At the messenger's words, the gloom in his eyes immediately brightened. To him, Shen Tang's news was no different from a shot of heart-stirring tonic.
He knew perfectly well that Shen Tang's territory was small and sparsely populated. Even if Heyin seemed to be doing fairly well, throwing all its resources into the fight wouldn't be enough to feed those refugees and bandits two bites apiece. But if she was taking the initiative to contact the other three families, that changed everything.
Between the four of them, they could gather twenty thousand men at the very least.
It would be impossible to quell the refugee and bandit uprising.
But they had a very good chance of driving the enemy back and forcing them out of Luxia Prefecture. At the very least, they could buy the commoners of Luxia precious time to evacuate, so they wouldn't meet a gruesome end at the hands of the refugees and bandits.
The messenger's eyes immediately filled with tears, and he bowed deeply once more.
"Lord Shen is truly benevolent, willing to lend troops to resist the bandits and save the countless innocent commoners of Luxia... Though Hunting has nothing of value to offer, if I ever get the chance to serve Lord Shen, I'd gladly give my life for him..."
Shen Tang cut him off and helped him to his feet before he could finish.
"You needn't bow so deeply, Messenger."
It wasn't that she doubted the messenger's sincerity.
She firmly believed that he meant every word.
But the messenger was from Luxia Prefecture. His family was there, and he served under that fool surnamed Lu. The chances of him truly defecting to Shen Tang were practically zero. It was like how, no matter how much Shen Tang coveted Zhao Feng, she'd never expected