Infrastructure Throne

The warm winter sun is hanging in the sky, and the golden and white sunlight falls on the window lattice, shining bright colors on the dark red carpet of the meeting hall.

But no one felt its warmth.

There is a fireplace made of gray and white stone bricks carved on the wall, and the golden red bright flame burns slightly crackling, flickering, making every face in the house uncertain.

Shen Qingze's eyelashes drooped slightly, his index finger curled up, and the phalanx tapped lightly on the long mahogany table: "Are there many traces found?"

Fan Mizhou frowned, clasped his hands and pressed his lower abdomen: "Many, not just one place, from the depths of the foggy forest to the edge."

"Near these traces, you can find the scattered flesh and blood of beasts. Because of the winter, many of them have not yet decayed, and the smell is obvious, which aroused the vigilance of the police."

"And..." Fan Mizhou's fingertips turned white, as if it was extremely difficult to speak, "There is evidence that the beast slaves looking for food at the edge of the foggy forest probably came from several different tribes."

The worst happened.Shen Qingze closed her eyes deeply, and pinched the center of her brows.

Jin Da scratched the back of his head inexplicably, wrapped his palms around his fists, and kept rubbing them together, looking a little nervous: "What does this mean? Is the beast slave coming to attack us again? Just like in Autumn?"

"The situation is probably more severe than that time." Luo Xin took a sip of hot fragrant tea, and the tea flowed into his stomach, barely feeling a little warmth.

He sighed: "The beast slaves who invaded in autumn are the tribe closest to us, the Dove tribe. Their people are good at raising big eagles, so they can fly over the canyon on the big eagles and reach the sky above our Yuanliu City."

Fan Mizhou nodded, his face turned pale under the broken hair:

"If it's just a tribe that comes to plunder and fight for casualties, it's a big deal to lose some food, but it can also be driven away. Beast slaves rarely rob gold coins. Since the fair, our treasury has been full, and we can buy gold coins from surrounding towns." Food is also available."

"But there are many beast slaves from different tribes in the misty forest, so there is a big problem."

Fan Mizhou paused, and looked at Luo Xin, his black eyes filled with deep sorrow: "This shows that it is not a single tribe that is short of food, but many tribes in the Grand Canyon are generally facing famine. in this way……"

They didn't finish their words, and the subsequent speculation seemed to be too terrifying, so that the two dared not speak out.

Yan Zui stood up from the seat, walked slowly to the wall where the huge map was hung, and stroked the grand canyon on the map with the palm of his hand.

He was silent for a long time, and said in a deep voice: "There are indications that what we have to face next may be a huge beast horde formed by many tribes uniting to go south."

"What's more, not only our Abyssal City, maybe the entire Northland Canyon will be swept by the beast tide, and it will be a huge disaster."

There was a moment of dead silence in the chamber.Everyone's hearts were heavy, and even their breathing was a bit stagnant.

After a while, Teng Changqing, who was a little older, said, "Actually, I encountered such a beast tide once when I was very young."

Luo Xin nodded slightly, brows frowning: "I also experienced that time. The old city lord had not yet succeeded to the throne, and he was still young. I don't remember much. I only vaguely know that our whole family went to the Pearl City to seek refuge. When the beast tide is over, When I come back..."

He shook his head and sighed as if recalling something unbearable, "The scene was so tragic, the ground seemed to have been washed with blood once, so that I had nightmares for days and nights..."

Jin Da's eyes widened: "Can we still take refuge in Mingzhu City? That's right! Mingzhu City is tall and has strong soldiers and horses. It is certainly not afraid of the beast tide, but will they accept people who take refuge?"

Luo Xin glanced at him, and there was a sarcastic smile in his eyes: "Pearl City is only willing to accept nobles to take refuge, and moreover, they have to hand over a lot of wealth as protection fees. They don't care about the poor."

"Pearl City is the wealthiest city in the Northland. Although the beast slaves covet it, there are many conflicts among the tribes within the beast slaves. No one obeys the other. It is common for big tribes to oppress small tribes."

"No one wants to take the hard work of gnawing down on the hard bone of Mingzhu City and making wedding dresses for other tribes for nothing."

"So whenever the beast tide floods and the cities along the canyon are hit by disasters, the nobles flee for refuge one after another. Mingzhu City makes a fortune. It is the safest place. Although the nobles are reluctant to hand over their property, for their own lives, they will I just pinch my nose and admit it."

"Other powerless people will be miserable. They can only rely on the defense of the city and fight to the death with the beast slaves. They may die at the mouth of the beast at any time."

The topic became more and more serious, Jin Da twitched the corner of his mouth stiffly, he had never experienced a large-scale animal swarm, and a kind of unreasonable fear crept into his heart.

In the past, the three brothers were just punks in the outskirts of the village. They were heartless and did not know how to live or die. They had never been so rich as they are now, so they were not so afraid of losing.

Thinking of the happy life he had so hard to come by, and the fact that he was about to be trampled by beast slaves, and his relatives who had been saved with great difficulty, and facing the parting of life and death, Jin Da's heart sank continuously, and his whole body trembled with fear.

He swallowed, and comforted himself: "Actually, it's just everyone's guess now, it may not really cause a beast horde, maybe it's just a few greedy guys who got lost in the foggy forest?"

In the meeting hall, everyone was silent, Jin Da lowered his head slumped, his mood fell to the bottom.

Shen Qingze raised her eyes from deep thought: "According to past experience, how long is the interval between the discovery of beast slaves and the outbreak of a large-scale beast swarm and the attack on human cities?"

Fan Mizhou flipped through several ancient records about the beast tide, and said: "The shortest time is 20 days, the longest time is more than a month, and the time is mostly in the depths of winter."

Shen Qingze's eyebrows relaxed slightly, but fortunately there was still some time to prepare.

Just as everyone was discussing countermeasures, there was a sudden commotion outside the door.

Yan Zui lowered his brows: "What's the noise?"

Without saying a word, Xiao Meng opened the door of the meeting hall, and several luxuriously dressed figures rushed into the hall immediately. They were the only few nobles left in the city.

Since the downfall of Yan En and Boya, they followed the wind and drew a clear line with them one after another. Under the joint rectification of Shen Qingze and Yan Zui, they were as obedient as sheep. Wealth accumulated over generations has shrunk by half.

"Master City Lord! Master Priest!" The leading nobleman had black hair and brown eyes. He eagerly saluted the two of them and asked impatiently, "I heard that there may be a beast tide this winter, is it true?"

Yan Zui glared at Fan Mizhou in displeasure, and the latter's expression changed, and he immediately realized that someone in the affairs office leaked the news because of his bad manners.

With a solemn face, he saluted and left, and hurriedly left the meeting hall.

Yan Zui returned to the main seat and sat down, crossed his slender legs, and slowly played with the whip in his hand: "It's just that someone saw traces of suspected beast slaves, and it's not confirmed. Viscount Marin doesn't need to be so panic."

When Marin heard the word beast slave, his face began to distort: ​​"I have already found traces of the beast slave, don't you realize the seriousness of the situation?"

Several big nobles talked a lot, and Ma Lin said solemnly: "This beast tide, it is impossible for our Abyss City alone to resist, Lord City Lord, for the safety of you and Your Excellency the Priest, please prepare to leave immediately and go to Evacuate to Pearl City!"

Before Yan Zui could speak, Teng Changqing sneered first, "For the safety of the city lord and the chief priest, it's clear that you are greedy for life and afraid of death, trying to use the banner of the city lord to abandon the city and escape!"

Several nobles were exposed on the spot, their faces were stiff and pale as if they had been covered with mud.

Marin licked his dry lips and said slowly:

"My lord, it's not that we're afraid of death. Last time the beast slaves raided, we didn't choose to flee, but stayed in the city and stood firm. This time the beast tide is different from the past. Incapable of fighting, in order to preserve the fire in the future, please adults not to be impulsive."

Teng Changqing snorted: "The last time it was because the beast slaves came suddenly, you had no time to escape, otherwise, you would run faster than rabbits."

Marin lowered his face: "Officer Teng, pay attention to your wording!"

"Enough!" A low voice suddenly sounded in the chamber.

Everyone looked at Shen Qingze, his patience was exhausted, his cold eyes were cut on the faces of several people, and his finger bones were heavily used to the table:

"As aristocrats and officials, the ruling upper echelons of Yuanliu City are in the face of a great crisis, and they are noisy and infighting here, what does it look like!"

Since the Lord Priest took office, it was rare for Teng Changqing to speak so harshly in front of everyone. Teng Changqing's face was slightly terrified, and he immediately knelt down to apologize.

Shen Qingze looked at Ma Lin calmly: "Everyone, have you decided to defect to Pearl City?"

Stared at by the other party's sharp eyes, Marin felt as if a sword had been pierced through his heart, and a cold air gushed out uncontrollably from the gap, hesitatingly avoiding his eyes: "We... have no other choice."

Yan Zui's eyes turned around them with great interest, and he said lightly, "Are you going to leave like this?"

Marin quickly bowed and saluted: "Although we can't do much, we are still willing to do our part for Yuanliu City. We are willing to donate [-] gold coins and [-] catties of grain each to help the City Lord's Mansion tide over the difficulties."

Luo Xin curled his lips, picked his ears with his little finger, and said coolly: "Your Majesty Marin is so generous, I'm afraid it's not that these things can't be taken away."

Everyone showed contempt, but Yan Zui smiled instead: "Since this is the case, if the Lord of the city insists on not allowing it, wouldn't it be inhumane?"

The nobles felt like they were being pardoned: "Thank you, City Lord, for your understanding!"

After all, the few people hurriedly left the meeting room as if they were afraid that the other party would go back on their word.

Seeing the backs of them fleeing in embarrassment, Shen Qingze sat back slowly, restrained his irritable expression in a blink of an eye, and raised his eyebrows at Jin Da:

"Don't be lazy here, hurry up and receive supplies... Anyway, there is no need for these traitors who abandoned the city to escape."

Jin Da: "...Yes!"

You are truly worthy of being the officiant!

Yan Zui raised his eyes to look at him, and asked seriously: "This time, can you hold on?"

Shen Qingze pointed to the huge map on the wall, and moved his fingertips over the marks one by one: "Here, there are large wheat fields, which will start spring next year, waiting for us to harvest."

"Here is the workshop area that we have worked so hard to build. More than half of the young and middle-aged people in the city work here."

"Here is the residence of thousands of families. They managed to live a better life. How can they stop here?"

He stood up and said in a deep voice, "We not only need to guard our city, but also the fruits of our hard work!"

Xiao Meng stepped forward suddenly, with a serious face, and his military boots made a heavy sound on the floor: "From the guards, there will never be a single person who abandons the city and escapes. We will swear to protect Yuanliu City to the death! Until the moment of death!"

In the meeting hall, all the officials knelt on one knee, put their right hands on their chests, and made a loud oath: "We will swear to the death to protect Yuanliu City! Until the moment of death!"