Big brother actually scratched his face himself!
When she learned the truth, Zhu Ying couldn't believe her ears. But she thought again and felt that this made sense. After all, she didn't know what the soldiers' uniforms looked like, but she had seen countless helmets used by middle and senior officers since she was a child. And for her eldest brother's expedition, her grandmother even found a helmet that her father had used when he first inherited his father's position.
As far as she knew, the helmet could cover the entire face of the eldest brother, except for the eyes, all other vital parts were firmly protected. Therefore, unless the eldest brother's helmet was knocked off, his left cheek would definitely not be injured.
It turned out that the eldest brother had scratched his face, and most of the soldiers could not recognize his face which was hidden under the helmet. In addition, because of the scar, the eldest brother was able to get away with it safely!
She had been holding onto Zhang Shou's arm tightly, but now, she was so excited that she lost the energy to hold on. Her legs could not even support her body, and she leaned on Zhang Shou. If she had not had such a solid support, she even doubted whether she, who always prided herself on being strong, would fall down.
Next, Zhu Tingfang succinctly recounted how he was treated as a slave, how he was selected by pretending to be knowledgeable about firearms, how he discovered the merchants who sold saltpeter to the northern barbarians in the firearms camp, how he contacted the insiders who had infiltrated the camp a long time ago, and how he finally contacted many slaves and worked together with a special force of the Duke of Zhao to wipe out the firearms manufacturing camp.
The emperor shook his head as he listened. When Zhu Tingfang finished speaking, he sighed and said, "Zhu Dalang, how can I say that you and your son are good? When the army goes out to fight, it is better to be safe. Why take such a risk? Has your father never thought that if there is a problem in any link, not only will you, his son, be lost, but he himself will also be involved?"
This was also a question that Zhang Shou couldn't figure out, so he naturally looked at Zhu Tingfang, waiting for his answer. However, what he saw was Zhu Tingfang suddenly kneeling on the ground, with deep anger on his face.
"Your Majesty, the nobles who followed the late emperor, starting from my father, have not commanded the army since the early years of Yongchen. At that time, everyone said that the world was at peace and it was time to put the horses in the mountains and put the weapons in the warehouse. Over the past twenty years, my father has gone from being in the prime of his life to a man with muscular legs. People like the Duke of Chu, the Marquis of Nanyang, and the Marquis of Huaiqing have also grown up in the capital and are no longer as brave as they used to be."
"The border towns seem to be peaceful, but in fact, officials and businessmen are colluding with each other, and smuggling is rampant. Not to mention weapons, even saltpeter, which is strictly prohibited by the court, is sent out! Father originally tried to be cautious, but he didn't know the seriousness of the situation until he came to Datong. If it weren't for the fact that my father still had a few old subordinates leading the troops in the Three Guards of Datong, perhaps the outcome of this war would have been even more dangerous!"
He paused for a moment, then lowered his head and said, "Duke Chu also killed several people in Xuanfu. Your Majesty may have heard of this news, but you don't know that these people were relatives of the wives or even mothers of the generals in Xuanfu, but they were colluding with the enemy. Father said that he had interrogated the two generals who did not help the dying and were also smuggling frequently. Does Your Majesty know what they said?"