The air froze and the hall was so quiet that only the sound of breathing could be heard. It was like the calm before a storm, which made people shudder.
Master Tong closed his eyes and his ears became extra sensitive. He seemed to be able to hear the thick snow pressing on the tiles on the roof, making the tiles creak under the weight.
Is it embarrassing? Of course it is embarrassing.
The two sides engaged each other, and the enemy did nothing, but our side made such a ridiculous mistake.
Master Tong raised the corners of his mouth, but couldn't smile.
He thought of the time when Emperor Taizu was conquering the world and the Great Zhou army swept across the four directions. It would not be an exaggeration to praise it with the phrase "The wind is strong on the journey of thousands of miles, and the weather is new when you turn back to the pass."
Since when did the Great Zhou army leave the impression on everyone of being nothing more than a superficial imperial guard and a chaotic garrison?
Can such a Great Zhou army really protect the Great Zhou’s territory?
The atmosphere in the hall was like a fully drawn bow, ready to explode at any moment.
Lord Li looked around and realized that the others were determined not to be the first to speak out. He sighed deeply and had to stand up and comfort them softly.
"Your Majesty, Duke Yun has not sent out any troops so far, presumably because he does not want to break with us. Since you have already sent out troops to test the waters, why not just call it a day?"
The young emperor's act of raising a large army and wanting to attack the north was portrayed as sending troops to test the waters, giving both sides a way out.
This is the best excuse Lord Li could think of.
There was a flame in the young emperor's eyes, his face turned pale, and his whole aura became sharp and angry.
This hilarious mistake was like a huge slap in the face, in front of the whole world.
He couldn't hear what Li Ge Lao was saying at all. The only thing on his mind was Gu Nanxi. Gu Nanxi must be laughing at him, right? Laughing at himself for not knowing his own limitations, laughing at himself for stealing a chicken but losing the rice.
When the young emperor thought of Gu Nanxi sitting in the room, laughing at him in front of everyone, and maybe even publishing this matter in the "Yunzhou Weekly", the string of reason in his mind instantly broke.
He stood up suddenly and slammed the table: "Fight! Fight hard! Isn't it just that they didn't bring warships? Send all the warships in Guangde Prefecture to me! Has Zhao Jun already arrived in Guangde Prefecture? Ask him to guard Guangde Prefecture! Send all the soldiers in Guangde Prefecture to me!"
The Minister of War knelt on the ground with a clang: "Your Majesty, please think twice!"
What the hell is going on?!
The government really has no idea what the soldiers in Henan County are like!
The troops of Henan County were transferred to defend Guangde Prefecture. Once the front line failed, these two counties would not be able to stop the attack of Duke Yun, and they could only transfer the elite troops of Kyoto and Xiangzhou to rescue.
A single move can affect the entire body.
These are not soldiers from just one county or one state. If things go wrong, there might be another big war!
It is winter now, and it is a cold winter that only happens once in a century. The weather is completely wrong.
It would be unwise to start a war at a time like this.
How could the young emperor listen to that?
What appeared before his eyes was Gu Nanxi's arrogant sarcasm, and he wished he could go over and punch Gu Nanxi in the face.
Seeing that the young emperor was so determined, the Minister of War looked to Grand Tutor Tong and Lord Li for help.
However, Master Tong still had his eyes closed, and one could only tell from his tightly pursed lips that he disagreed with this matter.
Lord Li sighed repeatedly, but did not try to dissuade the young emperor.
What else can the Minister of War do?
The boss treats his words as if they were fart. No matter how you persuade him or lead him, he won’t work. So what if you love him?
Anyway, if the sky falls, there are tall people to hold it up. The worst that can happen is that I can just resign and return home.
The generals in the hall were rolling their eyes to the sky and were very angry, but no one volunteered to turn the tide of the war.
No one obstructed, and the young emperor's order was naturally issued. The messengers rode fast horses, galloping all the way in the biting cold wind.
In the next few days, there was no new news from the front battlefield, but memorials from all over the country flew to the court like snowflakes.
The challenges brought by extreme weather have completely ignited conflicts everywhere.
The Zhou Dynasty court's lazy attitude towards disaster relief in the early stages paid off at this moment.
"The snow in Huainan is 15 meters deep, and one or two out of ten people have frozen to death. The price of grain has risen to 4,000 coins per stone. Huainan has requested to save 200,000 tons of grain to stabilize the price."
The young emperor waved his hand and said, "Approved!"
"Qiongzhou is severely frozen, fishermen are prevented from going out to sea, and grain prices in the entire state have exceeded 5,000 wen. I request 250,000 dan of grain to stabilize the price."
In Qiongzhou, the rice production is not high, and every year grain merchants have to transport grain from other counties to meet the demand.
However, this time the snow disaster was not limited to one state or one county, but a large-scale snow disaster.
It was difficult for each prefecture and county to protect themselves, let alone support Qiongzhou.
The young emperor seemed to realize the seriousness of the problem and said solemnly, "Approved!"
"Xiangzhou..."
"Guangde Mansion..."
"The Jinghu area..."
The young emperor approved it readily. He firmly believed that under his wise leadership, the Great Zhou would be able to overcome the difficulties.
However, the Minister of Revenue was about to faint, his hands were shaking and his legs were weak. If his colleagues had not helped him up, he would have fallen to the ground.
"Your Majesty, Changping Warehouse doesn't have that much grain!"
The young emperor glared, his sharp eyes almost piercing through the Minister of Revenue: "What do you mean? Why is it not enough?! We have thousands of Changping warehouses in the Great Zhou, how can it not be enough?!"
The Minister of War had a bitter face and didn't know how to explain this matter.
Although there were thousands of Changping warehouses, not every warehouse stored similar amounts of grain as required.
The Changping Warehouse buys grain at a price higher than the market price when grain prices are low to prevent the grain from becoming too cheap, and then sells it at a low price when grain prices are high to suppress rice prices.
After the implementation of the concept of Changping Warehouse, the Great Zhou Dynasty allocated approximately three million shi of grain each year.
Such stable data naturally gives some people room to tamper with it.
When grain prices were high, they would borrow some grain from the Changping Warehouse and sell it at a high price in the market.
Wait until you have the chance and return it.
Since the summer this year, disasters and floods have continued, and food prices have naturally been rising.
Countless people came to borrow grain from the Changping Warehouse.
These were people who could not be offended, so the Minister of Revenue had no choice but to stick to the bottom line of 3 million shi.
By the beginning of autumn, nearly two million shi of the three million shi bottom line had been spent to stabilize grain prices.
This year's autumn harvest was not very good, and not much grain was collected, so naturally no one could use grain to pay taxes.
The Changping Warehouse only has money flowing in but no money flowing out, so of course it is not enough.
When the young emperor heard about this, he was furious and demanded a thorough investigation of the matter.
However, when it rains, it pours.
Civil unrest broke out in Henan County, which was hit hard by the snowstorm. Originally, only a few small villages under Xingyang County were affected.
A mob of people shouldn't pose any danger.
However, the defense of Xingyang was weak and the county town was captured by the villagers of these villages.
After getting supplies and food, they rested for a day and then attacked Mi County again. (End of this chapter)
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com