pdf-ebookys Chapter 296: One group must be dealt with
Chapter 296: One group must be dealt with
The people kneeling below were all the most trustworthy people selected by Emperor Wu to go to Hushan Pass for personal investigation.
I just want to see how long Hushan Pass can hold out.
Lao Liu now has people delivering letters every few days, either saying that Hushan Pass is short of this or that, or cursing a group of corrupt officials in the court.
He was fighting a bloody battle with the barbarians at Hushan Pass, and there was corruption in the rear. How could he be willing to continue fighting?
Ning Yi's question about who he was fighting for made the old emperor very dissatisfied.
No matter what, no matter how hard it is, you have to bear it. You are fighting for me, you are fighting for the royal family.
As a result, you actually asked me this question, which made the old emperor very unhappy.
But no matter how unhappy he was, he still had to coax Lao Liu, continue to persevere, and give him more support.
Otherwise, if he cannot hold on for a year, he will be the biggest sinner of the Dawu Kingdom.
If the capital is lost, the first person responsible will be you, the commander-in-chief of Hushan Pass, the Sixth Prince. It is only fitting that you be held responsible for losing half of the country.
The old emperor will not send anyone else to replace the sixth brother now.
The war has come to this point. If the commander is changed randomly, Hushan Pass will be breached in a few days. By then, the old emperor will not be ready and will have nowhere to escape.
And there are those old generals, each of them is very smart, and 400,000 barbarian troops have gathered at Hushan Pass.
Given the current situation at Hushan Pass, there are only a group of newly trained Beijing troops led by the Sixth Prince, and at most there are only 100,000 troops.
Moreover, they also sent a lot of secret people to keep an eye on the battle situation at Hushan Pass. Once the battle situation at Hushan Pass was in crisis, they would all run to the south quickly.
How could they possibly take on such a hot potato at this time?
As for the criminal army that the Sixth Prince had forcibly organized by gathering captives, in the eyes of these veterans, they were just a group of cannon fodder who were forced to go back to the battlefield.
No one trusts the captured troops, that's the truth.
They would never believe that the captured soldiers would willingly fight for the court again.
If the battle goes against us, the captured troops will definitely turn against us, and we will have no place to cry.
As for the 30,000 elite cavalrymen from the Northwest who could only fight, in their opinion, they were simply not able to resist for long against the 200,000 elite cavalrymen of the barbarians, and were simply courting death.
Those guards who were protecting them were quite good at escaping, unlike the Sixth Prince who forcibly sent them out to fight against the barbarian cavalry. What a waste that would be.
It is impossible for Emperor Wu to force them to take over the position of the Sixth Brother.
After being forced, they simply quit their job. No one is willing to take the blame at Hushan Pass now.
Emperor Wu was very worried.
It's only autumn now, and the autumn crops have just been harvested. We are still counting on Lao Liu to survive the winter.
If something happens to Lao Liu, he won’t even be able to spend the New Year in Beijing.
Moreover, with the relocation of the capital, he had too many people and materials that needed to be transported to the south. Although various ministers were moving their property to the south, the old emperor was also transporting batches of materials to the south.
After calling the Prime Minister over, Emperor Wu didn't wait for the Prime Minister to finish his greetings. He threw the letter from Lao Liu in front of him and said coldly, "Prime Minister, please take a good look at it."
The prime minister was puzzled. He picked up the letter and saw that it was another letter from the Sixth Prince.
The Sixth Prince has not only been sending letters to the palace recently, but has also been writing many letters to the Prime Minister.
But they will not reveal the secrets between them.
The Sixth Prince's letter was full of complaints and insults. Not only were there severe shortages of military supplies, but even the quilts and cotton-padded clothes were in such poor condition.
Emperor Wu snorted coldly, "The entire court is impeaching Lao Liu for killing the official who delivered the supplies."
"They all accused Lao Liu of being arrogant and domineering, and of killing imperial officials one after another."
"But this group of officials actually brought such a pile of garbage to Hushan Pass. Are they trying to fool Old Six, or the soldiers who are resisting at Hushan Pass, or me, or even the entire Dawu Kingdom?"
This is a very serious matter. After all, this kind of thing is too disgusting. Taking so much garbage and pretending it is military supplies, even a blind person can see how much money has been embezzled.
After reading it, the Prime Minister smiled bitterly: "Your Majesty, these people have indeed gone too far."
He actually knew about this kind of thing a long time ago. Not only the cotton-padded clothes mentioned in the letter, but also all kinds of other supplies had been stolen.
Emperor Wu said coldly, "I will give them a good beating at tomorrow's morning court."
He informed the Prime Minister in advance because he wanted the Prime Minister to stop protecting those corrupt officials tomorrow.
The prime minister was helpless. If it were normal times, they would just embezzle a little.
But now, at the critical moment, the old emperor has been staring at Hushan Pass. If he does this, isn't he just walking into the muzzle of a gun?
However, the prime minister still persuaded them that although some people had indeed gone too far, they did not deserve the death penalty.
The real scourges can be cleaned up.
Emperor Wu did not object. They were actually just trading for profit, and he also understood that if they chopped off all the bodies, the court would be in chaos.
On the morning of the second day, an official stood up and impeached the Sixth Prince for his arrogance and domineering behavior at Hushan Pass and executed the officials who delivered supplies.
The Sixth Prince must be severely punished for disregarding the court of Dawu Kingdom.
In the past, Emperor Wu would just watch indifferently and also said that he would conduct a thorough investigation.
But today, Emperor Wu didn't say anything at all, and an official immediately stood up and said everything Emperor Wu wanted to say.
Among the 40,000 cotton-padded clothes delivered to the officials, 30,000 were dirty and tattered.
What's more, the money and food have been reduced by several times. There is a great battle going on at Hushan Pass, but the officials in charge of this matter are so corrupt and abuse their power. How will the soldiers who are fighting so hard at Hushan Pass feel about this?
How else could they resist the barbarians?
Of course, someone immediately stood up and said, "This is just the Sixth Prince's one-sided statement. The imperial court went to great lengths to send supplies to Hushan Pass. Even if there is a decrease, it is no reason for him to casually kill an imperial official."
Finally, Yu Zhen from the Inspectorate stepped forward and coldly addressed all the officials, "A few days ago, I and several officials secretly nominated by His Majesty went to various locations in Hushan Pass to investigate."
"Is it just the Sixth Prince's one-sided statement? I saw it with my own eyes. Tens of thousands of wounded soldiers, starving and wailing in the barracks, were starving. With the shortage of medicine, they were left waiting to die."
"There's a shortage of weapons. Many soldiers don't even have armor. They're fighting the barbarians on the city walls with broken, chipped swords. They can't even get a hot meal, and their wages have been owed for a long time."
"The 30,000 cotton-padded clothes are in tatters, full of mold and insects. The officials who went to investigate saw it with their own eyes. Those of you who reported the Sixth Prince, go to Hushan Pass and see the mountains of cotton-padded clothes. You are treating the soldiers at Hushan Pass like fools. They don't have enough food to eat, they don't have enough military pay, they don't have enough medicine for the injured, and even their cotton-padded clothes for the coming winter are in such bad condition. How can they resist the barbarians?"