On the northwestern battlefield, however, things were far from satisfactory. The weather was getting colder, military rations were running low, and the soldiers were not receiving food supplies, causing their morale to gradually decline.
Meanwhile, the enemy army grew increasingly fierce. Even more frighteningly, the enemy seemed to know that the Qing army was running out of food and began to send heavy troops to cut off the Qing army's communication with the interior. On the only official road, they even robbed and harassed merchants coming from the inland, attempting to trap and kill the Qing's 200,000 soldiers on the grassland.
Hongli looked at the soldiers outside the military tent, who were whispering among themselves in twos and threes, but all of them had their heads hanging down. Where was the high morale of those 200,000 mighty soldiers?
Therefore, Hongli had no choice but to return to the military tent and wait for the Fourth Prince's orders with Seventeen and the others.
The army's food supplies are running low. If the imperial court doesn't send more food, the 200,000-strong army here will be unable to sustain itself. Everyone offered their suggestions, but none of them could resolve the current predicament.
“The grain allocated by the imperial court has been delayed, and the soldiers have been starving for several days. If we don’t get any more food, we might starve to death before the enemy even attacks,” said Fourth Master.
A lieutenant suggested, "In my opinion, it would be better to slaughter a few horses to deal with the immediate situation."
After listening, Hongli said, "If we only slaughter a few, how can we save the lives of these 200,000 soldiers? If we kill all the horses, how many days can we sustain them?"
Even so, Hongli still knew in his heart that human life was always more important than the lives of horses. Horses could be replaced, but there were only 200,000 people left.
So Hongli said to the Fourth Prince, "Your Majesty, if military supplies do not arrive soon, the 200,000-strong army in the Northwest will be destroyed. The only option now is to slaughter the horses."
After listening to Hongli's words, the Fourth Prince pondered for a long time, but still shook his head and said, "I have thought about it for a long time. Although slaughtering the horses can feed the soldiers, it is actually very unlucky. If the horses are slaughtered, the enemy may easily damage morale if they attack in the future, so we must not eat the horses."
Seeing the father and son pacing anxiously, the Seventeenth Prince said, "If we can't kill the horse, then kill the wolf. Although the weather is a bit cold now, we can find some local food in this vast grassland. As far as I know, there are wolves and foxes in this area. Catching them will be a good treat for the soldiers."
The Fourth Prince and Hongli nodded repeatedly when they heard the Seventeenth Prince's words. In this way, neither the horses that came with the army would be damaged, nor would the soldiers starve to death. It was a good idea.
"Hongli, listen to my command." The Fourth Prince looked at his son, who was dressed in armor and looked majestic below, and his heart was filled with pride. However, looking at Hongli's features, which resembled Lanqin's, he missed Lanqin in the palace even more.
"Your subject is here." Hongli knelt on one knee, awaiting his father's command.
"Now I'm allocating three hundred men to you. I order you to lead these men to the grasslands to search for wolves and foxes. If you see any, capture them and bring them to the army camp to feed the soldiers," the Fourth Prince said.
"Your subject obeys," Hongli said.
As the Fourth Prince watched Hongli walk away, he felt a surge of emotion. His child with Lanqin had finally grown up and was capable of standing on his own. In the future, he, as the Emperor, could finally rest easy.
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