"Tear down the noble plutocrats, and reclaim our free lives."
"Tear down the noble plutocrats, and reclaim our free lives!!!"
Hundreds of people raised their arms, shouting slogans, holding long banners, and loudly chanting their rallying cries throughout the city, deafening the senses.
In the distance from the marchers, a scene of plundering was unfolding.
Whether they were vagrants, refugees, or disguised rebels from within the city, they were plundering wantonly, tearing down buildings, and digging three feet deep to secure any useful resources.
Refugees fought violently over a mouthful of food.
Blood flowed, heads were split open.
The wails of children, the cries of women, the angry roars of men, were constantly reenacted within the city's districts, turning the entire city into a veritable hell on earth.
Here, there were no laws or rules, only the struggle to survive with primal instincts.
It was hard to imagine that the once prosperous city had fallen to such a state; even the most remote settlements offered a survival environment several times better than this.
"Any movement from Klay's side?"
In a dilapidated building somewhere in the city-state, a man with a hooked nose gazed intently at the others beside him.
"Hmph, that guy is like a turtle in its shell, not leaving the Governor's Mansion even half a step," the man with a large mole on his face snorted. "The entire Governor's Mansion is so tightly guarded by Lauren that it's impossible to infiltrate. Occasionally, when Klay leaves the mansion to distribute relief food, he's surrounded by several powerful guards. Trying to move against him is almost impossible."
"Most importantly, his popularity among the refugees and vagrants is very high right now."
A fox-person leaning against the wall narrowed his eyes and said, "He's been distributing relief food to those refugees lately, and they treat him like an ancestor. Before our people can even think about assassinating Klay, those refugees will spontaneously protect him."
"Klay is quite cunning,"
A hyena beastman, sitting on a pile of hay, licked his claws and grunted.
"He uses grain to win over the populace of the refugees, while being indifferent to the natives of our city. It seems he's determined to fall out with us natives, aiming to reclaim ownership of the city through the refugees. The number of refugees in our city is not small, we have to be wary."
"Using refugees to fight us, how smart can he be?"
The hooked-nose man sneered dismissively, "Refugees and vagrants, aren't they just people fleeing disasters? Unable to stand firm in their original cities, do they really have a place here? Needing relief just to barely survive, what capabilities can they possibly have?"
"That's true, but there are so many of them," the fox-person frowned.
At this moment, throughout the city of Fengqi, refugees and vagrants accounted for more than half of the city's population. If these people united, they would be a considerable force.
The city was divided, with many factions.
If the original inhabitants of their city could unite as one, they might not fear these refugees. The problem was that the natives were not united, each with their own hidden agendas.
Anyone with eyes could see it.
The entire city had already been split into several factions, completely fragmented.
"So what if there are many of them? Do you really think those refugees can accomplish anything?" the hooked-nose man said dismissively. "Don't look at how the refugees adore Klay now; haven't you considered why they do that? It's because Klay can provide them with food to fill their stomachs, allowing them to barely survive in hunger and cold. Klay is their only hope for survival, and they must support him. But what if Klay can no longer provide them with food?"
The hooked-nose man looked around at the others in the dilapidated building.
"As long as we capture the grain-procuring team Klay sent out this time and cut off Klay's grain supply to the refugees, within half a month, those refugees will no longer support Klay, and might even turn against him. At that time, the refugees will no longer be Klay's shield, but daggers aimed at Klay's chest."
Upon hearing this, everyone remained silent but had to admit that the hooked-nose man was right.
"Do we really have to do this?" Suddenly, a young man with worry in his eyes emerged from the dimness of the building, frowning at the hooked-nose man and the others. "Since Klay took office, he hasn't done anything excessive. It was the nobles who became more and more outrageous. But now that the nobles have fled, this city has a chance for a turnaround. Think again about Klay's actions during this period; even though the city is so divided, he is still making every effort to procure grain and distribute it to those in need. Are the things he's doing wrong?"
"He hasn't done anything wrong."
The hooked-nose man, resting his arms on his knees, shook his head, his gaze calm.
"I've never said Klay is a villain. Relatively speaking, he is indeed much better than the former rulers. But he hasn't really done anything either. Has he made any changes to the city's taxes? Has he paid any attention to the nobles' exploitation of us? Everything he's doing now is actually just what a 'person' should do."
"So, just because he acts like a person, we must support and uphold him?"
"And has he really obtained any benefits for us natives? Isn't all the grain he acquired being distributed to those external refugees?"
"In the end, refugees are outsiders; they have no feelings for this city like we do."
"What they need is just a shelter to shield them from the wind and rain. Do they care about the city's survival? If this city is destroyed like other towns, they can abandon this city without any hesitation and find another city to shelter them."
"Hurricane City is our home, not theirs!"
The hooked-nose man shouted with bulging veins on his forehead, his chest filled with anger. The only one who had spoken up for Klay said no more.
"If the city is rotten, it should be overthrown!"
"The alternation of old and new city lords, the flight of nobles, internal strife and chaos in the city - this is our only chance to overthrow all of this. If Klay were to firmly establish himself as the city lord in time, do you think we would still have a chance to change all this?"
"And then continue to live in subservience."
"Carry those heavy taxes on our shoulders, become slaves under the hands of those managers, let them cling to us like parasites, sucking our blood?"
"They fill their coffers to the brim, while we struggle to survive in the cracks?"
"Do you want to experience such days again?"
Each question was like a needle, piercing the hearts of everyone present.
"I must make them realize their mistakes. Even if I die in the end, I don't care," the hooked-nose man grunted, narrowing his eyes. "As long as my death can bring about even a little change, it's worth it."