Early the next morning, the people of Hammondale noticed that something had been posted on the bulletin board that had not been new for a while.

This is a proclamation issued by the lord in his personal name.

In the announcement, the lord explained to the people in detail the current plight of Hammondale and the fact that the elven army was crushing.

In the announcement, the lord stated that as a nobleman and a lord, it is his duty to defend the land and protect the people, and he will resolutely defend Hammondale and ensure the safety of the lives and property of the lords, and he claims that he will lead the guards to fight to the death against the invading enemy.

The proclamation then changed to a statement that the people should stay in their homes during the war, and that those whose houses were closer to the town's gates, the main street, and Hammondale Castle should find a way to temporarily move to other places to avoid being injured in the fighting.

The announcement also mentioned that due to the strong military strength of the enemy, the lord does not guarantee that the enemy will be repulsed, but is very likely to be defeated, if the lord's army is really unfortunately defeated, I hope that the lords can unconditionally surrender to the elven kingdom, obey the arrangements of the elven kingdom, avoid conflicts, and reduce unnecessary casualties.

At the same time, the lord expressed his deep apologies to the people of Hammondal, and was ashamed of his inability to protect the lords from the invaders, and said that since the lord himself was most likely to be captured or killed by the enemy, it was likely that the money borrowed from the lords would not be repaid, and in order to reduce the loss of the lords' property, the remaining gold coins in the castle's inventory would be returned to everyone from today, but since more than half of the gold coins had been used, only half of the IOUs could be returned, and the lords would forgive me, etc.

Finally, in order to show his determination to resist, the lord decided to execute the elven spy captured some time ago in front of the castle at noon today.

This announcement caused a great uproar among the lords.

Among them, the most shocking thing is that the Elven Kingdom disregarded the previous alliance between the two countries and the Treaty of Blackstone, and brazenly sent troops to Hammondal.

The Elven Kingdom and the Erathia Empire have been allied for a long time, and they have not fought each other for a long time, and the last war between the two countries was even more united against the enemy, advancing and retreating together.

And in the last war, even the flames of war were lucky not to burn Hammondale, allowing the Hammondales to escape.

Because of this, the people of Hammondale couldn't understand why the elves were tearing up the contract at such a time and sending troops to attack Harmondale.

For the elves to rule Hammondal, the hearts of the people are 100,000 unwilling.

Historically, elves have ruled Hammondale more than once, and the longest time has been that they have occupied the land for more than a hundred years, which is why many of the old houses in Hammondale are in the Elven style.

Overall, however, Hammondale has been part of the Erathian Empire for a longer period of time, as evidenced by the fact that almost all of its inhabitants are human.

Of course, this also has a lot to do with the xenophobia and immigration policy of the elves, who will always move the local natives to live in Yeri and Turalone every time they occupy a place, and arrange a large number of elven civilians to move to the local area to consolidate their rule.

This is understandable, but the bad is worse than the attitude of the elves towards other races. These arrogant elves have always believed that they are the most outstanding race on the continent, the darlings of the gods, and use their long life and beautiful appearance as evidence for this theory, and look down on other races on the continent very much.

Therefore, under the rule of the elves, the other races live a life of equality on the surface, but in fact a second-class citizenship, under the long-term disdain and high-pressure rule of the elves, except for the centaurs who do not want to leave the forest, almost all races have left Eli and Turalone, even the dwarves, who were once the closest allies of the elves, have also a considerable part of them under the leadership of the dwarf king, after the last war, chose to leave the forest and the elves, and went to live in their holy land of Baildus.

One can imagine what kind of treatment and thinking the other races who were relocated to Eli and Tulaone would have in such a situation.

Almost every year, a large number of non-elven races escape from Eri and Turalion.

Hammondale is located on the border of Turalea, and the locals are of course very knowledgeable about the elves' practices, and when they hear that the elves are going to attack Hammondal, and then think of the treatment they may receive, the lords are of course shocked.

Therefore, after the announcement, almost all the lords sincerely hoped that the lord would defeat the invading elven army.

It's a pity that the lord's announcement looks like a suicide note, and even the aftermath has been arranged.

To make matters worse, since it was winter, the weather was cold and the roads were closed by heavy snow, so the people had nowhere to flee even if they wanted to.

This left the town of Hammondale in a state of pessimism.

The sorceress Ash Temple stood quietly on the castle walls, looking out at the crowd that had been stirred by the announcement.

She couldn't understand the lord's intention to do this, what kind of effect could this announcement have besides causing panic among the lords?

I don't know what this lord thought about all night without sleeping, so early in the morning Wendell drafted such an announcement and posted it, and he looked confident, saying that the mountain people have their own clever plans, which is inexplicable.

At noon, the training ground outside Hammondale Castle was crowded.

The gallows, which had never been used since it was erected, opened for the first time today.

The elven spy was hanged by the order of the lord in full view of everyone. The body was then hung on a wooden pillar in front of the town's gates to demonstrate the lord's determination to resist to the end.

Then the lord gave an even more frustrating speech.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I have made it very clear to you in the announcement about the current situation, and I believe you have seen my determination. To be honest, I don't have a good way to do it at the moment, let alone a handle to win, the only thing I can do is to fight to the death, which is my responsibility as a lord. ”

Saying that, Jian Chen sighed, looked around at everyone, and continued: "But this is only my responsibility, not your responsibility, you are all civilians, and this war has nothing to do with you!" War is a matter between countries, and in this territory, the only one who can represent the Erathia Empire is the lord appointed by me, the empire. If the empire is doomed to defeat in this war, and someone is destined to die in battle, I really hope that the only person who died in the war is me, the one who represents the empire! ”

"So, I'm here to ask everyone to do as much as possible as the announcement says, so that fewer people can die! As for the money I borrowed from you, I can only say I'm sorry to everyone! ”

After saying these words, Chen Jian turned around without looking back and strode away from everyone's sight.

Behind him, a large muffled sobbing sound sounded.

(The second is more presented, with the best score of 18 newcomers)