The substitute prince: Reported the emperor's brother at the beginning

In the capital, the barbarians once again approached Hushan Pass.

It was a big mess again, with people moving everywhere.

This time, the barbarians claimed to have an army of 800,000, as vast as the clouds covering the sun.

No one would think that the troops at Hushan Pass led by the Sixth Prince could withstand so many troops.

After all, the Sixth Prince is at Hushan Pass, and he only has a total of 200,000 elite troops at most.

The others were just tens of thousands of captives without even money or food.

Now, the whole court is worried.

Many people even directly suggested that Emperor Wu should move immediately and go directly to the south.

There is no need to stay in this capital and wait for death.

Maybe within a few days, the barbarians will be able to break through Hushan Pass, and then they won't be able to escape even if they want to.

The barbarians have hundreds of thousands of elite cavalrymen. Anyone who is chased by such a large number of cavalrymen will be killed by their swords.

Emperor Wu's face turned pale, it wasn't that he didn't want to move.

But if that happened, he would lose all his face.

Another thing is that there are still a lot of things that haven't been moved away, so we can't be so hasty.

Because years ago, after the peace talks with the barbarians, it seemed that the barbarians would not move south for at least a few years.

He also stopped the reorganization in the south.

Now, the barbarians are moving south again, and the south has no foundation at all.

Only the newly trained troops from various places were sent to Hushan Pass one after another, with a total strength of about 60,000 to 70,000 troops.

Where are the new troops in the provinces?

Fortunately, he still had a large money and food camp in the south, otherwise he would have cried to death.

The old emperor looked at the old generals and found that no one was going to Hushan Pass.

He had no choice but to send a letter to Ning Yi, asking him to continue to serve as the commander of Hushan Pass, and that he must hold on no matter what.

This time no one objected, and everyone hoped that the Sixth Prince would continue to hold back the barbarians at Hushan Pass.

Of course, Ning Yi asked for money, food, and various supplies.

The old emperor even issued a death order that the Ministry of Revenue and the Grain Reserves must immediately send money and food to Hushan Pass. As for herbs and the like, all that could be sent should be delivered.

All the weapons that can be sent will be sent there. Now, let’s not talk about the fact that Lao Liu’s side is full of prisoners.

Anyone who can go to the battlefield with money and food is a good soldier.

Ning Yi felt happy as he watched the batches of money and grain being delivered. This old emperor would only be generous when something bad was about to happen.

Ning Yi distributed various supplies in large quantities to ensure that each place had sufficient self-defense capabilities.

This time, not only the imperial court was looking towards Hushan Pass.

Especially in the north, the princes and officials from all over the country were also keeping a close eye on the direction of Hushan Pass.

King Ji was once so frightened by the barbarian troops that they brushed past his fiefdom that his army quickly retreated back to Jizhou.

But when the detachment was defeated, they came out again arrogantly and blatantly occupied an area in Huaizhou.

But now, Prince Ji is even more worried.

Wow, an army of 800,000 barbarians is twice as many as the 400,000 troops before the New Year.

Even though many people knew that these were able-bodied men recruited by the barbarians from all over the north, if their number was large enough, they were still soldiers.

Who is not afraid?

King Ji wanted to continue to increase his military strength, but the summer grain had just been harvested and there was still a lot of tolls to be paid.

As a result, they had to pay off the loan sharks first, and now they are very poor again.

They had no choice but to conscript young men from all over Huaizhou, ostensibly to resist the barbarians.

It's actually just for self-protection.

Not only Prince Ji, but several vassal kings in the north were also frantically increasing their military strength. Even the aristocratic Chen family increased their military strength to 60,000.

They did not do this for any other reason than to wait for the barbarians to break through Hushan Pass, capture the capital, and then attack their side so that they could protect themselves.

The Chen family was relatively better off, but the other princes were very scared.

Perhaps in order to reduce losses, the barbarians will not attack those families, big and small, who have their own private armies.

But these princes are all from the Wu family. How can we allow them to continue to stay in the local area as princes and dominate the area?

Of course, Emperor Wu also urged several vassal kings in the north to send troops to support Hushan Pass as much as possible.

But these princes actually refused.

It’s not that they cannot support the imperial court. If the barbarian forces are really too terrifying, they must send troops to stop them.

If we can stop the barbarians at Hushan Pass, it will be of great help to them.

But now the commander of Hushan Pass is the Sixth Prince.

This Sixth Prince had killed many of the princes' soldiers and horses, and had simply killed all the generals in the princes' troops.

The princes suffered heavy losses.

Now, who among these princes would dare to hand over his troops to the Sixth Prince?

By then, the Sixth Prince would have been so troubled that he would have lost all his troops.

They would rather wait until the barbarians break through the capital and then join forces to resist the barbarians than help the Sixth Prince now.

The court had no choice but to place all its hopes on the Sixth Prince.

Emperor Wu, on the other hand, urged the governors of several southern provinces and the local eunuchs in charge.

Continue training new recruits, and be quick. Seeing that the barbarians are about to attack the palace, the emperor doesn't want to stay there any longer. It's too scary.

However, the governor and the eunuchs in charge of the southern garrison began to ask for money, food, military equipment and the like.

Emperor Wu was reluctant to open the money and grain camp in the south for their use now, as that was the foundation for his own future trip to the south.

Without money and food, you can't do anything you want.

So Emperor Wu issued an order that the southern provinces could raise money and grain on their own.

In this case, let these governors and eunuchs in charge of garrisons find ways to make money themselves.

Whether you want local wealthy people to donate money or increase taxes, it’s up to you.

Emperor Wu no longer cares about so many things now. He just wants soldiers and a large army. Without a large army, he, the emperor, is a dead dragon.

Emperor Wu let Yang Ziqin and A Luo live in the palace.

The reason is to continue protecting his two daughters-in-law.

It's really speechless. It's too obvious that Emperor Wu did this to threaten the Sixth Prince. Everyone despises him.

But no one will blame anything, and some even think that this is normal.

The battle at Hushan Pass has officially begun.

The barbarians were very confident as they went south this time, bringing with them so many soldiers and horses, and also gathering a large amount of food and fodder.

A considerable portion of them were sent by Emperor Wu’s court, so they naturally cannot be wasted.

The Barbarian Khan also knew that this was the time when the Wu Kingdom was at its weakest.

The State of Wu gave them a large amount of money and grain, but the autumn grain has not yet been harvested, and now even if they want to mobilize troops everywhere, they cannot.

If they do not take advantage of this opportunity to defeat the State of Wu, and wait until the State of Wu recovers, it will be extremely difficult for them to attack Hushan Pass again.

This time, the barbarian Khan issued a death order, and he would not withdraw his troops unless Hushan Pass was captured.

Moreover, the Barbarian Khan also knew almost the total strength of the troops at Hushan Pass. Apart from the so-called temporary army of the Sixth Prince, there were only the 100,000 new troops supported by Emperor Wu.

Just use the assembled strong men to consume them.