"Stop talking."
Murong Jun lay on the imperial couch, his eyes sunken, yet he did not suddenly fly into a rage as he had over the past few days. "Rather than dismiss the Adult Males and become the laughingstock of the world, I would sooner abandon Yecheng and go back to Longcheng to herd horses."
You never herded horses in Longcheng either!
Everyone present felt rather helpless.
Beside the warm stove, Murong Ke suppressed his indignation and spoke earnestly to the emperor, who had grown much thinner over the past year. "Your Majesty, the situation now is not that dismissing the Adult Males will make you the laughingstock of the world. It is that if you do not dismiss them and insist on sending out an army, whether against Taiyuan, Pingcheng, or Henan, it will collapse of its own accord... at that point, you will not merely become the laughingstock of the world. You will bring Hebei crumbling down as well."
"Was it not the Grand Marshal who said that while a million and a half would not work, five or six hundred thousand might be worth trying?" Still lying there, Murong Jun spoke in a tone as strange as his posture, but he still did not grow angry.
"I never expected even five or six hundred thousand to come to this." Murong Ke answered quietly, actually taking responsibility himself. "This was my fault."
Murong Jun paused, then sighed. "Fourth Brother, there is no use doing this. Everyone at court, even the Jin people, knows I insisted on having my own way, hoping to set you aside and win great achievements of my own to strengthen my position..."
For a moment, Murong Ke had no answer.
"Besides, let us be reasonable... Fourth Brother, all those administrators and generals are putting