When the sergeants carried boxes full of property like water and delivered them to Sun Tu and the generals, the expressions of the idle people who were originally full of hesitation, fear and uneasiness were all filled with greed. Instead, many people were staring straight at the gold and silver treasures in the box, almost unable to pull them out.
After having Zhu Meng's blood-covered and disemboweled body dragged out and exposed to the public, Sun Tu called these generals back to the hall where they had just discussed, and straight away proposed that they should sign a memorial with him immediately. The imperial court listed Zhu Meng's various crimes and found sufficient reasons to kill him.
But after confirming that Sun Tu would not really attack them, these people began to hesitate again. Zhu Meng was an envoy to the south of the Yangtze River appointed by the imperial court. Killing him was actually no different from mutiny and rebellion. Now Sun Tu actually wanted to turn around and convict him, and asked everyone to jointly submit a memorial. This pair of officials had long been dismissed. It was too serious and terrifying for the generals who had suppressed them to the point of losing any courage, so naturally there was hesitation in their hearts.
If they hadn't already known that they had blood on their hands and were tied to Sun Tu, with no way out, they might have found a reason to run away at this time. But even so, in the face of Sun Tu's straightforward request, everyone was still confused for a while, and they couldn't come up with an accurate idea until dawn.
At this time, the soldiers who were ordered to search the entire Zhu Mansion finally delivered all the property they had found, and they also followed Sun Tu's previous instructions to dazzle people's eyes. All his belongings were moved to the front of the hall, and sure enough, it attracted everyone's attention.
In addition to the large amount of treasures that Zhu Meng and his men dug out from the yard that Shi Qian saw in secret before, there are also many treasures that he took with him when he fled earlier, and that he later looted in Jinling. There are more than ten boxes of valuable property, plus many gold and silver ingots, as well as various land deeds and house deeds. Just a rough estimate, the value of the property here is in the millions, and may even reach tens of millions. above.
And this is not all of Zhu Meng's net worth, because in addition to Jiangnan, he also has rich properties in his hometown and Bianliang. The property of the three parties added together may be doubled. And this is what Fang La reaped from his harm to the people in the south of the Yangtze River, causing them to live in dire straits. He really brought harm to the country and the people, and he was so heartbroken that it is beyond description.
Even Sun Tu was stunned for a long time after seeing the many belongings that were being moved in one after another. When he came back to his senses, he found that the others were still staring at the belongings, with greedy looks on their faces that he could not hide. live. With a slight sneer in his heart, he coughed again: "Everyone, where are we talking about?"
"Oh... General Sun, you said that we should jointly petition to impeach Zhu Meng for various crimes..." Someone finally came back to his senses and replied with some hesitation.
"Yes, that's right. In fact, the property here alone is enough for Zhu Meng to pay for it with his life. What are these? Maybe in the eyes of some people, these are just gold and silver treasures, but in my opinion, these are just gold and silver treasures. It is the wealth of the people, the blood and tears of the people, and even their lives. Every penny here was obtained by Zhu Meng who used all kinds of tricks to rob it. It would not be unfair to say that he was the culprit who caused the chaos in Jiangnan and the people's dire livelihood. !" Sun Tu said as he walked to those places
In front of the box, he casually grabbed a jade carving and threw it in his hand: "So what we are doing today is to bring order to the chaos, and to uphold justice for the court and the people. What do you think?"
"This..." Everyone who came to their senses once again looked confused. Once they really follow Sun Tu's words, then they really have no way out and can only follow Sun Tu's path until the end. You must know that with Zhu Meng's status in the court, he will inevitably have many comrades, and coupled with the emperor's favoritism, no one knows what the result will be once the memorial is really jointly signed.
If they hadn't been forced to kill Zhu Meng's two sons and confidants together before, I'm afraid they would have made excuses to escape at this time, and would not dare to wade into this muddy water again.
Sun Tu glanced at everyone and already had a plan in mind. He immediately pointed to these boxes and said: "The property here is all illegally obtained by Zhu Meng. If we can convict him immediately, we will have sufficient reason to use them. Otherwise, we can only seal them and hand them over to the court for disposal." ”
"Ah..." This sentence made everyone stunned. Immediately, the hesitation and embarrassment on their faces were replaced by greed again, and they were obviously moved.
Seeing this, Sun Tu added: "Now that our 100,000 officers and soldiers are staying in Suzhou, they are already short of food and grass supplies. Are you afraid that the army will soon run out of supplies? Now, the property found in Zhu Meng's house is just enough. To solve this urgent need, only in this way can we continue to go south to quell the thieves. All generals understand the truth and know that everything should be based on the overall situation. What is our overall situation now? Isn't it difficult to put down the Fang La Rebellion? "
After saying this, the quick-thinking man immediately followed him: "What General Sun said is true. Now we should focus on continuing to go south. Since the money here is enough to supply the needs of my army, we should By calling this, the court will surely understand that we are all acting out of loyalty!"
"That's right, that's right. That's exactly what it should be. Zhu Meng has caused harm to the people of Jiangnan over the years. He really deserves to die. The lower officials think that we should convict him and ask the court to severely punish his family members and others..."
"Zhu Meng deserves to die, I am willing to jointly submit the memorial with General Sun!"
No amount of truth can be more convincing than the yellow and white Adu thing. As Sun Tu started to speak, he pointed out that only if everyone jointly signed the memorial to convict Zhu Meng could he share this huge wealth worth tens of millions of dollars. These things were originally Still looking forward and backward, the timid generals immediately changed their demeanor and became righteous men who served the country and the people with great righteousness.
So in the final analysis, if you want to get people to do big things together, in addition to using threats to get everyone in the same boat, the more important thing is to make everyone see the real benefits and benefits. Only by using both grace and power can a large group of people who do not belong to each other and have their own thoughts be firmly bound together.
Only then did Sun Tu laugh with satisfaction: "Your righteousness is really a blessing to Jiangnan, and it is also a blessing to our Song Dynasty court! As long as you and I work together, we will soon be able to put down the chaos in La in the south of the Yangtze River and return this rich fish and rice. A peaceful and prosperous era for the land!"
After a pause, he emphasized: "And you should have heard me say it before. Not long ago, the anti-thief side published a propaganda letter to confuse the people of Jiangnan under the banner of killing Zhu Meng. But now , since Zhu Meng is dead, as long as we can convict him of all the serious crimes and declare them to the world, we will surely be able to
The force of the rebels has been greatly reduced. In this single move, they can no less than a hundred thousand troops! "
"General Sun is indeed far-sighted and I admire him very much." Everyone had made up their minds at this time and relaxed completely, talking about Zhu Meng's various evil deeds and crimes.
Sun Tu hurriedly asked someone to transcribe it on the spot, and finally summarized it into seven deadly sins, and then jointly submitted a report with other generals, which finally confirmed Zhu Meng's guilt.
It wasn't until he finished all this that he pointed to the boxes of belongings and talked about the distribution issue that interested everyone the most: "There is certainly a lot of belongings here, but for us, the most important thing now is What’s precious is food and other logistical support, what do you think?”
In fact, many people want to say that nothing else matters. Getting gold, silver and other property is the most economical thing. After all, for generals like them, it doesn't matter whether they win or lose the war. The key is to profit from it. Because even if they really quelled the Jiangnan Rebellion, they would not be able to receive much reward for their little contribution, which was far from being comparable to the wealth they could receive here - but after meeting Sun Tu's ghostly eyes, he spoke. It was hard to say it out loud, so I could only say yes against my will.
Sun Tu added: "So what I want to do is to give most of the property here to many merchants in Suzhou, and they will exchange it for grain, grass and luggage of equal value to ensure our logistics. As for the extra, If we share it equally with you, what do you think?"
Now that everything has been said, and everyone has signed the memorial before, no one else dares to object, so they can only nod in agreement. Although this would inevitably result in a lot less points, it was still much better than gaining nothing. At least if they followed Zhu Meng to get rid of Sun Tu, they would never gain much benefit. Thinking of this, they finally felt a little calmer.
Now that everything has been agreed upon, it's time to take action. While the bullets listing Zhu Meng's seven serious crimes, as well as the memorial of his rebellion and execution, were quickly sent to Bianjing, Sun Tu had already gone to discuss with Su Mao and other merchants again, exchanging part of the property for If there is insufficient food and supplies in their hoards, these merchants will come forward to purchase them elsewhere.
With the skills and connections of these businessmen, it is more convenient and faster to buy food from other places than from the government. It may only take two or three months for the needed food materials to be delivered continuously. At the same time, they also began to open up and provide all their own food. Anyway, with the supplement of that batch of property, these businessmen will never lose money.
Originally, they had already made up their mind to break up their family and disperse their wealth when they agreed to Sun Tu to help him provide money and food. Now they are still making money. Naturally, all the businessmen are even more respectful and grateful to Sun Tu. They are really heartbroken.
For Sun Tu, the greater benefit was on the other side, because he took the food and grass from the merchants and then provided it to the army. In addition to all the previous things, it was justifiable that he completely replaced Zhu Meng and became the commander-in-chief. Now he is the de facto head coach of the Song Army in all directions in the south of the Yangtze River.
In other words, now he has all these 100,000 troops in his hands, and his strength has been greatly enhanced!
At the same time, a revolt against the Kingdom of Wu also began to be circulated under Sun Tu's instruction, firing the first shot of public opinion for the upcoming new round of war...