A night of heavy rain has washed the air in Qingzhou City extremely fresh. Even though it has just entered July and the weather has not turned cold yet, the people standing in front of the city gate today did not feel too hot. At this time, outside the west gate of Qingzhou, two groups of people were clearly lined up on the left and right sides of the city gate. On one side were the government officials headed by Murong Yanchao, and on the other side was Sun Tu who brought hundreds of soldiers.
Although there was a distance between the two sides, the atmosphere was still a bit tense, especially at the government office. Many officials were glaring at the soldiers with resentment, wishing they could pounce on them and chop them a few times to vent their anger.
This is not only because during this period, under the leadership of Sun Tu, the Xiang army has taken away many of the rights of the government, and even made them spit out all the military pay and other things they had embezzled before, but also because recently Sun Tu even advocated asking his subordinates to bring up old matters again and sue the officials in the government office. For this reason, many people were taken into the military camp and severely punished, making them suffer and suffer. lose face.
Originally, after being hit one after another, these government officials had already recognized the fact. Even the prefect Murong could only swallow his anger when facing Sun Tu, so what else could they do? But this time, since someone was sent by our transport envoy, they felt that they had a chance to make a comeback. So when they met them at the city gate with the Xiang army today, they were naturally full of resentment and just wanted to take advantage of this opportunity. Take revenge.
Yes, these two groups of people appeared together at Ximen today, waiting for the grain transport team sent by the upcoming transshipment envoy. And the purpose of both parties is also very clear, that is, to get these grains into their own hands.
Naturally, Sun Tu wanted to no longer be controlled by others. After all, he really had no interest in going to the Yamen every once in a while to ask for money and food, and he didn't get as much as they did. You know, according to the imperial regulations, there should be no less than three thousand carriages in Qingzhou. The army, and the court also distributed military rations accordingly. But before, the military rations that Sun Tu obtained from the government office were only based on the thousand men currently in the camp, so in the final analysis, they still got more than half of the money and rations.
As for Murong Yanchao, with constant losses, if he wanted to regain a victory, he could only take control of the military rations in his own hands. Moreover, he also planned to report everything that happened here to the people of Shangguan Yamen truthfully. No matter how courageous Sun Tu was, he would not dare to force all these officials to stay!
It is with this in mind that Murong Yanchao's aura was quite high today. When he met Sun Tu's eyes from afar, he also had a provocative look in his eyes. This was a look he had not seen since he was scared away in the military camp. show.
Just when both parties had waited for a long time with their luck, a puff of smoke suddenly rose from the distance on the official road in front, and then a team came slowly. Just look at the transfer in front of the Yamen. After raising the flag, the two people in front of the city gate immediately cheered up, and Murong Yanchao hurriedly smiled and led the crowd to greet them.
Seeing that Sun Tu had no intention of coming forward to greet him, Tang Feng, who was standing next to him, couldn't help but become a little anxious: "Du Jian..."
Sun Tu smiled calmly: "Don't be impatient. The success or failure of this matter does not depend on who meets Shangguan first. Why should you lower your status?"
This is quite reasonable. If it had been before, Murong Yanchao would not have been able to greet him at the gate of the government office, let alone such a hurry. Come after all
He was not a transport envoy on this route, but just an official under his command. Compared to Magistrate Murong, who had a backer in the court and was the chief official of the first palace, his status was not a bit inferior. He had no other choice today, so he had to make such a choice.
An official at the front of the team over there couldn't help but be a little surprised when he saw Murong Yanchao, the prefect, leading the crowd to greet him. He quickly rode his horse and walked two steps until he was in front of the opponent, and then he turned over and dismounted neatly. He cupped his fists and asked, "Is the person in front of you the prefect Murong of Qingzhou? I'm so frightened that I asked you to come out of the city to greet me when you came here!" He was already leaning forward as he spoke.
Murong Yanchao was a little stunned. The one who came today was not Qin Lu, the deputy transport envoy who had dealt with him several times before and had a good relationship with him? But he regained his composure in the blink of an eye, smiled and said in return: "This officer is serious, you have worked tirelessly to escort money and food for me in Qingzhou, I, as the magistrate of Qingzhou, led my subordinates out of the city to welcome you. As it should be. I wonder if the official is..."
"Xiaguan Cao Zhuan envoy Wang Ping, the deputy commander of the account." The man quickly reported his official name. He was actually only an eighth-grade military attache. This made Murong Yanchao feel even more unhappy. He had gone a little too far this time. How polite. But now that everything was done, I couldn't regret it anymore, so I smiled and said: "It turns out to be Wang Tiha. It's really hard for you to come all the way. Please go to the city for a drink first. I have already set up a banquet in the city."
The two chatted and exchanged greetings, but they kept walking and soon arrived in front of the city gate. At this time, Sun Tu took a step forward, raised his fist towards Wang Ping and said, "I, Sun Tu, the Superintendent of Qingzhou, have seen the superior."
As soon as Wang Ping heard that he announced his family status, he quickly returned the gift with a smile. After announcing his official name, he added: "Xiaguan had heard about Sun Dujian even on Jingdong East Road. He was in Tokyo before, in Jiangsu Province." The various achievements made by the state are truly astonishing."
"It's easy to talk." When Sun Tu smiled and exchanged greetings with him, Murong Yanchao's heart sank suddenly. The fact that the chief officer in charge of the grain this time was a military general made him feel uneasy, and now he saw that the other person was so familiar with Sun. The journey made him even more nervous, and he immediately smiled and said: "Sun Dujian is indeed very capable in training military horses, and even my own officer thinks highly of him. However, it is better not to elaborate on these things here. It is not too late for us to sit down in the city and talk slowly. Moreover, it must be hard for the sergeants escorting the grain and grass to come all the way. Let them first send the money and grain to the government warehouse before making the next arrangement. ." Of the two goals, he must accomplish one as soon as possible.
Sun Tu sneered in his heart, but he spoke before Wang Ping could answer: "Hey, what Magistrate Murong said is wrong. Since everyone is working hard, how can we bear to let these brothers continue to work hard to deliver food into the city? In my opinion, it is better to give the food to my brothers in the Xiang Army, and the other brothers can go into the city to rest now."
Well, as soon as Cai met the people from the transfer envoy's office, the two sides had already started fighting for control of the food. Wang Ping obviously did not expect to encounter such a disagreement. He glanced at the two solemn-looking Qingzhou civil and military officials in front of him with some surprise, and he understood something after a moment.
"This Sun Tu is indeed as Tong Shuai said, a courageous and capable young man. Unexpectedly, he has only been in Qingzhou for a few days, and he has already been able to operate here for many years.
Murong Yanchao's hair became shorter and longer. "Wang Ping seemed to be hesitating, but in fact he had already made his decision.
Because he originally came to Qingzhou on Tong Guan's order, otherwise the person who came here today would be the original deputy transfer envoy Qin Lu.
After sending Sun Tu to Qingzhou like crossing a river and burning a bridge, Tong Guan actually felt a little uneasy. Although Sun Tu was somewhat capable, Qingzhou had no foundation for him after all, and with a powerful prefect like Murong Yanchao sitting in charge, he was really afraid that this young man he was optimistic about would suffer a big loss here, and even Life depends on it.
So after a month or two, no news from there came out, Tong Guan simply used his connections to send Wang Ping, who belonged to his own camp, to Qingzhou to find out. The latter was also worried about Sun Tu's current situation. It was not until he saw the battle in front of him that he realized with some surprise that Sun Tu was really capable and had actually established a firm foothold in Qingli.
Since everyone was in the Tong Guan camp, Wang Ping naturally wanted to help Sun Tu, so he quickly raised his hand to Sun Tuyi and said: "Since Sun Dujian is determined to make it easier for the brothers, I will thank you first." . But, this is a lot of money and food..." As he said that, he looked at the hundreds of soldiers behind Sun Tu, and then looked back at the hundreds of carts of food behind him. It was obvious that the quantities were not equal.
Murong Yanchao's face turned livid at this time. Did he actually give his opponent face like this in exchange for such a result? But before he could say anything, Sun Tu had already smiled and said, "This is not a problem. Tang Feng."
The latter understood immediately, turned around quickly, came to the city gate, blew a whistle, and then hundreds of Xiang soldiers lined up in neat lines, walked out of the city gate in unison, and then stood up straight. Standing in front of everyone.
A chilling air suddenly rushed over. Not to mention Wang Ping and the others, even Murong Yanchao and other government officials who had experienced the strength of the Xiang army felt uneasy. Some of them even thought unconsciously. He took a few steps back.
It had only been more than half a month, but the originally ragtag Xiang army had been trained by Sun Tu to be decent. This realization made their hearts sink even more. Murong Yanchao originally wanted to argue a few more words, but at this time he was speechless.
Only then did he know that Sun Tu had already made preparations. Maybe once he got Wang Ping's permission to get the food, he would have someone snatch it. After several encounters with Sun Tu and suffering heavy losses, Murong Yanchao really didn't think that the other party didn't have such courage.
Wang Ping's eyes swept back and forth on the majestic Qingzhou Army, and finally he couldn't help but sigh: "Sun Dujian is indeed a master of military training, and I really admire him. In this case, please give me these grains." I'll take someone to receive it." Originally, his mission was to safely deliver the military rations to Qingzhou, but it didn't matter whether he handed it over to the prefect's yamen or the local garrison.
Sun Tu smiled with satisfaction, and with just one look, Tang Feng had understood the order, and then the sergeants all energetically pushed the wheelbarrows filled with money and grain for replanting to the west gate of Qingzhou quickly.
This year's army's money and food have all fallen into Sun Tu's hands, and even the last trump card of the prefect's Yamen has been snatched away by him!