"You're right, sir. Perhaps the rules of the bet between the Second Princess and you this time are cruel, but every cloud has a silver lining. You might find an opportunity in it."
Lu Tu nodded: "Mr. Xiao, you should still focus on the construction of the city wall during this period. I just checked and it is already half completed. Tell everyone to work harder and try to finish the city wall as soon as possible so that we can sleep more soundly."
"Yes, sir!"
Lu Tu left the arrangements to Xiao Zhong, while he stayed at the training ground and summoned Nie Yun, Liu Hong, and others who were to train that day.
When they saw that Lu Tu was no longer holding a golden spear, but a halberd, their eyes were filled with envy, and they kept swallowing.
Lu Tu saw through their ulterior motives and said loudly, "Envious, aren't you?"
"envious!"
Lu Tu nodded: "Then let's be envious for a while longer." As he spoke, he deliberately showed off by demonstrating a few moves with his halberd, which made the soldiers' mouths water.
Skill is one thing, and strength can be improved, but being cool is something you can do for a lifetime.
Lu Tu had successfully piqued their interest, and then said loudly, "Stop thinking about this and that all day long. What you should be doing now is mastering the 20 battlefield marksmanship techniques I taught you! Stop joking around with me all day."
Lu Tu treated his soldiers and the common people in completely different ways. After all, he could be amiable to the common people, but he couldn't be too lenient with his soldiers. After all, military orders were absolute, and if anyone dropped the ball at a critical moment, the consequences would be dire.
Upon hearing this, the soldiers all became serious, their smiles vanishing, and they shouted in deep voices, "Yes, sir!"
"No training today, you're all coming with me hunting!"
Upon hearing that they could go hunting, a hint of excitement appeared on the soldiers' faces.
You have to understand that they spend all their time training in the village, and they even have their own hunting teams. They're probably bored out of their minds.
They had long heard of Lü Tu's deeds; whenever Lü Tu took them hunting in Aiying Mountain, they had encountered the Wuhuan people.
If we encounter the Wuhuan people again this time, it means we can earn military merits. Lu Tu always rewards those who earn military merits on the spot, never delaying!
With a wave of his hand, Lü Tu ordered the soldiers to quickly prepare bows and arrows, whetstones, and other items.
Nie Yun excitedly rubbed his hands together as he approached Lü Tu and asked in a low voice, "Brother, have you heard anything? Are the Wuhuan dogs coming?"
Lu Tu glanced at him sideways: "Where did you know that?"
"Hehe, I guessed."
"Then you're wrong. I really am going hunting this time. Did you see those soaps I distributed today? They were made yesterday with animal oil. This stuff is in great short supply right now."
Hearing this, Nie Yun and the others were slightly discouraged.
Who is Lü Tu? How could he possibly allow his soldiers to have low morale?
"The competition will still be divided into three teams. The team that catches the fewest prey will be punished by running ten laps around the training ground!"
There aren't many rewards, but there is a system of penalties for those who fail to meet the minimum requirements. As a former king of soldiers in the Dragon Kingdom, he knows this principle well.
Those are the teenagers in front of me, barely in their twenties. If we don't train them hard, they'll probably cause some trouble.
Even in the modern era of the Dragon Kingdom in the past, things were like that, let alone now. It's just that Lu Tu usually assigns a lot of tasks and occasionally breaks out small-scale battles, which has suppressed the restless hearts of these guys.
As the absence of battles grew longer, Lü Tu's concerns were not unfounded. Soldiers become more skilled with training, and a general who cannot train soldiers is nothing but a piece of scrap metal.
Along the way, Lü Tu led more than 300 soldiers toward Aiying Mountain, followed by 50 slaves driving oxcarts. Such a large procession naturally attracted the attention of many villagers.
"Hey, look, Lord Lü is going to war again! I wonder if it's against the Wuhuan dogs!"
"Forget it, I heard that last time the lord killed hundreds of Wuhuan dogs at the Gubei Peak Pass, which scared them to death. Do you think they would dare to come back?"
An old man beside him smiled confidently and said, "Young people, you haven't been in the village long enough to understand Lord Lü's style of doing things. Since he's accompanied by slave soldiers and oxcarts, he must be heading somewhere to get money and supplies!"
Upon hearing this, the people around him immediately became interested: "Old man, with this plague outbreak, where do you think Lord Lü went to get supplies?"
"Look, Lord Lü is heading east. Needless to say, he's going to Huai Shuo to cause trouble! You don't know, although Huai Shuo and we are both from the Six Border Garrisons, we are extremely hostile. Three captains from Huai Shuo have died at the hands of our Lord Lü."
Hiss! Upon hearing this, the people around gasped. They knew that killing each other was a major taboo, yet Lü Tu had not only killed three captains of Huai Shuo, but was still unharmed and even swaggering towards Huai Shuo.
This shows that Lu Tu is not afraid at all! At the same time, the working people are not afraid either! After all, in chaotic times, the sense of security provided by someone who can protect a region is not something that can be easily fabricated.
Even Lu Tu himself didn't know that simply passing by the villagers with a group of people would elevate their sense of belonging to a whole new level.
In fact, Lu Tu's original intention this time was not as simple as hunting. He mainly wanted to take advantage of the large number of refugees joining the group to show off his strength and deter those with bad intentions.
The village roads were much easier to walk on after the snow and ice had melted, and they soon arrived at Eagle Mountain. Lü Tu immediately ordered Nie Yun, Liu Hong, and Tuoba Yue to lead their respective teams into the mountains to hunt.
This was the first time Tuoba Yue had competed with Nie Yun and the others. Even though he was promoted to squad leader by Lü Tu on the very day he joined Lü Tu's forces, he was still one-eighth Xianbei blood.
He wasn't very popular in the army, and he knew that if he wanted to stand out and be respected, he had to seize every opportunity.
So what seemed like just a hunting competition took him very seriously. After assigning tasks, he took the lead and rushed into the mountains.
Lu Tu, on the other hand, showed little interest and stayed in the open area of the mountain pass, accompanied only by a few people, including Liu Yang.
He had confidence in the soldiers he had trained. Let alone hunting, even if these three hundred men encountered a small group of Wuhuan cavalry, they would be able to easily defeat them.
While chatting casually with Liu Yang, he suddenly spotted a shifty-eyed kid running from the east.
The man happened to make eye contact with Lü Tu, then immediately took off running. Lü Tu scrambled to his feet and pointed at the man's retreating figure: "Catch him!"
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