"My dear uncles and aunts," Zhou Jiaojiao said seriously to everyone in the village after she had conditioned the children to admire Jingtianlei instead of fear him. "What are your thoughts after this fight?"

It was very quiet all around, and neither the men nor the women understood what she meant.

"Jiaojiao, what do you want to say? Just say it directly. You saved us again this time. Anyway, I will listen to you from now on." Mother Xiong said in a muffled voice.

She expressed her opinion, and the butcher Xiong Yunkun also nodded: "If I were alone, there is really no way I could bring my whole family here intact."

"Jiaojiao, go ahead and talk. We're all listening." The village chief noticed something was hidden in her words, and urged her on while biting his pipe.

Zhou Jiaojiao said seriously, "I think we need to train in killing and simple self-defense techniques."

"I mean everyone, men, women, children, and the elderly."

She stood up and saw that many villagers didn't understand what she meant, so she didn't take it seriously. She simply said loudly, "Sooner or later, our sleeping pills and firecrackers will run out."

"Everyone thinks the danger is over this time, so they let down their guard. But what if we're unlucky enough to run into the government troops next time? Even if we're captured and forced to serve as soldiers, if we had some self-defense skills, we wouldn't be sent to the battlefield without any resistance."

Now the villagers were a little scared and panicked.

Zhou Jiaojiao continued to paint a rosy picture... Bah, it was to boost morale.

"Of course, this is the worst-case scenario. Since we are all martial artists, we can protect ourselves. Even if we encounter government troops, we can fight back and escape. Who would dare to bully us then?"

"Don't you all want to be independent and not be bullied? It's all chaos out there anyway, so it doesn't matter if we become more chaotic. We're not rebels, we're just trying to save our lives among the refugees."

"Do you dare?"

"Dare!" Chu San was the first to respond.

When his rough voice sounded, it was more inspiring than Zhou Jiaojiao's.

Brother Chu and the others also spoke up in support.

Next came Xiong Yunkun, who was originally good at fighting. Fang Guanghong and his group had been getting along with Zhou Jiaojiao for a long time and had always been able to get through it safely. Naturally, they had some admiration and trust in her.

"Do you dare?" Zhou Jiaojiao asked again loudly.

The word "dare" was heard sporadically.

"Do you all want to live a good life?"

"think!"

Now there was no one who was undecided. Everyone was not stupid and knew that Zhou Jiaojiao was doing this for their own good. Even the frightened woman followed suit.

Zhou Jiaojiao nodded with satisfaction: "So, starting now, everyone line up and do the first thing, go and chop those bandits one by one."

The men were weak in the knees: "..."

The women blushed: "..."

The old people were horrified: "..."

However, even though everyone was afraid, they still lined up one by one, and didn't even dare to kill anyone. Talking about learning self-defense was a joke. This was not the peaceful era of the future. Leaving the enemy alive now would mean putting themselves in danger.

Zhou Jiaojiao took the initiative to say, "I'll go first."

She had never actually killed anyone, but she had changed her mindset early on.

"Jiaojiao, why don't I go first?" When Chu's mother saw her belly and her somewhat tense face, she became a little worried, fearing that she was under too much psychological pressure and it would affect her body.

Zhou Jiaojiao smiled and said, "Mom, it's the same. I will definitely kill someone anyway, otherwise how can I protect myself?"

"Third brother, help your wife." Chu's mother knew this was the truth and could only sigh with regret. She couldn't intervene anymore. She had already seen what the third brother's wife was doing. It was okay for her to handle the chores of a family by herself, but for such a big thing, not causing trouble was already helping.

Zhou Jiaojiao held the knife and looked at the bandit in front of her who was staring at her with fear and resentment. Her hands trembled, and under Chu San's worried eyes, she resolutely chopped it down. She did not let herself close her eyes.

There was blood on his face and his heart was beating fast.

"My wife..." Chu San quickly carried her aside, appearing even more frightened than Zhou Jiaojiao. In order to set an example for everyone, Zhou Jiaojiao didn't show her fear, but her hands and feet had already gone limp, and Chu San held her so that she wouldn't collapse to the ground.

"Ahem, I'm fine." Zhou Jiaojiao pretended to be calm as she looked at Fang Guangkun and said, "Brother Fang, could you please help keep watch over here? Everyone has to go through this. Please also tell us where the cuts will be most lethal."

"Okay, I'll see to it." Fang Guanghong didn't expect Zhou Jiaojiao to value him so much, and he immediately patted his chest excitedly and made the promise.

After Zhou Jiaojiao made the arrangements, she stopped trying to be stubborn and quickly asked Chu San to carry her back to the cart, and she snuggled up in the quilt.

Chu San squatted down and covered her with a blanket before lighting the fire again.

The air was filled with the smell of blood.

About half an hour later, all the bandits were dealt with, and the village chief subconsciously asked Zhou Jiaojiao about the next course of action.

Zhou Jiaojiao blew on the hot red date water in her cup and said, "Let's go to the bandit's lair and see if there are still two bandits left who haven't killed anyone."

Zhou Jiaojiao arranged for Chu San and several others to interrogate the two bandits. Among them, Chu Erge was the best at guessing people's thoughts, and he used the silver needle acupuncture method she taught him to identify whether they were lying.

"I thought so too. The bandit said that there are still some stored food in the bandit den, and they haven't eaten it all yet. The deceased leader originally wanted to become the local tyrant in this valley and rule the land as king."

The village chief and Chu Erge were both a little excited.

I wanted to run to the bandits' den immediately and steal the food.

Zhou Jiaojiao was not delayed and was put on the horse by Chu San again. She wore a thick cotton jacket and a hat. After the group buried the bodies of the bandits, they were led by a bandit named Hu Liuzi, crossed the mountain, and arrived at the valley.

Zhou Jiaojiao saw at a glance some thatched houses built on the flat bottom of the valley, and some women, children and old people there.

"Sir, take your men to check first and collect all the food. We'll divide it up according to our contributions later. If you encounter bandits, just kill them directly."

Chu San obediently took a dozen people with him to help, and He Lincheng followed behind eagerly, but was frightened by the old woman who suddenly jumped out to beg for mercy.

"Where did these people come from?" Zhou Jiaojiao asked another bandit Fang Nian.

Fang Nian's eyes turned red, and he said in a hateful voice, "It was these bandits who robbed us of our food and took it with them. They kept the women for venting their anger, killed the men on the spot, and left the elderly to serve us. These bandits are enjoying themselves, and they even want to imitate the rich families and be served."

"As for the children, they are specially kept here to be trained. They won't be suspected if they go out to gather information."