Cai Jingdu has lost count of how many years no one has dared to say such a thing in front of him. In the past ten years or so, every court official in front of him, regardless of their status, was trembling with fear. At the very least, they were well-behaved. No one dared to say a harsh word, let alone like Sun Tu in front of him. He spoke unscrupulously and was full of threats.
But when he met Sun Tu's smiling eyes, Cai Jing was completely unable to get angry because he didn't dare. He could clearly feel that what the other party said was true. If he really made any move, Sun Tu would take action directly. At this moment, Cai Jing really regretted his hasty decision just now. If he had known that he was so bold, he should have arranged a few guards on his side.
He quickly adjusted his mentality, looked at Sun Tu and said: "Marquis Yue, do you know what the consequences will be if you really dare to do this? Of course you can't escape, and it will also affect your wife, children and family. This is not what you want. Did you see the result?”
Sun Tu's face suddenly turned cold: "Don't threaten me with the safety of my family. The last person who said this was Gao Duo. And if you can't even save my life, I don't think you can be kind enough to keep them." So once I took that step, I never thought about compromising!”
Unexpectedly, even this move could not sway Sun Tu. Only then did Cai Jing feel the real difficulty. He could only say reluctantly: "Do you know that what you did before has touched the bottom line of the court? To act so wantonly, even His Majesty will treat you badly." I have quite an opinion. I am not afraid to make my point clear. Gao Qiu is a person whom Your Majesty has great trust in. When he was seriously ill, he went to see Your Majesty and asked Your Majesty to uphold justice for him. This has nothing to do with the law, but a human relationship. , although I have no intention of targeting you, I still have to do some things. Of course, if you can admit your mistake, admit your mistake, and accept the punishment, the court will not really punish you severely. At most, you will be in jail for a few days. Wait until your Majesty is angry. If it disappears, you will be released naturally. Why do you have to put yourself and your family in despair for such a trivial matter?"
Sun Tu listened quietly to what he said, and then laughed, his eyes full of sarcasm: "The Grand Master is really eloquent. If it were anyone else, I'm afraid he would have been tempted. But I am very curious, why do you Are you going to go out of your way to invite me here, say so many words, and then ask me to plead guilty?"
After a pause, he looked deeply into the other person's eyes: "Let me guess, it's because you have concerns, because you know very well that once you really use force on me, it will inevitably lead to chaos, and whether it is you, Or maybe the current officials don’t want to see something like this happen. And the source of this chaos should come from Jiangnan, right?"
"Sun Tu!" Cai Jing's face suddenly turned cold, and he shouted lowly, as if to interrupt his wanton remarks. But Sun Tu was unmoved at all and still said: "At this time, I no longer hide some facts. The reason why I dare to return to Tokyo and why I dare to kill Gao Duo at this time is precisely Because I have the confidence to do all this! The 100,000 troops in Jiangnan are the confidence of my Sun Tu!"
"You...really want to do something evil?" Cai Jinghan said, and the last few words seemed to burst out from between his teeth, and his body was trembling slightly. He really didn't expect that the young man in front of him would be so bold and arrogant.
, no longer making any cover-ups.
Feeling the nervousness of the other party, Sun Tu calmed down: "It's just to protect my own safety. If the imperial court had not taken action against me, of course I would be a loyal minister of the Song Dynasty. But if someone wants to frame me and take my life, If you can’t say it, you will have to pay the price.”
"Hmph, do you really think that a mere corner of the Yangtze River can shake the court's determination and threaten me?" Cai Jingwu insisted.
Sun Tu shook his head: "A corner of Jiangnan? If it were placed in the Han and Tang Dynasties, you are indeed qualified to say that, but in today's Song Dynasty, once you lose control of the entire Jiangnan, what do you think will be the consequences? Previously, the Fang La Rebellion was only in The court in Jiangsu and Zhejiang is already in a state of distress. What I dare to say is that once chaos breaks out again this time, the entire south of the Yangtze River, including Jinling, will be completely in chaos. That means half of the Song Dynasty will be completely in chaos. Can you bear this responsibility?"
When Cai Jing heard this, he immediately gasped. Just thinking about what this would be like, he felt a chill. But he still said: "With the tens of thousands of horses you brought from Shandong? As soon as the imperial army arrives, they can be defeated immediately!"
"If the imperial court really had such ability, there would be no need for me to lead Shandong soldiers all the way to Jiangnan to quell the chaos. Grand Master, you are in a high position. Although you are not involved in military affairs, you should know how weak our officers and soldiers in the Song Dynasty are now. Right. The armies in various places have long been exhausted. Sending them to Jiangnan is probably the same as sending them to death!"
"I still have the border guards..."
"As far as I know, the border troops have been stationed at the northern border in the past few years. The battle between Song and Liao is about to begin in full swing. Who dares to call back the troops there at this time? The Liao people had known that we were in danger. Song Yixiang has already taken precautions. Once the border troops really withdraw to the south of the Yangtze River, I am afraid that the northern border defenses will be overwhelmed by the Liao army in an instant, and even Bianjing will be in danger. As for the Forbidden Army, I have never seen it before. Young master, except for the Upper Fourth Army, no one can fight, and it is not much different from the Xiang Army. And the Upper Fourth Army still has to defend the emperor and protect Tokyo, who dares to move lightly?"
After saying these words, Sun Tu completely blocked Cai Jing's two ways out, making the old man's breathing become more rapid: "It seems that you have been planning everything for a long time!"
"If I don't take care of all this, how can I dare to take risks alone and fight with you?"
"Don't be too proud. The situation in Jiangnan may not be as you wish. The people there are all my subjects of the Song Dynasty. How can they follow those rebels?"
"If it weren't for the excessive taxation and extortion by the government over the years, maybe the people would really hesitate, but now, it's no longer certain. Besides, even though I'm in Tokyo, there's no one there who can make the decision, and Xie Mo has a deep influence in Jiangnan. The people support him, and as long as he ascends to the top and shouts, there will definitely be a crowd of responders, and the number of 100,000 rebel troops is small. By the way, Taishi, you are busy with everything, have you ever heard of Xie Mo? "
"A descendant of the Xie'an clan of the Eastern Jin Dynasty..." Cai Jing exhaled, but had to admit that this guy was indeed very famous in Jiangnan. Once he volunteered to become an anti-military banner, all the governments in Jiangnan would be in a hurry. Fall.
In fact, he knew that there was such a person, so he had to follow it
Speaking of before. After bringing Sun Tu to Tokyo, Cai Jing and the others actually thought about taking back control of Jiangnan. To this end, they have successively sent many civil and military officials in the past few months, thinking of taking over the military and political power there. .
But as a result, after these people went to Jiangnan, they were all boycotted and ignored. Not to mention military power, even general government affairs, they had no room to speak. The local people regarded them as enemy bandits. After careful inquiry, they found out that all this was due to Xie Mo's influence.
The reason why Cai Jing tried so hard to get Sun Tu to plead guilty this time was because something had happened to Jiangnan first. Just before Sun Tu killed Gao Duo, mutinies broke out all over the south of the Yangtze River. All the civil and military officials recently sent to the area by the imperial court were captured, and some of them were released and brought back to the uncontrolled areas there. information.
At that time, Cai Jing and others quickly understood that Jiangnan was cooperating with Sun Tu. Or it can be said that the reactions there were all based on Sun Tu's earlier instructions, in order to make the court avoid holding Gao Duo accountable for his crimes.
This is what gives Sun Tu the confidence to do all this. He seems to be alone and helpless in Tokyo, but in fact he is as stable as a mountain!
Sometimes Cai Jing and others would frame their opponents in the DPRK and always like to accuse them of evil intentions, but they are all false, and the other party does not have the courage or ability at all. But the Sun Tu in front of him was different. Not only did he have this heart, but he also had the power, and he even expressed his disobedience to his face. But when Cai Jing faced this situation, he felt powerless because he really couldn't afford such consequences.
Just as Sun Tu said, once he does something good or bad, Jiangnan will be in chaos. Judging from the current arrangements of the Song Dynasty in the north, once there is chaos in the south of the Yangtze River, the entire country will be in danger!
"Sun Tu, aren't you afraid that you will become a sinner throughout the ages, infamy for eternity, and despised by all generations?" Cai Jing made his last effort.
But what he responded to was a disdainful sneer: "Even you and others are not afraid of being infamy for thousands of years, so what do I have to be afraid of? Besides, if a person dies, any reputation evaluation will be false. Why should I care about my own affairs? ? I only care about the present and don’t care about anything else. Cai Jing, I’m not afraid to tell you the truth. Staying in the capital is my bottom line. If anyone tries to do anything bad to me again, it will be a big deal and I will let countless people be buried with me. ,including you!"
As he said that, he stood up, walked to the stunned Cai Jing, and pulled him up from the seat: "It's getting late, so I won't disturb the grand master's rest. Please send me out." Mansion. Please tell Your Majesty when the time comes that I, Sun Tu, have no intention of being a rebellious minister, but if someone really takes advantage of it and wants to kill me and my family, I don’t mind taking advantage of it. The worst case scenario is that the fish will die and the net will be destroyed. Who will lose? Bigger!" As he said that, he forcibly pulled Cai Jing out.
This shocked the house slave guards outside the hall. Some shouted loudly for Sun Tu to let him go, but it had no effect at all. In the end, hundreds of people could only retreat little by little and watch Sun Tu carrying his master out.
Cai Jing staggered, his face full of bitterness. He knew that this time all his plans had failed, and Sun Tu could not move at all...