This group of newcomers has a total of 783 people, all from Baishui, most of them are from Leiya Township, and a small half are from Shangwang Township, these two villages are not the poorest places in Baishui, so when the government levied the autumn tax last year, these villagers still have some surplus grain to pay taxes.

But no matter how thick the family assets can not withstand the drought year after year, this year's spring, the drought has not improved in the slightest, the Baishui River is still broken, God still did not give a rain, these two slightly wealthy villages, can not withstand such a toss, if they sell the things at home can barely hand over the spring fu, but this year and a drop of rain does not fall, what should the autumn fu do?

They also reached the embarrassing situation of not being able to pay taxes, and it happened that the deeds of Zhu Ba in Huanglong Mountain began to spread in the countryside again, so the villagers in these two places combined, it was better to fall into the grass and defect to Zhu Ba's eldest brother.

Zhu Yuanzhang asked Li Chujiu to count the heads, classify the elderly, children, young adults, women, etc., and ask each person's expertise one by one. To be honest, the overall quality of this group of people who joined the gang was stronger than the first group he brought up the mountain.

You must know that people cannot become rich for no reason, and a person needs three things to become rich. One is industrious, and hard-working people are not poor, if not rich. The second is wisdom, people with wisdom know how to make money, either study seriously, or learn crafts seriously, and they always have a bite to eat. The third is luck, people who have luck may have windfalls.

The group of people in Leiya Township and Shangwang Township belong to the first two, who are hardworking and have a certain amount of wisdom. When Li Chujiu counted this group of people, he found that most of them had a skill, and there were dozens of craftsmen issued by the imperial court. The so-called artisan household is actually a person who is engaged in the production of various handicrafts such as construction, textiles, military weapons, and handicrafts.

In the Ming Dynasty, the artisan household, like the military household, was a lifelong hereditary household registration, and it was not allowed to leave the nationality at will. Your grandfather was a blacksmith, so you must also be a blacksmith, and your grandson is also a blacksmith, and your grandson's grandson, I'm sorry, continue to be a blacksmith.

There are two kinds of craftsmen, one is called a class craftsman, that is, he goes to work in a place such as an ordnance bureau and an ordnance institute designated by the imperial court every day, and works from morning to night. The other is called shift craftsmen, who are recruited from the people, and when they are needed to work, they are transferred from the people to do things.

Among this group of people who went up the mountain, there were dozens of shift craftsmen. They usually work in their own homes, or make something for the villagers, and every year the imperial court will recruit them to do a few months of work, although these months of work are logically paid (three buckets of rice per month, half a catty of salt), but in fact, these wages are exploited by the people above, and finally fall into their hands with nothing left. As a result, he worked for the court for a few months in vain, and he couldn't get anything, and he didn't have time to take care of his own affairs......

As a result, the life of the craftsman became very difficult. During the Ming Dynasty, from time to time, there were craftsmen who fled or slackened their work. For example, in the fourth year of Tianshun (1460), the imperial court counted more than 38,000 craftsmen who fled...... It's a big comedy.

Zhu Yuanzhang, who has been wandering in the sky for hundreds of years, has seen the development of later generations, deeply understands that craftsmen are actually a valuable wealth, and in the next hundreds of years, craftsmen are the pillars of the country as treasures in various countries, and many new inventions and new technologies in the West, and the technology that promotes the whole world to roll forward, not only from scientists, but also from many of these inconspicuous craftsmen.

For example, the famous revolver musket was actually invented by a watchmaker, John Gieves. The Jenny spinning machine, which opened the prelude to the Industrial Revolution, was also invented by a carpenter and weaver named James Hargreaves. Stephenson, who invented the steam locomotive, was a handyman who made shoes and repaired clocks.

However, the Ming Dynasty organized these craftsmen as artisan households, distinguished them from ordinary people, and tortured and restrained them with harsh policies, which was very irrational and miscognizable. Both the artisan household system and the military household system are backward systems that cannot keep up with the times and must be changed.

Zhu Yuanzhang's own mistakes must be corrected by himself, he arranged Li Chujiu to put these craftsmen into a comfortable cave, so that the soldiers were more polite to these craftsmen, and distributed more food to them, and he also secretly decided that if the Ming Dynasty could be rebuilt in the future, the craftsmen must be given a status that is in line with their abilities.

Li Chujiu went to arrange for the villagers, and Zhu Yuanzhang himself took Wang Er and Desperate Sanlang to greet Uncle De and the poodle, and walked to his small cave.

Zhu Yuanzhang first hugged his fists and said a polite word, what has been admired for a long time, such as thunder, Uncle De also hurriedly came back politely, and then the two sides entered the topic.

"Uncle De, Zhu Bajiu is in the mountains, and his eyes are really dark about the situation outside, and I want to trouble your old man to help me say it." Zhu Yuanzhang said with a smile.

"Outside?" Uncle De smiled bitterly: "It's really exciting outside now......"

In an old voice, he spoke slowly: "Eighth Brother Zhu, at the same time that Yang Hong entered the mountain to encircle and suppress you, Hong Chengchou, the superintendent of grain, led his headquarters to supervise the grain soldiers, moved north, attacked Fugu, and fought a ...... with Wang Jiayin, who rebelled in Fugu."

When he said this, the desperate San Lang next to him suddenly became energetic, and he hurriedly interjected: "I have met Wang Jiayin once, he has been a border army before, that is really a good man, there are also Wang Ziyong, Yang Liu, Bu Mu, Wu Yangui and other heroes, the momentum is huge, there are five or six thousand brothers, the officers and soldiers dare to suppress him?" How many people did this man named Hong Chengchou take? ”

Uncle De said: "Hong Chengchou has very few people, only some food supervisors and family soldiers, and the total number is less than 1,000 people. ”

"What's so belligerent about that!" Desperate Saburo smiled: "Brother Wang Jiayin will win." ”

Before Uncle De could speak, Zhu Yuanzhang shook his head and said, "Wang Jiayin must have been defeated!" It is very simple for 1,000 officers and men to defeat 5,000 or 6,000 rebels, and a few random moves can defeat the rebel army with chaotic command and low morale. ”

Uncle De nodded at Zhu Yuanzhang and said: "It is worthy of Brother Zhu, as soon as you guess, Wang Jiayin was defeated and was driven around by Hong Chengchou, at this time, Ansai Gao Yingxiang ran to meet Wang Jiayin, the two rebels joined forces, and fought with Hong Chengchou, and the result was ...... Defeated by Hong Chengchou again, Wang Jiayin and Gao Yingxiang fled in embarrassment and ran into the mountains, and the uprising in Fugu has been put down. ”

"Scare?" Desperately Sanlang Khan: "We can defeat five hundred officers and soldiers with seven hundred people here, and Brother Wang Jiayin has five or six thousand brothers, how can he be overturned by a thousand officers and soldiers?" And later added Gao Yingxiang's eldest brother...... This...... That's not quite right, is it? ”

Zhu Yuanzhang glared at the desperate Saburo, and thought to himself: Can my seven hundred people be compared with Wang Jiayin's seven hundred? He didn't even lift my shoes. But he didn't say this, Zhu Yuanzhang is not a person who likes to pretend to be forced.

He didn't say it, but Wang Er helped him say it, only to hear this reckless man smile and say: "I don't know who Wang Jiayin is, but among the people I've seen, Zhu Bugle is the most powerful, and the seven hundred people in our cottage are comparable to the ordinary seven hundred rebels?" Brother Saburo, you're too much. ”

Desperately Saburo knew that he was speechless, so he quickly heheed twice and stopped talking.

Zhu Yuanzhang didn't dwell on this question anymore and asked, "Uncle De, what about the situation of other rebels?" ”

Uncle De sighed and said, "It's not good...... Yichuan Wang Zuohang (formerly known as Wang Zishun), recently also been chased by officers and soldiers everywhere, currently seems to be in the Qingjian and Yichuan local activities, but the reputation is not obvious. ”

He paused and said: "Hannan Wang Daliang is the most hardworking, at the end of last year, he entangled more than 3,000 people to attack Hanzhong Mansion......"

"Attacking the city?" Wang Erhe was taken aback at the same time, you must know that Fucheng is not comparable to the county seat, every Fucheng is a strong city with high walls and thick walls, which is difficult to attack, unlike the county town with a low wall that is only one or two meters high, which can be easily conquered.

Zhu Yuanzhang sighed and said: "Attacking the city is self-defeating, Wang Daliang doesn't understand military strategy, does he know what the city is for?" The city is used to let the enemy attack, you come to me, I will defend, you are dragged under the city, unable to move, I can send troops from other cities, surround your back road, and then the inside and outside, several sides of the attack, let you be reincarnated, surrounded by several sides only obediently captured. ”

"Alas, that's right!" Uncle De was suddenly startled and said, "Eighth Brother Zhu, you almost like you saw it with your own eyes, and you completely guessed it." In February this year, Shaanxi * Western Shang soldiers prepared Liu Yingyu, as well as the four * Sichuan Wu Guofu Department, together to encircle Hanzhong, Wang Daliang's righteous army was attacked from several sides, the result was defeated, Wang Daliang himself was also captured and killed, his three thousand brothers, only more than 300 people broke through and fled into the four * Sichuan, and all the others were killed. ”

Zhu Yuanzhang spread his hands, although he didn't speak, everyone could understand what he meant: I guessed.

"Brother Zhu, according to what you say, won't Fucheng never be able to fight?" Wang Er was a little embarrassed, and couldn't help asking: "When we were in the Baishui Uprising, didn't you say that we were going to Fucheng to grab grain in the future?" If the city can't be fought, how can we grab food? ”

"Hah!" Zhu Yuanzhang said with a smile: "I mean, Wang Daliang doesn't understand, although the siege is easy to be surrounded by the enemy on several sides, but the siege side is not completely inferior, there is an ancient tactic, it is called - encirclement point reinforcement!" ”

"If I change the command, I will first kill all his reinforcements, and then attack his city! Let's see what other demon moths he can make! ”