"Esteemed sirs, the troops from the surrounding counties and prefectures outside the city are in order. It is expected that Chu Chen, who descended upon Liaoyuan County a few days ago, has already arrived outside Lianshan County."
"Regardless of whether the cause and consequences were voluntary or not, we are now all in the same boat, and we must advance and retreat together to have a sliver of hope."
The Lianshan County Magistrate, while wiping the sweat of fear from his forehead with an embroidered handkerchief, earnestly implored, "If any of you have a plan to deal with this, please speak up quickly."
A plan? What kind of plan could there be!
Everyone present thought this in their hearts, their faces filled with fear and panic.
The elders of the Lianshan Sect, the elders of the Songshan Sword Sect, the supervisor of the Lianshan Buddhist Academy, and the second-in-command of other martial arts sects had all gathered here.
Old Master Chi, Steward Qin, Steward Wang, and Steward Li were also present.
The three parties sat there, looking at each other with anticipation, yet no one could come up with a plan.
The Lianshan County Magistrate's face darkened with annoyance, and he looked at Old Master Chi, saying, "Old Master Chi, this entire situation arose because of you. We were all persuaded or coerced by you to participate in this matter. Now that Chu Chen's army is at our borders, you, sir, should say something!"
"Say what? Say what? What's the use?" Old Master Chi retorted slowly.
"Tell us how to deal with it! Are you, Old Master Chi, planning to surrender? I don't see you as that kind of person, otherwise, you wouldn't have incited us to resist the new imperial policies! Now that we are facing a crisis of life and death, if you, the leader, have no plan, what are we supposed to do?" the Lianshan County Magistrate asked angrily.
At this moment, facing the crisis of his own life, the Lianshan County Magistrate no longer feared the status of Old Master Chi's son, Marquis Chengguan. Such a title was useless at this point.
"When you people from the martial world were not clean in your actions, you should have foreseen this! I repeatedly warned you all to go all out and take decisive action to seal off the news! What did you all do?" Old Master Chi said angrily, looking at the martial artists seated opposite him.
"Old Master Chi, now is not the time to discuss this. The matter has already happened. Please make a decision. If all else fails, send someone to notify your son, Marquis Chengguan, to bring troops to save us," the Lianshan Sect elder said with a sigh, not showing any anger at being scolded.
"Save us? My son's troops would not dare to move rashly against the Prime Minister of the current dynasty! This is not like dealing with others!" Old Master Chi cursed unhappily.
But the Lianshan Sect elder merely sighed repeatedly, not even feeling like getting angry.
"Alas."
Old Master Chi sighed, then tapped his cane to attract everyone's attention before saying, "You don't need to expect any plan from me. No plan will work at this point. The only way forward is to fight to the death!"
"Fight to the death?"
The Lianshan County Magistrate and others looked at each other, not understanding how they were supposed to fight to the death with those two hundred county soldiers. It was a joke.
These county soldiers were only still on duty without deserting because Old Master Chi and the others had paid them ten taels a month, with one month's pay in advance. It was only for the sake of money that they dared to stay. If they were to truly face the imperial army, they would have long since fled.
"That's right, fight to the death!" Old Master Chi said loudly. "As things stand, I believe you all know that by resisting the new imperial policies and attempting to intercept the imperial envoy, we have committed an unforgivable capital offense, at least a crime punishable by the extermination of three generations of our families."
"The only way forward is for us to cooperate wholeheartedly and overcome this first hurdle. Then, things will become easier. At the very least, I can ensure that your families can settle elsewhere without worry."
"This... May I ask what method you have, Old Master? Please speak freely," the Lianshan County Magistrate asked hesitantly, his expression not entirely convinced.
"We've already crossed the line, so let's go all the way! We have already committed the grave offense of intercepting the envoy. Since that is the case, what difference does it make if we commit more crimes!" As he spoke, a hint of ferocity flashed in Old Master Chi's dim old eyes. "What I propose is, why don't we kill Chu Chen?"
"..."
Everyone present was shocked by Old Master Chi's audacious idea. Intercepting the envoy was already a crime punishable by the extermination of three generations of families. Killing the Prime Minister of the current dynasty would surely be punishable by the extermination of six generations of families! However... it seemed there was no real difference. In any case, the crime was already severe, and more crimes wouldn't matter.
Understanding the key point, everyone immediately asked, "Old Master, what specifically do you plan to do?"
Old Master Chi's face showed a look of satisfaction. "My son has already made preparations for this, and I have also discussed it with the stewards. Therefore, we will provide money and provisions to recruit those who are not afraid of death and disregard the imperial court, and we will also contribute over two thousand private soldiers and four thousand family retainers to defend the city."
"However, although our four families are fully equipped with weapons, we only have five hundred sets of armor, a hundred crossbows, and over three hundred bows. We request that Your Excellency supplement the missing military equipment from the armory."
"Ah, this..." The Lianshan County Magistrate's face turned slightly awkward, and he guiltily touched his wrist.
"What is it?" Old Master Chi frowned and asked.
"Since it has come to this, I will not hide it from you," the Lianshan County Magistrate said, deciding to confess since he couldn't avoid it. "According to regulations, the county armory should have three thousand sets of armor and bows and crossbows. However, my family is poor, and there have been no battles on the front lines of the county for many years. Therefore, the remaining military equipment in the armory has all been used to subsidize my household expenses. Only a dozen or so broken and unusable sets of armor and weapons remain, with not a single bow or crossbow."
Everyone was stunned. Although they knew that corruption among officials in the Yunyue Kingdom had been severe in the past decade, they never imagined that the armory of a county so close to the western frontier would dare to embezzle so thoroughly!
Facing their astonished gazes, the Lianshan County Magistrate said impatiently, "Don't look at me like that. I am not the first county magistrate in this county since the current dynasty. I am the fifth! When I took over, there were only about a hundred sets left in the county armory."
Faced with this situation, what else could they say?
Old Master Chi took a deep breath and said, "Then I request the County Magistrate to organize the able-bodied men to collect stones and wooden pillars from the city for defense."
"This is no problem. I will send someone to do it immediately," the Lianshan County Magistrate nodded, beckoned the registrar, and gave the order.
Then, he asked doubtfully, "Old Master, without sufficient military equipment, can your plan still succeed?"
"It can succeed! I never said we were fighting alone. We also have reinforcements!" Old Master Chi said confidently.
"Reinforcements? Can there be reinforcements for something like this?" This time, it was the Lianshan County Magistrate's turn to be surprised.
"The new imperial policies have offended a great many people. Many have been displeased with them for a long time, so naturally, there are those willing to lend us a hand!"
"You all need not worry. Just gather your usable manpower and head to the city walls to prepare for defense."