Are you crazy? Trying to trick him into military service? He's the number one dragon on the fro

"Brother Luo!"

As soon as Lu Xiao dismounted, he saw Luo Yang and his entourage personally greeting him, and he was immediately flattered and greeted them.

Before he could continue the pleasantries, Zhou Daxing couldn't help but ask out of curiosity:

"Commander, did you manage to meet the Emperor on your trip to the capital?"

"What does the Emperor look like?"

"Did His Majesty ask the brothers at the outpost?"

"Is the capital city grand?"

"..."

Everyone chimed in, asking all the questions that had been on their minds.

This left Lu Xiao utterly bewildered, unsure where to begin. It was Luo Yang who stepped in, silencing their incessant chatter, and pulled Lu Xiao toward the centurion's barracks.

"Let's go inside and talk about it."

He was worried that the other soldiers at the outpost would be upset if they heard bad news.

Zhou Daxing and the others realized what was happening and quickly pulled Lu Xiao inside.

After everyone was seated, Lu Xiao pondered for a moment and then said:

"During my trip to the capital, I did indeed meet with His Majesty and we discussed the situation here. His Majesty expressed his deepest greetings and concern."

"He praised our brothers at the outpost as loyal and brave men!"

Upon hearing this, everyone was as excited as if they had personally met the Emperor!

Huangshan is impatient:

"What does the Emperor look like? Is he as brave and strong as the legends say, capable of commanding the submission of thousands with a single glance?"

The barracks fell silent instantly, everyone staring at Lu Xiao, waiting for his answer.

Lu Xiao shook his head and said something that surprised them:

"His Majesty is just an ordinary person like us. In fact, he is not as strong as you imagine. On the contrary, he looks rather haggard and even appears unhappy."

Everyone fell silent.

After a long while, Luo Yang finally sighed and nodded:

"His Majesty has to deal with all the affairs of the world all by himself, which is truly arduous, and it is normal for him to be tired."

"Brother Xiao, tell me about His Majesty's arrangements for our White Wolf Outpost."

He could tell that the emperor Lu Xiao had seen did not meet the expectations of the soldiers, so he worried that if they pressed him for more information, their illusions would be shattered. Therefore, he asked about the future of the outpost.

Sure enough, upon hearing this, everyone's eyes lit up with anticipation once again.

This time, however, Lu Xiao's answer was still disappointing:

After offering some words of encouragement, His Majesty gave no further instructions, only saying that our outpost should continue as usual!

"That's impossible!"

The next second, Gao Hong exclaimed in surprise:

"We won such a brilliant victory last time, and the whole county and even the entire prefecture are still talking about it. Why isn't His Majesty interested anymore?"

"If that's really the case, then we've fought for nothing..."

"Listen to me first."

Lu Xiao waved his hand, signaling everyone to be quiet, then took out the token Zhou Kang had given him from his pocket, his expression extremely solemn:

"Although His Majesty did not say much, the Prime Minister gave me this token, granting me the authority to act as I see fit."

"Isn't that the same as not receiving any reward at all?"

Zhou Daxing looked distressed, and his back bent over.

During this time, he even often boasted to others that Lu Xiao would definitely mention their bravery and deeds after entering the capital, and that they would become famous in Yuyang County!

But all of this shattered with Lu Xiao's words.

Everyone else also wore expressions of profound grief.

To them, even a mere tael of silver bestowed by the Emperor would be something to celebrate with gongs and drums, but now they only heard a few words…

Luo Yang, however, knew the ins and outs of the matter, and glared helplessly at everyone:

"What do you know?"

"General Long once told me that the current emperor was nurtured and cultivated by the Prime Minister, and his position in the court is higher than anyone imagines!"

"Now that Commander Lu has received the Prime Minister's token, it's better than any reward!"

"Brother Luo is right."

Seeing everyone looking at him, Lu Xiao nodded in acknowledgment:

"With this token from the Prime Minister, our White Wolf Outpost can develop independently, no longer under the jurisdiction of Changyang County or even the prefectural capital!"

"During my trip to the capital, I not only met with the Emperor, but was also summoned by the Prime Minister."

He stated that the White Wolf Outpost could expand its army without limit; once it recruited three thousand soldiers, it could command those three thousand soldiers at will, or even thirty thousand would not be a problem!

boom--

These words caused an uproar among the crowd.

Currently, Luo Yang's garrison in the county town has a total of only three thousand soldiers.

This was already a tremendous military force in their eyes; they couldn't even imagine having several times more. Perhaps only those renowned generals of the Great Zhou Dynasty would be qualified to lead it.

Can their small White Wolf outpost really do that?

Therefore, some people are happy while others are sad.

Lu Xiao couldn't help but be curious when he saw that they weren't as happy and excited as he had imagined after hearing the news.

After he inquired, Luo Yang explained the reason in front of everyone:

"Brother Xiao, to be honest..."

"Our outpost only has a mere hundred people, and we're already struggling to make ends meet because of food shortages."

"The Hu people are not sheep on the grasslands, and we can't just go and catch them to sell for money. We've already run out of silver."

"We really can't afford to recruit more soldiers!"

Zhou Daxing and the other squad leaders nodded in agreement, hurriedly indicating that the meat they received was becoming less and less each day.

Upon hearing this, Lu Xiao smiled.

He had initially thought it was a major problem, but upon hearing that the worry was merely about food supplies, his anxieties immediately vanished.

"Don't worry about this."

"Before returning, the Prime Minister had already promised to send some better weapons and armor to our White Wolf Outpost, and the court will provide more support to the outpost in the future."

"In this way, each of us can be armed to the teeth and slaughter all the barbarians!"

He continued amidst the astonished gazes of the crowd:

"In addition, a kind and righteous merchant, after hearing about the current situation at the White Wolf Outpost, decided to donate 10,000 shi of grain to us. Judging by the time, it should arrive at our outpost in about half a month."

"Wanshi?"

People were more interested in the grain; upon hearing the figure, their eyes widened in disbelief.

"That's... 1.2 million catties of grain! The merchant just gave it away like that?"

"They're really rich!"

"That's right, it's being given away for free."

Lu Xiao smiled and nodded in response:

"I know you all have the courage and determination to kill the barbarians, but your biggest worry is having enough to eat and wear. So once the food arrives, our outpost will have more rice and noodles than we can eat!"

"In that case, do you all still find recruiting soldiers and horses a difficult task?"

Everyone shook their heads, realizing that this was no longer a problem for them to worry about.

They even had to guard against thieves day and night after the grain arrived.

With so much grain, word would surely leak out, and it would attract unwanted attention.

Seeing that everyone's emotions had calmed down and they were extremely satisfied with the result of his trip to the capital, Lu Xiao breathed a long sigh of relief:

"Alright, I've been traveling for more than half a month and I'm quite tired. I'd like to rest for a while."

"I would like to trouble you squad leaders to gather everyone at the outpost first thing tomorrow morning. I have something to say."