Fifty-Five: Government Troops Pass Through the Border

  The next day, Zhu Yuanzhang got up early as usual. He walked into the courtyard and saw that the nine young men from last night were still standing there. Their spirits were extremely exhausted, their faces were full of fatigue, and although they were still maintaining a standing posture, it could no longer be called a horse stance, but rather just barely standing. Several people's clothes were covered with mud and dust, apparently having fallen down in the middle of the night. Seeing Zhu Yuanzhang get up, the nine of them quickly readjusted their movements and re-established their horse stances.

  As for their performance, Zhu Yuanzhang was generally satisfied. In fact, he wasn't someone who enjoyed tormenting soldiers all night, training them day and night without rest. He understood the importance of balancing work and rest. However, since these nine young men were still under his observation, Zhu Yuanzhang needed to quickly understand their personalities, such as whether they had perseverance, were ruthless enough, and could fight... So making them stand for a whole night was also a kind of first test.

  They have now made it through without fleeing, which is equivalent to obtaining Zhu Yuanzhang's initial recognition.

  "Go back and rest!" Zhu Yuanzhang waved his hand and said: "You have practiced well, you have a future, and it is hoped that you will strengthen your body and be healthy."

  The nine young men let out a sigh of relief, quickly gathered their horses and their entire bodies went limp: "Zhu Ba Ge, this strengthening the body is really hard work, I almost couldn't hold on several times tonight..." ?? Late Ming Zhu Chongba 55

  Zhu Yuanzhang nodded slightly: "Indeed, it was very hard work. A long, long time ago, when I was 'strengthening my body', there were several times when I almost couldn't hold on, but..." He didn't finish his sentence, only sighing in his heart: In the end, I persisted and then dominated the entire world.

  He reminisced about the past for a moment, then waved his hand at the nine young people: "The more effort you are willing to put in, the more you will gain. Alright, go back and rest now. Have a good sleep tonight, and come find me again tomorrow night to learn martial arts."

  After sending away the nine young men, Zhu Yuanzhang began his morning exercise. He still did it as before, casually boxing and exercising his muscles and bones, not seeking to become a fierce general, but hoping that in his lifetime of military campaigns, he would not be held back by being too weak.

  Just after a short while, suddenly saw Li Chujiao at the gate of the yard poking his head out: "Zhu Ba Ge, our own brothers have also come to learn from you."

  "Oh?" Zhu Yuanzhang smiled: "Our own brothers don't have to worry about food or clothing, why do they want to learn from the young people of Xigou Village?"

  A dozen or so farmers walked into the yard, saying in a low voice: "Zhu Ba Ge, we heard that Zheng Yanfu and his gang killed all of Zhang's family in Cheng City. If one day bandits come to kill our Ma family... just thinking about it makes us afraid, we want to learn something to protect ourselves."

  There are two kinds of people in the world, one wants to rebel against the government and the other wants to protect their family and country. These two types of people always exist at the same time. Zhu Yuanzhang had already harbored the idea of rebelling and seizing power, so this kind of farmer who wanted to protect his family and country should be his enemy in theory. However, Zhu Yuanzhang would not treat them as enemies... because, at the right time and place, people who want to rebel against the government and those who want to protect their family and country can exchange identities!

  People's hearts are complicated, sometimes the ones who shout "patriotism" the loudest turn out to be the first to become traitors... while those who have always done evil deeds can transform into true warriors when facing invaders. Zhu Yuanzhang believed that as long as he used a bit of strategy, these few farmers who wanted to oppose the peasant uprising might also join the peasant army, so what harm was there in teaching them martial arts?

  "Come on, follow me and practice! Come find me tomorrow night, I'll teach you along with those young people from Xigou Village."

  －－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－

  Since Zixincai was thrown out of the house by Zhu Yuanzhang, the maidservant of the Ma family finally calmed down and no longer appeared in Zhu Yuanzhang's room at any time. It turned out that after Zixincai returned to the inner courtyard, she added oil and vinegar to say a lot of unharmonious speculations, and an idle talk began to circulate among the maidservants in the inner courtyard, saying that Zhu Baige had already taken a fancy to a maidservant from the Zhang family, who was the one who lost her chastity, Autumn Leaf.

  This rumor spread, and the maids of the Ma family were truly heartbroken. How could a good man be snatched away by an outsider maid? The maids of the two families had bad feelings towards each other from the start, because Second Young Master and Second Young Mistress often quarreled, and the maids of both families had to help their own masters, putting them in opposing positions. Now with this happening, it was like adding fuel to the fire. The Ma family's maids looked at the Zhang family's maids with disapproval everywhere, and inside the inner courtyard, it was chaotic all day long.

  Although rumors say that Zhu Ba Ge has taken a liking to Akira, Akira herself didn't feel even the slightest bit of joy because she was also chased out of the house by Zhu Ba Ge that day, just like Zi Xin Cai, and completely didn't sense that Zhu Ba Ge had chosen her... Although becoming the main character in the rumors, she somehow couldn't get excited.

  Another protagonist in the rumor, Zhu Yuanzhang, did not take this matter to heart at all. He only felt that his recent life was a bit inconvenient, such as the flower vase on the table, where the small flower had withered for a long time, but no maid from the Ma family came to help him change it... The teapot on the table is now always empty... Clothes also need to be washed by himself! Not having women around to bother him was very comfortable, but not having women serving him every day wasn't pleasant either... As the saying goes, without women, it's cold and quiet, with women, it's chaotic... Do you really need a woman or not?

  After all, he was once an emperor, and the days of having clothes brought to him and food placed in his mouth had become the norm for him. Now that no one is serving him, it's really quite inconvenient.

  It was already June, and the weather had started to get scorching hot. Zhu Yuanzhang carried a basin of water and sat in the courtyard washing clothes. He didn't know how difficult it would be to wash clothes himself now. Because everywhere was dry and lacked water, it was very hard to fetch water from the Baishui River. Washing clothes, such a simple task, couldn't be done without spending an hour or so.

  Li Chunjiu's ugly wife passed by his courtyard and saw him washing clothes, she couldn't help but laugh: "Zhu Ba Ge, you say... aren't you asking for trouble? Why not marry a wife early on, do you still need to wash clothes yourself? With your current reputation, which maid wouldn't be willing to marry you with just a beckon?"

  Zhu Yuanzhang smiled wryly.

  The old woman laughed and said: "Even if you haven't made up your mind to marry which one, don't sweep them all out the door, it's a big trouble now?" ?? Late Ming Zhu Chongba 55

  Zhu Yuanzhang could only smile wryly.

  The woman lowered her voice and said mysteriously: "Or I'll help you speak up, just say that you didn't plan to marry Zhang's family's Autumn Leaf sister, last time was just a momentary mistake. Once this news gets out, our Ma family's sister will come to do housework for you again."

  Zhu Yuanzhang rubbed the clothes in his hands vigorously in the water basin, his eyebrows furrowed tightly. Conquering the world and playing with power struggles, he feared no one, but this washing of clothes... Cough, it's really a bit difficult for people. Otherwise, just do as Li Chunjiu's wife said?

  Just as I was thinking about this, a sudden cry of surprise came from outside the courtyard.

  Zhu Yuanchang lived in a separate small courtyard for servants, and outside was the wing where long-term and short-term workers lived. Now that there were cries of surprise outside, it must have been the long-term and short-term workers who made them. His heart tightened, what happened? He quickly threw the wet clothes in his hand into the basin and rushed out with a swift step.

  Only the gate of the side yard was seen, dozens of long and short workers were all inside, everyone's face could be seen with a terrified expression. Some people ran too quickly, their heads knocked out a big red package, but they couldn't afford to rub the wound, still frantically running back and forth. Someone's clothes were torn on the shrubs, exposing their chest, very indecent, but also couldn't afford to cover up.

  "What's going on?" Zhu Yuanzhang asked loudly: "What's the panic about?"

  "Zhu Ba Ge, something's wrong... government soldiers... government soldiers from Xi'an Prefecture are passing by our house!"

  "Hmm?" Zhu Yuanzhang furrowed his brow, "Government troops passing through? No wonder!"

  At the end of the Ming Dynasty, due to extreme corruption in the military and years of unpaid wages, soldiers had a very difficult life. When the imperial court sent them out to fight wars without providing their military pay, it led to the habit of plundering civilians along the way. Even when high-ranking officials saw this happening, they deliberately ignored it, thinking that as long as their subordinates could get something, it would save them from having to ask for military pay themselves.

  So wherever the government soldiers went, it was like a plague of locusts, frightening the common people into fleeing in all directions.

  Zhu Yuanzhang shouted at the long and short workers: "What are you afraid of? What else can be robbed from your homes besides your wives? There are a few people who don't even have wives, and others' soldiers won't rob you. Besides, our Ma family is not a family that officials and soldiers can rob at will, look at the imperial scholar's flag at the door...

  He said that, and the long workers and short workers settled down.

  Zhu Yuanzhang lifted his foot and walked out: "I'll go take a look at what's going on, you all work hard."

  He walked out of the small gate of the courtyard and looked towards the front of the mansion, only to see a large group of soldiers on the yellow dirt road in front of the main gate of the Ma family. They were either sitting or standing, stretching along the yellow dirt road of the Ma mansion all the way to the official road. Zhu Yuanzhang, who had spent many years in the military, didn't need to count carefully, and just by glancing at the scale of the army, he could tell that it was a small army of about 500 people.

  These officers and soldiers were mostly wearing the standard uniform of the Ming Dynasty, with each person's clothes being tattered and worn out, clearly having not been issued new military uniforms for many years. The weapons in their hands were mostly wooden spears, the handles of which were made from sturdy tree trunks that had been soaked in tung oil to make them strong and flexible, with an iron spearhead attached to the top, the spearhead being long and thin, with a sharp point at the front, narrow in the middle, and overall having a wavy shape.

  Only a handful of soldiers were equipped with swords, totaling less than twenty men. The reason is simple: long spears require less iron to make, but swords require more, making them a relatively expensive weapon; under the tight military budget at the end of the Ming dynasty, it was impossible to arm large numbers of troops.

  Moreover, in actual combat, spears are more useful than swords. There is an old saying that goes: "Three arrows are not as good as one sword, three swords are not as good as one spear." The meaning of this sentence is that on the battlefield, shooting three arrows at the enemy is not as effective as cutting him with a sword. Cutting the enemy with three swords is not as effective as stabbing him with a spear.

  Among the officers and soldiers, there were a small number of military officers wearing the Ming dynasty's Wu Jiang-style lock armor, with a pointed iron helmet on their heads, the tip of which was high and had a red tassel hanging from it. At their waist hung a precious sword. The sword was a commanding instrument, and on the battlefield, this kind of weapon was often not used to chop people, but rather to display the identity of the military commander.

  This army is not as decadent as the group of people brought by Ye Yuxuan in Chengcheng last time, but shows a subtle and fierce aura. Zhu Yuanzhang saw it at a glance that this army was gathering momentum and preparing for battle, not just a simple marching force.

  They ran to this place to fight? Hmm! Their target is Zheng Yanfu!