At this time, all the princelings in the court had defected to other princes. The position of prince was basically just a false name, and the third prince group had no right to speak because of its small power.
On Xie Xun's side, because he himself was not here and Yang Jingxian, the right minister, did not dare to be too obvious, he could only hide it.
In addition, recently Xie Yang actually found a wandering Taoist priest and presented several elixirs to Emperor Qi, which made Emperor Qi look radiant. Therefore, Emperor Qi's heart was naturally slightly biased towards Xie Yang.
In the dispute in the court that day, Xie Yang's faction finally won. The food and grass from Kyoto will give priority to the people in Jiangnan. As for the border guards——
Perhaps Emperor Qi was really old and confused, so Xie Yang made a very ridiculous proposal: the people at the border could be allowed to donate food voluntarily to support the border troops.
Emperor Qi actually agreed.
This move undoubtedly made many ministers in the court extremely disappointed with Emperor Qi.
There is no other reason. The land at Daqi border is barren and the people are starved of food. There is no surplus food at home!
Even if there is, the border is very cold in winter, and the people have to save their food for the winter. Now that such a ridiculous proposal has been made, I am afraid that the border itself will be in chaos before the enemy troops enter Daqi!
When Qin Rushuang got the news, she felt it was very ridiculous.
Isn’t this because the situation at the border is not chaotic enough?!
Once this order is passed to the border, the first thing to rise up may not be the enemy troops, but the people at the border!
When the time comes, the border guards will be attacked from both sides, so why fight?
Qin Rushuang was really anxious and slammed the table, "Absurd! It's so absurd!"
She was very confused.
It is precisely because she has learned so much from Taoist Lianqing these days, and is more aware of the situation at the border and the battles in the court, that her worries at this time are no less than those of Xie Xun, who is fighting against the enemy at the border.
"Master...I'm afraid I have to..."
Taoist Lian Qing waved his hand and interrupted her, "It's useless for you to go to Kyoto now. The court's order has been issued, and I'm afraid all the food and grass have already left for Jiangnan. If you are willing to believe Xie Xun, then just wait."
Qin Rushuang lowered her eyes and suppressed the anxiety in her heart, but she couldn't help but think secretly.
We are surrounded by enemies from both sides, and there is not enough food and grass...
Xie Xun... what will he do?
What would Xie Xun do?
He only told the lieutenants four words.
Two forbearance and two no:
Withdraw your troops back to camp and resist the thought of pursuing the victory because of successive victories;
Strictly abiding by military regulations and enduring successive provocations from the Yan enemy;
Reduce costs and never use a penny of the border people’s money;
Be extremely cautious and never conflict with the people at the border at this sensitive moment!
Anyway——
Xie Xun ordered that while resisting the enemy's attack as much as possible, the remaining food and grass should be used to maintain the basic survival of the border guards - it was necessary to fight, but not to chill the hearts of the people at the border.
"Two forbearance and two refusals" are just four words, but they are enough to express the difficulty of today's border situation.
At the same time, Xie Xun wrote a memorial to the court. He gave a general account of the situation at the border and expressed that he would maintain the stability of the border to the greatest extent possible.
However, when this memorial was introduced to Kyoto, it caused an uproar in the court.
"Father! I think my second brother just doesn't want to work hard for the imperial court! We are already in sight of a great victory. We can take advantage of the victory to pursue and expand our territory, so why should we stop fighting?"
Nie Lei was almost furious at Xie Yang's words!
"The Fourth Prince puts it lightly! You want the horses to run, but you don't give them grass to eat?! Are the Fourth Prince's border officers all made of grass? When the wind blows or rains, you will be full! You don't need to eat.
?!"
"Then you can't be so cautious, and you will lose the dignity of our Da Qi army!"
"Can dignity be used as food?! Dignity can keep soldiers alive?! General Rong Mo would like to remind you that it was the fourth prince who asked you to send grain and grass from Kyoto to Jiangnan for disaster relief! You can stand and speak without pain, but do you have any thoughts?
Difficulties for soldiers crossing the border!"
"What General Nie said, I am not saying that I will not send grain and grass to the border from now on! Isn't the grain and grass in Kyoto limited? You can also ask Mr. Yang from the Ministry of Revenue to purchase it from the private sector, and wait until the purchase is completed to consolidate the grain and grass.
It’s not too late to send it to the border!”
"By then, I'm afraid these grains will be left to the ghosts to eat!"
Nie Lei's implication is that if he really waits until the food and grass are purchased before sending it to the border, then I'm afraid all the soldiers will have died fighting at the border and turned into ghosts!
But what he said was rude, and Xie Yang was also annoyed.
"Serving as a soldier, you eat food and pay for your life! Our Daqi court has never treated the border guards badly. Now the situation is just a little tense, so they are so greedy for life and afraid of death? What's the point of contributing something to Daqi at this time? Isn't that the case?
Is that what they should do?”
At this moment, Nie Lei only felt a strong feeling of disappointment flashing through his heart.
This is the imperial court! This is the imperial court where their hundreds of thousands of border guards serve!
In the eyes of these dignitaries, does the life of a soldier mean nothing?
If conditions permit, who wants to live a life of licking blood at the border? Who doesn’t want to return to his hometown, open a field, marry a woman, and have a wife and children on the hot bed?
If it weren't for protecting Da Qi, who would have thought about the life of having your head stuck in your trousers!
But what nonsense is Xie Yang talking about now?!
As a soldier, you have to eat food and work hard for pay. He has been at the border. He knows the hardships of the border guards better than anyone else!
Let’s not talk about the food and grass that have always been just enough, let’s talk about the salary. After layers of exploitation, how much money is left in their hands?!
To put it bluntly, it was the passion in their hearts that supported the soldiers to stay at the border; to put it bluntly, everyone gathered at the border to follow Xie Xun's orders because of the same goal, to guard Da Qi.
But the people they work for don’t treat them as human beings!
Nie Lei was a military officer. He didn't know how to say nice things, and he didn't refute. He only took a deep look at the old Emperor Qi who was sitting on the throne.
"If everyone in the court thinks so, then it doesn't matter if we don't guard this border..."
"Nie Lei! Be careful what you say!"
Several people immediately scolded him, fearing that Emperor Qi would be unhappy and drag this arrogant and rebellious general down and behead him.
But although Emperor Qi was angry, he didn't blame him for anything.
He knew that this Nie Lei was the person that the second son trusted the most. If Nie Lei was questioned now because of a moment of anger, which chilled the second son's heart, who else could guard the border for him?
Therefore, he only scolded him a few times and then went to court.
From beginning to end, Emperor Qi did not say anything about the requirements for the border guards, because he himself knew that it was already very difficult to guard the border without food and grass.
He felt that he was getting old, so he should leave such a difficult matter to his son to figure out a solution for himself...
…
After going to court, Xie Yang was inexplicably scolded by a deputy general and felt very unhappy.
"I haven't seen Xie Xun promise any benefits to his subordinates on weekdays. Why are they all so loyal to him? When I think of Xie Xun now, I feel like I have a knot in my throat!"
Xie Yang did not recruit any other staff today, only Liu Yue was by his side.
Liu Yue rolled her eyes and said: "My lord, since you feel like you have a lump in your throat when you see Prince Huai..."
"Then why don't you just pull out this thorn stuck in your throat... I remember that at the border... you still have some people you can use."
