Zhu Yunwen decided to personally go and rescue the people of a large village on the border.

This was a scheme by Annam; they were gathering troops to try and break through the border defenses.

Thus, they devised this wicked scheme to surround a large village, hoping to lure the Ming Dynasty border guards to the village's inhabitants to their aid.

Fortunately, they assembled a large army, broke through the weak points, and drove straight into Yunnan, the territory of the Ming Dynasty.

Unfortunately, Mu Chun saw through the conspiracy. Without mobilizing the surrounding border troops, Zhu Yunwen personally led five thousand soldiers armed with muskets to rescue the innocent people in the large village.

As for the gunners of the other thousand light cannons, they remained inactive.

After all, they are the real backup plan, and can only be used when needed.

In this way, Zhu Yunwen led five thousand musketeers directly from Yuanyang County to a place called Heishan Village on the border.

Heishan Village is considered a very large village on the Yunnan border.

It is said that there are about two thousand people living here, which is quite a large population.

This is why Annam chose this place to carry out their self-inflicted injury scheme.

From Yuanyang County to Heishan Village, the road has not yet been repaired, so you can only ride a horse, but it still takes more than an hour to get there.

Zhu Yunwen and Zhao Qingzhu were both able to ride horses. Apart from the ten Imperial Guards accompanying them, Zhu Yunwen led the five thousand musketeers and quickly arrived at Black Mountain Village at top speed.

When Zhu Yunwen arrived at Heishan Village, he noticed flickering lights and smoke in some places within the vast village. He was immediately alarmed, knowing that something was wrong.

He suspected that it was Annamite soldiers committing arson, murder, and looting, so he continued to lead his soldiers toward the village.

At that moment, in a vast and spacious open area within the village, all two thousand villagers had been gathered, herded to one spot, and forced to kneel on the ground.

Several men refused to submit and kneel before them, but were mercilessly killed by the Annamite soldiers.

Thus, the more than two thousand villagers had no choice but to submit. Although they were all unwilling, they all had families. They were not afraid of death, but what would happen to their families?

The besieged villagers were now hoping that the border lord of the Ming Dynasty would come to their rescue.

Meanwhile, nearly ten thousand Annamite soldiers surrounded the open space, each holding a knife, waiting for the border troops to come and rescue the civilians.

That way, they can fight against these border troops, thus leaving the checkpoints that these border troops should be guarding vulnerable and weak.

However, they waited for a long time, but no border troops came, which made them somewhat worried that their plan might fall through.

Normally, when these soldiers arrive at a village, they would massacre the entire village to intimidate people in other areas.

However, they did not kill the people of Heishan Village in order to lure the Ming army to rescue them.

Of course, if the plan fails, the more than two thousand civilians present will still not be able to escape the fate of being killed.

Therefore, in their view, the Ming army had to make a choice: either transfer troops from the surrounding areas to rescue the people of Heishan Village, thus passively luring the enemy away from their stronghold and giving the Annamite army more opportunities to break through the defenses.

They could either ruthlessly abandon the more than two thousand people in Heishan County, but at the same time they would gain a bad reputation and cause the people of Yunnan to lose trust in the border troops.

No matter how you look at it, this is something that will cause the Ming Dynasty's border defenses to suffer losses.

In fact, these people now understood that they had been used as bargaining chips by these hateful soldiers of Annam.

They also knew that if soldiers came to their rescue, the Ming Dynasty's border defenses would be in grave danger.

If no soldiers come to their rescue, the border defenses of Yunnan will be preserved, but they will truly pay the price with their lives.

This left the people in a dilemma, unsure whether they should hope that soldiers would come to rescue them.

At this moment, the commander of the ten thousand Annamite soldiers seemed to be growing impatient. He sat atop a tall horse, holding a long sword, and said with a dark expression:

"Look at you lowly insects, the border guards who protect you seem to have abandoned you. I should have known. The Ming Dynasty's border guards don't care about you."

After all, you are just lowly insects from Yunnan, a place that is known as a land of exile. Your emperors of the Ming Dynasty never considered this place as part of the Ming Dynasty's territory.

And what about you lowly commoners? Naturally, we have never regarded you as citizens of the Great Ming.

Therefore, the border guards would absolutely not risk coming to rescue you. In that case, you are no longer of any use to them.

The words of this Annamite general filled many of the people present with utter despair.

Yes, could they be considered citizens of the Ming Dynasty?

Will the Ming Dynasty's border guards care about their lives?

Would I really care about them? Would I really risk my life for them?

That seems like a pipe dream!

Thinking this way, the villagers all sighed, as if they had lost all hope.

Just then, an old man slowly stood up and said:

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