The sky was bright, and Dayan's ships sailed back to the port one after another. This battle was a great victory, sinking almost all of the opponent's ships, and capturing nearly a thousand people alive, including the highest officer of the Fanbang people, Pu Lande. The number of casualties on his side was less than two hundred. , can be described as a complete victory.
Zhu Yunjing accompanied Zhu Yunxuan and waited on the pier all the time, He Huailing got off the boat with a solemn expression, and reported to Zhu Yunxuan: "I have sent people to search that sea area for almost two hours, but I haven't seen Young General Xiao,... All the corpses that could be recovered were also recovered, but he was not there."
No one was born, no dead body was seen, and the sea was very stormy at that time, if Liang Zhen's body drifted away with the waves, it was very possible. This sentence, He Huailing thought about it and swallowed it back. Even if he didn't say it, Zhu Yunxuan must have known it.
Zhu Yunxuan's thoughts went blank for a moment, and his unfocused eyes looked at the still turbulent sea ahead. After a long time, he calmly moved his eyelashes, and ordered in a hoarse voice: "Continue to send people to search."
Go back to the General Military Mansion and deal with the follow-up matters. It was night again in a blink of an eye. Zhu Yunxuan went to the backyard. Miner was playing with Minger in the yard. When he saw his father, whom he hadn't seen all day, the child rushed over immediately , called him happily: "Daddy, I caught a butterfly just now, let me show you."
The butterfly was housed in a glass bottle, the color was very bright, and it was flying up and down trying to fly out. The child took the bottle from the servant at the side, and held it in front of Zhu Yunxuan like a treasure: "Does it look good?"
Zhu Yunxuan squatted down, didn't look at the butterfly in the bottle, but just stared at the innocent child with crooked smiling eyes in front of him, trying to see the faint shadow of that person from his eyebrows, and persisted for a whole day At this moment, his composure was finally on the verge of collapse, and he pulled the child into his arms with all his might.
The glass bottle in Min'er's hand fell to the ground, and the butterfly, which had fluttered for a long time, finally regained its freedom, circled in front of them, and flew away quickly. The child stared blankly, and whispered: "The butterfly flew away, I'll catch daddy again, don't be sad, daddy..."
He didn't know what happened, but only vaguely noticed Zhu Yunxuan's depression, and tried to comfort his father childishly in his own way, Zhu Yunxuan's voice was choked with sobs: "You are good."
Zhu Yunjing stood behind them, seeing so many words of comfort that he couldn't utter them, he paused for a moment, walked up, patted Zhu Yunxuan on the shoulder, and reminded him: "Let's have dinner first , the children should be hungry."
Sitting at the dinner table, Zhu Yunxuan was still distracted, just hugged Min'er on his lap, and fed him spoonful by spoonful, but he didn't take a few mouthfuls. Zhu Yunjing's eyes pointed to Gao An who was standing behind Zhu Yunxuan, Gao An stepped forward, served Zhu Yunxuan with vegetables, and persuaded him in a low voice: "Your Majesty, the dragon's body is important, you can eat as much as you want."
Zhu Yunxuan frowned slightly, and after a while, slowly relaxed, without saying anything, she lowered her head and continued to feed her son.
Min'er held her small spoon, scooped up a spoonful of custard and brought it to his mouth: "Daddy eats too."
Zhu Yunxuan was slightly startled, the corners of his mouth raised slightly, and he touched the child's head: "Good baby."
After dinner, Zhu Yunxuan asked Zhu Yunjing to take Min'er away: "I still have things to attend to, and I have to get up early tomorrow morning, so don't let him follow me."
Zhu Yunjing frowned in disapproval: "You didn't sleep all night last night, and you plan to stay up?"
"nothing… "
Zhu Yunjing stuffed the child back into his arms, patted the child on the back: "Go to bed with your father."
Min'er hugged Zhu Yunxuan's neck obediently, staring at him with sparkling eyes, Zhu Yunxuan's heart softened, and she hugged the child tightly.
Zhu Yunjing sighed softly: "I know you are sad now, but no matter how sad you are, you have to take care of your own body, and think about you too."
Zhu Yunxuan didn't say anything, and went back to the residence with her son in her arms.
At night, Jun'er was lying in Zhu Yunxuan's arms, and instead of making trouble with him as usual, she just asked him softly, "Daddy, why are you unhappy?"
Zhu Yunxuan kissed his forehead, and his eyes were slightly red: "Daddy is not unhappy."
"Daddy lied to me," the child said firmly, "Daddy just isn't happy."
After thinking about it, he asked Zhu Yunxuan again: "Where is father? Why hasn't father come back yet?"
Zhu Yunxuan was stunned for a moment, then murmured hoarsely: "Your father will come back, he will definitely come back."
Three days later, there was still no news from Liang Zhen. Someone from Java Island sent a peace agreement requesting the return of the captives, but was rejected by the Dayan court, saying that they only accepted surrender and no peace talks. As for the captured pirates, all those who should be interrogated have been interrogated, and the exact location of their hiding islands has not yet been found out. However, after this battle, these pirates were almost wiped out, and only at the last moment escaped in the chaos. Now there are only some old and weak women and children left on their island, and the boat is gone. I am afraid that they will be trapped on the island before long, and they will no longer pose any threat to the border of Dayan.
"According to those pirates, their low-level soldiers really don't know how to get in and out of the island. Only a few higher-ranking soldiers said in a vague way that it is related to the time of day and wind direction. They can only go in and out along the tide at special times. The island is consistent with what we guessed before, but they can’t explain more specifically, there are only a very small number of people who really understand this, unfortunately, they either died or escaped.”
He Huailing reported the situation of the interrogation in a deep voice, and Zhu Yunxuan listened absent-mindedly. After He Huailing finished speaking, he stopped and waited for a long while. Seeing that Zhu Yunxuan still did not respond, the cabinet official beside him coughed lowly, reminding him: "Your Majesty..."
Zhu Yunxuan came back to his senses, nodded, and told He Huailing: "Continue to interrogate...don't stop searching at sea."
He Huailing had no choice but to respond: "The minister leads the order."
The cabinet official hesitated and asked: "Your Majesty, the naval battle is over, and now there are only some finishing touches left, which should be left to the Fujian and Guangdong Navy Division. It has been almost four months since Yujia left Beijing, should it be time to go back? "
Zhu Yunxuan lowered his gaze, and after a moment of silence, he ordered in a deep voice: "Call all the accompanying courtiers, there is something I want to tell you now."
This time when he came to the south, he was accompanied by many officials from the cabinet and various ministries. As soon as the emperor summoned them, they all arrived soon. Zhu Yunxuan's eyes slowly swept across the crowd, and he said calmly: "It has been six years since I ascended the throne. In the past, you have been urging me to establish a queen, fearing that there will be no successors in my country, but now that I have an heir, after returning to Beijing, I will sacrifice to the Heaven and Earth Temple and formally canonize the crown prince."
After the voice fell, the hall was quiet for a moment, and then it seemed like a pot had exploded. All the ministers whispered to each other, and you all looked surprised and uncertain.
Someone tentatively asked Zhu Yunxuan: "I don't know where your Highness is now?"
Zhu Yunxuan ordered Gao An in a low voice: "Pass to the prince."
"Prince!" Gao An repeated loudly.
Min'er was led outside the door by the nanny, and under the gaze of countless pairs of eyes, the little child stepped over the threshold that was almost half his height, and walked towards Zhu Yunxuan bumpingly.
He walked small and slow, looking around curiously while walking, met the sizing eyes of those courtiers, although a little timid but obediently smiled back at everyone, walked up to Zhu Yunxuan step by step, and called him: "Daddy!"
Zhu Yunxuan hugged him on his lap, and the child raised his head and asked him, "Daddy, why are there so many uncles here?"
Zhu Yunxuan touched his face: "You are good."
All the courtiers looked at the two very similar faces, one big and one small, and became more and more confused. This child is obviously the youngest son of Duke Ding, and has been brought by His Majesty all this time. Why? Will he become His Majesty's son? !
Although, they were also very surprised when they saw this child for the first time, but it is a well-known secret that Mrs. Dingguo is the former deposed prince who has been brought back to life, and his son looks like His Majesty, which makes sense ,Can…
He Huailing probably knew that he would be speculated for no reason, and had previously resigned under the pretext of having a job, and now the people around him couldn't ask him even if they wanted to.
It was still the Minister of Rites who was in charge of the ritual system, not forgetting his duty, and went out to ask Zhu Yunxuan: "Your Majesty, I wonder if His Highness's biological mother is...?"
Zhu Yunxuan squeezed Min'er's hand, and replied quietly: "He is my son, the son of me and General Xiao."
Whoa!
Who still doesn't know about the young general Xiao who was born out of nowhere, the undercover thief made great contributions in this naval battle and then fell into the sea and disappeared, so far there is no news. Moreover, he is also the son of Xiao Junbo, the commander-in-chief who went to sea to suppress the bandits under the order of the first emperor. A group of people who thought they had died had been hiding in Nanyang for nearly thirty years. After the sea battle, everyone returned to the court and rewarded them for their merits, and the large army was also incorporated by the Fujian and Guangdong Navy. It's just a pity for the major general, I'm afraid it's too bad.
Now His Majesty said that the two of them actually still have this kind of relationship, and they also have a three or four year old prince
The sweat on the head of the Ministry of Rites is about to come out: "But General Xiao has been in Nanyang for these years..."
"For some reason, he used to live in Beijing under an alias. He only came to Nanyang three years ago. The child is indeed mine and his."
A censor who is not afraid of death asked: "In that case, why didn't your majesty say it earlier? And why was the child raised in Dingguo's mansion and became Dingguo's son?"
Perhaps the other party's voice was a little too excited, and Min'er shrank into Zhu Yunxuan's arms, a little frightened, and whispered to Zhu Yunxuan: "This uncle is so fierce, and Min'er doesn't like him."
A group of courtiers: "..."
Censor: "..."
Zhu Yunxuan glanced at the other party coldly, and said indifferently: "The crown prince was born prematurely and was weak. After the full moon, he was sent to southern Xinjiang for medical treatment. He was raised in Dingguogong's mansion. Children are blessed people, the prince will be blessed by being righteous brothers with them, in order to change the fate of the prince, I can only recognize him when he is three years old and has gone from the root of his disease."
The censor shut his mouth in dismay, and even used the rhetoric of criticizing hexagrams and changing fates. What else could he say? .
The Minister of Rites cautiously continued to ask Zhu Yunxuan: "Since the one who gave birth to His Highness is Young General Xiao, then this title..."
Zhu Yunxuan lowered his eyes, and said in a deep voice, "When he comes back, the ceremony will be held."
Ministers: "..."
All right, the posthumous queen is also a queen, although they only dared to think so in their hearts, they didn't dare to say it in front of Zhu Yunxuan.
The stubborn Minister of Rites still asked, but Zhu Yunxuan frowned suddenly: "I am the one who gave birth to the prince."
All the courtiers were collectively stunned, Zhu Yunxuan showed no embarrassment on his face, and said calmly: "The prince was born by myself, from my womb."
No... Your Majesty, when did you become pregnant and gave birth to a lively prince, why didn't we know at all
Now even several cabinet ministers began to persuade him: "Your Majesty, even if the crown prince is really born by you, you should still say that he was born by General Xiao."
"Yes, Your Majesty, you are the son of heaven, with a body of ten thousand gold, how can you conceive other men? If this is spread, wouldn't it be..."
"No need," Zhu Yunxuan interrupted them, "I've made up my mind, so that's it, as long as you know about this, you can all retire."
"His Majesty!"
Zhu Yunxuan lowered his voice: "I have said it, I have made up my mind, don't let me say it a third time."
In the darkness, Liang Zhen slowly opened his eyes, and the sound of the ship's planks being opened was faintly heard above his head. He had been lying on the haystack at the bottom of the cabin for a long time, and the wound on his arm that had been soaked in sea water three days ago and had not been treated was still there. In a dull pain, someone came down with a lantern, and it was no longer the person who had been bringing him meals before.
Liang Zhen sat up, narrowed his eyes and looked at the other party vigilantly.
The visitor reminded him in a cold voice with no expression on his face: "Here we are, let's go."