On the day Jiang Yue learned the news, the sentinels sent by Mr. Hu also noticed the existence of this group of people.
Different from the reaction of San Gou and the others, after Master Hu got the news, he immediately became a little suspicious, always feeling that some unscrupulous people were coming to seek his fortune at any time.
It’s not that he overreacted. Judging from the intelligence, these people were obviously avoiding the disaster caused by the ground smoke. Perhaps they were not well prepared for the long journey. Most of them were in ragged clothes and had good food. It was clear from the look that they were living a good life. difficult.
But even so, these people are very capable and agile, and they are not mediocre people at first glance.
If the earthquake disaster hadn't happened so quickly, these people would never have lived in such poverty.
Judging from the number of people, these people are not as numerous as Master Hu. Moreover, Master Hu still has the danger of the castle to defend, so it stands to reason that there is no need to scare a few hundred people here.
But Mr. Hu has just won the inheritance. Not to mention that the foundation is unstable, even his own mentality has not stabilized yet, and the feeling of guilty conscience has not been completely eliminated.
Because of this, he didn't even want to let the three mushroom men who worked for him leave alive.
If it is targeted by hundreds of people, even if it does not pose a threat this time, who can guarantee that these hundreds of people will not spread it.
When the time comes, it will be passed down to ten, and it will be passed down to hundreds. Once his feng shui treasure is exposed and he is targeted by other powerful forces, and his foundation is not stable, there will definitely be endless troubles.
But now that he had just captured the castle, some of his soldiers and horses were damaged and were still recovering, and he really didn't want to fight this battle again.
Hundreds of people from the other side were sent out together. Even if they didn't attack the castle, do some damage on the outside, and loot the fields, the losses would be enough to make him feel bad.
"Let's talk about it, how to deal with it?" Mr. Hu sat in the high hall, his eyes sweeping across the backbone of his subordinates one by one.
The first one stayed on Lie Chi. Lie Chi has been in low spirits these past few days. In addition, he has some injuries and has no desire to express himself. It's not like Lao Ba and Lao Butler Zhu, who change their ways to show loyalty and positivity.
Lie Chi felt Master Hu's eyes looking at him, raised his head, and said with a wry smile: "Master Hu, our team has just experienced a big battle, and the damage is close to 20%. If we go to fight another battle at this time, we don't know the depth of it." , I’m worried that the team won’t be able to handle it.”
Master Hu actually didn't want to fight this battle, but he never wanted to hear such depressing words from his men.
As the most capable general under his Lord Tiger, Lie Chi should be full of fighting spirit at all times. He should be high-spirited and show great fighting confidence when facing any challenge.
Having said these depressing words, how will Mr. Hu operate later?
As the superior, whether to fight or not to fight, these two options must be considered at the same time and both must be considered as alternatives.
Sometimes, just because you don’t want to fight doesn’t mean you can really stop fighting.
But if Lie Chi expresses his stance like this, if there is to be a fight later, how can this morale be boosted? The general himself became timid before fighting, and his fighting spirit was completely gone.
Lao Ba observed his words and knew that Lord Tiger didn't like hearing these words from Lie Chi, so he hurriedly said: "Lie Chi, as the number one general under Lord Tiger, you must take up the fight. You should not say anything at any time. If you can't bear it. Mr. Hu has been raising troops for thousands of days. Could it be that just one battle has destroyed the morale of the team? Then what else do you, the general, do?"
Lao Ba actually has a good relationship with Lie Chi. On the one hand, his words are to please Master Hu and express himself, but on the other hand, they are also to knock Lie Chi and remind Lie Chi not to be stupid and speak indiscriminately. You need to know how to figure out your master's thoughts.
In the final analysis, Lao Ba still wants to win over Lie Chi. He didn't want to be compared to Lao Zhu on this territory in the future.
Although he knew that this was Master Hu's balancing act, leaving Lao Zhu without killing him was also a check and balance on his Lao Ba, and served as a spur to him to work harder.
But knowing is one thing, but how to compete is another.
If I can manage my relationship with Lie Chi well, I won't be afraid of Lao Zhu being the latecomer.
Lie Chi is a loyal person, but his brain is not bad. After Lao Ba hit me like this, my brain suddenly woke up.
After all, my attitude just now was still affected by my recent emotions. Although those negative words were true, to Master Hu, they were definitely not what he wanted to hear.
At that moment, he cupped his hands and said: "Master Hu, I will do our best to rectify the team, improve the morale of the team, and be ready for battle at any time. It is only natural that brothers eat from Master Hu and work hard for Master Hu."
Mr. Hu gave a faint hum, and his face finally looked a little better.
"What do you two think?"
He asked about Lao Zhu and Lao Ba.
Lao Ba said: "Master, I personally feel that this battle cannot be fought. It's not that Lie Chi and the others can't fight it, but it's just not worthwhile to fight this kind of war of attrition. If we don't lose a single person, it's all a loss for us at this stage." . Recruiting a loyal combatant and cultivating his loyalty may take half a year, or even three to five years. But killing a person in battle may take seconds. We are currently replenishing combatants. The channels are very narrow, so we have to fight one by one and miss the next one.”
"If you don't fight, others may not be able to give you peace. This group of people is extremely short of food and grass supplies, and it will be a matter of time before they find this way. Once the two sides collide, friction will definitely occur. With friction, whether to fight or not to fight, it is not us It can be decided unilaterally. The other party is so anxious that he will do anything for a bite of food." Mr. Tiger uses himself to save others. If it were him himself, leading a team of hundreds of people who had been short of food and drink, it must have been Burning, killing and looting.
"Lao Zhu, what do you think?"
"Master Tiger, it's hard to judge now whether to fight or not. We must be prepared for both. If it can be solved through negotiation, for example, by lending the other party a batch of grain and grass, or simply sending a batch of grain and grass to the other party, and if it can be sent away, it will be better. You might as well give them some. We have nothing else in the castle, and we still have plenty of food."
When Mr. Hu heard this, he was somewhat disappointed.
This solution of ceding territory and compensating for compensation sounds very humiliating. With Mr. Hu's character, he simply doesn't want to suffer the disadvantage of being dumb.
"Master Hu, the overall situation is the most important thing. You have just established your business now. If you can buy yourself some development time by giving up a little profit, why not do it?" Butler Lao Zhu reminded.
The same thing, expressed in another way, sounds much more comfortable. Isn't this just retreat in order to advance? Give up some small profits to ensure temporary peace and buy yourself time to grow stronger.
"The most important thing is that even if Mr. Hu doesn't give it, if they really kill here on a large scale and plunder the fields, they can still plunder a large amount of materials. The losses may be even greater by then. Even if Mr. Hu can kill hundreds of people If we kill them all, our side will definitely be severely damaged. It’s not worth it to both sides.”
It sounds like Butler Lao Zhu is really determined to assist Master Hu and make suggestions for Master Hu. These ideas of his are indeed the ones closest to Master Hu's.
Master Hu doesn't want to fight, but he doesn't want to fight inside, and he can't appear too humble or have any impact on his authority.
Lie Chi and Lao Ba only talked about the current situation that they could not fight. There is no solution given for how to solve the problem without fighting.
Although Lao Zhu's plan is still somewhat useless, at least it has such a reputation in terms of argument.
Suddenly, Lie Chi thought of something and took the initiative: "Master Hu, actually there is still a way to avoid this battle."
"What can I do?" Master Hu asked calmly.
"We have a distinguished guest in our castle, Mr. Duo, who is of the Baoshu clan. If Mr. Duo goes out to beat the other party, and then casually supports some supplies to the other party out of righteousness. In this way, it will be both kindness and power. It will not damage Master Hu's side. His prestige can make the other party retreat in spite of difficulties."
Duo Ye?
Mr. Hu felt a little embarrassed. In the past few days, he had placed Mr. Duo in a very high position, but he had always kept him in high esteem. It seems to be honorable, but in fact it is alienating.
The intention is self-evident, it is to alienate Mr. Duo and make him retreat when faced with difficulties. Then there is no need to cut off the benefits promised before.
Unexpectedly, it has only been a few days. Will Duoye, the Baoshu clan identity, be used again?
Not to mention, Lie Chi is a fool who usually doesn't know how to turn around, but this time he came up with a good idea.
The name of the Baoshu Clan is still very convincing and bluffing in the inner earth world.
At least he, Master Hu, is very afraid of the Baoshu clan's name. Otherwise, given his personality, how could he be so polite to Master Duo since he has occupied the foundation here and is so arbitrary?
"Master Hu, I really like Lie Chi's proposal. Master Duo has to take action in this matter. The Baoshu Clan bloodline is still very intimidating. If the other party knows that this is the territory of cooperation with the Baoshu Clan, even if it is ambitious, , and we must be wary of three points."
Lao Ba naturally agreed with Lie Chi's proposal and highly appreciated it.
Master Hu was actually moved. But thinking about what happened in the past few days, he was a little worried. Although he didn't explicitly alienate Mr. Duo, he didn't come to visit him in the past few days. I wonder if Mr. Duo will be suspicious or think too much?
Once Mr. Duo thinks too much, will he agree if he comes to ask him to take action this time?
There is no doubt that with that bastard Ah Qian by Duo Ye's side, there will definitely be someone who will stir up dissension. If Mr. Duo has any brain, he will think too much.
What's more, although Duo Ye has a twisted personality, he is undoubtedly also a smart person.
Mr. Hu could think with his toes that it would not be that easy to ask Mr. Duo to come forward to make things right this time.
While they were discussing, suddenly someone came to report in a hurry.
"Master Hu, the two sentinels who were out at the city gate have been withdrawn. One of the brothers was seriously injured, and the other one was also seriously injured."
What?
Master Hu's face darkened, and he suddenly stood up.
I'm really worried about what's going to happen.
"Go over and have a look." Mr. Hu waved his hand and left the hall in an aggressive manner, quickly speeding towards the city gate.
Naturally, others had to follow quickly. The sentry was injured, so there must have been a conflict. So, it's probably that force that has begun to move in this direction on a large scale, and has already encountered peripheral sentinels.
Mr. Hu and the others didn't want to cause trouble, but trouble came to them.
Outside the city gate, the seriously injured sentry had a fatal wound from his waist and ribs. When Master Hu arrived, he had already died.
The other one's injuries were relatively minor, but he also had several external injuries all over his body. It was he who rushed back to the castle with his companions on his back to ask for help.
Unexpectedly, as soon as he came back, his companion died before he could get treatment.
The atmosphere at the scene suddenly became extremely solemn.
After Master Hu checked the injury, he said coldly: "Tell me, what's going on?"
The slightly injured sentry knelt down on one knee and said angrily: "Master Hu, those people are so tyrannical. There are seven of us sentries in total. Except for the two of us, everyone else has..."
"What?" The veins on Mr. Hu's forehead swelled. "Everyone else is broken?"
The sentry choked up and said: "Yes, they set up a pocket formation, and dozens of people suddenly surrounded us. They killed three of our brothers on the spot. Two other brothers were also killed by them when they were retreating. They were pursued one after another. If we weren't familiar with the territory here, even the two of us wouldn't be able to break out."
"They did this for no reason?" Master Hu still didn't believe it. There are only a few hundred people on the other side, how dare you be so arrogant?
"They seemed to be talking about avenging brothers or something. I don't know what they meant. But the seven of us have never touched any of them. We don't even know that we have alarmed them. Before that, we were just supervising them. I have not had any contact with them.”
"You haven't moved. Where are the other sentinels?"
"I don't know, but we all have orders and will not take the initiative to provoke and kill people."
Master Hu then asked about the battle situation. Most of the combatants who can serve as sentinels are very clever and their strength is much higher than that of ordinary guards.
Through the sentinel's answer, Mr. Hu made a simple review of the battle situation at that time.
The results of the review made him even more depressed.
Although the opponent had dozens of people surrounding them to kill them, their arrangements were indeed very sophisticated. They, the sentinels, were supposed to supervise their opponents, but they didn't notice it at all in advance. They didn't realize it until they were wrapped in a pocket formation. .
In this battle, their side suffered seven casualties, but the other side was unscathed.
Although the opponent has a partial numerical advantage, the annihilation battle can be completed so beautifully, which shows that the opponent is by no means an ordinary person.
This is a strong team, a formidable opponent.
Thinking of this, Master Hu became more and more depressed.
Why did things deteriorate to this point all of a sudden? Now that both sides have lost lives, this negotiation is no longer easy to negotiate.
If Mr. Hu now says that he wants to talk to the other party and send him supplies, not to mention that he himself cannot swallow this breath, even these subordinates will not be able to agree.
If someone is killed by the other party, do you still have to reward the other party? Do you praise the opponent for a good kill?
"Papa, go and invite Mr. Duo to the meeting hall and say that we have an emergency to discuss." Mr. Hu quickly calmed down.
Whether it is war or peace talks, this matter cannot circumvent Duo Ye and his identity as a Baoshu clan member.
Although Lao Ba was extremely reluctant to look at A Qian's face, he also knew that the current situation did not allow him to shirk. Even if he came to the door and was ridiculed, he had to go.
(End of chapter)
