After sitting there for two hours, Lü Tu heard a chaotic argument coming from inside Eagle Mountain.
"That's the rule from the beginning: whoever's direction the prey escapes from, that person will be subject to military law and whipping!"
“I have never heard of such a method of punishment, and Lord Lü did not mention it today either.”
"That's because you arrived late, so naturally you haven't heard about it. Anyway, you can't handle this situation today!"
Lu Tu frowned and looked over after hearing this. He always allowed people to have arguments, after all, being a soldier is also a job, and all jobs have conflicts.
If there's a conflict, just deal with it; don't escalate the issue.
Liu Hong was confronting Tuoba Yue. The two burly men were arguing heatedly, their faces flushed, as if they were about to fight at any moment.
The soldiers behind them were carrying large and small prey out. When they saw Lü Tu, they seemed to have found their pillar of support and all ran towards Lü Tu.
Liu Hong was the first to cup his hands and say, "My lord, Tuoba Yue's men caused their prey to escape due to negligence. It was a black bear, a treasure trove from head to toe, and they just let it go like that. What do you think their punishment should be?"
Tuoba Yue, who was usually silent in front of Lü Tu, changed his attitude this time and took the initiative to ask, "Sir, have you made such a rule before?"
Lu Tu stood up and looked at all the soldiers: "Who carelessly let the prey escape?"
At this moment, a man stepped forward, his face flushed, and he shyly raised his hand: "It was me! I saw the bear rushing towards me, and I was scared."
Lu Tu looked at his face, thought for two seconds, and then called out his name: "He Haikui, you've been a soldier under me for quite some time now, you can't possibly be ignorant of the rules, can you?"
"Sir, I..."
Seeing his hesitation, Lü Tu asked with some doubt: "I remember that night when we were fighting the Wuhuan people at the Gubeifeng Pass, you were there too. Tell me, why were you not afraid of the Wuhuan cavalry, but afraid of a bear?"
Upon hearing this, Liu Hong became even angrier: "Tell me, what is the reason? Have you lost your courage because you haven't fought the Wuhuan dogs for too long?"
He Haikui's eyes reddened, and he burst into tears in public: "When I was little, I went with my dad to the forest to find food and we encountered a bear that was even bigger than this. My dad held off the bear all by himself to save me and told me to run away."
Upon hearing this, Liu Hong, who had been furious just moments before and was about to reprimand others, swallowed all his words.
He Haikui continued, "I ran back to the village to call for help. When everyone arrived, my dad... my dad only had half a face left, and that bear was still gnawing on him."
At that moment, everyone fell silent.
Watching his own father being killed by a bear and then eaten right in front of him, this kind of psychological trauma will indeed haunt He Haikui for the rest of his life.
At this moment, Liu Hong opened his mouth as if to say something, but only went up and patted He Haikui's arm: "Sorry, brother, I didn't know about this."
He Haikui was already in tears, stubbornly shaking his head: "It's not your fault, Division Chief, it's my fault. Every night I think that if I had been braver back then, and had just picked up my father's bow and shot that bear, maybe I could have saved him. I've thought about it so many times, but when I encountered the bear again today, I was scared..."
At this point, He Haikui knelt down with a thud and kowtowed repeatedly in a certain direction: "Father, I'm sorry, I'm a good-for-nothing, I'm useless."
It seems this has become He Haikui's nightmare. People who used to look down on him are now looking at him with sympathy. After all, this kind of thing can't be controlled by courage alone.
Lu Tu knew that he absolutely could not comfort He Haikui at this moment, otherwise it would only make him psychologically dependent, and if he encountered the bear again next time, he would still not dare to face it.
Lu Tu shouted at the crowd, "He Hai Kui, if you're my brother, Lu Tu, then stand up for me!"
Not only was He Haikui, who was kowtowing, stunned, but all the soldiers present were dumbfounded. Why was Lü Tu acting so strangely? No matter what, they should all have sympathy when something sad happened. This was not like Lü Tu's way of leading troops.
He Haikui could only get up quickly, but tears still flowed uncontrollably.
Lu Tu, frustrated and disappointed, kicked him in the buttocks. He used just the right amount of force, so it wouldn't cause any serious injury, but it would hurt.
Seeing He Haikui rolling around on the ground several times, Lü Tu continued to scold, "Stand up!" He Haikui forced himself to stand up despite the humiliation.
Lu Tu grabbed his clothes, pointed in the direction where he had kowtowed, and asked sternly, "Let your father see what a coward you look like now! You just failed to catch a bear, and you're crying like this!"
"If your father knew that the son he risked his life to save couldn't even handle such a small setback and could only cry like a woman in front of so many people, do you think he would sleep peacefully in the afterlife?"
Shocked, the scene fell into a deathly silence. They had never seen Lü Tu so angry at his own people before. It was clear that Lü Tu was truly furious.
He Haikui felt as if Lu Tu's scathing rebuke had poured a bucket of cold water on him, instantly clearing his muddled mind.
"He Haikui, if you're a real man, pull yourself together and show the same spirit you had when we killed those Wuhuan dogs together that day. Stop crying and whining. Remember, on the battlefield where life and death are at stake, no one will listen to your stories, and no one will sympathize with you!"
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