"The former Vice Minister of War? Well then, starting today, you will follow the village's students and teach the children to read."
"Sir, could you assign me some dangerous missions?"
Lu Tu suddenly had an idea. He took out 20 taels of silver from his pocket and stuffed it into Deng Lang's hand: "Since you are so ambitious, then I really have a dangerous task for you. As long as you do it well, I will promote you to squad leader."
Deng Lang exclaimed excitedly, "Sir, please speak!"
"Take this 20 taels of silver, go to Huai Shuo Town, join their border army, and do a good job there."
"Huh?" Deng Langren was dumbfounded. He had just come from the Wuchuan Border Army and now he was going to the Huaishuo Border Army.
Lu Tu patted his shoulder and whispered, "Huai Shuo and I had a conflict. You should know that. What you need to do now is become my spy planted in Huai Shuo. In a few months at most, I will come to find you. Then we can work together from the inside and take revenge!"
Deng Lang hesitated and asked, "Sir, should I make a good impression in the Huai Shuo Army?"
Lu Tu glared at him: "Of course, how can you get access to core secrets if you don't climb up the ladder?"
"Understood!"
Is 20 taels enough?
"If you could give me a horse, that would be enough."
Lu Tu had Liu Yang bring a horse and saw Deng Lang off.
Liu Yang hesitated for a moment and asked, "Brother, do you think this kid can be trusted?"
Lu Tu shook his head: "I don't know either."
"So you not only gave him 20 taels, but also a horse? That's almost 80 taels of silver in total."
Lu Tu patted him on the back of the head: "You've made some progress these past few days guarding the warehouse; you've even learned to keep accounts. We can't always have everything under control when we do things. Sometimes, taking a gamble might yield unexpected results."
After saying that, Lü Tu mounted his horse and rode away. Liu Yang nodded thoughtfully: "I've never seen you gamble before, brother. How come you're gambling?"
When Lü Tu arrived at Hu Delu's house, he saw that the door was ajar. Startled, he quickly went up and knocked, "Old Hu, is Old Hu home?"
Zeng Lanlan hurriedly ran out, still holding a needle and thread in her hand. She bowed to Lu Tu and said, "Greetings, Lord Lu. My husband, Lao Hu, has gone to work."
Lu Tu looked at Zeng Lanlan: "Are you and Lao Hu alright?"
"Old Hu and I are both fine, only my younger brother was shot in the leg with an arrow, but the Second Madam already brought medicine yesterday."
The second wife was naturally Nangong Huiyu. Lu Tu breathed a sigh of relief: "Alright, if there's anything you need at home, just go to the storeroom and find my wife. You can just introduce yourself."
"Thank you for your concern, sir. I am deeply grateful!"
Arriving at the blast furnace, they indeed saw Hu Delu's busy figure: "Old Hu!"
Hu Delu did not come over immediately. Instead, he sternly instructed the people next to him before jogging over to Lü Tu's side: "Sir, did you need something from me?"
"How much refined iron have we produced?"
"It weighs about 2,000 jin. Would you like to forge other weapons, sir?"
“I only need guns, and you also need to learn to let go and teach your apprentices how to make iron in a blast furnace. You can’t do everything yourself.”
Hu Delu said anxiously, "It's not that I don't want to teach them, it's just that I get really annoyed watching them being so clumsy. They can't do anything right. If they make a mistake in any step, our whole batch of iron ore will be wasted!"
"If you're crippled, then so be it. I'm willing to let you practice on me, and you can confidently teach your apprentices as well. But there's a condition: you must trust this person."
Hu Delu exclaimed in delight, "My lord, is it really possible?"
"Of course, our numbers will only increase in the future. You'll have to smelt iron and forge weapons, how will you manage?"
Hu Delu nodded repeatedly upon hearing this: "You're right, sir. Give me three days, and I'll teach these apprentices how to use them. Then I'll go and forge the spearheads."
Lu Tu patted him on the shoulder: "Tell your apprentice that from today onwards, the job of refining iron will be paid with 2 catties of millet every day."
Hu Delu knew perfectly well that this was a favor Lu Tu had done for him. Everyone else got 1 jin of millet, but as long as he worked for him, he could get 2 jin. He could have easily told his apprentices that he had applied for it himself, and they would have been grateful to him.
"Thank you so much, Lord Lü. You've been incredibly kind to me, Old Hu. You first helped me out of my troubles and then arranged accommodations for me. I really don't know how to repay you."
"Then you should forge my weapons properly so that we brothers can survive on the battlefield. That would be the greatest reward for me."
"Understood, I'll do my best!"
After bidding farewell to Hu Delu, Lü Tu began to wander aimlessly through the village, offering reminders here and directions there. Within a few days, he managed to restore the village to its former tranquility.
Seven days later, Lu Tu got up early as usual and saw Xiao Zhong running towards him with great joy: "My lord, good news!"
Lu Tu wasn't in a hurry. He scooped up a ladle of well water and handed it to Xiao Zhong, who took it and gulped it down before panting, "Sir, two groups of refugees have arrived outside!"
"Approximately how many people?"
“I’ve taken a quick look, there are at least a thousand of them! They’re waiting outside Songshan Village right now, and I’ve already had Nie Yun and his men guard them.”
Upon hearing this, Lü Tu also became interested. He whistled to summon Xiao Hei, mounted his horse, and galloped towards Songshan Village. Xiao Zhong chased after him, calling out, "My lord, wait for me!"
Seeing this, Liu Yang led him a horse: "Brother Xiao, you can ride it."
Xiao Zhong awkwardly pushed him away: "I don't know how."
"Huh?" Liu Yang was dumbfounded. Xiao Zhong usually traveled around and even went to Wuchuan City often. How could he not ride a horse?
Xiao Zhong chuckled: "You ride, I'll sit behind you."
Seeing Xiao Zhong's excited expression, Liu Yang couldn't refuse and could only bite the bullet and do as he was told.
Before long, Lü Tu arrived outside Songshan Village. Not only was Nie Yun there, but Liu Hong also brought soldiers from the Southern Army to ensure security.
When Lü Tu appeared on horseback before the crowd of refugees, Nie Yun shouted loudly, "Silence! This is our Wuchuan, the Benevolent and Brave Colonel Lü!"
The refugees all prostrated themselves on the ground, their faces filled with misery, and said, "Greetings, Lord Lü! Please, Lord Lü, have pity on us and take us in!"
"We are truly desperate. We have heard that Lord Lü is a man of great righteousness and loves his people like his own children. We beg Lord Lü to give us a way to live!"
Lu Tu roughly counted the number of people, and it was indeed over a thousand, more than the last group of refugees.
Where do you come from?
The refugees chattered about various place names, while Nie Yun pointed at a clever-looking young man and said, "Shut up, all of you! You speak!"
"Reporting to your Excellency, we all come from the south, some from Longcheng, some from Nanyang, some from Wancheng, some from Xinye..."
Lu Tu frowned: "Apart from Dragon City, these are all prosperous places. Where did so many refugees come from?"
Upon hearing this, many refugees burst into tears, crying out, "Sir, you don't know! The Yellow River has breached its banks..."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
