Since ancient times, the Chinese people have been the most hard-working people. No matter how difficult the conditions are, as long as there is soil, water source, and seeds, they can plant crops.

After Zhu Yuanzhang finished speaking, the people looked around with his fingers and looked around. After looking at the surrounding environment, the corners of their mouths couldn't help but open. The mountain was lighter due to the impact of drought than outside the mountain. The trees and flowers were green at least, and there was a stream passing through the mountains. Although the mud layer on the mountain was thinner than the bottom of the mountain and was not very fertile land, there was no problem in planting simple crops.

They also had enough farm tools to open and farm, because when they followed Zhu Yuanzhang into the mountain, they carried all the things at home, not to mention valuable things like hoes and plows, even the valuable pot lids and embroidery needles.

In fact, this is also a feature of the peasant uprisings in China for thousands of years. When farmers participated in peasant uprisings, they often carried all their belongings, dragged their children, and took the blame and bowl. For example, later, Li Zicheng's army was pulled out to oppose the officers and soldiers. As soon as the military formations were set up on both sides, the officers and soldiers saw that there were men, women, young and old, pots and pans in Li Zicheng's army...

Zhu Yuanzhang calculated the time. It was late winter now. He used the winter time to quickly renovate land and prepare the land. He could sow the seeds in the spring next year. Then when the food he brought into the mountain was finished, the copycat could harvest the first batch of grain he had planted himself.

In the last life of the peasant uprising in the late Yuan Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang was a man who liked to build and store grain himself and did not like to use snatch development. He followed the strategic method of accumulating grain, building high walls, and burying his head in development. When Chen Youliang, Zhang Shicheng and others were fighting in a big fight, he hid in his old nest and worked hard to farm. Later, he achieved success, and of course, this successful experience must be continued.

At this time, an old farmer spoke a little timidly: "Brother Zhu... the grain we have grown in the land... do you want to pay rent for you? If you want to pay rent, how much will it be paid?"

This question is very sharp. After asking, everyone's bodies trembled and their hands pinched. They were so nervous that they could tell if they didn't ask. By rebelling, they finally broke free from the exploitation of the government. If they fell into the same shackles, they might as well go home and wait for death.

If this problem is not handled well, the prestige that Zhu Yuanzhang finally gained will disappear immediately.

The whole scene suddenly became quiet, heavy breathing sounds one after another, and a depressing atmosphere began to spread. Everyone stood up and waited for Zhu Yuanzhang's answer.

"We are brothers! fellow villagers! Have you collected rent from your brothers?" Zhu Yuanzhang smiled and said, "Of course not!"

"Coax!" Everyone burst into laughter, and their heavy mood suddenly relaxed, and everyone's faces showed an ecstasy look. Sure enough, Brother Zhu is Brother Zhu. He is not an evil official, he is our eldest brother, and he is just doing things.

The hearts of the people were once again captured by Zhu Yuanzhang.

However, no one noticed that Zhu Yuanzhang quietly winked at Li Chujiu in the crowd. Li Chujiu coughed lightly, stood up, and shouted: "Brother Zhu, you are so kind. I have convinced you again, but I will pay you a rent for the land I planted. No matter whether you collect it or not, I must pay it."

Zhu Yuanzhang pretended to say, "Brother Chujiu, what are you saying? I have said that we are brothers, so how can we collect rent from brothers? I will never collect it."

Li Chujiu said seriously: "Brother Zhu, this time the drought is severe, the brothers are almost starving to death. You spent countless money on porridge in Fenglei Village, and you also found a way to get a lot of food and store it in Huanglong Mountain. How much does it cost you?"

Ma Xiaotian said beside him, "I see, I'll say less than 10,000 taels of silver..."

"Ten thousand taels?" The farmers were all shocked. Many people had never seen 10,000 taels of silver in their lives. When they heard that these grains were 10,000 taels, their mouths were so open that they could stuff a boiled egg into them.

Li Chujiu and Ma Xiaotian exchanged glances with each other, and then continued, "Brother Zhu, you have spent so much money on us. I cannot pretend not to know. The so-called grace of a drop of water is repaid with you. I, Li Chujiu, have no money to repay you, so I have to pay you rent. I will give you as much rent as I owe you. I will pay you back as much as I can. I will pay you for the amount of grain I owe you. I will pay you for two years. I will pay you for three years. I will always repay your great kindness and virtue before I can give you a break."

"Okay, well said!" A response sounded from the crowd.

Although the Ming Dynasty was poor and the people had not yet opened up, this era was generally an era that emphasized benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom and trustworthiness. People's hearts were still very innocent, and they also paid attention to kindness, credit, and gods raised their heads, and good people were rewarded. People in this era would not add poison to milk, nor would they make Sultan red eggs, nor would they label a piece of torn burlap and sell it ten times the price to cheat women's money. They had beauty, ugliness, good and evil in their hearts, and had principles for their behavior. As soon as Li Chushou said, he received a large number of villagers.

The old farmer initially asked, "Brother Chujiu is right. I was beaten by that bastard Gu Huaxiu and couldn't even walk. It was Brother Zhu who took me to Fenglei Village for injury and saved my life and offered me free food and drink. Now I have brought us to this mountain to take root. I owe too much to Brother Zhu, and I even asked if I would pay the rent... I am really sorry Brother Zhu."

"Yes! I want to pay the rent, at least I have to pay back all the owes of Brother Zhu!" someone shouted again.

"Talk everything, give it all!" The people shouted consciously.

This problem was finally fooled, and Zhu Yuanzhang breathed a sigh of relief. You should know that the issue of paying rent is a very important issue, which is related to the foundation of the country. If the people under his rule did not pay rent from the beginning, there would be more trouble in the future. For example, Li Zicheng, in the middle and late stages of the uprising, he shouted the slogan "Welcome the King of Chuang, and the King of Chuang will not pay grain when it comes." As a result, the people were happy and stopped paying grain, but... can the country do it well? When the team grows stronger, he can't change the slogan, so he can only throw it away and rot all the way.

When it comes to collecting rents and taxes, Zhu Yuanzhang planned to use a method he learned in the years when he was floating in the sky as a bystander, which is to draw an income line. Those above this line collect taxes and their income cannot reach the tax exemption of this line. Moreover, the higher the income, the higher the tax, so as to achieve control of the gap between the rich and the poor. Although this control is not perfect, the gap between the rich and the poor will still occur over time, it is better than the rich and the rich and the poor in the Ming Dynasty who did not collect taxes and the poor in collecting heavy taxes.

Of course, this is something that the regime will do in the future. It is too early to say this.

After solving this main problem, the subsequent problem became simple. Zhu Yuanzhang first divided the young and middle-aged people among the villagers and stored them all into the army, allowing old farmers and women to be responsible for farming. In ancient times, women did not only know how to embroider. Some modern people thought that men farmed and women weaving in ancient times. This understanding was wrong. In ancient times, women were also good at farming, and almost everyone could farm. The so-called men farming and women weaving was just a feature of the prevalence of silk weaving industry in Jiangnan. However, in places where the silk weaving industry was underdeveloped, women also had to go to the fields. Not to mention ancient times, women went to the fields to work like modern rural areas.

There were more than 600 young people who could store the army. Together with Zhu Yuanzhang's original army, they finally formed an 800-man army. There were only more than 700 elderly and weak women responsible for farming and arable land. It was unrealistic to use more than 700 people to produce and support the 800 army. This was just a matter of rights and interests. After half a year, they had to consider other ways out.

Zhu Yuanzhang also arranged for the people to cut down trees and wood. He built wooden walls in the cave, divided the cave into small rooms for the villagers to live in separate homes. He also built village walls and arrow towers for the village, and prepared a large amount of defensive materials such as rolling wood, rocks, etc.

Eight hundred soldiers trained in a queue every day under the leadership of Zhu Yuanzhang, Wang Er and Sanlang. The materials in the mountains were extremely scarce. The soldiers were unable to wear armor or use spears with iron spear heads. They could only use spears made of wooden sticks. However, Zhu Yuanzhang was not worried about this. Is the spear wood or iron head really had such a great impact on combat effectiveness?

wrong!

The decisive factor that affects the combat effectiveness of the army has never been just a gun tip and armor... but a strong heart!

The copycat is in trouble, and a new beginning can always inspire human fighting spirit. From Zhu Yuanzhang to the old and weak women in the copycat, everyone has been vigorously working to build their new home. Everyone is happy and has a smile on their faces.

But among all of these people, there is one person who is unhappy, that is Zhang Yingxian.

She now dares to sleep with Qiuye every night. Even so, she sleeps very poorly. She is always worried that the straw curtains in the house will be lifted up. Then the man forced himself into the bed, pressing her under her body, and humiliating her wantonly. She is trapped in a thief's nest, and she is powerless to resist. Moreover, there are vast Huanglong Mountain outside the mountain, and there are many wild beasts in the mountains. She and the maids know the way and don't even dare to escape.

After days of worrying, she couldn't fall asleep every night, but... she didn't know if the man was a real gentleman or an idiot. He didn't lift the curtain once and walked over. After more than a month of tossing and turning, she slowly let go of her heart and started to fall asleep at night. Occasionally, she no longer needed to hold Qiuye to sleep.

During the day, she began to be brave enough to ask the maid to help her walk around the mountain village, see the scenery in the mountains she likes, and feel the fresh air. Those who meet her respectfully call her aunt, but she dare not refuse to agree, because these are all robbers! She was worried that if she denied that it was Zhu Ba’s woman, they might kill her!

However, as time went by, she began to feel true respect from the people in the village. It was a kind of love for the house and the mist. Because she loved Brother Zhu, even her aunt loved her. Everyone had a kind of respect from the heart when they spoke to her, which was completely different from her previous feeling of being the second young lady in the Ma family.

At that time, others respected her just because of fear, not because of love. These were two completely different emotions...

She occasionally couldn't help thinking: This is not bad now!
Chapter completed!