Tong Guan was waiting for Zhao Ji's question, and immediately replied: "Your Majesty, at the end of last year and the beginning of this year, there was a big upheaval in Xingqing Prefecture in Xia Guoguo. After that, there was an open and secret struggle between several forces led by the prince of the country and the king of Yue. Now the country is even more unstable... The root cause of all this upheaval was actually caused by Sun Tu." As he said that, he explained the various experiences in Xixia detailed in Sun Tu's letter in detail as a concise statement.

After saying this, not only Zhao Ji, but also other ministers were a little stunned. If all this was true, Sun Tu would be too brave, and his contribution was indeed as Tong Guan said, much greater than any previous contribution.

You should know that the Western Xia has long become a trouble for the Song Dynasty over the years. Although they may not really pose a great threat to the Song Dynasty, they have been dragging down the most elite Western Army in the Song Dynasty, causing their plan to seize the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun to be delayed again and again. In addition, the years of battle with the Western Xia also consumed too much money, grain and national strength of the Song Dynasty, and the military expenditure of the Western Army alone was more than one million.

If all this was really what Sun Tu did and led to chaos in Xia, even if the Song Dynasty did not take this opportunity to send troops to destroy its country, it would be a huge contribution. Zhao Ji was even more happy at this time and couldn't help but praise: "If this is true, Sun Tu would take such a great risk for the Song Dynasty to enter the enemy country, which would be a rare loyal minister."

"Your Majesty is wise. It is precisely because I understand Sun Tu's character and know that he has always been loyal to the court and to Your Majesty that he dares to say that his actions in Qingzhou must have been considered by our Song Dynasty!" Tong Guan took the opportunity to completely define this matter.

Gao Qiu was a little anxious when he heard this. He didn't care about what the emperor's current attitude was, and hurriedly spoke again: "Shumi Tong, you may not be able to do this accurately. How did you know that this incident in Xia State was caused by Sun Tu? Just because he wrote a letter to you to express his merits? Do you dare to believe this? If I ask me, he is clearly robbing me of not his merits."

As soon as Gao Qiu spoke, his gangsters and others agreed: "Yes, Tong Shumi, how can Sun Tu be accurate just by just one-sided words? Maybe he was able to escape only in the Liao Kingdom in the past few months, and he had never even been to Xia Kingdom."

"That's right, it's already a huge luck for him to return to the Song Dynasty from Liao Kingdom alive. How could he rush to Xia Kingdom thousands of miles away and still cause such a big deal there!"... The questioners kept proposing their own opinions, which made Zhao Ji hesitate a little. Is Tong Guan's words true? Especially since he was deceived, it must be that he was deceived.

Gao Qiu had long guessed that Gao Qiu would question the authenticity of this matter, so he did not see any panic at this time. He just glanced at everyone and said, "Your Majesty, I dare not deceive the king. If Sun Tu had not been able to come up with evidence, I would not dare to propose it here."

"Oh, but what is the evidence?"

"One of them is the token of this elite iron kite in Xia Kingdom. This is the key to him snatching it from the Xia people and escaping from Xia capital." Tong Guan said and took out the token that had been hidden, which was naturally sent by Sun Tu with the letter.

Looking at the iron token with a shape that is quite different from the Dasong waist card, Zhao Ji believed it a little more. But someone still snorted: "What is the evidence for a token? There must be a large number of seizures in the Western Army. Moreover, Tong Shumi, you have had many confrontations with the Xia people on the Western Front..." Although the following words were not finished, the implication was already very clear, and that was that it was believed that Tong Guan was cheating.

This made Tong Guan feel annoyed. After staring at the other party deeply, he snorted coldly, and then continued: "Of course this piece of material evidence is not enough, but there are still people here to prove it."

"Personal evidence? Could it be that Tong Shumi planned to let the king and minister of Xia come to our Song Dynasty to testify?" Gao Qiu teased. He really didn't believe that the other party could provide any evidence at this time. Even if he took a step back, he really had any evidence, he could say that what this person said was unreliable!

Tong Guan looked confident. After looking at the emperor, he just turned his eyes to someone in his class: "Mr. Li, Minister of Rites, can you go to Xia Kingdom this time to pay homage to their Privy Councillor Uguruga, and meet the envoy of Liao Kingdom unexpectedly there?"

The expression of Mr. Li, who was named by him, suddenly changed. His actions in Xingqing Mansion were actually controlled by Tong Guan? At this time, the monarch and ministers in the palace looked at him, making him unable to step forward with a tough bullet and nodded and responded: "That's true..."

"What about after that?" Tong Guan said, and before the other party could speak, he replied himself: "You and the Liao envoy had argued well in front of Uguruga, but before he could make his statement, someone was disturbing the situation at that time. Is there such a thing?"

"No, not bad." Mr. Li nodded again, but the uneasiness in his heart became stronger and stronger. All his actions were under Tong Guan's control, which was too terrible.

"In fact, one of the few people who appeared that day was Sun Tu. At that time, he was named Sun Qianli and was under the command of King Yue. It was precisely because of this layer of protection that he had caused that big trouble in Xingqing Mansion. Now, the middle of Xixia is still drawing pictures to capture this "rebel thief" named Sun Qianli. If you don't believe it, you can send someone to Xia State to inquire. In addition, Qianli is the name Sun Tu, and many people know about this. Do you still suspect that Sun Tu is taking the credit?" Tong Guan said, looking at Gao Qiu and others again.

This time, they finally stopped talking because the facts were already in front of them, so of course they couldn't force them to deny it. At the same time, many people were surprised. Sun Tu's courage and ability were so great that he was too big. Not only did he escape safely in Liao Kingdom, he also ran to Xixia to cause such a big trouble. No wonder this person was promoted to the governor of the road in just a short time. No wonder he dared to make such a big noise in Qingzhou, which could even cause two powerful ministers Tong Guan and Gao Qiu to turn against him directly!

Zhao Ji was very happy and nodded repeatedly, "In this way, Sun Tu has indeed made great contributions to the country. I really want to see him with my own eyes and reward him well!"

"Your Majesty, I think that even so, it cannot offset the serious crime Sun Tu committed in Qingzhou!" With Gao Qiu's eyes, an official immediately stepped forward and spoke again: "Even if he made great contributions outside, he still has an unforgivable crime in Qingzhou. Merit is merit, sin is sin, and it cannot be confused!"

"Dragon Zhong Xiang's words are wrong. Since Sun Tu is dedicated to the country, then what he does in Qingzhou must have a reason. He has said before that he killed Gao Xiang and others in order to avoid a civil war in Qingzhou. So in my opinion, this is not only not a sin, but on the contrary, it is another merit."

"Otherwise, no official in my Song Dynasty has been lynched by anyone in a century. What's the difference between this practice and rebellion..."

In an instant, the ministers in the palace started arguing over this issue again. Gao Qiu's gangsters, Tong Guan's vassals, and some civil officials who already had prejudice against military generals... The forces of various parties made reasons and argued endlessly, but for a moment, no one could convince anyone. Moreover, everyone's voices became louder and louder, and their emotions became more and more excited.

Even Zhao Ji didn't expect that the ministers would be so blushed for this, and they were stunned. After a long time, they turned their face dark and shouted, "Stop it all!"

Seeing the emperor getting angry, the ministers realized that they were too involved, so they quickly stopped and apologized to the emperor. Zhao Ji had no intention of blaming them, but just smiled bitterly: "Your quarrels like this may not be able to have a result even if you have a three-day or night quarrel. And what you each said has some truth, which really makes me a little confused." Speaking of this, his eyes fell on the old minister closest to him who had his eyes closed and seemed to be dozing off: "Teacher Cai, what do you think about this matter?"

As soon as this statement was spoken, everyone present was waiting for breath. Although Cai Jing was silent at the court meeting, he played an important role in everything. As long as he spoke, it would be a final decision.

Cai Jing seemed to have just been woken up, slowly opened his old eyes, glanced at Gao Qiu and Tong Guan, and then coughed: "Your Majesty, the old man thinks that Sun Tu is a loyal minister or has ulterior motives, we can't compete for it here. To know his original intention, we should give it a try."

"What does the Grand Master mean?" Zhao Ji suddenly became interested and asked quickly.

"Sun Tu had made many contributions to the court before, and had some skills in training and using troops, and had also put down the Qingzhou bandit rebellion. Now, there is a rampant bandit in Shandong, and the court has no choice but to let Sun Tu lead his army to quell the rebellion. As long as he can do this, it will prove that he is indeed the Gancheng of the Great Song Dynasty. All the previous contributions are also made. It would not be too late for Your Majesty to reward him well. But if he fails to quell the rebellion, this is one of his crimes. I wonder what Your Majesty's will mean?" Cai Jing slowly expressed his meaning.

Zhao Ji thought about it carefully and nodded deeply: "This is indeed a way. The Liangshan bandits have robbed everywhere since last year, causing chaos in many places. Although the court sent troops to encircle and suppress them several times, they have returned in vain. Since Sun Tu is the chief supervisor of Jingdong Road and is good at using troops to quell the chaos, let him use his own contribution to cleanse the charges!"

"Your Majesty is wise!" It was not Cai Jing who said this, but Tong Guan. After seeing him say this, Gao Qiu's heart skipped a beat. He had already felt something was right, and immediately realized that this matter was not simple. I'm afraid Tong Guan had already spoken with Cai Jing.

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Chapter completed!