In years of famine and drought, their village even rejected fatty meat.

Chapter 748 Conspiracy

"Little Ma, how about we eat some?"

Inside the kitchen, Xu Xiaoma's companions stared longingly at the chunks of meat in their bowls, but reason told them that it was human flesh and they couldn't eat it.

But the hunger emanating from their bodies made them crave the meat in front of them.

"You can eat it if you want, but I'm definitely not eating it!"

Xu Xiaoma said weakly that as a human being, he would rather starve to death than eat human flesh.

"Uh……"

Seeing Xu Xiaoma's resolute tone, the group exchanged bewildered glances. They didn't want to eat human flesh either, but if they didn't, they would starve to death. Between survival and conscience, they seemed to have no choice...

Do not!

There are other options.

Suddenly, one of his companions gritted his teeth and said with a fierce expression, "Little Ma, how about we rebel?"

These words immediately startled everyone around!

Rebellion can result in the extermination of nine generations of one's family.

The Xia Dynasty ruled this land for three hundred years, and the concept of the inviolability of imperial power had long been deeply rooted in people's hearts. People's fear of rebellion was no less than that of death, and perhaps even greater.

"Are you out of your mind? You can't say that."

"Little Tiger, don't talk nonsense. Rebellion is punishable by the extermination of nine generations of your family."

"Little Tiger, watch your words!"

"..."

Those around him tried to dissuade the soldier named Xiao Hu. They were indeed extremely dissatisfied with the status quo and loathed Zhu Changhe, but when it came to rebellion, not many people could make up their minds.

Because a failed rebellion would not only result in their own deaths but also implicate their families, they were too burdened with such concerns to muster the courage to rebel.

"What are you afraid of!"

Despite the crowd's attempts to dissuade him, the soldier named Xiaohu retorted, "Rebellion will lead to death, and not rebelling will lead to starvation anyway. We're going to die either way, so why be afraid? Do you think you and your families will survive if we don't rebel? Impossible! There isn't a single grain of food left in the city. Even if your families are still alive, they probably won't last much longer!"

Xiao Hu's words were nothing short of a stab to the heart, shattering everyone's illusions.

In fact, everyone present knows that their families are living in dire straits.

Now even those responsible for guarding the city have no food to eat, so how much better off can their families inside the city be?

Perhaps some soldiers' families had already starved to death, but they still clung to a sliver of hope and refused to believe the truth.

Now that Xiaohu has revealed this fact, everyone's illusions have been shattered.

"Xiao Hu is right."

But at this moment, Xu Xiaoma added fuel to the fire in everyone's hearts again: "Even if we don't rebel, we and our families won't survive. Anyway, we have no way to live, so we might as well fight for survival and rebel!"

These words instantly ignited the anger in everyone's hearts.

When their illusions were shattered, all that remained in their hearts was a raging fire of anger.

"Little Ma, what do you suggest? We'll do whatever you say."

Everyone looked at Xu Xiaoma, their minds already made up.

Just as Xu Xiaoma said, since neither he nor his family had a way to survive anyway, they might as well try to survive against all odds.

"We do it like this..."

Xu Xiaoma lowered his voice and began to plot with his companions.

Meanwhile, in a house within the city, a similar conspiracy was also underway.

In the empty living room, two middle-aged men sat facing each other, seemingly plotting something.

If Xu Xiaoma and the others were here, they would immediately recognize the two men as commanders of ten thousand men in the Qingzhou Army.

That's right, both of these men are Lady Wan from the Qingzhou Army.

The original Qingzhou Army had ten commanders of ten thousand men, but after being defeated by the White Lotus Sect, only five of the original ten commanders remained.

The two men here are two of the five commanders of ten thousand.

The tall, bearded man was named Chen Ge, while the shorter, fair-skinned man was named Xie Yinghao.

Although Chen Ge and Xie Yinghao were commanders of ten thousand men, they were marginal figures in the Qingzhou army.

Because both men rose to the position of commander of ten thousand men based on their abilities and merits, and did not belong to Zhu Changhe's faction, they inevitably faced exclusion from Zhu Changhe and had almost no say in the Qingzhou army. In fact, as commanders of ten thousand men, they each had fewer than two thousand soldiers under their command.

"Brother Chen."

After taking a sip of tea, Xie Yinghao spoke first: "The prefectural city is on the verge of collapse. I wonder what Brother Xie plans to do?"

"Brother Xie, how do you intend to handle this situation?"

Chen Ge did not answer directly, but instead asked a question in return.

As high-ranking officers in the Qingzhou Army, Chen Ge and Xie Yinghao were naturally well aware of the current situation in the prefectural city.

The city is now completely out of food. Apart from wealthy families who have stored grain and can eat their fill, both soldiers and civilians are starving.

Under these circumstances, it was only a matter of time before the prefectural city was breached.

"That Zhu Changhe is utterly foolish."

Xie Yinghao couldn't help but curse, "The Yang family army has besieged the city for so long, yet they don't even have the courage to come out and fight. They've managed to blockade the city for 25 days, resulting in such a terrible situation!"

When the Yang family army first besieged the city, the Qingzhou army might not have been without a chance of winning if they went out of the city to fight against the Yang family army.

However, Zhu Changhe simply did not have the courage to fight against Yang's army and chose to defend instead.

If there were sufficient food supplies, a strict defense would not be impossible. However, the food reserves in the prefectural city could not last long. Zhu Changhe's defensive strategy completely deprived the Qingzhou army, which had a slight chance of breaking the deadlock, of that opportunity.

Now, the soldiers of the Qingzhou Army are all hungry and weak, unable to even lift their weapons, and have completely lost the ability to fight against the Yang Family Army.

"Zhu Changhe was already terrified by Yang Zheng, how could he dare to leave the city and fight against Yang's army!"

Chen Ge shook his head and sneered, "I'm afraid Zhu Changhe is still dreaming that the imperial court will send reinforcements."

In order to reassure the soldiers, Zhu Changhe had informed them about seeking help from the imperial court.

In response, Chen Ge said that Zhu Changhe must have lost his mind.

Rebellions are rampant throughout the Nine Provinces. The imperial court can't even control the rebels in other provinces, let alone send troops to rescue Qingzhou Prefecture.

"Zhu Changhe is greedy, lustful, and incompetent. With him around, it's only a matter of time before Qingzhou City falls."

Zhu Yinghao also shook his head and said, "However, Zhu Changhe's incompetence makes it easier for us to carry out our plans."

At this point, Zhu Yinghao paused, then said solemnly, "The city is currently in turmoil, and the people are filled with resentment. The soldiers in the army also have many complaints about Zhu Changhe. If we guide them a little, we will be able to open the city gates and make a great contribution."

Indeed, Zhu Yinghao and Chen Ge had long harbored rebellious intentions, or rather, thoughts of surrendering to the Yang family army.

The two men were ostracized by Zhu Changhe in the Qingzhou army and were not successful, so naturally they were not very loyal to Zhu Changhe.

As for loyalty to the imperial court...

What does loyalty mean in the face of death?