Sun Tu stood in front of Zeng Kaigan who was falling and retreating, with a half-smile on his face: "Zeng Jianjun said seriously, no matter how bold I am, I would not dare to kill the imperial envoy so unscrupulously. Even if you are indeed guilty, I will not I have to spare your life. But although you can be exempted from guilt, some people are hard to say!" After saying that, he suddenly turned around and looked behind him, and shouted sternly: "Get Hou Yong and Wang Kuang!"
Before the two generals could react, dozens of soldiers from both sides pounced on them, knocking them down with fists and kicks. Only then did they struggle and shout loudly: "Sun Dujian, you are unjust. We have not done anything that violates military law..."
"No? You have secretly met with him three times in the past half month. A few days ago, you even promised to lead your subordinates to rebel against me when there is a change in the army. Does Zhen Dao know nothing about this conspiracy?" Sun Tu said coldly. shouted. With just one word, the two of them were silenced, with a look of horror on their faces. Why was it that Superintendent Sun knew about his plot so early on? If Zeng Kaigan hadn't revealed the truth first, they would all have suspected that Zeng Jianjun had betrayed them.
Zeng Kaiqian was even more surprised at this time, why is this happening? Did some of the Qingzhou generals whom he had wooed betray him and reveal the news? Who could that be? A series of questions continued to arise, and he quickly ran through the generals who had promised him to act before in his mind, but he couldn't guess them at the moment.
Sun Tu looked at the other party playfully, and soon understood what he was thinking, and sneered: "Do you think this trick can stop me? Don't even look at whose place this Qingzhou belongs to! To tell you the truth , now the soldiers here are all loyal to me, Sun Tu, and I have long seen through your scheme."
Only then did Zeng Kaigan understand why Hou Yong and Hou Yong were so shocked when they saw him ordering action. It turned out that the soldiers and horses training here were not the officers and soldiers of the two governments under their command at all. This Sun Tu is really insidious. After knowing his plan, he dug a hole early and waited for him to jump down...
"Bring everyone out!" Sun Tu ordered again as if to completely destroy the other party's luck. Soon, several generals were brought over in front of them tied up. They all came down from the victory. They were all Qingzhou generals who had promised to hold a cadre meeting and defected to him. Everyone looked frightened and depressed. From the looks of it, it was obvious that being taken down in one fell swoop was a huge blow to them.
After seeing Sun Tu, these people even shouted: "Superintendent Sun, I know that I have made a mistake because of my humble position. I was just confused for a moment and was deceived by Zeng Kaigan. Please look at the past." Please give us another chance..."
Sun Tu glanced at them sadly, shook his head and said, "Didn't I give you a chance? Before today, as long as anyone contacted you privately, Zeng Kaigan wanted you to report the news that you were against me. I know that I can forget the blame! But what choice did you make? So from the beginning you have chosen to be enemies with me, Sun Tu, and the entire Shandong soldiers, so I will not let you off lightly! Take them all down and guard them carefully. When I go to Liangshanbo, I will take their heads to sacrifice the flag!"
After the last words were spoken, these people were immediately frightened and screamed again and again. Some people cried and begged for mercy again.
Some people yelled and cursed loudly, saying that Sun Tu would be punished for killing so indiscriminately, but Sun Tu turned a deaf ear to their words. He just waved his hands disdainfully and asked people to take them all away.
This scene also completely calmed Zeng Kaigan. He really didn't expect Sun Tu to be so decisive, and at the same time he felt chilled. These people were going to be killed, so what about himself, the culprit? However, knowing that begging for mercy was useless, he did not want to weaken his identity, so he raised his eyes and looked at Sun Tu: "Sun Tu, aren't you afraid that such indiscriminate killing will shake the morale of the army? These generals are all the chief generals of various states. They brought all the soldiers and horses!”
"So what? Do you think these people can really win over the soldiers under your command? You can ask the soldiers below to see if they are willing to follow me and make great achievements, or are they willing to suffer a life of these guys, even the minimum You have no dignity!" Sun Tu replied with disdain, then looked at the soldiers who had been standing there, and suddenly shouted loudly: "Everyone, answer me, whose food are you eating? Whose salary is it, and who is it loyal to?"
Originally, there was a standard answer to this question. If you went to the provincial and rural troops in other places or the border troops of the Forbidden Army and asked around, the answer you would get would definitely be: "Eat the food from the court, get the pay from the court, and be loyal to the officials!" "But when they arrived in Qingzhou, when faced with this question, the soldiers did not hesitate to give an answer that made Zeng Kaigan's body tremble and his mouth was stunned: "We will eat the food of the governor, take the pay of the governor, and be loyal to the capital. Supervisor, obey the orders of the Supervisor!"
The neatness of their voices and the firmness of their tone made it easy for people to tell that this was their answer from the bottom of their hearts, with no hint of being forced at all!
After a long while, Zeng Kaigan pointed at Sun Tu and said: "You... you are so brave. You really treat the official army as a private army. You are really disobedient! Aren't you afraid that the imperial court will destroy your three clans if it finds out?"
"This is not what I taught them, but their own understanding. Moreover, this is not only the understanding of the Qingzhou Army, but after several months of training here, even the soldiers and horses from other states have gradually recognized it. Given this status, who told us that the Song Dynasty court has always looked down on us soldiers?" Sun Tu chuckled and replied: "So Zeng Jianjun, I advise you to stop thinking about causing trouble if you still don't want to die. Come on, be an obedient puppet in my Qingzhou city, I can still keep you, otherwise..."
Although Sun Tu didn't say any threatening words, just one glance at him made Zeng Kaiqian's heart tremble. He felt as if he was being stared at by a ferocious beast and his life was hanging by a thread.
It is true that there are loyal people in the Song Dynasty court, but as long as he is a high-ranking official, he is not so stubborn. At least he has never been so willing to sacrifice his life for the sake of the so-called justice of the court, regardless of his own safety. If he were really such a person, he would not be able to be used by Cai Jing. So when faced with such a naked threat from Sun Tu, the choice he made was naturally to admit defeat and bow his head: "I... I will do whatever you want."
"Those who know the current affairs are heroes. As long as you, Zeng Jianjun, are willing to cooperate, you will definitely be indispensable for the success of Ping Tie." Sun Tu said, taking another step forward. When Zeng Kaigan was still panicking and wanted to get out of the way, he helped him up from the ground: "In the future, you can also come to the army to see me.
I won't make things happen, and I hope you won't test my bottom line again. "
As he spoke, he stared at the other person again with squinted eyes: "Don't think that no one knows what you are doing. Since you can win over the people around me, then I can naturally do the same thing. So after all, what are you doing today? The failure was still due to lack of caution.”
These words made Zeng Kaiqian feel a thrill in his heart, and he immediately knew why he had failed so miserably this time. But before he could gather his composure, Sun Tu spoke again: "Come here, send Zeng Supervisor back. Then send people to guard the camp. I have ordered that no outsiders should be allowed to come into contact with the Supervisor, to prevent anyone from criticizing him. It’s not good for him!”
"Yes!" At that moment, more than a dozen broad-shouldered soldiers came forward and "asked" Zeng Kaigan to leave. Obviously, this was to put this imperial envoy and local military supervisor under house arrest.
Under such a situation, no matter how dissatisfied Zeng Kaigan was, he could only accept this helpless fact and was "escorted" back to the prison aggrievedly. His plan to sideline Sun Tu and seize control of the entire army completely failed.
It wasn't until Zeng Kaigan was taken away that a group of subordinate generals came over. Some people praised: "Du Jian's good tactics, this guy will no longer dare to cause trouble in our Qingzhou city, and will no longer dictate our actions. "
Some people said angrily: "He was still given an advantage. He really should have been captured and executed!"
Some people also expressed their doubts: "Du Jian, is it really safe to let him go back like this? Of course we are not afraid of what little tricks he will do in the city, but what if we go to Liangshan? Without Du Jian's suppression, maybe this guy will do it again Something is going to be done secretly.”
This concern is naturally justified. After mentioning it, many people also agreed: "Yes, Governor, why don't we get rid of him and let the whole thing be over..."
"Killing one person is easy, but have you thought about the consequences? After all, he is an imperial envoy of the imperial court. Aren't you afraid of being regarded as a traitor by the imperial court? When the imperial court sends hundreds of thousands of troops to attack, will we be able to defend Qingzhou?" Sun Tu glanced at them angrily: "Many things in the world can't be done just because you want to be happy. You have to weigh the pros and cons. You have to stop when it's time. If you really don't trust him, kill him when the time comes. Just take it with you."
"Ah... but..." There were still people who wanted to say something, but Sun Tu had already waved his hand: "I have made up my mind, there is no need to mention this matter anymore. Now our enemy is still the Liangshan bandits, and our top priority is to continue training our troops until we wait. When the time comes, it’s time to go to war.”
Seeing that he had said this, the subordinate generals did not dare to say anything more and all clasped their fists to accept the order.
After they dispersed, Zhu Wucai looked at Sun Tu thoughtfully: "The governor must have made other preparations, right?"
"Haha, you know me as a strategist." Sun Tu said with a smile: "I have set a bait today. I think Zeng Kaigan will be able to see the problem if he understands enough. And I believe that with his character, I will never tolerate a traitor around me. And what I have to do is wait for him to do what he wants, and then use the leverage to make him do what I want!"
This time the design of Zeng Kaiqian is not finished yet...