In the fourth year of Chongzhen, early spring!

Today's spring seems to be a little earlier than last year. Although the weather is cold and the bleak environment has not changed, some small changes have been captured by sensitive farmers. The temperature in Huanglong Mountain seems to be a little warmer than this time last year, and many small trees have begun to sprout.

When Zhu Yuanzhang and a group of confidant soldiers patrolled the mountain village, several old farmers smiled at him and said, "Brother Zhu... Judging from the climate in these days, today may be a good year."

"What a good time?" Ma Xiaotian, who was following Zhu Yuanzhang, couldn't help but laugh and said, "Where are the good times? Anyway, it's just a year after year..."

"No, the old man has planted a field for decades. I can feel it if the weather changes slightly." An old farmer smiled and said, "Look at this day, it's probably raining..."

"Is it raining? It's a good thing!" Zhu Yuanzhang replied casually.

At this time, a sentryman ran over quickly on the distant mountain road: "Brother Zhu... there were many people coming to the foot of the mountain, saying that they were coming to our gang..."

"Someone is coming to join the gang again?" Zhu Yuanzhang smiled and waved his hand, "Then I'll go and pick it up."

In the past few months, since Wang Jiayin fled into Shanxi, the rebels in the eastern part of Shaanxi were already in a state of no leader. The rebels in the west could also go to the west to join the western rebels led by Shen Yikui. After the small rebels in the east lost Wang Jiayin's protection, they had to come to Zhu Ba's village.

In the past few days, Zhu Yuanzhang had to go down the mountain to welcome a group of people, sometimes as many as hundreds, sometimes as few as a few. There were a total of tens of thousands of people, and he collected thousands of people... Around the main village of Huanglong Mountain, Zhu Yuanzhang now has a large mountain, with hundreds to thousands of people stationed on each mountain. Looking around, Huanglong Mountain is more lively than the white water outside the mountain.

It is really troublesome to recruit these mobs. You should know that when these people first came up the mountain, their behavior and style were no different from ordinary bandits. Zhu Yuanzhang had to spend a long time learning to abide by military discipline and correct their bad habits of burning, killing, looting and looting.

Fortunately, the population base of the copycats is already quite large, so if you correct it, you won’t encounter much resistance.

The previous chapter said that if you have 100 people under your command, you kill one of them to kill the chicken and monkey, and it will cause the other ninety-nine people to run away and no longer regard you as the leader. But when you have 10,000 people under your command, you kill one hundred of them to kill the chicken and monkey, but it will cause the other ninety-nine hundred people to be trembling. I don’t need to say much about the reason, everyone will understand it after thinking about it carefully.

Since Zhu Yuanzhang's clerk now has more than 5,000 people and is still growing to tens of thousands, the trick of killing chickens and valoring monkeys can also be used. In order to make the newly-upped bandits be honest, Zhu Yuanzhang really took a heavy move and beat several people who violated military discipline hundreds of military sticks, which made others dare not violate military discipline again.

When Ma Xiaotian heard that someone was coming to join the group again, he laughed and said, "A little ignorant reckless man is going to get a stick. Haha, let's go and watch the fun too."

Ma Xiaotian followed Zhu Yuanzhang to the gate of the mountain, thinking in his mind, how many people would come to vote this time? He lay on the edge of the cliff and looked down, and suddenly gasped. He saw that there were dense heads at the foot of the mountain, and there were thousands of people at the sight, and there were countless in the woods and ravines...

"Wow? What's wrong with this?" Ma Xiaotian was shocked: "Are these people here to join us or attack the mountain?"

Zhu Yuanzhang, who was standing in front of him, looked dark and said, "Look carefully, these people have no weapons in their hands. They are not here to attack the mountains, but they are indeed here to vote for us..."

Ma Xiaotian looked carefully and then felt relieved: "Wow, there are too many this time, I'm afraid there are more than four or five thousand... Why did so many people suddenly come to vote for us?"

Zhu Yuanzhang sighed lightly: "It should be... the news of the Liao salary that was added to the Liao Dynasty at the end of last year has begun to work."

Three cents of silver tax will be charged per acre of land!

This seems to be a very small number, but... what falls on the people is a heavy blow! The people who are unable to survive and are looking forward to the tax exemption of the court. The first reaction when they hear this news is definitely not a question of whether the three cents of silver is too much, but: The court should obviously exempt me from taxes, so why do they still increase taxes? Isn't this going to let me live?

Despair! Deep despair!

This desperate feeling swept across Shaanxi and turned countless good people into bandits once again...

"Xiaotian, go and call Li Chujiu, and all the leaders in the mountain village. There are too many people coming to the mountain this time, and one or two people can't control it. In addition,... I ask everyone to prepare. In the following days, a large number of people will come in to join us."

He paused and said, "In addition, check our food stock... Our food is definitely not enough to cope with the outbreak. We need to quickly calculate how long it can last for the food stock stock to last. I have to find a way to get the food."

"Yes!" Ma Xiaotian ran away quickly. After a while, he called Li Chujiu, Wang Er, Sanlang, Miao Mei, and even Yingshanhong. A group of leaders went down the mountain together, each of whom was responsible for receiving hundreds of villagers who came to surrender.

It was busy until midnight that day, and Li Chujiu pointed out the heads. There were more than 4,000 people who came to join the village this time, and many of them were a little family-owned, not as poor as those who went up the mountain at first. Zhu Yuanzhang knew that with the rebellious army, more and more people were willing to join the rebel army, and their components would become more and more complicated. They were no longer all poor peasants as before. In the late period of the uprising, let alone rich peasants, even scholars would be involved in the bandits.

The population of the village instantly climbed from about 5,000 to tens of thousands. The sudden increase in population caught everyone off guard. Li Chujiu's hair turned white even more worried. He kept squeezing the account book: "It's not enough, our food...ah... can't hold on for half a year... There are too many people this time."

"Don't worry, this group of people actually have a certain economic strength. They can hold on for a while with the food they brought up the mountain." Zhu Yuanzhang patted Li Chujiu's shoulder: "But we must also increase our income. In the past, we only collected taxes in Baishui and Chengcheng, because we were not strong enough. Now that we have more people, our strength has increased. All cities around Huanglong Mountain can be included in the tax collection scope... Luochuan, Pucheng, Huangling, Yichuan... have to go around. I will arrange new tasks for Wang Er and the Grand Marshal, so that they can go out to the mountains to collect taxes!"

"But... this will make a big deal!" Li Chujiu is a logistics worker. He never goes to the battlefield. He is not as brave as Wang Er and those who work hard. When he heard that he wants to expand the scope of tax collection, he feels a little scared.

"Brother Zhu, you said that if the trouble is too big, it will attract the attention of the court. Aren't our village always acting low-key and avoiding the court's gaze? If all the surrounding counties are brought in, I'm afraid it will cause trouble... What should I do if Hong Chengchou calls over?" Li Chujiu said worriedly.

Li Chujiu's worries make sense, and Zhu Yuanzhang nodded at him: "Yes, you have grown up and know how to think about problems in this way."

"But... the ninth day of the lunar month..." Zhu Yuanzhang smiled: "If you want to be a bandit for the rest of your life, you can always keep a low profile, but we don't want to stay in the mountains like this for the rest of your life, right? The world of flowers will have to go ahead sooner or later, and now it is the time to bravely take this step."

"Is the time good now?" Li Chujiu was a little curious.

"There is no better time than now." Zhu Yuanzhang smiled and said, "Wang Jiayin went to Shanxi, which distracted the court's eyes and no longer focused on Shaanxi. The order to increase taxes has brought us a better mass base... I am afraid that it will not be so easy for the officers and soldiers to deal with us."

"Do you know Shen Yikui?"

"Of course I know. I heard that he was pulling a team of tens of thousands of people near Qingyang in the west. It was the largest rebel army since Wang Jiayin left."

"That's right!" Zhu Yuanzhang said lightly: "Think about it, in our small village, there are more than 4,000 people coming to vote in one day. Will there be fewer people on the side of Shenyikui?"

"Ah? Yes! Shen Yikui's voice is much greater than ours. More people who vote for him should be more than those who voted for us." Li Chujiu suddenly realized: "I understand what Brother Zhu means. Although Wang Jiayin has left, we still have Shen Yikui attracting the attention of the court in the west. It should be fine if it expands at this time."

In fact, Zhu Yuanzhang still has many ideas to express!

When Wang Jiayin left Shaanxi, it seemed to be a small matter at this time. But Zhu Yuanzhang, who was familiar with history, knew that this was not a small matter, but a big matter that shocked the world. In the next few years, the rebel army would conquer several cities, disrupt Shanxi, enter Hebei, fight Sichuan, and disrupt the world. At that time, the big men of the court would have the heart to take care of Huanglong Mountain? The whole world was in ruins, which was enough for them to worry.

In the following years, Shaanxi and Xi would not become the focus of the court's attention. It would not be until Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong's troops returned to Shaanxi and Xi, and then the court's vision would turn back to look at this place.

If this vacuum period can be grasped well, Zhu Yuanzhang will have excellent development opportunities, which may increase his strength several times. If Zhu Yuanzhang wants to leave the parody and win the world, he must not give up this opportunity.

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Chapter completed!