Lu Tu then reached into his hand and took out silver coins, giving each of the villagers who had been beaten for protecting Song Yuxi a reward of 5 taels of silver in front of everyone.
The surrounding people watched with envy, and the few who received the silver were moved to tears.
Having lived two lives, Lu Tu did not understand the art of managing people, but he deeply understood one principle: when rewarding subordinates, one must reward them generously and openly, so that everyone can see one's generosity.
This way, you won't disappoint those who helped you, and people will continue to be willing to help you in the future.
Instead of going home, he took out a map to check the location of Guanyin Mountain.
Since the bandits have already set their sights on him, given their usual pattern, they will not mobilize their entire force. This means that there are still many bandits in the stronghold who are eyeing him.
Moreover, it is very likely that even they know about his annihilation of the Milk Mountain stronghold. Lu Tu must eliminate them as soon as possible!
He had originally planned to invite Liu Yang and Liu Hu, but in the end his gaze fell on the Sun brothers.
It wasn't that Lü Tu didn't trust them, but rather that their identities were far too sensitive. In name, they were always sent by the Commandant, and he had just heard Huo Ting's dying words.
Although it doesn't prove anything, Lu Tu still felt it wasn't safe. The safest way was to drag the two brothers down with him!
Lu Tu instructed Liu Yang and his brother to lead men to keep watch that night, and then called Sun Meng: "You two brothers go and fetch the horses, and come with me for a while."
Upon hearing this, the two men replied solemnly, "Yes!" Their expressions were filled with excitement. In truth, they knew that there was only a barrier between them and Lü Tu, and if they wanted to eliminate that barrier, they would have to do it, not just talk about it.
Guanyin Mountain is located 30 li south of Kuishan Village. Before long, the three of them arrived at the foot of the mountain. After tying up the horse, Lü Tu drew his knife and took the lead in climbing the mountain.
Seeing the murderous aura emanating from Lü Tu, Sun Meng and his companion quickly followed, asking, "Sir, shall we eliminate him completely?"
Lu Tu nodded: "Yes, I don't like being targeted by thieves."
Sun Kuang suggested, "Going up so rashly might lead to an ambush. Captain, let me go first."
Lu Tu glanced at him, and seeing that he didn't seem to be faking it, he simply agreed. Lu Tu stood in the middle, and the three of them crouched down and groped their way up the mountain path.
After taking care of a sentry halfway up the mountain, they soon arrived at the outside of a natural cave at the summit.
Lu Tu stopped Sun Meng, who was about to force his way in, and slowly shook his head. He knew the cave quite well; any movement at the entrance would be magnified exponentially and be noticed by the people inside.
But the warning came too late. Just then, a gruff voice boomed from inside the cave: "Ninth Brother?"
Sun Kuang then realized he had messed things up and looked at Lü Tu apologetically.
Lu Tu didn't hesitate. He patted Lu Tu's shoulder and said in a low voice, "Follow me!"
He took the horn bow from behind his back, nocked an arrow, and aimed it at the corner of the cave entrance.
The man inside the cave asked, somewhat puzzled, "Ninth Brother, are you mute?"
Using the shadow cast by the torch at the corner, Lü Tu judged the speed of the person and estimated the time. As soon as the person showed his face, Lü Tu gently twanged the bowstring in his hand.
The arrow pierced the bandit's head with perfect accuracy, killing him instantly. He died without even seeing who had done it.
Without hesitation, Lü Tu crouched down and rushed into the cave. In this environment, bows and arrows were not very useful, so he slung the bow behind his back and held the knife horizontally in front of his chest.
They crept into the cave and ran right into seven or eight bandits who were drinking. The two sides stared at each other blankly.
"Holy crap, enemy attack!"
Before the bandits could even smash their bowls, a sharp arrow shot out from behind Lü Tu, killing one of them.
Lu Tu knew that it was shot by Sun Meng, and without even turning around, he charged in with his sword.
These bandits were not skilled in martial arts and relied solely on brute force to act ruthlessly. Now, in a drunken state, they were utterly vulnerable and were killed by Lu Tu and the Sun brothers as easily as cutting melons and vegetables.
Only then did they begin to clean up the battlefield, with Lü Tu searching everywhere to see if there was anything useful.
Sun Kuang, enraged by the search, spat at the corpses on the ground with disgust, saying, "Brother, these guys are too poor. Do they even deserve to be called bandits? They don't have anything of value."
Sun Meng was also helpless. He had heard that Guanyin Mountain Village was quite large and thought that he could rob it and get some money back, but he did not expect it to be so poor.
At this moment, Sun Kuang found a letter on a mountain bandit and handed it to Lü Tu: "Brother, take a look, I can't read."
Lu Tu took the letter and unfolded it. The more he read, the more alarmed he became. The letter was written by a superior to Huo Ting, urging him to take action as soon as possible. As for what to do, it did not specify. The letter was signed with the three characters "Huai Shuo Zhao".
Huai Shuo and Wu Chuan were both among the six border towns. Although they were called six towns, they were actually very large cities responsible for protecting the northern border of the Great Yu Dynasty.
The highest-ranking official in each city was a Commandant, and above them was a General Who Guards the North, but this General's residence was in Sun and Moon City, 1,000 li to the south.
Based on this, the character "Zhao" likely represents someone in Huai Shuo Town, perhaps a high-ranking officer in the border army with considerable ambition; otherwise, he wouldn't have sent his squad leader to become an outlaw.
Furthermore, in Lu Tu's memory, Huo Ting seemed to have settled here four years ago. He would often go hunting in the mountains for ten days to half a month at a time. Of course, he didn't have any relatives or friends, so no one noticed anything unusual.
From then on, bandits began to roam Guanyin Mountain. What were they doing here? Were they like Zhou Taishan's servants, here to do business with the Wuhuan people?
But according to Lu Tu's observation, it didn't seem so. The other people in the mountain stronghold lived much more comfortably than here. Not only was the cave dark and damp, but even ventilation was a big problem.
Moreover, there was no gold or silver here, and even the weapons in the hands of the dead bandits were very broken, which left Lü Tu somewhat bewildered.
Regardless of all that, and not wanting to think about things he couldn't figure out for the time being, Lü Tu looked at the Sun brothers and said, "Thank you for your hard work, brothers. You've made a wasted trip with me."
Sun Kuang spoke bluntly: "Brother, don't be so polite with us. Witnessing your skills is more exciting than having sex with a woman. Watching you kill someone is a real treat, hahaha!"
These rude words actually bring people closer together. Upon hearing this, Lü Tu laughed and patted his arm: "Then next time the Wuhuan come, I'll invite you along."
Sun Kuang thumped his chest loudly: "No problem, I, Sun Kuang, am no coward. I've wanted to kill those beasts for a long time."
At this moment, Sun Meng, who was standing to the side, seemed to have discovered something and exclaimed "Eh!" Then, the cave wall behind him suddenly opened.
A downward-sloping staircase appeared before the three of them.
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