Seeing that Sun Tu silenced Prefect Cheng with just one word and lost all his arrogance, the eyes of all the generals present changed when they looked at him, and they felt more and more awe in their hearts.
Dong Ping, in particular, felt even more excited. In the past, he had always been a little reserved and nervous in front of Cheng Wanli. Never had he ever seen a military attache so suppressive of him, a prefect of a state who was born as a Jinshi. What's more important is that Sun Tu's words were meant to help him win Cheng Yue'e for him. This made him expect a lot more, and his eyes kept moving back and forth between Sun Tu and Cheng Wanli. .
Sun Tu was still looking at Cheng Wanli seriously: "Prefect Cheng, because of your selfish thoughts, Dongping City was destroyed and hundreds of innocent people were killed by Liangshan bandits. As a local official, not only did you not feel guilty, but Just thinking about your false reputation, do you think you are really worthy of wearing this official robe and serving as a local shepherd?"
This made Cheng Wanli even more speechless. He just smiled miserably, and his body couldn't help shaking. It seemed that he might fall down at any time. Cheng Yue'e next to him was worried, but he didn't dare to step forward to help, so he could only He looked at Sun Tu with pleading eyes, as if he wanted to beg him not to hit his father again.
Sun Tu could also see that Cheng Wanli was not a bad person, he was just too old-fashioned and a little selfish, so he did not press him further, but just stared at him and said: "Prefect Cheng, you have committed all kinds of mistakes, but Have you ever thought about how to make up for it?”
"I... Sun Dujian wants me to make up for it?" Cheng Wanli asked in a hesitant voice, and then said fiercely: "Do you want me to die to apologize?"
"No..." These words immediately frightened Cheng Yue'e, and she hurriedly shouted, and then she knelt down towards Sun Tu with a bang: "Sun Dujian, my father did something wrong because he was confused for a moment, but he never did anything wrong. The meaning of colluding with the Liangshan bandits, my father..."
"Shut up, this is a court matter, what do you, a daughter, know?" Seeing his daughter interceding for him, Cheng Wanli was not moved, but scolded him sternly, and then looked at Sun Tu provocatively: "Isn't you Sun Dujian? Have you already killed several magistrates? Now that I have fallen into your hands this time, killing one more person is nothing, right?"
"When did I tell you to pay for it with your life? What's more, considering the big mistake you made, one life may not be enough to pay for it! Those are the wronged souls of hundreds of innocent people. Can you alone compare with that?" Sun Tu paused for a moment, then took another step forward and said with a threat: "Don't even think about committing suicide. If you really dare to commit suicide, I will go to the imperial court and say that you committed suicide out of fear of crime. When you die, , the entire Cheng family will be implicated, and everyone will believe that you colluded with the Liangshan bandits, and you are an out-and-out traitor!"
"You!" Cheng Wanli was truly speechless by what he said, and his chest heaved rapidly, but his thoughts of committing suicide had dissipated. Indeed, when he spoke before, he had thought about atonement with death, because in his opinion, if a person dies, his sins will disappear, and the court will not be able to pursue the sins of a dead person. If his own reputation is ruined, the reputation of the Cheng family will also be destroyed. Saved.
But now Sun Tu didn't give him this chance at all, which made Cheng Wanli feel even more tortured and didn't know how to deal with it. He could only stare at Sun Tu, expressing his anger and dissatisfaction with his eyes.
Sun Tu's tone changed at this moment.
He calmed down and said, "Prefect Cheng, there is an ancient saying that if a person is not a sage, he can only make mistakes and correct them to become a gentleman. But what are you thinking about? It is shirk and escape. Do you think this is what a gentleman does? ?”
Without waiting for the other party to react, he continued: "You ask me what I want to do with you. It's actually very simple. It is to atone for your sins and make up for all the mistakes you have committed before. Now that Dongping has undergone great changes and the people's homes have been destroyed, We need you to come forward to appease and deal with the aftermath. As a prefect, can't you do your part? There are also many officers and soldiers in the army who have suffered countless injuries because of you. Shouldn't you stand up and apologize to them? After doing this, you can be regarded as Be a responsible man, instead of just dying like you just thought, that won't help at all and will only make Dongping more chaotic!"
The anger on Cheng Wanli's face gradually dissipated. He really couldn't believe that Sun Tu only asked him to do such a thing to make up for his mistakes. This was completely inconsistent with his murderous look just now.
Seemingly seeing the doubts in his heart, Sun Tu added: "Of course, this alone is not enough to atone for your sins, so I want you to do two things. In this way, I will not report the truth here to the court. , your reputation will be preserved."
"What's the matter?"
"First, after the city recovers, you take the blame to the imperial court and resign! Based on what you have done before, I dare to say that you are not worthy of being a pastor at all!" Sun Tu said and looked at Dong Ping again: "Second, Allow the marriage between Miss Cheng and Dong Dujian and let them get married together!"
"No, my Cheng family has never had a daughter remarry..." Cheng Wanli subconsciously wanted to object again, but after meeting Sun Tu's sharp gaze, he couldn't continue what he said. Sun Tu stared at him and said: "I'm not discussing this with you, but asking you to do this! If you still want to keep your reputation and ensure that the Cheng family's reputation is not ruined because of you, then do what I want. Come do it!”
Such a direct statement made Cheng Wanli feel entangled for a while, but in the end, he could only compromise. As he had thought before, compared to his daughter remarrying and him losing his official position, the consequences for the entire family's reputation being ruined because of him were obviously much worse. Now, all the initiative is in the hands of Sun Tu, and his daughter has actually had such an affair with Dong Ping a long time ago, so he is just deceiving himself and others by forcibly preventing them from getting married.
After a long while, Cheng Wanli finally sighed: "That's all, I will accept your resignation. After I try my best to restore Dongping's old outlook, I will resign to the court. Also, Yue'e, starting from today, you are his People from the Dong family have nothing to do with me, the Cheng family." At the end of his sentence, his face turned pale, and his whole body was drained of energy again, as if he had suddenly aged ten years.
Cheng Yue'e, who was originally looking surprised, also showed uneasiness and sadness when she heard the last part. Is her father going to expel her from the house? Fortunately, Dong Ping came over at this time and hugged her quickly, so that she did not lose her composure.
While hugging his beloved woman, Dong Ping looked at Sun Tu with gratitude. He really didn't expect that Sun Tu would be so concerned about his affairs, and even used words to force Governor Cheng to nod. , which immediately gave him the idea of repaying Sun Tu in this life.
After finally getting rid of the old stubborn Cheng Wanli, Sun Tu returned his attention to business. After he glanced at Dong Ping, he felt
He asked strangely: "Actually, I still have something unclear. Cheng Taishou, why didn't you choose to attack Dong Ping sooner or later when the Liangshan bandits were attacking Dongping City?"
"Well... I just found out about this..." After saying this, Cheng Wanli's expression changed again, and he finally saw that there was something fishy about this matter. Sun Tu also reacted immediately: "How did you know about this? Logically speaking, since they don't dare to let you know about this, they will definitely try their best to conceal it. How did the news leak?"
"The news came from Chen Cang, the master next to me. At that time, I didn't believe it, so I deliberately tested Dong Ping, but the result was... "
At this time, Dong Ping also understood: "Is this a conspiracy that someone deliberately targeted my envoy? The purpose is to allow the Liangshan bandits to easily break the city!"
"That should be it, and that master is the key to this matter. Governor Cheng, where is that person now?" Sun Tu said his judgment without hesitation. This method is indeed very similar to the one used most often by the Liangshan group. conspiracy. Once they encounter a certain city that is too dangerous to conquer, they will use some despicable means to cause internal turmoil, and this time Dongping was defeated by the Liangshan Army precisely because of this incident!
"He... was supposed to be here at the government office, but I haven't seen him since I came back." Cheng Wanli was completely convinced that he had fallen into the trap, which made him blame himself and angry. He didn't expect that he was still caught in the trap. People see through it and then unknowingly fall into the enemy's conspiracy.
"Before, the Liangshan bandits entered the city to rob, and then left again. Could it be that he has followed him?" Dong Jian said through gritted teeth. Naturally, he wanted to kill the culprit who had caused his general to be imprisoned and the city to be almost destroyed.
"That's not necessarily the case. After all, since he has been with the prefect for some years, he is not a Liangshan bandit. And he must not have thought that we could see the problem immediately, so he might not leave at this time." Sun Tu thought for a moment and then said: "I wonder if he is here Are there any other places to live in the city? Maybe he is hiding there."
"This..." Just when everyone was helpless, a servant suddenly said: "Prefect, Mr. Chen mentioned before that he has a sweetheart in Jade Tower. Maybe he will hide there at this time."
At the cold snort of Governor Cheng, Sun Tu made a decision immediately: "Take a few of you and go to the Cuiyu Tower right now. If the man is really there, be sure to capture him alive. He may still be of use."
Dong Jian and Pang Xu glanced at Dong Ping and saw him nodding, then they crossed their hands and took orders, and hurried away.
After giving these instructions, Sun Tu glanced at Cheng Wanli: "Prefect Cheng, I will rely on you to deal with the aftermath. I will stay here for a few days until Dong Dujian and Ling Qianjin get married before returning to Qingzhou. . Presumably by then, everything in the city will be as before."
Obviously he was a little worried about Cheng Wanli, but in the face of this statement, Cheng Wanli could only give a helpless smile. In fact, when he agreed to this matter, he had no intention of going back on his word. Now that he thinks about it, his responsibility for Dongping's catastrophe is indeed huge. How can he be shameless and continue to be the governor
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The Chinese New Year is almost here, and it’s not good to be always fighting and killing people. Let’s have something happy. . . . . . . . .