After grabbing the rope thrown by two Salt Marsh soldiers and completing the last section of the climb, Wei Dun climbed up to the gap panting. The next moment, he was stunned...

"Mr. Messenger, please follow me." Bailey greeted Weidun with a smile.

"Oh, okay, okay." Wei Dun finally came back to his senses from his shock.

Wei Dun was astonished because the Wulai defense zone was not empty of troops as Teller had previously guessed, but rather felt a bit overcrowded - a rough estimate was that there were at least four or five thousand troops lined up, and their armor and weapons were shiny.

What's going on? Did they lie in ambush last night? Or did they just arrive today? Wei Dun thought as he walked.

When he saw Wu Lai, Wei Dun was stunned again, because Wu Lai was too young. Although he was young, the aura he exuded was extraordinary. One could tell at a glance that he was a person who had been in a high position for a long time and was accustomed to giving orders.

When did Assyria have such a talented young man? Wei Dun pondered as he took off the leather bag on his back, bowed slightly as a courtesy, and then said, "You must be General Wu Lai. There are a thousand gold coins in this leather bag. It is a thank-you gift from my young commander to you. The general is so kind to return the bodies of our fallen soldiers. My young commander is very grateful."

"Don't be so polite." Wu Lai smiled and waved his hand. Bi Ya walked over and took the leather bag and brought it back to Wu Lai.

You are really rude, Wei Dun muttered to himself.

Humph, it would be a waste not to take this money. Only one thousand gold coins for more than four hundred corpses, how stingy. Wu Lai thought.

Wei Dun naturally didn't want to stay any longer at this moment. Seeing Wu Lai accept the thank-you gift, he bowed slightly again and said, "It's getting late. Goodbye."

"Don't be in a hurry. May I ask, what is the name of your young commander?" Wu Lai asked with a smile.

"My young commander is Teller Van Zeiss of Hulit's Third Legion." Wei Dun replied.

"Please tell your young Marshal Teller for me." Wu Lai raised his eyebrows and spoke word by word, "Just tell him that I am always here to serve you. If you are not afraid of death, just come and fight."

"I will definitely bring it there." Wei Dun frowned. He didn't expect Wu Lai to say such a harsh word.

"Show him out." Wu Lai waved his hand, stood up and walked towards the inner tent. Bi Ya glanced at Wei Dun jokingly, picked up the leather bag, and quickly caught up with Wu Lai.

After a while, a thick rope lowered the shield into the gap.

"What's the situation?" Teller asked hurriedly as Wei Dun got on the boat.

"Young Marshal, there are at least four to five thousand people in their defense zone. They are well-armed and do not look like new recruits. The commander is Wu Lai, a young man." Wei Dun replied.

"Four or five thousand people? How is that possible?" Teller was stunned, but he was also a little unconvinced. "Are you dazzled? It was you who said there were few people last night. Tell me, how did all these people appear overnight?"

Wei Dun was speechless.

"Weidun, are you sure you didn't see it wrong?" Teller couldn't help but ask again. If the number of people in the enemy's defense zone was the same as last night, he could still carry forward his style and transport the bodies of the fallen soldiers first, and then attack at dawn tomorrow. But now, if the enemy's number really exceeds his own, then the priority seems to be retreat, because no one can predict what kind of strange tricks the local commander will come up with, especially with such a comparison of troop strength, the longer you stay on the rocky beach, the more unsafe it will be.

"Young Marshal, if you don't believe me, Wei Dun, you can just ask someone else to go up and have a look." Wei Dun was a little angry, thinking, I just lost a battle, why do you look down on me so much? Don't you look at yourself, how many times have you lost since you came here? Wei Dun is a reckless man, whether he is happy or unhappy, it is all on his face. When Teller saw Wei Dun's unhappy face, he immediately got angry, thinking, I am the young marshal, you are a guy who just lost a battle, and you dare to show your face to me when I ask you one more question, what does it mean? Do you really think I am reluctant to punish you?

"I don't trust anyone!" Teller slammed the table in anger and said, "I'll go and see for myself!"

After Teller got so angry, Wei Dun calmed down. After a slight hesitation, he advised: "Young Marshal, you can't take this seriously..."

"Don't take it seriously?! Weidun, you are so bold!" Teller immediately interrupted Weidun's words. He was so angry in his heart. He thought it was all because he had given you guys too much face in the past, so now you are so arrogant and don't even take me seriously.

In detail, Weidun really did not mean what Teller guessed. He wanted to persuade Teller not to put himself in danger, but he was interrupted by Teller as soon as he started talking. He wanted to continue, but Teller was angry again, so he simply shut up and thought to himself, you can scold or hit me as much as you want, after all, you are the young marshal.

Teller was too lazy to guess what Wei Dun was thinking. He had made up his mind and immediately kicked Wei Dun out of the cabin. He called a guard and urged him to take off his clothes. After he was dressed properly, he waved his hand and said, "Dock."

When Teller climbed onto the rocky beach, Wei Dun and other officers and generals were immediately anxious. They thought that it was almost dark now. We could not figure out the enemy's details. We could either retreat or charge. We couldn't really ask a young commander to take risks, right? What if something went wrong? How could we explain to the commander? As soon as the officers stopped Teller and explained the general idea, Teller got angry again. Then, he took the leather bag handed to him by a guard and put it on his back. He pushed everyone away angrily, saying, "Whoever dares to follow me will be killed!" and quickly climbed towards the gap.

Seeing him like this, everyone dared not follow him and could only wait anxiously on the rocky beach.

Soon, Teller tasted the pain and hardship of climbing. The difficulty of climbing the mile and a half long slope was beyond his imagination. Just halfway through the journey, he was already out of breath, and his back was wet with sweat.

Unable to help but look back, Teller gritted his teeth, stretched out his hand to grab the crack of a strange rock, exerted force with his arm, and took another step forward...

After a cup of tea, when it was almost completely dark, Teller finally climbed to four-fifths of the slope of the gap. But for some reason, he suddenly became nervous. He wanted to retreat, but he was not willing to do so. He was not sure whether to continue climbing. When he was hesitating, two torches suddenly appeared on the gap, and a muffled voice asked, "Excuse me, are you the messenger of the Hulett Army?"

"Yes, I am the messenger of the Third Corps of Hulett's Army." Teller suppressed his inner tension and raised his voice to answer.

"Oh, okay then, we'll throw the rope down, you catch it and hold on to it, and then we'll pull you up!" shouted the people above the gap.

"Okay!" Teller replied. As soon as he finished answering, there was a light "click" sound, and a rope fell beside Teller.

After hesitating for a moment, Teller made up his mind and grabbed the knot on the rope...

When he was dragged into the gap by three Saltmarsh soldiers, Teller subconsciously glanced at the camp and couldn't help sighing in his heart, thinking, why should I ask myself for this? Wouldn't it be better to just trust that guy Wei Dun?

Just as I was thinking this, I saw a young man in guard uniform coming up to me and said, "Welcome, sir. I am Bailey, the guard of General Wu Lai. I didn't expect that your young commander Teller would respond so quickly. Please follow me."

Reply? Did that bastard Weidun hide something from me? Teller frowned slightly, nodded immediately, and followed the young guard. As he walked, he secretly took note of the layout of the defense zone, which might come in handy someday.

After a while, Teller was led into Woolley's tent. He was no longer nervous at this moment, and even felt a little proud. He knew that the story of his solitary exploration of the camp would soon become the poem that the Hulett troubadours would be most happy to sing.

The latest novel is published first on Liu9shuba!

When meeting Wu Lai, Teller had the same feeling as Wei Dun, but compared to Wei Dun, he had a little more appreciation, because he knew very well what it felt like for a young man to lead an army - it was very cool, but also very tiring.

"Greetings, General Wu Lai." Teller took off the leather bag on his back, "Here are three hundred gold coins, a small gift from Marshal Teller to General Wu Lai."

"You're so polite." Wu Lai smiled and waved his hand casually, "Take it."

As soon as Teller was startled, his right knee suddenly felt numb. As soon as he leaned forward, he was hit hard on the shoulder by a huge force. Before he could even feel the unbearable pain, he fell heavily to the ground. Amidst the loud noise, the three hundred gold coins rolled all over the floor.

Teller reacted quickly and rolled two steps with a struggle, but there was someone faster than him. Before he could turn over and jump up, Bailey had caught up and kicked him back to the ground. With a "clang" sound, the sword was unsheathed, and the hilt shook, and the tip of the sword was against Teller's throat.

"Dear Marshal Teller, you'd better not move." Bailey raised a smile.

Teller's heart instantly fell into an icy cave...

"Oh, no, no, no..." Wu Lai stood up from behind the desk with a smile, "Young Marshal Teller, I really can't believe that you actually offered yourself to me. Oh my, this bargain is really too good for me."

"Young master is a man favored by God, so it's not surprising for him to have such a harvest. To be honest with you, I wanted to do it on the road just now." Bailey was also ecstatic. The man under his sword was the young marshal of Hulett's Third Legion. This title alone would add a huge entry to Young Master Wu Lai's military merit book. The other benefits would be so numerous that people could not even imagine.

"Humph, so you already knew it was me." Teller regretted his words as soon as he said them. He thought to himself, why did he say such nonsense? How could others not know who he was? But how could they know? Did someone betray me? Teller was very nervous, very frightened, and very puzzled.

In fact, there is nothing to be puzzled about. The telescope that Wu Lai used was a military-grade one in his previous memory. It was in no way comparable to the civilian version in Teller's hand.

After Wei Dun left, Wu Lai followed him with a telescope because he wanted to know what the other party's flagship looked like in case of future use. However, he soon saw a scene that he himself could not believe...

To be precise, Teller's identity was exposed by the kind dissuasion of those generals and officers. Of course, it would be too embarrassing if Woolley, who saw all this, still couldn't guess Teller's identity.

When he saw two soldiers approaching with ropes, Teller shouted out: "General Woolley, I am willing to redeem my freedom with five million gold coins!"

When Bailey heard the number that Teller shouted out, he couldn't help but be stunned for a moment. The two soldiers who were approaching also subconsciously stopped and looked at Wu Lai at the same time.

"Five million gold coins? Is that all you're worth?" Wu Lai asked, frowning.

Five million gold coins are not enough? Teller was stunned at first, but then he was happy. As long as Wu Lai was willing to accept the ransom and not send him to the heart of Assyria, what would it matter if he spent more money? You know, if I was sent to Assyria, there would be no hope for my life.

"General Woolley, just name your price," Teller said immediately.

Wu Lai raised his eyebrows and asked, "Marshal Teller, I think the ransom price of 15 million gold coins is most suitable for your status."