The master sighed, his eyes filled with despair.
"Not only did the disaster relief food not arrive, but even the people from the Imperial Observatory refused to come."
"The Emperor has simply abandoned our Fanjing City and left us to die!"
The days of drought, water shortage and food shortage really make people feel extremely desperate every day.
Almost everyone who could run away in the city had already run away, and refugees were running out in groups.
The rest who can't run are waiting to die at home.
In such a miserable situation, why bother fighting a war? What's the point?
Bailong City has surrendered, why are they still insisting?
Where can Fanjing City produce oil now? It’s simply impossible to start a hot oil war.
If you pour a bucket of oil on it, it probably won’t even touch the enemy’s feet.
Magistrate Luo looked at the master helplessly and sighed deeply.
"Of course I don't know, but... this is a heinous crime punishable by the extermination of nine generations of your clan."
"Who exactly is King Qianhuang? Is he trustworthy? You and I know nothing about him. How dare you put your life and property on his shoulders?"
"Prefect Liu's letter said the drought problem had been resolved, but the servant who delivered the letter said that it hadn't rained in Bailong City, and that they had been transporting water from Qianhuang City."
"Do you know what this means!?"
Magistrate Luo frowned and looked at the legal advisor.
The master licked the blood on his lips and said, "It means that it rained in Qianhuang City and the drought has eased."
“This is a good thing for us, too.”
"We can borrow water from Bailong City to alleviate the water shortage in Fanjing City.
"You think superficially." Magistrate Luo glanced at the teacher.
"The one stationed at Qianhuang City is General Zhong Erfei. What do you think the likelihood is that the Qianhuang King is General Zhong?"
The master pursed his lips and said, "About 80%."
In all likelihood, Zhong Erfei killed Magistrate Deng, or persuaded Magistrate Deng, and the two of them joined forces to rebel.
"Ha!" Magistrate Luo sneered.
"Don't you know who General Zhong is?!"
"He's a man of courage but no strategy. He's not even as good as a finger of General Shen."
"Do you think a man like this can succeed in a rebellion?"
Magistrate Luo took a deep breath and looked outside the courtyard.
"General Zhong simply took advantage of the fact that it rained first in Qianhuang City, alleviating the drought, and thus began plotting rebellion."
"He saw that our cities were suffering from severe drought, so he wanted to take advantage of the situation and catch the emperor off guard."
"With Zhong Erfei's brain, it won't be long before the emperor will bring him back to his true form."
"By then, will you and I have to die to atone for our sins?"
The master frowned and thought about it carefully.
"wrong!!"
The master shook his head and looked at Magistrate Luo.
"King Qianhuang is most likely not Zhong Erfei."
"How do you know?!" Magistrate Luo frowned and looked at his advisor.
The lawyer took a deep breath and said, "From what I can tell from Magistrate Liu's letter, the person who could have made Magistrate Liu willingly help as a lobbyist could not possibly be the reckless Zhong Erfei."
"grown ups!"
The lawyer cupped his hands and said, "No matter who this person is, let's go to the city gate and take a look."
"It's not too late to make a decision after we see who King Qianhuang is."
After hesitating for a moment, Magistrate Luo nodded.
"Let's go and take a look."
He wanted to see how strong the enemy was.
If it is possible to avoid war, it would be better not to fight. Fanjing City really can't withstand the turmoil.
The Fanjing City had a population of 500,000 before the drought, but now it has less than half of that population, at most only 200,000 people.
Among these people, there are the elderly, the weak, the sick and the disabled, and only those who cannot escape are left behind.
The soldiers were so hungry that they looked pale and thin, and they really had no ability to fight.
"Hey~" The lawyer nodded in response and hurriedly followed Magistrate Luo and rushed towards the city gate.
At this time, many guards and yamen runners had gathered at the city gate. When they saw Magistrate Luo, they all saluted.
"Lord Luo!"
Magistrate Luo paused, looked at the withered defenders and the extremely tired yamen runners, and sighed deeply.
He raised his hand and frowned at the defenders, "Where are the enemy troops?"
A defender stepped forward and said, "Lord Luo, the enemy is less than five kilometers away from Fanjing City."
Magistrate Luo's heart skipped a beat. He glanced at the various combat weapons piled at the city gate, his eyes filled with despair.
The bows and arrows are all from many years ago, and there are not enough arrows to even hit anything when hunting in the mountains.
Magistrate Luo frowned and walked towards the city gate tower.
The lawyer sighed helplessly and walked up to the city gate tower.
Standing on the city gate tower, Magistrate Luo and his legal advisor became even more desperate.
The dilapidated and low city walls can only protect ordinary people. It is simply a pipe dream to want to protect against the enemy.
Any enemy soldier with a little martial arts skill could easily jump onto the city gate tower without even setting up a ladder.
As for the moat, I can’t remember how many years it has been since it was dug. If you didn’t tell it was a moat, you could hardly tell it was a moat.
Who can be blamed for this? Can we blame the prefect for not taking action?
The main reason is that Fanjing City hasn't fought a war in eight hundred years, so who would have thought of building a city wall?
Fanjing City is not a border city, and the city walls need to be repaired every year.
"Why!!"
Magistrate Luo sighed deeply, put his hand on the parapet, and frowned so hard that he could kill a mosquito.
The master listened to the sighs of Magistrate Luo, and his back became more hunched.
"Sir, look..."
The legal advisor looked at Magistrate Luo hesitantly, and halfway through his words, he turned his head to look at the thin defenders on the city gate tower.
Magistrate Luo followed his advisor's gaze and looked over, wondering what else he didn't understand.
The soldiers of Fanjing City were too weak. Not to mention resisting an enemy force of 200,000 or 300,000, even resisting a group of bandits would result in heavy casualties.
The soldiers' hands holding the bows and arrows were shaking slightly. This was not caused by fear, but by being hungry for a long time without water and having no strength in their bodies.
Magistrate Luo raised his head slightly to look at the sky and closed his eyes in despair.
The decision between life and death depended on his single thought, and for the first time he felt such great pressure.
Surrender can save the lives of the entire city. Even if King Qianhuang is so cruel, he will not attack the powerless people in the city.
If they don't surrender, all the soldiers gathered at the city gate will probably be killed.
but......
Magistrate Luo was extremely conflicted and sighed one after another.
Everyone on the city gate tower closed their cracked lips and stared at Magistrate Luo.
As Magistrate Luo sighed, everyone's expressions became more and more serious.
After a while, Magistrate Luo opened his eyes and looked directly at the enemy troops coming from afar on the official road.
“That’s all!!”
Magistrate Luo raised his hand and said, "Please remove all weapons and soldiers. I will be the only one left here."
There are too many people standing on the city gate tower, it would be disastrous if they angered the enemy.
He was standing here alone, and the enemy would not attack him easily. He was wearing the official uniform of the prefect, so they had to give him a chance to speak.
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