The court has not yet reached a conclusion on Sun Tu's case, but the people have completely praised him as a hero. Especially in Jiangnan, General Sun's reputation has become even more famous. Almost everyone regards him as a great savior and hero who can eliminate traitors and protect the country.
This was not only because Sun Tu killed a Zhu Meng, but more importantly, it was because of the message against the rebels. Once this article spread, the south of the Yangtze River was shaken. Countless scholars spontaneously became advocates for the court and Sun Tu, denounced that the state of Wu founded by Fang La was an evil heretic and a great scourge for the Han people. It must be eliminated as soon as possible to ensure peace.
In the era thousands of years ago, it was these scholars who could really influence public opinion. Even if they were sometimes called contemptuously, they were poor and talented, but when big things happened, the illiterate people were still more willing to believe in the scholars around them. judgment. After their publicity, the reputation of the Wu Kingdom fell rapidly, and rumors began to spread that the Wu army was all cannibalistic demons, and that rebel leaders like Fang La were all murderous and couldnibalistic. The big demon who spits out bones.
At first, these statements were only spread outside the Wu Kingdom, but after April, they had spread to various towns under the control of the Wu Kingdom, causing people to panic. In addition, some spies sent by the Song Dynasty took the opportunity to cause trouble, so there was chaos inside. Today there was an uprising, and tomorrow there was a civil uprising, which made the Wu army exhausted, fighting fires everywhere, but it made the original plan to take the initiative to go north. The plans can only be put on hold temporarily.
It was only at this time that everyone, both the enemy and ourselves, truly understood the power of Sun Tu's appeal, and many generals were convinced of him and did not dare to have other thoughts.
It is said that since he killed Zhu Meng in anger that day and dragged all the generals into trouble, Sun Tu used various means to win over these generals while fighting and pulling them. But the matter did not go as smoothly as expected. After all, he was young. Although he had repeatedly made military exploits, his several years of military experience could not be compared with veterans who had been in the army for decades. In addition, his previous methods were not fair enough. , so even if others are forced to comply due to the situation, it is just an act of resignation. In fact, the armies are not under Sun Tu's control. Not to mention taking them to continue fighting south, even if they are sent to guard the city passes elsewhere, they may not be able to rest assured.
Therefore, everything Sun Tu did during these days was to win over the generals. Not only did he truthfully tell the truth about his intention to disrupt the rebels with his propaganda, but he also gave away a lot of benefits. In addition to a large part of the property collected from Zhu Meng's mansion, he gave it to Su Mao and other merchants in exchange for grain and other logistical supplies. He also distributed the rest of the property to the generals for bribery and appeasement.
After his efforts to win over, these generals finally fully understood and accepted the facts. After entering April, they were willing to obey Sun Tu's orders and started training together outside Suzhou City to prepare for the subsequent march south to quell the chaos. Be prepared in advance.
However, it is obviously not enough to bribe them with money. Sun Tu also has to show his strength to them. The performance of the Shandong Army in several subsequent military exercises quickly opened the eyes of these armies from all over the country. Just the changes in the battle formations with orders and prohibitions, up and down, like arms and fingers, were dazzling. The army dispersed
The strong confidence and coercion he exuded had already made many soldiers feel in awe in just a few days.
And after the effect of Sun Tu's message came back, his reputation among the Song army reached its peak. This time, no one will underestimate him because of his age and regard him as a famous general with both wisdom and courage. If it hadn't been for the next reaction from the imperial court, everyone would have called him Commander Sun instead of General Sun.
Later, some news from the court came back, and everyone gradually figured out the attitude of those people. They planned to make Sun Tu guilty and perform meritorious service, and then judge whether he was meritorious or guilty based on the final result. Once this statement was confirmed, the officers and soldiers under his command could not sit still. Almost every day, people came to ask Sun Tu for a battle, hoping that he could lead his army south immediately to put down this rebellion.
At this time, Sun Tu behaved much more calmly than the others. Even if some of his close generals came together to ask for a fight, they would not nod and only said that they had to wait and see.
After April entered the middle of April, the people below became more and more anxious. Even the generals of several other armies felt that it was time to send troops south, so they once again asked to see Sun Tu to ask for a battle. After finally sending them away, Dong Ping, Song Jiang and other generals from the Shandong Army came to Sun Tu again.
At this time, Sun Tu had just picked up a copy of "Three Kingdoms" and wanted to read it. When he saw everyone arriving again, he smiled bitterly: "You are not going to give me a chance to breathe, you want to kill me with a wheel battle. "
"Generals and low-ranking officers also want to quell the traitors for the country as soon as possible. Now that the rebels are in chaos, it is a good time for the military to be unstable. How can we let it go so easily?" Dong Ping spoke on behalf of everyone, and everyone else also said They all nodded in agreement. Unknowingly, they also called Sun Tu "General" like other generals. Although this title was very general, it sounded much higher than Qian Ju's.
Sun Tu put down the scroll in his hand, glanced at their faces one by one, and then said: "Of course I know your thoughts. It's just that you feel that the opportunity is rare. In addition, you are also thinking about me. I feel that this is the only way to make the court happy. We won’t pursue what happened before, right?”
With the relationship between the two parties, there was no need to hide it, so everyone nodded immediately. Song Jiang then said: "The lower-level people have received a lot of news from the south. Under the suppression of the rebel generals such as Pang Wanchun and Fang Shifo, many of the rebels were exterminated by them. Maybe it will happen again. In the next two days, the south will become a monolith again, and it will be difficult to deal with it if we send troops to attack again."
"Haha, you only see one, but not the other. On the surface, it seems that the rebel side is exactly what you said, but in fact, in my opinion, there is still a storm brewing, and sending troops at this time will only We should help the rebels resolve their internal conflicts, but if we stand still, we will make the chaos worse and hurt the vitality of the rebels," Sun Tu said sternly.
Everyone was a little confused now, making eye contact with each other, but they couldn't come up with an accurate answer for a while. Sun Tu patted the "Three Kingdoms" in his hand and said with a smile: "This is actually the conclusion I came to after reading the book "Three Kingdoms" recently. Brother Gongming, you should have read this book. You should know that Guo Jia's posthumous policy decided Liaodong. Bar?"
"General" refers to Cao Cao's victory in Guandu
After Yuan Shao was defeated in the first battle, he stood still, causing several of Yuan Shao's sons who fled north to kill each other, and were all killed by Gongsun Kang of Liaodong? "Song Jiang quickly understood and whispered.
"That's exactly what happened. If Cao Cao continues to lead his army northward at that time, he will certainly be able to pacify the north, but it will inevitably cause damage to the army. Maybe he will not be able to reorganize his army southward and seize the Jingxiang lands in a short period of time. ." Sun Tu nodded and said: "Right now, our situation is somewhat similar. The rebels are already unstable internally. If I send my army to attack them, then in order to protect themselves, they will definitely work together and put aside their past grudges. Then the next war will be inevitable. It is extremely difficult. Even if we can win, it will be a miserable victory, not to mention losing troops and generals.
"But if it's the other way around and we stand still, the results will be very different. Some people who are dissatisfied with Fang La are bound to do something because they see an opportunity to take advantage of it. At this time, they are still waiting and watching. As long as they let They are sure that the government troops will not go south yet, and those who have a sense of luck will start to take action."
This time, other people finally understood that this was the idea of watching the fire from the other side. However, they still had doubts, so Yang Zhi asked: "General, are they really so disregarding the overall situation?"
"This is not because they don't care about the overall situation, but because the current situation has left them with no other choice. Why do you think there are always a few troubles breaking out in the south recently? Is it because someone is secretly planning, whether it is to test No matter if they are taking advantage of the situation, as long as they move, there is no possibility of turning back. Even I can see the problem, how could Fang La and others in the south not see it? And they will never do it. If things like this are allowed to continue to happen, as long as they find out who is behind the trouble, they will definitely strike first. And as long as those people are not stupid enough, they will definitely strike early. Only then will the south truly There will be chaos. But there is a premise for all this, that is, we must not act rashly, at least give them the illusion that with the death of Zhu Meng, our officers and soldiers are in disarray."
It was only then that everyone truly understood Sun Tu's intentions. While they were shocked, they were also full of respect. Since he has already considered everything, and holding his troops still is the most beneficial to the war, there is no need to rush to send troops.
However, Song Jiang was still a little worried and said, "How should the court explain this?"
"There's no need to worry anymore. Not to mention that the imperial court hasn't issued an order today asking us to send troops to quell the chaos as soon as possible. Even if such a military order is issued, the foreign emperor will not accept his orders!" Sun Tu said nonchalantly. said.
Seeing that he had made his attitude clear, everyone stopped saying anything, clasped their fists and accepted the order, then turned around and left.
After Sun Tu watched them go out, the corner of his mouth curled up slightly. Some things were really hard to put into public view, but he didn't know how many people could understand his other thoughts. The reason why he refused to send troops at this time was because he wanted to cause civil strife in the Wu army, but more importantly, he wanted to preserve his own strength. Because Sun Tu knew one truth very well. If he wanted to prevent the court from attacking him, he must rely on his military power as a deterrent!
Therefore, quelling the chaos this time is the next step. The most important thing is to reduce casualties and control this 100,000-strong army!