Zheng Yanfu arched his hand at the group of villagers who were waiting for him: "Brothers...... Long waiting! I went to Qingliangyuan to worship the Bodhisattva, so I came a little late, so everyone is not surprised. ”

The villagers said nonchalantly: "No, of course not." ”

"We ourselves are desperately worshiping the Bodhisattva, how can we blame Brother Zheng Yanfu."

"Big brother, please come into the village...... This is the entrance of the village, so it is inconvenient to talk. ”

The villagers greeted Master Zheng Yan and walked to the middle of the village, where there was an ancient ancestral hall. During the Ming Dynasty, people had a very deep sense of family, and often a village was full of people from one big family, or two or three families. They usually collectively fund the construction of an ancestral hall in the village, which is used for everyone to worship their ancestors, and is usually used as a meeting place, and major matters related to the interests of the whole village will be decided in the ancestral hall, which is divided into ancestral halls, branch ancestral halls, family ancestral halls, and so on.

The villagers hugged Zheng Yanfu into the ancestral hall, but no one was left outside, and the whole village squeezed in, it seems that what they want to decide is very important, and it is related to the interests of everyone in this village, so the whole village participated.

Zhu Yuanzhang slowly touched the outside of the ancestral hall, sat down under the window, leaned against the outer wall, and could just hear the conversation inside.

He couldn't see the situation in the ancestral hall, only heard Zheng Yanfu's voice whispering: "You have already decided? Once you follow me, there's no turning back. ”

An old voice said: "Zheng Zhuangshi, our Nanyao Village held an ancestral hall meeting the day before yesterday and decided to follow you." Anyway, I can't survive, there has been a drought for many years, and the harvest is not good, but Zhang Douyao's birdman is very urgent, yesterday, the day before yesterday, the day before yesterday, and the day before yesterday, there were nephews who were arrested by him to play the board and forced to pay taxes...... When I came back, my ass was beaten so badly that I couldn't walk, and if we went on like this, we wouldn't have to pay taxes, and we were all beaten to death by him! ”

"That's right!" A young man's voice said: "Brother Zheng Yanfu, let's not say much, in short, I will go wherever you say, and it is better to follow you to the world than to die at the hands of the thief county commander." ”

Zheng Yanfu seemed to be silent for a while, and then said, "Okay, then kill Zhang Douyao, who was raised by his son of a bitch." ”

Hearing this, Zhu Yuanzhang already understood that the murderous aura on Zheng Yanfu's body was directed at Zhang Douyao, the county commander of Chengcheng. He should be a righteous man with a resounding reputation in Chengcheng * County, just like Baishui Wang Er who has been admired by the villagers, this spring, the people of Chengcheng * County can't pay the taxes, and they have begun to move, secretly linking him to kill officials and rebel. So he worshipped the Bodhisattva, strengthened his faith, and then united with the villagers, intending to revolt.

Many memory fragments in his mind that had been forgotten in the corner began to combine, and Zhu Yuanzhang suddenly remembered something. A year before the second uprising of the king of Baishui, there was another well-known uprising, that is, Zheng Yanfu of Chengcheng * County killed officials and rebelled.

In the spring of the seventh year of the Apocalypse (1627), it was a difficult time for the green and yellow to be scarce, and Zhang Douyao, the county commander of Chengcheng*, did not care about the lives of the people, but still forced grain harshly, and whipped the cane to punish the peasants who could not pay the taxes. The peasants who were exhausted of their blood were cornered, and instead of waiting to die under the cane, it was better to rise up and survive in death. On March 21, the angry peasants, led by Zheng Yanfu, swarmed into the county government hall from the west gate. At this time, Zhang Douyao was sitting in the hall to force food, and when he saw that the situation was not good, he was so frightened that he hid in the back house, and was chased by Zheng Yanfu and hacked to death with a knife.

Thinking of this, Zhu Yuanzhang heard Zheng Yanfu in the ancestral hall say in a low voice: "The day after tomorrow, that is, when the day comes out on March 21, you will wait for me on Hutou Mountain outside the west gate of the county seat. ”

"It's all up to the eldest brother's arrangement!" A few young villagers hurriedly responded: "You have to contact a few more villages, the people in our village are not good for anything, the more people, the more stable we are." ”

Zheng Yanfu said in a low voice: "Don't worry, not only your village can't survive, but in fact, Duanzhuang Village, Liujiazhuang, Liujiayuan Village, Chengjiawa Village...... They can't pay their taxes, and I think they have the opposite meaning. Tomorrow I will spend a day, go through every village, the morning after tomorrow, not to mention two or three hundred men, let's rush into the county, kill Zhang Douyao's bird goods, take the grain in the county treasury, eat a full meal, you remember, in the early morning of March 21, outside the west gate of the county seat, waiting for me on Hutou Mountain! ”

"Good!"

"Remember, this matter must not leak out, if anyone goes to the government to tell the whistle, the government will be prepared......" Zheng Yanfu said this, lowered his voice, Zhu Yuanzhang heard the sound of the knife cutting through the air with a pig-killing knife, obviously Zheng Yanfu pulled out the knife and threatened everyone.

Immediately, a villager said: "If anyone informes, there will be five thunderstorms in the sky, and we will become ghosts and kill him." ”

The villagers swore swearing, and the passionate voices rose and fell in the ancestral hall. The village chief of Nanyao Village instructed the villagers to catch chickens, and then the villagers swore and cursed in front of the ancestral tablets in turn, dripping the chicken blood into the wine, and making a blood alliance.

Hearing this, Zhu Yuanzhang felt that there was no need to listen to it anymore, the matter was very clear, Zheng Yanfu was going to kill officials and rebel, if there was no accident, or if he didn't intervene, this rebellion could be successful at the beginning, Zhang Douyao would be hacked to death with a knife, this is the answer drawn from the historical development of the previous life.

So now the question arises, is it better to meddle or not?

As the founder and founder of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang intuitively resented the peasant rebellion, because the peasant rebellion was against the Ming Dynasty and against him Zhu Yuanzhang. However, he himself was the Ming Dynasty established through the peasant rebellion, so although he was disgusted with rebellion in his heart, he agreed with rebellion, which was very contradictory and far from being understandable to others.

After thinking for a while, Zhu Yuanzhang made a decision to stop him!

According to his previous life as a bystander in the sky, there were many differences between the peasant uprising at the end of the Ming Dynasty and the peasant uprising at the end of the Yuan Dynasty. In general, the peasant uprising at the end of the Yuan Dynasty was a just war in which the Han people rebelled against foreign races and expelled the Mongolian and Yuan aliens. Moreover, several leaders of the peasant uprising at the end of the Yuan Dynasty, such as Chen Youliang, Zhang Shicheng, and Xu Shouhui, including himself, were all leaders who knew how to build and develop, and they were not reckless soldiers.

But the leaders of the peasant uprising at the end of the Ming Dynasty, most of them were real bandits and hooligans, whether it was Li Zicheng, or Zhang Xianzhong, Wang Ziyong, Wang Jiayin, they were a group of rogues who only knew how to destroy, and did not know how to produce. I had to grab one city after another, eroding the world, and the role of destruction far exceeded the role of construction.

Later, the Qing troops entered the customs and allowed the officials of the Ming Dynasty to surrender, but they wiped out all these guys who engaged in peasant uprisings, because even the Manchu barbarians knew that Li Zicheng's group of guys was unreliable and useless.

Even the barbarians look down on people, will Zhu Yuanzhang be able to see it? In addition, Zhang Douyao and the Ma family are in the best period of relationship, and the two sides exchange daughters, and they will be a nostril-puffing family in the future. At this time, allowing Zheng Yanfu to kill Zhang Douyao will cause the Ma family to lose an ally, and it will also make him lose a chance to improve. It's better to come out to stop Zheng Yanfu's uprising and make a small contribution, maybe you can get Zhang Douyao's promotion, further get the appreciation of the government, and improve your status.

Thinking of this, his thoughts are about to drift back again, how to save the Ming Dynasty after becoming a small official? How to fight against the intertwined officials of the Ming Dynasty and get rid of bad governance? Alas...... Still don't have a clue!

Zheng Yanfu in the ancestral hall was still cutting off chicken heads with the villagers of Nanyao Village, drinking blood wine, and swearing blood, Zhu Yuanzhang quietly got up from outside the ancestral hall, arrived at the entrance of the village, and after walking about half a mile, he took out the Pu knife on his waist, dug a small pit about to the foot and neck deep in the ground, filled it with soft grass blades, and then dug large and small pits on the side, many such shallow pits. After digging, he sat down under a nearby tree and waited quietly.

After about half an hour, Zheng Yanfu walked out of Nanyao Village, he drank a lot of blood wine, and the murderous aura on his body was even stronger than just now.

In the cold moonlight, his lonely figure was obviously heavy and full of evil spirits.

After leaving Nanyao Village, he walked forward for about half a mile, and suddenly heard a cold voice from behind the tree on the side of the road: "Chengcheng Zheng Yanfu? ”

Zheng Yanfu's nerves tightened suddenly, and his big hand immediately grasped the pig-killing knife on his waist, and the muscles of his whole body collapsed tightly, and he said word by word: "Exactly!" Who's there? Don't hide your head! ”

Zhu Yuanzhang walked out slowly from behind the tree, standing opposite Zheng Yanfu, both of them looked at each other by the moonlight, under the cold moonlight, Zhu Yuanzhang could see that the other party's face was constantly distorting, obviously more emotional.

Zheng Yanfu said in a deep voice: "You are the man in the Wenshu Hall of Qingliang Academy...... You've been stalking me? ”

"Hmm!" Zhu Yuanzhang said in a low voice: "I already know about you wanting to kill the official and rebel, come with me to see the official." ”

"It turned out to be a loyal dog of the government!" Zheng Yanfu was immediately angry, he had been condensing the murderous aura of his body since he worshiped the Bodhisattva in Qingliang Courtyard, and he drank blood wine just now, and now it is the time when the blood is boiling, under the anger, where can he still bear it, he doesn't even want to say more, and the pig-killing knife on his waist is drawn into his hand: "Ignorant rats, just because you look like a thin monkey, you also have the ability to arrest me to see the official?" Look at the knives! ”

Zheng Yanfu took a step forward, and the pig-killing knife in his hand swung straight out, slashing with a knife, and went straight to Zhu Yuanzhang's neck! He doesn't have any knife skills at all, he can only be regarded as a country master, but his figure is strong, his strength is great, and his movements are agile.