The 7th day of the 4th month...... Probably.

The defeated Kunyang officers and soldiers evacuated from the bottom of the mountain, and the entire cottage cheered at that time.

Yang Tong, the owner of the village, sent someone to inform Zhu Wang, and asked Zhu Wang to tell Zhao Yu, Xu Fen and others to kill all the chickens, ducks, and pigs in the village, and move out the remaining wine, and prepare a sumptuous meal to reward the thieves in the village.

In the afternoon, one after another, the bandits returned to the cottage, and at the same time brought back the corpses of their companions.

In the whole thief village, the sad cries of women and children rang out.

At that time, Zhao Yu and Xu Fen stood at the door of the house, watching with their own eyes the bodies of more than 20 dead bandits being placed in the open space in the village, and there were about eight or nine women, either alone or with children, lying on the corpses and crying.

Yes, unlike the thieves in Zhao Yu's general impression of all the villains, a considerable part of Yang Tong's gang of thieves are civilians who fled from Wannan and Wanbei.

Now, when these bandits who have fallen into the grass have died, their wives and children will naturally feel sad.

Xu Fen, Deng Bai, and Deng Song are no strangers to this scene, because they all came this way.

Their fathers were all bandits, and when their father was still there, they lived in huts in the village, like the village, and each house was a household, until their father died and their mother died, and they were brought to the house.

Just when Zhao Yu and the others secretly sighed, a voice suddenly came from the side: "Do you see it?" At the beginning, I only saw thieves eating meat, but today, I finally see the thieves dead, right? That's what happens when you become a thief. ”

Zhao Yu subconsciously turned his head, only to notice that Chen Mo appeared beside them at some point, leaning against the outer wall of the room with his arms folded, his face expressionless.

Zhao Yu knew that the words of the second village master were meant for him, and he also accepted Chen Mo's statement - if he was not desperate, who would want to fall into the grass and live a life of fear?

But the problem is that there is no other way for him to go.

Sighing secretly in his heart, Zhao Yu asked quietly: "What about ...... What about the dead Kunyang officers and soldiers? ”

“……”

Chen Mo was stunned, frowned, and immediately, a little disappointment flashed in his eyes towards Zhao Yu.

“…… Whatever you want. ”

He left with a blank face.

Looking at Chen Mo's departing back, Zhao Yu exhaled slightly and blew the strand of messy hair hanging on his forehead.

Listening to the tone of Chen Mo's last sentence, there was quite a bit of benevolence and righteousness, of course, this is indeed the case, but Zhao Yu also has a bitterness that he can't reveal.

Before dusk, when Zhao Yu and Xu Fen were cooking in the room, Zhu Wang walked in and said very seriously: "Xu Fen, come here, I have something to tell you." ”

Xu Fen followed Zhu Wang out for some reason.

Watching Zhu Wang walk out solemnly, Deng Bai asked curiously, "What's wrong with Uncle Leper, so serious?" ”

"Could it be that he was caught stealing the wine in the village? Hahaha......" Deng Song guessed wildly.

Only Zhao Yu glanced outside the house and guessed a few points.

According to his guess, it was mostly because the cottage lost a lot of manpower this time, so Xu Fen, who was originally a 'reserve', was selected.

Sure enough, after a while, Xu Fen returned to the room, and no matter how the Deng brothers asked, he didn't say anything.

Until a few people went to deliver wine and meat to the big house in the village, Xu Fen took advantage of the Deng family's brothers not paying attention, grabbed Zhao Yu, and said in a low voice: "Huzi, I have something to tell you." ”

Zhao Yu glanced at Xu Fen and said, "Do you want to say that the village arranged for you to go to the big house?" ”

Arranged to the big house, it means that the village is ready to accept Xu Fen as a companion - don't look at Zhao Yu and Jingnu are now living in the thieves' den, but the group of thieves in the village have never recognized them as companions, at best, they are just a group of cubs who work for them.

Hearing Zhao Yu's words, Xu Fen's face was full of surprise and asked, "How do you know?" ”

"I guessed it."

Zhao Yu chuckled and said: "This time, more than 20 people have been lost in the village, and there are so many wounded, we must find a way to replenish the manpower...... Although the officers and soldiers of Kunyang were repelled in the village this time and their reputation was out, there will inevitably be people who defected to the cottage one after another, but these people don't know the roots, and you have lived in the cottage for many years, and when you reach your age, no matter how you look at it, you will be selected. ”

Xu Fen opened his mouth and was amazed: "Born in a big family, is it really so powerful?" As he spoke, he let out a long breath, nodded and admitted: "Okay, you guessed it right, this afternoon, Zhu Wang called me outside and told me about it, he said that there was a shortage of manpower in the village, someone thought of me and told Zhu Wang about it, and Zhu Wang asked me." ”

"You promised?" Zhao Yu asked.

Xu Fen nodded slightly.

Zhao Yu didn't ask Xu Fen if he was really thinking or anything, because although Zhu Wang looked rude, he was actually good-hearted, and after a group of children in the room changed their words to call him uncle, he became more and more friendly to the group of children in the room, and would not forcibly push him up against Xu Fen's wishes.

In other words, it was Xu Fen's own decision.

Seeing that Zhao Yu was silent, Xu Fen was a little misunderstood, and explained: "Don't worry, I won't leave you." …… I don't have brothers and sisters, you are my brothers and sisters, I agree to this, just hoping that we can live a better life, and at the same time, so that we can have a share of self-protection......"

He exhaled and continued: "In short, in the future, I will leave it to you, Huzi, when I am not there, you will restrain Deng Bai, Deng Song, and take care of Ning Niang......

"Wait!"

Zhao Yu raised his hand and interrupted Xu Fen's words: "I didn't say that I would continue to stay in the room. ”

Xu Fen was stunned, he didn't understand what Zhao Yu meant for a while, and after a long time, his eyes widened in shock: "Are you crazy?" You even want to vomit when you kill a pig, and you still want to be a bandit? ”

"That's because the pig's blood got into my mouth......"

Zhao Yu blushed rarely, and changed the topic: "In short, you have your thoughts, and I also have mine." …… When you go to the big house, talk to the village for me. ”

"No way!"

Xu Fen shook his head and said, "You are still too young, stay in the room honestly for a few years!" …… With Zhu Wang taking care of you, you will at least have food and meat to eat, so why take this risk? ”

"It'll be too late in a few years!" Zhao Yu lowered his voice and said: "Before the next time the Kunyang officers and soldiers come to encircle and suppress, I must get a certain status in the cottage. ”

"What?" Xu Fen was shocked when he heard this, looked left and right, pulled Zhao Yu to the corner, and asked in a low voice, "How do you know that the officers and soldiers of Kunyang will come?" ”

Zhao Yu lowered his voice and said, "That's a county!" At least a few thousand households in the county! …… As the county order of a county, will the Kunyang County order allow a stream of bandits in the territory? The defeat of the officers and soldiers in Kunyang this time was only because Kunyang did not want to delay the spring ploughing, and when the spring ploughing was over, more officers and soldiers would come to encircle and suppress it! …… This time it's three or four hundred, and next time it may be thousands! Even if Kunyang County doesn't have so many people, he can also find a neighboring county to borrow troops, and at that time, this cottage may not be able to stop it! ”

Obviously, Xu Fen didn't have the slightest long-term as Zhao Yu thought, and he was dumbfounded when he heard it, and even cold sweat broke out on his forehead.

"So, what then?" He asked, a little alarmed.

Don't look at him as the oldest in the room, but he is only sixteen years old, in terms of knowledge and calmness, he is far inferior to Zhao Yu.

Seeing this, Zhao Yu lowered his voice and said, "Just like what you said, Brother Xu, we have to have the ability to protect ourselves...... Brother Xu wants to hold the knife himself, and I, hoping to give the village an idea when the time comes, but you know, if you want the village to listen to my ideas, at least I have to be able to see the owner of the village at any time...... Please, Brother Xu. ”

"This ......"

Xu Fen showed hesitation on his face.

The next day, Xu Fen moved out of the house.

Deng Bai and Deng Song, who have always taken Xu Fen as an example, are naturally elated, hoping that Xu Fen can achieve a certain status in the cottage, and then let them also become a serious bandit, while Ning Niang is mixed, both happy that Xu Fen finally got rid of the chores, but also worried that Xu Fen will encounter accidents, after all, this time the Kunyang officers and soldiers came to crusade, and the village can be described as heavy casualties.

Looking at the scene in front of him, Zhao Yu suddenly remembered Chen Mo's advice to him again.

Chen Mo is indeed right, whether it is Xu Fen, Deng Bo and Deng Song brothers, including Ning Niang, although they are still just a group of children, but because of the relationship between their parents, they have already been deeply branded as bandits, even if they are allowed to return to civilians, they may not be able to adapt to the life of civilians for a while.

Moreover, the evil act of looting for nothing is addictive, such as Xu Fen's father, Xu Xin, who was born as a soldier who resisted the rebels in Wannan back then, but when Chen Mo met him, Xu Xin was already a complete bandit.

Including those bandits in the village, these may have been hard-working civilians, hunters, or even soldiers, but now? That's a group of thieves who don't produce every day and only know how to loot everywhere.

As soon as he thought of looting, Zhao Yu couldn't help but think of the next movement in the village.

This time, because the cottage was attacked by the Kunyang officers and soldiers, it was not looted for half a month, and then in order to celebrate the repulsion of the officers and soldiers, Yang Tong, the owner of the village, ordered the chickens, ducks, and pigs to be slaughtered in the village.

In the case of shortage of manpower, since fifteen or sixteen-year-old children can use it, then twelve-year-old children can naturally use it.

Zhao Yu was not worried about this, even if Xu Fen refused to help him, he had other ways.

In the afternoon, Xu Fen returned to the room, and when he was gathering with Deng Bai, Deng Song, and Ning Niang, he nodded to Zhao Yu meaningfully.

"It's finished!"

Zhao Yu clenched his fists.

Originally, he was going to wait until the second half of the year to start implementing his plan, which would be relatively safer, but the appearance of Kunyang officers and soldiers broke his plan, and he could only bite the bullet.

On that day, Zhao Yu assumed the alias 'Zhou Hu' and really became one of the Ying thieves.