Chapter 278

"Zhao Chi, second floor."

Zhao Huai stood behind the railing upstairs and beckoned to Zhao Chi.

"Got it."

He climbed the creaking wooden stairs and arrived outside the second-floor council hall.

Besides Zhao Huai, there were several cousins of the same generation.

Zhao Chi gave a brief greeting, then asked, "Why is everyone here? Aren't we going in?"

Zhao Huai shook his head: "The uncles are having another small meeting. Let's wait a bit—besides, not everyone's here yet."

Although the Zhao clan had over a hundred members in total, only half were of the main family.

Of the remaining half, some were attached independent households, and some were servants and nannies.

Although Zhao Chi's clan was small and weak, it was still a clan after all.

It did have some strength.

Of the main family's half, most were women and children.

There were also some toddlers and students currently attending school.

The true main fighting force numbered only 33.

Clan Head Zhao Shizhang was the strongest.

He himself was advanced in years, and his combat strength had declined sharply, but he had managed his territory for many years, so his strength was naturally the greatest in the whole clan.

Next came the four uncles.

There were originally five, but with Zhao Chi's father's death, only four remained.

Zhao Chi's father was the youngest in rank, so those of the uncle generation were actually all elder uncles.

There were also six elder aunts who were lords and could fight.

There were 18 cousins of the same clan in total; among them, 5 were still young and not yet lords, so only 13 could fight.

In addition, 5 sisters-in-law were also lords and could share some of the magical beasts.

Besides their own clan, there were 4 attached independent households, who also had some strength.

They could also participate in battle.

So those who could participate in the magical beast distribution numbered only these 33.

Soon, all the juniors of the clan had arrived.

But no one spoke loudly.

Because they had all heard the heated argument inside the room.

After a while longer.

The door opened.

Fourth Uncle Zhao Qiye walked to the doorway with an expressionless face.

"Come in, all of you. Sit down quietly and don't talk."

After saying that, he returned to the room.

The juniors filed in one after another.

This council hall was very large.

Right in the middle were several wooden tables pushed together to form one long table.

A long tablecloth was spread over it, making the wooden tables look like a single whole.

There were 10 chairs on each side of the wooden table.

Now several elder uncles and elder aunts were seated there, and the cousins of higher rank took their seats in order.

Zhao Chi and those of lower seniority could only sit on the side chairs on either side.

Clan Head Zhao Shizhang's face was full of worry.

At one glance, Zhao Chi knew the situation was bad.

Eldest Uncle Zhao Qizong spoke:

"Let me say it.

"You all saw yesterday's situation.

"Those people from District 7 came to investigate the rebel army. Fortunately, none of us had any dealings with the rebels, so we've weathered the first calamity.

"But the magical beasts forcibly apportioned to us cannot be avoided.

"Those people are going to divert an extra 25,000 magical beasts to our Stream Village in total.

"In the past, it was distributed according to each clan's strength, but this time the Qi family and the Xiao family both disagree.

"They want to divide it equally—split these 25,000 into 5 portions, one portion for each of the 4 clans, and the remaining one for the independent households.

"This puts far too much pressure on us.

"But even if we and the Liu family disagree, it's useless—Stream Village is still ruled by the Xiao family.

"Then it can only be this way.

"We have one week to prepare. Next week, an extra portion will be diverted to our clan—5,000 more magical beasts per day.

"5,000 isn't a large number, but the quality isn't low—500 magical beasts of each tier from 0 to 9.

"Our clan already had a diversion quota of 10,000 magical beasts. This extra 5,000 is no small amount, and it's very difficult for us to handle alone.

"So this time we have no choice but to ask you to do your part as well.

"The 1,500 magical beasts above tier 7 are too strong; we'll still handle those—you don't need to worry about them.

"But the 3,500 of tiers 0 to 6 will have to be dealt with by you.

"Do you have any objections?"

These words were naturally meant for the younger generation like Zhao Chi.

It seemed the clan head and these uncles had already decided the general direction.

Zhao Chi and the others hadn't come here to hold a meeting, but to receive assignments.

None of the younger generation spoke up.

They had no right to speak on such matters.

Eldest Uncle Zhao Qizong nodded: "Good, then I'll proceed with the assignments. Zhao Feng!"

"Here!"

Zhao Feng was the eldest male cousin of Zhao Chi's generation, and also the eldest son of Eldest Uncle.

Being the oldest, his strength was naturally the strongest as well.

Zhao Qizong said: "100 Rank-6 magical beasts and 50 Rank-5 magical beasts per day."

Zhao Feng was momentarily stunned.

He was already 37 this year, and had long had his own daily magical beast quota.

With these additional beasts added on, the burden was indeed considerable.

But he still accepted.

"Yes!" Zhao Feng said loudly.