Chapter 626 [Second Update]

The ministers who were originally immersed in joy now began to think about a very important thing - if it was delayed too late, would the palace provide meals?

There are hundreds of people here. How long will it take to watch them all?

Fortunately, Liu Tan's language in official documents was generally concise. If it were not concise, he would not be able to write in fancy words, so he could only describe the matter clearly and dryly. It was also thanks to Liu Che that he never despised him.

There were only a few lines of text, and everyone could basically remember them at a glance. No one who could stand in the main hall of the Weiyang Palace was a fool, so it was circulated very quickly.

Liu Che sat there and watched the expressions of the ministers below gradually change from curiosity at the beginning to confusion and disbelief, and he felt quite happy.

Liu Tan thought that what people would not believe was the number of casualties, but when he got to the court, it was just the opposite. No one cared about the number of casualties. Frankly speaking, everyone knew that the more everyone paid attention to the war, the less likely it was that there would be false reporting of military achievements, because the cost was too high.

Moreover, such things usually happen to people of lower status. For someone of Liu Tan's status, it's unnecessary. What's the point of him having such great military achievements? He is already a prince, and above him is the crown prince. Judging from his appearance, he doesn't seem to want to be the crown prince. Otherwise, he wouldn't have asked to be a vassal back then, and he wouldn't have run away last year when he had made great contributions and the emperor didn't want him to leave.

Ministers are concerned about how much money he spends.

Generally speaking, wars consume food, weapons and medicine. These three are the major items, and the rest are miscellaneous items.

Sang Hongyang turned those numbers over in his mind twice, and still found them somewhat unbelievable.

It feels like this kind of consumption is basically like the army taking a trip to Wuhuan.

Of course, this may be a bit exaggerated, but it is true. It consumes only a little more energy than a large army strolling around.

Sang Hongyang asked in confusion, "Your Majesty, this military expenditure...did His Royal Highness the King of the Northern Territory use his own money?"

This was the only possibility he could think of. His Royal Highness the King of the Northern Territory always completed everything he did, but sending out an army of 100,000 was no joke. In addition, Sang Hongyang had a previous record of persuading Emperor Wu of Han to cease fire. It was not impossible that Liu Tan was worried that the war would be stopped and that he would pay for it himself.

Anyway, everyone knows that the richest prince in the world is the King of the North. Not to mention that he only contributes part of the money, even if he is asked to support the army on his own, he can probably only last for half a year.

Liu Che glanced at Sang Hongyang and said with a smile, "You ask this question, which shows that you don't understand him."

Sang Hongyang was somewhat bewildered, and Liu Ju explained, "Brother... well, even if the King of the Northern Territory had money now, he wouldn't invest it in a large army. His previous memorials showed that Yan was in chaos, so he naturally wanted to sort things out first. Besides, the power of a powder keg... is unmatched by any other weapon."

Someone familiar with the Wuhuan wondered, "But... Wuhuan is much colder than Chang'an these days, and they like to use ice walls to defend themselves. The ice wall shouldn't have completely melted yet. How does His Royal Highness the King of the Northern Territory deal with it?"

After hearing this, Liu Che felt that these people really didn't understand the current status of the Han Dynasty's weapons. He simply waved his hand and said, "I will go to Jianzhang Palace the day after tomorrow and show you what a gunpowder barrel is."

It just so happened that there was a remote palace in Jianzhang Palace that needed to be rebuilt, so they could just use a powder keg to violently demolish it.

The ministers left with their doubts. After they finally left, Liu Che immediately took the prince back to open the letters and exchange information.

In his letter to Liu Che, Liu Tan complained bitterly, saying that the Wuhuan people regarded him as a god for inventing the gunpowder barrel, which was simply unreasonable.

He had no choice. This kind of thing was not suitable to be said in a very formal tone. He could only say it jokingly. Anyway, there had been many such misunderstandings before. Li Xi had fueled the misunderstanding of the Wuhuan people, but if he didn't say it, Liu Che probably wouldn't have thought of it.

Sure enough, Liu Che didn't think much about it. He was just amused when he saw that the Wuhuan people made a clay figure to represent his son, and his son's point was that these clay figures were ugly.

The letter Liu Tan wrote to Liu Ju was a little more relaxed - he was discussing parenting experiences with Liu Ju.

In the letter, Liu Tan complained about the difficulty of raising a child, and was also worried about Liu Ku's early education.

Many of the questions above left Liu Ju stunned.

To be honest, he never thought that there would be so many things to deal with when it comes to children, and he had never taken care of such a young child before.

It is generally accepted that when children are young, they are raised by their mothers, and fathers will only get involved when they are older.

As for those whose mothers died young, at most he would just ask about them occasionally, and the rest of the time he would let the palace servants take care of them.

So Liu Tan regarded him as an experienced father, which put Liu Ju under great pressure.

After Liu Che finished reading the letter, he turned around and saw that his eldest son was frowning. He couldn't help but ask curiously, "What's going on?"

If his son had any troubles, why would he ask his brother instead of his father?

Liu Ju obediently handed over the letter in his hand and said with a wry smile, "Father, these questions of my brother's have really put me in a difficult position."

Liu Che didn't take it seriously at first and was thinking about how to guide his two sons. Isn't that what a father should do?

However, as his son grew up, there was not much he could advise him on, especially Liu Ju, who became more and more mature in politics. This made him happy but also a little disappointed, as he always felt that he was getting old.

Fortunately, there was Liu Tan, who looked smart and capable, but in fact was often confused and made mistakes, and needed his father to remind and teach him. This was probably another reason why Liu Che paid too much attention to him.

But the problem this time... Liu Che felt a little melancholy after reading the letter.

His impression of his sons when they were young was that they were childish. When he didn't have a son, he longed for one. After he had more sons, he found that young children were quite boring. It was okay to tease them occasionally, but once they started crying because they were hungry, thirsty, or had some other problem, Liu Che would have a headache.

But he was the emperor and could completely ignore it, so how to educate young children he really... didn't know.

Finally, he recalled and found that he only had a vague impression of Liu Fuling.

When Liu Che got a little older, his temper became better, but he was not yet to the point of being old and suspicious, so he was always more patient with Liu Fuling.

Thinking of this, Liu Che suddenly felt a little soft-hearted, not towards Liu Fuling, but towards Liu Tan.

This child left him when he was so young. He had no memory of what Liu Tan looked like when he was young. When they met again, he had grown into a teenager.

Liu Che thought for a moment and said, "Let Ouyang Shi go and enlighten the Prince of Yan."

The author has something to say: Next update at 9 o'clock~