Children of Loulan

Chapter 114 Quarrel

"Don't fight?" Aidil narrowed his eyes slightly and glanced at Keremu with a slightly teasing look, as if he was very surprised by his answer.

Hearing Aidil's question, Keremu did not retreat or hesitate at all. Instead, he straightened his chest and responded calmly: "Yes, second brother, you heard it right. I do advocate not to fight! But from the way you look now, it seems that you want to advocate going to war!"

Aidil raised his lips slightly, revealing a carefree smile, and said firmly: "Of course we have to fight. If we can't even deal with a small foreigner, wouldn't it be a joke for other tribes? It will also damage the reputation of our Loulan Kingdom!"

Keremu immediately retorted: "According to what you said, aren't the lives of our many soldiers worth more than these so-called false reputations?"

Aidil, however, did not care about this at all, and continued to express his views righteously: "A general's success is the result of the sacrifice of thousands of soldiers. Since ancient times, whenever a war is launched, it must be accompanied by sacrifice. As a soldier, since you enjoy the salary and support of the court, then at the critical moment, you should stand up and sacrifice your life for the court!"

Keremu smiled coldly: "Second brother, what you said is very 'impassionate'! Our Loulan warriors will naturally stand up in times of national crisis, and will not hesitate to sacrifice their lives and shed blood. However, the current situation has not yet developed to the point where it must be at the cost of thousands of lives!"

Before he finished speaking, Aidil keenly realized that the time had come, and he responded solemnly: "It may not be that urgent now, but what about the future? Do you intend to sit and wait for the enemy to arrive at the city before resisting?" Originally, it was just an endless dispute between two courtiers, but at this moment it turned into a fierce confrontation between the two princes.

The ministers below witnessed the increasingly fierce quarrel, and some of them wanted to persuade the king to stop. However, while watching the battle, they all secretly watched the king, trying to guess his attitude from his reaction to the dispute between his two sons. To everyone's surprise, when they cast their eyes on the king, they saw that he was leisurely and contented, as if he was watching a wonderful drama performance. This scene shocked the ministers below!

Their thoughts were like kites with their strings cut off, floating in the endless void, but the heated debate between the two princes did not stop. Facing Aidil's questioning, Keremu just thought it was ridiculous. He raised the corners of his mouth slightly and retorted: "I just said not to fight, not to sit idly by, second brother, many things cannot be solved only by force!"

Aidil smiled contemptuously and said sarcastically, "Oh? So according to what Big Brother meant, do we want to ask for peace as the Minister of Personnel said?"

Keremu's eyes flashed with contempt, and he responded coldly: "Why? Can't you think of any other way besides using force or seeking peace?"

Aidier sneered and questioned, "Humph, could Big Brother come up with a third solution?"

"Of course!" Keremu answered decisively, then he straightened up, bowed respectfully to the king, and said loudly:

"I, your son, report to your father. I think that taking the initiative to attack is a very bad strategy. First, our soldiers are not good at fighting in a sandstorm environment. Even if we go to war, it will be tantamount to sending ourselves to die in vain. Second, if we fail in this battle, the consequences will be disastrous. Not only will we lose face, but we may also provoke a joint attack from other tribes. At that time, the north, south and west will form a siege, putting us in a dilemma of being attacked from both sides and difficult to deal with. Therefore, your son believes that building border cities is the best strategy!"

After hearing this, Aidil laughed out loud: "Build a border town? Brother, you are kidding! Looking back, it took father several years to build a few garrison sheds, let alone build a border town? How many years will it take!"

However, Keremu ignored his ridicule and continued, "No matter how many years it takes, we must do it. There is a Great Wall in the Tang Dynasty. Everyone has heard of it! It was built by Qin Shihuang. How many years have passed since it was built? And how many years have our ancestors passed it down to the present? Second brother, have you ever heard of anyone breaking through the Great Wall? This includes our ancestors Yi Bu never broke through it."

Keremu was silent for a while, then spoke again: "Everyone understands the principle of 'predecessors plant trees, and future generations enjoy the shade'! Now we work hard to build this border town, which can bring benefits to countless future generations! Just like the capital and palace we are in now, they were built by our ancestors for us, so we can stand here. If we don't build it just because we are afraid of difficulties and troubles, then I want to ask my second brother, if the enemies in the other three directions unite to attack us, how should we deal with it? Should we ask for help from the Tang Dynasty? Then surrender to the Tang Dynasty and offer our war horses, camels and women as tribute every year? Is this really what you plan to do?"

He became more and more excited as he spoke, and his voice unconsciously rose a few notes. He stared at the person opposite him, as if he wanted to see his true thoughts through his eyes. In his opinion, this practice of exchanging dignity and people for a short period of peace was simply a great shame, and any person with backbone would not easily compromise. However, facing such a sharp question from his brother.

Aidil refuted without hesitation: "Please be careful with your words, brother. I have no such intention! I just think that as long as we defeat those foreigners and make them surrender, other tribes will naturally not dare to covet our Loulan. Instead, they will be in awe of us and stay away from us. Here, I would like to ask you, brother, how can you be so sure that we will lose before the battle even starts? Isn't this tantamount to encouraging the enemy's arrogance and degrading our own morale? In your eyes, are all our soldiers so weak and incompetent?"

Keremu: "The soldiers of Loulan are naturally brave and invincible. They are invincible!"

Aidil: "Then why does Big Brother keep emphasizing that he will lose?"

Keremu: "That's because...!"

Because there is a traitor. The last time when we went to pick up the concubine, we were attacked on the road because there was a traitor who was in collusion with the enemy. But we haven’t found out who that person is yet, so we can’t say anything now and alert the enemy!

Seeing Keremu paused, Aidil said proudly: "Why? Please tell me clearly, big brother!"

Keremu: “Of course it’s because of the sandstorm!”

Aidier: "How ridiculous! Is there no sandstorm in our capital? Is there no sandstorm in the entire Loulan Kingdom? Brother, you..."

"Enough!" The king, who had been watching the argument coldly, finally couldn't stand it anymore and shouted to stop them. He originally wanted the two brothers to discuss a countermeasure, but now their endless quarrel was really useless, so he had to personally stop it and cast his eyes to the generals, asking: "Generals, what do you think of what the two princes said?"