The substitute prince: Reported the emperor's brother at the beginning

Chapter 320 The Emperor's Helplessness

Of Aturu's four conditions, except for the last one, the others are probably unacceptable.

The fourth point is the return of prisoners, which many people don’t pay attention to.

After all, every time there was a decisive battle with the barbarians, the captives would be returned after the final peace talks.

It is said that this time, Lao Liu captured tens of thousands of barbarian prisoners.

Emperor Wu wanted to negotiate peace with the barbarians as soon as possible, but he couldn't agree to everything at once.

He sat high on the dragon throne and looked at everyone below: "My dear ministers, what are your opinions?"

Someone immediately stood up indignantly and said, "Your Majesty, such peace terms cannot be agreed to."

"North of Hushan Pass lie over ten states and cities, all ancestral lands. If we cede them to the barbarians, how can we explain this to our ancestors and the suffering people?"

Many people immediately opposed it, saying that the conditions were extremely harsh.

Emperor Wu was dissatisfied, but he did not dare to agree casually. Doing so would mean that he would be branded a traitor.

However, Emperor Wu looked at some of his loyal ministers.

The ministers had no choice but to stand up and say, "Your Majesty, I think we can discuss this matter first."

The minister who had just been dissatisfied immediately shouted angrily: "What is there to discuss? Do you really want His Majesty to cede all the northern territories?"

"Of course not." The loyal minister shook his head: "What I mean is, we should discuss it first, otherwise you won't be able to fight back now."

Anyway, even if someone doesn't care about the northern territory, he wouldn't dare to agree to cede the territory casually, otherwise he would be criticized by thousands of people.

Emperor Wu was still not satisfied. He finally looked at the Prime Minister and said, "Prime Minister, what do you think?"

The Prime Minister didn't want to deal with this kind of thing, and he was waiting patiently to see if there was anything that could be changed.

But now that Emperor Wu asked him to make the decision, how could the Prime Minister agree?

He decided to help the Sixth Prince and delay the peace talks.

He stepped forward and saluted, saying, "Your Majesty, in my opinion, negotiating peace with the barbarians is a serious matter that requires careful consideration and cannot be decided rashly."

The Prime Minister did not agree immediately on the surface.

Emperor Wu nodded slightly and said, "What the Prime Minister said is correct. Let the envoy return to the posthouse to rest and take good care of him. Then we will adjourn the court."

His specific words of "take good care of it" made many people feel uneasy.

What does Emperor Wu mean? He is clearly the envoy of the enemy, but he is being taken care of. It seems that everyone thinks that Emperor Wu wants to negotiate peace.

After the court was dismissed, the Prime Minister returned home, and his confidant asked, "Master, why don't you just stop the peace talks? Otherwise, you won't be able to explain to the Sixth Prince, and even the whole country will scold you."

The conditions of the barbarians are simply unacceptable. Anyone who accepts them is a fool.

The Prime Minister took off his official hat nonchalantly, sat on the armchair, and took the tea from the maid.

He said leisurely, "The Emperor will discuss this with me."

The old fox, the Prime Minister, could naturally see that Emperor Wu wanted to negotiate, but in the hall, he could not make Emperor Wu unhappy.

The most important thing for the Prime Minister now is to consider how to satisfy Emperor Wu and how to explain to the Sixth Prince.

That means we can negotiate, but we still continue to fight.

Sure enough, the Prime Minister had just finished his lunch when a young eunuch came to the palace to call him.

Emperor Wu was in the imperial study. After watching several important ministers kneel down, he ordered, "Everyone, stand up and take your seats."

"Thank you, Your Majesty." The old ministers bowed in return.

Emperor Wu saw them sitting down before he slowly asked, "Yang Long, how is the battle at Hushan Pass?"

As the Minister of War, Yang Long should naturally be most familiar with the battle situation at the front.

He smiled wryly and bowed, "Your Majesty, the letter sent by the Sixth Prince, the commander of Hushan Pass, states that the soldiers on the front lines are short of food and clothing, and can only rely on old cotton-padded clothes scavenged from corpses to keep warm. Furthermore, the Beijing camp has suffered heavy casualties, with tens of thousands of soldiers lost, and several Beijing camp guards have been crippled and maimed."

"Tens of thousands of wounded soldiers in the city are awaiting medical treatment. The Sixth Prince has requested additional reinforcements from the Beijing Camp. Currently, he can only rely on improvised captives armed with weapons to resist the barbarian assault."

What Yang Long said was also the situation at Hushan Pass. The losses of the various Beijing camps were very tragic, and the defending troops at Hushan Pass also suffered heavy casualties.

There were wounded soldiers everywhere and there were no more troops, so the Sixth Prince dragged the prisoners to the battlefield. Everyone felt that the situation at Hushan Pass was not optimistic.

Emperor Wu looked at the Ministry of Revenue again and asked, "Does the Ministry of Revenue have any more financial support?"

The Minister of Revenue was depressed. Doesn’t your Majesty know whether there is money and grain?

You took away most of the little stuff we had, and the rest was barely enough to cover the expenses of the entire capital.

But now, the Minister of Revenue could only shake his head and say, "Your Majesty, the Ministry of Revenue and the Grain Reserves are out of money and grain. This is barely enough for the entire capital to survive the winter."

Emperor Wu then turned to the Minister of Works, Zhao Hongtu, and asked, "How is the Ministry of Works' weapons production going? How long can it support Hushan Pass?"

Zhao Hongtu didn't want to say a word now. He had lost a lot of weight and looked like he was worried about his work.

Since the emperor asked, Zhao Hongtu could only smile bitterly and said, "Your Majesty, the Ministry of Works cannot obtain the silver allocated by the Ministry of Revenue, so many raw materials cannot be purchased. The weapons currently being produced cannot even replenish the new army, let alone support Hushan Pass."

The Ministry of Works now has some military equipment, but they have all been taken south by the emperor's men.

In name, the South wanted to form a new army to resist the barbarians.

But when they arrived at Tingzhou with an army of 30,000, they did not go north at all.

They set up camp in Tingzhou and started training. It was obvious that they were not prepared to support Hushan Pass.

But they didn't even come to the capital. The emperor's actions were too obvious.

Emperor Wu looked at the Duke of Baoguo again and asked, "Is there any more troops from the capital supporting Hushan Pass?"

The Duke of Baoguo shook his head and said, "Your Majesty, there are only eight guards left in the Beijing Camp, with a total of 40,000 troops."

"Besides, the Ministry of Revenue doesn't provide money and food, so we can't recruit new soldiers."

"If we send more support, the capital will no longer be able to protect itself."

Emperor Wu asked a lot of questions, and finally sighed and said, "The court is in such a difficult situation. I really want to support Hushan Pass, but I am powerless."

Seeing Emperor Wu sighing, all the ministers lowered their heads in silence.

Everyone knows it clearly in their hearts. It’s not that the court cannot support, but that Emperor Wu has been cutting corners in various ways. Who can stand this?

He even cuts down on every shipment of military rations to Hushan Pass. Does he really think that so many troops at Hushan Pass can be combat-ready just by eating thin soup?

Emperor Wu felt helpless and looked at the Minister of Rites.

The Minister of Rites is a loyal fan of the emperor.

He immediately understood and said, "Your Majesty, the state affairs are so difficult that we cannot continue the war. Otherwise, Hushan Pass will be lost, the capital will be lost, and the Great Wu Kingdom will be lost."

Emperor Wu looked at the others.

It was discovered that except for a few officials who did not react, only Yang Long's mouth twitched wildly.

"My dear Yang, please tell me what you think." Emperor Wu took the initiative to ask.