Forty-four, how many people have you killed?

  The chaos in Zhang's backyard continued, and Zhu Yuanzhang and Zheng Yanfu searched for Zhang Douyao in the rear flower garden.

  In the Houhuayuan, there were many small wooden buildings scattered around the garden, some of which were quite exquisite and obviously served as living quarters for women. The rioters who had arrived before Zheng Yifu and Zhu Yuanzhang rushed into these more luxurious-looking small buildings first.

  Zhu Yuanzhang and Zheng Yanzhong passed by these small buildings, constantly hearing the sound of women's cries and wails coming from inside. Some were the mournful screams of women being killed, while others were the sorrowful sobs of those being humiliated. This uprising to kill officials had inevitably turned into ordinary killing, arson, and looting... This was not something Zheng Yanzhong could change; it was an inevitable evolution that the peasant army would go through.

  The thrill of murder and robbery can turn an honest farmer into a ruthless butcher, a frenzied demon, in an extremely short period of time. Many of them have lost their sanity and become real bandits.

  A delicate wooden building with open windows, a woman's upper body protruding from the window, her hands stretched out in front of her, as if trying to grasp something, but ultimately she grasped nothing, and was hacked twice on the back, falling dead at the window, her hands dangling down...

  Gold and silver treasures were scattered from the small building's entrance all the way out, it seems that someone had just looted this small building, with too many treasures in their arms, and they spilled them along the way. On these gold and silver treasures, there was still a stain of bright red blood, but it was unknown whose blood it was.

  Zheng Yanfu's face turned darker and his mood worsened, while Zhu Yuanzhang remained calm and composed, as if nothing was out of the ordinary.

  "Where is Zhang Douyao hiding?" Zheng Yanfu was getting impatient: "I want to find him and kill him as soon as possible, hurry up and take these guys away, their current appearance makes me feel very uncomfortable."

  "He won't be in a delicate small building." Zhu Yuanzhang said in a low voice, "The more luxurious the house, the greater the risk. He should now hide in an inconspicuous place where farmers will not go to loot."

  "Woodshed? Or kitchen?" Zheng Yanzhu suddenly came to his senses. In the backyard of a wealthy family's mansion, where nothing could be stolen, there were only two places: the woodshed or the kitchen. Everywhere else would have some valuables, but these two places had nothing except for dry firewood and charcoal.

  Neither of them was familiar with Zhang Douyao's home, but they had a basic understanding of the courtyard layout. It wasn't difficult to find the location of the woodshed and kitchen. Before long, the two of them ran to the front of the woodshed, one after the other.

  Like many wealthy households, Zhang Deyao's house had a woodshed and kitchen connected together, with a dining room attached to the side. A low wall enclosed these three rooms into a separate courtyard, which also contained a large water vat filled with half a vat of water.

  This yard was indeed not looted by the rioters, and in fact no one even ran in, everyone was busy grabbing things outside, how would anyone notice this place?

  Zhang Douyao excitedly waved the pig-killing knife and was about to enter the thatched house to find Zhang Douyao. Just as he took his first step, Zhu Yuanzhang suddenly grabbed him with one hand, holding him in place: "Don't go in... If you go in now, you'll definitely be ambushed."

  "Huh?" Zheng Yanfu was puzzled.

  Zhu Yuanzhang pointed to the dark entrance of the thatched cottage and said, "When Zhang Douyao was hiding, wouldn't he have at least one or two trusted house slaves with him? Now in this thatched cottage, besides Zhang Douyao, there are at least one or two most trusted house slaves following him. If my guess is not wrong, they will be standing behind the door, waiting to give you a knife as soon as you enter..."

  "Hmm, indeed it is, I didn't expect that." Zheng Yanfu patted his head.

  Zhu Yuanzhang said this in a slightly louder tone, so that it could be heard from the woodshed. After he finished speaking, a faint sigh came from the woodshed, and then three figures slowly walked out of the door. Two of them were wearing green clothes and small hats, holding wooden swords, obviously Zhang Deyao's loyal house slaves. The third person was Zhu Yuanzhang's acquaintance, Fang Huwei!

  He came to see Zhang Douyao today with a gift, discussing the matter of welcoming relatives. Unexpectedly, while they were talking, a servant rushed in to report that rioters had stormed the government office, shouting and wanting to kill officials and rebel. Zhang Douyao was frightened, on the one hand ordering the use of fake mountains to block the door, and on the other hand searching for a place to hide. Fang Huwei happened to be there at the time, so he had no choice but to pretend to be brave and serve as Zhang Douyao's bodyguard.

  At this time, he couldn't leave. If he abandoned Zhang Douyao and didn't care, first of all, the Ma family's face would be lost because of him. Secondly, if Zhang Douyao was lucky enough not to die, the relationship between the Ma and Zhang families might break down from then on. He had no way to explain this to Young Master Ma Zhi Xiong, which was also a kind of forcing him to a dead end.

  Fang Youwei had a lot of experience in the jianghu, and he had also dealt with many bandits. He knew that during this time of chaos among the refugees, the safest place would be the most inconspicuous one. No one would think to rob money from a humble woodshed, so he led Zhang Deyao and his two trusted house servants into hiding there, concealing Zhang in a pile of firewood while he and the two servants stood guard at the door with knives at the ready. If any bandits did stumble upon the shed, they would not be many in number; one could kill one, or two could kill two, and that would be it.

  As he heard the footsteps of Zheng Yanfu and Zhu Yuanchang approaching, he had already picked up his knife in the woodshed, waiting for the two to come in. Unexpectedly, one of them, who was slightly thinner and wore a bamboo hat that obscured his face, suddenly revealed that there was an ambush inside.

  This can make Fang Huwei surprised, to know that humans are animals, when burning, killing and looting, the blood is boiling, the brain is also feverish, will be more impulsive and violent than usual, and there is no mind to think. Especially for those who do evil things for the first time, it is even more impossible to be calm and composed.

  It is only after paying the price in blood that one understands that the more critical the situation, the calmer one must become. However, those who can learn this lesson are often dead men. Those among the living who understand this principle will all rise above the rest. - Zhu Youjian (44th year of the Ming dynasty)

  Fang Huwei walked out of the thatched cottage, sighing to Zhu Yuanzhang: "What a calm guy... During the burning and looting, he still had the mind to consider whether there were ambushes in the thatched cottage! You're not an ordinary person, you must have killed people before."

  Zhu Yuanzhang was taken aback and lost his smile. This guy had also said that he had killed people last time, and now he's saying it again? He sighed, pulled off the bamboo hat on his head, threw it aside, and smiled at Fang Huwei: "I told you last time, I really have killed people, are you going to report me to the authorities?"

  "Is it you?" Fang's guard was shocked: "You... actually colluded with the rioters and wanted to kill Master Zhang!"

  Zhu Yuanzhang smiled and didn't bother to answer him.

  Fang Huwei felt the faint killing intent on Zhu Yuanzhang's body, as well as the disdain in his laughter. For some reason, he felt a sense of fear rising up inside him. To boost his own courage, he gripped the wooden sword tightly and said loudly: "Don't think that just because you've killed people before, now being calm makes you impressive. Fang Xuan has traveled far and wide, with twenty-seven lives on my hands..."

  Zhu Yuanzhang then found out that his name was Fang Xuan.

  "Hmm, you said that last time!" Zhu Yuanzhang said calmly: "Killing twenty-seven people is truly impressive, killing as easily as cutting grass, I admire it." This sentence was also something Zhu Yuanzhang had said before. Last time he said this sentence, his tone carried a fake sense of admiration, and Fang Xuan didn't notice anything unusual. But this time was different. When Zhu Yuanzhang mentioned the twenty-seven people, his tone clearly carried a hint of ridicule, as if saying an extremely insignificant number, like a billionaire talking about "a single penny", with indifference... naked indifference.

  Normally, Zhu Yuanzhang had been deliberately suppressing his own momentum, but at this moment, he didn't need to hold back. All the enemies in front of him would die, and Zheng Yanfu beside him would soon be fleeing for his life. At a time like this, what harm was there in slightly indulging himself? Anyway, no one would know.

  He raised his head, staring straight at Fang Xuan. His eyes, which had been dull from the start, quickly turned fierce and menacing, as if he were standing on a battlefield hundreds of years ago, looking at Chen Youliang's army, wishing to kill every single one of them... A chilling aura of killing intent burst out from his body, filling the air.

  Zhang Douyao's two housemen were completely unaware, and at their level, they couldn't even sense the killing intent of others. But Fang Xuan was different; having been born and raised in the jianghu, he had a very keen sense of qi, and as soon as Zhu Yuanzhang released his aura, he immediately caught the change in the atmosphere.

  Fang Xuan suddenly felt a chill run down his spine, and in the blink of an eye, the person standing opposite him was no longer a cowherd boy Zhu Ba, but a majestic general with an aura of murder, pointing to the place where the banner was planted, millions of soldiers surged forward. With a wave of his hand, tens of thousands of heads fell to the ground... A mountain of corpses and a sea of blood, a terrifying atmosphere that instantly engulfed him.

  His legs trembled and his voice became hoarse, unable to help but tremblingly ask: "You... how many people have you killed?"

  Zhu Yuanzhang smiled slightly: "This kind of thing, how could I possibly remember clearly?"

  Fang Xuan felt that the entire atmosphere was being overwhelmed by the killing intent, no way, he couldn't continue talking to this person, if they kept going on like this, he wouldn't even have the courage to attack him...

  "Look out for the knife!" Fang Xuan roared, his wooden knife dancing in a flash of light as he slashed viciously at Zhu Yuanzhang.

  "Kill!" Zheng Yanfu had been waiting impatiently beside him, and since the opponent made a move, he also cut down with his knife without hesitation.

  Fang Xuan wanted to kill Zhu Ba, but didn't expect the big man beside him to jump out and greet himself. He was furious in his heart, exerted force on his hand, and the wooden knife drew a beautiful arc shape, slashing fiercely towards Zheng Yanfu.

  Zheng Yanfu's pig-killing knife came forward fearlessly, the two knives collided in mid-air with a "ding" sound.

  Fang Xuan felt a surge of tremendous force transmitted through the knife, shaking his pu dao to the point where it almost flew out of his hand, and the blade also burst open with a large gash.

  "This... where did this fierce man come from? Such a fast sword, such great brute strength." Fang Xuan secretly cursed in his heart: Fighting this guy without a sure win is hopeless, can only hope that Zhang Douyao's two house servants will come to help me.