Zhao Qingyao was much calmer than Prince Duan. She keenly noticed that Lü Tu's expression was not good, especially when those apples fell to the ground.
Just as she was about to speak, she heard Lü Tu say coldly, "Prince Duan! Are you insulting me by calling me a peasant? My family has been farmers for eighteen generations."
Prince Duan was taken aback upon hearing this, and only then did he notice the cold expression on Lü Tu's face. He quickly tried to smooth things over, saying, "General Lü, please don't misunderstand. How could I possibly be talking about you? You are the savior of my sister and me. Now you are the Deputy General of Wuchuan, which is different from those other people."
Lu Tu raised an eyebrow: "Oh, I see. You mean that now that I've become the deputy general of Wuchuan, I should be like you, looking down on these apples that ordinary people can't even smell, and that I should live a life of luxury and continue to exploit other people?"
Prince Duan did not expect Lü Tu to be so disrespectful and directly refute his words. He knew he had said the wrong thing, but he was Prince Duan, the current emperor's younger brother. It was absolutely impossible for him to apologize to Lü Tu!
Prince Duan snorted coldly: "Think whatever you want. Have someone bring me paper and pen. I want to continue writing an urgent message to send to the capital to inform my brother the Emperor to send troops to suppress these peasants."
Lu Tu slammed his hand on the table in displeasure, breaking it in two and nearly causing Prince Duan, who was still supporting himself on it, to stumble and fall to the ground.
In shock and anger, he stood up and demanded, "Lu Tu, are you planning a rebellion?"
Lu Tu looked at him coldly: "Rebellion? I would like to ask Prince Duan to open your eyes and see if there are few rebels in the world of the Great Yu Dynasty now?"
The threat in those words was so strong that Lu Tu neither admitted nor denied it, but he kept staring intently at Prince Duan, making the prince feel uneasy.
Zhao Qingyao frowned and glanced at Prince Duan, then stepped forward to comfort him, "General Lü, please don't take it to heart. My brother is just like that. He has never been exposed to these things since he was a child, so he is very agitated right now. Perhaps he said something wrong. Please forgive him."
Prince Duan stared wide-eyed at Zhao Qingyao in disbelief, but Zhao Qingyao slapped him across the face: "Hurry up and apologize to General Lü?"
Upon seeing Zhao Qingyao's actions, Prince Duan suddenly remembered that his life was still in Lü Tu's hands. Perhaps, as Zhao Qingyao said, he had grown up in luxury and had never experienced such hardship. Over time, he only felt resentment and forgot how passive his situation was.
Lu Tu ignored this and picked up the fallen apples from the ground again, sighing, "These apples were all bought by my men at the risk of their lives in Wuchuan City. Even my wife who just gave birth and my newborn child are not qualified to eat them, yet His Highness Prince Duan discards them like trash."
As Lu Tu was about to get up and leave, Prince Duan reacted and quickly blocked his way, saying with a forced smile, "General Lu, I'm sorry! Please don't take it to heart. I didn't expect this to be so important to you. Rest assured, as long as you help me send this out by express 800 li, I guarantee that my brother will reward you with a thousand taels of gold!"
Lu Tu shook his head: "Forget it, Your Highness. Longcheng is already surrounded. My men can't get there, let alone send an 800-li express courier. It might have been okay a few days ago, but I'm sorry to trouble you these days. I'll arrange for someone to send you to Longcheng right away."
Upon hearing that Lü Tu was going to send them to the Red Turban Army, Prince Duan and Zhao Qingyao panicked on the spot. After all, in their minds, Lü Tu was someone who could do what he said he would do.
On that day at the entrance of the Commandant's Mansion, if Zhao Qingyao hadn't stepped in and offered Lu Tu satisfactory terms, Lu Tu might have killed everyone on the spot.
"General Lü, let's talk this out. Why do we have to make things so unpleasant? If you have any requests, you can just tell us. After all, we all have the same goal: to help the Great Yu Dynasty."
Prince Duan grinned and put his arm around Lü Tu's shoulder, showing no trace of the airs one would expect from a prince.
Lu Tu was not in a hurry to break ties with them. At least when others gave him face and a way out, Lu Tu accepted it all.
“Your Highness, you are absolutely right. Today, I have come with a request.”
Hearing this, Prince Duan and Zhao Qingyao secretly breathed a sigh of relief: "General Lü, just say it. As long as we can help, we will not hesitate to do so!"
Lu Tu spread his hands: "You two have been staying with me for several days now. I believe you have seen that although our Kuishan Village has a city wall, it has exhausted all our resources. Right now, the Red Turban Army is pressing in and could attack at any time. Our troops are really in short supply."
“This…” Prince Duan was somewhat embarrassed, and Zhao Qingyao was even more speechless. As a princess, her most important authority was the Jinyiwei guards she carried with her. However, when Ye Qingyu imprisoned them, she had already killed all of those Jinyiwei guards.
Upon hearing Lü Tu's request, Prince Duan shrugged helplessly: "General Lü, as you know, most of my troops are in Longcheng. Right now, I'm like a skilled cook without rice to cook."
Lu Tu said sincerely, "Your Highness Prince Duan, do you still remember the day we captured 3,000 Shence Army soldiers?"
"I remember, weren't those guys demoted to military slaves?"
Lu Tu nodded: "But these guys recognize you, so tell me if you want to get through this with me?"
"I want to! My second sister wants to too!"
Lu Tu laughed and said, "I can also feel the sincerity you two have shown. In that case, go and persuade those 3,000 Shence Army soldiers to join my ranks."
Upon hearing this, Prince Duan smiled confidently: "That's easy, leave it to me! I'll make sure they willingly join your ranks!"
Lu Tu continued, "But there is no military pay. They are only given the same food as ordinary civilians, one meal a day."
"Huh?" Prince Duan was a little dumbfounded. He had originally planned to offer a generous reward, and then the matter of persuading him would be a piece of cake.
Unexpectedly, Lü Tu was so stingy that he didn't even pay his soldiers' salaries and only ate one meal a day. This left the dull-witted Prince Duan at a loss for what to do.
Zhao Qingyao then spoke up: "I will go and persuade the surrendered soldiers on behalf of General Lü!"
Lu Tu raised an eyebrow: "The princess is very righteous, and the people of the world will be grateful to her!"
Without further ado, the three of them got up and headed towards the training ground. Lü Tu also had Liu Hu ride ahead to summon the 3,000 Shence Army soldiers.
Lu Tu sneered inwardly. It would be very easy to persuade these 3,000 Shence Army soldiers to surrender, but Lu Tu wanted to use this method to help Zhao Qingyao and Prince Duan Tuomin, so that they could personally persuade the Red Turban Army to surrender in the future!
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