Raindrops floated down from the sky and fell on the dry earth...

If this scene is placed in the misty and rainy south of the Yangtze River, and accompanied by a few dripping sounds, it may be a scene full of poetic and picturesque. But in front of this desolate and miserable small village, between a group of ragged refugees and a group of bandits looking at each other, the light rain fell down and slowly moistened the dead land, which seemed a little desolate.

The villagers didn't say anything, but Zhu Yuanzhang saw the word "reject" from their faces, eyes, and slightly trembling legs. They were willing to join the parody after less than a stick of incense, but at this time, they were no longer willing!

It's raining! This year may be a good year, and the seeds planted will bloom and bear fruit and turn into fruits... By then, these poor people can sow crops again, and then take out most of them to the government. Then they can continue to live a poor but happy life. They don't need to be thieves anymore, and they can say to others openly: "I have a clean family, and my ancestors have been farmers for three generations..."

As long as they have the opportunity to survive, they will not take risks and embark on the path of rebellion.

But they are a little scared now because they just agreed to join the gang. If they regret it now, will the mountain king in front of them kill them?

An uneasy feeling spread among the villagers. Several people even muttered in a very low voice: "It's all the blame for the village chief. He insisted on agreeing to commit to a thief. It's raining now, do you regret it? You just don't know if you regret it now..."

"It must be too late..."

"If you regret not following these bandits, you will definitely be killed by the Mountain King..."

The villagers were quite pessimistic, and the joy of the raindrops hitting their faces was swallowed by fear. Everyone stared at Zhu Yuanzhang with uneasy eyes, wanting to see what expression he would have.

Unfortunately, Zhu Yuanzhang had no expression on his face, neither angry, nor happy, nor sad... He could not see any emotional fluctuations, so the villagers had to wait for him to speak uneasyly.

Zhu Yuanzhang slowly raised his hand and brushed past the eyes of the villagers, as if driving away something: "Go back! I don't need you in my village... You should go home and farm."

"Ah?" The villagers exclaimed, and the shouting was three-point surprise, seven-point unbelievable. It was great! The mountain king took the initiative to not let us go, this cannot be considered our breaking promise! The young villagers almost jumped up in joy. Only the village chief of Lao Yu's accident bowed deeply to Zhu Yuanzhang: "Zhou King Zhu, you... are really a good person... little old man... thank you for your kindness..."

"No need to thank me, I don't want you, it's not you who regret it." Zhu Yuanzhang brushed his hand.

"Yes!" The old village chief's eyes had complicated feelings. He bowed from the ground, bowed to Zhu Yuanzhang again, and then brought the villagers back to the village.

Zhu Yuanzhang looked at this poor village and sighed in his heart. He did not blame these villagers for going back on their word. After experiencing the ups and downs of life, he understood the subtleties of people's hearts better than everyone. If he killed these villagers who went back on their word in anger, it would not bring him any benefits, but would give him a reputation of cruelty and incorruptibility. Or he forced these villagers to be rolled over to the village, but those who got them did not get their hearts. Such subordinates would not be fine!

What he is worried about now is not the hundreds of villagers in front of him, but the people who are left behind in the mountain village will suddenly encounter such a rain. And he also has to worry about whether the army following him is willing to leave?

Zhu Yuanzhang did not dare to hesitate at all, waved his hand and pointed in the direction of Huanglong Mountain, and said in a deep voice: "Catch the army and return to the mountain! This operation is cancelled."

"We just came out of the mountain and went back immediately? We haven't received the tax yet!" Ma Xiaotian started yelling.

"Tax collection is small, stability and copycats are big, let's go!" Zhu Yuanzhang turned around and left.

As soon as he turned around, the army behind him immediately began to change. Ma Xiaotian and more than 30 confidants followed him without hesitation. Miao Mei and the more than 200 outlaws under him also followed without hesitation. There were also 600 veterans who also turned around neatly. Only the last six hundred new recruits had slight turmoil.

These new recruits have only been going up the mountain for a short time. It is because the court increased taxes this time, and Zhu Yuanzhang recruited them into the mountain village. After simple training, he brought them out to the training and wanted to use the method of veterans leading new recruits to help them become warriors.

Obviously, this rain also shook their minds and made them hesitate a little. Should they follow Brother Zhu back to the village? Or can they live a good life by breaking their arms and returning to the fields?

Zhu Yuanzhang shouted: "If you want to go home, take off the weapons, shields, bows, arrows and armor I sent to you and put them on the ground, and then you can leave. I will never stop you, but if you want to take away what I sent to you, you will be killed immediately without mercy!"

"Bang..." Nearly a hundred spears and shields fell to the ground. Nearly a hundred new recruits took off their armor at a rapid speed, put them on the ground, and then ran away.

"Miao Mei, let your people pick up these things!" Zhu Yuanzhang didn't even look at the people who ran away.

"Brother Zhu, these guys are simply ungrateful. Have we supported them in vain these days?" Miao Mei was a little angry.

"Forget it, those who escape today will definitely regret it in the future. If I kill them now, wouldn't they not even taste the taste of regret?" Zhu Yuanzhang waved his hand and said, "Let's go!"

The army began to return to the mountain quickly! The raindrops were still falling, and they were getting bigger and bigger. It was no problem to see that they were like that. The land filled with dry mud and dust became slippery as soon as it was moistened by the rain. The soldiers had not walked on such a ground for many years. Several people actually slipped to the ground and fell all over the mud and water.

If someone falls, they usually curse a few words: **, swear words like your mother. But this time it is different. The person who fell actually applied the wet mud on his face with a smile. Obviously, no one hates this rain.

"Brother Zhu... Do you think the Grand Marshal will withdraw his troops?" Ma Xiaotian asked.

"Well... it should be!" Zhu Yuanzhang said seriously: "If he encounters this rain, he still doesn't know how to withdraw his troops and return to the mountain, but instead wants to force his attack to collect taxes. I can only treat him as a fool."

"Well... I occasionally think he is a little stupid!" Ma Xiaotian smiled bitterly: "Especially when bragging."

In short, with all kinds of chaotic emotions, Zhu Yuanzhang's army returned to Huanglong Mountain as fast as possible. As expected, it rained in the mountains, the mountain roads became muddy and difficult to walk, and many rocks became slippery. The listless leaves and flowers and plants were now raised, and they tried their best to stretch their branches and leaves, as if they wanted the rain to take care of them more.

When Zhu Yuanzhang's army was traveling not far from the mountain village, he met another army led by Xu Renjie...

"Brother Zhu! I just entered Yichuan and it suddenly rained in the sky... I was so scared that I quickly withdrew it. I couldn't do it because I told me to collect taxes." As soon as Xu Renjie saw Zhu Yuanzhang, he said this to the beginning.

"Yes." Zhu Yuanzhang looked at Xu Renjie with satisfaction and patted him hard on his shoulder: "Removing decisively and doing a good job. I have not taught you in vain for the past few years."

"But... more than a hundred brothers left the team." Wang Er flashed out from behind Xu Renjie and said angrily: "I want to force them to stay, but the Grand Marshal said that these people could not be kept and would not let me stay... I had to watch them leave."

Zhu Yuanzhang nodded and praised Xu Renjie again: "Good it off! You have such a judgment, which shows that you have become a general who can stand alone. In the future, I can let you lead your army to the war with greater confidence."

Xu Renjie received the praise, but his face was not filled with joy: "I don't know what's going on in the copycat?"

Zhu Yuanzhang said calmly: "There should be no problem with the clerk. Pianxian Sanlang is a person who has died once. When dealing with such a thing, I believe he can do it well."

The two of them joined forces and returned to the village.

After walking through many slippery mountain paths, the main village wrapped in a steep mountain ridge finally appeared in front of him.

Zhu Yuanzhang looked from a distance and saw that the main village gate was tightly closed, and teams of soldiers were neatly dressed, waiting for the troops to guard the key points of the village, including the arrow tower, the whistle tower, and the god-arm crossbow platform. The entire village seemed to have entered a state of combat readiness.

The branch village on the hill next to it also looks like it is facing a great enemy!

Seeing this scene, Zhu Yuanzhang breathed a sigh of relief: "Sanlang is doing well! It seems that the copycat is quite stable."

Ma Xiaotian obviously didn't understand again: "It should be a bad thing for the copycat to enter the state of combat readiness, which means that there was a chaos in the village. Why are you relieved by Brother Zhu?"

"Do you know who is the most dangerous when a person's heart is unstable?" Zhu Yuanzhang said seriously: "The most dangerous thing is the leader. They are likely to be killed by their own people and sent to the government for credit. So once a person's heart is unstable, a good defensive general must first do is protect himself... strictly defend the main village to prevent people with dissentful intentions from getting up and making trouble."

When Wang Er heard this, he couldn't help but turn his head and looked at Zhu Yuanzhang. When Zheng Yanfu's village rebelled, his subordinates wanted to kill him and give it to the government for credit. It was Zhu Yuanzhang and Wang Er who rescued him, which led to the current Desperate Sanlang. The so-called "learning one's mistakes makes one's wisdom. This time, he knows how to protect himself first and protect the village well, and he has indeed grown a lot.

Zhu Yuanzhang chuckled and thought to himself: This rain caused me to lose the time of heaven, but the group of people under my command have begun to grow up. Neither Xu nor Wushuo had disappointed me. With peace of mind, what are you afraid of?
Chapter completed!