The army escorted a heavily covered felt cart down the mountain. On the way, a sergeant came to report that Duan Baoji was no longer in his mansion in the city, or had run away!

A military general asked whether to seal Duan Baoji's mansion. Hu Hu pondered for a while, then stopped: "It is said that Duan Baoji's son-in-law is the chief military officer of Dali, and he is still in office at this time. Let's not act rashly, and beware of extraneous branches. ”

Chen Dazhui, the general of the palace guard, listened to it and thought so.

At this time, the tower of Dali City was already faintly in sight, and several people around looked up at the city, and they were silent. Chen Dazhui whispered uncomfortably: "I heard that Dali is the territory of the Mu family, let's put the body in Dali City, nothing will happen again?" ”

Hu Hui groaned: "It shouldn't be, Dali Mansion has already changed its land and returned to the stream, and they are all rogue officials." Only the general army of Dali is not very reassuring...... However, the chief military officer can't move him, even the capital division, and we can't directly take away his military power; Unless the Ministry of War can let him hand over the military power with just a piece of paper. ”

As soon as the words fell, a military general rode over from the side of the city, saw Chen Dazhui and said: "Du Si has just come with a military order, and he has ordered Xu Tao, the chief military officer of Dali, to report to the capital division of Kunming City!" ”

When Hu Hu heard this, he immediately breathed a sigh of relief: "It must be the meaning of King Han." I didn't expect King Han to leave Kunming City, but he was very thoughtful. ”

……

Zhu Gaoxu is in the Han Palace, Kunming City, and he really hasn't even taken a step out of the door these days. However, what happened in Dali, he was probably the fastest person to know; The post road has been occupied by the royal guards.

The first to return to Kunming City was Chen Dazhu, who led a team of men and horses to escort the live mouth captured by Diancangshan and Duan Yang back to the Han Palace. Most of the guards sent to Dali still stayed in Dali City, guarding the two corpses with Hu Hui.

In the main hall of the carrier hall, Chen Dazhui was very close, and he stood beside Zhu Gaoxu and said in a deep voice: "Zhao Baihu caught that alive, it seems that he is a close confidant of the deceased; Hu Hu asked Zhao Baihu for someone, but he didn't give it...... Zhao Baihu asked me to send people back to the Han Mansion as soon as possible, he said that none of our people had seen Emperor Jianwen, and they could not confirm their identities, but fortunately there was a living mouth, and the prince might be able to ask the truth from the living mouth. ”

Zhu Gaoxu praised after hearing this: "I didn't expect Zhao Baihu, this groom, to be quite clever. "Zhao Ping was a sergeant who took care of the mount for Zhu Gaoxu at the beginning, so he said so.

Chen Dazhui said quietly: "Zhao Baihu has a lot of eyes. ”

Zhu Gaoxu glanced at Chen Dazhui and smiled noncommittally.

Chen Dazhui hurriedly took out some burned scraps of paper, and proudly invited the merit: "I found something burning in Nalanfeng Temple, so I quickly put away the leftovers." Hu Keguan also came to grab it, but the big pieces of paper were all taken by me! ”

Zhu Gaoxu buried his head for a while, and also praised Chen Dazhu's wit.

"Where's the mouth?" Zhu Gaoxu asked without raising his head. In his opinion, the living are probably more valuable than the scraps of paper in front of him.

Chen Dazhui hugged his fists and said, "I'll go and bring it here!" ”

"Wait." Zhu Gaoxu looked back at the doors and windows of the hall that were bright on the left and right, and said, "There is a small courtyard behind the study on the east side, and the corridor there is more secret. ”

Chen Dazhui said: "The last general understands. ”

Zhu Gaoxu stood up, walked out of the side door of the front hall, and walked straight to the east. The eunuch Huang Gou and a few others followed, and Zhu Gaoxu stopped them. He entered through the passage next to the study, and came to a very small courtyard.

It is like a patio, a small open space surrounded by the surrounding porch; A few trees were planted in it, and it looked like a yard. Not long after the new construction of the Han Palace, those trees were still small trees, and they had just been planted for about a year.

Zhu Gaoxu walked into a large corridor and found a chair to sit down. Not long after, Chen Dazhui and others came in with a man.

The man was tied up in a solid and varied manner, and his mouth was still covered with a ball of cloth. Chen Dazhui said: "When Zhao Baihu caught this guy, he still wanted to jump off the cliff and commit suicide. We were afraid that he would bite his tongue, so we gaged our mouths! ”

Zhu Gaoxu made a gesture: "You wait outside the mezzanine, don't let the idlers come in." ”

Chen Dazhui clenched his fists and said: "Order." ”

Zhu Gaoxu looked at the man in front of him, and the man also stared at him silently. The man had a round face, thick bones, and a strong body, and he looked like a martial arts practitioner.

After a while, Zhu Gaoxu muttered: "The cronies around Jianwenjun are at least a military general of some level in the Beijing Division...... Look at your face again, this king has guessed who you are! He said, observing the subtle emotional changes in the round-faced man's eyes.

The man's mouth was gagged, and he had no intention of trying to speak.

Zhu Gaoxu said again: "Jianwenjun accidentally slipped off the cliff, but we can still confirm his identity." As long as the body is placed in the ice cellar, and then the Jingshi is called to verify the identity. So you don't have to try to kill yourself, it's useless......

If you die, this king can only ask the Governor's Mansion of the Five Armies of the Beijing Division to send someone to come over for an autopsy, and then your identity will be known to the whole dynasty, and whoever wants to protect your family will not be able to protect it. Do you understand what this king means? ”

The round-faced man hesitated slightly, then nodded.

Zhu Gaoxu was overjoyed when he saw this, as long as the other party was willing to communicate with him, everything would be much easier. So he said, "Good." Now the king will remove the cloth from your mouth and untie you. Don't try to do something that doesn't do anything good, lest you run out of discussion with each other, okay? ”

The man nodded again.

Zhu Gaoxu untied him with his own hands and got rid of the cloth in his mouth.

The round-faced man immediately said: "Your Highness just said that you don't tell me my identity?" ”

Zhu Gaoxu replied: "If you fall into the hands of Hu Hui, there will be no room for maneuver in this matter, fortunately, it falls into the hands of this king!" Although this king is the son of my father, he is a prince, unlike Hu Hui, who is just a minion of his father and does not dare to do anything without permission. ”

After he said that, he looked at the man's thoughtful expression, and said in his heart: Sure enough, I guessed correctly, this person should be an official with status, and it is very likely that he is a military general, and he must have a family in Beijing; And after the "Battle of Jingjing", his family members were not liquidated!

Zhu Gaoxu struck while the iron was hot and continued: "My brother is from whose family, I have already guessed seven or eight. You'd better tell me directly, lest I have to find someone in Jingshi to confirm, and then the paper won't be able to contain the fire. ”

The man was silent.

Zhu Gaoxu said: "I have already said what should be said. The brother lived here first. ”

At this moment, the man suddenly spoke: "Your Highness stays." ”

Zhu Gaoxu turned around and looked at his face quietly.

The round-faced man groaned, "Why did His Royal Highness the King of Han help me hide my identity? ”

Zhu Gaoxu said: "As I said just now, I have guessed your identity to seven or eight. Let's put it this way, Jianwenjun is probably dead, it is impossible for General He to still have a rebellion, I have a good personal relationship with General He......"

Speaking of this, the man's face changed greatly! His eyes were straight, and he looked at Zhu Gaoxu in a daze.

Zhu Gaoxu smiled and said, "It seems that I guessed correctly. After all, you are brothers, and you look quite alike. ”

The man finally said: "Your Highness doesn't need to find someone to confirm, the last general is indeed He Lu." Ningyuan Marquis He Fu is the eldest brother of the last general. ”

When Zhu Gaoxu heard this, his face was about to burst into laughter, and he didn't make a sound out loud when he restrained himself! Although he felt that this person was a bit similar to his old acquaintance He Fu just now, he was still overjoyed after getting the confirmation!

He Fu has calculated everything, and his nieces are married to Zhu Gaoxu's third brother, and now they are very much used by Zhu Di and are simply favored by the emperor...... But his brother was actually protecting Emperor Jianwen, and he didn't report it, which made Zhu Di worry about Jianwen's affairs for so long! If Zhu Di knew about this matter, He Fu's fate would not be imagined......

He Lu saw Zhu Gaoxu laughing, hung his head and said nothing, and his face turned red.

Zhu Gaoxu said with a smile: "General He, don't worry. I do have a good personal relationship with He Fu, although we have fought a lot of battles in the 'Battle of Jingjing', but after my father ascended the throne, the grievances between each other have long been resolved.

For example, the last time. The father led the generals to Xiaohong Mountain to hunt, and the head of the hunt was a 'thousand miles of snow' sweat and blood horse, which many people wanted. At that time, I was equal to He Fu's prey, and later I found an excuse to give it to him, and he was still very grateful to me. ”

He Lu hesitated and said: "Our brothers are their own masters, and the last general really doesn't want to affect the eldest brother." ”

Zhu Gaoxu suddenly slapped his thigh and said: "I suddenly remembered that once Chen Ying, the imperial historian of the Metropolitan Procuratorate, impeached He Fu, just talking about your affairs, saying that your whereabouts are unknown. Now I think that Chen Ying was really right that time! ”

He Lu was worried and indignant: "Chen Ying's guy used to be the scum of officialdom, and no one looked down on him as a ......"

Zhu Gaoxu only felt that his whole body was light, and he said very easily: "General He, don't worry, I am the only one who knows your identity now." Those guards have never seen a general like He Fu with their own eyes, and no one has any credentials to confirm who you are; And they are the king's people, as long as I say hello, nothing will go wrong. ”

He Lu hurriedly knelt down and said, "Thank you, Your Highness, for preserving you!" The last general is not afraid of death, but he is afraid of affecting the people of the He family......"

Zhu Gaoxu stepped forward to help him up, and said kindly: "I will arrange General He to hide in a secret place, but you have to write a letter to tell your eldest brother that you are here with me, and then write something about everything." lest the matter of Jianwenjun be transmitted back and make your eldest brother worried. ”

He Lu clenched his fists and said: "The last general can only obey the orders of His Highness." ”

Zhu Gaoxu kept nodding: "Very good, very good." ”

At this moment, Zhu Gaoxu suddenly asked: "The two people who died are indeed Jianwenjun's father and son?" ”

He Lu nodded, immediately knelt on the ground again, and soon cried bitterly: "The last general is incompetent, the protection is not good, and the crime deserves death......"

Zhu Gaoxu persuaded: "Even if he was once an emperor, he was flesh and blood, and he fell down by himself, no wonder General He." General He risked his family and loyally guarded the old master to this day, and he can be regarded as a minister. ”