March 26th, the fourth year of Xuanhe in the Song Dynasty, is suitable for traveling and collecting gifts; taboo is for bathing.
Early in the morning, Sun Tu met a subordinate sent by Zhu Meng and invited him to a banquet at night to discuss the next matter of going south to break the thief. After listening to the other party's statement and looking at the decent invitation, he smiled and agreed: "Since Zhu Shuai has an order, I will go on time."
But after the other party left, Sun Tu's eyes showed a rather playful look: "Are we finally going to take action? Let's see what happens!"
At noon, in several military camps outside the city, the generals who stayed behind also received a warrant one after another. The content was very simple, but it made the generals' hearts beat wildly - after dark, raid the four gates! Just these horoscopes made these generals, who had long been discouraged by reality, feel a little uneasy.
But since it was a military order from their superiors, they did not dare to disobey it, so they quickly made arrangements immediately. As a result, various military camps that were relatively calm in the past few days have taken a lot of action, and even some heavy weapons used to attack the city have been moved to the front.
In the afternoon, after Sun Tu had dealt with some military and political affairs at hand, he summoned the merchants in the city headed by Su Mao, and had a secret talk with them for a long time before letting them leave. Then he called some of the main generals from the trap camp and the scout camp to him. Another good order.
At the same time, the generals who had entered the city also began to take action. Many of the close soldiers they had brought into Suzhou were dressed in ordinary uniforms, concealed various weapons, and quietly went out, hiding in a mansion near Zhu's Mansion.
All forces began to secretly plan operations on this day, but surprisingly, the Shandong Army, which now controls the overall situation in Suzhou, did not intervene, as if they were not aware of the undercurrents constantly rising inside and outside the city. . On the other hand, the ordinary people, feeling the strong pressure of the impending storm, have all retreated into their homes and stayed behind closed doors. It was not yet dark yet, and the streets were already clean and no one could see them. Half a figure.
Under such circumstances, Sun Tu slowly arrived in front of the Zhu Mansion, escorted by hundreds of soldiers. However, just as he blocked Zhu Meng's 10,000 troops from outside the city, when he wanted to bring people in, he was also stopped by the guards. They only allowed four or five people to enter with Sun Tu.
In this regard, Sun Tu did not show any dissatisfaction. He just smiled and said: "Since this is Zhu Shuai's wish, I should obey it. Wu Song, Lu Da, Yue Fei, Tang Feng, the four of you, follow me in." ." As he spoke, he walked through the door with his head held high without even looking at the guards.
When Sun Tu arrived at the reception hall located in the second courtyard, everyone else was already present, and all kinds of wine and food had been prepared. However, everyone from Zhu Meng down did not drink. After seeing Sun Tu coming, their eyes all fell over, with envy, jealousy, and unconcealed murderous intent.
In this regard, Sun Tu just ignored him, gave Luda and the others a wink, and asked them to stay outside. Then he smiled and clasped his fists and entered the door: "It seems that the official is a step late. I hope Zhu Shuai will not come." It’s strange.”
"Haha, Qianli, you are busy with military affairs now. You are in charge of all matters in Suzhou City. Naturally, you are busier than me. You should wait a little later. Come, sit down and talk first." Zhu Meng forced a smile and pointed to the picture in front of him. The empty seats said.
"Then it would be disrespectful for me to refuse." Sun Tu did not refuse, walked a few steps to the seat filled with wine and food, and sat down upright.
A general next to him smiled again and said: "Sun Qianha came late today and asked me to wait. Although Zhu Shuai doesn't blame you, we are a little unfair, so I have to punish you. Please give me a favor." I drank three cups as an apology."
"Yes, yes, yes, General Sun, please give me three drinks..." These words immediately attracted the support of others, and many people shouted after him.
Faced with this request, Sun Tu did not make any move. He just smiled and said: "I have already sinned against Zhu Shuai, so I will be exempted from the fine. You should also know that alcohol is prohibited in our army. Although there is no war now, we have to take precautions. If you really want to drink wine as a fine, you can only calculate it together after the chaos is calmed down."
Seeing that he had not even touched the wine glass and was extremely resolute, the generals were intimidated by Sun Tu's momentum and didn't know what to say. Zhu Meng's eyes flashed coldly. He could tell that Sun Tu was guarding against poisoning the cup, so he didn't say anything more and just raised his cup and said, "In that case, let's first Let’s have a drink and then we’ll get down to business.”
All the generals quickly raised their glasses in response, but only Sun Tu sat there with a half-smiling smile, still not even raising his hand, looking so out of place. But when faced with other people's strange looks, he was content with himself, as if this was a matter of course.
Seeing that Sun Tu was not on the right track, Zhu Meng quickly changed his explanation, put down his cup and said: "I called you here today to discuss how to continue to expand the results of the war and go south to defeat the thieves. I wonder what you guys have to say?"
"Shuai Zhu, I think the most urgent task is to first raise the supply of grain and grass for the army. As far as I know, there is still a lot of grain stored in warehouses and civilians in Suzhou. At this time, it should be all mobilized for the use of our army." A general immediately He suggested.
As soon as he finished speaking, many people immediately agreed and shouted for food and money, but when they said this, they looked at Sun Tu. But Sun Tu still had that indifferent smile under such circumstances, without any expression, as if all this had nothing to do with him.
It wasn't until Zhu Meng couldn't help but asked him by name: "Qianli, now you are in charge of all matters in Suzhou. What do you think about the food and grass matter?" The anti-military food and grass seized after going to Suzhou was only 20,000 shi, which was not enough for the various groups... "
"What about the civilians? I have heard that the Su family, Huang family and other big grain merchants have hoarded no less than hundreds of thousands of stones of grain. As long as we requisition these, it will be enough for a hundred thousand troops!" Someone immediately interrupted Sun Tu's statement and questioned.
But Sun Tu stared at him: "The food of the people is the hard work of merchants. Do you plan to spend money to buy it, or do you want to just let it go and rob it?"
"Of course, let them supply the officers and soldiers for the time being. As for the remuneration, it won't be too late to wait until after the war!" This person gave his opinion without hesitation.
Sun Tu sneered: "Absurd! If this happens, wouldn't it chill the hearts of the gentry in all places? Now too many people in Jiangnan have attached themselves to the rebels. It's not easy for a Suzhou people to abandon the secret and turn to the bright side, but you plan to embezzle their Property, this is because we have made enemies
enough? "
"General Sun, you are just being alarmist! When did thieves actually have to rely on ordinary people? Didn't we and my subordinates sacrifice their lives with swords and guns?" Another general immediately objected.
What he got in exchange was Sun Tu's disdainful smile: "Your Excellency, you are a training officer of a certain legion on Jingxi Road, right?" After the other party nodded subconsciously, he asked another question: "But I don't know how to defeat the thieves this time?" What achievements did your troops make during the battle? How dare you speak nonsense in front of me, saying that all you need to defeat thieves is officers and soldiers!"
These words immediately silenced the other party and silenced other generals who wanted to say something else. Because it is true as Sun Tu said, none of these guys have made any merits on the battlefield. In other words, the people on the Gyeonggi Road had some merits in defending Wuxi City, but then they abandoned Wuxi City, which was shameless. Things to do in advance.
In just a few words, Sun Tu had already suppressed the entire audience. His eyes quickly swept across the generals, and then he said: "I won't hide it from you. This time, our Shandong Army was able to successfully capture Suzhou except for the brave soldiers of our army." In addition, it is also because of the cooperation of the people in the city, so in my opinion, the role of those people who are despised by you on the battlefield is still greater than that of tens of thousands of troops!"
"You..." The faces of the generals suddenly turned white and blue, and they all seemed to be dissatisfied, but with their eloquence, they really couldn't defeat Sun Tu.
Zhu Meng's face was even more frighteningly dark. He wanted to use the power of the crowd to suppress Sun Tu first, and then kill him. Unexpectedly, he would actually engage in a verbal battle with the generals, and his words were as sharp as swords, which made the generals speechless. At that moment, he said coldly: "General Sun is really domineering. Just because you were lucky enough to win a few victories, you don't take the heroes of the world seriously?"
"Don't dare!" Sun Tu actually wanted to use the famous sayings of Senior Brother Duanshui Shui and say that I am not targeting one person, but that everyone here is rubbish. But after all, he couldn't offend everyone to death, so he smiled and said: "The situation in Jiangnan is complicated and corrupt. The reason why the rebels were able to make such a huge noise in just two years is because they have deluded the people. If we still Without reflection, this battle has been lost by five points without even fighting. So in my opinion, treating the people well and working together between the army and the people are the foundation for putting down this chaos."
These few words actually made some of the generals look strange. Thinking about their past experiences, they all agreed.
And Sun Tu took the opportunity to say: "In addition, I have recently learned the news that the rebel army is sending out propaganda and banners. They only say that they are revolting because of the traitors in the court, especially in the south of the Yangtze River, where corrupt officials are rampant. As a result, the people are in dire straits... They also said that what they have to do now is to kill the culprit, the corrupt official Zhu Meng!" When he said this, his eyes were like lightning, directed at Zhu Meng.
Zhu Meng was so angry that he was shaking. He really didn't expect that Sun Tu would be bold enough to tell such things in front of him and so many people. For a moment, he couldn't care about anything and shouted loudly: "Sun Tu, you are so brave! It seems that the intelligence I got before is indeed good. You have already colluded with Fang La's rebels. When You really deserve to die!" As soon as he said these words, he raised his hand and slammed the wine glass to the ground, making a crisp sound!
Immediately, the originally tightly closed hall door suddenly opened, and dozens of soldiers wearing armor and holding knives rushed in like tigers and wolves...