The first words that popped into Lü Tu's mind were "Fat Monk" and "Skinny Monk," because Sun Meng's wives were such vivid descriptions.
He smiled and nodded, saying, "Congratulations! From now on, just follow Sun Meng and Sun Kuang and live a down-to-earth life."
The two nodded shyly, "We'll do as you say, sir."
Sun Meng and Sun Kuang looked at their wives' shy appearance and almost drooled. Lu Tu slapped them twice and said, "Go do your business."
The two men then stopped staring at each other like lecherous men, led their horses over, and asked, "Brother Lü, where are we going today?"
"It's time for you two brothers to return to the Commandant's Office and report on my situation."
Upon hearing this, the two men looked embarrassed. It was quite awkward to be an undercover agent so openly, and even have to be reminded by Lü Tu to leak secrets.
Sun Meng cupped his hands in greeting: "I understand, brother. We know what we should and shouldn't say."
Lu Tu nodded: "Go ahead, I also need to go and get some caltrops. Come find me after you've finished reporting."
The three rode their horses to Wuchuan. Lü Tu went straight to the market and arrived at the blacksmith's shop he used to know.
It wasn't market day, and the shop was deserted. Lu Tu approached a short, stout man who was sleeping and patted him on the shoulder: "Hu Delu, wake up, business is here."
Upon hearing that there was business, blacksmith Hu Delu jumped up from his recliner, his eyes darting around excitedly. He pinched Lü Tu's arm and said, "Not bad, kid! I heard you've become the foreman?"
Lu Tu squatted down and drew the shape of barbed wire on the ground with a wooden stick, pointing at it and asking, "How much does one of these cost?"
Hu Delu glanced at the dimensions and said, "Wow, you know quite a bit. You've even seen barbed wire before."
Lu Tu asked curiously, "You know him?"
Hu Delu snorted: "Who are you underestimating? My family has been blacksmiths for three generations. I've been following my father since I was a child. What kind of ironware haven't I seen?"
Lu Tu had only asked Hu Delu to shoot some arrows before, but he didn't expect Hu to be so experienced.
"Give me 100 first, then we'll calculate how much it will cost."
Upon hearing the word "money," Hu Delu's eyes lit up. He grabbed the abacus next to him and quickly made a series of scribblings: "100 taels!"
Lu Tu held out his palm: "50 taels, that's the most I can do."
"Fifty taels? That's not even enough to buy pig iron!"
Lu Tu didn't waste any words and turned to leave. The ironware of this era had too many impurities, and the smelting technology was really too poor. The materials used for these iron caltrops were even less refined, as they were originally intended to restrict the hooves of horses.
You can forge iron ore by simply melting it down. If you dare to sell it for one or two taels of silver each, you might as well just rob it. Lu Tu may have money, but he doesn't lack a concept of money.
"Hey! Look at you, haggling over like this. You can't just cut the price in half, can you?" Hu Delu said anxiously, pulling Lü Tu over.
Business was tough these days. The border troops were suffering repeated defeats against the Wuhuan. The only advantage was that the weapons were not damaged much. The people couldn't even guarantee their farming, so where would they get the extra money to make farm tools?
Lu Tu remained silent, only continuing to walk out. Hu Delu, truly anxious, snapped, "Fifty taels it is! I'll give you fifty taels!"
Lu Tu then stopped and pointed to the stove, saying, "You also need to throw in 100 arrows."
"You! You think you can take advantage of me? How can you buy things like that?"
Although Lü Tu was very generous to his subordinates, he would never spend a penny more than necessary on a merchant like Hu Delu; money had to be spent wisely.
Seeing that he didn't speak, Hu Delu sighed softly, "Oh well, forget it, consider it my gift to you as the leader. You're so fierce and have brought honor to the people of Wuchuan. I'll give you those 100 arrows."
Without saying a word, Lu Tu took out some silver and handed it to him, laughing, "Thanks, Lao Hu. Have you ever considered opening a shop in a different location?"
Hu Delu glared at him: "You're not planning to take over my shop again, are you? This is what my father left me, I'm not leaving!"
In fact, after hearing about Hu Delu's knowledge of caltrops, Lü Tu took a liking to his talent and wanted Hu Delu to settle in Kuishan Village. He could also arrange two apprentices for him to forge weapons for his own people.
Seeing that Hu Delu wasn't interested in that area, and since he wasn't fully prepared, he put the idea aside for now and asked, "Is three days enough?"
"That's enough!" Hu Delu patted his chest confidently.
Lu Tu chatted with him for a while longer, and then bought about a hundred arrows that had been made in advance, filling his quiver before the arrival of Sun Meng and his brother.
"Brother, let's set off."
"good!"
Lu Tu distributed some arrows to Sun Meng and his brother. Judging from the arrow shot in the cave yesterday, it was clear that the two brothers were quite skilled with arrows, at least better than their swordsmanship.
Lu Tu understood the importance of teaching according to aptitude, so he decided to have them instruct others on archery from then on.
Now that the trenches and traps are in place, and even the tops are covered with turf and snow to conceal them, once the barbed wire is in place, the two villages will be fortified into one solid block, ensuring that the Wuhuan people will never return!
As soon as the three returned to Kuishan Village, they were greeted by villagers who excitedly surrounded them, chattering away:
"Captain, you'd better go check it out! The Karasuma soldiers are here!"
Upon hearing this, Lü Tu was startled, and a chilling aura instantly emanated from him: "Where?"
"They're right where we're digging those trenches, you'd better go take a look, they've died a horrible death!"
"Huh?" Lu Tu and the other two were taken aback upon hearing this.
"Has it been resolved?"
The people were so excited that they were beaming with joy, and they eagerly gestured to Lü Tu: "Not long after you left, we saw smoke signals being lit over the Niu Mang Mountain pass."
"We remembered what you said, 'We can't be cowards,' so we grabbed our weapons and went over there. But when we got there, guess what?"
Lu Tu was at his wit's end. He glared at the group and said, "Speak quickly."
"Those Wuhuan cavalrymen have long since fallen dead in the trenches, men and horses alike, their deaths were truly gruesome!"
Lu Tu pressed on, "Was anyone injured?"
The villagers shook their heads repeatedly: "Of course not! They said they didn't even fire a single arrow, and those beasts died. Don't you think it's God taking their dog lives!"
"Bullshit! Why didn't God take their lives before? It was clearly the platoon leader's good strategy to use a trap to deal with those bastards. I say the platoon leader is the real righteous official."
Lu Tu had no interest in listening to their flattery. He glanced at Song Yuxi, who was smiling at him from behind the crowd, cracked his whip, and galloped towards Niu Mang Mountain.
From a distance, you could see Liu Yang, Nie Yun, and the others, all wearing sheepskin coats and showing them off to the people around them.
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