Chapter 126 The King of Yu Kingdom disregards the burden on the people and the cost of war and insists on starting a war!

"Hahahaha!" Duan Wu laughed so hard he almost fell off his horse.

He quickly explained to General Zhang that the voice came from a walkie-talkie.

Although it's unclear how far away the sound could travel, at least it let General Zhang know that this thing could communicate, so it wasn't some ghost or monster making the noise just now.

After that, Duan Wu led General Zhang to the Fairy Temple.

Along the way, we took him to visit some places such as a clinic, a school, a granary, and a reservoir.

He was told that Xitun Pass and Linxian Village were able to merge into a city and be built into what it is today in just three or four months, all because they received the blessing and help of the fairy.

In just one morning, General Zhang witnessed a scene he could never have imagined in his life. Even though he had never met the incredibly powerful Fairy Jinli, he already held her in the highest esteem.

When he arrived at the Fairy Temple, he was amazed by the temple's immense popularity and the sheer number of worshippers.

Early in the morning, countless people came to worship, offer incense, and their faces were filled with piety.

"General Duan, the clothes and shoes worn by the people here..." General Zhang asked from outside the border, "...seem different from those elsewhere?"

Duan Wudao said, "Those were all sent by the fairy. The materials are more durable and the styles are not only novel but also very convenient. In addition to everyday styles, there are also work clothes. When people work, they wear work clothes and safety shoes and use the tools given by the fairy. The safety and efficiency are more than a hundred times higher than before! The fairy is helping us in every way and thinking about us!"

"So... there really are immortals in time? Then I must pay my respects properly. Is the fairy in this temple?" General Zhang asked with great anticipation.

Duan Wu said with a smile, "Jinli Fairy is not the kind of fairy we think of. She is approachable and never aloof. Of course, she can't stay in the temple all day receiving incense offerings."

"So she's not in the temple?" General Zhang asked, somewhat disappointed.

Duan Wudao said, "It's alright, there will be plenty of opportunities for you to meet the fairy in the future."

General Zhang thought for a moment and then asked, "General Duan, you said that the fairy also has parents, one named Lord Ning and the other named Sect Leader Ye, who also helped with the construction. So those two must also be immortals?"

"Well..." Duan Wu lowered his voice and said, "In fact, Fairy Jinli has told us countless times that she is not a god. We have also gradually discovered that she is a mortal. She gets tired and hungry just like us, and she needs to eat, drink, relieve herself and sleep. Her parents are also mortals. However, based on her merits of benefiting the people and saving the world, it is not an exaggeration to call her a god."

General Zhang nodded and exclaimed, "It is truly a great blessing for Da Xuan to have such a powerful and capable person to help us."

“That’s right,” Duan Wu patted him on the shoulder. “Besides what I showed you before, your troops will also get some good stuff. Let me tell you, that stuff is enough for an army of 100,000 to flatten the Yu Kingdom.”

General Zhang's eyes lit up. "Is this really true?!"

"Of course it's true!" Duan Wu said proudly. "You have no idea how many battles were fought here in the past few months. The ten thousand remaining soldiers at Xitun Pass managed to defeat hundreds of thousands of enemy troops! They even wiped out all the barbarian soldiers of the Shayue Kingdom!"

General Zhang immediately became excited. "Before I received His Majesty's decree and mobilized troops to come here, I heard almost all the officials in the capital say that His Majesty's falling out with the Yu Kingdom and forming a blood feud is a disaster for the Great Xuan. Even the soldiers in the army have been affected to some extent, and their morale is inevitably low. If what General Duan said is true... not to mention conquering the Yu Kingdom, it would not be difficult for the Great Xuan to unify the world!"

"Hahahaha! That's right!" Duan Wu put his arm around General Zhang's shoulder. "Come on, you've come all this way, there's no need to queue here. I've already ordered the guards at the Fairy Temple to be waiting. Let's go straight in and I'll take you to offer some incense."

"Alright, thank you for your trouble, General Duan!"

——

Over the next three days, the 100,000 Great Xuan soldiers who had arrived in Linxian City had rested and gained a general understanding of the city's situation.

Xiao Qidi then issued an imperial decree to begin preparations for annexing the Yu Kingdom.

Based on the fact that Yu Kingdom had been severely weakened in the last major war, he estimated that it would take at least two months for Yu Kingdom to send troops. In addition, with the logistical preparations, food supplies, and troop deployment, it would take at least four months for the first batch of Yu Kingdom troops to come and attack.

Therefore, Linxian City has plenty of time.

The original 10,000 soldiers of Xitun Pass had become an elite force after several major battles and were named the Xuanjia Army by Xiao Qidi.

A small portion of them were led by Qi Zhan to destroy the Yue Kingdom.

Xiao Qidi decided to select another batch of soldiers from the 100,000 Da Xuan Army troops that had been transferred to become the Xuanjia Army.

Ning Jinli's factory is now producing basic military equipment, enough to equip an army of 100,000 with modern combat uniforms and modern cold weapons.

However, the same weapons and equipment can have different effects on soldiers with different abilities.

Therefore, it is still very necessary to expand the Xuanjia Army.

Xiao Qidi and Ning Jinli jointly formulated the selection criteria, which would select approximately 10,000 people from the 100,000 Great Xuan Army, truly one in ten thousand.

Only those soldiers who pass the rigorous selection process are qualified to become members of the Xuanjia Army. This is also a preparation for the soldiers here to use firearms in the future.

After all, firearms and ammunition, even the most basic version, are far more complex than using cold weapons, and cannot be taught casually.

In Linxian City, war preparations and city construction are proceeding in an orderly manner.

Meanwhile, the Kingdom of Yu was also rushing to recruit soldiers, but the recruitment situation greatly displeased the King of Yu.

"It's been almost twenty days since I ordered a nationwide conscription, and you're telling me that only 100,000 have been recruited? Are you all useless idiots?!" The King of Yu cursed, smashing the bamboo slips containing the report from his ministers to pieces.

The atmosphere inside the hall instantly plummeted to freezing point.

"Your Majesty, please calm down. Your health is important..." a eunuch whispered cautiously.

The king of Yu Kingdom suppressed his anger, "I'll be driven to my death by these useless fools sooner or later!"

“Your Majesty…” a minister stepped forward and said, “We have done our best, but our Great Yu is the smallest country in terms of territory and population among the seven kingdoms. Currently, the total population is only about one million. It is already very good that we can recruit 100,000 people within the country in about twenty days.

The king of Yu Kingdom gritted his teeth and said, "What do you mean? Do you expect me to praise you?!"

“Your Majesty, I dare not,” the minister said with a worried expression. “I only wish to ask Your Majesty to consider reducing the number of soldiers to be conscripted. If Your Majesty requires 300,000 soldiers, this… I fear it will harm the very foundation of the people’s livelihood.”

The king of Yu Kingdom had a gloomy expression. "Of the million subjects, excluding women, children, the elderly, the sick, and the disabled, there should be around 400,000 male laborers. What's wrong with conscripting 300,000?"

The minister said helplessly, "The people also need to survive... If we forcibly conscript 300,000 to fight, it will drastically reduce the number of farmers. Now, with the autumn harvest approaching, the people still need to store grain for the winter. Furthermore, with the 100,000 troops left over from the previous campaign plus the 300,000 newly conscripted, that's a total of 400,000 troops. Just feeding so many soldiers will be... difficult enough. In that case, not only will the national treasury be emptied, but we'll also have to take grain from the people..."

"I don't want to hear any of this!" the King of Yu roared. "Don't give me excuses. I just want you to get things done!"

The minister seemed to want to say something more, but ultimately hesitated and turned his gaze to the oldest minister among the assembled officials.

That is the Prime Minister of Yu Kingdom, who is now seventy years old and has served as an advisor to four generations of Yu kings.

He had already gradually retired from the court several years ago due to poor health, and recently he had been away from the capital for more than half a year to rest.

Upon learning of the Crown Prince's murder, the king was enraged and decided to raise an army to retaliate against the Xuan Kingdom. He disregarded the fatigue of the journey and rushed back to the capital from his place of rest.

He even traveled all night last night and has not rested even now for court.

His aged face was full of fatigue.

The minister did not want the old prime minister to expend so much energy, but he had no other choice but to hope that the prime minister could help him.

"Your Majesty..." The old prime minister stepped forward with faltering steps, "This old minister believes that you should not have prepared for this battle in the first place."

The king of Yu Kingdom turned pale, but he still restrained his temper and softened his tone, "Prime Minister, even you don't support me?"

The old prime minister said, "The death of the crown prince is indeed a blood feud. I was no less heartbroken than Your Majesty upon hearing of his execution. But even if revenge is necessary, it cannot be so hasty, much less so wasteful of resources and manpower. The minister who spoke earlier was quite right. I urge Your Majesty to consider this carefully for the sake of the people of Da Yu. Moreover, the Xuan Kingdom is now militarily strong, with a much larger army than ours. If a life-or-death war were to break out between our two nations, it would likely drag on for a long time..."

The King of Yu clenched his fists. "That brat Xiao Qidi is going too far! I simply cannot tolerate it! Although my Great Yu has a smaller population than Xuan Kingdom, our capital is wealthy and we have the best weapons and armor in the world. Even our newly recruited soldiers, after a little training, are comparable to the elite troops of other countries! I am confident that as long as we have an army of about 400,000, we will be able to break through Xitun Pass, crush our way through, and take Xuan Kingdom's capital!"

The old prime minister continued to persuade, "We can send troops, but there is no need to be so hasty, much less so. If Your Majesty trusts this old minister, I am willing to personally travel to various countries to persuade them to help us."

Upon hearing this, the king of Yu frowned and fell silent.

“No, Prime Minister!” Another minister immediately stopped him. “We need to go around the Xuan Kingdom to visit the other countries. The journey is long and arduous. You can’t afford the trouble. Let us young and strong go instead.”

The old prime minister waved his hand and said softly:

"Over the years, due to my serious illness, I have been unable to participate in government affairs many times. I could only watch as my lord became complacent because of the country's wealth and military strength, gradually destroying the relationships I had built with envoys from other countries over the past few decades... I said before that the Sha Yue tribe were barbaric and untrustworthy people who should not be trusted, and that we should not think that just because we have subdued them, we no longer need to maintain relations with other vassal states. But... my lord did not listen..."

"If Dayu still maintains good relations with the other countries, and the emperor wants to send troops to attack Xuan, he can immediately send a message to ask the other countries to send troops to cooperate with Dayu in attacking from both sides, making Xuan unable to fight against four hands. Even if Xuan cannot be destroyed, it can be severely damaged."

"Nowadays... let alone you going to other countries as envoys, even if our sovereign goes there in person, I'm afraid he'll be turned away. Only if I go in person can I gain some face and possibly get other countries to send troops to restrain Xuan Kingdom."

These words brought tears to the eyes of the surrounding ministers, who choked up and didn't know what to say.

After the old prime minister finished speaking, he took a few steps forward, looked up at the king sitting high on the throne, and said solemnly, "Your Majesty, please be patient for a few more days. After this old minister returns from his mission, we will discuss the matter together based on the results of the persuasion."

"If you go..." the King of Yu said in a deep voice, "I'm afraid even if you go as fast as you can, you won't be able to return until after winter, at least half a year."

The old prime minister said, "I will do my utmost to shorten the time and will return to report before the end of winter."

The King of Yu narrowed his eyes slightly. "I have already lost relations with other countries. Even if you were to intervene, I'm afraid it would be difficult to persuade you. Could it be that you heard someone say earlier that the people need to harvest grain in the autumn to prepare for winter, and you're deliberately using this tactic to delay me?"

The old prime minister said with a bitter look in his eyes, "To be honest, Your Majesty, I did want to delay, but this is by no means a bad thing. Firstly, it allows the people to make sufficient preparations, and secondly, it does indeed provide an opportunity to win the help of other states. Although Your Majesty is at odds with other states, if I were to give them face, and also provide them with weapons forged by our Great Yu and even teach them iron smelting techniques, they would—"

"Teach them the most advanced iron smelting technology of the Great Yu Kingdom?" The King of the Yu Kingdom interrupted angrily, "Are you also going to say that you want to give them the iron mines of the Great Yu Kingdom!"

The old prime minister gritted his teeth and said, "This is a transaction, not a free gift. If necessary, we must give them the ore."

"No!" The King of Yu had lost his patience. "Yu Kingdom's current strength is due to its unparalleled iron smelting technology and iron ore reserves, which are what I am most proud of. I absolutely cannot give them away!"

Disappointment welled up in the old prime minister's cloudy eyes. "Your Majesty, we are now in a position to ask for the help of these states. We must make some concessions and let them gain some benefits before they will help us. Don't you even understand this simple principle?"

The King of Yu slammed his hand on the armrest of his throne. “Prime Minister! I am almost forty years old, and you still want to lecture me? You have been my teacher since I was a child until I took over the reins of government! Even after I took over the reins of government, you still point out my shortcomings every now and then. I have really had enough! Don’t you know that I hate your lecturing more and more, which is why I stopped having you tutor the Crown Prince?”

"Your Majesty..." The old prime minister's eyes glistened with tears, "I'm only doing this for your own good. The crown prince... alas, if you had allowed me to tutor him, he wouldn't have ended up like this..."

"You old fool! Shut up!" The king of Yu Kingdom was furious and grabbed the inkstone next to him, smashing it down the steps.

Bang!

A muffled thud.

The inkstone struck the old prime minister squarely on the forehead.

The old prime minister groaned, clutched his head, and collapsed to the ground.

"Prime Minister! Prime Minister!"

The ministers hurriedly gathered around.

Blood was gushing from the old prime minister's forehead, his face turned pale rapidly, and his breath became extremely weak.

"Your Majesty!" a minister knelt down and cried, "Please, Your Majesty, summon the physician immediately! The old prime minister is dying!"