"Good!" Li Shi Min's blood was boiling, and he was ready to give the order to lead the army. Fan Xing, who had been standing silently at the side, suddenly stood up and reported loudly,"Your Majesty! His Highness the Prince of Zhongshan had also added a document to the news of victory and repeatedly instructed this lowly official to use his name to stop the decisive battle between His Majesty and Jie Li!”
Li Shi Min and all the officials present were slightly stunned. Li Shi Min frowned and asked Fan Xing,"Fan Xing, you've followed the Prince of Zhongshan to guard the borders for many years, so you truly know more about the Turks than the ministers here. En…what did the Prince of Zhongshan say?”
Fan Xing was slightly stunned. He hesitated for a while before continuing,"Emperor, His Highness said…if our army were to fight Jie Li now, our army would definitely lose! Chang 'an…would be destroyed!”
" What?!" Feng Deyi and the others immediately jumped up.
The ministers who wanted to fight raged,""Fan Xing, what nonsense are you talking about? You're boosting the morale of others and diminishing your own prestige!”
"Let Fan Xing continue!" Li Shi Min waved his hand with a serious expression, signaling Fan Xing to continue.
"Your Majesty, His Highness 'letter said that the Turkic cavalry are brave and skilled in battle. In addition, Jie Li has been fighting Qibi Heli and Chuluo for many years, and all of his subordinates are skilled in battle. If our cavalry were to fight against them, even twenty thousand of us might not be able to defeat ten thousand of them, much less infantry! Most of our troops are infantrymen, and there are only 40,000 cavalrymen, so they are definitely not a match for the Jie Li army! I implore Your Majesty to reconsider!" After Fan Xing finished speaking, he kneeled on the ground and looked at Li Shi Min with a sincere expression.
"Humph! Fan Xing, I don't think you said that from the Prince of Zhongshan, right? I feel like this is something a coward like you would say! The Prince of Zhongshan was a wise and courageous man. How could he say such words that would boost the morale of others and destroy his own prestige?”A minister stood up and pointed at Fan Xing as he angrily rebuked.
"Your Majesty, you must not listen to the nonsense of a villain like Fan Xing! The Jie barbarians attacked China for no reason, and they lost first. Moreover, they were alone. Facing my king's army, how could they not be afraid? Our army is the army of kings. We are all united against a common enemy, and we have the protection of the heavens. How many soldiers have our army gained and how much more morale have we gained? And how many soldiers would the enemy lose?”Feng De Yi loudly berated Fan Xing.
"Fan Xing, you're just an attendant of the Bureau of Military Personnel, what do you know? You're harming the country and the people!" Quan Wanji, who was standing behind Feng Deyi, hurriedly joined Feng Deyi in berating Fan Xing.
The more Zhangsun Wuji listened, the angrier he became. These people were clearly scolding Fan Xing, but in reality, they were belittling his nephew, Li Chengqian. After Feng Deyi and the others finished speaking, Zhangsun Wuji immediately refuted,"I say, sirs! Now was the time to tell the truth, not to brag! All of you are singing the high-profile song of the king's teacher, the king's teacher! When a King's Army fought, they relied on real weapons and not spit, right?!”
"You! What do you mean?" Feng Deyi was scolded by Zhangsun Wuji and was so angry that his beard trembled.
"Report!" Just as the two of them were arguing, a minor official of the Ministry of War rushed in from outside the hall and reported,"Reporting to the emperor! We just received news from the front line that Jingyang and Gaoling were attacked by the Jie army and fell in less than two hours…"
" What?!" Everyone was shocked, and their faces turned ashen. The high-pitched atmosphere in the entire inner hall instantly fell to the bottom.
The ministers who had just shouted loudly that they wanted to fight Jie Li to the death were instantly scared to the point that their faces turned pale. Their faces were burning as if they had been slapped a few times.
Li Shiming, who was frowning and deep in thought, slowly sat back down and asked in an expectant tone,""Once Jingyang and Gaoling are lost, Chang 'an will be attacked from three sides. Fan Xing, did the Prince of Zhongshan tell you how to defend Chang' an in his letter?”
Fan Xing kneeled down again with a heavy face and cupped his hands towards Li Shi Min,"Your Majesty! His Highness said in the letter that our army cannot defend Chang 'an…"
" What?!"
"Huh?"
"This!"
"Your Majesty!"
The faces of the ministers, who had been impassioned, turned ashen. They stood up and looked anxiously at the furious Li Shiming.
"Bastard! Li Chengqian insisted that Chang 'an could not be defended. Could it be that he wanted to curse me to death?!”Li Shi Min angrily slammed the table and scolded Fan Xing.
"Your Majesty!" Fan Xing hurriedly continued. The only way now was to give all the money and grain in the treasury to Jie Li and negotiate peace with them!”
"Nonsense!"
"Nonsense!"
"Nonsense!"
"Peace negotiations? Give all the savings in the treasury to Jie Li! How was this asking the emperor to negotiate peace? The Prince of Zhongshan wants us to surrender to Jie Li!”
"Humph! We are not ashamed to associate ourselves with such cowardly actions!!”
……
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