"General, did the Second Young Master Yu tell you that the Yu family originally owned an iron mine in Xihe, but it was eventually seized by Longtan? The Second Young Master Yu fought against Longtan several times and was defeated each time. Now, Longtan not only manufactures powerful weapons, but also has a salt field that can support the entire Great Yan."
He Xiong gripped her chin tightly. "Is that really true?"
Yu Qiutao gasped in pain, tears welling up in her eyes.
"This is common knowledge throughout the entire Yu family. Didn't the Second Young Master Yu tell the General?"
"Do you know that Yu Shida was the one who set up the explosives?" He Xiong asked again.
He felt that what Longtan offered was much more powerful than what Yu Shida offered, and upon hearing Yu Qiutao's words, he couldn't help but have doubts.
Yu Qiutao opened her innocent big eyes.
"Of course not. He fought with the people from Longtan, and they deliberately dropped it to him. It must have been a defective item that Longtan didn't want, which is why he picked it up and treated it like a treasure."
He Xiong saw that the expression on her face did not seem fake. "Don't try to fool me."
Yu Qiutao's heart skipped a beat, and she quickly nestled into his arms, looking as if she was about to cry.
“The Yu family sent me here, and the General is my husband. My God, Tao’er’s only support in this life. This is a matter of great importance, how could I deceive the General?”
She spoke with such sincerity that He Xiong couldn't tell if she was telling the truth or not. He was also deeply attracted by her delicate and fragile charm, and wished he could pull her into his arms and pamper her.
Let's put aside the matter of settling scores with Yu Shida for now.
Thinking this, he placed his large hand on her slender waist, his interest rekindled.
Yu Qiutao trembled in his arms, unable to think straight.
At this moment, she was completely conquered by his power, willingly wanting to become his person and drowning in the storm he brought.
Just as the two were locked in a fierce battle, there was a constant, urgent knocking at the door.
Hearing the commotion inside, the messenger finally mustered the courage to shout, "General, none of the soldiers who went out to collect grain today have returned. The deputy general has specifically ordered me to come and invite you to discuss and decide what to do."
After a long while, the sounds inside the house finally stopped.
Suddenly the door opened from the outside, and a strange fragrance wafted out of the room. The soldier quickly took two steps back.
He Xiong, whose good deed had been interrupted, stood at the door with a gloomy face.
How many people went out today?
"Reporting to the General, the ten teams total over a thousand men." The messenger lowered his head, not daring to look him in the eye.
"None of them have returned?"
"yes."
"Have troops been sent to investigate?"
"I checked."
He Xiong felt a burning anger rising within him; if he didn't need to ask for information, he would have kicked the soldier to death.
"how?"
Sensing his anger, the messenger flinched, almost biting his tongue as he spoke.
"Reporting to the General, we have neither found him alive nor his body."
He Xiong flew into a rage, flung his sleeves, and strode toward the front courtyard reception room.
After everyone had gone far away, Yu Qiutao dragged her sore and weak legs out to close the door. She walked to the incense burner, extinguished the still-burning incense with tea, and her eyes were full of smugness.
Inside the reception room, the lieutenants gathered, waiting for He Xiong to give orders.
He Xiong sat directly in the head seat, glanced at everyone, and, having spent years on the battlefield, exuded an aura of imposing power and ruthlessness.
"What exactly happened?" he asked in a deep voice.
The deputy general in charge of sending troops to collect grain recounted the events in detail: "The soldiers only found the soldiers' bodies in a forest outside a village."
"What about the villagers?"
He Xiong frowned. The people of the south were so arrogant that they dared to attack his soldiers.
The lieutenant said, "I sent men to check all the villages overnight and found that all the villages that were supposed to collect grain today were empty, and the people had all fled into the deep mountains."
"Tell me, who did all this?" He Xiong clenched his fists, like an enraged lion ready to tear someone apart at any moment.
"It has been determined that it was all done by the Longtan gang."
He Xiong was furious and said, "It's them again! Gather the troops immediately, I want to personally go and kill those scoundrels."
Another lieutenant stepped forward to receive the order: "General, shall we mobilize the entire army?"
He Xiong glanced at the hourglass; it would be dawn in two more hours.
He waved his hand and said, "There's no need to go to great lengths with the few people in Longtan. Just select 50,000 elite troops and set off at dawn."
"Yes, Your subordinate obeys!"
He then discussed the details of the military expedition with his generals.
Finally, he looked intently at Yu Shida and Morey, who were standing at the very back.
"Deputy General Yu and Deputy General Mo are quite familiar with the terrain of the South, so you two will serve as the vanguard for this expedition."
Yu Shida met He Xiong's meaningful gaze. He didn't have time to think about what he had done wrong, and dared not disobey him.
"Yes, Your subordinate obeys!"
He Xiong picked up the teacup on the table, rubbed it in his hand, and then drank it all in one gulp. "If this matter succeeds, I will reward you handsomely!"
"Thank you, General!" Yu Shida and Morey said respectfully.
"The General will surely win!"
"The General must!"
The soldiers' slogans echoed throughout the entire courtyard.
Only Yu Shida and Morey knew that this trip was likely to be fraught with danger for them!
Inside the camp of the soldiers at Longtan outside the city.
After surviving the infection period, Yunmo regained consciousness.
Lin Yinan was cleaning and dressing him; his body was covered in crisscrossing wounds, but he remained completely silent.
To ease his pain, Lin Yinan kept talking to him to distract him.
"Yunwu said that in two more days, the stitches can be removed from your wound. Fortunately, no bones or tendons were damaged."
After being unconscious for several days, Yun Mo's voice was a little hoarse. "Yu Shida stole my musket. That bastard wanted to know how to use it. He only wanted to torture me; he didn't dare to kill me outright."
He gazed at her focused expression in the firelight, his heart filled with emotion.
“I heard what Dr. Guo and the others said that day.”
Lin Yinan paused in her work. Men are indeed very concerned. "It's nothing, it will be fine after some rest."
"Anan, will you despise me?" Yun Mo's eyes were filled with resentment; he felt he was not a complete person.
"Don't overthink it. We already have Shijiu and Yan'er, that's enough. If you want more children in the future, we can bring a few more back to raise."
Lin Yinan spoke casually, showing that she didn't have those outdated ideas about carrying on the family line, so she genuinely didn't care about that aspect.
Yun Mo thought about it and agreed, so he nodded obediently.
"Alright, I'll listen to you. Yun Er lost an eye, and the musket you made for me was stolen. I have an irreconcilable hatred for Yu Shida!"
“It’s okay, I’ll take it back for you, and then I’ll kill Yu Shida to avenge you both.”
After applying the medicine, Lin Yinan helped him re-bandage the gauze, coaxing him in every way as if he were a child.
After feeding him the medicine, Lin Yinan continued, "Today we killed over a thousand Hu people who came out to steal grain. Given the Hu people's vengeful nature, they will soon gather a large army to attack us. I want to send the rest of the wounded soldiers back to Longtan to recuperate."
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