Chapter 333: Rebel Or Refugees?

As the evening fell, darkness slowly covered Cardiff City.

Below the city walls, torches began to light up in the King’s camp. Countless flames stretched far into the distance, with no end in sight.

After Simon revealed his identity, murmurs began to rise among the people below.

Last year, news of Simon driving out the reavers had already spread across the Eldorian Empire through newspapers. Many commoners had heard of it.

The young man who had spoken earlier put away his arrogant look. He disappeared into the crowd, and a short while later, returned with a man in a black robe.

Simon looked at the scholar. The scholar looked back at him.

After a moment of silence, the scholar said. "Greetings to Prince Simon."

In the dim light, Simon couldn’t clearly see the scholar’s face; it was Michael. He spoke directly. "The King, I don’t understand why you’ve brought your troops to Cardiff City. The disasters in Preston weren’t caused by people. Though Prince Augustus made mistakes, now the real enemy is the reavers. You should see the big picture. Why would you do something that hurts your own and helps your enemies?"

The King’s deep voice replied. "Your Highness, you may have misunderstood. I came here only because we have no food. The people are starving. I only hope Your Highness can lend us some grain. As a citizen of the Eldorian Empire, how could I ever think of cutting off the Brambleford army’s supplies?"

"Rubbish! If you’re just borrowing food, why don’t you go to another city?" Timothy asked angrily.

The King calmly replied. "Even Your Highness has your troops ready for battle. How could the guards of other cities lend us anything? To them, we are nothing but rebels. They’d rather kill us on sight. But we are just starving people who had no choice but to take up weapons. I heard Your Highness is kind and willing to help victims of disaster, so I brought them here."

His words were clear and steady.

Looking at the endless sea of people, Simon knew that if they were peaceful, they were refugees; if not, they were rebels.

He couldn’t risk letting them into the city. If they caused trouble, he might lose the whole city, and Benjamin and the others might never return.

This wasn’t the time to act out of kindness. The people were under the King’s command now, and they would do what he said.

But since the King claimed he only wanted food, Simon tried to test him. "There is some food in the city. If you want to borrow grain, how much do you need?"

"Three hundred thousand bags of grain." The King replied calmly.

Simon’s face changed. He said. "That’s one bag per person, enough food for each of them for months. King, are you trying to make things difficult for me?"

The King remained calm. "Your Highness, the disaster in Preston won’t be over in just a few months. I don’t think it’s too much to ask."

At that moment, Simon understood the truth behind the King’s words.

He was no longer just against Prince Augustus; he was going against the entire Eldorian Empire. He wanted to overthrow the court.

Now that the southern part of Preston was under his control, his eyes were set on Cardiff City, the nearest city.

And the rise of Prince Gerad alongside him made the victims trust him more and more. They were willing to follow him in anything.

"Your Highness, the King is rebelling," Aiden said coldly.

Simon nodded. At this point, the King had shown his true colors.

Maybe at first, he had only wanted to help the starving people. But with each victory, his ambition grew. He might even believe that, with these people, he could reach for the throne.

And the King likely knew that once he crossed this line, there was no going back.

He was gambling everything. He had chosen the perfect time, when the Brambleford army was away, and the city’s defenses were weak.

Once someone takes this path, talk of kindness or loyalty becomes useless. In this world, only winners are remembered.

So what now?

That was the question in Simon and Aiden’s minds.

After a long moment, the two exchanged a look. With the city surrounded, there was only one option left: fight.

"What a pity for the innocent people." Simon sighed in his heart. These people didn’t understand. They only believed the King was right because he gave them food.

He never wanted to use force against disaster victims. But now, it seemed he had no choice.

Still, he gave one last warning. "King, in front of you is the Brambleford army, not the useless soldiers of Prince Augustus. You’d better think this through."

The King replied. "Your Highness, I’m only here to borrow food. If you refuse, then there’s nothing more to say. I can’t control starving people behind me if they get desperate."

Simon snorted coldly. He no longer wanted to speak with him.

’He’s too naive. These three or four hundred thousand people will eventually be wiped out by the Eldorian Empire. And he will fall with them.’

Even though the empire was weak, it still had enough power to crush a rebellion. If Prince Augustus hadn’t been busy fighting the reavers, these rebels wouldn’t have lasted this long.

Night fell deeper. The King, having just finished his march, didn’t seem eager to attack during the night. But the city of Cardiff City was now completely surrounded by hundreds of thousands of victims.

That night, the King stared at the small city of Cardiff City.

Just as Simon guessed, he had taken advantage of Brambleford’s weakness to act now.

Food in Preston was almost gone. Most of it was hidden in the city by Prince Augustus, but now that city was surrounded by reavers.

He didn’t dare mess with the reavers. A month ago, one of his 30,000-strong groups was crushed by just 10,000 reaver cavalry.

Even though he had trained civilians into a kind of militia, they were no match for the enemy cavalry.

Attacking the reavers would lead to disaster.

So he chose to face Prince Simon. To him, both Prince Augustus and Prince Simon were royals. What difference did it make?

In his eyes, Princes Gerad and Aurelia were far stronger, and he wasn’t ready to challenge them yet.

Only after taking over all the land from Preston to Brambleford could he begin to compete with those powerful princes.

Staring at Cardiff City, his ambition kept growing. He was no longer a poor scholar; he was now a commander of hundreds of thousands.

As he thought about how to take the city the next day, Simon was also thinking about how to capture the massive crowd of disaster victims.

Simon was determined. He could not allow the King to sacrifice the lives of these people. But to capture them, some casualties would be unavoidable.

"My Lord!" Said Aiden. "The King’s followers are just a disorderly crowd. They have no discipline or training. The people’s loyalty to him is also weak. I observed many of them; they looked unsure and hesitant. So I believe we shouldn’t stay behind the walls. Instead, we should go out and face them directly. Use the gunmen to scare them into surrender, and use cavalry to surround and capture them."