While the entire Turin Expeditionary Force was celebrating, the silent City of the Bright Stars was also spending the long night. The cold moonlight pierced through the misty clouds, and in the dead and cold streets, the salty sea breeze whipped up the choking smoke and whined at the mouth of the deserted alley. The scarlet-eyed hyena rummaged through the garbage heap in the corner, but there was nothing but a beggar curled up next to him, wrapped in old leather.

The ancient and glorious Bright Star City, the most dazzling "eye" of the Kingdom of Dominica, once again became the capital of the entire Dominica, but now it has been abandoned by all the Dominica city-states, tens of thousands of Turin troops are outside the city, all towns and villages have been occupied, and only such a lonely city remains.

Cosimo Otovic, standing on the ramparts, looked desperately at the battleship with purple sails in the Turin barracks in the distance, and in the afternoon, a purple-sailed mercenary who had risked his life to run back from the Turin barracks brought back the news that had brought the entire city of Bright Star City to collapse.

Landzel, an illegitimate scum, actually betrayed the great Ottovik family with the Purple Sail Mercenary Regiment, and even surrendered to the Turines with the entire fleet of Bright Star City!

Already blockaded, Bright Star City has completely lost its last resistance to the last of its resistance, leaving only the militia, guards and mercenaries of Bright Star City who have not had time to escape - after being defeated once by the Knights of the Sacred Tree, they don't even have the courage to go out of the city to face it, and only dare to hide behind the city walls.

Not long ago, when the Turineites raided the port, the defenders of Bright Star City had to fill in the last of their elite forces, and the fortress was still narrowly breached. The patriarch of the Otovík family, in utter despair, finally stepped forward and used a meteor shower at a considerable price to turn the entire port into a sea of fire before repelling the Turines.

But just this time, the price paid by the Otovik family is not only the sacrifice of an important family member - not to mention the fact that the death of the patriarch is already a heavy price, and the victory that was originally hopeless is facing the dilemma of falling apart with the sacrifice of the leader!

Cosimo let out a long sigh, turned back and walked down the wall, and got into the carriage that had come to meet him under the service of his servants. Tonight, all the nobles of the Shining Star City will meet in the Great Council Hall to discuss how to defend against the next attack of the Turineites - it is clear that the Turineites will no longer have an appetite for peace, and the only way to end the war is through war!

In the city of bright stars in the middle of the night, except for the aristocratic mansions in the distance, there is no light at all on the empty streets. The roads were littered with piles of garbage and sludge, and the scrawny hyenas around the corner of the alley were searching for food, and there was not a single shop to be seen except for the closed doors.

With the blockade of the people of Turin from the harbor and the land, all the important farms and countryside outside the city of Bright Star fell, and the whole city lost its source of supplies, and could only rely on the grain stored in the treasury to survive, and the price of goods rose to unimaginable levels, half a bag of potatoes cost a silver coin, a whole piece of beef even cost a gold coin, and the price of bread and wheat skyrocketed, but there were fewer and fewer bakeries willing to open, and many people could not buy food even if they had money.

And just a few short months ago, the city of Bright Stars, which had just won the civil war, was once a glorious city that never sleeps—Cosimo gazed nostalgically at the deep streets that rushed past him, as if he could still see the brightly lit bustle of the scene, but now the spacious streets were filled with nothing but garbage and a few beggars strewn across the alleys.

Shortly after a sigh, the carriage finally stopped in front of a gilded and silver-decorated marble palace, and the respectful guards invited the important member of the Otovík family into the halls of the palace. With soft wool carpets and beautiful frescoes, the spacious and brightly lit hall finally made Cosimo feel much more comfortable.

Smiling and greeting a few of the Bright Star City magnates he knew, Cosimo headed deeper into the hall - like all Dominica restaurants, important meetings were often accompanied by grand banquets, the circular hall was filled with a variety of soft couches for everyone to choose from, and the tables under the silver-plated candlesticks were filled with exquisite delicacies, which were mouth-watering just to look at.

Filled with Turin-style lamb chops and pigeon pies, creamy mushroom soup and grilled pears, oily pork sausages and pan-fried crucian carp, and the Dominicans' favourite scones and cheese...... Coupled with the intoxicating wine in the glass bottles of different shapes, it can be called an exquisite and sumptuous dinner.

But Cosimo, who had just come back and saw the depressed and decadent appearance of Bright Star City, suddenly lost his appetite in the face of these sumptuous delicacies on the table. And the nobles of Bright Star City, who also came to participate in this meeting, did not have much mood to enjoy the banquet in the face of the Turin army outside the city, the city wall that would be breached at any time. The sweet wine flows down the throat, but the taste is extremely bitter.

Panic, quarrels, accusations...... As the whole meeting began, all kinds of chaotic voices filled the entire hall, and everyone was insulting each other, believing that it was the other's fault that led to the current situation, or turning the finger at Cosimo and even the Ottovic family!

The irritable Cosimo simply shut his mouth and let them talk nonsense there, this kind of guy is at least sane, and the rest of the guys who are not rational are even more irritable - there are still people counting on other Dominica city-states for help, and they keep saying that the Honan family will not abandon Bright Star City.

Did his brain get into the water or was kicked by a donkey? Didn't the Otovik family rely on a conspiracy to overthrow the Honan family to get to where they are today?! Can't he still see that this so-called war between "Turin and Bright Star City" is the masterpiece of this group of Hanan family and another group of scum, is there a strange thing in history that a certain Dominic city-state has fought against the Kingdom of Turin alone?!

It's already obvious that all the Dominica city-states have chosen to abandon the Otovik family and the ancient Bright Star City, and the damn Hanan family is definitely the first to bear the brunt - Cosimo, who was knocked in the face, naturally understands that there is definitely something wrong with Isaac Hanan, who was installed in the emissary group!

"Ladies and gentlemen, aren't you still clear about the situation now?" Looking at the extremely ugly faces of this group of people, Cosimo, who couldn't help it at all, finally got up from his seat and put down his wine glass: "No one will come to save us except ourselves, and now we are the only ones who can defend Bright Star City and protect our families and property!"

"But who can stop them, even the Zifan Mercenary Regiment has mutinied! The whole city has stripped the last copper plate for this war, and all the young men are armed, can they stop the Turinees? They have tens of thousands, tens of thousands!"

The desperate middle-aged aristocrat sat on the chair and shouted and screamed, holding his head and hoarsely hissing: "We're finished, we're all finished!"

"That's right, if we don't resist, it's really going to be the end - whether the people of Turin know the truth or not, their army has already hit the city of Bright Stars, and they will never stop without turning us to ashes!" Cosimo clenched his fists helplessly: "We can raise our hands and surrender, hoping that these barbaric Turineites only want to usurp our wealth, kneel on the ground and bow to them, nod and bow, and all the glory and dignity of the thousand-year-old Bright Star City will come to naught!"

"We can also choose another way, we will fight to the death. As he spoke, Cosimo lifted the wine glass from the table, flicked his wrist, and poured it on the clean tablecloth: "Just like this glass of wine, stain all the walls of Bright Star City red, and defend our dignity." ”

"And after a bloody battle, the people of Turin, who are still left with nothing, can only withdraw their troops, and maybe they will ask for compensation, but at least they can understand one thing - our city-state is not so easy to conquer!"