Since Wang Er had a new idea when talking about preparing food, he chuckled twice and said, "Brother Zhu, we snatched gold, silver and fine soft bags from the Shan family last time. I'll use this money to buy food."

"No!" Zhu Yuanzhang flatly rejected: "You can't buy food."

"Why?" Wang Er and Zheng Yanfu both felt incomprehensible.

"The three of us are not suitable for buying grain, and those young people we bring out are not suitable for going there." Zhu Yuanzhang said seriously: "The amount of grain we want to buy is very large, and it will be for thousands of people to eat for several months. If we buy such a large amount of grain, whoever we buy will be unlucky! Don't forget our identity. None of us is rich. If we take out a lot of money to buy grain, what will the officials think after discovering it? Moreover, after buying the grain, we can't even find the place to store it!"

"Yes!" Wang Er and Zheng Yanfu suddenly realized: "Then how should we prepare food?"

"Leave this matter to me to consider. You should prepare something else first." Zhu Yuanzhang whispered: "Brother Wang, please use the period before the Qiu Fu to speed up the training of troops. We don't need to train many soldiers, but the most important thirty-five brothers, and the 220 brothers in Fenglei Village, must be trained to the level of elite force, otherwise we will not have the capital to compete with the officers and soldiers."

Wang Er nodded. He had witnessed the powerful battle formation of officers and soldiers under the guidance of Zhu Yuanzhang, and knew the importance of training soldiers. For the past six months, he had been helping Zhu Yuanzhang "teach boxing", so it was very appropriate to let him do this.

Zhu Yuanzhang said again: "Brother Zheng Yanfu, please sneak back to Chengcheng. Although this is dangerous, with your reputation in Chengcheng, it should not be difficult to use the opportunity of Qiufu to form a team. It can respond to what we are going to do in Baishui."

After hearing this, Zheng Yanfu hesitated for a moment and sighed: "Brother Zhu, I don't dare to join the team again... You also know that the team I brought up last time was simply incredible and useless at all. I no longer have confidence in myself... and the failure last time made me feel embarrassed to go back to my hometown. I think... Everyone will call me to fight hard in the future. I don't want to use the name Zheng Yanfu anymore."

"Well... it's good!" Zhu Yuanzhang thought slightly. It would be fine if the people in Chengcheng did not use it for now, because he lacked prestige in Chengcheng. If he had to recruit the people in Chengcheng, it would be easy to cause some unstable factors.

People will only listen to you wholeheartedly when they believe in you. If they don’t believe in you, they will likely have a quarrel with you. Zhu Yuanzhang hopes that at the beginning of the uprising, his team will be purer and it will be better for the people of Chengcheng to not touch them.

"Zheng...he...she fights hard, then you hide in the house of Brother Wang Er and stay temporarily. You should practice troops with Brother Wang Er and practice troops. You have been wandering for half a year. Although your vision is long-term, you don't know much about our team. If you fight a war, you may not be able to integrate into our army. It's just right to take this opportunity to get to know Brother Wang Er and get to know each other."

Zheng Yanfu nodded.

－－－－－－－－－－－－－－

The next day, Zhu Yuanzhang got up early, and as usual, he warmed up the boxing and exercised.

Now his thirty-five confidants have settled in the Ma family and become the guards of the Ma family. Fifteen of them are stationed in the inner courtyard, and twenty others are guarding the front courtyard. There are two young people guarding each gate of the Ma Mansion. It is no exaggeration to say that Zhu Yuanzhang can get news as soon as a mosquito enters and leaves the Ma family. As long as he is willing, he can block the entire Ma Mansion at any time.

The second young lady, who was obviously not very politically intelligent, was not wary of this. Instead, she felt that it was safe to have so many guards guarding her home, and she trusted and relied on Zhu Yuanzhang more and more.

Zhu Yuanzhang had just punched for a while and came a young man from Xigu Village. He was one of the nine young men who first defected to him and the most trustworthy subordinate. The young man came over and took out a letter and handed it to Zhu Yuanzhang, and whispered: "Brother Zhu, it was not dawn this morning, and the letter from the family came to Xi'an. It was written by the eldest young master to the second young master... I'll cut it off and wait until you read it before you deal with it."

Zhu Yuanzhang nodded, returned to the house with the young man, and folded the envelope with great care. It turned out that this was an ordinary letter from home. He asked the Ma family about the current situation and asked the second young master if there were any difficulties to be solved. Such a letter should be written by the second young master, but the second young master ignored his wife and did not care about the old yard of the Ma family, so he had to ask the eldest young master.

After reading it, Zhu Yuanzhang didn't notice anything unusual. It was indeed a very ordinary letter. Then he carefully sealed the gap again and handed it to the young man: "Take it to the second young lady's personal maid... You have done a good job, remember to check all the letters in the future."

The young man nodded and went with the letter. Zhu Yuanzhang raised his spirits, then walked out of his house and walked towards the second young grandmother's building. After thinking about it all night last night, he had already thought of a good way to prepare food for his army, and needed to use the stupid second young grandmother.

It was early summer, and the temperature was getting higher, but the morning was not hot, and there was only a faint refreshing. Zhu Yuanzhang walked a few steps in the inner courtyard and met two maids walking by him with a smile. Beside the newly dug well in the middle of the inner courtyard, a little maid was coming up with water. There was a washing basin on the ground next to it. It seemed that she wanted to get water and wash clothes. Oh... Isn't this maid just Qiuye? The clothes in the washing basin next to her look so familiar, and she changed it yesterday. There was a drought in the world, and the surging wave of farmers had been nurtured throughout Shaanxi and western Shaanxi, but in this morning in the inner courtyard of the Ma family, everything seemed harmonious and peaceful.

Zhu Yuanzhang was not interested in paying attention to women, but he still couldn't help but waved to Qiuye and greeted him.

Qiuye rarely saw Brother Zhu say hello to her, and she was overjoyed, her body was numb, she shook and almost fell into the well. Fortunately, she held the well and did not cause any major trouble.

Zhu Yuanzhang sighed lightly. He had always known Qiuye's feelings, but he didn't know how to repay them. This was a very painful thing! In his previous life, he was the emperor and had many beauties. He might not have any gentleness towards these concubines, but he did not feel guilty, because none of the concubines, except Empress Ma, really liked him. They just used their concubines as concubines to seek benefits for the family.

The imperial family lacks something called "true love". The love between husband and wife, no! The love between father and son, no! The love between brothers, no! Everything is cold and cold. After Queen Ma's death, he never felt that anyone loved him, nor did he fall in love with anyone again.

In fact, he is not good at facing the true love of others. Take Empress Ma for example. Because she loves him sincerely, even if Zhu Yuanzhang became the emperor and had the power of life and death in the world, if Empress Ma asks for it, he will listen carefully and compromise for it! Because he wants to try his best to meet her requirements, give her happiness, and make her love reward. Although he himself is unwilling to admit it, he is actually a sentimental person.

Zhu Yuanzhang walked around Qiuye and walked towards the building of the second young master's grandmother.

It was an exquisite and delicate building. It used to live in Miss Ma San. Now Miss San has moved to Xi'an Prefecture with her family, and it has become the residence of the Second Young Master.

"Zhu Ba asked to see the second young lady." Zhu Yuanzhang shouted loudly in front of the small building.

After a while, the second young master's personal maid came out. The girl looked pretty good, looked a little delicate and gentle, and acted well. A dowry girl like her would naturally become a maid who would serve the second young master sooner or later. Because the second young master and the second young master had a bad relationship, she did not get involved in it and was still a little maid who was ignorant of human affairs.

"Brother Zhu!" The little maid smiled and said, "Please come in quickly... The guards of the ward have just sent a letter. My lady has gotten up and is sitting in the living room reading the letter. It's really time for you to come." The maids who came from the Zhang family still habitually called the second young lady a lady, which is quite interesting.

Zhu Yuanzhang nodded and followed the little maid into the building.

The second young master's small building is decorated very exquisitely, and it is not covered with red and green inside, but it can be seen as a scholarly scent. After all, she is the daughter of the county magistrate. Although her father Zhang Douyao's character is not very good, she is also a serious official who passed the Jinshi exam. There is a Jinshi pole in front of her house, so she still has some knowledge. Under the influence of her father, she is a well-educated woman, and she does not have the temperament of a nouveau riche.

Zhu Yuanzhang walked into the hall and saw the second young lady sitting at the table, holding the letter just now. When she saw Zhu Yuanzhang walking in, she put the letter in her hand on the table and asked with a smile: "Manager Zhu, is there anything to ask me for trouble?"

"Well, there's something small." Zhu Yuanzhang said seriously: "Second Young Master, I know that you have a bad relationship with the Second Young Master..."

"Hmm?" Grandma Er Shao frowned slightly: "What did you mention this? I was too lazy to remember that person at all. By the way, don't call me Grandma Er Shao. I felt so upset when I heard it. You can call me Miss or Miss Zhang in the future."

Zhu Yuanzhang smiled in his heart, but he followed her words: "Miss Zhang family... I came here today to say a few words to you. Our servants from the Ma family have long been dissatisfied with the second young master. He doesn't treat us as human beings and bullies and scolds them at will. But we admire Miss Zhang very much because you are very kind to your servants. We all feel that you are a good person, so... Our servants from the Ma family will do their best to help you manage this family."

"Yeah!" Miss Zhang was very satisfied with the words and smiled and said, "That's great!"

"From my understanding of the Second Young Master, he must be waiting in Xi'an Prefecture to see your jokes. If you don't manage this family well, he has an excuse to ridicule you." Zhu Yuanzhang said seriously: "If the lady wants to anger him, the best way is to help the Ma family make a lot of money and prove his strength. This can actually highlight that the Second Young Master is a waste..."

"That's right!" Miss Zhang said happily: "I think so too. Is there any good way to make money?"

"Now, there is a good opportunity." Zhu Yuanzhang said seriously: "The world is suffering from severe drought, and you will earn money when storing grain!"
Chapter completed!