Chapter 802

Jin Ling City.

The Imperial Palace.

Li Er was depressed by a piece of news early this morning.

The Great Qin army is pressing at the border!

One hundred thousand Qin troops are stationed on the north bank of the river, ready to cross at any time to launch an attack on Jin Ling City.

The reason is written very clearly in the letter of war: the Great Tang poisoned the Qin army in Yelang!

Li Er was thunderously enraged!

"Who? Who exactly is it? They only know how to cause trouble for the imperial court!"

"How did the two thousand elephant troops disappear?"

"Who went to poison the Qin army? Are they just looking for trouble?"

The assembled officials below all lowered their heads and remained silent.

In such a matter, who would be willing to come forward and take the blame for such a huge mess?

In fact, participating in the poisoning was not the work of just one person.

Not many people knew exactly who the mastermind was, but the court officials all knew that those who participated in this matter were the major noble families.

Now there is a good show to watch!

At this moment.

Zhangsun Wuji, standing at the head of the hundred officials, had been cursing inwardly.

He also did not expect that things would turn out like this.

He originally thought that as long as they didn't get caught by the Qin army in Yelang, everything would be fine for ten thousand generations. Even if they were caught, they shouldn't expose the major noble families behind the scenes.

As it turned out, those noble families bought up arsenic on a massive scale, causing a shortage of arsenic throughout the entire Jiangnan region.

With things like this, who wouldn't know it was the work of the major noble families?

A lot of money was spent, which was equivalent to buying a chamber pot of filth and dumping it all on their own heads.

Seeing that no one answered, Li Er's anger grew even more intense.

"Now the Great Qin army is at our doorstep. If the Great Tang is finished, none of you think you can run away; you will all be buried with me!" Li Er was speaking in anger, but he was also speaking his true thoughts.

In normal times, for the sake of face and maintaining balance, one could still make some concessions to those noble families.

But when the time really comes for the nation to perish, he must get rid of them all and have them buried with him.

Since there is no future, why care about the deluge that follows?

Zhangsun Wuji also knew that Li Er was, after all, the Emperor and the supreme ruler of the Great Tang. If he were truly pushed to the limit, the noble families would definitely not have it easy.

Thus, he took the initiative to stand out.

"Your Majesty, your subject does not know who poisoned the Great Qin army. But I have learned that a few days ago, arsenic in Jiangnan was sold out."

"It is widely rumored among the people that the four major noble families were buying up arsenic with all their might."

Zhangsun Wuji, without changing his expression, completely cleared his own name and dumped the blame on the four major noble families.

The people of the four major noble families were very dissatisfied with Zhangsun Wuji's approach.

But they had no way to refute it on the spot.

If they leaked their collusion with Zhangsun Wuji, this would be an even more serious incident than poisoning the Great Qin.

Private collusion among major powers has always been the thing Emperors fear most.

Upon hearing this, Li Er realized someone had been sold out to take the blame.

But he did not expect that it was actually the four major noble families acting together.

This... is a bit difficult to handle!

"You four families speak up: now that Great Qin has come for revenge, what should the imperial court do?"

These noble families originally hoped that the imperial court would join forces with the Harsha Empire to deal with Great Qin together.

That is why they took action to poison them.

If the matter were exposed, they would directly incite the imperial court to send a large army to fight a decisive battle with Great Qin.

But listening to Li Er's tone, there was not the slightest intention of fighting a decisive battle with Great Qin!

"Your Majesty, soldiers come to block, water comes to cover! Why fear Great Qin?"

"Your Majesty, since the founding of Great Qin, they have been aggressive. We cannot tolerate it anymore!"

"Your Majesty, if Great Qin advances one step, our Great Tang retreats one step. If this continues, the country will inevitably be exhausted!"

"Your Majesty, the Qin people are just bluffing. They have a large army but no transport ships. They simply cannot cross the river!"

The four major noble families acted in unison.

Speaking out together also created an atmosphere that seemed passionate.

Instead, it made it appear that the Emperor Li Er was the muddled ruler who disregarded the safety of the country!

This made Li Er furious.

"War? It's easy to say, but what are we going to fight with? Are you not ashamed enough of losing the capital Chang'an before?"

Li Er did not want to boost the morale of other countries and destroy his own prestige.

But the situation had been forced to this point.

To speak truthfully, Great Qin is simply stronger than Great Tang!

"Your Majesty, the Harsha Empire's army is currently at war with Great Qin. How would Great Qin dare to attack our Great Tang?"

"Your Majesty, the Harsha Empire possesses the strongest land-based military unit! I don't believe Great Qin can withstand the elephant troops!"

The words of these two people almost made Li Er die of anger!

It seems they really do not understand the terrifying strength of Great Qin!

"Scoundrels! So you intended to stir up trouble, and you pinned all your hopes on the elephant troops?"

"I can tell you that in front of Great Qin, the elephant troops are equally vulnerable!"

How is that possible?

Li Er's words caused an uproar in the great hall.

Most of them were waiting for the good news of the Harsha Empire's victory.

Because of this expectation, they had not taken Great Qin's army pressing at the border seriously.

But Li Er's words poured a bucket of cold water over their heads.

Shock!

And disbelief!

Li Er originally did not want to say it, but now, not saying it would not be enough to dispel the delusions of these ministers.

"Just a short while ago, the Harsha Empire and the Great Qin Yelang Legion had their first encounter. In just one meeting, Great Qin captured two thousand elephant troops alive!"

Captured two thousand elephant troops!

There was a sound of astonishment in the hall.