When Chen Fan saw Yuan Feng and Cao Song about to argue again, his face immediately darkened.

Chen Fan then turned to the two men and rebuked them:

"Shut up, you two! Such a momentous matter, and you dare to act so recklessly in front of His Majesty? Do you think you've gained some merit and are now taking advantage of His Majesty's favor?"

"No...I wouldn't dare!"

Upon seeing the Grand Tutor's anger, Yuan Feng and Cao Song shrank back and sat down sheepishly.

Liu Hong, who was standing to the side, watched Chen Fan reprimand the two men quietly and did not speak up to help Cao Song and the others.

A rigid and serious Grand Tutor still wielded considerable influence over the officials. While the emperor himself could bestow favors and protect some officials, he also had to maintain the Grand Tutor's authority.

Liu Hong then said, "What Sikong said earlier is correct. Only if their strengths are not too disparate can they continue to fight, and our Great Han can also gain more benefits from it!"

No sooner had Liu Hong finished speaking than Cao Song stood up and bowed to him.

"Your Majesty is right. I believe we should offer appropriate assistance to the Shi people, the Three Han states, and the Southern Wuhuan..."

"I wonder what the Grand Minister of Agriculture means by 'help'? Does he mean he wants our Great Han to send troops?"

Hu Guang looked at Cao Song with some doubt. He had no good impression of those barbarians. It was good enough that they weren't wiped out. How could he help them?

Cao Song smiled and shook his head, "Sending troops is definitely not an option, but we can sell them some of their obsolete equipment!"

Hu Guang immediately rebuked, "Nonsense! How can weapons and armor fall into the hands of barbarians so easily? Is this not like asking a tiger for its skin?"

Cao Song looked at Hu Guang and smiled, "Minister, you may not know this, but those discarded weapons and armor are only of some use against the barbarians."

In front of our Han army, they are no different from those in cloth armor and pose no threat whatsoever.

Furthermore, keeping those armor and weapons just takes up space, and recasting them would be too costly and not worth the effort. It's better to sell them and use the money for military expenses!