The real psychology of a man is always a kind of indifference to the woman he loves. Men do not understand a woman at the moment of love, nor do they want to understand her, even though understanding is the only moral basis for human union.

– Otto Weininger (Austrian philosopher)

The consumption of food by nearly 30,000 soldiers was very terrible, especially the Marquis of Bedouin and the down-and-out nobles who followed him, who themselves had no regular income and food reserves, and it was even more difficult to support them.

It is not that there is no food reserve in the warehouse of the county town of Brojansson, but it is all military rations belonging to the Burning Legion and the city defense army, and the 6,000 city defense troops in Brojansson Province, plus 30,000 soldiers of the Burning Legion, all the military rations needed for a month are hoarded in the warehouse.

If half of this large amount of grain were given to Bedouin's army, then both armies would be able to sustain about half a month; the crux of the question was whether the soldiers of the Fire Legion agreed to be their own rations and diverted for others.

The answer must be no, with only a month's stock of 30,000 soldiers of the Fire Legion, it is impossible to give half of their precious military rations to the Marquis of Bedouin, not to mention that the relationship between the Marquis of Bedouin and the Fire Legion is already very bad.

As for why the Flame Legion's rations were not in their barracks, but in the warehouses in the city of Bronjansson, this was a deliberate arrangement left by Bai Feng before he led his army on the expedition, and its purpose was naturally to exacerbate the conflict between the Marquis of Bedouin and the Flame Legion.

Bai Feng did not have much military rations left for the Flame Legion, and the next time the military rations distributed to the Flame Legion would be three days before they finished eating the food normally, so if the Marquis of Bedouin dared to embezzle the military rations of the Flame Legion, a conflict with the Flame Legion would inevitably break out directly.

There is no food to keep the army alive, and no matter how little courage Eder and the other three generals lack, they must respond in time; otherwise, how can the Fire Legion, which has lost at least half of its military rations, survive half a month without food?

Three days after the excited nobles settled in the county town of Brojansund, the cruel reality that the army was about to run out of food was finally put in front of the case of the Marquis of Bedouin;

The down-and-out nobles who had dragged their families to fully support the Marquis of Bedouin, two days before they arrived in the county town of Brojansson, were excited and did not mention the matter of letting the Marquis of Bedouin fulfill his promise, but not mentioning it for a while did not mean that he would never mention it.

The Marquis of Bedouin had been silent for three consecutive days, which made the down-and-out nobles who had gambled all their belongings a little unable to sit still, and it happened that the food for the guards of their families was almost gone, so everyone gathered at the governor's palace where the Marquis of Bedouin had just stayed.

In addition to the eight counts, all of whom were present, the nobles of the three ranks, the viscounts, the barons, and the knights, each of whom had six representatives of high prestige and status.

After these twenty-six nobles came to the governor's palace, the Marquis of Bedouin had a headache, but he did not refuse to receive them; after all, the Marquis of Bedouin still had to rely on their support in order to have the capital to continue the fight with the Fire Legion and Bai Feng.

"Your Excellency the Governor, the two hundred and forty guards of our family will run out of food in two days, when will you distribute a new batch of food to them?" An old earl who did not directly express his intentions still maintained the demeanor of a high nobleman.

"Earl Abraham, my governor's palace does not have enough food to distribute to you for the time being, I hope you can find a way to buy some food from the Westminster Chamber of Commerce or the Sophia Chamber of Commerce to sustain yourself for the first time, and in a few days, I will replenish it with gold coins. ”

"Your Excellency the Governor, whether it is the Westminster Chamber of Commerce or the Sophia Chamber of Commerce, their grain prices are not cheap!" Earl Abraham, whose family was about to be emptied, had to complain: "With our family's existing assets, we really can't afford it!"

......The Marquis of Bedouin, who had always been extremely good at words, was rarely speechless in the face of Count Abraham's complaints, not because he did not want to refute them, but because he knew in his heart that what Count Abraham said was indeed true.

"Your Excellency the Governor and Your Excellency Abraham, as far as we know, there is still a large amount of grain left by Bai Feng in the warehouse in the county town, since Bai Feng has now led his army out of here, why don't we take out this batch of grain and divide it?"

A lewd-looking baron, when he made his own suggestion, his eyes involuntarily showed a greedy gaze, and the other representatives of the nobility who had already had this intention heard the baron say the key, and they all looked at the Marquis of Bedouin on the throne.

"This ...... That batch of food is the military rations of the Flame Legion, and if we misappropriate it without permission, I'm afraid it's not very appropriate, right?"

The Marquis of Bedouin, who did not directly reject the baron's proposal, actually showed his disapproval, and the local nobles embezzled the military rations of the royal legion without permission, which was not a trivial matter, even if it caused trouble in front of Charlemagne, it was justified by the fire legion.

"Your Excellency the Governor, you are the supreme ruler of our province of Brojansund, even if the Fire Legion is a royal legion, it cannot disobey your orders while stationed in our province, not to mention that this grain is in the warehouse of our county, not in the barracks. ”

The Marquis of Bedouin's eyes suddenly lit up when Count Abraham said this: yes, this grain is in the warehouse of the county town of Brojansson, and not in the barracks of the Fire Legion, who can prove that this grain must be the army of the Fire Legion?

"In this case, I can take half of the grain in the warehouse and distribute it to your families, and as for the remaining half, we will distribute it to the Flame Legion by our Governor's Mansion as the military rations of the Fire Legion. ”

"The Governor is wise!" said the Marquis of Bedouin, who had won the cheap and well-behaved manner, and as soon as he finished speaking, the representatives of the nobles present complimented him in unison.

"The matter of food is so decided, do you have anything else?" The Marquis of Bedouin, who had solved the food problem because of Count Abraham's reminder, did not know what he remembered, and hurriedly ordered the expulsion of the guests: "If there is nothing to do, go back first." ”

The nobles, who looked at each other, did not really stand up immediately to take their leave, and at this time, most of the nobles did not have the courage to take the initiative to mention the real purpose of their own gathering at the Doge's Palace today, so they turned their eyes to Earl Abraham.

The old and serious Earl Abraham naturally knew that today was not a good time to be open and honest, but he also understood that if he continued to delay like this, his family's hole cards would gradually lose their value, which was obviously not in his family's interests.

Adhering to the belief that the interests of the family are above all else, Earl Abraham slowly spoke: "Your Excellency, you have been in the Governor's Palace for more than three days, can we, the family who firmly support you, contribute to your rule of the province of Bronjansson?"

As soon as Count Abraham said this, the troubled Marquis Bedouin understood that he could no longer delay the fulfillment of his promise, and if he found an excuse to delay, he was afraid that the down-and-out nobles led by Count Abraham would betray him.