On the ninth day of May, at noon, the sun was blazing and the weather was extremely hot.
But the streets of Muzhou City were deserted. The common people, sergeants, and officials all gathered at the city gate, looking far ahead at the not too wide official road, waiting for the arrival of those people.
Just yesterday, conclusive news came back from Qingxi. In the middle of the night during the Dragon Boat Festival, the Song Army launched a surprise attack in the mountains and forests around Bangyuan Cave where Fangla, the leader of the anti-army bandits, was hiding. In this battle, they won a complete victory. Not only Killed hundreds of enemies, captured countless prisoners, and even captured the two chief thieves Fang La and Fang Fei alive. Today was the time when they were escorting the prisoners back.
It was not until after noon that a large flag poked out from the originally empty official road. Then the second, third... and the victorious soldiers under the flags were all in high spirits and strode towards Muzhou. Come. Among this team, the most eye-catching thing was not the generals riding tall horses, but the two prison cars temporarily acquired from Qingxi County Government. The two people in the cars were Fang La and Fang Fei.
When he saw such a victorious army escorting hundreds of rebels and escorting two thieves strutting in, there was a burst of cheers at the city gate. It was the other Song army soldiers cheering for their brother Paoze. . But the common people all had complicated expressions at this moment, and they no longer knew how to deal with these people who they had supported but now abandoned.
When Fangla fled, many people followed him. But in the past month or so, these people finally chose to leave because of the dangerous situation and difficult life. Coupled with the fact that the government had publicized the situation well in advance and put up notices of people's safety everywhere, they were finally allowed to go home one after another, and now they have all become the obedient and good citizens they once were.
But when Fang Lazhen was captured alive by the Song army and brought back to Muzhou, these people were still full of guilt. They didn't even dare to look at the prisoner. They looked extremely depressed and couldn't raise their heads. Fang La glanced at Fang La who got up.
However, Sun Tu and other court officials did not feel this way at all. He immediately led the crowd and marched forward to greet them. However, he was not in a hurry to check on the prisoners. Instead, he smiled and loudly said: "Brothers, you have worked hard. We have won today. The chaos in the south of the Yangtze River has been settled. Tomorrow the Japanese officials will report to the court to ask for your merits. In addition, a banquet for your merits has been prepared in the city. Everyone, please enter the city quickly! "
At the same time as he spoke, all the generals sitting on their horses turned over and fell to the ground. Then they all knelt down on one knee and saluted and shouted: "The last general has lived up to the general's trust and finally captured the leader of the rebels." Then others. The soldiers also knelt on one knee and shouted loudly: "We will live up to the general's trust. After this battle, Jiangnan has been decided!"
"Okay, okay." Sun Tu smiled naturally. He walked forward and helped all the subordinates in front of him up one by one - Lu Da, Wu Song, Yue Fei, Yang Zhi... Every time he helped someone up, he would gently praise them. After a few words, he patted their shoulders and told them to go into the city and rest.
It wasn't until he helped up these subordinates and other soldiers followed suit that Sun Tu finally walked to the two prison cars and carefully looked at the opponent who had disrupted half of Jiangnan and took him nearly two years to put down - Fang La.
To be honest, this was the first time that Sun Tu really saw Fang La in person. Although Fang La at this time was no longer as high-spirited as before and looked completely miserable and depressed, he could still tell that he was somewhat extraordinary. Especially those eyes that could not be seen to the end, and the resentment exuded when they met them, still made Sun Tu's heart tremble.
But it was just that smooth. Sun Tu soon laughed, looked directly into the other person's eyes and said: "Fang La, you can't believe it. In just one year, you have become a complete prisoner..."
"I, Fang La, have a clear conscience. I am nothing more than a winner and a loser. I only hate the unfairness of heaven for not allowing me to fulfill my wish and create a bright future for the people of this world." At this time, Fang La finally regained his spirit. , looked at Sun Tu without any hesitation, and although his tone was calm, there was also a hint of unwillingness: "Sun Tu, you are indeed the only powerful person I have seen in this life, but don't be too happy too early. I may not be what I am today. It’s not your tomorrow!”
Seeing Sun Tu's eyebrows raised, Fang La suddenly laughed: "I know everything you did in Jiangnan. Do you think the Song Dynasty monarchs will really tolerate you? They tolerated you before, just because they had I am a great enemy in front of you, so you still have value. But now that I have surrendered to the law, your death must not be far away!"
He said these words loudly and clearly reached the ears of Sun Tu and many Song Army soldiers around him. Many people's expressions changed. They wanted to say something, but for a moment they didn't know where to start. .
Sun Tu, on the other hand, after a short moment of astonishment, laughed: "That's nonsense. Fang La, you are still so stubborn at this time, and you still want to sow discord? I will not fall into your scheme, I, Sun Tu, He has always behaved in a manner worthy of the heaven and earth, loyal to the emperor and loving the soldiers, and now he has made great achievements, so what is there to worry about? Don’t use such nonsense to confuse the hearts and minds of our army and the people!"
After a pause, he shouted loudly again: "Come here, put him in a prison and guard him carefully. No one can come near except with my warrant, otherwise he will be killed without mercy!" At this moment, his power increased sharply. Fang La was so overwhelmed that he couldn't continue to speak, and the people around him were so shocked that their expressions changed. Not only did they quickly forget about their previous intermittent remarks, but some people subconsciously knelt down to worship.
After welcoming back the meritorious people and taking all the relevant prisoners into custody, Muzhou City immediately became a sea of celebration. All kinds of gold and silver cloth, food, wine and meat used for the celebration had been delivered in time. As Sun Tu opened his mouth, the banquet was quickly opened, and then at the banquet, rewards were distributed according to the merits of each person.
Everyone knows that this is just the beginning of the celebration. When their generals send the good news to the court, there will be bigger rewards in front of them. Almost everyone can take a step forward, or even a few steps, in their original official position. For those who played a key role in capturing Fang La alive, like Wu Song Ruda and Tong Mu, their rewards will only be more generous.
Of course, as the commander-in-chief of the three armies, Sun Tu almost single-handedly led the army to quell the turmoil in the south of the Yangtze River. His achievements are even greater. Some people even speculate that General Sun will be knighted this time. As for the title, At such a high level, I'm afraid a marquis wouldn't be able to escape, and he might even be able to become a duke.
While Sun Tu delivered the relevant good news back to Beijing as quickly as possible, he also began to make dazzling arrangements - Tong Mu, Song Jiang, Zhu Wu, Wu Yong... these subordinates who were more focused on civil affairs , he quickly sent them to Hangzhou, Suzhou, Jinling and other places as local officials. Working with them were a group of generals who were directly appointed by him as governors of a place, such as Hua Rong, Yang Zhi, Lin Chong... and even Wu Song, Lu Da and others are also on the list...
In fact, everyone knows what all these arrangements mean. Because of the chaos in Jiangnan, almost all the original court officials were wiped out and replaced with
In short, the officialdom here, both civil and military, is blank. Sun Tu, on the other hand, immediately assigned all the people under his command before the imperial court made any appointments. He also wrote clearly in the victory report that his intention of doing so was to make Jiangnan come under the imperial control more quickly. , restore the past situation more quickly.
Now that his achievements are so great that his light can cover up all problems, Sun Tu's actions will naturally make it difficult for the court to change in a short period of time. And as long as they are given enough time, Jiangnan will inevitably become the second Shandong and the second solid backing for Sun Tu's future rise!
These people, coupled with the cooperation of Xie Mo, who still did not want to be an official, but enjoyed great reputation among the people in the south of the Yangtze River, at this time, although Sun Tu did not have the name of Jiedushi, he already had this de facto title. Power up.
And all this reached a climax after entering June. Although the official decree from the imperial court has not yet been sent, the conclusive news has come -
The current official family is still extremely satisfied with Sun Tu's approach of quelling the chaos in Jiangnan in just over a year. For this reason, he not only fully accepted Sun Tu's request, but even made him the Marquis of Yue - just like many As people had guessed, Sun Tu was officially granted the title of Marquis!
Although it is reasonable for Sun Tu to be granted the title of marquis based on his contribution; although even in the Song Dynasty, the probability of military officers being granted the title of marquis was much higher than that of civilian officials, and many generals had received this honor before, but for many subordinates Said that this is still a great event worthy of celebration, which means that General Sun's status has been qualitatively improved and he has truly entered the ranks of high-ranking officials in the imperial court.
However, among this group of celebrations, there is also a slightly different view. After Tong Mu heard about this, he said to Sun Tu solemnly: "General, if this is really scary, it may not be a good thing. First, except for the Yuehou, there are almost no rewards. This is really It goes against the norm; secondly, according to the long-standing rules, those who are granted a title based on land are mostly based on their hometown. The one who should be given to you should be the Marquis of Lu. Why was it given to the Marquis of Yue? Therefore, I Then there is the third uneasiness. Maybe this is a hole dug by someone just to roast you on the fire... "
Sun Tu took these words seriously, but he couldn't come up with an accurate idea. At this time, the official rewards and awards from the court finally arrived.
Just after listening to the tens of thousands of words in the edict to promote many officials, there was an additional sentence that shocked everyone - Sun Tu is hereby summoned to the capital to be rewarded and reported on his work, and Fang La and other rebels are escorted to the capital!
After all, the imperial court was about to transfer Sun Tu back to Bianjing. In this case, wouldn't all his arrangements be in vain
What is even more incredible is that in the face of this decree, Sun Tu actually complied with it.
Without any hesitation, he received the order in early June. After arranging everything in mid-July, he took only Tang Feng and a few close associates, as well as two thousand Shandong veterans, and left the city he had finally captured with great difficulty. Jiangnan left the group of brothers and subordinates and rushed to Bianliang, the capital...
(End of this volume)