February 20th, Jinling City.
After stepping out of the hall door, the smile on Zhu Meng's face disappeared instantly, and his fat face was so gloomy that water could drip from his face. He quickly returned to his study. Before the door could be closed by the few confidants who had followed him in, he had already cursed loudly: "Trash! Fang La has a bunch of trash under his hands! How can he not even do such a small thing?" Well, a hundred thousand troops besieged a small city called Changshu for a long time, and finally they even retreated!"
At this time, Zhu Meng was really furious. He completely forgot how he and the various officers and soldiers had been suffering at the hands of Wu Jun, but he openly and silently cursed the other party as a waste. No wonder he was so angry. The information sent from Changshu was really beyond his expectation. He had already taken great risks and left all the troops here in Jinling regardless of the dissatisfaction of his troops. No rescue was done, just to be able to successfully kill someone with a borrowed knife and solve the trouble of Sun Tu and the Shandong Army. Can it bear fruit? But it gave them an advantage and allowed them to achieve a rare feat. You must know that Changshu is the first Jiangnan city that the government troops have recaptured in the past few years!
What makes Zhu Meng even more angry is that he still has to hold back this tone and cannot really explode in front of his subordinates and others. Just now he had to look happy in front of the generals and said that he wanted to invite Sun Tu. achievement. How could he, who had always been arrogant, endure this? So when he entered the study and was left with only his close friends, he naturally couldn't bear it anymore.
Several staff members who knew his character well did not dare to persuade him at this time. They could only accompany him in a low-key manner. It was not until he vented his anger that he looked at them and said, "Tell me, what should I do next?"
After several people looked at each other, it was Xue Xian who spoke first: "Shuai Zhu, since the matter has reached this stage, we can only go with the flow and reward the Shandong and Huainan troops, so as to stabilize the morale of the army. Of course, when reporting to the court, Of course, the credit belongs to you, Zhu Shuai. It was your command and proper employment of people in Jinling that led to this great victory!"
"Well, Sun Tu was originally sent by me to attack Changshu. His achievements were naturally due to my support!" Zhu Meng immediately took the credit without any shame. But then, he frowned slightly: "But in this case, it will be difficult to explain to Grand Master Cai and the others. What should I do if they think that I am acting in a counter-intuitive way, and that I am going against them and intending to re-employ and cultivate Sun Tu?" Okay?" This is what worries him the most now. Cai Jing, Gao Qiu and others are not easy to deal with. Once they offend them, even Zhu Meng may not be able to withstand it.
Lu Bofei quickly answered: "Shuai Zhu, I have a method that may solve this problem."
"tell me the story."
"Then let the Shandong Army take advantage of the victory to go south and capture Suzhou!"
When Xue Xian heard this, he laughed and said: "Brother Lu, Suzhou is not comparable to a small county like Changshu. Even if there are an army of one or two hundred thousand, it will take several months to conquer this city. His Sun Tu can only have four at most." How can we succeed with fifty thousand soldiers and horses?”
"This is the key point I want to talk about next. Zhu Shuai, let Sun Tu send troops to attack Suzhou, just to give the rebels another chance to annihilate his troops. As long as he is defeated, the problem will naturally be solved." Lu Bofei laughed. : "Of course, it's possible that if he really succeeds, the credit will also go to Zhu Shuai. With this credit, even Grand Master Cai and the others will not be able to do it for the time being.
I can’t embarrass you any more. Maybe we can really rely on Sun Tu to quell the chaos in Jiangnan. As long as we have such great achievements, Zhu Shuai, why should you be afraid of discussions in the court? "
These words were indeed very reasonable, and even Xue Xian, who wanted to find fault, could not question it. Zhu Meng's eyes were shining, and the previous anger had dissipated. He nodded and said: "That's good. This plan can be used to advance, retreat, or defend. It is indeed enough to make us invincible! Just as you said. , immediately gave an order to Sun Tu, asking him to continue taking advantage of the victory to attack Suzhou and get this city back to me!"
The reason why Zhu Meng had such a reaction was not only because this plan really suited his heart, but more importantly, he was also eager to retake Suzhou. After all, compared to Jinling, Suzhou is Zhu Meng's real home base, and Jinling has been almost harmed by him. All industries are in ruins. He has long wanted to change to a better place, and returning to Suzhou is obviously the best choice. .
Lu Bofei hesitated for a moment and then said: "Zhu Shuai, but before that, we still have to provide the food, grass and baggage, otherwise Sun Tuke may not be able to send troops." In order to put Sun Tu and the Shandong Army to death, Zhu Meng not only Cutting off its backup and even logistical supplies was why he said this.
After some thought, Zhu Meng finally nodded: "I'll do as you say. Send the military provisions and military orders there. The Shandong Army must be allowed to attack Suzhou within half a month! If you refuse to send troops, You will be punished for disobeying military orders!"
Just as these few people were answering the order in a low voice and typing down the draft of the military order, someone knocked on the door of the study. This surprised several of the staff. You must know that Zhu Meng has always been very strict with his subordinates and often rude. Beating, scolding or even directly executing them, no one dared to come and disturb their discussion at this time.
But Zhu Meng was in a good mood now, so he didn't get angry. He just said casually: "Come in and talk!"
A servant opened the door cautiously and came in. He didn't dare to look up at his master, so he raised a document with both hands and said: "Master, this is the military report just sent from the front, saying that there is a great victory..."
Zhu Meng took it casually and said: "Then Sun Tu also sent a good news, but the speed was too slow. It has been several days before he came to ask for credit..." As he spoke, he While looking at the good news casually, the smile on his face froze, his voice suddenly stopped, and his expression became extremely weird, half happy, half angry, and full of deep disbelief.
His performance shocked the others and asked hurriedly: "Zhu Shuai, what happened? Could it be that the rebels turned back to attack Changshu and defeated it?" Okay, I'm in a hurry. Then they all ignored the word "good news".
"Sun Tu actually captured Suzhou as well!" After a while, Zhu Meng told the truth dryly, and then patted the victory report in his hand on the table.
Several people immediately stayed on the spot. Even if they had other ideas, they never expected that such a good news would come! It had only been a few days. Sun Tu and the others had just repulsed the rebels who besieged Changshu, and now they had taken Suzhou
With only 40,000 to 50,000 troops, no logistics, and no backup, they actually captured a big city like Suzhou? For a moment, the first reaction of these people was that Sun Tu was lying about the military situation, but they couldn't say it. Such a great victory in seizing the city
But it is different from killing the enemy, the latter can also kill good people and take credit, but the city in hand is real!
How did they do that? Then, a few people had such a question in their minds. No longer caring about Zhu Meng's reaction, they immediately stood up and picked up the good news and read it carefully. The more they looked at it, the more ridiculous and frightened they felt. Sun Tu was so bold that he sneaked into Suzhou with only a small number of troops, and he actually succeeded with one strike. Now Suzhou is completely under his control!
Xue Xian, who just now believed that it would take an army of 100,000 or 200,000 men to recapture Suzhou in half a year, felt his face get hot. This slap must have been too fast and too fierce. Several hundred people captured Suzhou in just one night. This made Xue Xian's face hot. He didn't even know what to say.
But now, a new problem is posing in front of them, what should they do next? How to deal with Sun Tu and the Shandong Army who have made such great achievements
Zhu Meng's face also changed for a while, and after a long time, he started to smile. But his smile was a little distorted, and there was no hint of happiness in it: "Well, his Sun Tu is indeed very capable, but we still underestimated him! If we had known he was so capable of fighting, we should have reused him. Him, let him get the whole Jiangnan back to me as soon as possible."
This was Zhu Meng's sincere words. As a frontier official sent by the imperial court in the south of the Yangtze River, the Fang La Rebellion was naturally a major concern for him, and he also wanted to put an end to this chaos as soon as possible. The reason why he did all kinds of things to hinder Sun Tu, and even colluded with the rebels, was because he believed that the Shandong Army could not really reverse the situation with just one army, so it was better to betray Cai Jing and the others to save face, and add Shang Suntu did many things that made it difficult for him to get off the stage. The combination of the two parties naturally made him murderous.
But now, since Sun Tu has such a great use, Zhu Meng's attitude has naturally changed quickly, and he must put him to good use: "Xue Xian, you will write a report to the court to report your victory. Under my command, I have taken back Suzhou. Within this year, Fangla's rebels will be wiped out and Jiangnan will be pacified again."
Xue Xian hurriedly agreed. This was his job, and he was naturally familiar with it. As for taking away Sun Tu's credit, it was naturally a routine operation, and there was no need to mention it to the frontline soldiers.
Then Zhu Meng stood up again: "Go and call everyone back. We have to have a good discussion with them and set off south as soon as possible to return to Suzhou!" Now that he knew that Suzhou had been taken back, he could no longer hold back. Stayed and must go back as soon as possible. And he believed that as the army moved south and the Shandong Army's combat power, they would be able to win a few more victorious battles in a short period of time, and even win Hangzhou!
When Zhu Meng once again summoned his subordinate generals to tell the news that Suzhou had been recaptured, which attracted a burst of cheers from everyone, Lu Bofei met Tong Mu.
After Tong Mu met him, the first thing he said was: "How is it? Is Zhu Shuai willing to deliver money, food and logistics for the Shandong Army?" It turned out that Lu Bofei's plan was taught by Tong Mu, in order to help the Shandong Army ahead escape. Dilemma.
But Lu Bofei's answer surprised him: "This time not only money and food, but also many rewards will be sent. Young Master Tong, you don't know something. Just now the good news came that the Shandong Army has actually captured Suzhou City!" "
"What?" Tong Mu was stunned and couldn't react for a long time...