Without even thinking about it, Sun Tu easily grasped Gao Qiu's plot. Today's confrontation between kings and ministers was probably directed at him, in order to give away all his military assets in Jiangnan. Transferred to the northern battlefield!
The tens of thousands of troops loyal to Sun Tu remained in the south of the Yangtze River but were not under the control of the imperial court. For Gao Qiu, it only made it difficult for him to avenge the murder of his son. But for Zhao Ji and the powerful officials in the court, That is an untimely bomb, one that no one can truly rest assured of, and must be managed away.
You must know that during this year, the imperial court spent a lot of thought and means, trying to add sand to Jiangnan officialdom and the army, and used many tactics to divide and alienate. But the effect was very little. Sun Tu had already regarded it as his protection before he came to the capital from Jiangnan with the order, so he naturally made all preparations to deal with the various methods of the imperial court.
In addition, there are people like Tong Mu and Dong Ping who have no problem with their ability or loyalty to control everything, which makes it even more difficult for the imperial court to take advantage of it. Even if they did send officials to Jiangnan, they would be ignored on the spot, without any real power in their hands. It can be said that today's Jiangnan has become monolithic, almost independent of the imperial court, and only listens to the orders of Sun Tu.
When news of these failures continued to spread back to Tokyo, both Zhao Ji and Cai Jing, as well as other court officials, were deeply wary of the place and thought of a once and for all solution to this threat. And they also knew very well that the reason why those tens of thousands of elite soldiers dared to do this was that they were in a land of abundant fish and rice in the south of the Yangtze River, and they did not have to rely on the court for military food and salary. This made them bolder and had no worries.
Therefore, transferring them from Jiangnan is a key step in dealing with them, and now, they finally found the most suitable excuse to mobilize soldiers and horses from Jiangnan to the north to fight against the Liao Dynasty!
Once these tens of thousands of troops loyal to Sun Tu are really large on the northern battlefield, they will not be able to make any waves. You must know that there are now nearly 300,000 troops gathered there, and tens of thousands of people will not even make a splash at all. What's more, the northern frontier army is the elite of the Song Dynasty's official army. Even if they have any abnormal movements, they can be put out in time, so that if they rebel like in Jiangnan, they won't even be able to find the troops to deal with them.
Of course, in the eyes of Gao Qiu and others, the more important thing is that this is a clever plan that kills two birds with one stone. As long as Jiangnan soldiers and horses reach the north, they will not have the final say. At that time, as long as you use a little trick, you can send these tens of thousands of people directly to the sword of the Liao army, and kill people with a borrowed knife, once and for all!
During this period, it would be good if Sun Tu also died on the front line, but it would be even better if he came back alive after losing his troops and generals. At that time, he had nothing to rely on. If Gao Qiu and the others wanted to kill him, it would be easy. And by that time, even the charges were ready-made. Just the statement of a defeated general was enough to cover up all his past achievements, and it was enough to wipe out his entire family.
This is the most fundamental gap between the civil and military officials in the Song Dynasty. No matter how big of a mistake a civil servant makes, he can still keep his official position, or at worst be demoted to a distant place. But generals cannot make mistakes, otherwise once they are caught, years of hard work will be in vain and disappear in an instant...
Of course, Sun Tu can also choose to refuse at this time. This may be the best way to ensure his safety and the most embarrassing thing for the palace.
This is a troublesome approach for the emperor and his ministers. But the sequelae of this must be extremely serious. At that time, there would be no need for Gao Qiu and others to deliberately disparage Sun Tu. Just the reputation of being greedy for life and fearful of death and not saving the border would be enough to destroy the reputation Sun Tu had accumulated over the years.
And all this will definitely have a huge impact on Jiangnan's military morale. When the court can free up its hands in the future, it will be able to legitimately send troops to conquer.
Therefore, Gao Qiu's plan is really clever. It is no longer a conspiracy but a conspiracy. Even if Sun Tu has seen through his sinister intentions, he still cannot resolve it and can only follow his heart!
After thinking about all this, Sun Tu's heart suddenly sank again, and when he looked at the people in the hall, his eyes looked a little gloomy. After a while, he saluted and replied: "Your Majesty has issued an order, how dare I disobey it. However, the south of the Yangtze River is thousands of miles away from the north. Even if the order is issued to mobilize troops now, I am afraid that it will be difficult to reach the border in half a year. I I'm afraid that water far away cannot save me from thirst."
What he said is also a factual issue. The army set off, and it was a journey of thousands of miles. It would not be an easy task even a thousand years later. For the Song Dynasty, it was even more of a huge project. You must know that in order to start this Northern Expedition, the Song Dynasty took four or five years to prepare. Just the mobilization of troops and the arrangement of logistical supplies were a difficult problem enough to give countless people a headache.
"The Marquis of Yue does not have to worry about not being able to accomplish anything after leaving. In my opinion, there is still more to fight in this Northern Expedition into Liao. After winning the battle at Baigouhe, our army will also need to rest for a few months before heading north to attack Youzhou and others. The important city is a protracted war. As long as the Jiangnan soldiers and horses can arrive within half a year, they can participate in the next war." An official had already thought of this question, so he quickly helped answer it.
Gao Qiu said coldly from the side: "Marquis of Yue, if you are eager to fight for the country, you can also start first. I heard that the Tiger Army has been trained by you into an elite forbidden army. Now it is just time for Your Majesty to see how powerful they are. .”
"That's right, that's right. Just suppressing bandits like before is not considered an elite force of the Imperial Guard. It's really admirable to be able to go to the north to kill the enemy and defeat the Liao Dynasty."
For a time, many people present agreed, and they seemed to want Sun Tu to agree to set off immediately. Even Zhao Ji was greatly moved and looked at Sun Tu eagerly: "Marquis Yue, what do you think?"
The other party was so eager to push him to leave Beijing and go north, which made Sun Tu feel wary. It seems that Gao Qiu's conspiracy doesn't stop there. But now that the words had reached this point, he really couldn't refuse anymore. In fact, even Sun Tu himself was determined to go north as soon as possible to see if he could save the border army that was about to collapse.
He knew very well that once the battle of Baigouhe was really defeated, the situation in the Song Dynasty would become extremely dangerous, and the terrible scene of the fall of the Central Plains in history was not far away. Even if he can really lead the Jiangnan army to take action in the future, he may not be able to save himself in the face of such a situation.
Therefore, the best way is to stop this decline before everything can be saved. Going north is the last chance to persuade Tong Guan to change his established policy.
After exhaling a long breath, Sun Tu slowly bent down: "Since His Majesty has a decree, how can I dare to delay and disobey? However, I also have a condition, and I hope Your Majesty will allow it."
"tell me the story."
When Zhao Ji saw that he agreed, he felt much better, and his original prejudice against him became smaller.
Sun Tu's eyes glanced at Gao Qiu, which made the latter's heart sink and he felt a faint uneasiness. Then, he hurriedly said: "Your Majesty, I have also heard some rumors during this period. Someone in the court is actually spreading the idea that I have disobedient intentions. This really scares me. Although I dare to say that I have always been loyal to the court. Loyal, but after all, people's words can be feared. If you are in the capital, that's fine. But once you reach the front line and say something like this, it is likely to disturb the morale of the army and eventually lead to unforeseen consequences...
"Especially this time, when I lead the Tiger Army to the north, I feel even more uneasy. Therefore, instead of expressing my loyalty to Your Majesty and to us, the Song Dynasty, I also ask Your Majesty to send a senior minister to supervise the army and accompany me to the north. !”
These words were so impassioned and so loyal that even Zhao Ji was a little moved by him: "The concerns of the Marquis of Yue are very reasonable. In fact, I am extremely relieved of you. Even if there is no supervisory army accompanying you, you will definitely I can do my best to kill enemies for the imperial court. But since you said so, in order to reassure the army, I will grant your request. As for the candidate to supervise the army... "
Before the emperor could come up with his favorite candidate, Sun Tu had already taken the lead and said: "Your Majesty, I think Captain Gao is the best candidate to supervise the army this time in terms of loyalty, ability and reputation! The Imperial Army is already under his control, so there are With him by my side, I believe that the officers and soldiers of the Huben Army will fight bravely on the battlefield and fight for the lead without any hesitation. I will also do my best to kill the enemy and serve the country!"
"You..." Gao Qiu never dreamed that Sun Tu would suddenly make such a move. He had never calculated that he would be put in such a dangerous situation, which made his whole face turn red and contorted. He wanted to refuse, but when he spoke, he hesitated. .
Just like Sun Tu couldn't refuse just now, as the emperor's favorite and the prefect of the palace, he really didn't dare to refuse so blatantly. Everyone else in the hall was also stunned, and then looked at Sun Tu with strange eyes. This guy was really ruthless and courageous. He could actually fight back in such a situation! And the most important thing is that they are also afraid that they will be sent to the north to serve as supervisors, which will really cost lives. They know what the situation is in the north now.
So even though many people thought that Lieutenant Gao was following his lead, at this time, no one would stand up to help him escape. After all, this would put him in danger. How can an official who follows Gao Qiu for wealth and position be upright and loyal to him
Even Zhao Ji was stunned for a while before he said, "Gao Qiu, what did you say?"
"Wei Chen, Wei Chen does have the heart to serve the country, but after all, I am the prefect of the palace, and I have a heavy responsibility. If I just go to the north like this, I'm afraid..."
"What Lieutenant Gao said is wrong. Now the most important thing in our Song Dynasty is the Northern Expedition. As the head of our military generals, how can you stay out of it? It is your duty to go to the north to supervise the army's operations!" Sun Tu But he didn't give him a chance to shirk, and immediately retorted.
This time, I want to let you know what it means to be too clever when calculating, and what it means to be clever but be misled by cleverness, to shoot yourself in the foot!
And when he said this, Gao Qiu didn't even have the chance to refuse. He could only look at the emperor above him pleadingly...