Zhu Di and Ma Sanbao rode together on the grassland.
In the Yongping Battle, the Yan Army temporarily defeated the Liaodong Army. Wu Gao, the Marquis of Jiangyin, was also stubborn and refused to retreat, so the two sides were locked in a stalemate in Yongping. Zhu Di left Zhang Yu and his troops to guard, and took Ma Sanbao directly to Daning Guard via the Liujiakou bypass. Zhang Yu was worried and asked King Yan to bring more guards, but Zhu Di shook his head and set off.
"The limelight is like a knife cutting across the face." The fresh wind on the grassland is so strong that it hurts when it hits the face. Fortunately, the two of them had long been accustomed to the frost, cold and heavy dew outside the Great Wall, so they just rode horses and galloped. Both Qing Congma and Xiao Hei ran quickly.
On the sixth day of October, the two entered Daning Mansion. Compared with two years ago, the streets of Daning are more lively, with more shops than before, and the rows of shops seem a bit crowded. The passers-by look good-looking, most of them wearing bright hats and rosy complexions. It seems that there has been no war in the past two years, and King Ning has managed Daning Mansion well.
The two of them had no intention of enjoying the scenery and ran straight to Prince Ning's Mansion. The Zhumen stone lion is exactly the same as two years ago. The soldiers at the door were still the same as before. They were all stunned when they recognized King Yan. The imperial edict to conquer Yan had already spread throughout the world. King Yan was a rebel and he actually came to Prince Ning's Mansion!
The soldiers did not wait for Ma Sanbao to speak and rushed in to report.
After a while, there was a commotion, and Zhu Quan ran out in large strides, shouting: "Fourth brother!" He rushed forward and hugged Zhu Di.
Zhu Di felt hot in his heart and patted his brother: "You have grown taller again!" After two years of absence, Zhu Quan was taller than him, but he was still thin and a little hunchbacked.
Zhu Quan said a little helplessly: "Yes, I am still growing at this age. When will I reach my end?"
Ma Sanbao smiled and saluted: "Your Majesty!"
Zhu Quan punched Ma Sanbao: "Good boy! I can see you now." As the three of them talked, they entered Prince Ning's Mansion and arrived at the side hall.
Zhu Di walked through the familiar courtyard and walked into the familiar hall. Thinking of two years ago, he couldn't help but feel sad.
Zhu Quan didn't wait for Zhu Di to sit down and asked hurriedly: "Is the fourth brother coming from Peiping? How is the situation?"
Zhu Di nodded: "Come out of Peiping and fight Wu Gao in Yongping Mansion."
"Jiangyin Marquis Wu Gao? The court was so ruthless that the Liaodong Army was sent?" Zhu Quan was a little surprised.
"That's right. Moreover, Li Jinglong was sent to replace Geng Bingwen, and 500,000 Zhili troops were stationed in Zhending. They may have reached Peiping by now."
Zhu Quan was even more surprised: "Li Jinglong? Five hundred thousand? That's a mighty army! My father probably only has a small amount of wealth. Did he spend it all just to fight you? Or is it Li Jinglong?"
They are indeed brothers. Both of them thought the same thing.
Zhu Di couldn't help but sigh: "Yes. So it is said that evil is in power."
Zhu Quan clicked his tongue and marveled: "I don't know what my eldest nephew is thinking. The whole family can obviously discuss it, but it has ended up like this. He even put his life and property on the line." Looking at Zhu Di, he asked again: "Fourth brother, what is going on? What do you think?"
Zhu Di sighed again: "It's hard to describe in one sentence." As he said this, he roughly told Zhu Quan about being intercepted while running for funerals, going to the capital to visit the mausoleum, the night banquet in Jinshen Palace, Ge Cheng's secret performance, and Zhang Xin's news. I have omitted the section about the night talk at Shengguan Pagoda and my illness.
The more Zhu Quan heard, the more surprised he became. He only knew that King Yan raised an army and claimed to "Fengtian Jingnan". He never knew what it meant. There were so many twists and turns in the process. Hearing that King Xiangxian burned himself in the palace and his whole family died tragically, his eyes could not help but burst; Zhang Bing and Xie Gui actually surrounded the Yan Palace with troops, and he was equally angry.
Zhu Quan slapped the armrest: "The little emperor is too stupid! Why don't these ministers in the court regard our vassal king as a human being! Fourth brother, you have such a good temper! If it were me, I would want the good-looking Qi Tai at the banquet!" The death of Brother Twelve’s family was so unjust!”
Zhu Di shook his head: "The imperial court has its own ideas. It is afraid that we, the vassal kings, will decentralize power, that we will break the law, and that we will not listen to the court. The matter of 'cutting down the vassal' has been raised by courtiers when my father was here. The fifth brother The thirteenth, seventh, and eighteenth brothers got into trouble one after another, and there was indeed something wrong.”
Zhu Quan snorted and said: "We are the sons of Taizu, and we are originally princes. How can we have the same demands as ordinary people? Just the matter of the thirteenth sister-in-law, how big a deal is it? I just beat a girl out of jealousy, and we have to arrest the capital." Trial by the three divisions! What is the relationship between my father and the King of Zhongshan? What would these two old men do if they were here?"
Zhu Di was silent. Everyone has different opinions, and different people have different standards for the same thing. The emperor obviously considered Xu Xiu's crime to be extremely sinful.
Zhu Quan was still indignant: "Fifth brother must be complaining too. The little emperor is actually our nephew, so what if he calls us 'boy' a few times? He is about to move to Yunnan!" He stood up and walked around: "Eighteenth brother Having a quarrel with the Marquis of Xiping and drinking with the Seventh Brother is nothing more than a big deal."
Zhu Di smiled bitterly, Zhu Quan was more protective of himself than himself.
Zhu Quan sighed: "In the first month of the year, the little emperor ordered the kings not to control the civil and military officials. Fortunately, the Emperor Tiangao in Daning Prefecture was far away, so I didn't pay attention to him. Zhu Jian was the commander of the whole army, and I still did the same. But the last one The imperial edict has come, summoning me back to the capital."
Zhu Di was shocked: "What? Let you go back to Beijing?"
Zhu Quan nodded: "The imperial decree that arrived late last month asked me to hand over the dispatch of troops and horses to Zhu Jian and return to the capital immediately. I guess Zhu Jian also received the instructions and kept looking for me, but I didn't see him."
Zhu Di frowned: "Are you going to drag it on?"
Zhu Quan said: "The little emperor obviously has no good intentions. I heard that the King of Liao also received the imperial decree. The fifteenth brother is more honest than me and has already returned to the capital by sea."
Zhu Di pondered: "No wonder the Liaodong Army was handed over to Wu Gao and Yang Wen."
Zhu Quan snorted: "That's right! If Brother Fifteen doesn't leave, he may not be willing to help the little emperor beat you. The imperial court is doing this to prevent the three of us brothers from uniting."
Zhu Di was a little worried: "Fifteenth brother has arrived in the capital, I don't know what to do?"
Zhu Quan said angrily: "They are so fault-finding. Even Sage Kong could find fault. Fifteenth brother has been in Liaodong for many years and has fought and killed countless people. How can he be okay? What's more, those traitorous ministers will even kill the wives, children, housekeepers and servants of the kings' families. Let’s pick them together! Fourth brother, just wait and see. Now that fifteenth brother has entered the capital, he will be at their mercy.”
Zhu Di recalled that Qitai, Huang Zicheng and others were pressing closer and closer when they were in the palace, and felt that although Zhu Quan's words were straightforward, they were actually quite reasonable. He couldn't help but sigh and fell silent. After two years of not seeing each other, Zhu Quan is taller and smarter than before.
Zhu Quan looked at Zhu Di and said: "Fourth brother! I'm very happy that you came today. I don't want to go back to Beijing obediently like the 15th brother, begging for mercy at the hands of those villains, and then sit back and eat carefully waiting to die."
Before Zhu Di came, he didn't think carefully about how to talk to Zhu Quan. The purpose of his trip was to build a large Ningwei army, but he was not sure how to convince Zhu Quan. Prince Ning, who is so domineering, should he be persuaded to rebel? The original plan was to borrow troops. I don't know how much Zhu Quan can borrow.
Unexpectedly, this younger brother saw clearly the situation of Prince Ning, and the court could no longer tolerate him.
Zhu Di patted Zhu Quan on the shoulder: "Okay! Nineteenth brother! Then let us two brothers fight to get rid of these traitors!"
Zhu Quan's blood boiled: "We are the sons of Taizu! The Ming Dynasty belongs to us! These villains, wait for death!"
****************
At night, the commander-in-chief's residence in Daning was completely quiet.
Zhu Jian lit an oil lamp and read under the lamp. "Try to bend the old bow and look at it. When the arrow hits the string, it will look like the moon." When I saw the happy place, I couldn't help but groan out loud.
It was late and cold in the night. Zhu Jian felt a little cold and shouted: "Come here! Add more firewood!"
I shouted twice, but no one answered. Zhu Jian was a little angry. It was hard to find a decent servant in this border area. The servants in the house are often unable to shout. This must be because everyone went to drink and sleep because it was getting cold.
Zhu Jian stood up, rubbed his hands and walked to the brazier, picked up the fire fork and stirred it, and threw a few more firewood into it. Seeing the flames getting bigger and bigger, Zhu Jian turned around with satisfaction.
Suddenly the room was full of people!
Zhu Jian rubbed his eyes. The leader in brocade robes and golden crown is Ning Wang Zhu Quan. The tall and burly man next to him, with purple robes, stood out in the dim light, with a careless look on his face. This was...
The legendary King Yan!
Zhu Jian suddenly reacted and shouted: "Rebel!" and punched him.
Ma Sanbao behind King Yan moved slightly and bound Zhu Jian firmly. Zhu Jian struggled hard, but couldn't move in Ma Sanbao's hands. This tall, thin young man was surprisingly strong.
Zhu Quan smiled and said: "Master Zhu! Don't bother, you can't move it in the hands of the Three Treasures." He picked up the book Zhu Jian had just read and glanced at it: "Hey! I'm reading Taizu's poems! It's amazing! I've read Huangkao's poems I don’t even know how many.”
Zhu Jian sighed and gave up struggling.
Zhu Quan smiled and said: "Master Zhu! The king in your palace has made arrangements. Finally, let me ask you: Will you follow us in Jingnan? Or will you be loyal to those traitorous ministers in the imperial court?"
Zhu Jian spat: "Bah! What's the 'Jingnan'! Rebellious ministers and traitors! Everyone has to punish them!" Ding Ding looked at Prince Ning and said bitterly: "The imperial court had expected that you would rebel, Lord Qi had already taken precautions!"
Zhu Quan was stunned for a moment, and then said angrily: "Is it that Qi Tai? The good Ming Dynasty was ruined by this boy! Nothing happened to me, what are you doing to prevent me from doing anything?"
Zhu Jian snorted coldly: "Of course the prince will deny it."
Zhu Quan said angrily: "What is there that I don't dare to admit? If you say I'm rebelling, I'll rebel again!" A sword flashed past, and Zhu Jian fell down. Zhu Quan was still very angry: "Qitai! I am not done with you anymore!"
Ma Sanbao searched around and found important things such as the imperial edicts and seals of the commanders and envoys, and presented them to King Ning of Yan. The imperial edict from the imperial court had just arrived at Daning Guard, and the military power had not yet been transferred. In this way, King Ning could continue to command the heavy troops at hand, especially the Mongolian cavalry of Duoyan's three guards.
Zhu Quan looked at the imperial edict and became angry: "This little emperor is too faint. Can't you just tell me if you have anything to say? Is this how the Ministry of War can secretly arrange for these local officials to deal with me?"
Zhu Di advised: "Your Majesty does not know or understand many things. Qi Tai covers the sky with one hand. If he has too much power, he will inevitably do whatever he wants." Thinking of King Xiangxian's wasted death, he couldn't help but feel sad.
Zhu Quan sighed: "Oh, the little emperor is just lucky. And my eldest disciple is following him, and I don't know how he is doing in the palace?" When Zhu Di heard him talking about lotus, he felt a pain in his heart and turned away.
Zhu Quan saw his brother's expression was different, looked him over, and asked, "Is something wrong in Yining?"
Zhu Di didn't answer. Zhu Quan was a little anxious and grabbed Ma Sanbao: "What happened to Princess Yining?"
Ma Sanbao whispered: "The princess was poisoned in the soup while serving Taizu, and committed a capital crime. Taizu ordered her to recite sutras in the Shenggan Pagoda of Tianxi Temple."
Looking at Zhu Quan's astonished face, he whispered again: "It's extremely cold in the tower, and the princess may not be able to withstand it. The prince saved her, but she refused to leave."
Zhu Quan opened his mouth: "Tali? Do you think she is a snake demon?" He looked at Zhu Di and asked: "Have you ever rescued her?"
Zhu Di nodded: "I told her you asked about her."
Zhu Quan thought for a moment: "With her character, she accepts death, and she upholds this precept and that. She won't follow you like this. But when I went to see the old monk Huiguang last time, the old monk said that the person who holds the glazed pagoda It’ll be fine, I said I want to achieve karma and so on.”
Zhu Di's heart moved, he took out the glazed tower from his arms and held it in his palm. In the jumping firelight, the glazed tower sparkled with golden light.
Zhu Quan opened his mouth again: "She gave you the tower? Then she would be miserable... I don't know if she can save her life!" Zhu Di was silent. The two brothers stared at the Glazed Tower, each thinking deeply.
Can her life be saved? And how many people will lose their lives in this war? Including yourself, can you survive? However, because of his pride, he had no choice.
On October 13th of the first year of Jianwen, King Yan and King Ning left Ningwei and headed for Peiping. Also accompanying him were King Ning's 80,000 heavy armored vehicles and 6,000 leather chariots.
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