Looking at the invitation signed by Sun Tu from the Jiangzhou League in his hand, Zhang Endong, a famous man from Jiangzhou who owns more than 500 acres of fertile land, finally decided to accept the invitation after weighing it for a long time.
He was not too wary of Zhang Endong, a military attaché of the imperial court who had just arrived in Jiangzhou and had no foundation, but after thinking of the fate of Qi Kun's family, he still did not dare not to give Sun Tu this face. Although there are rumors in the city that Qi Kun set fire to the food because of a guilty conscience and lost his life when Sun Tu and his men blocked him, in fact many smart people saw the problem and knew that all this should be caused by this bold move. The ruthless young military attaché framed him, and he didn't want to offend Sun Tu over a trivial matter.
After understanding what his master meant, the head of the Zhang family carefully reminded him: "Sir, when I went to the military camp to see Sun Tuanlian half a month ago, he mentioned to us that he would take back the money we bought from the village soldiers at the original price. land, but we all rejected it. This time he sent an invitation again, probably to bring up old matters, so... "
"He hasn't done anything before, so it's reasonable for everyone not to take a seventh-grade military attaché in their eyes. But this time..." Zhang Endong said and thought for a while: "We bought it from the rural soldiers. How many fields have you covered?”
"It's not too much, just seventy or eighty acres. The land under the name of those rural soldiers only has that much. Many people in the city want a share of the pie, so this is all we can get."
"Then bring me all the land deeds. Sometimes it's not a bad idea to take a step back." Zhang Endong said, looking at the gradually darkening sky outside, he smiled bitterly: "He invited me to have a drink at Xunyang Tower tonight. There was a banquet, but the invitation was not sent until after noon, so there really wasn’t any room for consideration.”
Although there was a hint of dissatisfaction in his tone, Zhang Endong still stood up and ordered: "Ask someone to prepare the car. It would be a bit disrespectful to wait any longer." Since he decided to give in, he would simply give Sun Tu face. .
When the lanterns first come on, the Xunyang Tower, which is the largest in the city and has the best scenery facing the Xunyang River, is already full of cars and horses and full of guests. Even though there are many water bandits on the Xunyang River and the city is shrouded in dark clouds, many wealthy people still live a carefree life, but they cannot wrong themselves.
However, what makes many guests feel a little aggrieved is that the third floor, which is the highest in the restaurant and has the best view, has been booked out early tonight. No new customers are allowed, and everyone can only stay on the first and second floors to eat. Wine, naturally, feels much worse.
Originally, many people expressed dissatisfaction with this and wanted to argue with the guest who had reserved the entire floor. However, after several guests with invitations arrived and recognized their identities, many drinkers I don't dare to cause trouble again. Because the visitors are all well-known squire and landowners in the city, and all of them are wealthy owners. They are not someone ordinary people can mess with at will. From this, it can be inferred that the status of the person who can invite all these people to the banquet is higher. .
After a while, when all the guests had arrived, Sun Tufang, accompanied by Lu Da and Yang Zhi, brought ten soldiers to Xunyang Tower. When the three of them walked up to the third floor, ten soldiers had already lined up on both sides of the stairs, guarding them like door gods.
After more than ten days of training, these rural soldiers are already very different from before. Their bodies as straight as javelins actually reveal a trace of ability.
The fierce momentum made the drinkers around him feel nervous and did not dare to take a closer look. Even the waiters who brought the food and wine upstairs were trembling with fear and slowed down a lot.
The appearance of Sun Tu and the others immediately attracted the attention of all the guests who were already seated and waiting on the third floor. Most of the more than 20 people present today were a little unhappy. At this time, they looked at Sun Tu with some wariness and hostility in their eyes. When they saw him coming forward, only a few stood up to greet him, and most of them just sat there and opened their mouths. Say hello to Sun Tuan for practice.
After all, the military attachés of the Song Dynasty are declining now, and even these gentry without official positions may not be afraid of a seventh-grade regiment trainer. I came here today just because I don’t want to completely break up with him, and at the same time I want to make things clear.
Only Huang Wenbing, who was sitting in the last few seats, stood up quickly when he saw Sun Tu approaching and said with a smile: "It is really embarrassing that Sun Tuanlian hosted a banquet for us today. In fact, it is us who should hold a banquet to welcome you to Tuanlian."
"Haha, Mr. Huang is too polite. In fact, it doesn't matter who invites someone to drink. As long as you are willing to make Sun a friend, I am very grateful." Sun Tu nodded to him, and then strode to the top of the host. Sit down calmly at the table.
During this period, many gentry and landowners looked at Huang Wenbing with strange eyes, wondering when he actually had friendship with Sun Tu. But now in front of everyone, this issue is difficult to discuss.
It wasn't until Lu Da and Yang Zhi sat down at the last two tables and were busy pouring wine and eating food that Sun Tu raised his glass of wine and said to the guests who had their own thoughts: "It's really a bit strange for me to suddenly invite you here today." It's rude, but I am very pleased that all of you here can come here to give Sun Tu the honor. I am a warrior, and I am not very good at speaking politely, so I can only toast you three cups to express my gratitude." As he said this, he raised his neck. , and drank the wine in one gulp. Then, he drank two more glasses in a row, and finally shined the bottom of the wine glass in front of everyone, looking very heroic.
Although the gentry could not guess what he was thinking, they still had to abide by the etiquette at the wine table, so they all raised their glasses to drink together, and in the end they even said that they were not polite.
Seeing that everyone had finished drinking, a smile appeared on Sun Tu's face: "Okay, it seems that you all regard me, Sun Tu, as a friend. In this case, I will not go around in circles with you. I invited you to Xunyang Tower today just to ask you to do me a favor... "
"What Sun Tuan Lian wants to say is about the land sold to us by the village soldiers?" Someone had already been unable to hold back, so he jumped out and asked after getting drunk.
Sun Tu nodded without the slightest embarrassment: "That's right. I am currently training for the Jiangzhou regiment and training my subordinates. In order for them to have no worries, they must find ways to give them farmland at home. Originally, the imperial court was There are relevant arrangements, but I know that various changes have occurred in the past few years, and their fields have been bought by you, so I plan to pay for them to buy them back, and I hope that you can put the overall interests of Jiangzhou first." As he said, , Sun Tu even deliberately stood up and bowed to everyone with clasped fists, which was considered to be a very low posture.
But no one present had much reaction at this time. They all looked at Sun Tu indifferently, showing no intention of cooperating. For these people, the fields are where their families have established themselves in Jiangzhou, spreading branches and leaves.
In order to get more fields, they can use all kinds of conspiracies and calculations, even if some people have their families destroyed, how can they return the fields just because of Sun Tu's few words
Huang Wenbing hesitated for a moment, but did not stand up and say anything to help Sun Tu. Although he had returned the land deeds free of charge a long time ago, he did not have the courage to completely stand on the opposite side of these gentry and speak for Sun Tu. Otherwise, he would inevitably become a public enemy of these people and be attacked by a group of people. The consequences would be unpredictable.
After seeing the reactions of these people, Sun Tu was not too surprised. He just sat down and continued: "Of course, I will not let you suffer losses in this matter, so I will base my decision on what you have done before. What do you think about buying back the fields at the same price they paid for them?"
A middle-aged gentleman sitting opposite Zhang Endong laughed: "We are deeply impressed by Sun Tuanlian's wholehearted service to our Jiangzhou soldiers. But for this matter you mentioned, I cannot accept it." . Yes, we did buy the fields that belonged to them from the rural soldiers at a not too high price, but that was because there was a shortage of food in the city at that time and their family was unable to make ends meet. So did we. The land was bought with a considerable price of grain.
"But today is different from the past. The price of grain in the city is quite stable now, and we are not short of that grain or money to buy grain, so naturally the price of this field cannot be so low. If Sun Tuanlian is serious about buying land from us It’s not impossible, but the price has to be re-set.”
"Yes, what Brother Fang said is true. As the saying goes, this land cannot be sold at this time, but the price should be determined by us. With the current price of land in Jiangzhou, it should be twenty guan per mu. Ruosun If Tuan Lian is really serious about buying it, how about we give you a lower price, even if you pay eighteen guan per acre?"
This is clearly the lion's open mouth. Even the price of farmland in the city is only eight to ten thousand dollars an acre, and these people bought the rural soldiers' land for only three or four thousand dollars an acre. The land is now being offered at such a sky-high price. Obviously, they had no intention of selling these fields at all, they just wanted to use the price to scare Sun Tu away.
Without waiting for Sun Tu to express his position, the other gentry also nodded in agreement: "Yes, if Sun Tuanlian really wants to sell the land, he will pay it at our price. Is it possible for you to come up with the nearly 20,000 yuan?" There is already a bit more of a sense of ridicule in it.
Not to mention that Sun Tu couldn't afford so much money at this time. Even if he could afford to spend so much money to buy thousands of acres of land, he wouldn't be able to spend the money in vain and be easily taken advantage of by ginseng. So almost everyone was certain that Sun Tu would never agree to such a price.
Zhang Endong watched Sun Tu's face gradually sinking, and his heart shivered. He knew that everyone had completely offended him, and he didn't know what Sun Tuanlian would do.
At this time, Sun Tu filled another glass of wine for himself, and then slowly drank it all. Then he said slowly: "I have been extremely kind to you and gave you two chances. But I didn't expect that you would actually You are unwilling to accept my kindness. Since you don't want to drink this toast, then don't blame me for giving you a fine drink!" After saying that, he suddenly raised his head, and his eyes were like lightning on the face of the gentleman named Fang. He shivered violently...