Early May!

Zhu Yuanzhang moved his things out of the small room where the housekeeper of the side courtyard was located, and moved them to the hut where Ma Qianjiu used to live.

Ma Qianjiu's hut was contained in the inner courtyard, and it was only inhabited by the most descendant of the Ma family. Next to the hut is the big house where the old lady Ma used to live, and the residences of the eldest young master, the second young master, the third young sister, and the second young grandmother can be walked to only by a courtyard wall.

There are not many people in the inner courtyard of the Ma family, there are empty rooms everywhere, and the dozen or so maids of the second young grandmother are all assigned to a house to live in, and only her dowry maid still lives in the same room with her. As for the four family members of the second young grandmother, they lived in the front yard, and the people in the front yard were gone, so they had to rely on these four family members to take care of them, and they were so busy that they didn't even have time to take a look at the inner courtyard.

Zhu Yuanzhang felt that he was living in a woman's world, and he was the only man in the entire inner courtyard. This made him feel very inconvenient, even if he was in the palace in the last life, there would be a eunuch occasionally shaking it, and he didn't want to stay in a place where it was all women. But he had to do it, because it would be convenient for him to control the house, and if he continued to live among the peasants in the courtyard, it would be very detrimental to him to establish his position in the house.

The cottage where he now lives is divided into four small rooms, the front is a living room, and the left and right sides of the living room are the study and bedroom, and interestingly, there is also a door in the bedroom, which leads to a secret room. The things in the secret room have been emptied, and Zhu Yuanzhang doesn't know what this room was used for before, but he can roughly guess a little.

Ma Qianjiu is an old slave of the Ma family, and he has won the trust of the old lady and the eldest young master of the Ma family.

Zhu Yuanzhang didn't have any curiosity about these things, the Ma family was just an ordinary squire family, how many secrets could they have? These so-called "unsightly things" were not disdained at all in the eyes of him, the founding emperor. However, this small secret room gave him some convenience, and if there was anything he didn't want others to see in the future, he could store it in it.

Just settled down for a while, Autumn Leaves came, with a chicken feather Zenzi pinned to her waist and a broom in her hand, it turned out that she was here to help him clean, she looked left and right in Zhu Yuanzhang's new home, and said with a grin...... I won't be laughed at by those aunts. ”

It turned out that every time Qiu Ye went to help Zhu Yuanzhang clean and wash clothes, she would be laughed at by the daughters-in-law of those farmers in the side yard, and often the aunt deliberately teased her: "Qiu Ye, get married quickly!" ”

"Autumn leaves, when are you going to give birth to a son for Zhu Bugling?"

"Autumn leaves, I heard that you were sold into the Zhang family in Chengcheng as a maid very rarely, your mother must not have taught you anything in the room, do you want me to give you a few words? Otherwise, if you marry in the future and don't know how to serve your husband, you will be kicked out of the door by men......"

Although most of the jokes made by the aunts were kind, Akiba still couldn't accept it, and every time she heard it, she was so embarrassed that her face turned red.

Now that Zhu Yuanzhang's home has moved from the side courtyard to the inner courtyard, she no longer has to go around in a big circle, she only needs to walk a few steps in the inner courtyard to walk from her own house into Zhu Yuanzhang's house, and she is really a little happy in her heart.

She carefully swept the floor with a broom, occasionally took off the chicken feather Zen hanging from her waist to clean the wall, and her industrious figure swayed in the room: "Huh? Zhu Bugs...... There's a little room in your bedroom, what is this for? Akiba pointed to the secret room, her face full of puzzlement.

"Utility room!" Zhu Yuanzhang smiled faintly: "When you help me clean in the future, you don't have to go in to clean that small room, I don't plan to use it...... You know, I don't have anything to pile up in it. ”

Akiba nodded.

At this time, Wang Er also came, in the past, Wang Er couldn't enter the inner courtyard, and the family guarding the Hanging Flower Gate would stop him, but now it is different, first, there is no family guarding the Hanging Flower Gate, and secondly, Zhu Yuanzhang has been sitting in the inner courtyard, even if someone guards the Hanging Flower Gate, Wang Er can swagger in and out.

He first said two auspicious words such as congratulating Zhu Bugling on moving to a new house, then glanced at Autumn Leaves, approached Zhu Yuanzhang's ear with a strange expression, and said in a low voice: "Zheng Yanfu is back, he wants to see you." ”

"Oh?" Zhu Yuanzhang's expression did not move at all, and the autumn leaves cleaning next to him didn't even see anything different. He stood up lightly and smiled at Akiba: "Girl Akiba, please clean this house slowly, I'll go out and deal with some trivial matters." ”

Akiba nodded gently: "Go home early!" ”

Zhu Yuanzhang left with Wang Er, the two left the Ma family compound, passed through two fields, and turned into a ditch, only to see a person sitting in the ditch, quietly waiting for Zhu Yuanzhang's arrival. This person is Chengcheng Zheng Yanfu, his face is full of dust, his body is covered with a tattered cloak, he is wearing straw sandals with frayed soles under his feet, and his skin is tanned by the sun, but his spirit is not bad.

Zheng Yanfu stood up, waved at Zhu Yuanzhang, and said with a smile: "Brother Zhu, when I see you again after half a year, your demeanor is better than before." ”

Zhu Yuanzhang also looked at Zheng Yanfu carefully, feeling that he was very different from more than half a year ago, when his cottage had just been broken, and the whole person was in a state of discouragement, but when I saw him again this time, I felt that he was full of energy, and he had a bit of a taste of pride and ambition coming back, and couldn't help but smile and asked: "Look at your appearance, the harvest of this half-year trip is good, come, tell me and Wang Er, what you have experienced, and what good news you have come back." ”

The three of them sat down together in the ditch, Zheng Yanfu actually prepared wine, he took out three wine gourds from behind him, handed two of them to Zhu Yuanzhang and Wang Shuang, and said with a smile: "Talk while drinking!" ”

"In the past six months, I have traveled a lot of places...... Zheng Yanfu sighed and recalled: "To be honest, when I first left you, I was discouraged and felt that the officers and soldiers were invincible at all. I'll go north first, I want to see the Huanglong Mountain that Zhu Baba said......"

Zhu Yuanzhang nodded secretly, it is right to look at Huanglongshan first, if your brain is not burned out, in addition to the new defeat, the first thing you want to see should be the retreat of the rebel army, not to see a big city like Xi'an Mansion that is impossible to capture.

Zheng Yanfu sighed: "After seeing Huanglong Mountain, I realized how correct the advice Zhu Baba gave me at the beginning, the terrain of Huanglong Mountain is very complicated, winding and difficult to walk, the mountains and ravines are staggered, like a labyrinth, if I had chosen to build the cottage in Huanglong Mountain, not in Dongzi Cliff, it would be impossible for officers and soldiers to find me so easily." ”

He continued: "Later, when I crossed the Huanglong Mountain and arrived at Yichuan, I met several robbers on the road, and the other party saw that I was tall, strong, and courageous. They wanted to invite me to join the gang, I wanted to get to know the heroes, so I followed them, and guess what happened to me? ”

Zhu Yuanzhang smiled slightly: "Do you still need to guess?" You ran into the Yichuan King Left Hang! ”

"Huh? How did you guess Brother Zhu? Zheng Yanfu was surprised.

Zhu Yuanzhang smiled but said nothing.

Zheng Yanfu saw that he didn't say the reason, and thought that he was well-informed, so he didn't ask, and said with a smile: "Wang Zuojiao is a real hero, he already has thousands of people under his hands, there are mules and horses, and there are several powerful heroes to help, named Miao Mei, Feishan Tiger, Big Red Wolf ......."

When Wang Er heard this, he was shocked and said, "How many thousands? So powerful? ”

"No, there are really thousands of people, I went into his cottage and saw it with my own eyes." Zheng Yanfu said with a sigh: "If there were thousands of people in my Dongzi Cliff at the beginning, why should I be afraid of officers and soldiers? ”

Zhu Yuanzhang shook his head: "It's not like you can defeat thousands of officers and soldiers, or tens of thousands of people, and a few thousand people who are scattered are not as useful as a hundred people who are condensed into a group." Zheng Yanfu, you should already understand this truth! ”

Zheng Yanfu woke up and hurriedly said: "It's me who lost my words, alas! And then he said...... I chatted with Brother Wang Zuojiao for a few words and told him that I was Zheng Yanfu of Chengcheng and had escaped from the encirclement and suppression of officers and soldiers. He was taken aback, and then showed great interest in my business. I told him in detail what had happened here. He had also heard the names of Zhu Bugle and Second Brother Wang...... I told him that Zhu Bugs called on the heroes of our world to uncover the rebellion together, so that the chances of success are relatively high. Brother Wang Zuojiao also agreed to do this, and he asked me to send a message to Zhu Buggy, if Zhu Bugs unveiled the uprising, he would also rebel in Yichuan and respond to Zhu Bugs. ”

"Hmm!" Zhu Yuanzhang nodded, and it was not surprising that Wang Zuojiao would agree to respond to the uprising, because he was originally a character on the big stage of the peasant uprising at the end of the Ming Dynasty. The strength was strong, at the beginning of the uprising had tens of thousands of people, and Li Zicheng once worked under him.

But Wang Zuohang is not a strategic partner worth relying on, because his will is not firm, according to the original process of historical development, in February of the third year of Chongzhen, Wang Zuohang will beg Du Wenhuan, the general soldier of the Ming Dynasty, but his subordinates Miao Mei and others are unwilling, so the entire rebel army team fell apart, and was finally eaten by officers and soldiers.

Zheng Yanfu said: "After saying goodbye to Wang Zuohang's eldest brother, I continued to travel around, in Fugu * County, I met the local hero Wang Jiayin, he used to be a soldier, and is the most elite border army, very powerful, he took two brothers named Yang Liu, not muddy, gathered in the mountains for thieves...... I came to the door and said that I asked him to join him in the uprising, and he readily agreed! ”

Hearing the name Wang Jiayin, Zhu Yuanzhang's heart sank slightly, this is a fierce man! The leaders after the peasant uprising at the end of the Ming Dynasty, Gao Yingxiang, Li Zicheng, Zhang Xianzhong, Wang Ziyong and others, were all Wang Jiayin's subordinates in their early years, until he was assassinated in the fourth year of Chongzhen (1631), Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong became famous. If this person doesn't die, Li Zicheng, Zhang Xianzhong or something, how can they be qualified to come out and mix?