On the first day of the Lunar New Year, Jinling City.

When it was over, Zhu Mian was still lying down and did not get up, so that the people in the backyard of Zhu's mansion could only do things on tiptoe, and they didn't dare to make any sound. It's just because they all know that their master is most jealous of someone disturbing his dreams, and once they really annoy him, they may be beaten and killed.

Last night, Zhu Meng feasted on Chinese New Year's Eve for many Chinese military officials in the city, drank a lot of wine and returned to the backyard and had a good life with the two concubines, and did not sleep until the fourth day, so it was not until close to noon that he woke up leisurely, looked at the sky outside, and asked people to change their clothes, and then called the cronies who had been guarding the door to him: "Is tonight's banquet all ready?" This is the first time this year that the city officials have been entertained, and there is no room for slackening. ”

"Don't worry, the little one has arranged everything, the drinks and dishes are the best prepared, and the Qingyin Pavilion in the city has also been picked up early, just waiting for the guests to come to the door to open the banquet."

"Good!" Zhu Mian nodded with satisfaction, then stepped out of the door, and added after a while: "Remember to remind us to bring all the things we have prepared, and the next things in Jiangnan will depend on them." ”

"The villain understands." Although he said that, the steward felt quite painful in his heart, it was worth hundreds of thousands of yuan worth of property plus the title deed of more than 30,000 acres of fertile land, almost all of which were worth of thirty percent that Zhu Mian had looted for many years, but he had to give them all away.

Zhu Mian saw that he was reluctant in his heart, so he just smiled, but did not speak, waved his hand and let him go down to work. And he himself paced his steps, and once again planned what to say at the banquet tonight, and which people should be emphasized......

The winter days are short, and the recent wind and snow have hit, so the sky is dark when the card is applied. At this time, dozens of huge lanterns had been lit in front of the Zhu Mansion, illuminating a large area in front of the door as if it were daytime. After a short time, a lot of chariots and horses came one after another, although the Great Song Dynasty has always been short of horses, but for those who are officials, it is still extremely simple to get some horses to travel, even if it will greatly reduce the strength of the cavalry in front, it is not comparable to their decency.

Soon, these civil and military officials, dressed in brocade clothes and with extraordinary bearing, entered the gate of the Zhu Mansion with excitement and expectation under the leadership of the servants in front of the door. Many of them also attended last night's banquet and learned from Zhu Mian that there will be a New Year's gift today. And with their understanding of Zhu Mian, since he made a move, he naturally would not be too shabby, but it was a lot of income.

It wasn't until after the unitary time that all the guests arrived, and Zhu Mian also appeared in front of everyone with great ambition, followed by a kind remark, and let people send tonight's wine and food one by one, and there were first-class singing and dancing girls in Jinling City to accompany the wine, which was really full of joy.

Just look at the wine and food on today's banquet to know that Zhu Mian has made a lot of money this time, the wine is more than 20 years old, and the dishes are extremely luxurious, just a duck tongue soup in front of each person, is a new kill of more than ten fat ducks to take their tender tongues, with a few hours of fine stew; There is also a sea bass soup made from only the most tender and fresh piece of meat on the back of the fourgill perch, which is a delicacy that many people have never even heard of.

This meal alone will cost tens of thousands of dollars, which has made many officials who have little knowledge admire again and again, and those rude and anxious generals almost swallowed their tongues with the wine and food.

Such a sumptuous and luxurious dinner is extremely rare even in Bianliang, Tokyo, which is in the world's peacetime, and today is in this stormy situation, when the Wu army is getting bigger and bigger, and it is about to knock down all the cities in the south of the Yangtze River, it is even more "commendable".

But even in the face of such a sumptuous banquet, many guests were still a little distracted, whenever Zhu Mian stopped to speak, they would subconsciously look at the past with expectant eyes, just waiting for Zhu Shuai to get into the topic. Even this wine banquet as an appetizer is so extravagant, so the New Year's benefits he deliberately mentioned yesterday must be more worthy of everyone's expectations.

Feeling the warm gaze of everyone, Zhu Mian has always been proud in his heart. It wasn't until after a few decades of drinking that many generals were already red from drinking, and he smiled and said: "Today's New Year's Day, it should be a good day for you and me to gather together as a family and share a good family, but because of the thieves in the south of the Yangtze River, many generals and officials have to work hard with their own officials to plan hard in the ban and think about a good way to break the enemy and pacify the thieves."

"Although you and I are both good eaters and should serve the imperial court, this official is not happy to go after all, as the envoy of Jiangnan Province and the transfer envoy. That's why I want to use this meal to chat about my apologies today, and I hope you don't want to be weird.

"In addition, in order to thank you for everything you have done for the people of Jiangnan these days, this official has also prepared some small gifts, and I hope you don't shirk." As he spoke, he clapped his hands again. The door of the hall, which had been closed, opened, and then hundreds of servants walked in carrying dozens of boxes, and as they opened the boxes to reveal the contents of them, the officials couldn't help but let out a burst of exclamation even though they were prepared.

I saw that the box contained not only gold and silver and other mundane things, but also all kinds of treasures, shining under the cover of the candles in the hall, and the eyes of many people were dazzled. Although the officials of the Great Song Dynasty have always been not low, the vast majority of the people here have no treasures in their homes that can compare to those objects in the box, and Zhu Mian's hand immediately shocked everyone present.

Seeing everyone's surprised and greedy looks, Zhu Mian was even more proud, and after laughing, he nodded at the steward in front of him. The latter sprang into action at once, and swiftly divided the gold and silver treasures in the box into portions and delivered them to each official.

Of course, this was arranged early in the morning, and the distribution was made according to the current position and power of each official, as well as the number of soldiers and horses under the accounts of those military attachés who had been transferred from other places. Each copy is arranged in a reasonable and well-founded manner, so that the officials who get their hands on it can't find the slightest problem after seeing other people's things.

It can be said that just this hand is enough to see that Zhu Mian and his subordinates are quite capable of doing things. It's just that they only used all their skills on how to loot the people's fat and ointment and buy others, but they didn't use half of their efforts to govern the country and the people, so that the chaos in Jiangnan was really sad and hateful!

As soon as the things arrived, all the officials took a look at the belongings, and the sound of admiration came out from time to time, and the atmosphere in the whole hall became more and more enthusiastic. But among them, there are a few exceptions, such as Tong Mu, who was arranged near the gate, didn't even glance at the box of gold ingots in his hand, as well as the two land deeds with a full hundred acres, and his face was still gloomy.

But he also knew that he was light-hearted, and he had already been hated by Zhu Mian, so he didn't dare to open his mouth to reprimand him for buying people's hearts like this. And not far from him, Xiao Jing, the former Suzhou regiment trainer, didn't care too much about the belongings at hand, his face was depressed, and he wanted to say something several times, but he didn't dare to get up because of hesitation.

At this moment, Zhu Mian, who thought that the fire was enough, said again: "Ladies and gentlemen, now that the anti-thief forces in Jiangnan are growing, it is not a good thing for us to do so, so this official thinks that after this year, we should think about pacifying the thieves as soon as possible." I hope that when the time comes, you can work together, gather my soldiers in the south of the Yangtze River, and exterminate all those rebellious ministers and thieves in one go! ”

His words immediately won the response of many generals: "What Zhu Shuai said is very true, I will follow Zhu Shuai's dispatch when I wait, and I will never give up!" ”

"Yes, as long as Zhu Shuai gives the order, my soldiers and horses on Jingxi Road will definitely attack with all their might, and the Fangla rebels are just grass cowards, and they can be calmed down!"

"General Tang said it well, and I think so too. Before, it was just a newcomer to Jiangnan There were many people who were not accustomed to the water and soil, but now the problem has been solved, we can sweep away the enemy army and return Jiangnan to peace! ”

For a while, everyone patted their chests and assured that the civilian officials would definitely ensure the logistics, and the military generals assured Zhu Mian that they would unite the army at that time, and were sure that they could completely annihilate the enemy army within a few months and recapture important cities such as Suzhou and Hangzhou......

Judging from their performance alone, Zhu Mian's practice of spending a lot of money to buy them today is quite correct and has been rewarded. It's just that how much of the guarantee at this kind of banquet can be taken seriously, I'm afraid no one can say.

And just when everyone was talking about it, as if they had beaten Fang Lajun to nowhere to escape, Xiao Jing finally couldn't hold it back, Huo Di stood up at once, clenched his fists and said loudly: "Zhu Shuai, generals, the last general has a word I want to ask!" Just two days ago, there was news that the rebels actually dispatched 100,000 people to attack the Changshu city newly captured by the second army of Huainan in Shandong. ”

As soon as he said this, the hall that was originally quite lively suddenly fell silent, and everyone showed strange expressions, but no one really answered his words. And Zhu Mian's face also turned from red to blue, and he stared at Xiao Jing with annoyance in his eyes, this guy really can't open a pot.

Who didn't know about the battle that was taking place in Changshu among the dozens of people present, but no one mentioned it in the past few days, but why? Because everyone knows more about the contradiction between Sun Tu and Zhu Mian, and also knows that Sun Tu and his own family are not all the way at all. So even if they knew about the battle of Changshu a long time ago, they all pretended to be stupid one by one.

But Xiao Jing obviously couldn't understand and accept such a thing, and once he opened his mouth at this time, he couldn't care about anything else, and immediately said: "Zhu Shuai, Changshu City is very important, and it is the key to my recapture of Suzhou!" The Shandong army is our robe, it is a rare elite division, how can we turn a blind eye, and hope that Zhu Shuai will immediately send troops to rescue and break the enemy! As long as Zhu Shuai nods, the last general is willing to be a pioneer! ”