Taking Muzhou City without a single blow was certainly a good thing for the soldiers of the Song Army, because it meant that the suppression of the chaos in Jiangnan was complete. But Sun Tu was not satisfied in his heart. This place was almost an empty city. Only a small number of old, weak, sick and disabled people were left. The other was that Fang La and other key figures had fled. This made him know clearly that This battle has not yet truly ended.
So after entering the city, he sent people to appease the people and put up notices stating that the government would not hold the people responsible for their original rebellion. At the same time, he also sent a large number of scouts to Qingxi County, Fangla's hometown, to investigate the news, hoping to Find out their whereabouts and whereabouts as soon as possible, and catch these rebels before they completely escape.
But the development of things next was not very satisfactory. On the last day of March, definite news finally came back. It was suspected that Fang La and others led the crowd into the deep mountains around Bangyuan Cave, where the terrain was complex. , the forces are more mixed, unless they are determined to directly eliminate them with blood, I am afraid it will be difficult to drive the army into the mountains.
Moreover, even if Sun Tuzhen really intends to become a butcher, the cost of doing so will be huge. Fighting on the home ground of those native Qingxi people, even elites such as the Qingzhou Army will not be able to take advantage, and he will never take advantage of excessive casualties. Something to accept.
When the relevant news continued to come in, Sun Tu also felt helpless for a while: "What should we do? Do we really want to use force to plow all the mountain people here at any cost?"
"No, General. If this happens, your reputation in Jiangnan will be completely ruined." Tong Mu quickly reminded: "Since you have planned to use Jiangnan as another base area, you must not do such a thing. . Besides, if you really do it, the crime of bloodthirsty will fall on you, and those people in the court are still waiting for you to make a mistake... "
Sun Tu nodded understandingly: "But besides this, can we have any better way to deal with it? Fang Lab originally came from the Qingxi area, so the folks in the village naturally wanted to protect him. Now he has escaped into the mountains and forests, and still Can you get them to hand him over?"
"Why not? People's hearts tend to seek advantages and avoid disadvantages. As long as the local mountain people know that this person is a big disaster and keeping him will only bring disaster to themselves and their loved ones, I think someone will always change their mind." Zhu Wu Dao expressed his thoughts: "In addition, we can also induce others to gain benefits and bring the local mountain people's leaders to our side..."
"Brother Zhu has a good idea. General, this plan is indeed feasible. As long as we can spread the relevant information as soon as possible, we won't be afraid that the people will not obey. Even if Fang La does have some reputation in the local area, it can't compare with his wealth, life and ability." The gold, silver and silk in hand." Wu Yong also nodded.
Sun Tu frowned and thought for a while, then looked at the generals in front of him: "What do you think?"
"If we can get Fang La at the minimum cost, I think this plan is feasible." First Dong Ping, and then some other generals also echoed. After following Sun Tu for a long time, these people are no longer the reckless men who only shout and kill like before, and they also see things in a much longer term.
Sun Tu glanced at everyone and finally nodded in approval: "Then let's do what everyone wants and think about it first.
I contacted the people in Qingxi, Bangyuandong and other places, and used both soft and hard tactics to make them available to me. I hope this won't take too long. "
"General, I think the most important thing we should do now is to send this good news back to the court. In this way, the great success will be in our hands, and even if some people want to cause trouble again, we will not give them any chance." Tong Mu gave another timely reminder.
The other subordinates were also slightly stunned, and then looked at Sun Tu expectantly. Indeed, under the leadership of Sun Tu, they quickly put down the Jiangnan rebellion this time. This credit was too great. Naturally, no one wanted this credit to be shared by others. Especially when Zhang Shuye and his two friends had already arrived, some people were worried that they would have many nightmares at night.
Sun Tu thought about it for a moment, then nodded in agreement: "That's fine. Now that the cities captured by the rebels in the past few years have been recovered, and Fang La has been beaten into the mountains by us, it is indeed time to ask for credit for everyone. ." As he said that, he smiled again: "We all have military merits. I think we will all be promoted several levels by then, and we will finally be able to lead a general."
These words made everyone burst into joy. Even the Liangshan brothers who always said that they wanted to be idle clouds and wild cranes in the past, when they thought that they would become imperial military attachés in the near future and truly become wives and yinzi, they all smiled happily and felt that their future was bright. bright. As for Song Jiang and others, they were even more filled with joy. It was only because they were in the city that they didn't scream for joy like the others, but they couldn't hide the smiles on their faces.
Therefore, after entering April, Sun Tu carried out three things at the same time. The first was to cross Wulong Ridge, destroy Muzhou City, kill Fang La and escape into the mountains, and soon be able to completely annihilate him. The second was to try to contact the mountain people leaders in Qingxi, especially the Bangyuan Cave area, hoping to win them over to deal with Fang La; the third was to post widely among the people, bluntly saying that the crimes Fang La had committed were extremely heinous. , and the court's determination to destroy him, in order to put enough pressure on those people.
The last two things obviously cannot be accomplished in a short time. It is not easy to contact the leaders of the mountain people who are like earth emperors. The first thing was that because the fastest military post was used to send the good news to Bianjing in an expedited manner of 600 miles, the military report was delivered to the Ministry of War in only a few days.
This time, Sun Tu did not send more good news to other yamen as before, because the matter was a foregone conclusion and related to the overall situation of Jiangnan. No one dared to hide it anymore.
And what happened was just as he expected. The officials of the Ministry of War were also shocked after receiving the good news. They did not dare to make any claims on their own and quickly reported it to the Privy Council and sent it to Gao Qiu later that day.
When he saw the good news, Captain Gao's face suddenly sank. Although he wanted to see the news about Jiangnan's chaos, he also wanted to see Zhang Shuye and the others signed at the back. Fortunately now, this good news was entirely handled by Sun Tu, but he didn't even mention the two coaches and supervisors.
Gao Qiu naturally knew what this meant: "Trash! No wonder there has been no news since the two of them went to Jiangnan. Now it seems that they have been completely suppressed by Sun Tu, and they don't even have any military power." None
Can get it back from him. Sun Tu, you are so brave, how dare you make such an opinion, I'm sorry! "
But after getting angry, he couldn't do anything about what Sun Tu did. Because he took the Muzhou and killed Fang La who had already escaped into the mountains, and his credit is real. Maybe soon, he will be able to kill or capture Fang La alive. In this way, all the credit will be his, and the court will reward him when the time comes. It was too late, so how could he be punished for such a trivial matter
Even if Gao Qiu now has the emperor's trust, and even if Liang Shicheng and even Cai Jing can help him deal with Sun Tu, in the current situation, he may not be able to do it.
What worries him even more is that once Sun Tuzhen takes advantage of this great achievement and rises to the top, with his bold character and the grievances he has had with him for many years, he is afraid that he will follow in Zhu Meng's footsteps.
The more he thought about it, the more panic he felt. Gao Qiu could no longer bear it and hurriedly went to find Liang Shicheng and explained the current problem. Liang Shicheng also fell into a long silence after reading this good news. After a while, he gritted his teeth and said, "This Sun Tu actually suppressed the chaos in Jiangnan. He will become a serious trouble in the future. We can't let him go so easily."
"The lower official knows, but now... Even Zhang Shuye and the others can't do anything about it. Now that he will receive a big reward, can we still deal with him?" Gao Qiu was really panicked, and his words became more and more complicated. Become more direct.
"It would be impossible to let him stay in Jiangnan, but it would be different if he could be transferred back to Bianjing from Jiangnan. In the end, he is just a military commander. In our Song Dynasty, no matter how great he was, Military generals with meritorious service are nothing more than that. Didn't Di Qing back then have no choice but to compromise, but couldn't even save his own subordinates? And with his character and the officials he had offended before, as long as he returns to Beijing to take up a post, it won't take long. It will definitely give us an opportunity to take advantage of it!”
Gao Qiu smiled bitterly. Of course he knew the truth behind this, but the problem was: "Then Sun Tu is not stupid either. He knows even better that he and I have been in conflict for a long time. Even Tong Guan could figure it out before and avoided it long ago. How could he be transferred back to the border area?"
After a pause, he added: "He even dared to put two coaches appointed by the imperial court, Zhang Shuye, under house arrest without giving them any chance. How could he, who was in Jiangnan, obey the order and come back? If he was really pushed into a hurry. We can't afford a mutiny." He was really afraid of this unscrupulous guy like Sun Tu. Maybe 99% of the generals in the world would not be able to commit rebellion, but this Sun Tu, Just from what he has done in the past, we can see that this is a guy who doesn't play by common sense. Maybe he will actually rebel directly.
Liang Shicheng was stunned for a moment, he really didn't think so deeply. But soon, he laughed again: "A few days ago, I might have been worried about the result. But now, it is no longer a problem."
"how do I say this?"
"Please take a look at this first." Liang Shicheng took out a letter and handed it over. After reading the letter sent by his subordinate officials, Gao Qiu showed a proud smile as expected: "It turns out that we have grasped Sun Tu's biggest weakness, so we are not afraid that he will not submit! "