……

Tuoba Hongye's expression was sluggish, there was no joy or sorrow on his deep facial expression, and there was a death-like silence in the tent......

The soldiers who came to report on the battle situation did not dare to raise their heads on their knees, feeling this suffocating and oppressive atmosphere, and in the blink of an eye, sweat soaked through the sackcloth on their bodies

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

As if he had been granted amnesty, the soldier quickly got up and withdrew from the tent.

"Stand down, and let me be quiet......"

With a wave of his hand, Tuoba Hongye sent all the generals of the Mengluo Empire who accompanied him in the tent out, and soon Tuoba Hongye was left alone in the huge golden tent.

"Am I really wrong?"

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

As a generation of kings who unified the grassland, how could Tuoba Hongye not expect all the unfavorable 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 if he knew the risks inside, he still resolutely launched the battle of the Southern Expedition, because he knew that this war could never be avoided, and this fault was the pit dug by Liu Ce, but he jumped into it stupidly.

This pit is the trade contract signed with Liu Ce back then, and the newly built Guining City is a stinger in the pit, which can send you to hell at any time!

The reason why he agreed to trade with Liu Ce was that the grassland tribes suffered heavy losses due to natural disasters in order to improve the lives of various tribes.

Second, the various departments of the steppe had little experience in governing cities and towns, so they took this opportunity to learn and train a lot of talents for the future rule of the Central Plains and the West.

After all, when they secretly traded with the Great Zhou in the past, the price of the urgently needed grassland goods sold was ten times that of the Guannei, and this group of profiteers could make the herdsmen of various tribes in Mengluo have more hatred for the Han people.

However, Tuoba Hongye never expected that the three steps he envisioned were not achieved.

As a first step, it was true that the lives of the various tribes of the steppe had improved greatly because of the development of trade, but only by the aristocracy, and the ordinary herdsmen did not benefit much from it, but they were able to barely get enough food and clothing.

In the second step, his son Tuoba Si, who was sent by himself to learn the experience of governing towns, was actually deeply attracted by the culture of the Han Dynasty, and even when Tuoba Hongye wanted to close Guining City and start a war with the Han Dynasty, the first one to come out against it was Tuoba Si!

In the third step, the Han Dynasty set up a perfect judicial and taxation agency in the city of Guining, and all transactions were recorded, eliminating all the possibility of inflation, so that both the Han and Mongolian sides could buy the materials they needed at a reasonable price.

As a result, all of Tuoba Hongye's previous plans were shattered, and what was even more terrifying was that his reputation among the herdsmen and nobles on the grassland gradually weakened due to the existence of Guining Castle, until when he proposed to close Guining Castle, he was strongly opposed by the nobles of the various tribes of Hachiman!

The closure of Guining Castle has already involved the interests of the various tribes of Hachiman, and many of the nobles of Monro have already moved to Guining Castle to settle down, enjoying this comfortable life of obtaining huge wealth without killing, who wants to continue to fight around?

The so-called from thrift to luxury, once they enjoy the dividends brought by the market economy, it is impossible to let them return to their former lives!

In the end, despite everyone's opposition, Tuoba Hongye forcibly terminated all trade activities in Guining City and imprisoned all the Han people, although those Hachiman nobles did not say anything on the surface, the resentment in their hearts can be imagined.

They told the merchants of the Central Plains in advance the news that trade was going to stop in Guining City and that the Mongol army was going to march south, and the merchants of the Han Dynasty who heard the news almost all returned to the pass overnight, and told the Xuanwu Pass guards the news, causing the Xuanwu Pass soldiers to prepare for the battle in advance.

In addition, these Monroe nobles also spread rumors in their respective tribes that were detrimental to the prestige of Tuoba Hongye, so that the herdsmen would direct their grievances in the direction of the royal court.

The herdsmen of this era do not know a few big characters, and it is undoubtedly a fool's dream to expect them to understand the general righteousness of the country, and most of them only care about whether they can eat enough for two meals a day and whether their winter clothes can keep them warm.

During the trade with Guining City, although the income of these herdsmen was not comparable to that of the nobles, they were able to exchange their mare's milk, wool, cheese, and hunting skins for much-needed salt, tea bricks, and even cloth and grain.

In recent years, many herdsmen have relied on trading with the Central Plains merchants in Guining City in exchange for survival materials, and now they have been cut off a shortcut all of a sudden, and it is impossible to have no complaints in their hearts.

However, it is precisely because of these realities that Tuoba Hongye is more urgent to use a war to redeem his reputation as the co-lord of the world and rebuild his undesecrated impression in the hearts of the herdsmen.

His words to gain the hearts of the people are very simple, don't you like the flower world of the Central Plains? Wouldn't it be better to go in with me and live in it from now on?

I have to say that these words are indeed very effective, and all of a sudden the herdsmen of the Yawata tribe, who were originally dissatisfied, refocused their hearts on Tuoba Hongye.

He overcame all difficulties, and finally stabilized the hearts of the people, gathered an army of 600,000, and slaughtered towards Xuanwu Pass.

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

For this war, Tuoba Hongye put all the grain he had purchased from the Han Dynasty into the army, and collected countless grain and grass from various departments of the grassland, but even so, the grain and grass of 600,000 horses was like a bottomless pit, and he fell into a shortage of grain in just a few months.

Now these 600,000 horses are like a powder keg, Tuoba Hongye sits on the powder keg, once there is a little spark, he can blow himself up to the slag.

At this moment, Tuoba Hei slowly walked into the tent, saw Tuoba Hongye, and immediately knelt down and said: "Father, there is a shortage of grain and grass in the army,

We really can't continue to confront the Han Dynasty, so let's take advantage of the fact that autumn is not over now, stop fighting with the Han Dynasty, and let our people go back to recuperate. ”

Suddenly, Tuoba Hongye got up and clenched his fists: "No, I must not retreat!" I am the co-lord of the world, and I am the Holy Emperor who single-handedly created the glory of the Mengluo Empire, I am everything, how can I fail here? I will not allow it! ”

Hearing this, Tuoba closed his eyes in pain, crossed his hands on his chest, and said loudly: "Father, please think about the 20 million people of our grassland, if you continue to spend like this, how will they survive this winter?" Negotiate an armistice, don't fight anymore! ”

"Tuobasi! Get out of here! I don't want to see you again! ”

"Father!"

"Get out! I told you to get out, did you hear me! ”

Tuoba sighed helplessly, and after saluting, he withdrew gloomily from the golden tent.

Looking at the back of Tuoba Hei leaving, Tuoba Hongye sat back on the dragon chair weakly, and said to himself: "Even my son can't understand me, and I know better than you all about the situation at the moment,

But do you know that if you don't enter the customs this time, the Monroe Empire will never have a chance to compete with the Central Plains again, and even the empire I built up will be destroyed in one fell swoop!

You don't understand me, no one can understand me, I just want to find a comfortable land for the people of our Monroe Empire, why don't you understand my intentions! ”

Tuoba Hongye exhaled a long breath, looked at the map of the vast Central Plains drawn in sheepskin on a screen in the tent, and then patted the handle of the dragon chair, and his eyes radiated again.

"The Chu State in the south, there should also be movement!"