HCB Chapter 297 The Queen is worried about Hushan Pass?
Chapter 297 The Queen is worried about Hushan Pass?
Yu Zhen's words made everyone stunned and quiet.
Although there have always been serious cases of corruption in military supplies, these were all done behind closed doors. But now that they are all exposed, who can say anything?
Yu Zhen turned and bowed, saying, "Your Majesty, I have personally investigated various locations at Hushan Pass and have found that the Sixth Prince has not embezzled a single cent. He has distributed all the money, food, and military supplies to the resisting soldiers."
"Yet they still managed to smuggle even the cotton-padded clothes and quilts of the soldiers who fought so hard. I believe they are simply barbarian spies. Your Majesty, please treat them as treason, otherwise it will be difficult for us to resist at Hushan Pass."
Yu Zhen's words made many officials turn pale.
Many people there were seriously corrupt in military supplies, and everyone was very scared.
Emperor Wu looked at the Prime Minister and said, "Prime Minister, what do you think?"
The Prime Minister sighed, knowing that he had to speak out.
He saluted and said, "Your Majesty, the incident of delivering military supplies at Hushan Pass is truly unspeakable. It is truly excessive. The officials involved should be severely punished."
The prime minister's words made many officials even more frightened. Even the prime minister said this, so there was really no way out.
However, the Prime Minister also said, "The real culprits are the officials in charge of procurement. Their deception not only concealed the truth from the court and deceived Your Majesty, but also disregarded the safety of the entire Great Wu Kingdom. Killing them is the only way to appease the public anger."
After hearing this, senior officials immediately breathed a sigh of relief.
Everyone immediately stood up and shouted loudly: "Your Majesty, what the Prime Minister said is reasonable. Although we are in charge of this matter, we never expected that a grassroots official would be so audacious. Your Majesty, please punish him severely."
"We are guilty and are willing to contribute millions of taels of silver to fully support the decisive battle at Hushan Pass."
Now everyone has made their stance clear: as long as they are not killed, paying money does not matter; it is nothing more than handing over the embezzled land.
Emperor Wu nodded slightly. "What the Prime Minister said is correct. Although you are guilty, your supervision was not strict enough, so you should be punished. As for those officials in charge of the purchase, their property will be confiscated and they will be thrown into prison and executed immediately."
"You must quickly restock supplies for Hushan Pass. If the soldiers at Hushan Pass cannot wear cotton-padded clothes to resist before winter, I will order you to personally go to Hushan Pass and fight the barbarians with swords. Withdraw from court."
Emperor Wu's few light words determined the conclusion of the whole matter.
No one talked about the Sixth Prince killing the imperial official anymore.
Emperor Wu has made his decision, so what else is there to discuss? Otherwise, you will end up having secret dealings with the barbarians.
Although those senior officials were punished by spending money on new purchases, they were not punished in other aspects.
While they breathed a sigh of relief, they were also very grateful to the prime minister. After all, it was the prime minister who spoke on their behalf.
Of course, the Prime Minister also understood that the reason why the current Emperor Wu did not punish them severely was that he only asked them to pay money.
The main reason is that now is a critical moment for the Great Wu Kingdom, and many people are transporting supplies to the south, so there is no way they can allow the court to fall into chaos again.
As for delivering supplies to Hushan Pass, they still have to be delivered.
In order to stabilize Ning Yi, Emperor Wu had no choice but to send another batch of money, food, and a lot of military equipment.
But Emperor Wu is not someone who will suffer losses.
Things can be sent to Hushan Pass to buy him time until winter.
It was enough for him to make arrangements for his retreat and prepare for the south.
But in the south, we must stockpile enough supplies.
Both money, food, and military supplies are needed, because once the barbarians break through Hushan Pass, they can easily take over the capital city which has almost no troops.
Then the barbarians will definitely continue to move westward and southward.
Although he was blocked by various princes when he went west and south, the emperor did not have much trouble.
But as an emperor, he cannot be without troops and power in the south.
So he set his sights on a group of aristocratic families.
On the pretext that they had traded with the barbarians, he forced these noble families to send a batch of supplies to the place designated by the Emperor Wu, saying that it was for training new soldiers.
The aristocratic families were equally annoyed.
The last time I supported the vassal king in his march north, I shed a bleed.
As a result, they are now forced to take supplies.
But this time, the noble families felt wronged because they were trading with the barbarians, but all the caravans were slaughtered by the murderous Sixth Prince at Hushan Pass.
Most of the supplies haven't returned yet.
However, Emperor Wu used this as an excuse, and the noble families had to give them some money, but they also said that the country was suffering now.
The landlords have no surplus food, so you, the imperial court, can't expect our aristocratic families to give you anything.
Anyway, once Hushan Pass is breached and the capital is lost, your status as an emperor will be severely reduced.
And he is so old and sick, he might as well die on the way south.
Similarly, Emperor Wu did not let the Dongfang family go.
He went to Kunning Palace to find the queen in person.
Dongfang Qing has become much fatter now, and her previously delicate face seems to have become a little fuller.
Staring at her bulging belly, she saluted Emperor Wu and said, "Your Majesty, I pay my respects to you."
Emperor Wu nodded slightly and said calmly, "Queen, since you are pregnant, please don't perform formalities casually."
"Thank you, Your Majesty." Dongfang Qing stood up with the help of the palace maid and sat on both sides of the table with Emperor Wu.
Dongfang Qing chuckled as she watched the maid pour tea for the emperor and said, "Your Majesty, why are you willing to come to my Kunning Palace today?"
Emperor Wu took a leisurely sip of tea, put it down and said with a smile: "It's because you are pregnant, so I am naturally worried."
"I never thought that with my sick body, I could have another child. Of course I value it."
These words immediately caused a flash of disgust in Dongfang Qing's beautiful eyes.
Dongfang Qing immediately concealed her disgust and chuckled, "Your Majesty, you are not in poor health. That day, you made me unable to bear it."
Emperor Wu laughed happily: "It has been a long time since I have favored the Queen. Besides, it is just the blessing of my drinking capacity."
He knew better than anyone else how the Emperor Wu was doing.
On the surface, he looked sick and coughed frequently, but although Dongfang Qing's eyes were full of smiles, hidden in that smile was serious contempt. The old man was really good at hiding his illness. He was obviously full of energy, but he pretended to be sick.
Emperor Wu paid close attention to the Empress and the child, then sighed, "Although the Empress is pregnant with another dragon, which is a cause for celebration, I cannot be happy."
Dongfang Qing was puzzled. "Your Majesty, what are you worried about? Is this another issue at court?"
Emperor Wu shook his head slightly: "It's still the problem of Hushan Pass."
When talking about Hushan Pass, Dongfang Qing's heart was in her throat, because her real man was at Hushan Pass.
He asked anxiously, "Your Majesty, what happened to Hushan Pass? Did something happen? Did the barbarians break through?"
Her three consecutive questions made the Emperor Wu, who was holding the teacup, pause. He looked at Dongfang Qing leisurely and said, "Empress, are you concerned about the situation at Hushan Pass?"
Dongfang Qing was startled when she was asked this question, and she realized that she was too anxious and worried and had over-expressed it.