In the city of Wuping Prefecture in Hexi, Dingwu is now in a panic.

Although the Yi barbarians have stopped attacking in the past few days, the defenders on the front of the city can still see that the Yi barbarians are creating siege weapons outside the city in front of the defenders.

The former Yi Barbarian Army attacked the city from three sides, which was the largest siege battle since the arrival of the Barbarian Army, and it was also the most critical siege battle in Wuping Prefecture City. If the Yi Barbarian Army had not been able to hold on and withdrew its troops due to the heavy casualties, Dingwu would not be able to guarantee that Wuping Prefecture City is still in his own hands.

When fighting against foreign enemies, the whole city was indeed united in the same hatred for the enemy.

The siege weapons created by the Yi Barbarians did cause great damage to the city walls. Lots have been smashed in many places, and many places have even collapsed.

Although Wuping Prefecture City is one of the most solid cities in the north, it cannot be compared with the capital. If it were an ordinary city, with the strength of the Yi barbarians to attack the city at that time, the city had already been broken. Although Wuping Prefecture City was finally defended, the city wall was still seriously damaged. Dingwu knew that the Yi barbarians were not willing to retreat. They built a large-scale construction under the city and continued to manufacture siege weapons, obviously in order to accumulate strength to carry out the next offensive.

Dingwu is really unsure whether the city can still be defended when the barbarian army attacks the city next time.

He had recruited the craftsmen in the city to speed up the repair of the destroyed walls, and continued to collect cross-blocks and fuel to prepare for the next siege of the barbarian army.

Although external troubles can resist to the end with a tenacious will, the internal troubles in Wuping Prefecture City have caused Dingwu a headache.

As Ma Hong expected, serious riots have begun in the city due to food problems.

According to Dingwu's instructions, Ma Hong almost snatched food from the giant gentry in the city. If the grain shops in the city were naturally confiscated by the official army, it was called "just the court temporarily receiving grain, and when the barbarians were repelled, they would repay it several times. Using various means, they did indeed hoard a batch of military rations. If it was only for supporting the defenders, it could barely support it for a period of time.

However, there were more than 300,000 people in the city, and the food problem had become the most serious problem in Wuping Prefecture City. Before the attack launched by the Yi barbarians, a large number of people in the city began to run out of food. In the past few days, the situation became increasingly serious. Although Dingwu wanted to ensure the order in the city, the Shenyiwei and the few yamen servants in the city were maintaining order in the city, they still could not prevent some people who were forced by hunger from rushing into the homes of gentry and wealthy robbing food.

The grain shops in the city have no grain to sell, but the people are seriously short of food. For most people who are unknown, the closure of the grain shop is nothing more than the giants and gentry collecting the grain, and the transactions are voluntary. If it were the past, the closure of the grain shop would certainly cause riots in the city, but it would not make things out of control. However, now Wuping Mansion is besieged and cannot enter or exit. The grain shops that can survive can only be closed in the hands of those grain merchants. If the people's way of survival is cut off, the city has been continuously starved to death. Some people can no longer bear the torture of hunger and lead the people into the mansions of the gentry in the city and rob it.

Although Dingwu dispatched people to maintain order as much as possible, this situation is really embarrassing. If the people are not controlled, the riots will become increasingly serious. However, if the people are suppressed at this time, it will only be counterproductive. The Yi barbarians are now eyeing outside the city. If there is a great turmoil in the city due to suppression, the Yi barbarians will not attack them, and Wuping Mansion City will be destroyed by itself.

The situation is critical and there is not much military ration left. In order to temporarily quell the chaos in the city, Dingwu could only allocate part of the military ration and set up a porridge shop to temporarily help the people in the city. However, the withdrawal of food from the military ration is really a drop in the bucket. Even if all the military ration is taken out, it will not last a few days. What's even more terrifying is that once the food is exhausted, the soldiers guarding the city have no food to eat, even if they are willing to kill the enemy, they can't hold on any longer.

What made Dingwu even more trouble was that he allocated military rations to temporarily appease the people in the city, but a large number of gentry in the city found the Ministry of Revenue and asked the Ministry of Revenue to allocate grain.

The gentry's grain stored in them was collected by Ma Hong. At an extraordinary moment, the gentry knew that they could do nothing. In addition to keeping the food at home, most of the food was collected. However, after many gentry were looted by the people in the city, even the food left in their own food was looted. In this situation in the city, of course, they did not dare to look for the people to get back the food, so they could only take people to the Ministry of Revenue to ask for food.

There was a huge crowd in front of the Ministry of Revenue, and hundreds of gentry flocked to them. Some gentry even brought their few strong men to the hospital to ask for food, and the situation became increasingly critical.

For two consecutive days, Ma Hong's office was blocked and the door was closed. Later, the gentry could not stand it. They actually rushed to the door and climbed over the wall and rushed into the yamen. Ma Hong personally led people to collect food and grass, and everyone knew his name. Everyone rushed into the yamen, but now they didn't care about anything else. They grabbed the officials in the yamen and asked about Ma Hong's whereabouts.

When the gentry in the city was furious, Ma Hong had already run to the command office where Dingwu was, kneeling in front of Dingwu trembled, hoping that the emperor could come forward to calm the incident.

Dingwu knew very well that the people in the city were in chaos. If these gentry started to be in chaos and bewitched, then no matter how capable he had, he would not be able to make up for the truth.

"Your Majesty, there have been many people gathering outside. They said they wanted the court to return the food." After Xuanyuan Shao came in, his expression was cold.

When Ma Hong heard this, he was surprised, but he didn't expect that the gentry would find the emperor.

"Master, these gentry are selfish and do not know how to share the hardships with the Kuomintang. At this time, something will happen. I ask the Master to arrest the leader in prison and kill the chicken to warn the monkeys, so that they dare not be so arrogant." Ma Hong's forehead was covered with cold sweat. He was the Minister of Revenue. Now that there is a shortage of food in the city, he naturally cannot escape.

A good wife cannot cook without rice. Ma Hong is not a god and cannot transform into food. If it weren't for the Northwest Army, there would be food transported to Anyi and Xishan Road to fill the granary in Hexi. However, as soon as the northwest exited the pass, the grain road in Hexi was cut off. At that time, Ma Hong knew that something was wrong and there was no source of food, so he could do nothing.

Dingwu looked cold and silent for a moment, and finally asked, "Ma Aiqing, is there no other way?"

Ma Hong raised his sleeve and wiped his forehead with a cold sweat, and said with a wry smile: "Master, there is only so much food in the city. The city is surrounded. Not to mention that there is no source of food outside, even if there is really food, it cannot be transported into the city. I have said before that the food in the city can only make the defenders persist for a while and cannot take into account the hundreds of thousands of people in the city. But they all have to eat food to survive. Once there is shortage of food, something will inevitably happen. I am powerless. Moreover, according to my estimate, the situation will only get worse and worse. The master can now transfer military rations to temporarily stabilize the people in the city, but even if all the military rations are taken out, it will be necessary to supply hundreds of thousands of people, and it will not last a few days. At that time, the defenders have no food and cannot fight at all, and the people have no food, and the riots will be even more serious!"

"Now there is a large group of people outside who are about to ask me for food. Is there any way for them to disperse?" Dingwu asked lightly.

Ma Hong shook his head and said, "I think no matter how I persuade them, they will not give up. I feel that at this point, I can only kill a few people and conquer them."

"If I kill someone, I'm afraid things will become more chaotic." Dingwu Dao.

Ma Hong looked up at Dingwu, opened his mouth, but said nothing.

Dingwu naturally saw it and said, "What do you mean? Even if I say it, I have said it long ago that as long as I focus on national affairs, even if I say it wrong, I will not blame it."

Ma Hong thought for a moment and seemed to have made up his mind, "Master, please ask the Master to break through!"

"Breakthrough?" Dingwu was stunned.

Ma Hong said: "The Yi barbarians have not retreated for a long time. I think they will never withdraw if they do not capture Wuping City."

"Do you think I can't defend Wuping Mansion?"

Ma Hong said: "There is short of food in the city, and the barbarians outside the city are aggressive. I think that the emperor has made great martial arts until now. However, some things are not controlled by human power. I also want to defend the city, but!"

Dingwu's eyes twitched slightly, but he didn't say anything.

"Although the barbarian cavalry is fierce, there are still a thousand war horses in the city." Ma Hong said: "The guards are brave and good at fighting. As long as the priest leads the priest to break through at night, they may not be able to leave safely. If the priest stays behind the city and waits until the day the city breaks, I will!" At this point, he smiled bitterly and shook his head, but did not continue.

Dingwu glanced at Xuanyuan Shao next to him and finally said, "I said that even if the empire is really going to be destroyed, I will persevere until the end. I am the emperor of the Qin Dynasty, so naturally I cannot let the barbarians scare me and leave the people and the city and escape."

Dingwu was actually very clear that although the people in the city launched a riot, before that, the people in the city shared the same hatred for resisting the barbarians. The house was demolished and the materials were taken to defend the city. The people in the city not only had no complaints, but also braved the rain of arrows to send them to the city tower. However, if they brought elite troops to break through at this time, it would be not to mention whether they could succeed. However, as long as they led their troops away, the Wuping Prefecture City would be destroyed in an instant. Without asking, the people in the city would inevitably fall under the butcher knife of the barbarians.

"Master, breaking out is not a fear." Ma Hong said: "As the saying goes, keep the green mountains without worrying about burning firewood. As long as the Master is safe and sound, the Qin Dynasty will not perish. If the Master breaks out, you can make a comeback in the future!"

"No need to say it." Dingwu interrupted, "I just want to know how these people outside should deal with it?"

Ma Hong lowered his head, remained silent for a long time, finally raised his head and smiled bitterly, "I understand."

"you understand?"

"Actually, I have understood it a long time ago." Ma Hong sighed: "The emperor asked me to come forward to collect food and grass. Although it was the holy intention, I only gave an oral order and there was no imperial order. At that time, I thought that sooner or later there would be such a day. It was me who came forward to conquer food, and I also promised them to repay food. Now that these people are forced to come here, they are still coming to me. As long as the emperor issues an order and executes me to death, they may temporarily relieve their resentment."

Dingwu stared at Ma Hong, and after a moment, he finally sighed softly: "Aiqing Ma, are you willing to relieve my worries?"

"I really don't want to die, but now I'm afraid I won't be able to die." Ma Hong said: "If the king wants the minister to die, I have to die. My head, the lord of the lord, can be taken off. But I still want to say that Wuping City can no longer be defended. If the lord wants to make a comeback, he can only break out!"

He was apologizing in the officialdom and was promoted step by step, but now he knew that he would die, but for some reason, he was not very scared. Since the last time the Dingwu Sect came, Ma Hong was frightened day and night, knowing that he would not escape death sooner or later, but when things came, he seemed to feel a sense of liberation in his heart.

He kowtowed a few times to Dingwu, then stood up, looked at Xuanyuan Shao, hesitated for a moment, and finally said, "Master Xuanyuan, I'd like to tie me out, so I can give them an explanation."

Xuanyuan Shao looked at Dingwu. Dingwu hesitated for a moment and nodded slightly. Xuanyuan Shao finally led people in and tied Ma Hong up.

Ma Hong's face was a little pale, and he turned around and walked away with a wry smile. Xuanyuan Shao followed behind him and took a few steps. Ma Hong stopped, suddenly turned around and sighed, "Master, you are a good emperor, it's a pity!" He seemed to want to say something, but he didn't say it, and walked out of the door slowly.

Looking at Ma Hong's leaving figure, a feeling of fatigue hit Dingwu's whole body.

He stuck his forehead with his arm and closed his eyes slightly. After a long time, Xuanyuan Shao finally came back. He thought Dingwu was asleep and walked to the side without disturbing him. However, Dingwu had already asked softly: "Is he dead?"

"I have explained to them that it was Ma Hong who forged an edict and had previously been greedy for food and money and could not make up for the warehouse. Therefore, he deceived the emperor and falsely passed the order and forced the collection of money and grain." Xuanyuan Shao said respectfully: "I have ordered Ma Hong to be executed and told them that although Ma Hong was falsely passing the imperial edict, the court would still repay them several times the money and grain."

"Just like this?"

"I told them that the court still had a lot of money and food, but now that the city is surrounded, you can only obtain money and food by repelling the barbarian army." Xuanyuan Shao said: "I asked them to hold on for a few more days, and the barbarian army will soon be unable to support the retreat. I chopped Ma Hong's head in public, but it also silenced them. For the time being, they will not make too fierce."

Dingwu sighed, "It's hard for you."

Xuanyuan Shao said: "I am not in a dilemma, but Ma Hong said it right. The commotion can be suppressed for a while, but over time, chaos will still occur."

"It's almost!" Dingwu held his hands together, "I and Chushi, whoever wins and loses will have a result soon, and it won't take long!"

At this moment, a voice came from outside: "Your Majesty, a strange phenomenon appeared in the city." Amid the words, a figure appeared in front of the door like a ghost. Although he was wearing a gray collar, Xuanyuan Shao knew it was the Divine Clothes Guard when he saw the knife he was wearing on his waist.

None of the four major families of the Divine Uniform Guards are now killed and injured, but none of them are responsible for the Divine Uniform Guards in the city are responsible for the Divine Uniform Guards.

"What's the matter?" Dingwu asked with his head frowned. What could make the Divine Uniform Guard suddenly come and report is naturally not a trivial matter.
Chapter completed!