Sometimes things in the world are so mysterious. With the current power and status of Cai Jing, Gaoqiu and Liang Shicheng, in the past, whenever they wanted to convict someone, no matter whether there was conclusive evidence or not, as long as they had this intention, the crime would be confirmed. If the earth falls on that person's head, there will be no grievance at all.
But this time they faced Sun Tu. Even if they were 80 to 90% sure that the people in Wuqiu Town were killed by Sun Tu's people and that the food was robbed by Sun Tu's people, there was nothing they could do against him at this time. . Because they have great concerns—
Cai Jing's question immediately caused the other two people to quickly silence themselves, and the atmosphere in the hall became increasingly weird. After a long silence, Gao Qiucai said angrily: "Grand Master, can we only watch him be proud but not be able to punish him? Even though the local officials can't find conclusive evidence, but..."
"You want to say that we can concoct personal and material evidence?" Cai Jing glanced at Gao Qiu with a bit of disdain in his eyes. He still looked down upon Gao Qiu, a colleague who had limited abilities and only relied on flattery to get promoted. He, Cai Jingcai, is a master of political warfare who has emerged from the more brutal fights in the court without bloodshed. In terms of temperament and methods, he is much better than the two people present. This is why he can always suppress the officials in the court. Officials are the key.
Gao Qiu smiled sarcastically, acquiescing to this statement. Indeed, with their power, they don't have to make arrangements personally. They only need to reveal their intentions, and various evidences will be discovered one after another, which will be enough to convict Sun Tu.
But this time, Master Liang Chengdu, who had been cooperating with Gao Qiu, couldn't stand it. He sighed and said: "Liant Gao, Wuqiu Town is not under your eyes or mine, and Sun Tu is not in the capital, so you don't." Have you ever thought about how much trouble it will cause us if things get messed up
"Yes, as long as we give a hint, the people below will come up with a lot of evidence, but can you guarantee that these people will not rebel in the future? And that Sun Tu, he is not the official of the DPRK and China that we punished before. This person is so bold and cruel that he will never sit back and die. Once he knows that I am plotting against him, what kind of reaction do you think he will make?"
"This..." Gao Qiu was stunned and already had the answer in his heart. I am afraid that by then, the only thing Sun Tu can do is to directly raise troops to rebel! At this time, the number of people under Sun Tu was greater than before. If the Liangshan bandits who were fighting against him were added, once the two sides came together, the entire Shandong would really be completely out of the hands of the imperial court, and the consequences would not be theirs. It's all I can handle.
What's even more terrible is that once things really come to this point, who can guarantee that the tricks they have done before will not be exposed. When the government and the public denounce them and determine that they forced Sun Tu and the Shandong army to rebel, then Even Cai Jingdu may not be able to withstand the pressure from all parties, let alone Gao Qiu.
After thinking about the various pros and cons, Gao Qiu's face suddenly turned pale: "The lesson from the Grand Master is that the subordinates are oversimplifying things." If Sun Tu is in the capital now, they can naturally use various means It's easy to punish him, but he is far away in Shandong and still has soldiers and horses, so such methods must not be used.
As mentioned before, traitors in the court can frame officials who are loyal to the court with charges of evil intentions because they have determined that the other party is not good enough.
Neither can nor dare to do such a thing. But when Sun Tu did have the ability and courage to commit rebellion, they did not dare to accuse him of such a crime.
It's nothing more than a weapon that can be used against rats!
"But, we just let him go like this?" Gao Qiu was still unwilling to accept it. How had such powerful officials in the DPRK ever suffered such a big loss at the hands of others? What's more, the other person seems to have a low status, which makes it even more difficult for people to accept.
Cai Jing's face was also very ugly, but he was not in a hurry to say anything. Instead, he looked at Liang Shicheng, waiting for him to come up with something. Seeing this, Liang Shicheng could only sigh and said: "In the opinion of the lower officials, we can only bear this breath for the time being, and we can wait until the battle between Liangshan and the invaders is over before we can talk about it.
"If Sun Tu made a mistake in Liangshan Po, the imperial court would naturally have a legitimate reason to punish him severely! And in the opinion of the lower official, this result should be very likely to occur. After all, the imperial court sent several troops before and all ended in failure. Could Sun Tu be an exception? In addition, although he has seized the grain and grass, other weapons and baggage have not yet been shipped. This time we can use this as an excuse to postpone the transportation. They lack weapons, arrows and other logistical support, which will definitely make it more difficult to win. To The failure to suppress the bandits, coupled with the loss of troops and the loss of generals, is a great opportunity for us to take the opportunity to get rid of him!"
As soon as Gao Qiu heard this explanation, his spirit suddenly perked up: "It is my opinion, Grand Tutor, that I was really overly concerned before I came down to the official position. If we deal with it this way, we can indeed eradicate Sun Tu and his family calmly and at the minimum cost." Henchman!"
Just when Liang Shicheng was smiling proudly, Cai Jing asked leisurely: "What if he succeeds in defeating the invaders?"
These words made Liang Shicheng hesitate. He really didn't expect Sun Tu to be able to pacify the Liangshan bandits, so he didn't think about it in this regard. As for Gao Qiu, he was speechless and didn't know what to say.
Seeing that both of them were defeated by the question, Cai Jingcai sneered and said: "Some things are just like fighting. It is proper to think about defeat before thinking about victory. So we have to come up with the method he used to successfully defeat the invaders. . In fact, this is simple. Since Sun Tu is so good at fighting, let him continue to make contributions to the court. Now that Jiangnan La has become a serious problem, he can lead his army to quell the rebellion. Do you think he will dare to refuse then? ?”
"Of course not." The two replied without hesitation. As long as Sun Tu has not rebelled, he must obey the court's orders, otherwise he will give them a chance.
"In addition to the soldiers and horses under his command, the most important thing that Sun Tu relies on is that the local people in Shandong have been bewitched by him. That is the confidence that he dares to act recklessly. So as long as we take this opportunity to transfer him from Shandong , even if he really puts down the Fangla Rebellion in Jiangnan, as long as he is not allowed to return to Shandong by then, Sun Tu will no longer be a big threat!"
"It's a clever plan to draw out the salary from the bottom of the cauldron. The grand master is wise and the subordinates admire him!" After Gao Qiu suddenly came over, he hurriedly praised him. In terms of talent, he may not be very good, but in terms of his ability to flatter people, he is much better than many officials in the court.
Even Cai Jing laughed with satisfaction at this time: "So, let's let Sun Tu be rampant for a few more days. No matter what the final outcome of Liangshan's pirates is, he will not escape death!"
The two people on the opposite side also laughed. The anger in their hearts before
Yuya finally felt relieved, and then left each other with a relaxed mood. But after they left, the smile on Cai Jing's face still faded, and he secretly calculated in his heart again: "Sun Tu's problem is just one part of it. Now the imperial court is still too lenient to those generals, so that they have become wanton. ! One Sun Tu has already made it difficult for the court to take action. If the Western Army Zhongzhong or Tong Guan and his like do similar things, it will be difficult to check and balance. It seems that we must start dividing his military power as soon as possible to eliminate future troubles. !”
Sun Tu never imagined that his series of self-protection methods would actually bring new troubles to the entire Song Dynasty military system, making the already weak Song Dynasty official army even worse.
￥￥￥￥￥
Of course, his actions were not entirely a disaster. In fact, they had some positive effects, at least scaring some local officials in Shandong.
Just like Cai Jing and others, when the inside story of the massacre in Wuqiu Town came out, some local officials in Shandong immediately guessed that it was done by people sent by Sun Tu, because they had never heard of it in Gyeonggi Province. There was a group of lawless bandits on the road, who dared to rob the government's food, and killed thousands of people... After thinking about this, they were really scared. Obviously, once Sun Tuzhen got angry, If you are ruthless, you might even use such thunderbolt methods on them!
Before, Sun Tu had also asked the officials in Jeju, Dengzhou and other places to collect grain. However, having received the secret letter from the powerful officials in the DPRK earlier, they naturally chose to obey the other party's arrangements and did not respond to Sun Tu's request. At most, they would just say a word. There is a food shortage in the city, and preparations are still being made.
Because in their opinion at the time, compared to Sun Tu, powerful officials like Gao Qiu were more terrifying beings, the ones who could truly determine their future official positions. But now, after learning about the tragedy in Wuqiu Town, this idea immediately changed 180 degrees. Of course, official position is important, but is it more important than his own life
Be it Gao Qiu or Cai Jing, the most they can do is to use various excuses to remove them from their official positions. But once they offend Sun Tu and let him get angry and lead his troops to kill him, then even his own life will be at stake. . Which one is more important between the two, almost everyone can quickly make a judgment.
So in the next few days, the state capitals suddenly became richer, and the efficiency of the officials in each government office was also greatly improved. In just three days, they actually raised several thousand bushels of food, and then When he was busy, he sent someone to the front of the army.
Therefore, within ten days after Sun Tu seized food in Wuqiu Town, the army's food stocks, which had already bottomed out, continued to increase. By the time it entered mid-April, the food stocks in the military camp were enough for their entire army for the first half of the year. long time.
Regarding this result, the officers and soldiers were naturally rejoiced and their morale was greatly boosted. Youdao did not panic because they had food in hand. With so many food reserves, they were determined to fight a long enough war of attrition against the Liangshan bandits.
For the heroes on the mountain, seeing grain trucks constantly entering the military camp made them very uneasy. Even Song Jiang began to waver, feeling that there was something wrong with his previous strategy.
And at this moment, the change that really determined the direction of this battle finally happened...