Back at the camp, Elder Ladon, Scarface, and the others, who had been waiting for a long time, immediately gathered around.
"How was it? What's the situation inside the city? How much grain are they willing to provide?" Elder Ladon asked impatiently.
Slicked-Back Hair grimly tossed the small sample of moldy grain onto the table, his voice heavy with suppressed anger and frustration:
"Elder, generals... I'm afraid... I'm afraid that chancellor played us!"
He described in detail everything he had seen and heard after entering the city.
The lazy guards, the moldy emergency rations piled at the gate, the financial hardship documents scattered everywhere, the servants' careless complaints, and the chancellor's emotional tale of poverty.
"The whole of Okhema, from top to bottom, reeks of poverty and decay!"
Slicked-Back Hair gritted his teeth.
"That chancellor kept claiming he cared about the campaign army, yet he tried to fob us off with food not even dogs would eat!"
"He even said powerful enemies were surrounding the city and that they could barely protect themselves!"
The tent instantly erupted in uproar.
"What?! They only gave us this pile of garbage?"
"Outrageous! Okhema has been prosperous for a thousand years. How could it possibly be this poor? They must be making excuses!"
"I think they just can't bear to give it up! They want to keep the good stuff for themselves!"
The Scarface general slammed a hand onto the table and roared:
"I said it long ago! There's no reasoning with slippery bastards like them! We should just storm the place and take it all!"
"Once that happens, won't everything in the Holy City be ours to command?!"
Elder Ladon narrowed his eyes, pondered for a moment, and asked:
"Tell me, those Earth Beasts on the walls... you saw them with your own