Chapter 105 - Ready To Rescue
In Tai Yu City, inside the council hall.
Lu Yu discussed with everyone how to rescue Zhu Hua and the others.
Xia Cao said, “The main problem is that their traveling speed can’t keep up with ours. They will definitely be noticed by the three great tribes and either caught up with or ambushed.”
Lu Yu nodded, “That’s right, I’ve been pondering this too. Helping them is not a problem, but the issue is how to safely get so many people out of the surveillance range of the three great tribes. As far as I know, they still have some women and children with them.”
Shan Pu scratched his head, “Should we use wooden carts to transport them?”
Lu Yu rejected his suggestion, “If all our people are busy pulling wooden carts, then who will confront the people of the three great tribes? And, this is not just dozens of people, it’s hundreds.”
Even if the Matais were incredibly strong, if each person had to take their whole family with them, their traveling speed would decrease.
Lu Yu continued, “Plus, they still have a lot of supplies. Yes, they will definitely abandon these supplies when necessary, but if we rescue them like that, even if they return to their tribe, they will be seriously weakened. By then, they might be quickly swallowed up by other tribes. Since we’ve decided to help, I think we should help as much as possible.”
Shan Pu furrowed his brows in distress, “What should we do then?”
Lu Yu pondered for a moment, then looked at Fang Lao, “Fang Lao, how is the boat built by San Qiu and the others? Have they used iron and tung oil?”
Fang Lao responded enthusiastically, “They have! Not only that, but they also built a big one. When I arrived, San Qiu and the others even dragged me over and asked me to tell you to come and see it when you have time!”
Lu Yu chuckled, “I know, when I gave them iron sheets before, San Qiu already told me that they were not satisfied with building small boats.”
Shan Pu curiously asked, “What boat is this? What is it for?”
Shan Pu didn’t often go to the valley, and San Qiu and the others weren’t the kind of people who liked to show off, so he didn’t know about the boat.
Lu Yu explained the situation about the boat to him.
Xia Cao was very clever and almost immediately understood Lu Yu’s intention. His eyes lit up, “Witch, are you planning to use the boat to rescue Chief Zhu Hua and the others?”
Lu Yu replied, “It’s just an idea. The Beast Plain area has both sea and rivers nearby. It’s safer on the water surface than on land. Even if the boat built by San Qiu and the others can’t carry everyone, at least it can take the women, children, and goods. Then it will be much easier to handle the rest.”
Fang Lao stroked his beard and smiled, “Witch’s idea is feasible! I’ve seen the big thing they built. It can carry at least a hundred people! In addition to the small boats they made, it’s no problem to take away two hundred people. Moreover, if we’re not in a hurry, everyone can help, and it’s estimated that it will only take a few days to build another big one!”
Everyone became excited and enthusiastic when they heard Fang Lao’s words.
Shan Pu was the first to raise his hand and said, “I’ll help! Anyway, I have a very easy job every day now. Just leave the heavy work to me!”
Lu Yu’s mood lightened a lot. He looked at Shan Pu bouncing around and pretended to look serious, “You have an easy job every day?”
“Um…” Shan Pu froze for a moment, then awkwardly withdrew his raised hand, squirming and uneasy, “I, I…”
Xia Hua hit his head hatefully, “You’re as silly as a pig!”
Everyone burst into laughter.
Lu Yu cleared his throat and regained everyone’s attention, “If we want to adopt this method, we need to consider whether to sail the boat on the sea or on the river, so we need to go and see which direction the rivers near the Beast Plain lead to.”
Shan Pu rubbed his head, which was hammered by Xia Hua, and showed a pleasing smile to Lu Yu, “Witch, let me handle this. I promise to quickly run along the river and check it out!”
Lu Yu said, “But you have a lot of other things to do, don’t you still need to help San Qiu and the others?”
Shan Pu grinned foolishly, “I’ll follow your arrangements, Leader.”
Lu Yu smiled, “Okay, then I’ll leave the matter of checking the river to you, mainly to see if there is a section that is relatively close to us and also relatively hidden.”
Shan Pu said confidently, “I guarantee to complete the task!”
_
After discussing this matter, everyone immediately rushed to San Qiu’s place.
San Qiu led Lu Yu and the others to see the newly built big boat. Because the boat was too big, it couldn’t fit in the small river and was placed on the big river.
As they walked to the riverbank, Shan Pu and the others who had never seen a boat before were shocked.
“How can there be such a big thing? How can it float on the river without sinking? And how many people does it take to row?” Shan Pu exclaimed in astonishment.
San Qiu said proudly, “No one needs to row! Our boat can move by itself!”
Lu Yu added, “But it still depends on the direction of the wind.”
This wooden sailboat relies entirely on the sail for propulsion. If the wind is favorable, it’s fine, but if it’s against the wind, it’s difficult.
San Qiu raised his head slightly, then lowered it, feeling disheartened, “Deputy Chief, what you said is right. We haven’t come up with a better solution yet.” Mainly because we weren’t taught during our dream encounters.
Lu Yu smiled, “You’ve already done very well, no, extremely well. This time, our rescue operation is greatly thanks to you.” This wooden sailboat is already quite advanced; if we want to go further, it’s a matter of entering the steam era.
Hearing Lu Yu’s words, San Qiu became happy again.
Lu Yu then asked, “San Qiu, if everyone helps you, how long will it take to build another big boat like this?”
San Qiu glanced at the strong Shan Pu and Le Shui and thought for a moment, “Just three days! Actually, we’ve been making parts for the boat all along. We just didn’t have iron and tung oil before, so we couldn’t complete it. Now, if we want to make another boat, we just need to assemble the parts!”
Lu Yu nodded and reserved another big boat with him.
“By the way, besides building the boat, you also need to teach Le Shui and the others how to sail,” Lu Yu added.
San Siu hesitated a bit, “Deputy Chief, for this, wouldn’t it be better to learn during our dream encounters? We learned it there, too, teaching us how to communicate…”
Reminded by his words, Lu Yu slapped his forehead, “Look at me, I forgot.” With the dream training ground, of course, we should use the dream training ground; it won’t take up any time.
After a few more discussions, everyone went back and explained what they needed to do next to everyone. As Fang Lao expected, no one in the valley hesitated. Even the children raised their small wooden swords and said they would fight the bad guys with the Deputy Chief.
With the rescue plan set, Lu Yu took Shan Pu and another Matai to find Zhu Hua and the others in the Beast Plain. Shan Pu went to check the river, while the other Matai explained their plan to Zhu Hua and the others.
—
Night, Beast Plain, joint camp.
Zhu Hua and several other chiefs sat around the campfire.
The campfire crackled, but no one spoke.
“Chief Zhu Hua, these few days have passed, and no one from the Tai Yu tribe has come. Could it be that they don’t want to help us?” A small tribal chief broke the silence.
He had developed several blisters on his mouth in the past two days, couldn’t sleep, and every time he closed his eyes, he saw scenes of the three great tribes slaughtering them.
Zhu Hua frowned, seemingly thinking about something, but said nothing.
Jin Chang glanced at him and said to the small chief, “What’s the hurry? It will take them several days to travel back and forth. Let’s wait a bit longer.”
The small chief’s face turned ugly, and he slapped his thigh, “We can’t wait any longer! The sea has started to recede recently, and the Great drift is about to end!”
The other chiefs also chimed in.
“Yeah, we really can’t wait any longer.”
“Should we just break out on our own? With so many of us, even if we’re reckless, the three great tribes have to take us into consideration, right?”
“Yes, yes, maybe they won’t attack us?”
“Or we can send someone back to the tribe to bring people here. We have plenty of strong warriors ourselves. Why should we wait for others? Are outsiders more reliable than our own people?”
“Yes, I agree with what you said!”
The crowd was talking non-stop, almost getting up immediately to secretly order people to return to the tribe.
“That’s enough!”
Suddenly, Zhu Hua, who had been silent all along, shouted sternly.
The noisy scene quieted down instantly.
Zhu Hua coldly swept his gaze around, “Are you all so clever? Have you forgotten what we said to you three before? Even the Tai Yu tribe, with just a few warriors like your tribe, can’t capture a few of our warriors. Are the three great tribes afraid of you? Wait for you to call for help, and they will clean you up in one go! Even with so many of us, we have more than four hundred people, and many of them are women and children who can’t fight. What can we do against them? Are you all ready to die?”
The chiefs who had been the loudest before all lowered their heads. After a while, one of them said with great helplessness, “Chief Zhu Hua, what you said is right, but the Tai Yu tribe still hasn’t sent anyone until now. We are really at our wit’s end.”
“The three great tribes don’t treat other tribes as people. They’ve all been turned into slaves. Look at what those slaves have been doing lately. They’ve been pulling stones to build stone walls, stones as big as pigs, and almost every stone laid means a life lost. Although we don’t usually treat slaves kindly, we don’t deny them a way to survive like this.”
In fact, these few tribes hesitated at first. After all, they really couldn’t resist the powerful three great tribes, but after seeing how the three great tribes treated the submissive tribes, they no longer hesitated. Yes, these chiefs and their companions might survive, but what about the people they brought with them? How are they going to survive?
Another person said, “Yes, we can’t just live for ourselves. Even if we can survive, one day the three great tribes might still not let us go and swallow up our home tribe. Besides, I can’t help but feel that something is wrong with those turned into warriors.”
At this point, Zhu Hua’s expression also changed, “Indeed, something is wrong. I was just thinking of discussing this matter with everyone.”
“What’s wrong?”
Zhu Hua squeezed out a word from between his teeth.
“I suspect that those warriors have been bewitched by the witch of the three great tribes!”