Hu Cong discovered that these barbarians were becoming more and more capable, and everything was proceeding according to his train of thought.
"I can advance you all one month's wages ahead of time to purchase food for your families."
Hu Cong did not consider himself to be a philanthropist. It was impossible for him to give food to those people's families for free. However, after they had taken the medicine pellets, he could advance them one month's wages ahead of time.
That way, these people would be able to go and buy the things they needed.
The barbarians who had voluntarily stayed behind had originally only hoped they wouldn't go hungry. Normally they would save up as much food as they could and find ways to send it back home.
They hadn't expected that not only would they have wages, but they could even get one month’s wages in advance. For them this was like a godsend.
Being able to bring some food back for their families, let alone being asked to take some kind of poison, even if they had to die on the spot, it would have been worth it.
"We are willing to take the poison and be loyal to you forever."
"Yes, we are willing..."
Seeing that these people were being treated so well, those who had hesitated earlier regretted it.
"I also want to stay."
"Me too."
It must be said, Hu Cong was quite selective in choosing people!
These people had hesitated for a moment instead of immediately stepping forward, so Hu Cong had already eliminated them.
Hearing that there were good conditions now, they stepped forward again. Hu Cong did not want people of such moral character.
He completely ignored those people and carefully counted the number of people staying behind - forty-five in total.
Although it was five fewer people than he had expected, it didn't matter.
The people he needed had to be of guaranteed character.
Hu Cong called the forty-five people who were staying behind to one side, then went to He Zhiran to get the medicine pellets.
When He Zhiran heard that Hu Cong was using this method to keep a group of barbarians behind, he approved of his approach.
No matter which country, there were good and bad people. As long as Hu Cong could discern clearly, it was fine.
Hu Cong took the medicine pellets and hurried back to the foot of the mountain.
There, the officials were keeping a close eye on the barbarians carefully cleaning up the battlefield.
This was the land belonging to the Mohists, Meng Huaining’s future in-laws. He wanted to demonstrate his capabilities while his two elder brothers-in-law were away and restore this place to its original state.
The barbarians had completely lost their fighting spirit. All of them were listening to directions from the officials on what to do.
The ones selected by Hu Cong were still standing in their original places. Hu Cong distributed the medicine pellets and made sure they swallowed them before giving each person fifty coins in wages.
What made these people even more delighted was that the large basin of white steamed buns had also become their breakfast.
Hu Cong didn’t actually know the real medicinal effects of the medicine pellets made by He Zhiran. He thought they really were the kind of poison that needed to be taken regularly. Therefore, he was very at ease about these people.
Letting the barbarians stay here and eat white steamed buns made the ones cleaning up the battlefield extremely envious. It was a pity they didn’t know that if they stayed they could also eat such delicious white steamed buns.
Hu Cong didn’t care about what those barbarians were thinking. Seeing that his own people were full, he gave them another great benefit.
“You can now take the wages and go into the city to buy supplies.”
He pointed at the barbarians cleaning up the battlefield and said, “If there are any trustworthy people among them, they can be entrusted to bring food to your families.”
Upon hearing this, everyone’s eyes lit up. They thought it was worth it to eat this “poison”. They knelt down to Hu Cong to express their gratitude before going into the city together to buy supplies.
By noon, the barbarians had cleaned the desecrated areas of the Mohist residences until they looked new again. Under Meng Huaining’s arrangement they carried the corpses back to the barbarians’ lands along with the food they were instructed to deliver to their family members who had stayed behind.
Meng Huaining did not leave immediately. Currently there were no troops garrisoned at all in Yuncheng. Normally the only people maintaining law and order in the city were the officers under him.
Including the subprefect Mo Chuhan there were only thirty officers in total.
It was because the Mohist brothers had blocked the barbarians today at Xiling Village that they had not been able to take advantage of the opportunity to barge in.
If the Mohists brothers had not been there, the consequences were unimaginable.
Now by letting these barbarians go back, it was equivalent to releasing tigers back into the mountains.
But what could be done without letting them go?
He could not possibly detain all of these barbarians, right?
Even with Meng Huaining’s wisdom, when encountering something like this he still felt utterly bewildered.
At this time, Mo Chuhan had already settled those veterans who had come to join them together with his seventh elder brother. For now they were living in the house that had previously belonged to the Cui family.
The Cui family had been richer than the other two families. Basically all of their houses were brick houses. Although they were still a far cry from the
new courtyards the Mohists had built, at least they could block the wind and rain.
In the future, after the brothers had earned some money, they would consider rebuilding proper houses for their subordinates.
The two Mohist brothers knew Meng Huaining was still at the foot of the mountain dealing with the barbarians. After they finished settling the veterans, they came over here to find him.
Seeing the worried look on Meng Huaining’s face, Mo Chuhan went up and asked,
“Brother Meng, have you encountered some difficult problem?”
Meng Huaining gave a bitter laugh and talked about his concerns and how he had dealt with the barbarians.
Such a situation - Meng Huaining had thought of it, and so had the Mohist brothers.
It wasn’t that they were being overly worried. Originally, from what the villagers had told them, the barbarians coming to raid numbered at most a couple dozen people at a time.
If they discovered it in time, the barbarians wouldn’t even be able to steal anything. Instead, they would be given a beating.
If that really was the case, the Mohists would of course not be worried.
But accidents could always happen in any event, just like today when several hundred barbarians came, and one of them was even such a frightening commander.
If a similar situation happened again, it would still be something very troubling.
It would give anyone a headache to have their homes encroached on like this.
Moreover, Ninth Brother and Ninth Sister had even more plans. The number of domestic poultry and livestock raised at home would grow more and more. If these were not well protected and destroyed by the barbarians, it would be an irreplaceable loss.
Although Mo Chuhan and Mo Yuance had some countermeasures in mind, at most they could only do so to protect their own family, and perhaps they could protect Xiling Village.
As for all of Yuncheng, they were afraid they did not have that kind of capability, and did not want that kind of capability either.
