In a chaotic and famine-stricken era, I picked up an empress to be my wife.

After several unsuccessful attempts to breach the city walls, the barbarians slumped down, seemingly having lost their will to fight.

Liu Wenyuan thought the Western Barbarians were nothing special and felt this was a good opportunity to eliminate them.

He then ordered his men to organize a ragtag army to go out and pursue the Western barbarians, annihilating them!

To Liu Wenyuan's astonishment, it was all a scheme by the Western Barbarians.

After their men left, the Western barbarians were no longer hanging their heads.

They became exceptionally brave, and it was only when others realized something was wrong that they quickly returned to the city.

Otherwise, all three thousand men sent out would be killed!

Even if some of them managed to escape, two thousand were still killed by the Western Barbarians.

It should be noted that the number of Western barbarians who came to attack Qingyang County this time was only a little over a thousand.

This terrifying combat power made Liu Wenyuan's legs go weak. Looking at the corpses scattered all over the city, his stomach churned and he vomited uncontrollably.

Those who were willing to follow Liu Wenyuan also discovered that although Liu Wenyuan seemed capable, he was actually a scholar who didn't even understand the principle of deception in war.

For a time, the morale of the entire hastily assembled army defending the city plummeted.

No matter how much Liu Wenyuan tried to salvage the situation afterward, morale could not be restored.

But Liu Wenyuan did not think he would fail because of this!

These Western barbarians are indeed formidable, but they are protected by high city walls, which are impossible for them to breach. He only needs to hold out until Li Huaiyi's reinforcements arrive.

At that time, those barbarians will surely pay for their blood debt!

But something that Liu Wenyuan hadn't mentioned happened again.

With the strength of the Western Barbarians, they indeed could not break through.

However, in the past ten days, Li Huaiyi's reinforcements have not arrived, and the city's food supplies are running low.

Under these circumstances, the people who had originally run back began to have thoughts of fleeing again.

Some people even started fabricating stories that Liu Wenyuan was controlling them and wanted them to die here with him.

Their actions greatly angered Liu Wenyuan. He was clearly trying to help these people and save their lives, yet they misinterpreted him in this way.

To resolve this matter, he gathered the people and shared his true thoughts.

But he underestimated the evil in human nature. His mind was of no use at all; on the contrary, it was only when he walked over from the audience that he realized what was wrong.

Several women ran over and spat at Liu Wenyuan, cursing him as a hypocrite who clearly wanted to lead them to their deaths while making himself sound noble. They said it was disgusting.

They demanded that Liu Wenyuan open the east gate now so they could leave immediately.

Being spat on and misunderstood in this way made Liu Wenyuan extremely angry.

But he held back!

He felt that his magnanimity and adherence to his scholarly integrity would make them more convinced of his abilities.

Backfired.

His so-called scholarly integrity and magnanimity only emboldened them to take advantage of his kindness.

That evening, a large number of people broke through the defenses of the east gate and forcibly left the city.

By the time Liu Wenyuan realized this, it was too late. The people had fled like a tide, leaving fewer than three hundred people behind. Even some soldiers had deserted.

Liu Wenyuan didn't know what he had done wrong.

He practically gave his heart and soul, so why do these people still misunderstand him like this?

He tried to pursue the civilians, hoping they would stay and wait for Li Huaiyi's reinforcements to arrive.

But no one listened.

Left with no other choice, Liu Wenyuan had to take a risk and have the remaining men take turns patrolling the city wall, creating the appearance that they still had a large number of men.

Using these methods, he successfully deceived the Western Barbarians for another three days.

What he never expected happened: some people, seeing that Liu Wenyuan was incompetent and that Li Huaiyi did not send any reinforcements, circled the city and then went to join the Western Barbarians, leading them and informing them that there were only a little over three hundred people left in Qingyang County!

If we keep attacking, we can take it in half a day.

Upon learning of this, Liu Wenyuan, who was wholeheartedly striving to improve the lives of ordinary people, almost lost all faith.

He treated the people with his whole heart, and they betrayed him?!

"My lord, let's escape! I heard that Shen An has set up a stronghold in Black Mountain Village. If we go and seek refuge with Shen An, perhaps we'll still have a chance to make a comeback!" Liu Wenyuan's deputy, Liao Bing, suggested.

"Go to Shen An for refuge? You're telling me to abandon the city and flee?" Liu Wenyuan immediately became furious.

"My lord, we are not abandoning the city and fleeing, but simply avoiding unnecessary sacrifices. We are merely retreating!" Liao Bing explained.

"Hmph! Utterly foolish! Shen An's side has at most two hundred men. What use would it be to join them? We'd only invite Shen An's ridicule!" Liu Wenyuan scoffed. "You all stay here with me and guard this place. Die here, or die here!"

"What's the point of staying here? Even if we all die, we still can't stop them!" Liao Bing sighed. "It's better to leave the city and find other forces. Even if we don't go to Shen An, we can still put up a fight if we gather other people's strength!"

"No, I absolutely refuse to desert. It's no use asking anyone; they're all terrified. I've realized Li Huaiyi won't send reinforcements. We're doomed!" Liu Wenyuan cried out in despair, looking as if he'd aged ten years in an instant. "Fine, if you want to live, I won't stop you. I'm just telling you, don't have any hope for Shen An! If you want to escape, find a way to leave Qingyang County. Maybe you'll be safe once you reach Qingping County!"

"And what about you?"

"I, Liu Wenyuan, have never been one to run away. I will stay here and live or die with Qingyang County!" Liu Wenyuan's face was full of determination. In his view, as long as he stayed here, he could preserve his integrity and perhaps even make a name for himself in history, creating a legendary tale.

Liao Bing didn't try to persuade Liu Wenyuan anymore; he had seen enough of the man's pedantry and stubbornness.

Since Liu Wenyuan wanted to stay here and wait to die, he wouldn't stop him.

"Magistrate Liu, take care!"

After Liao Bing clasped his hands in a salute, he led the remaining three hundred-plus soldiers through the east gate toward Heishan Village.

Although Shen An's side has fewer people, it is the only one in the vicinity with a stronghold. If not Shen An, who else should we look for?

Standing on the city wall, Liu Wenyuan looked in the direction Liao Bing had gone and shook his head repeatedly: "Utterly foolish, utterly foolish!"

After saying this, Liu Wenyuan opened the wine flask, walked to the west gate, and looked at the Western barbarians approaching the city.

He took a big gulp and roared at them, "I am Liu Wenyuan, the magistrate of Qingyang County, Daliang! Today, I would rather die than submit!"

He felt incredibly proud, but to the Western Barbarians and the people who had submitted to them, he was nothing but a joke.

The city gates were breached quickly.

Liu Wenyuan was surrounded by the Western Barbarians.

He was prepared to die, but Abudu, the leader of the Western Barbarians, had no intention of killing Liu Wenyuan.

Seeing that the other party was not going to kill him, Liu Wenyuan thought that Abudu was impressed by his integrity.

However, the result was that Liu Wenyuan, as the only official left in Qingyang County, was spared his life, which was tantamount to having a spoil of war.

Killing the people of Daliang is nothing; making their officials their slaves is the true conquest!

Abudu locked Liu Wenyuan in a dog cage, leaving him to be with dogs.

Only then did Liu Wenyuan realize that people didn't respect his integrity at all...

"Chen Jing, Qingyang County is now an empty city. It means nothing to us Western Barbarians. What we need is food, wealth, and people. Do you know where there are any strongholds left in Qingyang County?" Abdu asked the seemingly loyal man in front of him, while he was on the city wall with a Qingyang County woman who had thrown herself into his arms.

Liu Wenyuan recognized Chen Jing; he was a scholar from Qingyang County, a man of exceptional literary talent, and a young man whom Liu Wenyuan had always greatly admired.

"Chen Jing, where is your integrity? How could you work for the Western barbarians?" Even though he was locked in a dog cage, Liu Wenyuan could not suppress his anger.

Chen Jing sneered, "I hadn't met a wise ruler before, but now that I have, of course I'll serve him!"

"Didn't you say before that you wanted to serve your country and protect the people?"

"Hehe, serving the Western Barbarian Kingdom is also serving, protecting the people of the Western Barbarian Kingdom is also protecting them. Don't you even think about why the Western Barbarian Kingdom would attack Daliang? It's not because they are vicious, but because the Western Barbarian Kingdom has failed to harvest its crops and its people are starving to death."

"These are all things we had to do out of necessity. If you think all of this is unreasonable, it just means you haven't broadened your perspective yet!" Chen Jing said, shaking her head.

These words nearly made Liu Wenyuan choke on his words: "You, you, you...."

"You bastard!" Chen Jing cursed, then pleaded, "Leader, please gag this man!"

"No need to block him, I quite enjoy seeing his foolish expression!" Abdul said, sipping his wine. "You continue talking, and if he dares to say another word about you, I'll have someone slap him in the face!"

"Haha, that's excellent!" Chen Jing immediately said, "Chief, based on my understanding, those people who have not submitted to you will definitely head south to Qingping County, which is a key county that Jiedushi Li Huaiyi wants to protect. It will be quite difficult to catch up with them."

However, those lowly people are stupid; once they run into trouble over there, they'll come back.

It's not too late to deal with them then.

There's a stronghold nearby called Black Mountain Village, with several hundred people living there. You could capture them and use them as your slaves!

"Damn it, Chen Jing, you're absolutely wicked!" Liu Wenyuan couldn't help but curse. He wasn't worried about Shen An and the others' safety; he was afraid that after they were dealt with, Shen An and the others would become lackeys like Chen Jing.

"beat!"

Abdul gave the order.

"Chief, let me fight, okay?" Chen Jing volunteered.

"Alright, go ahead! This chieftain is still very interested to see you Liang people fighting like dogs!" Abdu laughed loudly.

"Woof woof woof!" Chen Jing barked a few times to please the dog, then walked toward Liu Wenyuan's dog cage with a mocking smile.