On the ninth day of the fifth month, at noon, the scorching sun was in the sky and the weather was very hot.

But Muzhou City is an empty alley, and the people, sergeants, and officials all gather at the city gate, looking at the official road in front of them, which is not too wide, waiting for the arrival of those people.

Just yesterday, the conclusive news has been transmitted back from Qingxi, the Song army in the middle of the night of the Dragon Boat Festival rain on the hidden rebel thief leader Fang La's mountain forest around the mountain forest, and in this battle won a complete victory, not only killed hundreds of enemies, captured countless prisoners, but also captured Fang La and Fang Fei, the two major thieves. And today, it is time for them to escort the captives back.

It wasn't until after noon that a big flag poked out from the empty official road, followed by a second and third...... and the triumphant soldiers under the banner, all of them were in high spirits and strode towards Muzhou. In this team, the most eye-catching thing is not the general riding a tall horse, but the two prisoner cars temporarily requisitioned from the Qingxi County Ya, and the two people in the car are Fang La and Fang Fei.

When he saw such a triumphant army escorting hundreds of rebels and escorting the two thieves to stride forward, there was a burst of cheers at the city gate, and it was the other Song soldiers who were cheering for their brothers. And those people have complicated expressions at the moment, and they don't know what kind of mood to face these people who they once supported, but now they have abandoned.

When the Japanese fled away, many of the people followed them. But in the past month or so, these people have finally chosen to leave because of their dangerous situation and difficult life. In addition, the government publicized it early and posted notices everywhere, and finally let them go home one after another, and now they have all become the original obedient and good citizens.

But when Fang Lazhen was captured by Song Junsheng and brought back to Muzhou, these people were still full of guilt, and they didn't even dare to look at Fang La, who had become a prisoner, and the whole person looked extremely depressed, and he couldn't raise his head to glance at Fang La.

However, Sun Tu and other court officials did not feel this way at all, and he immediately led the crowd to meet him in great strides, but he was not in a hurry to check the prisoners, but smiled and shouted: "All brothers have worked hard, today's victory, the chaos in Jiangnan has been decided, and tomorrow's Japanese officials will play the court to ask for credit for you." In addition, the city is ready to feast, so let's go into the city quickly! ”

At the same time as he spoke, all the generals sitting on the horses turned over and landed, and then knelt down on one knee and saluted and shouted: "The last general will live up to the general's trust, and finally take down the head of the traitors." Then the other soldiers also followed and knelt on one knee and shouted: "I will live up to the general's trust, after this battle, Jiangnan has been decided!" ”

"Okay, okay." Sun Tuzi smiled, stepped forward, and helped the subordinates in front of him one by one - Luda, Wu Song, Yue Fei, Yang Zhi...... He would gently praise each of them, and then pat them on the shoulder, so that they could go into the city to rest.

It wasn't until he helped up these subordinates and the other soldiers followed suit, that Sun Tu finally walked up to the two prisoner carts and carefully looked at the opponent who had disturbed half of the south of the Yangtze River and took him nearly two years to calm down - Fang La.

To be honest, this is the first time Sun Tu has really seen Fang La himself. Although Fang La at this time had long lost his previous vigor, and the whole person was completely embarrassed and depressed, he could still see that he was a little extraordinary. Especially the pair of eyes that can't be seen at all, the resentment that exudes when facing them still makes Sun Tu's heart feel a pang. But that's just it, Sun Tu quickly laughed, looked into the other party's eyes and said: "Fang La, you can't think of it, in just one year, you have completely become a prisoner of the ......."

"I have a clear conscience, but it's just a matter of becoming a king and defeating a villain. Hate only hates the injustice of heaven, and fails to let me get what I want and create a bright future for the people of the world. At this time, Fang La finally raised a trace of energy, and looked at Sun Tu without giving in, although his tone was flat, but also with a little unwillingness: "Sun Tu, you are indeed the only powerful person I have seen in this life, but don't be too happy." My today may not be your tomorrow! ”

Seeing Sun Tu's eyebrows raised, Fang La suddenly laughed: "I know everything you did in Jiangnan, do you think that with the heart of the monarchs and ministers of the Song Dynasty, you will really tolerate you?" They put up with you before, but it's just because you still have the value of using me as a great enemy. But now, now that I have subdued the Dharma, I am sure that your death is not far away! ”

He said these words loudly, and they clearly reached the ears of Sun Tu and many soldiers of the Song army around him, making many people's expressions change, and they wanted to say something, but they didn't know where to start for a while.

It was Sun Tu, who was stunned for a short moment, and laughed: "It's nonsense." Fang La, you are still so stubborn at this time, and you still want to sow discord? This official will not fall for your calculations, my Sun Tu has always acted up to the sky, loyal to the king and loved the soldiers, and now he has made great contributions, what is there to worry about? Don't use such nonsense to disturb the hearts of our army and the people! ”

After a pause, he shouted again: "Come on, put him in prison for me to be carefully guarded, except for my warrant, no one is allowed to approach, otherwise he will be killed!" At this moment, his power increased sharply, so that Fang La couldn't continue to speak, and the surrounding people were even more shocked to change their expressions, not only quickly left the previous intermittent words behind, but some people subconsciously knelt down and worshipped.

After welcoming back the meritorious people and taking all the relevant prisoners into custody, the next Muzhou City immediately became a sea of celebration. All kinds of gold and silver cloths used for celebration, grain, wine and meat have already been delivered in time, and as Sun Tu opened his mouth, the banquet was quickly opened, and then at the banquet, according to the merits of each person, rewards were distributed.

Everyone knows very well that this is just the beginning of the celebration, when their own general sends this good news to the imperial court, and there is a bigger reward in front of him. Almost everyone can go further in their original official positions, even a few steps, and people like Wu Song Luda and Tong Mu who have made key contributions to the capture of Fang La, their rewards will only be more generous.

Of course, as the commander of the three armies, Sun Tu, who almost single-handedly led the army to pacify the turmoil in the south of the Yangtze River, his exploits are even greater to the limit, and some people even speculate that General Sun will be knighted this time, as for how high the title is, I am afraid that a marquis will not be able to escape, and maybe he can be crowned.

At the same time that Sun Tu delivered the relevant good news back to Beijing as quickly as possible, he also began to make dazzling deployments - Tong Mu, Song Jiang, Zhu Wu, Wu Yong...... These subordinates, who were more focused on civil affairs, were quickly sent by him to Hangzhou, Suzhou, Jinling and other places to serve as local chiefs, and with their partners, they were a group of generals who were directly appointed by him as the capital eunuchs of a place, Hua Rong, Yang Zhi, and Lin Chong...... Even Wu Song and Luda and others are all listed......

Everyone knows what all this means. Because of the great turmoil in Jiangnan, almost all the original court officials were swept away, in other words, the officialdom here, regardless of military affairs, was blank. And Sun Tu directly preempted all the people under him before the imperial court was appointed, and he also wrote in the good news that his intention to do this was to make Jiangnan controlled by the imperial court faster and restore the past situation faster.

Now that he has made great contributions to the world and the light can cover all problems, Sun Tu will naturally make it difficult for the imperial 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 does not want to be an official, but enjoys great prestige among the people in Jiangnan, although Sun Tu has no modest fame at this time, he already has this de facto power.

And all this has reached a climax after entering June, although the official will of the imperial court has not yet been delivered, but the conclusive news has come-

For this time, Sun Tu only took more than a year to calm the chaos in Jiangnan, and the current official family is still extremely satisfied, for this reason, he not only accepted Sun Tu's request in full, but even named him the Marquis of Yue - as many people speculated, Sun Tu was officially made a marquis!

Although with Sun Tu's merits, it is reasonable to be crowned a marquis; Although even in the Great Song Dynasty, the probability of a military general being a marquis is much higher than that of a civil official, and many generals have won this honor before, but for many subordinates, this is still a great joy worth celebrating, which means that General Sun's identity has been qualitatively improved, and he has truly entered the sequence of high-ranking officials in the imperial court.

However, in this group of celebrations, there are also a little different views. After Tong Mu heard about this, he said to Sun Tu with a solemn expression: "General, if this matter is really afraid, it may not be a good thing. First, apart from this marquis, there is hardly any reward, which is really unusual; Second, according to the rules that have always been followed, most of the people who use the land as a marquis are fiefs in their hometowns, so what you should give to you should be Luhou, why did you give it to the Marquis of Yue? This brings me to a third uneasiness, which may have been dug in order to roast you on the fire......"

Sun Tu listened to these words, but he couldn't come up with an accurate idea. And at this time, the official rewards and rewards of the imperial court have finally arrived.

At the end of listening to the edict of tens of thousands of words to promote many officials, there was one more sentence that shocked everyone - I hereby recruit Sun Tu to Beijing to be rewarded and report on his work, and escort Fang La and other anti-thieves into Beijing!

With a good hand, he took a salary from the bottom of the kettle, crossed the river and demolished the bridge, and the imperial court was going to directly transfer Sun Tu back to Bianjing, so wouldn't all his arrangements be in vain?

And what is even more unbelievable is that in the face of this will, Sun Tu, he really obeyed the will.

In mid-July, after arranging everything, he only took a few cronies such as Tang Feng and two thousand Shandong veterans, and left Jiangnan that he had fought so hard, left that group of brothers and subordinates, and went to Bianliang in Beijing......

(End of volume)