Lu Tu nodded and said, "Then let's stay in Pangjia Village tonight and have Tie Hang bring the Kunlun slaves over to mine sulfur!"
"Yes, sir!"
Without further ado, Tie Hang quickly brought over 300 Kunlun slaves. After Lü Tu explained to Tie Hang what they needed to dig, he supervised the site for more than an hour.
It must be said that these Kunlun slaves are in good physical condition. After traveling all day, as long as they have enough to eat and drink, they swing their iron shovels so hard that they are almost sparking.
Lu Tu couldn't help but sigh, "Black people are born to do hard labor. We must buy more black slaves from Arab merchants in the future."
At this moment, Pang Wei came over with a man: "Lord Lü, this is the village chief of our Pang Family Village."
The old man, Lü Tu Chong, nodded: "Hello, Uncle Pang."
"Oh dear, please don't call me that, sir. Just call me Old Pang." Village Chief Pang waved his hands and smiled apologetically.
"What do you want with me?"
Village Chief Pang cupped his hands in greeting: "Sir, according to the rules, Huai Shuo Town comes to collect taxes from us on the fifteenth of every month. Tomorrow is the fifteenth. Sir, do you think we should pay our grain tax or not?"
Lu Tu nodded after hearing this. This was indeed a problem. If they didn't pay, it would inevitably attract the attention of those who came to collect taxes.
"Sir?" Old Man Pang called softly.
Lu Tu said solemnly, "After the tax collectors arrive tomorrow, just call them to the village, and leave the rest to me."
"Alright, I'm relieved to hear you say that, sir. By the way, sir, may I ask one more question? Why are we going back to Wuchuan with you?"
That word "回" is used well; it makes it sound like he was originally from Wuchuan.
"At most three days! By the way, during this time, take out the grain from the village, and I'll return it to you after we return to Wuchuan."
"It's alright. I trust your character. I've already spoken with everyone."
Lu Tu nodded, surprised that Old Man Pang was so enlightened and seemed determined to follow him. This made Lu Tu feel less hesitant.
"OK."
"By the way, sir, there are relatively few people in Pangjia Village, so we don't have many empty rooms for you to stay in, but we have managed to clear out 5 rooms. If you are tired, you can go and rest."
Lu Tu bowed to Old Man Pang and said, "Thank you."
After supervising the work for another half hour, Nie Yun reminded him, "Brother, you should go and rest for a while. There might be trouble tomorrow. Just leave this to me."
Tie Hang, that simpleton, chuckled and said, "Lord Lü, squad leaders, you can all go back to sleep. I'll take care of things here with a few men. Don't worry, these guys aren't afraid of me."
Upon hearing this, Lu Tu grinned and said, "Alright, I'll leave this place to you. You can get some sleep in the latter half of the night."
"Yes, sir."
Lu Tu returned to a prepared room and lay down. He had no doubts about the safety of the night. He had already divided the 200 soldiers he had brought with him into three groups to take turns on duty around the village. There should be no problem, after all, Pangjia Village was taken peacefully this time.
Nothing happened that night. Before dawn, Lü Tu got up, asked the Pang family villagers who were up early for a bowl of water, and then went to Pang Laohan's house.
Old Man Pang's house had two rooms, one of which was now piled high with grain. He explained to Lu Tu, "Sir, if you hadn't come, the grain here might have been taken away by the grain collection officers of Huai Shuo today."
Lu Tu frowned: "These bastards collect so much grain? How do you live on a daily basis?"
Old Man Pang smiled bitterly and said, "We used to go to the city to help with the work, but in the last two months, some iron ore has been discovered in our village. We are responsible for digging out the iron ore and selling it in the city to exchange for grain."
Lu Tu looked at the pit full of grain and thought to himself that this old man Pang was not an honest man. How could a little iron ore be exchanged for so much grain?
Moreover, looking at the people in their village, none of them were starving or emaciated; it seems they could at least eat until they were about 70-80% full.
However, Lu Tu saw through it but didn't say it out loud. Staying here for one more day meant they could mine more minerals, which would be extremely beneficial for their long-term strategy.
Lu Tu patted Old Man Pang on the shoulder: "Alright, leave today's matter to me. From now on, no more Huai Shuo people will come to collect grain from you."
Old Man Pang was shocked: "Sir, are you going to kill them?"
Lu Tu glanced at him sideways: "What else? In this world, only the dead have the tightest mouths!"
Old Man Pang shuddered upon hearing this: "But if they can't go back to report that day, Huai Shuo City will soon send even more people."
"I have my own way."
In fact, Lü Tu had been thinking about this matter all night, and it wasn't until late at night that he finally came up with it.
Before long, village women came to collect grain to cook for Lü Tu's people. Old Man Pang was also willing to risk it all, having heard that Lü Tu's people did not have to pay taxes.
If we can lead the villagers to follow Lu Tu, we're sure to have a better life.
Fortune favors the bold; that's a saying that applies to them too.
After everyone under Lü Tu's command had eaten their fill, they soon heard Nie Yun's report: "Brother, about 15 soldiers from the Huai Shuo border army have arrived!"
“Tell our brothers to hide.”
"It's hidden!"
Lu Tu looked at Old Man Pang and said, "Do as I told you last night and bring them here."
"clear!"
At this moment, Lu Tu's men had already ambushed them on both sides of Old Man Pang's house, just waiting for them to enter.
Before long, a dozen or so people dressed in Huai Shuo border army uniforms walked in. They didn't even have proper armor on them, since there was no need to be fully armed when collecting grain from these peasants.
The leader was a dark-skinned, thin soldier who glared at Old Man Pang with displeasure and urged, "Hurry up, you old bastard! If you don't hand over enough grain today, I'll shove it up your ass!"
Old Man Pang seemed to know them very well. Hearing this, he smiled ingratiatingly and said without fear, "Sir, your thing is very precious. You should save it to go to the city and woo young ladies. Why are you in such a hurry with an old man like me? I'm old and my legs aren't very good anymore."
"Hurry up, stop talking nonsense!"
Before he could finish speaking, the dark-skinned, thin man saw Lü Tu standing in front of him and asked in bewilderment, "Who the hell are you?"
Lu Tu smiled coldly: "You'll find out soon enough."
In the blink of an eye, Nie Yun, standing next to Lü Tu, stepped forward and delivered a powerful kick to the dark, thin man's chest, sending him flying three meters away.
Dozens of fully armed soldiers rushed out from all around the house and surrounded Huai Shuo and his dozen or so men!
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