To be honest, according to Li Xiang's order, Qin Huaiyu and his men should not have gotten involved. We have just helped you turn the tide of the battle. Although there are not many of us who went out, we have disrupted the entire battlefield. If we had not fought for a while, no matter how Tusi Adu planned, he would not have been able to lead his men to attack Tusi Longchuan's stronghold.
Now that our mission is completed, we still have to carry out the orders of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince and let the people on your mountain kill each other. The more you lose, the better it will be for us. When we take over this area in the future, the less trouble we will encounter.
So no matter what Adu Tusi's general said, Qin Huaiyu pretended not to hear. It was just a close combat, and we've already lost more than a dozen people. We don't know how to report these people to the higher-ups. If we continue to help you fight, what will we say about the dead? After all, we don't have this combat mission.
Seeing that they were not going to help, the subordinates of Tusi Adu could only grit their teeth and continue fighting. The land in front of the entire stronghold was dyed red. No one knew how many people had died here today, but one thing was certain, Tusi Longchuan had no way to return to his stronghold.
The casualties among Longchuan Tusi's men were getting more and more serious. He realized that if he continued to attack the stronghold, he might not get any results in the end except more deaths. Now he had to face the reality and must not waste all the people he had.
The sound of gold banging could be heard, indicating that the Longchuan chieftain had begun to withdraw his troops.
Upon hearing this voice, Tusi Adu and his men breathed a sigh of relief, because everyone was now at the end of their strength. You must know that Tusi Adu's strength was relatively poor, and because of various weird operations during the war, his men suffered heavy losses. Now they can only hold on for half an hour at most. If there is no reinforcement within half an hour, then they may have no choice but to give up the stronghold.
Their situation was not optimistic, and the situation under Longchuan Tusi was even worse. They could not even organize an attacking army of 2,000 people. The officers of each unit suffered heavy casualties, so Longchuan Tusi could only order a retreat.
"This old fellow must have retreated to Xijiang Village. It's his second stronghold, but it's not big enough. Let him take these remaining soldiers there. Food alone is a big deal."
Looking at the direction of Longchuan Tusi's retreat, Tusi Adu smiled. We all live in the mountains. You know the situation here, and I also know the situation there.
Apart from the mountain stronghold at his feet, the chieftain of Longchuan did not trust the other people under his command. So even if there were other places to stay, the stored supplies were not much. It might be okay for one or two days, but if they stayed for too long, they might starve to death.
"Your Excellency the Chieftain is right. I just checked the warehouse out back, and it has enough food to feed hundreds of thousands of people for half a year. This means most of their food is stored here. If there is still food in the Xijiang stronghold, it's probably made of stone. I just don't know if their stomachs can digest it."
The words of one of his generals made everyone else laugh, but the smiles on their faces soon disappeared. Although they had occupied the mountain stronghold, their losses were also there. There was a dense mass of corpses in front of them, and it could be seen from the clothes on their bodies that they had contributed at least half of them.
"Everyone, be alert! Search the entire stronghold immediately. Pick out all the capable fighters and kill them all. We don't have the strength to keep them under guard."
This is how fighting in the mountains is like. If you capture a mountain stronghold, the young men inside will not be able to survive, because these people have not been on the same page with them since childhood. Don't even think about reforming them all. In the end, these people can only become destabilizing factors in the mountain stronghold.
So each chieftain had his own ideas. Whenever they captured a mountain stronghold, none of the young men inside would be able to survive. As for the women and children, they might still have a chance to survive. But when Chieftain Adu said this, Qin Huaiyu immediately appeared.
"Master Tusi, please don't rush to give orders. These people may be just corpses to you. I think it's better to hand them all over to us. Of course, we won't let them get into any trouble. We will tie them up and transport them down the mountain immediately. We have better uses for them."
When going up the mountain, Li Xiang explained that the most urgent thing in the mountain now is transportation. If they want to build a road, they will definitely need a lot of manpower. The area below the mountain has been ruined by those corrupt officials. If they are to conscript labor again, many people will probably rise up and rebel. Therefore, these captives on the mountain are the best labor force.
"General Qin, aren't you overreaching? Aren't you here to protect me? I'm afraid General Qin doesn't need to worry about this matter. We have an entrenched feud with them. We can only sleep at night by watching their heads fall off. If we let them go, they will most likely come back to kill us in the future."
This is the rule on the mountain. If your tribe is destroyed, then the last thing left in your life is to avenge your relatives. If you don’t kill these people now, it is equivalent to burying hidden dangers for yourself. Although they will not return to the mountain for the time being, who knows if they will come back in the future?
"This isn't my idea, it's His Highness's. Didn't we help just now? We contributed a lot. We don't want anything from the entire village. We only need these young and strong men. This also conforms to the distribution rules of your mountain. Of course, the chieftain doesn't have to give it to us, but later..."
Qin Huaiyu spoke slowly, his threat also on the surface. The number of young and strong men on this mountain is not a small number. If they were to gather together, there would be at least 50,000 or 60,000 people. We can't let you kill all 50,000 or 60,000 people in one night. These people are very important to us...
