When the group saw Lü Tu, they quickly took off their sheepskin coats and ran over. Lü Tu couldn't help but laugh at their appearance, as they were just young men who had just come of age.
Lu Tu looked at the four neatly arranged Wuhuan corpses on the ground and said, "You guys are impressive!"
Nie Yun and the others grinned from ear to ear. Hearing Lü Tu praise them, they waved their hands and said, "Brother, actually, this has nothing to do with us. It's mainly because the trenches you came up with are amazing!"
"Brother, you have no idea how interesting those guys' expressions were back then. I've never seen the Wuhuan people so disheveled, hahaha!"
Liu Yang vividly reenacted the scene for everyone, making them burst into laughter.
Lu Tu praised, "Good! Well done, but we also need to send people to replenish the spikes inside frequently! And keep up the camouflage. Most importantly, we must not let the Wuhuan people escape, otherwise the secret of our trenches will be easily leaked."
The crowd replied solemnly, "Yes!"
There were 20 people present, including Liu Yang and Nie Yun. Lü Tu took out 20 taels of silver and handed it over: "This military merit will be counted on all of you. You will each be rewarded with one tael of silver! If you want to exchange it for grain, go to Kuishan Village to exchange it."
Everyone accepted the silver with delight: "Thank you, brother!"
Everyone was incredibly excited. Although the number of Wuhuan killed this time was not large, it was still the first such achievement in the entire Wuchuan region, except for that freak Lu Tu.
If the story were told to the people of Wuchuan, no one would believe it at all. It was unbelievable that a group of farmers like them could wipe out a small Wuhuan squad, and a well-equipped and elite one at that.
Looking at the sheepskin coats in their hands, Lü Tu laughed and said, "Wear them openly! Now I'm setting a rule: whoever kills the enemy gets their loot. If it's in the trenches, we'll split it equally!"
"Yes, sir!"
Nie Yun took out his fur coat and said, "I have clothes to wear. These are for the brothers on night watch to take turns wearing."
Seeing that he was young, even younger than everyone else present, yet possessed remarkable insight and vision, Lu Tu couldn't help but nod approvingly: "Good lad, I didn't misjudge you!"
He casually pulled out a token and tossed it to Nie Yun, then said to the crowd, "From today onwards, Nie Yun is your squad leader. From now on, everyone in the Niu Mang Mountain Pass area must follow his orders."
Nie Yun was startled. He hadn't expected Lü Tu to trust him so much. He had only been with Lü Tu for half a month, yet he had already been promoted to squad leader.
He declined, saying, "Brother, I am not experienced enough, so I may not be able to do it."
Lu Tu said solemnly, "A few days ago, you, Liu Yang, and Liu Hu killed a Wuhuan soldier. According to the reward system of the Wuchuan Border Army, you three should have been promoted to squad leaders. However, I didn't have enough men under my command, so it was delayed until today. Don't refuse. Take on the responsibility properly."
He then tossed a token to Liu Yang, who was standing to the side looking somewhat sullen: "From now on, you are also a squad leader. Nie Yun is in charge here, and you will be responsible for patrolling and duty. No matter how big or small the task is, it is a military merit in my eyes!"
The two shouted in unison, "Thank you for your high regard, elder brother!"
Lu Tu pointed to the corpses on the ground and instructed Sun Meng and his brother: "You two take some brothers and go to the city. Take the heads of these four guys and exchange them for military merits. Be careful."
"Yes, sir!"
Upon hearing that they were going to receive military merit, everyone rubbed their hands together excitedly, even though all the money and grain were in Lü Tu's warehouse.
Based on their understanding of Lü Tu, they knew that Lü Tu would never be stingy. Even when money and food had not been distributed before, Lü Tu used his own money to buy food for everyone to eat. As a result, everyone present trusted Lü Tu more and more.
Lu Tu called to the others to drag the four dead Wuhuan warhorses out of the trench, bleed them and slaughter them on the spot. Except for the horse liver, which was poisonous and buried on the spot, they set up several large pots in front of the wooden house and began to cook the horse meat.
Each horse weighed 600 jin (approximately 300 catties), but Lu Tu only allowed two horses to be boiled. The others were cut up and processed by smoking them with tree branches to make them easier to store for longer.
The aroma of horse meat instantly filled the air, and the large pots were full of meat, which made everyone dizzy with the smell!
Only the people of Kuishan Village had eaten meat not long ago, thanks to the stag hunted by Lü Tu.
The people of Songshan Village had gone almost a year without meat, especially the soldiers who trained with them. They were lucky if they could have enough porridge to eat, let alone meat.
The aroma of the meat made their mouths water, and they stared longingly at the pots.
When food is scarce, people's sense of smell is very acute. This aroma attracted villagers from both villages, who came over curiously, hoping to get a sip of soup.
The people from Kuishan Village were more familiar with Lü Tu, and one of them mustered up the courage to ask, "Chief cook, what are you cooking?"
Lu Tu smiled knowingly: "Have you tried the cooked horse meat?"
Everyone was astonished upon hearing this, never expecting that Lü Tu would be so ruthless as to boil the Wuhuan people's warhorses.
Let alone warhorses, even the horses used for daily hauling would be worth 5 taels of silver, enough for a family of three to eat for a year.
Who would be so extravagant as to slaughter a horse for food? Only our young and promising head cook would do that.
Several children, drooling, said, "Chief, can we come closer and smell it? We don't want to eat it, we just want to smell it."
Seeing this, Lü Tu burst into laughter, then deliberately put on a stern face to tease them, saying, "No way!"
The children shrank back in fright and quickly hid behind the adults. Lu Tu continued, "Hurry back and get some bowls. Every family contributed to digging the trenches. How can we just smell the aroma without eating the meat?"
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