Chapter 57: King Tamu's Endless Misfortunes

A dozen minutes later.

Li Dao tossed the already deformed bamboo strips into the corner and sat down on his own bed.

Not far from him, everyone in the sixth tent except for Xue Bing was huddled together.

Their entire bodies were covered in welts from being whipped by the bamboo strips, looking as miserable as could be. The way they looked at Li Dao was filled with terror, their eyes brimming with helplessness, vulnerability, and suppressed grievance.

They had no choice but to be afraid. All eighteen of them had ganged up on a single person, yet they hadn't even managed to lay a finger on him, while each of them had received close to a hundred lashes.

The crucial point was that the bamboo strips didn't cause severe injuries, but they hurt immensely.

This kind of unilateral suppression left them with no option but to surrender.

Looking at the group led by Zhang Meng, Li Dao asked bluntly, "Have you had enough?"

"We've had enough, we've had enough!"

Everyone nodded in unison.

"Are you still going to challenge me?"

Everyone shook their heads in unison once again.

"See how much better this is? People in the same tent should be harmonious. Stop shouting and yelling blindly for no reason from now on."

Glancing at the group who still didn't dare to move, he yawned, waved his hand, and said, "Alright, everyone pack up early and get a good night's sleep."

With that, having been overly excited throughout the day, he flopped onto his bed and fell soundly asleep.

It wasn't until a rhythmic breathing sound echoed through the room that Zhang Meng and the others exchanged glances and cautiously began to stir.

Someone couldn't help whispering, "Old Zhang, it's all your fault. Why did you have to shout for no reason and get us all beaten up?"

Hearing this, Zhang Meng glared back resentfully, "Do you think I wanted to get beaten up?"

At that moment, someone spoke with a strange expression, "Tell me, am I a bit of a masochist? I felt uncomfortable all over when he was around earlier, but after taking this beating, I actually feel a lot more at ease."

As soon as these words were spoken, the speaker paused, realizing that the expressions of the people around him had also turned peculiar.

"Don't tell me you guys..."

"Don't mention it, me too. I thought there was something wrong with me and didn't dare to say anything."

"Count me in, I felt the exact same way."

Someone looked at Zhang Meng, "Old Zhang, could it be that you..."

Zhang Meng's weathered face flushed red, and he gritted his teeth, "Fine, me too, alright? I don't know what's wrong with me either, I just couldn't control myself."

"I always felt like I would go crazy from holding it in if I didn't vent."

At this point, someone raised a crucial question.

"Then what are we going to do from now on?"

Suddenly, everyone fell silent.

After taking such a beating today, how were they supposed to get along with each other in the future? They were in the same tent, bumping into each other day in and day out.

Before long, Xue Bing walked over to the group, looked at them, and said softly, "Since we can't beat him, why don't we choose to join him?"

Hearing this, the group froze.

Zhang Meng turned his head and asked, "What do you mean?"

Xue Bing began to explain, "Given the skills he has displayed, it's obviously impossible for him to remain a mere private forever. He will probably be promoted by Boss Zhao very soon."

"When that time comes, he will definitely command a group of people."

"You are simply afraid that he might target us in the future, but if we become his own people, we can avoid that."

"Besides, it's good to enjoy the shade under a big tree. Think of him as one of us. Don't you feel that not only should we not be afraid, but we should also have a mysterious sense of security?"

Hearing this, everyone present was stunned.

Because what he said made a hell of a lot of sense.

Were they tempted? Absolutely.

The group cast their gazes at Zhang Meng, "Old Zhang, you're the strongest among us. What do you think we should do?"

At this moment, Zhang Meng's heart was filled with complicated emotions.

Normally, after receiving such a lesson, he would definitely try every possible means to get back at the person, seeing as he was the most rebellious of the troublemakers.

Yet for some reason, after listening to Xue Bing's words, that unnatural sensation in his body surfaced once again.

However, it was no longer the frightened trembling and paralysis from earlier, but rather a sense of excitement.

It was as if some mysterious intuition was urging him to agree with Xue Bing's idea.

Hesitating for a moment, Zhang Meng decided to follow his gut feeling.

He nodded and said, "Then let's give it a try."

...

Meanwhile.

Deep within the Northern Barbarian Plains, which bordered the territory of Great Qian, stood a royal city.

This belonged to the Tamu Tribe, a large-scale Northern Barbarian tribe.

Inside the royal hall.

King Tamu and a portion of his subordinates within the Tamu Tribe had gathered here, while others were gradually arriving.

Upon the throne, King Tamu, in his fifties, did not look old and still wore an expression brimming with vigor and ambition.

This was entirely due to his years of painstaking management, which had continuously strengthened the Tamu Tribe under his command, making it no less impressive than those large tribes that had grown over many years.

He even felt that within his lifetime, he could elevate the Tamu Tribe to the level of a super-large tribe.

One had to know that across the vast expanse of the Northern Barbarian territory and among hundreds of tribes, there were only four super-large tribes guarding the four sides of the imperial court.

If he could push the Tamu Tribe to that level, he would become the most unique tribe independent of the imperial court and a tribal king second in status only to the Northern Barbarian Emperor.

Just thinking about it made his blood boil with passion.

Furthermore, if a heroic ruler were to emerge among his descendants, then...

At this thought, King Tamu glanced at the three figures standing in the corner of the royal hall.

Forget it, the next generation could not be counted on, unless he could reproduce, otherwise he would have to wait for the generation after next.

Aside from this, King Tamu had been troubled by a few other things recently.

For some unknown reason, everything had previously been proceeding smoothly according to his plan, but over the past few months, countless setbacks had occurred in many of his pre-arranged matters.

First, the Third Prince of the Luoyun Tribe died on his way to negotiate an alliance with the Tamu Tribe.

This resulted in the breakdown of talks between the Tamu Tribe and the Luoyun Tribe, nearly causing them to harbor deep grudges.

Then, a transaction with the Liehuo Tribe was ambushed and looted halfway, resulting in the destruction of one hundred thousand arrows.

The arrows were of little consequence, but the Tamu Tribe had hired people from the Liehuo Tribe to escort them, and as a result, the Liehuo Tribe lost a batch of men for no reason.

The most serious matter was that the half-step Xiantian martial artist who perished happened to be the son of an elder of the Liehuo Tribe, which had once again nearly created a rift in their alliance with the Liehuo Tribe.

Then there was the matter of the marriage alliance between the Tamu Tribe and Princess Mingyue of Great Qian.

Originally, he had wanted to exploit this marriage alliance to stir up internal conflicts within Great Qian, laying the groundwork for subsequent plans and scheming something out of it.

But as it turned out, they were ambushed and intercepted before they even left the Northern Barbarian territory.

After making such a huge laughing stock of himself, he could no longer continue with it.

The past few months had been utterly ill-fated; not a single thing had gone smoothly.

It was only within the last month or so that this situation had slowly begun to improve, and matters were gradually returning to normal.

On the throne, King Tamu slowly opened his eyes. His gaze, carrying a natural majesty, swept across the ministers below and finally landed on one person.

"Sentu, how are your recent negotiations with the Luoyun Tribe going?"

King Tamu asked, looking at a fat man dressed in exotic attire covered in gold and silver.

Hearing this, Sentu clumsily half-knelt, bowed his head, and respectfully said, "Replying to Your Majesty, with the death of the Third Prince of the Luoyun Tribe, the internal strife within the tribe has allowed the hawk faction to gradually seize the right to speak. They have agreed to our proposal for an alliance, but their demands are somewhat greedy, and this subordinate dared not make a decision on my own."

"Oh?"

A glint flashed in King Tamu's eyes, "What are their demands?"

"Twenty thousand cattle and sheep, three thousand fine steeds, as well as gold and silver, and finally..."

Sentu said in a low voice, "Finally, they also want twenty percent of the profits after our plan succeeds."

"Twenty percent of the profits?"

After listening, King Tamu couldn't help sneering, "They really do have an insatiable appetite."

"Then how shall we reply to them, Your Majesty?"

"Twenty percent of the profits? Tell the people of the Luoyun Tribe they can have it, but..."

King Tamu glanced at Sentu and said indifferently, "However, I require them to dispatch half of their troops to assist us."

"Your Majesty, what if they refuse?"

"Refuse? Then tell the people of the Luoyun Tribe directly that if they refuse to cooperate, we will contact their good neighbors, the Huyan Tribe."

Hearing this, Sentu's eyes lit up, and he bowed, "Your Majesty is wise! The Huyan Tribe and the Luoyun Tribe share old grudges; they will never let us turn around and seek out the Huyan Tribe."

King Tamu raised his hand, and Sentu turned and left.

Then, he shifted his gaze to a person on his right-hand side.

"Senda, how are things going with the Liehuo Tribe?"

Senda stepped forward and said bluntly, "Replying to Your Majesty, the Liehuo Tribe also has demands."

"What demands?"

"They hope we will hand over a medium-sized iron mine under our name that is close to their Liehuo Tribe."

"An iron mine..."

King Tamu hesitated for a moment, then looked up and said, "Agreed. Anyway, these resources cannot be immediately converted into available equipment for now."

"However, we cannot suffer too great a loss either. Try to negotiate a bit more equipment from the people of the Liehuo Tribe so that we can arm the men of the Tamu Tribe and reduce their casualties."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

Thinking of these lost resources, King Tamu was reminded of the vexing troubles from the previous period. If those matters had been handled properly, he wouldn't be facing such hassle now, nor would things have dragged on until today.

Massaging his temples, King Tamu turned his gaze toward a sturdy-looking general.

"Sengge, how is the task I assigned you recently coming along?"

The general named Sengge stepped forward and said, "Replying to Your Majesty, the previous harassment plan went very smoothly. Most of the Great Qian encampments near the buffer zone were driven to distraction by the constant nuisance. At first, they pursued us desperately, but as time passed and they realized we were merely toying with them, they gradually began to slack off."

"Except for the Huangsha Town Encampment today, where we had the longest entanglement and something went wrong. The cavalry squad sent out there has not returned to this day, and it is highly likely they have perished."

Hearing this, King Tamu inquired, "The Huangsha Town Encampment?"

"Is that the encampment that had the most intense friction with us before?"

"Yes, Your Majesty."

"Aside from this Huangsha Town Encampment, everything went smoothly elsewhere, correct?"

"Everything is proceeding smoothly."

King Tamu nodded, "That's sufficient, then. It's just a localized issue."

"Once the other areas are settled, we can specifically deal with this Huangsha Town Encampment in due time."

Subsequently, King Tamu swept his gaze across the rest of the room and said, "This period is the most precious time for us. All of you must try your best to arrange the matters in your hands. In the end, whoever messes up will pay with their entire family's lives."

"Understood!"

The ministers all half-knelt in unison.

...

Huangsha Town.

Early the next morning.

"Hahaha, Old Zhang, what happened to you guys? Did you go thieving last night?"

"You gave me a fright. Could it be that Boss Zhao went to check the tents in your sixth tent last night?"

"Tsk tsk, look at those whip marks. Quite miserable."

While washing up, the other tent residents burst into mocking laughter upon seeing the appearance of Zhang Meng and his group.

This caused the faces of Zhang Meng and his companions to flush bright red.

Finally, unable to hold back any longer, Zhang Meng flung down his towel, thrust out his thick neck, flushed face, and pointed at the surrounding people, "Whoever dares to utter another word, I'll tear his mouth apart right now!"

He had been beaten into submission by Li Dao, but that didn't mean his rebellious thorns had completely retracted for good; in front of everyone else, he was still the arrogant and domineering Zhang Meng.

Perhaps sensing that Zhang Meng had truly worked himself into a genuine rage, the mocking laughter subsided quite a bit instantly.

Mostly because Zhang Meng was considered relatively formidable among them.

Normally, if it were just Zhang Meng alone, a whole group of them would laugh and mock him, and he couldn't possibly beat all of them.

But today, there were more people on his side, and if they kept laughing, it might turn into a group brawl initiated by the other side.

"Make way."

Suddenly, a voice sounded from behind Zhang Meng.

Hearing the voice, Zhang Meng's body trembled slightly, the anger on his face abruptly ceased, and his expression instantly turned docile as he made way. Upon seeing the newcomer, the rest of the people from tent number six also hurriedly stepped aside.

This scene completely dumbfounded those who had been mocking Zhang Meng and the others just moments ago.

What on earth was going on here?

Why were these troublemakers suddenly so submissive to this new recruit?

However, Zhang Meng and the others paid no heed to the reactions of these onlookers; submission was submission, with no regrets attached.

Ignoring everyone else, they obediently followed behind Li Dao to go wash up.

Leaving behind only a crowd of baffled onlookers munching on melon seeds of gossip.