I'm in the Red Mansion

Chapter 131 Border Conflict
Qingwen stuck out her tongue and said, "Third Master, I saw that you were wearing something very casual, why are you wearing such heavy clothes?"

"Don't you think it's heavy? When I was wearing it just now, I was almost crushed by this mail!"

After hearing this, Jia Cong couldn't help laughing.

This set of chain mail is not a full body heavy armor.

However, the whole set weighs at least 40 kilograms.

If Qingwen had been prepared in advance, it wouldn't have been so terrible.

It was a pity that she saw that Jia Cong was wearing light clothes and was unprepared beforehand, so she was almost crushed to the ground.

After packing up his armor, Jia Cong continued reading.

……

Inside the palace, Emperor Yonglong received an urgent secret report from Caogu County.

Caogu County is adjacent to Jizhou, one of the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun.

Jizhou is the main route to the south.

Caogu County (made up by Yanyu, I searched on Baidu and found that there is no Caogu County in reality) was a bridgehead to stop the Qing army from advancing southward.

If anything happens in Caogu County, the entire northern region of Daxia will be in danger.

Therefore, when Emperor Yonglong saw the urgent military situation in Caogu County, his expression changed drastically and he quickly opened the letter to take a look.

The incident started when the Qing army stationed in Jizhou went out of the city to hunt and trampled on the rice of the people of Daxia in Caogu County.

The people of Daxia stepped forward to argue and demanded that the Qing army compensate for the losses.

Unexpectedly, these Qing troops brutally killed this family.

The Daxia garrison in Caogu County came forward to negotiate with the Qing army, asking them to hand over the murderer who killed the people of Daxia.

Unexpectedly, the Qing army dispatched 30,000 troops to launch a night attack, which defeated the Caogu County defenders in one fell swoop and captured Caogu County.

The Caogu County defender fought bloody battles and finally fought his way out.

After escaping, they counted the soldiers and found that out of the 10,000 defenders in the city, only more than 3,000 had escaped.

The commander of Caogu County did not dare to delay and immediately sent an express message over 800 miles to report the military situation urgently.

After reading the report, Emperor Yonglong was shocked and angry!
The Qing army is really going too far!

Are they preparing to tear up the armistice agreement between the two sides and invade the south again?

If you want to fight, then fight!

I, Daxia, would rather die standing than live on my knees!
Immediately, Emperor Yonglong summoned the six ministers, cabinet elders, officials from the Ministry of War, and several princes to discuss the matter.

After reading this memorial, all the important officials were furious.

At this time, Kou Xiang couldn't help but say: "Your Majesty, the Qing Dynasty is too bullying. They blatantly tore up the treaty and invaded our Daxia territory."

"We should gather our forces, march forward in force, and drive them out of Caogu County. They will also have to compensate Daxia for its losses."

"If not, I will never let it go!"

After hearing this, Prime Minister Qin couldn't help but shook his head and said, "Not appropriate, not appropriate. In diplomacy between two countries, peace is the most valuable thing."

"I think we should send a large army to station outside Caogu County to put pressure on them."

"On the other hand, we sent envoys to condemn their atrocities and see if we can negotiate to get them to withdraw from Caogu County and seek the possibility of peace talks."

"War is a place of life and death. We must be careful. It is better not to use the sword if we can avoid it."

Prince Yizhong could not help but say: "Prince Qin, this is a mature and wise way of planning for the country!"

Prince Zhongshun also nodded and said, "Once the sword is used, the war will continue. This is not a blessing for the country or the people! In this matter, the main thing should be peace talks."

Hearing what the three said, Prince Beijing could not help but sneer: "The Qing Dynasty is a jackal, greedy by nature! If we don't beat them, they will be scared and hurt."

"How could they possibly spit out what they have already eaten?" "Trying to seize Caogu County through peace talks is nothing but courting disaster!"

Hearing Prince Beijing's words, Prime Minister Qin could not help but said angrily: "Your Highness, it's easy for you to say this. If you can really hurt them and scare them, then of course you have to beat them!"

"But I dare to ask Your Majesty, who can lead the troops to defeat the Eight Banners Army of the Qing Dynasty?"

"If we can defeat them, why would Your Majesty be talking nonsense here? We, Great Xia, would have marched north long ago to seize the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun and even to counterattack the Qing court!"

"Now that our military strength is inferior to that of the other side, is there any better way than to try to seek peace talks?"

After Prime Minister Qin finished speaking, Prince Beijing fell into silence for a moment.

Because what Prime Minister Qin said was true.

If there are less than ten thousand Eight Banners, they will be invincible!
The fighting power of the Eight Banners soldiers was extremely fierce and powerful.

But in today's Daxia, military discipline has declined, and the civil officials are lazy and the military officials are idle.

They had fought with the Qing army many times before, and they were defeated over and over again.

And through so many fights, the spirit and vigor of the civil and military officials of Daxia were completely destroyed.

This is also one of the most important reasons why the conservatives can have an absolute upper hand in the court.

At this time, Kou Xiang said: "We can't negotiate this matter. Even if we want to negotiate, we have to fight and win first!"

"If we can't get it through military force, we will definitely not get it through negotiation."

Hearing what Kou Xiang said, Qin Xiang sneered and said, "Kou Xiang's words are really mature and prudent. But if we can win by fighting, why do we need to resort to negotiations to achieve our wishes?"

"The key issue now is, what should we do if we can't win?"

Kou Xiang slowly said: "The military strength of our Great Xia is ten or a hundred times greater than that of the Qing Dynasty."

"If one person can't beat him, then ten people can't beat him either? A hundred people can't beat him either?"

"As long as we show the determination to fight to the death, they will be more afraid of us than we are."

Qin Xiang couldn't help but shook his head and said, "Kou Xiang is taking things for granted. Marching and fighting is not a joke."

"Before the troops move, the food and fodder must go first. Now our Great Xia's treasury is already empty. If we want to fight, where will the money and food come from?"

"A good cook cannot cook without rice. Without money and food, how can we fight this war?"

Kou Xiang said slowly: "Although our Great Xia is in financial difficulty, so is the Qing court?"

"The young emperor of the Qing court has just ascended the throne. The ruler is young and the country is in doubt. The ministers are not loyal and the people do not trust him."

"This time they occupied Caogu County, probably as a test by the Qing court."

"If they succeed in occupying Caogu County, it will definitely greatly increase the prestige of their little emperor."

"And it will also intensify their wolfish ambitions."

"Today they occupied our Caogu County, and we Daxia did not dare to fight back. What if they occupy our Jiangbei territory next time?"

"Are we all going to give it up?"

Prime Minister Qin said dissatisfiedly: "Although Prime Minister Kou talked a lot, the national treasury has no silver. How can we fight this war? Can Prime Minister Kou conjure up silver?"

Kou Xiang couldn't help but say: "It's not your job to make decisions. The lack of military funds is the Ministry of Revenue's business."

The Ministry of Revenue was under the jurisdiction of Prime Minister Qin.

Qin Xiang sneered and was about to speak.

At this time, Emperor Yonglong suddenly said: "Okay, stop arguing!"

"Since the Qing government has taken the initiative to provoke trouble, we should fight back fiercely!"

"For this military expenditure, I will allocate 300,000 taels of silver from my treasury, and the rest will be paid by the Ministry of Revenue."

(End of this chapter)