Don't look at Zhu Mian has always been known for his greed and cruelty, coupled with that obese appearance, I really think that he is really a waste who has no ability and only relies on meeting and stammering to win Zhao Ji's favor, in fact, he can have today's status and become a feudal minister who holds all the three powers of military, government and finance in the land of Jiangnan, and he still has his advantages. For example, he sees people far more intelligently than ordinary people.

And now, he was able to make such a high evaluation of Sun Tu, which naturally immediately made the cronies around him who were familiar with his vision show surprised and thoughtful expressions. His chief staff, Xue Xian, who was as slender as a bamboo pole and didn't have any flesh on his face, couldn't help but say softly: "Zhu Shuai, although this Sun Tu is now extremely famous in the army, but in our opinion, he is just a martial artist after all, can he really pose a threat to us?" ”

"If you really think of him as a mere martial artist, you are very wrong, have you ever seen such a modest and easy-to-talk general?" Zhu Mian snorted lowly, but made several people present nod their heads thoughtfully.

During this period of time, they did have contact with many generals who brought troops to Jiangnan, those guys were either flamboyant or domineering, and the conditions put forward were also excessive, and some even dared to ask for money and food in front of Zhu Mian, and none of them could talk as well as Sun Tu. This alone has quickly separated Sun Tu from them, and it seems that the former's mind is more meticulous.

"And although the other generals clamored to get money and food support for their soldiers and horses, when we gave them some hints and were willing to give them tens of thousands of yuan as compensation, they stopped asking for food one by one. But what about Sun Tu, we mentioned this kind of thing no less than three times at the banquet, have you ever seen him moved? Zhu Mian continued to frown.

"Maybe he has a bigger appetite and can't look down on these tens of thousands?" Lu Bofei, another staff member, suddenly whispered.

However, Xue Xian had slowly understood at this time: "That Sun Tu can have today's prestige, and he can lead Shandong soldiers and horses to sweep away the local bandits, especially the Liangshan bandits who are in trouble for a while, which shows that the soldiers and horses under his command are indeed very powerful." And this is enough to show that he attaches great importance to the army on weekdays, and the military horses under him are by no means a rabble. And in order to do this, he will not be able to make a profit by treating the army as private property, as everyone else does, and it will not be possible for him to compromise with us because of a small amount of money. ”

Zhu Mian nodded at him with satisfaction: "The problem is here, this person doesn't look like it's easy to fool." I have heard before that this person is a bold and reckless person, even Taishi Cai dares to impeach, as for killing a few officials in the local area, it is not less to do, if such a person can help me wholeheartedly in Jiangnan, it will be a great help, but if he has the heart to be my enemy, maybe it will really become a big disaster that is more troublesome than Fang La. Especially in the matter of military rations, if it is really according to the allocation promised to him by the imperial court, it can make him not have any more trouble, but the consequences are difficult to say. ”

What Zhu Shuai said is that this opening must not be opened, otherwise once the news comes out, other soldiers and horses will also make requests in the same way. The sage said that the people do not suffer from widowhood but unevenness, don't appease him at that time, but provoke other people to mutiny. Xue Xian immediately followed, and Zhu Mian nodded with satisfaction, he is indeed the chief staff member, and he is extremely accurate about the thoughts of the owner.

"But there was actually a clear order on the imperial court's side, and he also knew that there was such a statement, so how should we deal with it?"

In fact, Zhu Shuai is already doing it, it's a drag. But I thought that this was not enough, and that something more had to be done to convince him that we were really short of food. Xue Xian's brain was completely active at this time, and he quickly said his countermeasures.

After saying this, Zhu Mian immediately nodded frequently: "This method is good, let him have some conflicts with those people first, and then I will come forward to calm the contradictions, and I can also sell personal favors in various armies." Also, as long as there is such an incident, presumably Sun Tu will not dare to have too many excessive demands, and the matter of military rations is naturally as much as we say, he will take as much as he wants. ”

"Zhu Shuai is wise." Several people praised a few times, and then Lu Bofei suddenly laughed and said: "Actually, in addition, we can also use that Sun Tu and his subordinates." Didn't the hundreds of people who made trouble in the city take a batch of food and fled into Qixia Mountain? It is better to let him lead the troops to suppress this chaotic people first, so that he can not only deter the people in the city, but also let him be hated by the people of Jinling, but it kills two birds with one stone. ”

"Good way, just do as you say. In this way, it will be up to you to see Sun Tu tomorrow, let's go together, first weigh him and the soldiers and horses under his hands. Zhu Mian immediately nodded with satisfaction and smiled at Lu Bofei, who offered his advice.

"The villain obeys, and I will definitely get things done properly." Lu Bofei was also overjoyed, and hurriedly answered. Zhu Mian has always rewarded and punished the people around him, as long as he succeeds this time, his benefits must be indispensable.

Seeing that he was in the limelight, Xue Xian also followed: "Zhu Shuai, if he can calm the chaotic people on Qixia Mountain, I think he should be sent to the south to fight the rebels in Fang La." It has been rumored that the thieves have the intention of attacking Changzhou, and it is difficult to defend it only by relying on the garrison there and the military horses on Huainan Road, so why don't you send the men and horses under his command? If he can win, it is naturally the best, otherwise, it can also frustrate his spirit. Also, once he is transferred out of Jinling to the front line, his grain and grass are in our hands, and this Shandong elite is in the hands of Zhu Shuai. ”

When Zhu Mian heard this, the smile on his face became even bigger: "This plan is wonderful, just follow what you say step by step, he Sun Tu has the ability again, since he came to my Jiangnan, he has to be obedient to me." Then, he narrowed his eyes again, remembering a secret letter he had received from Gao Yu earlier.

In that letter, Gao Yu made it clear that they intended to send Sun Tu and his soldiers and horses to Jiangnan, in order to use the strength of his Zhu Mian and Fang La's counter-army to pit these enemies. In Gao Yu's words, this Sun Tuke is more of a disaster than Fang La, and Zhu Mian must deal with it carefully. In addition, this person also has a feud with Cai Jing, as long as Sun Tu is eliminated, Cai Taishi will also be beneficial.

At this time, Zhu Mian already had a plan in his heart, this time he wanted to play a big one, drive the tiger and devour the wolf, and then eradicate it after using Sun Tu. In this way, he can not only get out of the chaos in Jiangnan, but also gain the favor of Taishi Cai, so as to go further in the court, which is much more cost-effective than his hard work to exploit the people and use money to buy those important ministers in the court.

"Sun Tu, this is really my lucky star. As long as he is in my control, why can't he soar! Zhu Mian smiled proudly. In the case that Jiangnan has been in chaos and half of the wall has fallen into the hands of thieves, as a local official, he still only thinks about how much benefit he can get from it, I have to say that this is really the sorrow of the Great Song Dynasty.

Of course, Zhu Mian obviously ignored one point, and with some discussion with his henchmen, he actually put aside his evaluation of Sun Tu. After all, in his eyes, Sun Tu is just a young general after all, even if he is stronger than other generals, but in terms of means, he should be far less than himself, and he is not easy to deal with him?

￥￥￥￥￥

When Zhu Mian and his staff set a strategy to deal with Sun Tu, he had temporarily stationed in the southwest corner of Jinling City with hundreds of guards under the guidance of Tong Mu.

At this time, Jinling was gradually barren and withered because of Zhu Mian's exploitation and persecution, and because of the looting of various officials and soldiers.

And he didn't rush back to Octagon Town, naturally so that he could get the half-moon grain and grass promised in the past two days. Although it is not possible to get half a year's grain and grass promised by the imperial court for the time being, it is still necessary to get a batch to stabilize the morale of the army first.

After settling down the people below, Sun Tucai and Tong Mu walked along the lower bank of the Qinhuai River not far from the camp, enjoying the riverside scenery with the sunset gradually setting in the west.

As a good place in Nanjing City, whose reputation is not under Wuyi Lane, the Qinhuai River, which should be linked to fragrant beauties and so on, is now also very deserted, and there are no painting boats and incense boats on the river, only a few canoe fishing boats are carefully looking for fish and shrimp, which inevitably makes people feel a sense of sadness in their hearts.

However, Sun Tu and Tong Mu didn't have the heart to feel nostalgic for the past here, and their topic revolved around one person, that is, Zhu Mian, who had just met.

"Qianli, what kind of person do you think Zhu Mian is?"

"The wolf is ruthless, the fox is cunning, and the jackal is greedy." Sun Tu's answer was concise and to the point, with a strange glint in his eyes: "It's an opponent that can't be taken lightly." ”

"It seems that your vision is still above me, at least when I first met Zhu Mian, I didn't see him as accurately as you did, I only thought he was greedy and ruthless enough, but I didn't expect this to be an old fox."

"In the end, I was deceived by his appearance, although he looked like a pig, he was not really as stupid as a pig. On the contrary, this is still an existence that likes to pretend to be a pig and eat a tiger. ”

"Pretending to be a pig and eating a tiger? This is an interesting and accurate description...... Tong Mu shook his head with a smile: "It is precisely because some people ignore this point of him that they will be eaten by him to the point that there are no bones left." You and I can't be slack off when we want to deal with him this time. ”

"Of course, and I think he's going to do it to me soon." Sun Tu nodded.

"How so?" Tong Mu raised his eyebrows and asked.

Sun Tu exhaled: "It's very simple, because I rejected his deliberate attraction at the banquet before, and I think that a person like him will not wait for the enemy to take the initiative." Moreover, do you really think that he will not have the food sent by the imperial court in his hands? I'm afraid he's already worried that I'll find out that he won't be able to deal with it, so he'll have to do it first! ”

Speaking of this, the corners of Sun Tu's mouth also curled: "But he must not have thought that in fact, I am not a person who is used to passivity, maybe I will be able to fight with him soon." ”