...

Tuoba Hongye's expression was dull, and there was no joy, anger, sorrow and happiness on his deep facial expression. There was a silence like death in the tent...

The soldiers who came to report the war knelt on the ground and didn't dare to raise their heads. They felt the suffocating and depressing atmosphere. In the blink of an eye, sweat soaked the hemp clothes on their bodies.

I don’t know how long it took, Tuoba Hongye raised his hand slightly and said softly: “I understand, let’s go down first.”

The soldiers were as if they were granted a general amnesty and quickly stood up and left the tent.

"You guys retreat too, let me calm down..."

Tuoba Hongye waved his hand and sent all the officials of the Mengluo Empire who was accompanying the tent. Soon, Tuoba Hongye was left alone in the huge gold tent.

"Are I really wrong?"

Tuoba Hongye leaned against the dragon throne, sighed, closed his eyes and began to think about the necessity of this war.

As a king who unified the grassland, how could Tuoba Hongye not have expected all the adverse factors that would happen in this war, and also knew that this war might cause the grassland to fall apart.

However, Tuoba had no choice. Even though he knew the internal risks, he still resolutely launched the Southern Expedition, because he knew that the war was always inevitable, and this mistake was a pit dug by Liu Ce, so he jumped in.

This pit was the trade contract signed with Liu Ce that year, and the newly built Guining City was even more a stinger in the pit, which could send itself to hell at any time!

The reason why I agreed to trade with Liu Ce was that the grassland tribes suffered heavy losses due to natural disasters to improve the lives of each tribe.

Secondly, the grassland ministries have no experience in governing towns, so they just take this opportunity to learn, so as to cultivate a lot of talents for the future rule of the Central Plains and the West.

The third thing is to let the grassland tribes see more clearly the true face of the Central Plains profiteers. After all, when they were secretly trading with the Great Zhou, the price of urgently needed products sold in the grassland was ten times that of the passport. These profit-oriented profiteering merchants can make the herdsmen of various tribes in Mengluo have more hatred for the Han people.

However, Tuoba Hongye could not have expected that he had not achieved any three points and steps he had imagined.

The first step is that the life between the various tribes of the grassland has indeed improved significantly due to the trade, but only those aristocratic classes have improved. The benefits ordinary herders have not received much, but they can barely gain food and clothing.

The second step was that Tuoba Si, the son who was sent to learn the experience of governing towns, was deeply attracted by the Han Dynasty culture. Even when Tuoba Hongye wanted to close Guining City and go to war with the Han Dynasty, the first person to object was Tuoba Si!

The third step was that the Han Dynasty established a complete judicial tax agency in Guining City. All transactions were recorded, eliminating all the possibility of inflation and allowing both Han and Mongolia to purchase the materials they need at reasonable prices. Once the so-called unscrupulous merchants appear, they will be suppressed (finished) and have nowhere to hide.

As a result, Tuoba Hongye's previous plans were completely destroyed, and what was even more terrifying was that his reputation in the hearts of herders and nobles on the grassland gradually weakened due to the existence of Guining City. Until he proposed to close Guining City, he was strongly opposed by the nobles of Hachiman tribes!

The closing of Guining Castle has already involved the interests of the Hachiman tribes. Many of the Monroe nobles have moved to Guining Castle to settle down. They are used to this comfortable life that can obtain huge wealth without killing. Who is willing to continue to fight everywhere?

The so-called "Frugality" to extravagance is easy. Once you enjoy the dividends brought by the market economy, it is impossible to return to their previous life!

In the end, despite the opposition of the crowd, Tuoba Hongye forced to terminate all trade activities in Guining City and detained all the Han people. Although the Hachiman nobles said nothing on the surface, the resentment in their hearts could be imagined.

They told all the news that Gui Ning City wanted to stop trade and the Mongolian army was going to fight south to the Central Plains merchants. All the Han Dynasty merchants who heard the news returned to the pass almost overnight and told the news to the Xuanwu Pass guards, which led to the Xuanwu Pass soldiers preparing to fight in advance.

In addition, these Monroe nobles also spread rumors in their respective tribes that they were unfavorable to Tuoba Hongye's prestige, allowing the herdsmen to guide their resentment towards the royal court.

The herdsmen of this era didn’t know much about their big words. They hoped that they would understand the country’s righteousness and were foolish. Most of them only care about whether they could eat enough for two meals a day and whether their clothes for winter could keep the cold.

During the transaction with Guining City, although the income of these herders could not be compared with that of the nobles, they still exchanged for the much-needed salt, tea bricks, even cloth and grain with horse milk, wool, cheese, and skins obtained from hunting.

Many herders have been trading funds with Central Plains merchants in Guining City in recent years to exchange for survival supplies. Now a shortcut has been cut off at once. It is impossible to have no complaints in their hearts.

However, it is precisely because of understanding these actual situations that Tuoba Hongye must urgently use a war to restore his reputation as the common master of the world and reshape his undeniable impression in the hearts of herders.

His words of winning the hearts of the people are very simple. Don’t you like the flower world of the Central Plains? Then, if you fight in with me and live in it from now on, isn’t it better than now?

I have to say that this is indeed very effective, and it suddenly made the originally dissatisfied Hachiman tribe herder re-concentrated his heart on Tuoba Hongye.

He overcomes all difficulties, finally calms down the hearts of the people, gathers an army of 600,000, and fights towards Xuanwu Pass.

However, as the war progressed, several months of standing still under Xuanwu Pass gradually made rumors in the army, and war-weariness filled almost every military camp.

For this war, Tuoba Hongye invested all the grain he had purchased from the Han Dynasty into the army and collected countless grains from various grassland departments. But even so, the grains and grass of 600,000 people were like a bottomless pit, and they fell into a food shortage in just a few months.

Now these 600,000 people are like a powder barrel. Tuoba Hongye is sitting on the powder barrel. Once there is a little spark, he can blow up all the residue he can blow up.

At this moment, Tuoba Si slowly walked into the tent. When he saw Tuoba Hongye, he immediately knelt down and said, "Father, the army has shortage of food and grass,

I really can't continue to confront the Han Dynasty. I will make a standstill with the Han Dynasty before the autumn is over and let our people go back and recuperate."

Suddenly, Tuoba Hongye stood up and clenched his fists: "No, I must never retreat! I am the common ruler of the world and the holy emperor who created the glorious Mengluo Empire with one hand. I am everything. How can I fail like this? I will never allow it!"

Upon hearing this, Tuoba Si closed his eyes in pain, crossed his hands to his chest, and shouted: "Father, please consider the 20 million people in our grassland. If you continue to waste this, how can they survive this winter? Let's hold the war and negotiate peace, don't fight again!"

"Tuoba Si! Get out of here! I don't want to see you again!"

"Father!"

"Get out! I asked you to get out, have you heard it?"

Tuoba Si sighed helplessly, and after saluting, he withdrew from the gold account.

Looking at Tuoba Si's departure, Tuoba Hongye sat back on the dragon throne powerlessly and said to himself: "Even my son can't understand me. I know more about the situation now than you.

But do you know that if you don’t enter the pass this time, the Monroe Empire will never have the chance to compete with the Central Plains again, and even the empire I have built will be destroyed!

You don’t understand me, no one can understand me. I just want to find a comfortable land for our people of the Monroe Empire. Why do you just don’t understand my intentions?”

Tuoba Hongye breathed a long sigh and looked at the vast Central Plains map drawn in sheepskin on a screen in the tent. Then he slapped the handle of the dragon chaise, and his eyes were once again filled with spirit.

"The State of Chu in the south should be moving!"

Chapter completed!