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Chapter 976: Chapter 405: Debate at the Wei Palace_2 Chapter 976: Chapter 405: Debate at the Wei Palace_2 Yet now, having finally gained a land to call home, the Emperor does not think about recuperating and multiplying, disbanding the troops and ceasing warfare to restore the severely depleted national strength.

Instead, he’s still considering raising a great army.

Does he want Wei Country to follow in the footsteps of Zhou Country and be eradicated?

Can the Emperor not see that half of Wei Country’s grain consumption is imported from Chu State, and that its lifeline is already grasped in the hands of others?

Can he not see that, five years ago, our United Army of three nations suffered a crushing defeat at the hands of the Liang army, and the nation’s peril was imminent?

As a result, Liang, with its own lifeline of grain controlled by others, went through the misery of a food shortage after Chu State’s betrayal cut off Jiangnan’s grain supply.

Wasn’t it truly tragic?

With this lesson from the past and the nation in danger, what the Emperor should do is to disband the troops, allow the able-bodied men in the Army to return home to farm, and resume normal local production to address the current situation where grain is controlled by others.

This is the right path for a King.

Any talk of conquering the Barbarians of Yong West is simply nonsensical.

No matter how ferocious those Barbarians are, could they really seize Guanzhong from our hands?

The Snow Plains Nomads fought so desperately back then, but were they able to snatch Helong from the hands of Zhou People?

Now that Great Wei’s power is at its peak, are we worse off than a vanquished Zhou Country that we can’t even defend our own capital?

These so-called threats from our western borders are but minor afflictions, nothing more than groundless worries.

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The Emperor uses this as an excuse, merely trying to regain his precarious prestige through victory in war, just to secure his throne.

Wei Yang could see through his own nephew’s thoughts very clearly.

He loathed and despised the act of starting wars for one’s own selfish interests.

“The Chancellor is mistaken in what he says!”

As Wei Yang spoke out against sending out troops, someone immediately stood up to oppose him.

The Right Chancellor, Xuan Xiahou Qiu Shiyi, immediately retorted, “In recent years, not only has Great Wei suffered from the incursions of the Yong West Barbarians, but the Chu people have suffered greatly as well.

I have heard that ten years ago, there were only several tens of thousands of Barbarians living and grazing in Longxi, but now their numbers have exceeded three million.

At the same time, Chu State’s garrisons in Longxi, which numbered seventeen a decade ago, now only total nine.

Moreover, a decade ago, Hanzhong was free of disturbances from Barbarians, but nowadays, merchants say small bands of Barbarian cavalry have appeared on the mountain paths in counties close to Longxi.

All of these signs indicate that Chu State’s control over Longxi is being continuously weakened and squeezed by the mass invasions of the Barbarians, gradually becoming unsustainable and beginning to affect the security of their native Hanzhong.

Under these circumstances, it is unsurprising that Chu has become restless and sought Great Wei’s cooperation to launch a campaign against the Yong West Barbarians in order to address the threats at the western frontiers.

As for deceit, is the Chancellor concerned that Chu State, instead of valuing its friendly relations with Great Wei, will take the risk of breaking faith and resort to conspiring with those Barbarians against the descendants of the Three Emperors?

Besides, even if there is deceit, with Great Wei’s millions-strong Elite Army in the western frontier, and generals of repute like the Great General, even if Chu were to ally with the Barbarians, have we anything to fear?

Or does the Chancellor not trust the strength of Great Wei’s powerful troops and is unwilling to see Great Wei forces vanquishing the Barbarians and resolving our border threats?”

At the end, Qiu Shiyi’s rhetorical question carried an unmistakable sharpness and lacked any courtesy.

Ah, all this talk, yet it really comes down to the fact that his sister is the current Empress, and he and the Heavenly Son are family.

Naturally, he supports Wei Yang.

“You…

are arguing absurdities!”

Wei Yang, seeing Qiu Shiyi daring to openly slander him, trembled with anger and then turned to the Emperor and said, “Your Majesty, I am entirely motivated by public interest and utterly devoid of self-interest.

It is not that I am unwilling to fight, but Great Wei has waged war year after year and is now exhausted with an empty treasury.

We truly cannot afford another war.

Our Great Wei, with four provinces and thirty-eight million citizens, dominates Yong State and claims the title of overlord.

Yet even so, this overlord works only one hundred and twenty million mu of farmland each year, barely producing one hundred million shi of grain, just enough for twenty million people—that’s only half of the entire population.

The remaining eighteen million citizens, if they want to eat and avoid starving, must rely on importing grain from Chu State every year to meet domestic demands.

Over the years, in order to support the expenses of war and immigration, we have been continuously imposing heavy taxes on the people.

The local civilians produce for a year, and the court takes two-thirds, leaving only one-third to prevent them from starving.

Yet even with such heavy taxation, Great Wei’s annual revenue is only one hundred and fifty million silver taels.

Out of these silver taels, every year, we have to spend fifty million silver taels to purchase grain for eighteen million people from Chu State, as well as for the military food required for warfare.

Great Wei maintains an army of two million.

With such a vast force, even without waging war, military expenses amount to one hundred and twenty million silver taels a year.

If warfare is involved, an extra twenty to thirty million silver taels must be expended.

And the annual salaries of government officials, expenses of the imperial court and local government offices, maintenance of roads and waterways, and compensation for soldiers killed in previous wars and other necessities, cost at least thirty million silver taels a year.

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All these expenses combined, just to maintain the status quo and without waging war, require Great Wei to spend two hundred million silver taels a year.

Yet the actual annual revenue of the court is only one hundred and fifty million silver taels, resulting in an annual deficit of fifty million silver taels.

Reaching this point, Wei Yang lamented deeply, “As the Left Chancellor in charge of government affairs, I am fully aware of the nation’s circumstances.

In order to maintain the livelihoods of the court, the locales, the military, and the people, we have been desperately robbing Peter to pay Paul.