Vol 10 Chapter 37 (2/2)

“Thank you all for your hard work.” I thanked them sincerely and turned to leave but was stopped after just 1 step.

“… My lord, there’s someone missing.” Gong You said. Perhaps they have already detected this long ago but only just found the chance to say it.

“May I ask where Lord Xu Shu is?” “Could it be that she stayed behind in Fan city to oversee the work there?”

That is indeed a possibility if not for what actually happened. But I have no intention of hiding the truth. At the same time though, I really do not have the heart to explain things again as I feel very depressed every time this topic comes up.

“Un… You can ask Lord Huang Zu about this.” I said, deciding to s.h.i.+rk my responsibility and throw this to Huang Zu.

“Me?”

“Un.”

Huang Zu seemed stunned at first but she soon looked up and nodded at me as she clutched her gourd.

“I’ll be counting on you.” I said and turned to leave. I could hear a grunt from Huang Zu in response before she began to explain things to the rest. Not wanting to hear it, I hastened my pace and left.

Liao Hua followed closely behind me without saying a word, as though she was not interested in the question that Gong You and the rest asked.

Yuan Zhi probably has not really interacted with Liao Hua much. In fact, I do not think the rest have interacted much with Liao Hua, including myself. It’s not like she is cold and aloof after all as there are a few who are worse than her.

“Ah, Liao Hua, tell me about the recent developments in the city. If I’m not wrong, you should be in charge of the recruitment work with respect to inviting villages into Xinye city right? Is everything going smoothly?”

“Not at all.” Liao Hua expressed a negative view blandly, “Xinye city is far too small and it’s difficult to accommodate all of the surrounding villages. Some of the bigger villages are unwilling to join us as well so there’s some work to be done there.”

“What’s the progress like thus far?”

“The current status is,” Liao Hua said as she took out her bamboo scroll which she had kept and looked at it as she continued, “As of yesterday, we have successfully integrated 5 villages which is roughly 7-800 households.”

“7-800 households huh… That means we can draft 1,000 troops at the most.”

“That is the best case scenario.” Liao Hua nodded, “But these villages have already been subject to a draft by Liu Biao of Jing state before so it will difficult to extract the maximum number of troops. The most we can hope for is to fill in the ranks of militia when it comes to a siege battle.”

That will not do, I thought as I rubbed my chin.

“So what do we do now?”

“Eh?” I was stunned when Liao Hua suddenly asked me.

“I’m referring to the recruitment of the surrounding villages. What do we do?” She repeated.

I nodded in response, but it’s not like I did not hear her question the first time around. The problem here is that I cannot give her any meaningful suggestions as I am not the architect behind this plan after all. It’s a little embarra.s.sing but I am not knowledgeable on how to deal with the details of such operations.

“I think it’s better if you do what you think is the best.” I smiled stiffly as I waved my hands dismissively, “Or you could discuss this with the Xu state 3 since you will be cooperating with them on this after all.”

“Un, I got it.” Liao Hua nodded.

At this time, we were already in the mansion. The conversation got a little difficult midway through but we are now in the mansion and I managed to learn about whatever I wanted to so it’s time to part ways with Liao Hua before she starts asking me some questions I am unable to answer.

“Well then, Liao Hua, which room is Lord Sima Hui waiting in?”

Liao Hua pointed at the main hall, “Lord Sima Hui is waiting there and has been waiting for a rather long time now.”

Oh, then I really should hurry.

“Well then, I’ll be–”

“My lord.” She called out to me just as I was about to leave and hesitated before she finally asked, “May I ask why Lord Xu Shu didn’t…”

Looks like she asked that in the end huh?

Go and ask Huang Zu, or so I wanted tos ay but because she was right in front of me, I felt like I could not escape this and decided to just be straight with her.

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