"Humph!"

Wang Mang snorted coldly and said, "Huo Rongsheng, I remember that the task I gave you earlier was to ask you to go all out to provide disaster relief and stabilize the people's hearts, right?" Zhang Gongqiong, the task I gave you is to ask you to strictly supervise the hoarding of grain, and supervise the collection of Guanyin soil by the people under your command, etc. Chen Chong, your task is to contact the entire Langzhong in Gansu and distribute these Langzhong to each of the affected cities in a certain proportion.

Yin Chaofeng, Cao Zhong, Sun Shan... I have repeatedly instructed you to put all your thoughts on the 150,000 troops under your command, to ensure that they can be called upon anytime and anywhere, and I have also said that you are strictly forbidden to intervene in any other political and military affairs, but now how can you disobey the military order and leave your post without permission?

Now that we are in Gansu in a season of many disasters, you are all shouldering heavy responsibilities and are expected by the people, so you should not violate military orders. Do you know how much damage you generals will bring to the local people when they leave their respective cities? ”

Wang Mang pointed out the mistakes of the generals one by one, and his tone was very stern, but he did not say anything about the Ji family's crime.

When all the generals heard this, they all said in unison: "The subordinates are guilty, and the subordinates are willing to accept the punishment." ”

"Willing to be punished?" Wang Mang snorted: "The crime of disobeying military orders is a capital crime, how can you receive the punishment?" Are you going to let me kill you all? Huo Rongsheng, as the No. 2 person in Gansu, you should obey military orders. This time, not only did you not stabilize the hearts of the generals, but you also came with the generals to make a fool of yourself, causing our military aircraft to ignore major matters, which is a crime on top of a crime.

I miss that you have to leave your post this time because of what the Ji family came to commit, and your previous contributions are huge, and you can't simply ignore them, so this time I won't punish you with the death penalty.

Of course, capital sins can be avoided, but living sins cannot be avoided. If I let this matter go unchecked, how will I manage the army in the future? How will a soldier obey orders? Come on, let me press Huo Rongsheng down with fifty canes. As for Chen Chong, Zhang Gongqiong, and Yan You, they all dragged me down with a cane of thirty. ”

Wang Mang named more than a dozen generals in one breath, and these named generals were the most respected and powerful generals under Wang Mang's command.

Now Wang Mang wants to punish these people, and the rest of those who have not been punished are all shocked, and they all speak: "I beg Lord Wang to be merciful and forgive the sins of the generals." This time, it is a crime for the generals to leave their posts without permission, but the generals are also for the safety of our Gansu, and I implore Lord Wang to open up. ”

"Amnesty? Joke. Wang Mang slapped the table angrily and said: "The Son of Heaven is still guilty of the same crime as the common people, let alone them? This time I did not punish them with the death penalty, which is already an extrajudicial favor. If anyone dares to intercede for them, there will be no mercy. ”

Wang Mang was so angry that the generals didn't dare to speak again. As for the generals who were to be punished, they didn't speak, and they all waited for the punishment to be completed before they came to discuss things with Wang Mang.

Sin is sin, matter is thing, the two cannot be confused, and the generals are very clear about this.

When the guards outside the door of the council hall heard Wang Mang's order, they acted quickly and took the named generals out to be punished.

After about half an hour had passed, the condemned generals would return one by one.

Among these generals, there were some people with a look of disbelief on their faces, but this look of disbelief flashed. For example, Zhang Gongqiong, who had an antipathy before, was very unconvinced.

This time there was a sudden natural disaster in Gansu, and then the Ji family went out to cut down, he pondered that this situation was extremely dangerous, and Gansu could not hold it nine times out of ten.

He is thinking about the way forward, he doesn't want to defend Gansu, he doesn't want to fight head-on with the Ji family, and he doesn't want to die in vain.

The reason why he spoke for Huo Rongsheng just now was also a small ploy of his.

He is taking this opportunity to show his righteousness, making others think that his righteousness is weak, and then looking for an opportunity to win over other generals to partner with him to seek a safe way out.

After the punished person returned to the council hall, Huo Rongsheng took the lead in speaking again: "Lord Wang, our violation of military orders has been dealt with, now can we start discussing the method of defeating the enemy Ji family?" ”

Wang Mang said lightly: "The patriarch of the Ji family personally led an army of 700,000 to attack, and we suffered a lot of losses due to natural disasters, plus the city was damaged, and the people's hearts were in turmoil. In such an unfavorable situation, I don't know what kind of strategy you have to deal with the enemy? ”

Huo Rongsheng replied: "As far as I can see, we should quickly gather all our forces, attack one point, and break the siege of the Ji family." At the same time, we should quickly distribute the stockpiled grain to stabilize the people's morale.

Previously, because you refused to distribute too much rice and grain to help the people tide over the disaster, this incident has caused many people to complain. If we are now supplying rice and grain on a large scale, the people's will will be able to quickly restore calm.

When the people's hearts have stabilized, we will call on the people of the city to join us in defending against the enemy. At present, there are millions of people in the whole territory of Gansu, if these people work together, then why are we afraid of the Ji family's 700,000 army? ”

"Oh? Listen to what you mean, do you want me to pull the whole people of Gansu together to meet the enemy with us? Wang Mang said: "As the saying goes, the rise and fall of the world is the responsibility of the husband, and the rise and fall of the country is not guilty." Now we are attacking the wealthy families in Kyushu, not the invasion of foreign enemies. So your proposal seems a bit inappropriate, doesn't it?

Whether the people are willing to help us repel the Ji family depends on their own will, how can we interfere? Also, I repeat once again that there is absolutely no concession in the matter of food. Whoever dares to attack the idea of this thing will be punished as treason. When the time comes, I will carry out the order to kill the army, and you can not say that I am ruthless. ”

Zhang Gongqiong said: "Lord Wang, the Ji family has always been brutal and ignores the law. If they had been given the world, would not the people have suffered from slavery? Now that we are borrowing the strength of the people to retreat from the enemy, what is the reason for this move? Could it be that we are defeated, and the people of Gansu can still live a good life? If they can live a good life, what are we fighting with the Ji family, it is better to surrender early.

Now it is precisely because the Ji family is brutal and does not take the people seriously that we have to contend with them. Therefore, I do not agree with your opinion. I think what Master Huo said is very right, we should now order the people to be requisitioned to go out with us to meet the enemy. Otherwise, how could we just stop the Ji family? ”

"This is definitely not going to work!" Wang Mang vetoed: "I have always respected the will of the people, and strictly forbade the forcible enslavement of the people to do something they do not want to do. The Ji family is going to attack us, not the people, you need to score clearly in this situation.

As the superior ones, we hold great power and enjoy wealth forever, have you ever wondered where this superior position came from? It was not given by the people. Now that the people are about to be in trouble, we should stand in front of the people to meet the enemy, how can we hide behind the people and drag the people into the water? ”