"You only have a little over 300 acres of land in total. I've already given you several hundred military slaves before. Right now, there are probably more than 1,000 military slaves left here. Do you want them all?"
Lu Tu said decisively, "Yes!"
A collective gasp of astonishment rippled through the crowd, naturally coming from Bian Wei and the others. They were, of course, viewing the situation from Yun Tian's perspective, and were utterly shocked by Lü Tu's audacity.
How dare he openly express this idea of having an army to bolster his own power?
Let alone Lu Tu being just a seventh-rank Yihui Xiaowei, even if he were a fifth-rank border army deputy general, it would be impossible for him to manage so many military slaves on his own!
After all, these are real border troops; as long as they are well-fed, they are a qualified army.
Lu Tu understood that this would displease Yun Tian, but he couldn't care less about that now; he had already made an enemy of Yun Tian.
Let alone demanding credit in the future, it's uncertain whether these rewards will even be honored after Yun Tian returns to Wuchuan and takes command of the border army again. He must seize this opportunity to grab as many rewards as possible.
Yun Tian gave Lü Tu a deep look and lowered his voice, saying, "Lü Tu, aren't you going a bit too far? You know the rules of our border army: you can't hold onto your troops and become powerful."
Lu Tu found it amusing. You and the other commanders of several towns are the ones who hold the most power and are the most arrogant. You act as if the emperor is far away from you, and you actually use this matter to advise me.
But in front of so many people, Lü Tu certainly wouldn't be so foolish as to tell the truth.
He said solemnly, "Reporting to the Commandant, I don't actually want so many people. We are simply short-handed. Why don't you give me a different area of jurisdiction and let others guard the Gubeifeng Pass and Aiying Mountain?"
Lu Tu's move of retreating to advance delighted Bian Wei and the others. Bian Wei was a ninth-rank Renyong Colonel, and although he was Yun Tian's confidant, he had never been granted a fief.
He had visited Kuishan Village with Yuntian before and knew that it had been meticulously developed by Lü Tu. If he could get the village and send him there to take up a post, that would be ideal.
Bian Wei stepped forward and whispered, "This humble general is willing to guard Kuishan Village in place of Commandant Lü."
Yun Tian glanced at him sideways and snapped, "Get out of the way!"
Bian Wei was scolded for no reason and could only retreat unwillingly. He couldn't understand why Yun Tian was still afraid of Lü Tu now that he had the situation under control.
If we transfer Lü Tu to another place, wouldn't that greatly limit Lü Tu and support ourselves? Wouldn't that be killing two birds with one stone?
But he forgot that he himself was simply not cut out for it. If Yun Tian had capable men under his command who could guard the Gubeifeng Pass, he wouldn't have given up so many benefits to Lü Tu, and even surrendered the open-pit coal mine in Luzhuang Village.
Lu Tu remained silent, but Nie Yun, Sun Kuang, and the others behind him secretly gripped their weapons tightly.
Yun Tian was still pondering, while the most tormented during this period were the rebels. They had certainly heard that life under Lü Tu was comfortable, and even being a slave was better than being a lowly soldier elsewhere, but they dared not voice their opinions at this time.
After a long while, Yun Tian suddenly laughed loudly, "You're right. You've made a great contribution this time. Taking more military slaves over will help us continue to guard the vital passage of Wuchuan. In that case, these 1,000-plus military slaves are yours!"
Lu Tu cupped his hands and said, "Thank you for your generous reward, sir! This humble general will escort you back to Wuchuan immediately!"
He then rode alongside Yun Tian, heading towards Wuchuan.
Nie Yun, on the other hand, led his men to escort 1,000 military slaves. It must be said that these military slaves were really troublesome, as there were simply too many of them.
The soldiers who had been brought from Wuchuan naturally returned to Yun Tian's command and would no longer be under Lü Tu's orders.
Just as they were about to reach the east gate of Wuchuan, Lü Tu suddenly said to Yun Tian, "My lord, I think we should not enter the city. There is still smallpox in the city. I think we should select 500 people from these soldiers and take them away."
Yun Tian was genuinely angry this time, feeling extremely dissatisfied with Lü Tu repeatedly crossing his bottom line.
"Commander Lü, why are you in such a hurry? Why don't you come back to my residence with me and have a good meal before you go back?"
Lu Tu politely declined, saying, "There's no need to trouble yourself, sir. I've been working on developing a medicine to treat smallpox and it's already quite effective."
These words were deliberately spoken to Yun Tian, so that by increasing his own importance, Yun Tian would give him more power and make Yun Tian need him, thus preventing Yun Tian from taking action against him so quickly. Moreover, revealing this matter would not cause Lü Tu any loss.
Upon hearing this, Yun Tian and Yun Wei were stunned.
Their pupils dilated in shock as they stared at Lü Tu: "Captain Lü, is this really true?"
Lu Tu nodded: "I'm only somewhat confident. You know Lady Wang Miaoling, right?"
"Of course I recognize it."
"She contracted smallpox a few days ago, but I have already cured her."
"Hiss!" Yun Tian gasped, instantly forgetting about Lü Tu's murder of Yun Ao. Overjoyed, he spurred his horse closer and tightly grasped Lü Tu's hand: "A fine general! You are truly my lucky general!"
"You flatter me, sir. May I select some soldiers to go back for defense? That way I will have extra energy to research smallpox medicine."
"Of course! But I have a favor to ask of you! Once you've finished developing it, you must send me some. The people in the city desperately need this medicine! I can't bear to see them suffer like this!"
As Yun Tian finished speaking, he put on a compassionate expression, which moved the other people to tears. They all knelt down and said, "Thank you, Commandant! Thank you, Lord Lü!"
Lu Tu thought to himself, "Old foxes are indeed cunning. A simple show can win people's hearts. I'll use Lu Tu's things to do him a favor."
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