New Year's Day, Jinling City.
It was past time and Zhu Meng was still lying down, so the servants in the backyard of Zhu Mansion could only do their work quietly without daring to make any sound. Just because they all knew that their master was most afraid of anyone disturbing his dreams. Once he really pissed him off, he might be beaten to death.
Last night to celebrate New Year's Eve, Zhu Meng hosted a banquet for many civil and military officials in the city. After drinking a lot of wine, he returned to the backyard and had a good time with his two concubines. He didn't go to bed until the fourth watch, so he didn't sleep until almost noon. When I woke up, I glanced at the sky outside, then asked someone to change my clothes, and then called the trusted steward who had been guarding the door: "Are you ready for tonight's banquet? This is the first banquet for city officials this year. , but we can’t neglect it.”
"Don't worry, sir. I have arranged everything. The drinks and dishes are all prepared with the best quality. The few Qinghong waiters from Qingyin Pavilion in the city also came to meet them early. They just wait for the guests to come and the banquet can begin. .”
"Okay!" Zhu Meng nodded with satisfaction before stepping out of the room. After a moment, he added: "Remember to remind us to bring everything we have prepared. We will have to rely on them for the next affairs in Jiangnan. "
"Young man understands." Although he said this, the steward felt quite sad in his heart. It was property worth hundreds of thousands of guan, plus the title deeds to more than 30,000 acres of farmland and houses, almost 30% of Zhu Meng's net worth that he had plundered over the years. , but they have to be sent out all at once.
Zhu Meng saw that he was reluctant to give up, so he just smiled without saying anything, and waved his hand to let him go down to work. And he himself was pacing, planning again what to say at tonight's banquet, and who should focus on winning over...
The days are short in winter, coupled with the recent wind and snow, the sky is getting dark just when it is time to apply for the license. At this time, dozens of huge lanterns were lit in front of the Zhu Mansion, illuminating a large area in front of the door like daylight. Not long after, many chariots and horses came one after another. Although the Song Dynasty was always short of horses, it was extremely simple for those officials to get some horses for transportation, even if it would make the cavalry in front more powerful. For cuts, it can't compare to their decency.
Soon, these distinguished civil and military officials in brocade robes, led by the servants in front of the door, entered the gate of Zhu Mansion with excitement and expectation. Many of them also attended last night's banquet and learned from Zhu Meng that heavy New Year gifts would be given out today. Based on their understanding of Zhu Meng, since this person has taken action, he will naturally not be too shabby, but he will earn a lot of money.
It wasn't until after You hour that all the guests arrived, and Zhu Meng appeared in front of everyone with great ambition. Afterwards, he gave some false polite words and asked people to serve tonight's drinks and dishes one by one. There were also guests from Jinling City beside him. The first-class singing and dancing girls accompanied the wine and entertained everyone, and everyone was really happy.
Just looking at the food and wine at today's banquet, you can tell that Zhu Meng has spent a lot of money this time. The wines are all aged for more than 20 years, and the dishes are extremely luxurious. Just a duck tongue soup in front of everyone. , which is made by killing more than a dozen fat ducks, taking out their tender tongues, and stewing them carefully for several hours; and the sea bass soup, which is made by taking only the tenderest and freshest piece of meat from the back of the four-gill bass, is even more delicious. A delicacy that many people have never even heard of.
I'm afraid it will cost tens of thousands of dollars just for this meal.
The wealth made many officials with little knowledge praise them repeatedly, and the rude and impatient generals almost swallowed their own tongues along with the food and wine.
Such a sumptuous and luxurious dinner is extremely rare even in Bianliang, Tokyo, when the world is at peace. But today, in this precarious situation, when the Wu army is getting stronger and stronger, and is about to overwhelm all the cities in the south of the Yangtze River, it is even more rare. "Rarely valuable".
But even in the face of such a sumptuous banquet, many guests were still a little distracted. Whenever Zhu Meng stopped drinking and spoke, they would subconsciously look over with expectant eyes, just waiting for Zhu Shuai to get down to the topic. Even the banquet as an appetizer is so luxurious, so the benefits of the New Year that he deliberately mentioned yesterday must be even more worthy of everyone's expectations.
Feeling the warm gazes of everyone, Zhu Meng felt even more proud. It wasn't until after several decades of drinking that many of the generals were already red-faced that he said with a smile: "Today is New Year's Day, which should have been a good day for you and me to get together as a family and share a family relationship, but because of the chaos in the south of the Yangtze River, we couldn't. The major general and officials had to work hard with their own officers to plan in the ban and think of good strategies to defeat the enemy and neutralize the thieves.
"Although you and I have been deprived of the emperor's salary, we should serve the imperial court, but I still feel bad about being the Jiedu envoy and transshipment envoy of Jiangnan Province. That's why today I want to use this meal and wine to express my feelings. Sorry, I hope you don't take it personally.
"In addition, in order to thank you for everything you have done for the people of Jiangnan these days, I have also prepared some small gifts. I hope you will not refuse." As he said this, he clapped his hands again. The originally closed lobby door opened in response, and then hundreds of servants walked in carrying dozens of boxes. As they opened the boxes and revealed the contents, even though these officials were prepared, they still couldn't help it. There were bursts of exclamations.
I saw that the box contained not only gold and silver and other mundane objects, but also various treasures, which shone brightly under the candlelight in the hall, making many people's eyes dazzled. Although the salaries of officials in the Song Dynasty were always high, most of the people present did not have a single treasure in their homes that could compare with the items in the box. Zhu Meng's move immediately shocked everyone present.
Seeing the surprised and greedy looks of everyone, Zhu Meng felt even more proud. After laughing, he nodded to the steward in front of him. The latter immediately took action and quickly divided the gold and silver treasures in the box into the hands of each official.
This was of course arranged early in the morning, and was allocated based on the current position and power of each official, as well as the number of troops under the military attachés transferred from elsewhere. Each piece is arranged in a reasonable and well-founded way, so that the officials who get it can't find any problems after seeing other people's things.
It can be said that this hand alone is enough to show that Zhu Meng and his subordinates are quite capable in handling affairs. It's just that they only used all their skills on how to plunder the people's support and bribe others, but they didn't use half of it to govern the country and the people. As a result, Jiangnan was in chaos. It was really sad and hateful!
As soon as the things were obtained, the officials began to play with and examine the belongings. Voices of admiration could be heard from time to time, and the atmosphere in the entire hall became more and more lively. However, there are a few exceptions, such as
For example, Tong Mu, who was placed near the gate, didn't even glance at the box of gold ingots and two land deeds covering a hundred acres in his hand, and his face still had a gloomy look.
But he also knew that he was insignificant and had been hated by Zhu Meng for a long time. At this time, he did not dare to speak out and reprimand him for such a way of winning people's hearts. Not far away from him, Xiao Jing, the former Suzhou team coach, didn't pay much attention to the belongings at hand. He had a gloomy look on his face. He wanted to say something several times, but he didn't dare to get up because of hesitation.
At this moment, Zhu Meng, who thought the heat was enough, said again: "Everyone, the rebel forces in the south of the Yangtze River are getting stronger now, which is not a good thing for us. Therefore, I think that after this year, we should hurry up The idea is to quell the chaos. I hope that everyone can work together to gather my troops from the south of the Yangtze River and wipe out all those rebellious officials and traitors in one go!"
His words immediately won the response of many generals: "What Zhu Shuai said is true. When the time comes, I will follow Zhu Shuai's orders and I will not give up even if I die!"
"Yes, as long as Commander Zhu gives the order, our soldiers and horses on Jingxi Road will attack with all their strength. Fangla's rebels are just grass bandits. They can be defeated overnight!"
"General Tang said it well, I think so too. Before, many of the soldiers who were new to Jiangnan were acclimatized. Now that the problems have been solved, we can sweep away the enemy troops and restore peace to Jiangnan!"
For a time, everyone clapped their chests and promised. The civilian officials said that they would ensure the logistics. The generals promised Zhu Meng like a military order that all the troops would be united and they were sure that they could completely annihilate the enemy within a few months. , recapture Suzhou and Hangzhou and other important cities...
Judging from their performance alone, Zhu Meng's approach of spending a lot of money to buy them today was quite correct, and it also paid off. It's just that no one can tell how seriously this kind of guarantee at a banquet can be taken seriously.
And just when everyone was talking loudly, as if Fang La's army had been beaten to nowhere, Xiao Jing finally couldn't hold it in any longer. Huo Di stood up immediately, clasped his fists and said loudly: "Shuai Zhu, generals. , I would like to ask you a final question! Just two days ago, news came that the rebel army actually dispatched 100,000 people to attack Changshu City, which was newly captured and guarded by the Shandong Huainan Second Army. Now there is The soldiers are in danger, and the city is in danger. May I ask you when can we send troops to rescue?"
As soon as he said these words, the originally lively hall suddenly became silent. Everyone showed strange expressions, but no one really answered his words. Zhu Meng's face also changed from red to blue, and he stared at Xiao Jing with annoyance in his eyes. This guy really didn't want to open any pot.
Who among the dozens of people present knew about the battle taking place in Changshu, but no one mentioned it in the past few days, but why? Because everyone knows better about the conflict between Sun Tu and Zhu Meng, and also knows that Sun Tu and his family are not the same at all. So even if they knew about the battle of Changshu, they all pretended to be stupid.
But Xiao Jing obviously couldn't understand and accept such a thing. Once he spoke at this time, he couldn't care about anything else, and immediately said: "Zhu Shuai, Changshu City is very important and is the key to my recapture of Suzhou! The Shandong Army is our leader. , is a rare elite division, how can we turn a blind eye and hope that Zhu Shuai will immediately send troops to rescue and defeat the enemy! As long as Zhu Shuai nods, I will be the vanguard!"