"500,000 taels? Are you kidding?"
"For just a few lives, could they be worth 500,000 taels? Does a merchant have so much money?"
"This is what my brother saw with his own eyes. He was there at the time," Zhang County Captain said. "Also, money can be borrowed if there is none, and people can earn more money when they return. But if people are gone, everything is gone."
"That does make some sense."
But the veteran soldiers traveling with them felt a little unhappy about this in their hearts.
The general gets 500,000 taels, and they only get 1 tael.
It's uneven distribution that upsets people, no matter how they think about it.
Under Zhang County Captain's lead, the rumor spread like it had grown wings. In less than an hour, the whole army knew about it. The previously lively and chatty troops quieted down.
Everyone stopped joking around and spoke in hushed voices, almost entirely about their dissatisfaction with Wu Ling.
Several die-hard centurions loyal to Wu Ling also noticed this situation, but thought it was because the weather was too hot and everyone had lost their cheerfulness, so they didn't think much of it.
This was good too. Everyone marched vigorously to complete the mission faster and return sooner to collect their money.
As the troops advanced, Li Yao once again went to the Little Wa stockade.
Following her instructions, the two stockades selected 200 able-bodied and fierce warriors, led by the younger Wa Village Chief, to launch a surprise attack through the secret passage with her.
The remaining combat-capable men led by the old Village Chief took some heavy supplies and secretly hid in the woods near Redwoods Village.
Wu Ling could not stand long marches through the woods, so this time he did not dawdle like last time. By dusk that day, the army had arrived across from Redwoods Village.
Because they had given advance notice, Redwoods Village across the valley had long shut its gates with not a soul in sight, posing a staunch defensive stance.
Seeing they were doing well, Wu Ling relaxed. He ordered the troops to quickly cook dinner and prepare to attack Redwoods Village overnight.
After all, the sooner begun, the sooner done.
The soldiers all knew it was just for show, so they did not feel like a great battle was imminent. They sat in groups of threes and fives waiting for dinner.
"Big Brother Hong, let me help. Everyone is hungry. The sooner we finish cooking, the sooner we can eat."
At Liu Hu's cue, over 100 new recruits joined cooking. When no one was looking, they secretly added the toxic beans powder Zhang County Captain had distributed into the pots.
Soon, the food was aromatic. The soldiers who had marched all day picked up their bowls and heartily wolfed it down.
Zhang County Captain also sat with his bowl among several veterans.
But after a few bites, he suddenly stopped.
"Brothers, something feels wrong."
"What's wrong?"
"My stomach," Zhang County Captain said. "You guys keep eating. I need to go to the woods for a bit."
The veterans looked at him in disgust, but soon they also felt something very wrong and hurriedly threw down their bowls and chopsticks to run towards the woods.
Like a chain reaction, all 5,000+ soldiers in the army did the same.
In no time, squatting figures could be seen everywhere in the woods on the hillside. It was a magnificent scene.
"No no, it must be a problem with the food!"
The officers leading the soldiers, who also had rumbling stomachs, realized the severity of the matter between trips in and out. They finally squeezed their legs together to report to Wu Ling.
"You're saying there's a problem with the food?"
"Yes, general. Most likely because the hot weather spoiled the supplies we brought," one centurion reported. "Now all the officers and soldiers are afflicted. General, what should we do?"
Wu Ling had been a top general for over ten years yet never encountered such an issue before. He was immediately furious.
"Arrest whoever was responsible for cooking! Such dereliction of duty will be punished by military law!"
"No rush, general," Master Tang said instead. "This may not be a bad thing."
"Master Tang, please explain," Wu Ling said.
"The spoiled food made the soldiers sick with upset stomachs, leaving them too weak to fight. They must return to base to recover," Master Tang said. "General, Heaven itself is helping us!"
Wu Ling realized it made sense after hearing this.
This way, they did not even need to feign an attack and could directly march back.
"I'm just afraid that Li Yao won't let us off easy and refuse to pay the remaining silver."
"Hehe, no matter," Master Tang said. "At worst, we'll have her pay 5,000 taels more for provisions. In a few days after the soldiers have recovered, we'll come again."
"Good idea. We'll do just that," Wu Ling said. "Pass down the order for the army doctors to quickly brew medicine to treat the soldiers. We'll head back tomorrow morning."
The illness came like a mountain collapse.
Before the army doctors even finished brewing their soups, the soldiers were already so drained from running back and forth they nearly fainted.
And the illness departed like pulling out silk. After downing a bowl of the soup medicine, not only was there no improvement, but it inexplicably increased the soldiers' trips to the woods.
Every wore a pained expression on their face as they kept at it until late into the night when they were too tired to stay awake. They could only force themselves to sleep despite the stifling stench.
After most had fallen asleep, Liu Hu followed Li Yao's instructions himself to search the distant woods for Lv Village Chief.
"It's time."
"Tell everyone to get up," Lv Village Chief ordered. "Split into two routes to attack after fifteen minutes."
"Lv Village Chief, you can't truly harm anyone."
"Don't worry, young captain. We're not those kinds of people and don't want you to retaliate against us in the future," Lv Village Chief had someone bring out a bundle of arrows. "Look, these arrow shafts have no heads, just cloth bundles wrapped on the tips soaked in a bit of burning oil."
Liu Hu looked closely and indeed there were no arrowheads.
And this small amount of burning oil wouldn't accomplish much in the lush green woods, at most burning some tents down.
"Alright, hurry and retreat once it gets chaotic over there."
Liu Hu returned to camp and gathered all 100+ of his new recruits.
The camp would surely descend into chaos soon, and that would be their chance.
The deep midnight forest was tranquil when a ball of yellow flame traced across the pitch-black night sky with a whooshing sound, suddenly dropping into the camp.
Then hundreds of fire arrows pelted down like a meteor shower.
"Ambush—"
A panicked shout shattered the stillness of the camp.
"Not good! Redwoods Village is attacking!"
"Get up, get up! Redwoods Village is raiding the camp!"
Liu Hu's recruits immediately bellowed loudly, rousing everyone.
The slumbering soldiers were jolted awake. Opening their eyes to flames everywhere, some tents even catching fire, they instantly dissolved into chaos.
Seeing the situation deteriorate, a few centurions tried to regain control of their troops.
"Don't run around!"
"What's the panic? The next one to run will face military...!"
Wham—
Before he could finish speaking, a muffled club flew out of the darkness, knocking the centurion out cold where he stood.
With no leader left, the army descended into even greater chaos.