Chapter 57: The Militia Team

  You traitors who want to collude with the barbarians, listen up! If you want to be a traitor, go ahead and do it. I'm telling you, don't think we're afraid of you. If there's such a person, then let them try this time. Our Ye family army, General Ye, didn't grow up eating vegetarian food and reciting Buddhist scriptures for nothing! Whoever dares to do this will have to face the consequences when we drive away the barbarian army and settle accounts with them. Hehe, what kind of outcome that will be, you can all think about it yourselves!

  As for those who want to leave, let them go. I won't stop them. But let's be clear: once we've dealt with the barbarian army, those who ran away will want to come back and continue farming their land? Ha! Don't even think about it! There's no way in!

  Our Ye family army only protects those who are of one mind with us. As for this kind of person who changes sides at the drop of a hat, don't even think about us continuing to take care of him! This kind of person's land must be taken back and given to those who wholeheartedly follow us!

  Let's get one thing straight, whether the barbarian army comes or not, I, Zhao, will never take a single step back. If they really do attack, I'll stand at the entrance of the village and die first. If I run before anyone else, I'm not worthy of being human!

  Zhao Dabao stood on the stone mill's grinding disc, leaning on his crutch. The more he spoke, the louder his voice became, and the more impassioned he grew. As he spoke, he kept tapping his crutch, until finally, in a fit of rage, he smashed it to pieces against the stone mill. He almost fell off the grinding disc, but luckily, a young man rushed over to support him, and Zhao Dabao managed to steady himself on one leg.

  After listening to Zhao Dabao's speech, the villagers of Xiaozhao Village looked at each other's faces and eyes. At this time, a middle-aged man walked out of the crowd, walked under the stone mill, and said loudly to Zhao Bao: "Zhao Baochang! Is what you said true? Are we really not afraid of those barbarians? I've heard that those barbarians are very terrifying, they all look ferocious! Can our Ye Family Army really win? Will our Ye Family Army really not run away?"

  Zhao Dabao sneered and replied with disdain: "If I've spoken half a lie, take a look at me, can I still run? If I deceive you, then break my leg too! You barbarians are nothing! Our general is not afraid of them!"

  The man hesitated for a moment, then gritted his teeth and turned around to say: "The old masters in the village, I believe Zhao Baochang's words!

  The three generations of the Ye family are all like gods! We've also seen the good men of the Ye family army, each and every one of them is a man of iron! What Zhao Baochang said makes sense, those barbarians are nothing special! They're just people with two shoulders and one head, what's different about them? Why should we be afraid of them?!

  My ancestors, up to my grandfather's generation, all worked as tenant farmers for others. But in my generation, I've never farmed a single day for myself. Now General Ye has finally allocated this land to us, and we've managed to plant crops with great difficulty. And then these Manchu bastards come here thinking they can take it away from us? Not that easy! As General Ye said, "Can princes and nobles be farmers?"

  I don't care about you guys anymore, I'm saying that even if General Ye and the brave men of the Ye family are in front of us fighting against the barbarians, even if the barbarians really attack our village, I'll dare to fight them with a hoe!

  Since General Ye gave us this land, we can't let those barbarians take it back. Anyway, if the barbarians come to attack, we'll all die either way. Rather than starving to death later on, it's better to fight them to the end!

  "Zhao Baochang, this time I also can't just sit and watch General Ye lead the good brothers to fight for us. What do you say? Let me ask what Lai Wu can do? As long as it's something that can help the Ye family army, you just give the order! Even if it means letting me take up a knife and go into battle with those barbarians, if I, Lai Wu, utter even half a word of complaint, then I'm not human!"

  After finishing speaking, this man named Lai Wu spat a mouthful of saliva heavily on the ground and stared at Zhao Dabao with his eyes wide open, waiting for orders.

  At this time, some young people in the village also surged with hot blood and followed Lai Wu to stand out, calling Zhao Da Bao: "Zhao Bao Chang, we are not ungrateful bastards, we believe your words, we will never leave, nor will we secretly communicate with the barbarians to betray our Ye family army! You command us, what do you want us to do? As long as it can help our Ye family army, you just need to say one word, and we dare to do even if it's a matter of losing our heads!……”

  As soon as Lai Wu's words fell, they immediately resonated with many villagers around them. Many people followed suit and shouted that they would not abandon their fields and flee, yelling that they wanted to help the Ye family army do something.

  Zhao Dabao looked at the crowded crowd below, and his nose suddenly turned sour. He was so excited that tears almost flowed out, so he wiped his nose with a handful of snot and threw it onto the stone millstone. With the support of a young man behind him, he clasped his fists together and shouted to the villagers below: "I, Zhao Dabao, thank you all! I also thank you on behalf of our General Ye! Our General Ye has said that as long as everyone sticks together, we're not afraid of anything. We only fear people scattering and having their own ideas! Since everyone has spoken up today, then I, Zhao Dabao, will take the liberty to say something too!"

  Our general has long said that after the spring farming is idle, we will organize a militia team in each village and town. The militia team is responsible for protecting our own village. Since everyone is willing to help our Ye family army defend here today, let's establish our Xiaozhao Village Militia Team today!

  I'm Zhao Dabao, and I'll take charge this time. Don't look at my inconvenient legs, after all, I've also seen big battles, and I'm a soldier trained by General Ye himself, so I have some experience. Let me be the leader of our local militia here!

  "Now if you're willing, all you guys from 16 to 40 years old come on out! From now on, you'll be the militia squad of our Little Zhao Village!"

  After Zhao Dabao finished speaking, all the men in the village who met the age requirement stood up. There were more than 40 of them. Zhao Dabao shouted loudly again: "Alright! Our militia team is now established. This time when we fight against the barbarian army, our general said that we don't need to help out. For now, let's do one thing first - protect our village and strictly investigate any suspicious people who have run to our area. We can't let spies come here to gather information!"

  Thus, the first militia team under Ye Jiajun's rule was established in Xiao Zhao Village.