Sand Table Wargames, Raising the Staff to Seal the Wolf!

"Wait. You're saying the Rouluo wanted to wipe out my soldiers along with those dependent tribes? What is this supposed to mean?" Li Kun had yet to sort through his thoughts and could not help asking.

"Indeed. What is the basis for your deduction? Did you also infer it from the words and actions of several prisoners?" Geng Chi spoke up.

This chief minister, who had risen from the ranks of military commanders, had seemed exceedingly low-key whenever the chief ministers debated matters. He only spoke up occasionally and never argued with others, but his words made it clear that he belonged to the faction advocating war.

Hearing Geng Chi's words, Li Kun finally came back to himself and pressed on, "Did those prisoners truly say this?"

"If the Rouluo truly intended to annihilate the imperial army and the dependent tribes, that would threaten the Hu chieftains of those dependent tribes. How could they possibly tell them?" Wang Fu frowned, voicing a conjecture as he turned his gaze toward Qiu Yan.

Xu Jin nodded as well. "Exactly. On the Grasslands and in the great desert, a tribe's manpower is its greatest wealth. Even dependent peoples would not be lightly sold out. Otherwise, without their tribesmen to support them, their chieftains would lose their backing. How could they retain authority or value?"

The meaning was already plain: even if the Rouluo intended to scheme against the Great Rui imperial army and the dependent tribes together, laying a venomous trap, they would never have informed those Hu chieftains.

By contrast, Qiu Yan's source of information was undoubtedly those Hu chieftains. Even if he had other channels, he would not readily expose them before the emperor. Everyone else understood this clearly.

Thus, the problem arose. If those prisoners did not know, how could