Chapter 740: Village Defense Battle (3)

After discussing among themselves, the clan heads finally agreed to 25,000 gold coins per household.

But the second condition, none of them agreed to.

After all, paying the money was already humiliating and degrading enough.

And it was such a huge sum.

If they also had to hand over hostages, that would really be like someone shitting on their heads.

Zhao Shizhang asked, "Clan Head Qi, you just said you've long admired Zhou Hua's great name? Then what's his temperament like? Is the second condition something we can discuss?"

Qi Hengying said dismissively, "Just polite talk. What great name does that Zhou Hua have? He's nothing but a bandit—everything is negotiable. Buying our way out of disaster this time, but the price is pretty steep."

Liu Xuanqi said, "Have all of you seen their combat strength? Among those 1,000 people, 300 are lords. Although only a few are truly top-tier, if we really fought, it wouldn't just be losing skin—it'd be losing an arm."

Xiao Qiao said, "Losing skin may not necessarily be lighter than losing an arm."

Liu Xuanqi said, "With the current situation so chaotic, we should preserve our strength as much as possible. Keep it as long as we can."

This point, the clan heads all agreed on.

Their agreement to pay was also based on these considerations.

In chaotic times, swords matter more than money.

If they fought now, even if they could win and gain huge profits, their own losses would take time to recover from.

And right now, time is exactly what they lack.

If enemies came again next time, they'd truly be at others' mercy—no amount of money would help.

Better to give up money first and preserve their strength.

If someone came again next time, at least they'd still have the strength to negotiate and resist.

The few households quickly finished their discussion.

Xiao Qiao stepped forward a few paces.

He called out to Zhou Hua, "General Zhou, we've discussed it. 100,000 gold coins can be given, but we don't have that much cash on hand—we'll need to offset it with items and personnel."

Zhou Hua sat in his chair and snorted, "Fine. What about the second condition?"