Chapter 329: Small Meeting

After Baifeng returned, he first had a good sleep in his own house. After all, the worry and constant traveling over these past two days had left him physically and mentally exhausted. By the time he woke up, the sky was already nearly dark. He stretched his nearly numb body and washed his face with cold water before his spirit gradually recovered.

Although it was already past closing time, Baifeng still had to go back and catch up on the work he had fallen behind on over the past two days. So, accompanied by guards, he returned to the office. After sitting down, he brewed a cup of tea, and after a moment of thought, he arranged for the Shangshu Department to go call Xiu over. The focus of work during this period was originally supposed to be on the construction of New City, but it seemed that now, the development of the new territory, the resettlement of the Luoneng Tribe, and the work of exterminating the Cannibal Tribe had to be added as well.

The office of the Ministry of War was right next door, so he just had to shout and they would come over. At present, the Ministry of War in New City was still relatively relaxed; after all, there was not that much work to do, and they only needed to handle the security work for New City.

When Xiu came over, his appearance could be described as brand new. There was no dirt to be seen on his body, and he had changed into Hemp Cloth clothes of Huaxia style. His messy hair looked very clean after being washed, and under the guidance of the Huaxia people, it had been tied up. Originally, he had wanted to tie a hair bun, but unfortunately, his hands were too clumsy and he couldn't learn it for the time being, so he could only use a rope to tie a ponytail.

When Baifeng saw Xiu with such an appearance, he looked him up and down with great interest. Indeed, people rely on clothes and horses rely on saddles; no matter how ugly or poor a person is, they look quite good once they dress up. Moreover, Xiu was actually not ugly; now it seemed his features were quite upright.

Baifeng had someone pull up a table and chair for him and told him to sit down. The people from the Ministry of War were right next to him. Xiu was still a bit restrained and uneasy. Although his appearance was now no different from the Huaxia people, in his heart he was still a savage and did not truly consider himself a Huaxia person. Besides, his status as a Tribal Chief was worth nothing here, because he had seen that the wolves raised here—what the Huaxia people called dogs—ate better than he used to. What was he, then?

On the tables of the Ministry of War, everyone had their own cups with Tea Leaves brewed inside. Baifeng then had someone prepare a portion for Xiu as well. Once everything was set, Xiu's appearance was quite in harmony with the group.

Seeing that everything was ready, Baifeng coughed lightly, signaling that this meeting had officially begun. The people from the Ministry of War rustled as they opened their notebooks and dipped their pens in ink, waiting to record important things. But in reality, the recorder was a person from the Shangshu Department to the side, who would use chalk to write down important items on a large blackboard. Their hand speed was faster, and their chalk writing was better. The people from the Ministry of War were just recording things they felt were important. Finally, they would take that blackboard to their office to conduct another internal recording and discussion.

Having just entered the state of things, Xiu immediately became restless again. He had no notebook or pen, and furthermore, he didn't even recognize what those things were. It didn't feel right to put his hands down, and it was uncomfortable to put them on the table, so in the end, he chose to put them under the table and rub them together.

Baifeng began: "This person here is the newly arrived Tribal Chief of the Luoneng Tribe, Xiu. I presume everyone knows him, so I won't introduce him further. Let's get straight to the point."

"Currently, this is a meeting with the Ministry of War, mainly regarding the issue of the Cannibal Tribe in this new territory, as well as the issue of horses. According to what Xiu said, not far from their original territory—that is, not far from our territory—there is a very large Cannibal Tribe entrenched. And horses also live in the location of this Cannibal Tribe. Therefore, we must formulate a plan to eliminate this Cannibal Tribe once and for all to cut off future trouble, and then we can consider the issue of the horses."

Subsequently, Baifeng glanced at Xiu: "Xiu, come, explain the issue of this Cannibal Tribe and the horses to them in detail."

After a brief moment of nervousness, Xiu spoke up: "This Cannibal Tribe is not far from our territory; it's about a two-day journey away, though that should be considered the edge, and we haven't gone too deep."

"That Cannibal Tribe, we call them the Danfu Tribe. In reality, we don't know what their name is; perhaps they don't have a name of their own at all."

"Their numbers are unclear, but I estimate there are no fewer than a thousand, otherwise they wouldn't have existed for so long. Moreover, they are quite scattered, and we don't know where their lair is. Their method of attack is just like that of tigers; you don't know when they will suddenly emerge from the trees or the Grass, kill a person, and immediately drag them away."

"They don't attack people on a large scale, so we have never seen the Cannibal Tribe in groups, but often after going out, when we return, we find that people are missing."

"The horses are also in that area. We call them 'Mountain Wind', meaning they run as fast as the wind and simply cannot be caught. There are many of them; there should be more than one herd."

"Um... that is all I have to say."

Baifeng nodded and looked at the Ministry of War. The Minister of War put down his pen: "King, if there are over a thousand cannibals, it's nothing to us; even two thousand would be no problem. It's just the timing of the attack and how to handle them—should we kill them all or capture some alive as Slaves?"

Baifeng countered: "Do you think we currently have the time and energy to attack them? As for how to dispose of them, execute them all on the spot; leave no survivors. Those things can no longer be considered human; just treat them as humanoid beasts."

The people from the Ministry of War took notes; this method of disposal was very important. Subsequently, the Minister of War replied: "At present, we have no way to attack them. The construction of New City requires sufficient troops for protection, and the surrounding forests have not been thoroughly swept. Moreover, other departments are currently unable to spare manpower, and the focus of work is still on New City. I think we must first resolve the main work here in New City before considering the matter of the Cannibal Tribe. They shouldn't leave their territory, so we can temporarily shelve this issue."

The others in the Ministry of War held the same view. Of course, Baifeng thought the same. As for why he held this meeting, it was to have the people from the Ministry of War put this matter on the agenda and make preparations in advance, so that when the time came to go to war, they wouldn't be in a rush to get things together.

A simple meeting concluded. Baifeng dismissed the people from the Ministry of War and drank a mouthful of strong tea to organize his thoughts. Xiu was also kept behind; after calling the people from the Ministry of Revenue and the Ministry of Works together later, there was still another meeting to be held regarding the resettlement plan for the Luoneng Tribe.