Chapter 333 - 276: Village Defense Battle (12)
"I'll be the one to say it."
All eyes turned to him.
Zhao Shizhang said, "Your guesses were correct. Zhao Feng and Yanrui are... gone."
As soon as he finished speaking, everyone sucked in a sharp breath.
So it was true.
"This is war, after all. It's impossible to win every single time. Things like this are inevitable.
"They both fought very well, but war is far too unpredictable. By the time we sent reinforcements, it was already too late.
"But we have already avenged them. They can rest in peace now.
"Furthermore, the family has taken control of both of their territories. While the losses are still immense, we've managed to preserve some of our strength."
The entire hall fell silent.
No one spoke.
No one even dared to breathe too loudly.
There were only quiet sighs.
Zhao Shizhang continued:
"In addition, Zhao Liang, Yang Mo, and Yan Ting also fell in battle.
"Zhao Qijia, Hu Jing, Meng Xu, and Niu Cheng—these four have lost their territories.
"Our losses today can only be described as immense."
This time, the people couldn't hold back.
All sorts of exclamations and cries of disbelief erupted.
Zhao Chi couldn't help but look at his third uncle, Zhao Qijia.
If Zhao Feng was a pillar of the family, then Zhao Qijia was its very foundation.
He wasn't dead, but losing his territory was tantamount to losing over 95% of his strength.
This pillar of stability had likely been reduced to a mere prop.
He would likely have to rely on his own personal Combat Power and continue the fight from within someone else's territory.
He might go to Zhao Shizhang's territory to serve as Commander-in-Chief.
After all, for him to establish a new territory from scratch and regain his former power would surely take many years.
Still, it was a blessing that he was still alive.
This was a stroke of luck amidst the tragedy.
Besides him, the other three were vassal Lords, and their strength was nothing to scoff at.
At the very least, their Combat Power ratings were all higher than Zhao Chi's.
Now that they had lost their territories, they could only do as Zhao Qijia would—join another's territory and serve as a Squad Commander.
Besides them, there were the four Lords who had died.
Among them was Zhao Chi's seventh brother, Zhao Liang.
Zhao Liang was the son of his third uncle, Zhao Qijia. Today had been truly tragic for Zhao Qijia.
He had lost his wife, then his son, and now his territory.
His expression was completely numb.
'He probably still hasn't been able to accept what happened.'
In this single battle, the Zhao Family had lost five Lords, with another four losing their territories. Their Vitality had been grievously wounded.
If you added Zhao Huai and Zhao Jiao to the count, that would be 2 more Lords who had lost their territories.
The Zhao Family's strength had grown to fifty Lords, but now they were back down to thirty-nine.
But the one silver lining was that the strongest among them, Zhao Shizhang, was unharmed.
His first uncle, Zhao Qizong; his second uncle, Zhao Qizu; and his fourth uncle, Zhao Qiye, were also fine.
With them still standing, the Zhao Family's core strength remained.
The clamor in the conference room gradually died down.
Zhao Shizhang sighed.
"Those rebels may be bandits in essence, but their strength is truly impressive.
"We had no choice but to go to war today with these bandits calling themselves the Celestial King Army.
"We did everything we could to avoid this war.
"As you all know, our village pooled together 100,000 Gold Coins to offer them. Our family's share was 25,000 Gold Coins. We were hoping to buy our way out of disaster, to use money to avoid war.
"You all know how much that money is worth. It was an astronomical price.
"But their appetites clearly weren't satisfied. They actually demanded another 120,000 Gold Coins, a sum we simply couldn't produce.
"Most importantly, they were never after money. They wanted everything we have!
"We had no choice but to fight. This battle was forced upon us.
"But these bandits don't listen to reason. I fear they will come back for revenge.
"What we must do now is absorb and process the spoils of war as quickly as possible.
"We must recover our strength—and even increase it—as quickly as possible!
"Do you all understand!?"
Zhao Shizhang's sudden roar made every Lord in the conference room jump!
"DO YOU UNDERSTAND!!"
Zhao Shizhang roared again.
"We understand!"
"Rest assured, Grandfather, I will do my best!"
"Please don't worry, Clan Leader."
"We understand, Clan Leader."
The Lords all responded.
Zhao Shizhang nodded.
"When the battle ended just now, I exchanged messages with the other Clan Leaders.
"The Xiao Family's Xiao Qigong was killed in action, and Xiao Peng lost his territory. Including others, they lost a total of nine Lords, same as us.
"In the Qi Family, both Qi Henghao and Qi Hengjie fell in battle. Including those who lost their territories, they're down a total of six Lords.
"The Liu Family suffered the most, losing a total of twelve Lords, including Liu Xuanzhi, who was also killed.
"Every family has suffered significant losses."
Another wave of gasps went through the room.
Xiao Qigong, Qi Henghao, Qi Hengjie, Liu Xuanzhi... all of them were exceptionally powerful Lords.
'To think that they died too.'
Zhao Chi had originally thought that giving the bandits 100,000 Gold Coins was far too much.
But now, he saw that the Clan Leaders had been thinking much more long-term.
If 100,000 Gold Coins could truly have prevented this war, it would have been worth it, no matter the cost.
What a pity.
In the end, the fight was unavoidable.
On the other hand, Zhao Chi now had a newfound respect for the bandits' strength.
Those men had looked no different from common street thugs.
'I never expected them to be so powerful.'
No wonder the nobles had labeled them a rebel army and were trying to exterminate them. They were genuinely strong.
But even so, they hadn't gained anything from it.
They were defeated, after all.
'I really don't know what they were trying to achieve.'
'Wouldn't it have been better to just take the 100,000 Gold Coins and leave?'
'They just had to let it come to this.'
'There were no winners here.'
After the murmurs of discussion died down, Zhao Shizhang continued: