February 20, Jinling City.

After stepping out of the hall door, the smile on Zhu Mian's face disappeared instantly, and the fat face was so gloomy that it could drip water. Hurrying back to his study, he had already scolded before the door could be closed by a few cronies who had followed in: "Rubbish! Under Fang La's hands is a bunch of waste! I couldn't even do this little thing, and the 100,000-strong army besieged a small Changshu for a long time, and finally retreated! ”

At this time, Zhu Mian was really angry, completely forgetting how he and the officials and soldiers from all walks of life had been suffering under Wu Jun, but he opened his mouth and closed his mouth to scold the other party as a waste. No wonder he was so angry, it was really the information sent by Changshu that was too unexpected for him, and he had already taken a great risk, regardless of the dissatisfaction of all the troops and horses under his command, and forced all the troops to stay here in Jinling without any rescue, just to be able to kill people with a knife and solve the scourge of Sun Tu and the Shandong army. The result? But it was cheaper for them, so that they made a rare achievement, you must know that Changshu is the first Jiangnan city recaptured by the official army in the past few years!

And what made Zhu Mian even more resentful was that he still had to hold back this breath, and he couldn't really come out in front of his subordinates and others, and just now he had to look happy and happy in front of the generals, and said that he wanted to ask Sun Tu for credit. This made him how could he endure it, who had always been arrogant, so when he entered the study, only his cronies were left, so he naturally couldn't bear it anymore.

Several staff members who knew his character well didn't dare to persuade at this time, so they could only accompany him in a low-key manner, and only after he had vented his life did he look at them: "Tell me, what should you do next?" ”

After several people glanced at each other, it was Xue Xian who spoke first: "Zhu Shuai, since the matter has reached this point, we can only push the boat down the river and reward the military horses of Shandong and Huainan in order to calm the hearts of the army." Of course, when reporting to the imperial court, the credit is naturally Zhu Shuai, it is you who command Ruoding in Jinling, and use people properly to have this great victory! ”

"Hmm, Sun Tu was originally sent by me to attack Changshu, and his meritorious service naturally relied on the support of his own handsome!" Zhu Mian immediately took the credit without shame. But then, he frowned slightly: "But in this way, it is not good to explain to Taishi Cai and them, if they think that I am Yang Feng Yin violation, and I am in opposition to them, and I intend to reuse the cultivation of Sun Tu, what should I do?" This is the key to his biggest annoyance now, Cai Jing, Gao Yu and others are not easy to get along with, once they offend them, even he Zhu Mian may not be able to withstand it.

Lu Bofei hurriedly answered: "Zhu Shuai, there is a way to solve this difficulty." ”

"Tell me about it."

"That is to let the Shandong army take advantage of the victory to go south and take Suzhou!"

When Xue Xian heard this, he laughed and said: "Brother Lu, Suzhou is not comparable to a small county like Changshu, even if there are 120,000 troops, it will take several months to conquer this city, and he Sun Tu has a maximum of 40,000 or 50,000 soldiers and horses, how can he succeed?" ”

That's the point of what I'm going to talk about next. Zhu Shuai, let Sun Tu send troops to attack Suzhou, just to give the rebels another chance to annihilate their subordinates, as long as he is defeated, the problem will naturally be solved. Lu Bofei smiled: "Of course, it may be that if he really succeeds, the credit is also in Zhu Shuai, and with this credit, even Taishi Cai and they will no longer be able to embarrass you for the time being." Maybe we can really rely on Sun Tu to quell the Jiangnan Rebellion, as long as we have such a great achievement, Zhu Shuai, why are you afraid of the DPRK and China? ”

These words are really reasonable, and even Xue Xian, who wants to find fault, can't question it. And Zhu Mian's eyes lit up, the previous anger had dissipated, and he nodded: "That's right, this plan can be attacked, retreated, and defended, and it is indeed enough to make us invincible!" As you said, I immediately gave Sun Tu an order to continue to attack Suzhou while he was victorious, and bring this city back to me! ”

Zhu Mian had such a reaction, not only because this plan was really unexpected, but more importantly, he also urgently wanted to retake Suzhou. After all, compared to Jinling, Suzhou is his real nest, and Jinling has been almost harmed by him, and all industries have withered, he has long wanted to change to a better place, and returning to Suzhou is obviously the best choice.

Lu Bofei hesitated for a moment, and then said: "Zhu Shuai, but before that, you still have to provide grain and grass first, otherwise Sun Tu may not be able to move troops." In order to put Sun Tu and the Shandong army to death, Zhu Mian not only cut off his backup, but also cut off the logistics supply, so he said this.

After thinking about it for a while, Zhu Mian finally nodded his head: "Just do as you say, send the military rations and baggage over with the military order, and let the Shandong army set off to attack Suzhou within half a month!" If you refuse to send troops, you will be punished for disobeying military orders! ”

Just when these few people responded to the order in a low voice, at the moment of the draft of the military order, the door of the study was knocked gently, which made several staff members a little surprised, you must know that Zhu Mian has always been very strict, often beating and scolding and even directly executed, and no one dares to come to disturb them at this time to discuss business.

But now Zhu Mian was in a good mood, and he didn't get angry, but just said casually: "Come in and talk!" ”

A subordinate opened the door tremblingly and came in, not daring to look up at his master, so he held up a document with both hands and said: "Master, this is a military report just sent from the front, saying that there is a great victory......

Zhu Mian took it casually disappreciatively, and said in his mouth: "Then Sun Tu also sent good news, but this speed is too slow, it's been a few days, and I came to ask for mer......it" While talking, he looked at this good news casually, but immediately, the smile on his face froze, his voice stopped abruptly, and his expression became extremely strange, as if he was happy and angry, and with deep disbelief.

His performance startled the others, and he hurriedly asked, "Zhu Shuai, what's going on?" Could it be that the rebels turned back to attack Changshu and knocked it down? "Well, in a hurry, they all ignored the word good news.

"Sun Tu, he has actually taken Suzhou as well!" After a while, Zhu Mian said the truth a little dryly, and slapped the good news in his hand on the table.

Several people immediately stayed on the spot, even if they had any ideas, they would never have imagined that such good news would come! It's only been a few days, Sun Tu and they have just repelled the rebels besieging Changshu, and now they have actually taken Suzhou?

Relying only on 40,000 or 50,000 soldiers and horses, without logistics and no backup, he actually took such a big city as Suzhou? In an instant, the first reaction of these people was that Sun Tu was lying about the military situation, but he couldn't say it when the words came to his lips, this kind of victory in capturing the city was different from killing the enemy, the latter could still kill the good and take the risk, but the city in hand was real!

How did they do it? Subsequently, several people had such a question in their hearts, and they didn't care about Zhu Mian's reaction, so they immediately got up and picked up the good news and looked at it carefully. And the more they looked at it, the more they felt ridiculous and frightened, Sun Tu was so bold that he only brought a small number of people into Suzhou, and he really let him succeed in one blow, and now Suzhou is completely under his control!

Xue Xian, who just thought that Suzhou would take half a year to be recaptured by an army of 120,000 troops, was even more hot, and his face was too fast and too fierce - hundreds of people took Suzhou in just one night, which made him not know what to say.

And now, a new problem is in front of them, what to do next? How to deal with Sun Tu and the Shandong Army who have made such great achievements?

Zhu Mian's face was also cloudy and sunny for a while, and it took a long time before he smiled. It's just that his smile is a little distorted, and he can't see how much happiness is in it: "Wow, his Sun Tu is really capable, let's still underestimate him!" If we knew that he was so capable of fighting, we should have reused him and asked him to get the whole of Jiangnan back to me as soon as possible. ”

This is Zhu Mian's sincere words, as a feudal official sent by the imperial court in Jiangnan, the Fangla Rebellion is naturally a big trouble for him, and he also wants to put down this chaos as soon as possible. Before, he would do all kinds of things that hindered Sun Tu, and even colluded with the thieves, because he thought that it was impossible for the Shandong Army to reverse the situation with the strength of one army, so it was better to sell Cai Jing and them a face, plus Sun Tu did a lot of things that made him unable to get off the stage, and the two sides together naturally made him murderous.

But now, since Sun Tu is of such great use, Zhu Mian's attitude will naturally change rapidly, and he has to be reused: "Xue Xian, you will write a report to the imperial court, under the command of Ben Shuai, I have taken back to Suzhou, within this year, the Fang La rebel army will be exterminated, and Jiangnan will be re-pacified." ”

Xue Xian hurriedly agreed, this was his errand, so he was naturally familiar with it, and as for taking away the credit of Sun Tu, it was naturally a routine operation, and he didn't need to mention it to the front-line soldiers.

Then Zhu Mian stood up again: "Go and call everyone back, let's discuss with them, leave for the south as soon as possible, and return to Suzhou!" "Now that he learned that Suzhou had been recaptured, he couldn't hold it anymore and had to go back as soon as possible. And he believes that with the southward movement of the army, coupled with the combat strength of the Shandong army, it will definitely be able to win a few more battles in a short period of time, and even take Hangzhou!

When Zhu Mian summoned his subordinate generals again to tell the news that Suzhou had been recaptured, and attracted a burst of cheers from everyone, Lu Bofei met with Tong Mu.

After Tong Mu saw him, the first thing he said was: "How?" Is Zhu Shuai willing to deliver money, food, and logistics to the Shandong Army? It turned out that Lu Bofei's plan was taught by Tong Mu, in order to help the Shandong army in front of him get out of the predicament.

But Lu Bofei's answer surprised him: "This time it's not just money and food, but also a lot of rewards to send." Tong Gongzi, you don't know, just now there was good news that the Shandong army had taken Suzhou City! ”

"What?" Tong Mu was stunned for a moment, and he couldn't react for a long time......