Chapter 906

Yu Shuomei let out a cold laugh, "You stopped calling the princess already?"

Liu Yan's expression stiffened, and he gave a dry laugh, saying, "I respect the princess in my heart, but having to add an honorific to every sentence is just troublesome!"

Yu Shuomei gave a dismissive snort, her expression disdainful. "Xishan Village is where the Chen clan's ancestral hall stands, so there must be troops stationed there, but it's just a village—how many troops could possibly be stationed? Even with your twenty thousand elite soldiers, do you still need to worry about this?"

Liu Yan suddenly felt a bit annoyed. "Princess, I'm now your person; the clearer the intelligence, the better we should be able to fight this battle. Chen Wuji is somewhat sinister—I can't afford not to guard against him."

"There aren't many troops ambushed outside this plank road, but they're all archers; my people rush out and fall straight into the enemy's arrow barrage, becoming nothing but living targets. If Xishan Village is the same, what should we do?"

"Princess, I'm being serious—I still don't know how Chen Wuji learned of my tactics. I've suspected a mole, but it doesn't really seem like that."

Yu Shuomei gave a light hum. "You can suspect me of being a mole; I don't care. Chen Wuji left only two or three thousand troops in Xishan Village. If your twenty thousand elite soldiers can't even break through an arrow formation of two or three thousand, you shouldn't be leading troops into battle—just go die."

Liu Yan's face turned purplish with anger. "Princess, why keep being all passive-aggressive? I haven't provoked you today—why take your anger out on me?"

Yu Shuomei closed her eyes and said coldly, "Chen Wuji built a city in Xishan Village, but the walls aren't high—just slightly higher than a fort. Moreover, Xishan Village has many workshops; my people couldn't infiltrate them, but it seems Chen Wuji has placed the Armory Bureau and similar agencies there. That's all the intelligence I have—judge for yourself."

Liu Yan solemnly clasped his fists, "Thank you, Princess!"

Bang!

A corpse, its face utterly unrecognizable, was carelessly flung to the ground by Lu San Ye with a shrug. "This dead man, I think it should count as my achievement. I'm not incapable of killing him; I was just toying with him. It's that Kong family brat who didn't understand what was going on and got cleaved in one strike."

Kong Jianshi, who had just come in from behind, heard this and his expression instantly went blank.

No, this old man even came to complain?

Chen Wuji himself was actually a bit bewildered at the moment; he understood what had happened, but couldn't quite grasp Lu San Ye's purpose. This elder surely wouldn't stoop to fighting over credit, right?

"Young Master, Lu San Ye really is capable of killing this scoundrel; I truly just didn't understand what was happening—I lacked a bit of insight." Kong Jianshi didn't understand, but he quickly explained.

Lu San Ye looked at Chen Wuji with an arrogant, proud expression, like an old child waiting for praise.

"If that's the case, then Lu San Ye's achievement is definitely counted." Chen Wuji also didn't understand Lu San Ye's motive, but he first credited him with the achievement, waiting to see what Lu San Ye would say next.

If Lu San Ye truly wants to claim credit, he still needs to consider what kind of position to give this elder.

This isn't easy to handle.

The two words 'staff officer', plus his status as a grand master, already make his position in the army quite special; adding his age, it's really hard to assign him a concrete official post.

"Thank you, Regional Commander!" Third Master Lu grinned satisfactorily, raised his hand and pointed at the bow and arrow Kong Jianshi was holding, "This dead man's bow has some significance; it should be a famous bow. Regional Commander, you can try to see if you can use it; don't let it go to waste."

Chen Wuji froze for a moment.

Just like that?

One word of thanks, and it's over?!

"Third Master, let's be direct—what do you want?" Chen Wuji asked.

Although rewarding Third Master Lu is somewhat difficult, rewarding merit and punishing fault has always been his principle; he can't just let this slide carelessly, as that would be detrimental to morale.

"What do I want?" Third Master Lu scratched his somewhat fluttery eyebrows, suddenly feeling embarrassed, "I really can't recall what I want."

Chen Wuji finally more or less understood Third Master Lu's meaning: merit is needed, but reward can be irrelevant; basically he just wants a nominal affirmation.

"Third Master, you might as well think it over well; tell me when you've figured it out—merit definitely deserves reward. And Lao Kong, you should also seriously consider this matter: the Compassionate Aid Hall cannot forever remain an independent vassal under me." Chen Wuji said.

Third Master Lu nodded, then said: "Regional Commander, you've reminded me—I don't need any reward. But we have a few young juniors in our village; we hope the Regional Commander can give them an opportunity to secure a position in the army. There aren't many, just four or five people."

"Of course it's possible!" Chen Wuji gladly agreed; having the experts of Lu Jia Village join the army is something he desperately wants—this is a very good thing.

Kong Jianshi:???

He became bewildered again.

Because Lu Jia Village and the Compassionate Aid Hall share many similarities, Kong Jianshi has always regarded the people of Lu Jia Village as his own kind; they are all wandering martial artists relying under Chen Wuji's command.

But now, this upstart Lu Jia Village has gone berserk, starting to compete fiercely; putting in great effort and achieving results would be enough, yet now they even want to stuff the village's experts into the army.

This series of small combo moves left Kong Jianshi momentarily struggling to defend, his whole body almost going numb.

The internal competition among peers is literally deadly with every move.

He also wishes to be as straightforward as Lu Jia Village, but the Compassionate Aid Hall isn't something he can decide alone.

The more serious problem is that one of the people who now has the final say has thrown this problem at him.

What should he do?

What can he possibly do?!

Kong Jianshi thought it over, then simply gave up, asking, "Young Master, are you going to assign me some specific duties?"

"It's not about specific duties, but about identity!" Chen Wuji said.

"We've always overlooked a very serious matter; I thought you all understood it in your hearts and naturally assumed so. But I later discovered that's not the case."

"Lao Kong, have you always thought you were a member of the Compassionate Aid Hall, here to help me, the Young Master?"

Kong Jianshi nodded, "Isn't it... just that?"

After he said that, the few people inside the tent looked at him with strange expressions.

Third Master Lu's expression was the most exaggerated, as if he'd seen a ghost; he incredulously shouted, "Kong family brat, how are you more foolish than this old fogey of mine? I keep hearing you call the Regional Commander Young Master—tsk, you really are something!"

"What's the problem with that?" Kong Jianshi asked bewilderedly.

Third Master Lu burst out laughing, "Only the Regional Commander's magnanimity prevents him; otherwise he'd have torn your Compassionate Aid Hall apart. I've also roughly heard that your Compassionate Aid Hall currently only has that Old Zhang and you helping the Regional Commander with many tasks; the rest are not only useless but keep causing trouble, engaging in that 'obey outwardly, betray inwardly' business, right?"