This remark enraged Gu Mai. He took a few steps forward, then, seemingly realizing his mistake, squatted down, picked up a stone, and threw it at Li Qing. "What do you mean by that!"
Li Qing neither dodged nor evaded, letting the pebble hit his chest. He lightly patted the dust off his chest and said coldly, "Do I need to speak to a coward like you politely?"
Gu Mai was so angry that he trembled all over. He grabbed a handful of sand from the ground and threw it at Li Qing.
Sand drifted through the air and landed on the ground. Gu Mai lowered his voice and said, "Who are you calling a coward? Come and fight me if you dare!"
Li Qing pointed at the grain and said bluntly, "Fool, I'm not saying you're a coward, I'm saying that all of you who stood up are cowards. Heh, look at yourselves, compare yourselves to those who decided to stay and defend the tribe, aren't you ashamed?"
So far, the ratio of those who have decided to leave to the current effective fighting force of the Red Flower Tribe is roughly one to three. Of course, among these "three," there are definitely some who are hesitant and have decided to wait and see.
Li Qing didn't give Gu Mai a chance to speak at all: "Are some of you thinking that you're not cowards and that you left just to 'preserve your strength' or 'avenge the tribe in the future'? Hmph, what I said just now was just to get you cowards to surface quickly and not become the black sheep of the tribe. But if you use these words as an excuse, you're too naive—because if you really thought that way, you wouldn't still be standing here right now."
Li Qing finished saying everything Gu Mai wanted to say, and he spoke so quickly that Gu Mai didn't have a chance to interrupt. This made Gu Mai even angrier, wanting to rush up and punch Li Qing's hateful face. But this was the Red Flower Tribe, and Dian Zheng was standing by. Gu Mai had no choice but to suppress her anger and hummed softly, "Say what you want."
Li Qing didn't care about Gu Mai and the others at all. After lecturing them, he looked at the group of people in the "three" and said, "That's how it is. You scared people, I'll just give you a good scolding at most, that's all. So if you want to leave, leave now and don't waste each other's time. We have more important things to do."
Upon hearing this, several members of the group "Three" immediately began to step outside. It was unclear whether Li Qing's words had moved them or whether they realized that if they didn't leave, there wouldn't be any time left. In any case, the number of people who stepped forward made Li Qing breathe a slight sigh of relief—about 30% of the people had left, which was still within Li Qing's acceptable range.
Suddenly, from somewhere, a strange, eerie voice came.
"Why are you treating us like this? Who are you? You're not our chief!"
Li Qing laughed and looked at the figure hiding in the crowd, not daring to show his face, and said with a smile: "But haven't you noticed that the chief hasn't said a word so far? This proves that he agrees with what I said."
Do you have any further questions?
The voice cursed once and then fell silent.
Dian looked at the people who had stepped forward, feeling both disappointed and "heartbroken." Among them were many of the people he had once favored—talented warriors who would surely become brave and skilled in battle, bringing a better life to the tribe. Yet, they had all chosen to leave, and so many of them had done so.
Of the remaining crowd, after removing those who cannot fight, the number of those who can fight is pitifully small. How can this battle be fought?
Dian looked at Jie Wu and saw that he also looked anxious, so he could only sigh deeply.
If Chu hadn't told him that following Li Qing's plan would be the right thing to do, he wouldn't have agreed with Li Qing's approach.
"Chu also said that we can definitely win this battle," Dian looked at his hands, "and he certainly won't back down, but with such a huge gap in strength, how should we fight?"
Quietly waiting for the people to finish exchanging places, Li Qing took a deep breath—of course he would feel regret, but this process was necessary. Even if there were few people left in the Red Flower Tribe, he had to do it and completely prevent any future traitors from appearing in the Red Flower Tribe!
In Li Qing's view, in this era, the more one adheres to the principle of "the more people, the more one wins" and tries to gain an advantage through "human wave tactics," the less meaningful it is. If a tribe wants to grow stronger, its warriors should be a small but elite number. It is not about having a large number of warriors, but about having absolute loyalty to the tribe. Only in this way can a tribe grow stronger.
Of course, the more women and children the better, as they represent the vitality of a tribe.
"Fortunately, there weren't many women and children among those who left, otherwise there would have been trouble later..." Li Qing thought to himself. "The women who decided to stay must be well cared for. Even with the baby, we must be extremely careful and not let them get hurt in the slightest."
Finally, Li Qing coldly addressed the people who had stepped forward to leave, saying, "Now, I think you can leave. You can go wherever you want, but I don't want to see you again. The rest of my words are not for you to hear."
These words were very impolite, but "leaving the tribe" was also the decision of Gu Mai and the others themselves. Hearing Li Qing's order to leave, they dared not do anything unnecessary in front of the chief and could only turn around and leave in a sorry state.
Those who decided to stay, including the chief, quietly watched their former companions leave the tribe.
An indescribable emotion welled up in their hearts.
Some people opened their mouths, as if they wanted to persuade them to stay, but after seeing the solemn expressions of the chief and others, they had no choice but to swallow their words.
The departing group moved very slowly. This period of time was an ordeal for anyone. As Li Qing watched the backs of those who left, a voice in his mind kept asking him if he had made a mistake, if he had been too heartless.
"No, we must not let our emotions get the better of us!"
Li Qing said to himself.
He told himself that he was doing this to prepare for the tribe's future expansion of territory—these few remaining warriors would become the absolute strength of the Red Flower Tribe, and their loyalty had to be guaranteed. Li Qing did not want any "traitors" to appear in the future.
Even if his approach, to put it bluntly, is to rather kill the innocent than let the guilty go free.
He still wants to do it.
After an unknown amount of time, the last member of the departing group disappeared into the tribe.
The fire in the center of the village was still burning brightly, but the number of people gathered around the fire had decreased significantly.
Looking at the remaining pitiful group of people, Li Qing knew he needed to say something to them. After all, these people would be the backbone of the Red Flower Tribe's expansion of territory, and they had just experienced a "farewell." If he didn't even offer some words of comfort, it would create a huge hidden danger.
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