May Fourth, Practice Martial Arts and Rebel

  Zhu Yuanzhang lowered his voice and asked coldly: "You've learned martial arts, are you planning to use it for rebellion?"

  "Ah?" The nine young people were startled, their bodies simultaneously shrinking back. This was the most common reaction when someone guessed their inner thoughts: "No... we don't want to rebel, who has the guts to rebel..."

  "Nothing to eat?" Zhu Yuanzhang slapped a villager's frail shoulder with great force, and the young man's body was originally thin, his stomach was empty, and he had no strength to support himself after being slapped, his shoulders suddenly slumped down half a foot, gritting his teeth in pain.

  "Have no clothes to wear?" Zhu Yuanzhang pulled on another villager's body, and the villager's tattered clothes were full of holes, barely covering his body. With a slight pull, there was a cracking sound, and the broken clothes shattered into pieces.

  Zhu Yuanzhang sneered, "You're starving and naked, yet you claim to be strong and healthy? If you want to deceive me, come up with a more convincing reason. Tell me your true intentions, and I might consider your request."

  The nine villagers looked at each other, hesitated, and after a while, the nine of them gritted their teeth and said in unison: "Zhu Ba Ge, we really can't live a good life anymore. We want to take advantage of our remaining strength to learn some skills from you. After eating up all the stored grain at home, we'll rebel against the government. Just now deceiving you was absolutely unavoidable. If you're not willing to teach us, we'll leave immediately. We only hope you won't report us to the authorities..."

  "Hold on!" Zhu Yuanzhang said in a low voice: "I have a few questions for you."

  "Firstly, why look for me to learn martial arts? Wang Erge is more formidable than I am, why didn't you look for him?"

  Those nine villagers looked at each other and said in a low voice, "We've also heard of Wang Erge's reputation, but we people from Xigou Village respect you more, especially after that fight with Ren Village, we witnessed Zhu Baige's skills with our own eyes, and believe in your strength even more."

  Zhu Yuanzhang was relatively satisfied with this answer and asked again: "Second question, there are many ways to solve the problem of having no food or clothes to wear, why did you first think of rebelling?"

  Nine young men looked at each other again, and replied in a low voice: "Wealth and honor are sought in danger! We want to learn from Zheng Yanfu, the big brother of Cheng City, to be a heroic good fellow who dares to fight and fight."

  "Haha, what a wonderful twist of fate!" Zhu Yuanzhang burst out laughing: "You nine guys are really something."

  The nine villagers were overjoyed and said, "Is Zhu Ba Ge willing to support our rebellion? That's great! Don't worry, when we kill the officials and rebel, we will absolutely not say that you taught us martial arts, and we won't implicate you."

  "When did I ever say I supported your rebellion?" Zhu Yuanzhang's smile faded, and he said in a low voice: "I don't allow you to rebel. Here is a silver ingot, take it and improve your life, and stop thinking about rebelling."

  He reached into his bosom, pulled out the silver ingot that Autumn Leaf had just given him, and casually tossed it into the villagers' hands. In a low voice, he instructed: "Don't think about rebelling again, but practicing martial arts to strengthen your body is not wrong. Starting tomorrow night, come to my courtyard every night to learn martial arts."

  These nine villagers are available men and can be recruited as soldiers in the future, this is Zhu Yuanzhang's first reaction. However, he wouldn't be foolish enough to directly tell these nine people "I support your rebellion", the risk of speaking like that is too great.

  So he first said he didn't support them, hiding his true attitude. Then he taught them martial arts, helping them build their bodies, which was actually a disguised way of supporting their diligent practice of martial arts, laying the foundation for future rebellion. To prevent them from starting to rebel before he was ready, he gave them some money first, so they wouldn't starve and rebel immediately, delaying their rebellion for a while, and at the same time making them grateful and winning over their hearts.

  In this brief moment, Zhu Yuanzhang had already turned over many ideas in his mind, but these things were completely invisible to others.

  Those nine villagers didn't realize that Zhu Yuanzhang had the idea of catching them in his hands and using them after a year, they thought that Zhu Ba Ge was really generous and not only gave them silver but also willing to teach them martial arts... The nine people knelt in a row, kowtowing: "Zhu Ba Ge, you are simply the reincarnation of Timely Rain Song Jiangming from 'Water Margin'!"

  After hearing this, Zhu Yuanzhang was so angry that he couldn't help but cry and laugh at the same time. The great emperor of the Hongwu era, Zhu Yuanzhang, had been reborn, and you guys said I was Song Jiang, that dark-faced bailiff? Am I really that unworthy? He waved his hand and said: "Go back, remember what I said, come over tomorrow night to learn martial arts. Oh... tell the poor people of Xigou Village, if they can't make a living, they can come find me Zhu Ba, we're fellow villagers, I'll help if I can, won't sit and watch my fellow villagers become destitute."

  Zhu Yuanzhang took over some silver from Qi Guanshi, and later received rewards from Ma Zhiyong several times, adding to the monthly allowance, he had been saving, now having about two hundred taels of silver at his disposal. If he was frugal with it, this money could support one or two hundred villagers for a year, which shouldn't be difficult. If he could use this silver to get a batch of loyal and devoted followers, they would become the backbone of the righteous army when rebelling in the future. It's worth it!

  In addition, after the news of his relief efforts spread among the villagers, it can enhance his reputation among the people and make it easier to incite the commoners to rebel in the future. Although being called the reincarnation of Song Jiang makes him very embarrassed, having this reputation is not a bad thing... The rural farmers are mostly short-sighted and have not read books, nor do they know ancient heroes. They can only expand their knowledge through stories told by storytellers. In their simple understanding, Timely Rain Song Jiang is the greatest hero in the world, which is already the highest praise they can give.

  "Yes, thank you, Zhu Ba Ge!" The nine villagers thanked him profusely and left, with Li Chujiao following behind them.

  Zhu Yuanzhang's mood was not bad, and he didn't know if it was a coincidence. In his previous life, after joining the righteous army, his first step in promotion was to become the Nine Husband General. This time, nine people came to surrender to him voluntarily. Did this mean that the path he had successfully taken before would reappear in front of him again?

  Just as he was thinking about this, a faint footstep came from the doorway, and a familiar face appeared in front of him. It was Zi Xingcai, Ma San's personal maid, who looked at Zhu Yuanzhang with a strange expression on her face, wanting to say something but hesitating.

  "Hmm? Little girl, what brings you to me?" Zhu Yuanzhang asked curiously.

  "Just now... Zhang's family maid came looking for you, what did she want?" asked Zi Xingcai nervously.

  Not good! Zhu Yuanzhang secretly cursed, what was this woman going to stir up again? He casually replied: "Nothing, just chatting casually."

  Zixincui pouted: "Stop cheating me, Second Young Master wants to marry Zhang's family maid to you?"

  "Huh? How did you know?" Zhu Yuanzhang was very curious.

  "Second Young Mistress mentioned in front of Miss that she wanted to discuss a marriage proposal with you... I was standing beside her at the time." Zixin Cai pouted and said, "Zhu Ba Ge, you must have a conscience. Our family's maids were here first, don't choose one from our family's maids to marry, it's not fair."

  "What...what is this? Zhu Yuanzhang suddenly became enraged, he had never thought of these things, and yet the women around him were making a racket nonstop. How could these women be so idle?"

  "Hey, Zhu Ba Ge, did you hear what I said?" Zi Xing Cai called out.

  Zhu Yuanzhang's face sank, and he said angrily: "Shut up for a moment, you women are really idle! Go back and tell your sisters that from today on, don't come to my room to wander around. I'm almost annoyed to death by you all, can't you let me clear my mind and do some serious work?"

  "Ah?" Zixincai shouted: "Then you won't choose our Ma family's maid, but instead choose the Zhang family's?"

  "Mind your own business!" Zhu Yuanzhang picked up Zixincai and threw her out of the door. The person he wanted to choose, couldn't be said!

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  The next evening, when the sky was not yet completely dark, Ma's long and short workers finished their dinner in the dining hall and dispersed to their respective small huts. Zhu Yuanzhang sat quietly in his own courtyard, waiting.

  The moon had not yet climbed to the top of the trees, and Li Chunjiu led nine young men from Xigou Village in: "Zhu Ba Ge, they have come to learn martial arts..."

  Zhu Yuanzhang carefully sized up the nine people, and the silver he gave them yesterday had obviously been put to good use. The nine of them had eaten their fill for two days, and their footsteps were no longer weak. They seemed to have some strength left in them.

  "Ah, good arrival!" Zhu Yuanzhang first let them stand in a row, then said in a low voice: "Let's start with horse-tying practice. Tonight, the nine of you will tie up a night's worth of horse steps."

  "What? Zama?" The nine young men were all a bit stunned. Could this "Zama step" be used to kill officials and start a rebellion?

  Seeing their distrustful expressions, Zhu Yuanzhang smiled and shook his head: "Have you ever been on the battlefield?"

  "No!"

  "Have you ever seen thousands of troops and horses lined up in battle formation?"

  "No!"

  "Do you know what kind of person is least likely to die in battle?"

  "I don't know!"

  "I'll tell you... the ones who stand firm are the least likely to die! Zhu Yuanzhang said calmly: "When thousands of horses and soldiers clash, with tens or hundreds of rows of people standing densely packed. People crowded together, shields, knives, guns, cannons... all around you, crowded to the point of bursting. When the army is moving, if you fall to the ground, even without the enemy lifting a finger, your comrades' feet will send you to report to the King of Hell. If you want to practice martial arts, the first thing you need to practice is stable legs, standing in the midst of thousands of horses and soldiers, unwavering like Mount Tai. If you don't have this foundation... then it's better not to practice at all!"

  Nine young people heard this, and their mouths suddenly opened wide in surprise. Old Zhu isn't opposing our rebellion, he's just teaching us to strengthen our bodies, is he? How come when we listen to him now, it sounds like we're going to rebel and fight...

  "What's wrong with you? Still not practicing?" Zhu Yuanzhang shouted.

  Nine young men were taken aback by his words, and their minds, which had been full of chaotic thoughts, quickly settled down. They stood with their legs apart, in a horse-riding stance.

  "Alright! Stand still for one night, don't move." Zhu Yuanzhang turned around and walked back to his own room.