Lu Tu raised his arm and shouted, "Do you understand?"

Even if the new soldiers were unwilling, they could not disobey Lü Tu's orders and could only weakly shout, "Understood."

Lu Tu's voice suddenly rose: "Speak up, you bastards! Haven't you eaten?"

"clear!"

Even though they raised their voices, they still couldn't meet Lu Tu's expectations. Even Xiao Zhong, who had never been involved in military affairs, suggested to Lu Tu with displeasure, "My lord, is this what you call 3,000 elite soldiers? They're not even as good as our villagers."

Lu Tu sneered: "Since you feel it's unfair, or you don't want to train, that's fine too. Now I'll give you a chance!"

Upon hearing this, the newly arrived soldiers all asked, "General Lü, what opportunity?"

Lu Tu gave a wicked smile: "That means you have to take off your armor, put down your swords and weapons, and I'll give you a day's worth of rations later. Then get as far away from me as possible!"

Upon hearing this, the entire drill ground fell silent; not a single one of the thousands of people present dared to utter a word.

Everyone was stunned by Lü Tu's words, especially the 3,000 soldiers. Although they had heard that Lü Tu's military discipline was strict, they could not accept such a cruel system for a while.

Who would have thought that Lu Tu wouldn't give them even the slightest bit of face? Since they were unwilling, then they should get lost. Who would feel comfortable hearing such words?

However, these new soldiers could not refute Lü Tu's words, for in the military, battle records were the most important thing.

And right now, let alone Wuchuan, even looking at the entire six border towns, who can compare to Lü Tu's achievements?

The soldiers, led by the guard, looked ashamed and speechless, and could only turn around and bow, saying, "We have long heard of General Lü's reputation, and seeing it today, it is indeed well-deserved. Since General Lü always keeps his word, then we will be leaving!"

Hearing this, Nie Yun and the others were in a dilemma. Even if these guys were not the best, they were still strong laborers. And now they were just sending them away. Wasn't that a waste? They could at least be sent to work in a coal mine!

Even the usually composed Xiao Zhong looked at Lü Tu with some surprise and asked in a low voice, "My lord, what does this mean?"

Lu Tu shook his head, then looked at the soldiers present and said, "Those who want to leave, throw down your weapons and armor now and leave immediately. No one is allowed to stop them from leaving!"

With Skinny Monkey leading the way in throwing away weapons, more than half of the 3,000 elite soldiers followed suit.

Upon seeing this scene, Xiao Zhong instantly understood Lü Tu's meaning; it seemed that the origins of these 3,000 elite soldiers were not clean.

Lu Tu intended to use this method for a simple screening. Given Xiao Zhong's understanding of the village's resources, he naturally knew that the village simply could not support such a large-scale army at the moment.

After all, these soldiers still need to be fed even if they do nothing every day, and those soldiers who have no fighting spirit can be considered as useless.

Seeing Lü Tu's expression, Nie Yun, Liu Hong, and the others roughly understood his meaning. At this moment, they just watched indifferently as most of the soldiers, having lost their armor and stripped down to their undershirts, stood to the side in a sorry state.

Seeing so many soldiers following him, Skinny Monkey thought he shouldn't blame everyone. At this moment, he clasped his hands in a fist and asked Lü Tu, "General Lü, didn't you just say you would give me a day's worth of rations so I could leave? Will you keep your promise?"

Liu Yang roared, "Insolence! How dare you, such lowly scoundrels, slander my general?"

With his shout, the 800 cavalrymen present drew their longswords in unison, their eyes coldly fixed on the disheveled soldiers. In their eyes, deserters were the most shameful, even lower than military slaves, and they no longer considered these guys human.

As long as Lü Tu gives the order, they will show no mercy and kill them all without wasting any of the day's rations.

This scene terrified the skinny monkey and the other deserters, who huddled together tightly, not daring to make the slightest move.

After a long silence, Lü Tu finally waved his hand and said, "Liu Yang, give each of them a steamed bun and tell them to get lost!"

"Big brother!"

"Give them the money, and let them go back to where they came from!"

This was something Lu Tu had planned beforehand. The reason he brought back these 3,000 weak soldiers yesterday was simply to annoy Ye Qingyu.

It would also be a way to give face to Prince Duan and Zhao Qingyao. More importantly, he had seized a total of 180,000 catties of iron ore. Without these people, how could he have transported it back?

The fact that so many deserters emerged from just a test made Lü Tu completely disregard the sunk costs. After all, these guys were deserters anyway, and it was fortunate that they weren't given the chance to betray him on the battlefield. For Lü Tu, that was the most fortunate thing.

Upon hearing Lu Tu's order, Liu Yang could only stomp his foot in anger and ride his horse to the warehouse. Soon, he had a group of villagers give each of the skinny monkeys and others a steamed bun, and to vent his anger, he even had a lot of sand sprinkled inside.

Skinny Monkey and the others originally thought that Lü Tu would not let them go, but now they saw that although Lü Tu only gave them a steamed bun, it was indeed a meal and he had kept his promise.

At this moment, they clasped their fists together and said to General Lü Tu, "Thank you for your great understanding, General Lü. If there is an opportunity, we hope to fight alongside you!"

Lu Tu waved his hand dismissively: "Get out of here before I change my mind!"

He was too lazy to say anything more to these deserters. It was only because of his current situation that he didn't care. If it were wartime, and these guys dared to stand up and say they wanted to go home, Lu Tu would personally go up and chop them down!

No matter the era, desertion is an extremely shameful thing, even in the peaceful times of my previous life.

If a son deserts, it will be recorded in the personnel file and household registration book, and three generations of his family will be ashamed because of it. Who in the village wouldn't spit on his house if they heard about it?

That was truly hideous!

After the skinny monkey and the others left, only about 500 people remained. Xiao Zhong looked at Lü Tu and asked, "My lord, where are these soldiers?"

Lu Tu laughed loudly, "Of course they'll stay. The fact that they didn't follow them earlier shows that these soldiers want to make a name for themselves or have other motives."

His guess was correct. Although most of them were children from poor families who joined the army just to earn a living, no one could guarantee that there weren't spies from other forces among them.

It could be someone sent by Prince Duan, someone from Ye Qingyu, or even someone from Zhao Wuyou; any of these are possible.

But since they're here, Lü Tu will treat everyone equally. He doesn't have the time or energy to screen them. He waved his hand and said, "10 days, I'll still give you 10 days. After 10 days, you'll join me in another lightning attack on Wuhuan!"