Dingwu glanced at the ministers, and these people looked anxious, and some even had an unconcealed look of horror on their faces. They couldn't help but sigh in their hearts that when the Qin Dynasty was founded, civil and military officials gathered together. After bloody baptism, there were many capable ministers and generals. But now, no one can count on them.

He felt sad. Although he had also been in the battlefield, he asked himself that he was not a real military genius, and the four generals of the Empire, and no one of them would be in the current dilemma.

"Master!" After a silence, Ma Hong, the Minister of Revenue, finally stood up and lowered his head, "I have something to report."

"Tell me!" Dingwu waved his hand and looked at Ma Hong.

"There are more and more barbarian soldiers, and now our situation is very bad now." Ma Hong hesitated for a moment, and finally said: "They already have 40,000 to 50,000, and they are all cruel and easy to kill. The defenders in the city mainly rely on the royal guards. The strong men recruited were barely enough to defend the city, but!"

Dingwu's expression slowed down a lot. After all, it was not a bad thing for the minister to speak at this time. "But what? You want to say, but it's okay to say it. Even if you say it wrong, I won't blame you."

Ma Hong strengthened his courage and said, "I think that if I continue like this, the Yi barbarians may not have come up with more ways to attack the city."

A person next to him said, "Mabutang, our Wuping Mansion is extremely strong. The iron horse scimitars of the Yi barbarians can gallop across the grassland, but it is a dream to capture the Wuping Mansion with their iron horse scimitars."

"What Master Liu said," Ma Hong glanced at him and turned to Dingwu: "Sir, I have counted it. The total number of military and civilians in the city is more than 300,000. If the existing food in my hands is supported by the Guards and properly allocated, it can last for five months."

"You mean that the food in your hands can only be eaten by the Guards for five months?" Dingwu frowned and said, "Where are the other people in the city?"

Ma Hong shook his head and said, "I have always prepared military rations, and it has always been calculated based on the rations of the soldiers. I have reported to the emperor that the food in the city can last for two months, which is to count nearly 10,000 Hexi troops outside the city, and even nearly 10,000 barbarian cavalry. Now there are no need to consider the troops outside the city. There are 3,000 guards in the city, and tens of thousands of strong men recruited were transferred to the gates of Wuping Prefecture. Therefore, I calculated the rations based on the strength of 15,000 troops. I have obtained some of the food from the gentry in the city these days, and the original stock of grain, conservatively estimated that it can last for five months."

Xuanyuan Shao suddenly spoke, "Master, the Guards are hard-working and hard-working, and they can reduce their food rations and can also support them. However, the strong men recruited have worked hard to defend the city. If they can't eat enough, they are only worried that they will have a different intention."

"Master, now that the lonely city is surrounded, it is not just the soldiers guarding the city." One person immediately said: "The hundreds of thousands of people in the city consume a huge amount of money every day. Now they are united, just because they can only eat enough now. But if the people in the city have no food to eat, the consequences will be unimaginable. Mabutang said that the stock of grain is only enough for 15,000 soldiers to support five months, but if they have to be distributed to hundreds of thousands of people, they are afraid that they will not be able to support it for even a month!"

Dingwu's expression was even colder.

Feng Yuanpo did have a lot of food in Hexi, but the Liaodong Army suddenly came over, so he naturally had to provide enough logistical support to the Yanshan front line. He also transferred a large amount of food and grass from Hexi to transport it to the front line. In addition, Dingwu has always hoped that Anyi and Xishan Road could replenish food to Hexi, but the Xishan Mountain was occupied by Chu Huan, and Anyi Yuan Chongshang had already deviated from the Qin State, and the largest source of food in Hexi was cut off.

There was not much grain produced in Hexi. In order to stabilize Hexi, Dingwu did not kill Hexi gentry. Instead, he comforted the local gentry as much as possible. A large area of ​​land in Hexi was owned by Hexi gentry. Most of the grain collected also entered the granary of local gentry and paid very little food to the court.

Dingwu knew that the Qin army had shortage of food, so he had arranged for Ma Hong to collect grain from local gentry. He thought that it would spread out from Wuping Prefecture. As long as he could conquer the gentry of Wuping Prefecture first and let them take out the grain, the gentry in other places in Hexi had learned from the past, so he naturally did not dare to resist too much. However, as soon as Ma Hong started the matter of collecting grain, Wuping Prefecture had a change. The King of Geng Tian Wang Liuli sent people to assassinate the Thirteen Chiefs, causing the Yi barbarians to rebel instantly, and there was no chance to continue collecting grain.

Others do not know the details of Wuping Mansion, but Dingwu is very clear that the official warehouse is already seriously insufficient. Even if all the grains of all the gentry of Wuping Mansion are collected, it is not enough to support the foods of more than 300,000 soldiers and civilians of Wuping Mansion. Moreover, at this time, in order to resist external troubles, the city naturally has to work together. Once the grains of gentry in the city are really forced to be stored, it may cause chaos among the gentry in the city, and the consequences will be even more unimaginable.

Dingwu pondered for a moment before asking Ma Hong: "Aiqing Ma, what's your idea?"

Ma Hong hesitated and said helplessly: "Master, I can't change my food, and I have no choice. According to my estimate, within half a month, the people in the city will start to lack food. At most twenty days, the emperor will allocate grain to the people in the city. Even if I lead people to collect all the food in the city and distribute it according to the head, the food in the city will only be supported by the military and civilians in the city for up to two months."

Dingwu snorted coldly and said, "In other words, even if the Yi barbarians cannot capture Wuping Prefecture City, we will starve to death in the city in two months?"

Ma Hong knelt down on the ground and said tremblingly: "I just reported the truth based on the truth and dare not hide it. I feel that for the sake of the safety of the emperor, this city cannot be kept in the end?"

"Don't defend the city?" An official shouted immediately, "Will you open the city and surrender? The emperor, even if you are crushed to pieces, you have to fight with the Yi Barbarians to the end." He also said, "Mabutang, our food can last for two months. How long can the Yi Barbarians last? They came from afar and had no logistics team at all. The more people, the more food they needed. You have seen it before. When the Yi Barbarians came, they would not see their food team at all. Even if they carried their own food, how long can they last? Three or five days, ten or half a month, or can they last for a month? Let's compete with them and see who can't hold on in the end."

Ma Hong frowned and said, "Master, this is not the case. Except for most of the troops in Hexi, most of them are in Yanshan, the rest are in Wuping Prefecture City. There are thirteen big cities in Hexi, and countless small cities. Except for Wuping Prefecture, which has guards, the defenses of other cities are weak. With the large number of people of the Yi barbarians, although they cannot defeat Wuping Prefecture City, it is easy to attack other cities, especially small cities with weak defenses."

The official next to him said, "Mabutang, the lower officials understand what you mean. You mean that the barbarians plunder everywhere and supplement military supplies. Does that mean?"

"Yes, that's what it means." Ma Hong still has some experience in money and food. When he talked about this matter in public, he was still worried that he would suddenly be short of food after a while. Dingwu would inevitably cause trouble for him and put the blame on him. Since that's the case, it would be better to explain the matter in public. Even if there is a shortage of food in the future, he would be ambushed here first, and report it early, and make clear the actual difficulties. In this way, it would be better to say that there is a saying. Compared to Dingwu's anger at that time, it is very likely that Dingwu would have taken his life today. It would be better to risk the possibility of being scolded today. To be honest, Dingwu would not have his own head today because of this. "Wuping City is surrounded, all roads are blocked, and all the supplies, we can only rely on the existing ones in the city, and there is no longer a grain of food to be sent into the city, but the barbarians can replenish their needs through robbery."

The official laughed and said, "Mabutang, you should know that Hexi is not a place for grain production. Even if there are grain storage in each city, the quantity is still very small. Do you know that outside this city there are 50,000 or 60,000 people. Except for these people who eat grain, the horses they sit down must eat food. Now it is winter, so naturally there is no place to find horse feed, so they can only be raised with grain. This adds up to more than 100,000 people. Which city has so much food to support them?"

"One city cannot be, two cities, three cities, and ten cities?" Ma Hong argued.

The official sneered: "The towns around Wuping Prefecture City may have been snatched by the previous Yi barbarians. They have to rob grain. They can only go further away, mobilize back and forth, and grab grain everywhere. At that time, they are tired of robbing grain, so they have no energy to attack Wuping Prefecture City? After all, as long as we stick to the city and keep holding on, we can always stand up until the Yi barbarians retreats in shame." Turning to Dingwu, he bowed: "Sage, I think that the Yi barbarians are invading the city, and Wuping Prefecture City may not be an isolated city. Foreign barbarians are invading. Do people in the world watch helplessly? I think they will also find ways to expel the Yi barbarians first, and maybe reinforcements are coming to rescue."

The officials immediately whispered and whispered.

Dingwu said lightly: "Ma Aiqing, you have always said that we are short of food, and that the Yi barbarians can plunder and supplement the logistics in Hexi. Do you want to say that we can't stand the Yi barbarians?"

Ma Hong hurriedly said, "I am definitely not going to mean this!"

"What do you mean?"

Ma Hong thought for a while and finally said, "I think the current situation is, I should ask for reinforcements!"

"Please reinforcements?" Dingwu glanced at the surrounding ministers. Seeing that everyone was bowing their heads and not speaking, he asked, "Where are the reinforcements you mentioned?"

"This!" Ma Hong also lowered his head, sweating slightly on his forehead, raised his hand and wiped it with his sleeve, and glanced at Dingwu, "I dare not say it!"

"Since you said there were reinforcements, how could you not dare to say it?" Dingwu frowned and said, "I said that now that the Yi barbarians are at the city, as long as there are good countermeasures, it doesn't matter, and I will not blame you."

Other ministers were also puzzled. Everyone was quite familiar with the current situation in the world. Hujin Meilong in the south defended against the Qingtian King of Hebei and did not dare to act rashly. On the other side of Yanshan, the main force of the Qin army was already struggling to resist the Liaodong army. Moreover, due to this change, the Yi barbarian soldiers on the front line had already rebelled. Although Dingwu sent a fast cavalry to Yanshan as soon as possible, hoping to send the news of the Yi barbarian rebellion to Yanshan before the Yi barbarian messenger to Wenpu, the chief Qin army general of Yanshan, so that Wenpu would prepare for the Yi barbarian cavalry to rebel on the front line, but whether Wenpu would get the news first and how to deal with the accident? Hexi has no news. It is too small to want Wenpu to suddenly appear in Wuping Prefecture to rescue.

As far as the west side, Dingwu used Yuan Chongshang of Anyi and Qiao Mingtang of Xishan to prepare to defend against Chu Huan's Northwest Army, and even sent Feng Polu to lead tens of thousands of elite cavalry to support, but was defeated in a very bad way. Chu Huan had completely destroyed the defense of the Western Front in a short period of time. As long as the Northwest Army marched into Hexi, there would be almost no strong defense along the way.

Beyond the enemy, where can reinforcements come?

Ma Hong knelt down on the ground and said with a tough bullet: "The Lord, the reinforcements I mentioned refer to Chu Huan's Northwest Army!"

As soon as this statement was made, the ministers around him were in an uproar. Many people only thought that something was wrong with their ears. Even Dingwu was a little surprised. He was stunned for a moment, his lips moved slightly, but no sound was made.

Xuanyuan Shao, who had not said anything, finally said, "Mabutang, are you asking Chu Huan for rescue?"

Ma Hong looked up and said, "Master, the only one who can support Wuping Prefecture to defeat the Yi barbarians is Chu Huan's Northwest Army."

"Mabutang, have you not had a good sleep?" Xuanyuan Shao sneered bluntly: "Who is Chu Huan? Don't you know? He has already established himself as king and rebel against the court. He is a thief who everyone can kill. You ask us to ask him to come and rescue him? Even if we want him to come, he is still willing to fight with the barbarians?"

"No," Immediately someone said: "Chu Huan's wolf ambition is known to everyone in the world. How could he come to rescue Wuping Mansion?"

Hearing the voices of doubts around him, Ma Hong lowered his head and did not dare to speak for a moment. Dingwu pondered slightly, and did not scold Ma Hong. Instead, he asked Ma Hong unexpectedly: "Why did Ma Aiqing think of sending someone to ask Chu Huan for help? How did you know Chu Huan will come to rescue?"

"Sage, I have said before that looking at the formation of the Yi barbarians, I am determined to capture Wuping Mansion this time." Ma Hong looked up and said, "I think that if the enemy is outside, we are trapped inside, and it is impossible for us to obtain food from outside. However, if the Yi barbarians are outside, tens of thousands of soldiers and horses are not difficult to plunder in Hexi. Even if he distributed 20,000 soldiers and horses to rob food and grass, the remaining troops are enough to trap us. Although Hexi is not rich in food, it is absolutely no problem to plunder them everywhere and support them for three or five months. And we can't stand for that long. Once there is no food in the city, that's it!" He gritted his teeth and said, "That's to destroy yourself without attack!"

Someone was about to scold him, but Dingwu had raised his hand and signaled not to say too much. However, he knew that Ma Hong's words were not false. If the city was really short of food and could not continue to resist, he was the lord of a country, and even his martial arts were extraordinary, but he could not stop the invasion of tens of thousands of barbarian cavalry.

"The dragon body of the sage is noble, safety is the best. We hope that the Yi barbarians will retreat and make Wuping's city turn into danger. But what if the Yi barbarians can really hold on?" Ma Hong said: "And the Yi barbarians don't know how to attack the city now, but if they know that they can use siege weapons to attack the city, and then capture craftsmen to create siege weapons for them. They are numerous and powerful, we!" Without continuing, he just said: "So I think I can only ask for help from outside, and the only one who has the strength to stand with the Yi barbarians is Chu Huan's Northwest Army!" He looked up slightly and saw Dingwu looking at him, he immediately lowered his head and crawled on the ground. "Sir, the minister is really speaking from the heart. I just hope that the sage will think twice. Now that the army is approaching, the sage should put the overall situation first!"

After a silence, Dingwu finally said: "Do you think I should send someone to ask Chu Huan for help?"

The ministers looked at each other and did not dare to speak. In fact, many people were not unwilling to find reinforcements in their hearts. After all, the lonely city was trapped. If the barbarians were determined to break the city, and without foreign aid, the city would be destroyed one day. At that time, the city would be ruined. I am afraid that few officials present would survive. Inviting reinforcements would be more hopeful of survival.

But Ma Hong said he wanted to send someone to ask Chu Huan for help, and everyone felt a little suspicious. Chu Huan had already established himself as king and openly took the banner of anti-Qin. Among the many forces in the world, Chu Huan can be said to be the strongest anti-Qin force. If Ma Hong didn't say anything, he just said this person, which was really surprising. As Xuanyuan Shao said just now, whether to send someone to ask for help is certainly a matter, but whether Chu Huan will rescue is even more critical.

Fighting for the world is a ruthless man. As Chu Huan has come to this day, no one will think that Chu Huan is an honest and good-looking man. At this time, Chu Huan will have a full end in his benevolence and righteousness if he doesn't take the opportunity to attack. How could he help Qin defeat the barbarians?

Dingwu stared at Ma Hong, glanced at everyone, pondered for a long time before asking, "Ma Aiqing, do you think if I send someone to ask for help, Chu Huan will send troops to help?"

When Ma Hong heard Dingwu's tone relaxed, he hurriedly said, "Master, if you want Chu Huan to send troops to rescue, that one will always pay some price."

"Oh?" Dingwu smiled, "What's the price?"

"Since Chu Huan has been called king, the lord of the emperor will issue an order to grant him the king, and he can give him the Northwest and other places." Ma Hong saw Dingwu laughing and pretended to be brave: "If he put forward some other conditions, as long as it is not too much, we can agree to him for the time being. In this way, as long as he agrees to send troops and let his Northwest army fight with the barbarians, no matter how victorious or defeated, they will be greatly damaged!"

"Propose conditions?" Dingwu leaned forward slightly, "What conditions do you think I should promise him? Give him my throne, what do you think?"
Chapter completed!