Chapter 350 Choice
The journey from the medical department to Zhou Xu’s residence was not long, but the heavy heart and inner struggle made it extremely difficult for Silk to walk, as if seconds seemed like years. .
The guards guarding the door had long known that Hilke was coming. After seeing him from a distance, they had already asked Zhou Xu for permission and got permission to let him in directly.
As soon as the door in front of him opened, Zhou Xu, who was sitting at the desk, immediately caught Silke's eyes.
“Silk, I have met leader Zhou Xu and thank you for your help during this time.”
It goes without saying how obvious the changes in Silk's body were. Looking at the respectful look on his face, Zhou Xu smiled slightly.
"Please sit down."
After signaling Hilke to sit down, Zhou Xu temporarily put down the work at hand and looked at Hilke, who was now slightly embarrassed in front of him.
"There are a lot of things going on recently and time is precious. Let's get down to business."
After a slight pause, Zhou Xu's voice spoke again...
"As an ally, I deeply sympathize with your situation and have always provided you with help. But now, nineteen more prairie elves have come to my village. Sir Silk, I must confirm with you now. , What are your plans next?”
This question made Hilke feel anxious.
What are your plans? What plans can he have now?
Some of the elf knights who were seriously injured before were not even discharged from the hospital yet. Many of the nineteen new tribesmen who arrived were injured.
What plans does this give him?
If he is allowed to leave Prairie Village now, he will not be able to solve the next dinner!
Looking at Silke’s awkward look of not knowing how to speak, Zhou Xu suddenly knew something.
"I'll be honest, in normal times, according to our situation, nineteen more mouths may not be a big problem, but in this season, it is not easy to obtain food, and the food pressure has become more and more serious recently. It’s getting bigger.”
Zhou Xu was not telling lies at this time.
Their food pressure has indeed been increasing recently, but it is not because of the nineteen more grassland elves, but because Shi Lei has been clearing out the primitive tribes and recruiting the population on the other side of the mountain.
Since the season has just entered winter and not many days have passed yet, and the various primitive tribes have not yet reached the point where they can no longer survive and start killing people, so the task of repopulating the population is going smoothly.
In just this moment, they easily captured more than a hundred prisoners.
It is a good thing to be able to easily capture more than a hundred prisoners, but having more than a hundred mouths to eat at once will definitely put pressure on food.
Not to mention that at this time, Shi Lei and the others are still arresting.
Now that they have already taken action, according to their style, they must clear the entire area to ensure the stability of subsequent development.
Therefore, it is completely foreseeable that in the next one to two months, more and more prisoners will be captured by them.
At this pace, they will most likely face a food shortage problem later on.
In order to reduce the impact as much as possible, Zhou Xu has already ordered to further reduce the food distribution to the prisoners.
The occurrence of such a situation cannot be said to be a mistake in Zhou Xu's decision-making.
He didn't know the existence of the lizardmen at all beforehand, let alone the time when the lizardmen invaded, it was still in late autumn.
Generally, work such as cultivating fields and increasing production must be done in early spring, or even before spring begins.
At the end of autumn, we are already preparing for winter, how can we increase grain production?
According to Zhou Xu's original big plan, even if he wants to make any move, it will be in the spring of next year. By then, he can increase the size of his fields according to the situation.
But the result was the sudden appearance of the lizard man, which once again made him realize what it means to have a plan that cannot keep up with changes.
Of course, none of this prevents him from using this matter to put pressure on Silk.
"As an ally, I feel that I have reached my limit." Hilke did not have the slightest doubt about Zhou Xu's words.
In Hilke's impression, a village with a hundred people is already a large village.
As for the Prairie Village, including himself, twenty-nine prairie elves were added at once. When placed in a village of a hundred people, it was equivalent to an increase of almost one-third of the population. The food pressure was not high. Probably not.
Not to mention that most of them are injured and sick, which makes the pressure on Prairie Village even greater.
It is completely visible to the naked eye how exhausted the people in the medical department have been during this period.
For a new ally who has just formed an alliance and whose friendship is not very deep, it is indeed the most benevolent thing to do.
To put it bluntly, even if Zhou Xu asked him to leave with his clan members now, he would not be able to resent him.
Just when Hilke was about to accept the reality, Zhou Xu’s voice sounded again...
“I have two solutions now. The first one is to ask you to leave. , after all, I have to prioritize my own people.”
"I can't let my people and soldiers live a hard life of food shortage because of you. If I do this, my people and soldiers will definitely be dissatisfied. I hope you can understand this. ”
The words were expected, but they also contained some unexpected information.
“Leader Zhou Xu, you said there is another plan?”
Looking at Hilke who looked a little hopeful, Zhou Xu did not show off and directly stated... …
“The second plan is very simple, that is, let the grassland elves headed by you submit to our Great Zhou and become the people of our Great Zhou.”
Zhou Xu's words made Silk's expression stunned. This was something he had never thought about.
Zhou Xu ignored him and continued to talk about his thoughts.
“As long as you become my people in the Great Zhou Dynasty, it will be a matter of course to provide relief and food for your people, and other people will not be dissatisfied. At the same time, I also promise I will treat you all equally."
"..."
These words made Silke fall into silence.
Seeing this, Zhou Xu didn't rush him.
"You can go back and think about it slowly and give me an answer tomorrow."
In a word, the deadline has been set.
Although Zhou Xu didn't say it directly, the meaning was already clear.
The deadline is tomorrow. At that time, you can either choose to surrender or leave with your tribe. There is no third way.
But what Silke said next made Zhou Xu a little surprised.
"There is no need to wait until tomorrow. I choose to surrender. I am willing to take my people and become the people of Zhou Dynasty."
While speaking, as if he had completely made up his mind, Hilke directly Kneel down on one knee towards Zhou Xu.
"Silk, see the leader!"
An update is here, and I would like to thank the book friend "The Little Panda Who Loves Fishing" for the reward!
(End of this chapter)