Everyone in the village tensed up. With Henry as the center, all the elders gathered in the middle of the square.
"How many people?" Henry asked.
"Uh … about a dozen or so," the old man who came to report answered.
"A dozen?" Everyone was stunned. Wasn't ten people too little? Could it be that the other side wasn't here to fight?
Hearing that there were only a few people, the elders heaved a sigh of relief. Henry took a deep breath and said, "Let's go. Let's see what they want."
With Henry leading the way, the group of elders immediately walked toward the entrance of the village. In order to boost their courage and scare the others, they brought their dung forks and sickles with them. Li Huailin and the rest followed behind to see what was going on.
Soon, they encountered the other party. Just as the informant had said, there were only a dozen of them. The leader was the officer Li Huailin met before, Cervan. Behind him were a dozen guards. In terms of equipment, the two sides could not be compared at all. Although the armor and weapons of the soldiers on the other side were mediocre, they were still better than the dung forks and sickles.
"You … What are you doing here?" Henry took a step forward and pointed at Cerven, who was obviously the leader of the group. With more than a hundred people behind him, Henry felt a little more confident.
"…" Cerwin and the rest stopped in their tracks. Both sides exchanged glances with each other. Just as the elders were getting nervous, Cerwin suddenly bowed 90 degrees forward. "I'm very sorry!"
"Huh?" Everyone was taken aback as they looked at Cerwin with a puzzled expression.
"I'm really sorry. I'm here to apologize to everyone." Cerwin raised his head and said, "We didn't expect that this camp would bring so much trouble to everyone's lives. We only realized it now. I'm really sorry. I apologize on behalf of all the soldiers in the camp."
"Sigh … this …" This time, the elders did not know what to do. They were originally prepared to fight, but the other party directly apologized. What should they do now?
"Sir, your military camp has really caused us a lot of trouble, and we are indeed very angry. We can accept your apology, but the question is, how are you going to deal with this problem?" Henry thought for a while and said.
"Yes, yes, although you apologized, the barracks are still here. What are you going to do?" The group of old people also came to their senses. Although the other party had apologized, the problem of the barracks was still not solved.
"I'm here to deal with this problem." "First of all, I'm very sorry to inform everyone that our camp can't be moved. Due to some undisclosed military reasons, we have to set up our camp here. I can foresee that we will expand our camp in the future, which will affect everyone even more."
"How can that be?" "Yes, yes." What was the use of just apologizing? The other party actually wanted to expand the military camp. Wasn't that even worse?
"Everyone, calm down. Listen to me," Cern said, raising his hand. Cerwyn immediately raised his hand and said. He had a special majestic aura, and the elders immediately quietened down. "I know this will bring a lot of trouble to everyone, so after a meeting, we have decided to give everyone some subsidies to help them move out of this place."
"What? Move?" The group of old people immediately fell into chaos. "We're actually going to leave?"
"Everyone, calm down. Listen to me first," Cern said. "This time, we are going to give everyone a one-time compensation of 200 Gold. I believe this should be enough for everyone to leave this place and start a new life."
"200 Gold …" Hearing this, the old people fell silent. 200 Gold was truly a lot of money. Previously, this village was extremely poor, and the entire village had only managed to gather a little more than 2 Gold. With 200 Gold, each family would receive close to 2 Gold. According to the way they spent it, this amount of money could last them two years without a problem. Meanwhile, the materials for the wooden houses in the village had been sourced from the mountains. Any random location could be rebuilt in two months. This was indeed an acceptable solution.
"Yes, 200 Gold. Moreover, we will pay you in cash. This is the plan that everyone has agreed to after our meeting. After all, we have caused you a lot of trouble, so it is only right for us to pay you back." Seeing that the old people were tempted, Cerven immediately increased his efforts. "Do you all agree to this plan?"
"This …" The old people were at a loss. Some were clearly tempted, but they were too embarrassed to agree. Hence, everyone turned to Henry, hoping that he would make a decision.
"Sir Officer, we will need to discuss this matter and see if we can accept your proposal. Can we give you an answer tomorrow?" Henry asked after giving the matter some thought.
"Of course, that won't be a problem. Everyone needs to discuss this matter first. Let's do it this way. I'll come back tomorrow morning. Everyone, please give me your answer. What do you think?" Cerven said.
"Yes, sir. We will give you an answer tomorrow," Henry said, nodding.
"Good. See you tomorrow, then." Cerven nodded. He then led the dozen or so soldiers away.
After Cerven left, the old people began to discuss the matter.
"They want us to leave, but I've lived here for more than 40 years. Now, they're asking me to leave …"
"But a subsidy of 200 Gold is indeed a good offer …"
"This is our village. I don't want to leave."
"But if we split the 200 Gold, everyone will have a lot of money. We can use it to subsidize our expenses and send some to my son …"
Some agreed, while others disagreed. Of course, both sides had their reasons, and neither side could convince the other. Hence, everyone turned to Henry.
"Alright, everyone, stop arguing," Henry said. "Indeed, a subsidy of 200 Gold is a sincere offer. However, many of us, including myself, do not wish to leave this land that we have lived in for more than 40 years. We won't be able to come to an agreement even if we discuss this matter. I think that we should seek Madam Vesna's opinion, right?"
"That's right! We'll listen to Madam Vesna. "The old people agreed. Madam Vesna was a trustworthy person.
Hence, everyone hurriedly gathered at the entrance of the Village Chief's house. Madam Vesna had just fallen asleep. However, after hearing Henry's words, she could no longer sleep. She walked out of the house with her walking stick.
"You … You bastards! Cough, cough, cough … "Madam Vesna was so angry that her body trembled. She shouted at everyone," What is this place? This is the land that we have lived in for more than 40 years. Before this, this was just a wasteland. My husband, Green, led everyone here to dig up the land. After spending so much time and effort to build this village, you abandoned it for a bit of money. Have you forgotten what happened 40 years ago?
"Look at this village. Every house and every piece of land was built by us bit by bit. In the past ten years, more than a dozen of your former comrades have passed away. They are buried under this piece of land. Think about it. Do you think you've done them justice? If they knew that you sold the land that they fought so hard for just a few hundred gold coins to someone else, would they let you go? A few years later, when you go down there, would you have the face to see them? " Madam Vesna was so angry that her breathing became rapid. Henry, who was next to her, immediately patted Madam Vesna's back to calm her down.
The old people were also a little ashamed, especially those who agreed to leave before. They lowered their heads and did not dare to look at Madam Vesna.
"I … No matter what, I will not leave. Even if I am left with my old life, I will fight with them to the end. This is our land. How can we let these outsiders take it away?" Madam Vesna shouted.
"Us too!" Immediately, a few old people who did not want to leave immediately shouted, "We will fight to the end as well!"
Seeing that most of the people had agreed to Madam Vesna's words, the few old people who originally agreed to leave thought for a moment and agreed. So, they also shouted, "Madam Vesna, we will listen to you. We will fight to the end. Our land must not be given to them."
"Of course!" Madam Vesna immediately said. After saying that, she turned to Li Huailin and the others, "I am very sorry to let you see a joke. These people are old, and they have a lot of things to worry about. Please do not mind, we will definitely fight to the end. Please help us, I thank you here."
"Okay, Madam Vesna, we will definitely help," Red Moon immediately said.
"Okay, then everyone continue to prepare for the battle. We will answer them tomorrow, we will definitely not move," Henry said.
"Okay!" The group of old people immediately shouted in unison.
"Boring!" Li Huailin suddenly said, "Too boring!"
"Huh?" Red Moon, who was next to them, looked at Li Huailin strangely. They did not know why Li Huailin suddenly said that.
However, Li Huailin did not seem to have the intention to explain. He directly said, "I have something to do, so I will leave first. You guys take care of yourselves, don't worry about me."
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