly strike the final blow with a cold arrow." Yelv Jian nodded with a smile.
"Actually, I am just following the battle strategies of the Song Dynasty, Liao Xia and other countries. The Song Dynasty is good at defense, so I will simply let you attack. As long as we can defend it, victory will belong to us sooner or later." Sun Tu smiled with the same meaning.
"I hope that when we meet again one day, you and I can really see each other." Yelu Jian looked at Sun Tu deeply before walking away. Even though he was a little unwilling, he could only accept the result of this failure.
After sending the Liao people away, Sun Tu just turned around and looked at the team members who were all excited: "Brothers, we have won a big victory today. I want to invite you to drink. What do you think?" Although he asked everyone, his eyes were actually only on Zhao Tianyao and the other three.
The three of them only pondered for a moment before agreeing: "Brother Sun and I hit it off and won together. Maybe we can be colleagues one day. Today we should have a drink to celebrate this victory!"
"Then leave quickly. The mention of wine will make the greedy people in the Sa family crawl out." Lu Zhishen laughed when he heard this and echoed. Others Yang Zhi, Cui Lueshang and others also nodded in agreement. The eight of them immediately held their arms and strode out of the school grounds and went straight to Liufang Residence.
This celebration banquet was quite enjoyable for everyone. This was naturally because they were happy after the victory. Secondly, everyone admired Sun Tu from the bottom of their hearts, not to mention Shen Liang and other subordinates. , they knew that after this battle, even if they were from a humble background, they would definitely be rewarded by the court, thus changing their destiny. Even Zhao Tianyao and the others were grateful to Sun Tu for helping them avenge their previous shame, and were naturally very warm to him.
And Sun Tu was determined to make friends with them, plus Lu Zhishen, whose straightforward temperament appealed to them the most, and Yang Zhi, who was also from the Forbidden Army, were toasting nearby, and a group of people with very different status and circumstances actually began to call each other brothers while exchanging cups and cups. , I almost kowtowed on the spot.
When Sun Tu took this opportunity to make friends with several Forbidden Army generals such as Zhao Tianyao, the news that they had defeated the Liao people had spread throughout the city of Tokyo, and the capital of the Song Dynasty, which had been somewhat depressed, soon became excited.
In an instant, the number of people listening in front of the high platform where Guan Qi was speaking more than doubled. Everyone listened with interest as he vividly repeated the events of the game over and over again. People kept cheering loudly. , suddenly felt elated.
And this representative group
The Cuju team that won the Song Dynasty immediately became heroes in everyone's eyes, especially Sun Tu, as the captain and initiator, who was regarded by the people as the future star of the Song Dynasty Cuju world.
Even if there were some other voices among these praises, such as the old story that he was suspected of being a traitor, or that he didn't win the game well enough and only scored two goals by luck in the end, they were quickly replaced by other excited people. The people were speechless when they used rhetoric such as "You do what you do, you get the best".
After the results of this competition were fermented among the people and entered the officialdom, even those civil servants who did not like Sun Tu and others could only admit that they had indeed made contributions to the country and deserved to be rewarded. yes.
While the imperial court was still struggling with how to reward these meritorious officials, a scene occurred among the people that Sun Tu did not expect. Just a few days later, Sun Tu and the others wore the victorious clothes on the Cuju court that day. The sportswear style was actually taken to heart by interested people, and then they quickly launched similar knock-off jerseys and shorts.
These more close-fitting and convenient clothes were only used in Cuju competitions at first, but later, for some reason, this trendy dress was spotted by many urban dandies and modified, so this winter there are many people in Bianjing. There were so many guys wearing weird sportswear that it really became a blinding sight.
It was only then that Sun Tu discovered that the Song Dynasty, which had always given people a stereotype, actually had such a lively and open side. Perhaps this was because Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism, which was always good at restricting people's thoughts, had not yet become the dominant ruler.
Seeing this, Sun Tu took the opportunity to sell a large number of sportswear that had been accumulated in warehouse No. 2 at a high price, thus making a huge profit. This was much easier than selling alcohol before.
In addition to profit, Sun Tu also gained a lot in his career. Of course, the people regarded him as a hero and put the previous misunderstanding aside. Even the superiors of Kaifeng Prefecture have completely changed their attitude towards Sun Tu. Not only did they not mention the fact that he arrested the Liao envoys without authorization and beat them up, which caused the Yamen to be passive, he even contradicted his superiors and continued for many days. They also selectively forgot about the issue of not being at the government office Yingmao. Everyone smiled and said nice things when they saw him.
It's no wonder, after all, Sun Tu has now become a hero of the Song Dynasty, and it is said that he is also highly appreciated by the prince. How can the officials of Kaifeng Mansion still dare to despise him? Although he is still only a ninth-grade military attaché, and even more so a captain with little real power, everyone knows that it won't be long before he embarks on a smooth path into officialdom.
Regarding the change of circumstances, Sun Tu not only breathed a deep sigh of relief, but also felt a little bitter and chilled. Thinking about it, a few months ago, I worked hard and worked hard to get rid of the nest of pink swallows that had caused trouble for many years, but in the end, I didn't get any credit at all, and was instead disliked by others.
Now, he just won a Cuju match that had nothing to do with the overall situation, and he was actually called a hero by people in the government and the public. The difference in severity was really unacceptable to him. If I really succeed in my career because of this, I am afraid that when future generations talk about me again, I will have to change my name to Sun Qiu, right
The idea that Gao Qiu was able to sit in the high position of Taiwei because he won the emperor's favor by playing Cuju is just a rumor, but in the future he may really become a joke of history...