Even though Zhu Meng has always been known for being greedy and cruel, coupled with his obese appearance, you really think that he is really a useless person who only relies on flattery and flattery to win Zhao Ji's favor. In fact, he can achieve the status he has today. , becoming a feudal official who controlled all three powers, military, political and financial in the sacred land of Jiangnan, still has its own merits. For example, his vision of looking at people is much smarter than ordinary people.
But now, he was able to speak so highly of Sun Tu, which naturally made the close friends around him who were familiar with his vision express surprise and deep thought. His chief staff officer, Xue Xian, who was as thin as a bamboo pole and had no flesh on his face, couldn't help but said softly: "Shuai Zhu, although Sun Tu is now very famous in the army, in our opinion, after all He's just a warrior, can he really pose a threat to us?"
"If you really think of him as a mere warrior, you are totally wrong. Have you ever seen such a humble and talkative military general?" Zhu Meng snorted lowly, but asked everyone present to nod thoughtfully. head to go.
During this period of time, they did have contact with many generals who brought troops to Jiangnan. Those guys were either flamboyant or domineering, and the conditions they proposed were also excessive. Some even dared to threaten them in front of Zhu Meng. When it comes to money and food, there really is no one as easy to talk to as Sun Tu. This alone quickly distinguished Sun Tu from them, making it appear that the former was more thoughtful.
"Although the other generals clamored for money and food support for their soldiers and horses, when we gave them some hints and were willing to give them tens of thousands of dollars as compensation, none of them stopped asking for food. . But what about Sun Tu? We mentioned this matter no less than three times at the banquet. Have you ever seen him get moved?" Zhu Meng continued to frown.
"Perhaps he has a bigger appetite and doesn't like these tens of thousands?" Lu Bofei, another staff member, suddenly whispered.
However, Xue Xian had slowly understood at this time: "The fact that Sun Tu can have the prestige he has today and lead the Shandong soldiers and horses to wipe out the local bandits, especially the Liangshan bandits who have been in trouble for a while, shows that the soldiers and horses under his command are indeed incompetent. This is enough to show that he attaches great importance to the army in daily life, and his troops are by no means a mob. And to do this, he cannot treat the army as private property and make profits like others, let alone It’s impossible to compromise with us just because of some money.”
Zhu Meng nodded to him with satisfaction: "That's the problem. This person is not easy to fool. I have heard before that this person is a bold and reckless person. Even Cai Taishi dared to go to court to impeach him. As for the local He even killed a few officials. It would be a great help if such a person could help me wholeheartedly when he comes to Jiangnan. But if he is determined to be my enemy, he might really become a more troublesome disaster than Fang La. Especially It's a matter of military rations. If we follow the allocation promised to him by the imperial court before, we can stop him from getting into trouble again, but the consequences are hard to say."
"What Zhu Shuai said is that this hole must not be opened, otherwise once the news spreads, other soldiers and horses will also make demands in the same way. The sage said that the people do not worry about the scarcity but the inequality. Don't worry about it. At that time, he was appeased all the way to Shandong, but he provoked other people from all walks of life to mutiny." Xue Xian immediately followed, and Zhu Meng nodded with satisfaction. He is indeed the chief aide, and he is worthy of the title of the master of Guess. The mind is extremely accurate.
"But the imperial court has other
In fact, there was an explicit order, and he also knew that there was such a statement, so how should we respond? "
"Actually, Zhu Shuai is already doing it. It's just a procrastination. But I think that just doing this is not enough. We must do something more to make him believe that we are indeed short of food." Xue Xian's mind was now fully active. , and quickly stated his countermeasures.
After saying this, Zhu Men nodded frequently: "This is a good idea, let him have some conflicts with those people first, and then I will step in to calm the conflicts, and I can also sell favors among the armies. Also , as long as such an incident happens, then Sun Tu will surely not dare to make too many excessive demands anymore. Regarding the military rations, it is natural for him to take as much as we tell him."
"Zhu Shuai is wise." Several people praised him several times, and then Lu Bofei suddenly laughed and said: "Actually, besides that, we can also use Sun Tu and his men. The hundreds of people who made trouble in the city before are not Did he seize a batch of grain and flee into the Qixia Mountains? Why not let him lead the troops to exterminate the rebellious people first. This will not only frighten the people in the city, but also make him hate the people of Jinling, which is killing two birds with one stone."
"Good idea, let's do as you say. In this way, you will go to see Sun Tu tomorrow. Let's take a two-pronged approach. We'll weigh him and his troops first." Zhu Meng immediately nodded with satisfaction and smiled at Lu Bofei who offered his advice. road.
"I will take care of things properly, little man." Lu Bofei was also overjoyed and hurriedly raised his hands. Zhu Meng has always been very clear about rewards and punishments for those around him. As long as this plan is successful, his benefits will definitely be indispensable.
Seeing that he was in the limelight, Xue Xian also followed suit and said: "Commander Zhu, if he can pacify the rebels on Qixia Mountain, I think he should be sent to the south to fight against Fang La's rebels. There have been reports of rebels before. He intends to attack Changzhou. It is difficult to defend it with only the garrison there and the troops on Huainan Road. Why not send his men and horses as well? It would be best if he can win, otherwise, he can also be defeated. Demoralize him. Also, once he is transferred out of Jinling and goes to the front line, his food and grass will be under our control, and this Shandong elite will be under your control, Zhu Shuai."
When Zhu Meng heard this, the smile on his face became even brighter: "This is a great plan. Just follow the step by step instructions. No matter how capable Sun Tu is, he has to obey me since he came to Jiangnan." Then. , he narrowed his eyes again, remembering the secret letter he had received from Gao Qiu before.
Gao Qiu made it clear in the letter that they intended to send Sun Tu and his troops to the south of the Yangtze River in order to use the power of Zhu Meng and Fang La's rebels to deceive these enemies. According to Gao Qiu, this Sun Tu was a greater disaster than Fang La, and he told Zhu Meng to deal with it carefully. In addition, this man also had a feud with Cai Jing. As long as Sun Tu was eliminated, Master Cai would also benefit.
At this time, Zhu Meng had already made a plan in his mind. This time he wanted to play a big game, drive away tigers and devour wolves, and eradicate Sun Tu after using him. In this way, not only can he escape from the chaos in Jiangnan, but he can also gain the favor of Grand Master Cai and take a step forward in the court. This is much more cost-effective than working hard to exploit the people and using money to buy those important officials in the court.
"Sun Tu, this is really my lucky star. As long as he is in my hands, there is no need to worry about not being able to flourish!" Zhu Meng smiled proudly. When Jiangnan is in chaos and half of it has fallen into the hands of rebels, he, as the local leader,
Officials in power, but still only think about how much benefit they can get from it. I have to say that this is really sad for the Song Dynasty court.
Of course, Zhu Meng obviously ignored one point. After some discussions with his confidants, he actually put aside his evaluation of Sun Tu. After all, in his eyes, Sun Tu was just a young general. Even though he was stronger than other generals, his methods should be far inferior to his own. Isn't it easy to deal with him
￥￥￥￥￥
When Zhu Meng and his staff decided on a strategy to deal with Sun Tu, he had temporarily stationed himself at the southwest corner of Jinling City with several hundred personal guards under the leadership of Tong Mu.
At this time, Jinling was gradually becoming desolate and desolate due to Zhu Meng's exploitation and looting by various officers and soldiers. Although it did not reach the point where ten rooms and nine rooms were empty, there were still many places that were vacant, allowing Sun Tu and the others to easily Just find a place to stay.
The reason why he didn't rush back to Bajiao Town was naturally to get the promised batch of half-month grain and grass in the past two days. Although the six months of food and grass promised by the imperial court are not available for the time being, it is still necessary to get a batch first to stabilize the morale of the army.
After everyone below was settled, Sun Tucai and Tong Mu strolled along the lower bank of the Qinhuai River not far from the camp, admiring the scenery along the river as the sun gradually set in the west.
As a popular place in Nanjing that is not as famous as Wuyi Lane, the Qinhuai River, which is supposed to be associated with beauties and so on, is now very deserted. There are no painted incense boats on the river, only a few single-trunk boats. The fishing boats are carefully looking for fish and shrimps, which inevitably makes people feel a sense of sadness.
However, Sun Tu and Tong Mu had no intention of being cold and feeling nostalgic about the past. Their topic revolved around one person, and that was Zhu Meng, whom they had just met.
"Qianli, what kind of person do you think Zhu Meng is?"
"The wolf is ruthless, the fox is cunning, and the jackal is greedy." Sun Tu answered concisely, with a strange light shining in his eyes: "He is an opponent that cannot be underestimated."
"It seems that your eyes are still higher than mine. At least when I first met Zhu Meng, I was not as accurate as you. At that time, I thought he was greedy and ruthless, but I didn't expect that he was still an old fox."
"In the final analysis, I was deceived by his appearance. Although he looks like a pig, he is not really as stupid as a pig. On the contrary, he is still a being who likes to pretend to be a pig and eat the tiger."
"Pretending to be a pig and eating a tiger? This is an interesting and accurate description..." Tong Mu laughed and shook his head: "It is precisely because some people ignored this aspect of him that they were eaten by him without even leaving any bones. You and me If you want to deal with him this time, you can’t slack off at all.”
"Of course, and I think he will attack me soon." Sun Tu nodded.
"Why do you see it?" Tong Mu asked, raising an eyebrow.
Sun Tu breathed out: "It's very simple, because I rejected his deliberate solicitation at the banquet before, and I thought that a person like him would not wait for the enemy to take the initiative. Moreover, do you really think he would have any Is it the food sent by the imperial court? I’m afraid he has begun to worry that it will be difficult for him to deal with it if I find out about this, so he must strike first!"
At this point, the corners of Sun Tu's mouth also turned up: "But he will never think of it. In fact, I am not used to being passive. Maybe I will be able to fight with him soon."