amaotonovel Chapter 121 Bad intentions
Chapter 121 Bad intentions
As soon as these words were spoken, a huge uproar was caused in the court.
"what?"
"Say it again!"
The soldier who reported the news rushed into the Golden Palace, knelt down and held high the military newspaper in his hand.
"Your Majesty, this is a military report sent urgently from the border over 800 miles away. Beidong has joined forces with several small Xiongnu tribes to attack our border."
Nie Yueming took a few steps forward, took the military newspaper from the soldier and handed it to Leng Qingyi.
Leng Qingyi took the military newspaper and immediately opened it to read the contents word by word.
At this time, all the officials in the court were more anxious than each other.
After Leng Qing finished reading, someone couldn't help but ask, "Your Majesty, what on earth is going on?"
Leng Qingyi stood up and walked down the platform without saying anything, handing the military report in his hand to the prime minister in front.
Leng Wuqin's face turned very bad after reading it, and he passed the military report in his hand back.
The officials were no longer anxiously waiting for the military reports to reach them.
A quarter of an hour later, almost everyone had roughly read the contents of the military newspaper, and the expressions on their faces were more serious than each other.
"Your Majesty! Beidong is truly too much. They actually united with so many small tribes to attack our country."
"We clearly agreed to trade between the two countries during the Wanshou Festival, but now an army is quietly approaching."
"Your Majesty! As far as I know, Jichun City, which borders Beidong, has a garrison of over 50,000 soldiers. Together with the surrounding cities, they only have a combined force of 100,000. It would be difficult to defeat Beidong and those small tribes with 50,000 cavalry and 100,000 ordinary soldiers."
"How come there's no news at all when the army is approaching?"
"How could such a big move not be rumored? Two months ago, the Emperor summoned several officials from the Ministry of War and several generals to discuss this matter."
"Why don't we know?"
"At that time, the emperor only received news of frequent disturbances in Beidong, and summoned us to discuss whether we should dispatch some troops there to prepare for the future."
"And then? Did the Emperor mobilize the troops?"
"The only one in the court who can dispatch troops to support us is the Duke of Zhenguo. But at that time, the Duke of Zhenguo said that Beidong had just established friendly relations with our country and would definitely not attack us immediately."
The Duke of Zhenguo looked a little unhappy when the Minister of War spoke directly to his face.
He did think so at the time, and he also thought that the emperor wanted to mobilize troops in order to seize his military power.
They never thought that Beidong would attack them so soon.
The Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of Revenue also stood up to speak for the emperor.
"A month ago, I reported to His Majesty that the recent trade with the Northern Winter caravans has been very unusual. I'm afraid there may be some changes."
"At that time, the Emperor also mentioned this matter to the Duke of Zhenguo, but the Duke of Zhenguo again refused to dispatch troops to Jichun City for support, citing the Emperor's unfounded concerns."
The Duke of Zhenguo's face turned even darker.
One by one, they put the blame on him.
"The soldiers are from Dongxia, not just the Duke of Zhenguo. Does the Emperor need to seek the Duke of Zhenguo's opinion before deploying troops?"
"Then what else can we do? The military talisman is in the hands of the Duke of Zhenguo, and the Yan family army is led by a member of his family. Who can mobilize a single soldier or general without the Duke of Zhenguo's approval?"
"Why doesn't the Emperor discuss such an important matter in the court?"
"After all, it's just hearsay, there's no concrete information. How can we bring it to the court? If that causes panic among the people, what will we do?"
"I'm afraid the people are panicking. What should we do now that such a large army is approaching? It would take at least half a month, or even a month, to mobilize troops from the south to support Jichun City. How many soldiers and civilians would be lost during this period?"
"The Duke of Zhenguo resisted sending troops, but it failed. Did he accept the favor from Beidong and deliberately not send troops?"
"Nonsense! Don't wrongly accuse me. My feelings for Dongxia are evident to all. How could I do such a cruel and insane thing?"
"The Duke of Zhenguo knows the details clearly."
"Now that things have come to this, we must urgently discuss how to resolve the urgent situation at the border."
"How else can we resolve this? We should send troops to support us."
"Winter is approaching, and this is the time when the Xiongnu tribes raid the border most frequently to steal food. I'm sure the border guards will have some defensive measures in place. It's still not too late to mobilize troops now."
"Who should we send to Jichun City for support?"
As soon as these words were spoken, everyone fell silent. There were only a handful of military generals available in the court.
Those who had some abilities were stationed at the frontier, and the only ones left in the court were the Duke of Zhenguo, the General Weiyuan Ye Gucheng who had just been executed, the General of the Cavalry, and the General of the Chariots and Cavalry.
When he was young, the Duke of Zhenguo became famous in a battle with the Western Regions, and later he was stationed on the southwestern border.
I came back to the capital because of some health problems in recent years.
It's not impossible to let the Duke of Zhenguo go to Jichun City to fight against Beidong. He has experience in fighting for decades.
But going to an unfamiliar place to fight requires not only being familiar with the local terrain but also understanding the opposing general's combat methods. What's more, the Duke of Zhenguo returned to Beijing because of health problems, and was injured by a pack of wolves some time ago. It is not the best choice for the Duke of Zhenguo to lead troops to support.
Ye Gucheng, who had experience fighting on the northern border, was a traitor and had already been executed.
Currently, there are only two young generals with little combat experience who can be of great use in the court.
One of them, Ji Yechen, hadn't been seen for the past two months. They said he was put in solitary confinement as punishment by the emperor, and they didn't know why.
There was an endless debate about this matter in the court, but after arguing for a long time, no one could come to a conclusion.
Ultimately, the reason is that there is a lack of talent in the court and there are too few people available.
Seeing that they had been arguing for a long time and still had no intention of stopping, Leng Qing raised his hand and knocked on the imperial desk.
The officials who were still discussing below immediately stopped and stood still, waiting for the emperor's next arrangements.
Leng Qing glanced at the expressions of the people below. There were all kinds of expressions on their faces, but very few of them seemed to be truly worried about the people living in the border areas.
"Can you all come up with something?"
The Duke of Zhenguo was afraid that someone would say something bad about him again, so he was the first to stand up and respond.
"Your Majesty, I believe that the General of the Cavalry is young and promising, having fought many victorious battles alongside my grandfather. He can lead the 30,000 soldiers from the camp outside the capital to provide support."
"Transfer another 80,000 elite troops from the southwestern border, leaving 30,000 to garrison the capital, and the remaining 50,000 to continue marching north to provide support."
"The Duke of Zhenguo has been in office for decades. How could he not know what the soldiers in the camp outside the capital are doing? How could he transfer them so easily?"
"Of course I know, but the situation is urgent now. It will take time to send troops to the southwest, and even more time to lead them north."
"Now is a critical moment. What's the harm in using the soldiers from the camp outside the capital to fill the gap first? In a few days, the soldiers from the southwest will arrive to fill the gap."
The Duke of Zhenguo is good at leading troops in battle, but he is not considered a smart person in the court.
The little thoughts in his heart could not be hidden at all. When he said this, not only Leng Qing but also anyone with a discerning eye could see that he had bad intentions.