Pick up a princess to be your wife

Liu Qian took a few steps and bowed to Li Mu.

"I am Liu Qian, the second-in-command of Tiger Head Stronghold, nicknamed Grass Tiger. I should have given all this money and iron to you, hero, to repay your life-saving grace."

However, many of our brothers have died or been injured. If we return empty-handed today, Tiger Head Stronghold will likely have no place to stand in Lingnan Road in the future.

Now that we have repelled the army, there is no need to fight to the death; it will not benefit anyone.

How about this: we'll share these supplies with you heroes, and that way we can all become friends. If we meet again on the road, we can look out for each other.

Liu Qian said.

"can."

Li Mu nodded slightly.

Having already fought for a while, it would be best if we could peacefully share the spoils with the other side.

"Thank you for your help, hero."

Liu Qian cupped his hands again and said, "There are 50,000 taels of silver and 10,000 catties of refined iron here. How about we each take half and leave?"

Li Mu was somewhat surprised upon hearing this.

The other side didn't even count the spoils, yet they clearly knew the amount of silver. They also knew that there were 20,000 catties of refined iron among the supplies.

It seems that Tiger Head Stronghold's intelligence work is countless times more effective than Li Mu's.

Silver is not a scarce commodity, but fine iron is extraordinary.

In this day and age, the imperial army is short of iron to forge weapons, especially fine iron. Nowadays, fine iron is probably more valuable than gold.

Twenty thousand catties of refined iron can be used to forge about ten thousand narrow knives.

But Li Mu wanted to return to Luyang County, and he didn't want to take so much refined iron back with him.

The system doesn't recycle ordinary materials, and it's really inconvenient for him to hoard so much refined iron.

If he wanted supplies, he could simply exchange them with the system; there was no need to hide his private ironworks and cause unnecessary trouble.

"I'll take 30,000 taels of silver, and the remaining 20,000 taels of silver and 20,000 catties of refined iron are all yours, how about that?" Li Mu proposed.

"Such a good thing?" Liu Qian couldn't help but exclaim in surprise.

Even if Li Mu takes all the silver instead of the iron, Tiger Head Stronghold will still make a profit.

But Li Mu not only didn't want the iron, he even wanted to give them another 20,000 taels of silver.

This kid is either excessively generous or he's lost his mind.

"Hero, do you know that even if you have money, you can't buy fine iron these days?" Liu Qian asked.

“I know,” Li Mu replied.

"Then why don't you want refined iron?" Liu Qian asked.

"No comment."

Liu Qian was still surprised; these fully armed men were unlikely to be bandits.

Tiger Head Stronghold has been entrenched for so long that it has dealt with all the surrounding mountain strongholds, large and small.

If any mountain stronghold had this kind of weaponry, it would have wiped out all the bandit forces within a radius of hundreds of miles long ago.

The other side only wants silver and not iron, could they be a regular army?

But if the other side is a regular army, then you should definitely choose ironclad.

The more he thought about Liu Qian, the more overwhelmed he felt.

"Hero, are you sure?"

"Why are you being so indecisive? Just tell me if you're okay or not," Li Mu said irritably.

"Great, absolutely fantastic!"

Liu Qian was clearly a bandit leader who made a living by robbing people on the road.

When it comes to stealing, the more the better.

But as a bandit leader, he actually felt like he had taken advantage of someone else, and even felt guilty.

"I'll go and divide the silver right away! But forget it, let's not divide it. All 50,000 taels are for the hero! You just take it away," Liu Qian said.

"I said I only want 30,000 taels, so I only want 30,000 taels. If you keep arguing, I'll just rob everything," Li Mu said irritably.

"Ok."

Liu Qian quickly went to distribute the silver.

Li Mu and his group drove the carriage and disappeared from the sight of the bandits.

Then, Liu Qian felt he had made a profit again.

The battlefield hasn't been cleaned up yet!

They killed sixty or seventy soldiers, who were wearing complete sets of armor!

Moreover, twenty warhorses were left behind at the scene!

These warhorses combined are probably worth more than 20,000 catties of refined iron!

Liu Qian was stunned on the spot.

Zhai Fei also understood the situation and was equally stunned.

It took Zhai Fei a long time to realize what was happening.

"What kind of people are these?"

"I don't know either!"

"Immediately assess the casualties, clean up the battlefield, organize supplies, and take our brothers' bodies back to the stronghold."

The bandits immediately got to work.

After a thorough cleaning, the battlefield was licked clean, even cleaner than a face.

The dead soldiers had their armor and even their clothes stripped off.

They didn't let go of anything useful.

On the way, Zhai Fei's expression was slightly solemn.

Today he killed a total of seventy soldiers; he alone took down at least thirty.

The casualties at Hutou Village were extremely high, with more than half of the troops killed or wounded.

"If it weren't for the help of those thirteen bodyguards, we probably wouldn't have gotten a single hair this time," Zhai Fei said.

"This time, it can be said that Heaven has eyes," Liu Qian said.

"Yes."

Zhai Fei sighed heavily.

Although the trip was very fruitful, he was still heartbroken by the loss of so many brothers.

“Those Thirteen Protectors of Lingnan Road, there are clearly fifteen people!” Zhai Fei suddenly realized this detail.

“There are two leaders, and their subordinates are the Thirteen Protectors,” Liu Qian explained.

"Oh, that's true. You're quick-witted, Second Brother. But tell me, are they a regular army or bandits?"

They wanted neither iron nor any battlefield supplies, but only 30,000 taels of silver. "What do you need money for?"

Zhai Fei asked doubtfully.

"I've never been able to figure this out. But I'm certain they're not bandits. As for whether they're someone's army, I have no idea," Liu Qian said.

"Could it be an army under the command of the governor of Lingnan Circuit?" Zhai Fei asked again.

"That's impossible. If the governor of Lingnan Circuit had such elite troops with such fighting capabilities, how could they have fought the rebels to such a sorry state?" Liu Qian shrugged and said.

“That makes sense. Who exactly are they?” Zhai Fei patted his round belly.

"Heroes emerge in times of chaos, and they are bound to be heroes."

Zhai Fei raised his hand and pinched Liu Qian's head, saying, "Aren't we two heroes?"

"From defending the country, resisting aggression, and quelling rebellions to robbing the rich to help the poor and drawing one's sword to help those in need, that is what makes a hero."

Zhai Fei frowned: "You're just a petty thief, stealing, kidnapping, and swindling; you can't be considered a hero."

He patted Liu Qian on the shoulder again: "It might not have been considered so before, but it might be in the future."

Upon returning to the mountain village, a large group of elderly, weak, women, and children with sallow complexions came out to greet them.

"The boss is back!"

Some people are overjoyed to see their loved ones return safely.

Some people weep bitterly when they see their loved ones already cold corpses.

"Second brother, divide all the silver we looted today equally among the families of each fallen brother, and give them extra grain and cloth as well."

"Yes."