Chapter 694 Despair
Chang'an, Imperial Palace
The war intelligence sent by Dong Guowei was delivered to Chang'an at an expedited speed of 800 miles.
The entire intelligence mainly tells about Pingzhou's possession of weapons of war such as explosives, as well as Pingzhou's unstoppable attack and expansion.
This battle report was like a drop of water falling into a frying pan. The whole hall was quiet at first, and then it exploded.
This time, Pingzhou finally showed its fangs and demonstrated its powerful strength.
Song Mo sat at the top, looking emaciated. He was so thin that even his lips were an unhealthy white. After listening to the battle report, he swallowed the fishy sweetness in his mouth.
Xie Zhan guessed right. Pingzhou did have a trump card. Dali was really going to suffer a big loss this time.
Thinking of the land occupied by Pingzhou, Song Mo felt heartbroken.
"This, this, this - Pingzhou has such magical weapons, how can we fight a war?" Wu Chunyu was speechless for a moment.
All the officials looked at each other in confusion. Yes, how can we fight and win?
With such a big incident happening, the officials from aristocratic families temporarily stopped their attack on Xie Zhan. If the Pingzhou issue could not be resolved, it would be a matter of life and death, and no one had the mind to care about personal grudges.
"Your Majesty, if there is really no other solution, why not discuss with Pingzhou and divide the area to govern separately?" an official suggested in a low voice.
However, after hearing what he hadn't finished, Song Mo went crazy! He grabbed the inkstone beside him and threw it at him, "What did you say? Divide the land and rule it? Do you want me to hand over Chang'an, the entire Yongzhou, and several other states?"
The ministers below all lowered their heads and remained silent, trying to minimize their presence.
Many ministers thought that the idea of dividing the territory and governing it was actually a good one. If there was no way to deal with the explosives in Pingzhou, negotiating with Pingzhou and dividing the territory and governing it would be a good idea. At least after dividing the territory and governing it, Dali would still be a great power, and it would also be possible to achieve peaceful coexistence between the two sides.
The official who had spoken earlier now defended himself under immense pressure, "I simply thought this method could be used to confuse Pingzhou, stabilize it first, and prevent it from expanding further, so we can find an opportunity to defeat the enemy later."
"Do you think those people in Pingzhou are fools? Will Pingzhou agree to divide the country and govern separately?" Song Mo asked with a sneer. He now knew that the woman in Pingzhou was very ambitious.
Song Mo's words awakened those ministers who were still hoping for luck. Yes, under such a good situation, how could Pingzhou agree to divide the land and govern separately? Even if they agreed, it would not be now.
The other ministers seconded the motion.
"Your Majesty is wise. If we, Dali and Pingzhou, propose to divide the land and govern it separately, wouldn't it be equivalent to Dali recognizing the legal status of Pingzhou?" Those lost lands can no longer be recovered.
"Yes, we can think of other ways to stop Pingzhou's expansion."
Song Mo suppressed the surging emotions in his heart and said in a cold voice, "Let's discuss it. If you have any good ideas, you can speak freely. Let's brainstorm together and find a way to resolve this crisis."
Song Mo glanced at the ministers below. He wanted to see if there was anyone among the civil and military officials who could help him and Dali solve the current problems.
Prime Minister Shen Wan said at this time, "Your Majesty, to resolve this crisis, we need to have a general understanding of Pingzhou's strength first."
Chen Wan's words were very pertinent and were agreed by everyone present. Yes, if they didn't even know the strength of their opponent, how could they win?
Chen Wan continued, "First of all, how many soldiers and horses does Pingzhou have?"
Many ministers nodded, yes, this is very curious.
"The person in charge of the strategic layout of the entire war in Pingzhou this time is Qin Heng."
Upon hearing this, the ministers secretly glanced at the emperor at the top.
At this time, Song Mo had a blank expression on his face.
The ministers sighed in their hearts, the Qin family.
"There are three armies attacking the Xianbei now—the Jintai Army led by Qin Sheng, the Sun Family Army led by Sun Ming, and the Buyeo Army led by Yue Shu."
"We all know that the Sun family army had a strength of between 100,000 and 150,000 men. That means Pingzhou sent between 300,000 and 450,000 men to attack the Xianbei. Let's take the middle number and call it 300,000."
"These are the troops attacking the Xianbei."
"In addition, the main forces attacking our Dali are the Qin Family Army led by Qin Heng and Qin Zhao, and the Sun Family Army branch led by Sun Congyi. According to the information sent back by Dong Guowei to General Dong, the combined forces of these forces are approximately 200,000 to 300,000."
When the ministers calculated the number reported by Chen Wan, it was five or six hundred thousand?
"Pingzhou still has defensive troops and naval forces. Pingzhou's defense line is still very long. Let's assume the defensive troops and naval forces add up to 300,000."
Wouldn't the total number of soldiers and horses in Pingzhou be around 800,000 to 900,000 or even nearly 1 million?
When this number was calculated, almost all the ministers gasped. How did Pingzhou raise a million-strong army?
In fact, they are too many. Pingzhou has only mobilized 700,000 regular troops in total. Now, half of those stationed in Pingzhou are regular troops and half are militia.
But even if it's 700,000, that's still impressive.
Hearing the number estimated by Shen Wan, Song Mo felt extremely upset. Their Dali couldn't even afford an army of one million.
Wu Chunyu, always dealing with numbers, immediately said, "Pingzhou's population should be over six million now, but nearly two million of them were taken from Dali this year, and they're not going to be of much use right now. In other words, Pingzhou, with a population of over four million, actually managed to raise a million-strong army? One out of every four people? How did they do it?"
A minister retorted, "Is it possible that they made a mistake in calculation, or that Pingzhou relied on the advantage of its own city and only focused on attacking without caring about defense?" If four people drew one Ding, it seemed impossible!
Murong Jie of the Eastern Xianbei had the most say on this point. He originally thought that after Pingzhou sent so many troops, its defense must be weak. Therefore, after receiving the conscription order from Tuoba Khan, he did not directly support the Sushen tribe, but played the tactic of besieging Wei to save Zhao. Unexpectedly, he faced a head-on attack from Qin Yan.
Having said that, other ministers also began to express their opinions or suggestions.
Shangshu Ling Sang Baiqing said, "There's no need to worry about anything else. What is certain is that Pingzhou's logistical pressure must be extremely great at this time."
"That is to say, they can't sustain such a large-scale attack for long, unless Pingzhou uses war to support the war."
Will Pingzhou use war to support war?
It shouldn't be. Pingzhou has always been deceiving people under the banner of doing good for the people. If they dare to use war to support war, wouldn't their true colors be exposed?
"Another point is that Pingzhou can't swallow up all of Dali's territory all at once. It also needs to be digested."
At this point in the discussion, the ministers seemed to see hope and became excited.
"So, if we want to stop Pingzhou from expanding further, there are ways to do it."
"From ancient times to the present, if you want to persuade others, you have to appeal to their emotions, explain to them with reason, show them power, and lure them with benefits."
Of course, the idea of showing power can be eliminated for now.
"Furthermore, Pingzhou is already quite powerful. I don't believe Pingzhou can truly be united. There must be numerous factions within it."
The civil and military officials of Dali thought about these aspects and actually came up with some solutions. After deciding on a certain solution, they continued to improve it one after another.
Chang'an, Grand Commandery
Since Xie Zhan came back from the palace last time, he has started to claim illness and not attend court.
Song Mo acquiesced.
At this time, the letter with Dong Guowei's battle report was presented in front of him.
Xie Zhan knew that his guess was correct. Pingzhou indeed held a powerful trump card, and this trump card posed a great threat to Dali.
Fan Yang and others were also shocked by the power of the explosives.
"Grand Commander, is there still hope for Dali?"
With such power, it is despairing to think about it if Pingzhou had a large amount of explosives.
In the conference room, everyone looked at Xie Zhan.
"There is hope." Xie Zhan replied affirmatively.
Then he went to the desk, picked up a pen, and began to sort out his thoughts.
Fan Yang, Jiang Boya, Xiao Qun and others gathered around, waiting with bated breath.
Xie Zhan ignored them and immersed himself in his own thoughts.
Pingzhou should have developed such a weapon a long time ago, but it has been kept under wraps and not used much.
Xie Zhan thought of the Yanmen earthquake and the Jiumen County earthquake.
After learning about the power of explosives, he realized that the two earthquakes were not earthquakes at all, but illusions of earthquakes created by Pingzhou using explosives.
There must be some kind of restriction that prevents Pingzhou from possessing large quantities of explosives.
After figuring this out, Xie Zhan felt a surge of excitement. If this was true, then there was still hope for Dali.
Afterwards, Xie Zhan told everyone present his conclusions.
After listening to this, everyone present suddenly understood and felt that this was the case.
Fan Yang now thought more deeply, "Grand Commander, our series of plans and actions are not useless. At least weapons like explosives have been exposed in Pingzhou in advance."
"Yes." Xie Zhan nodded. Otherwise, if Pingzhou waited until he felt the time was right before taking it out, the consequences would be disastrous.
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