The dark and narrow culvert was filled with the gasps of three people. Miao Jin and Wang Yin's breath was of different lengths, and it was very difficult for them to climb a slope in the dark tunnel. Only Zhu Gaoxu feels okay, if the rhythm of physical activity and the frequency of breathing are more coordinated, the physical strength can be supported for a longer time.

The Miaojin who walks in front uses both hands and feet. The lantern in Zhu Gaoxu's hand glowed with orange light, and he saw Miaojin's body twisting and crawling in front of him.

When I finally climbed to the top of the slope, it was still dark and there was no light in front of me. However, in addition to the sound of panting, there was a slight sound of flowing water in the dark passage.

Descending the slope, Zhu Gaoxu looked down, and through the few sparse stone slabs paved under his feet, he found that there was a water channel underneath, and water was flowing in it. Where there is flowing water, there is air flowing. The ancients were very particular about feng shui, and used this method to keep the people in the secret passage from suffocating.

Zhu Gaoxu was in the secret passage, observing the situation on the road, and at the same time he was still thinking desperately.

However, his anger, shock, and fear still lingered in his heart, and he couldn't calm down.

The three of them walked into another flat secret passage, and Miaojin in front of them took a few long breaths, and finally spoke: "Those armor soldiers in the palace, what are you going to do?" ”

Zhu Gaoxu was even more angry when he heard this, and said coldly: "The prince wants to kill me!" ”

Miaojin turned her head and glanced at Zhu Gaoxu in surprise.

Zhu Gaoxu said again: "My father may have died. ”

"Huh?" Miaojin didn't seem to have thought about it carefully, and when she heard such a sentence, she let out a shocked sound.

Zhu Gaoxu said: "If my father wants to deal with me, why do you need to besiege me like this!" He only needs one word, how to deal with me, do I have any way to resist?

Therefore, the person who dealt with me must be the prince, and all the people I saw in the palace at that time were also princes, not who was the prince? A soldier actually entered the palace, if his father was still there, the prince would have eaten the leopard's gall and would not dare to transfer troops into the palace to deal with me! ”

When Miaojin heard Gao Xu's words, she hesitated to say "um", but did not refute Zhu Gaoxu. She probably didn't have the strength to say much.

Zhu Gaoxu couldn't help it, and scolded the indignation in his heart, and he said as he walked: "My father is often suspicious of me and wary of me, but I can't blame him too much, and I can't resist. After all, it is precisely because I have a good father that I live a prosperous and prosperous life, and he gave me a lot! I have always been grateful to my father and queen mother!

Even if my father really wanted my life, of course I didn't want to, but I still couldn't hate him too much. At least my background has allowed me to live a good life for so many years?

But why does the prince want my life?!

He was born two or three years before me, and he also benefited from his father and queen mother, and he didn't give me any help.

When Jianwen wanted our family's life, I followed my father to fight in the south and the north, hundreds of battles of all sizes, shuttling between swords, mountains, fires, seas, arrows, and fires, fighting for my life! Without me, Zhu Gaoxu, can the 'Battle of Jingjing' be won? If you go underground and people have souls, I have to ask my father, if it weren't for me, would my father think he could win the Jianwen court!

Okay, let's fight the country, my rotten life is useless, the prince wants to come to pick peaches, and he will kill me immediately! ”

The more Zhu Gaoxu spoke, the more angry he became, and his voice trembled, "I just deserve to be used, and when it's worthless, I should be disposed of as garbage!?" ”

Miaojin suddenly stopped, turned around and pressed her soft chest with her hand, the pair of beautiful apricot eyes flashed with the light of lanterns, and tears were full of heartache.

Zhu Gaoxu saw a tear slipping from the corner of her eye, and also stood in place and was stunned.

Miao Jin looked up at him, and after a moment he gasped, "Let's get out of here first, and then I'll talk to you." ”

"Hmm." Zhu Gaoxu nodded. He felt that the complaint just now was indeed a little out of control, so he changed his words and said, "As long as I escape, whoever wants to kill me will take off the three layers of skin first!" ”

…… At this time, Zhu Gaoxu realized even more that what to do was not just to rely on grief and indignation. Gradually, he was able to calm down.

Maybe it was the words in his heart that he said to Miaojin just now, which made him feel a little better. Even if it's a man, sometimes people really need to talk about it, and there are certain benefits.

The first thing that Zhu Gaoxu thought of was that Zhu Di had died! He hadn't thought about it before, it was just an instinct, because in his mind, a timid big fat man easily appeared. The crown prince Gao Chi is such a cowering person in front of his father, and he dares to do such a thing as transferring troops into the palace, unless his father dies!

Now Zhu Gaoxu calmed down a little, and felt that his intuition at the beginning was very reasonable, so it became a judgment.

Judging is not about determining one thing, it is also about taking risks.

Zhu Gaoxu knew too little, and before he entered the palace, he never dreamed that Zhu Di might die. His lack of imagination is still due to the misdirection of knowledge...... Zhu Gaoxu's education is not high, but he also knows that Zheng He has gone to the West several times and other things, Emperor Yongle is too famous, and now Zheng He has not come back from his first trip to the West, why is Yongle gone?

Therefore, if there is more knowledge, sometimes it will mislead judgment.

Even now, Zhu Gaoxu can't tell if Yongle has died. Just by the fact that a soldier came into the palace, I could only deduce the possibility, but I couldn't confirm it at all...... What if for what reason those soldiers were transferred to the palace before Zhu Di? Or maybe Zhu Di is in bed, but he hasn't left that breath yet, so why don't you take a risk?

There are all kinds of possibilities, and perhaps there are reasons that Zhu Gaoxu did not imagine.

But Zhu Gaoxu thought for a while, and the timid appearance of the prince in front of his father always lingered in his mind. Zhu Gaoxu still ruled out all kinds of things that interfered with his judgment, and decided that Zhu Di had died!

Zhu Gaoxu used to be a gambler, and he had the guts to bet. Maybe after he became the second son of Zhu Di in the Ming Dynasty, he was quite talented in fighting, just because he had that kind of gambling nature...... It's the same on the battlefield, it's impossible for the person with the troops to know everything, and a lot of decisions are made in betting!

And Zhu Di's death was not long, it should have happened within the last two or three days......

Yesterday evening, Zhu Gaoxu led the crowd to camp in Xianrenji, which was very close to Beijing. Chen Dazhui, who went to Beijing first, came back and brought some news.

Du Erlang of Jinyiwei didn't notice anything unusual about Jingshi. Gao Xianning, an official of the Hanlin Academy, and Wang Zhenliang, a nobleman, recently went to the court and saw the emperor go to court with their own eyes.

There are at least two people at the same time to corroborate that the emperor must be fine in recent days. Zhu Gaoxu thinks that this news is very reliable.

…… Then Zhu Gaoxu began to think about what he currently had in Beijing and on what occasions he could use it.

The army escorting the captives was less than 10,000 in total, most of which were guards from Jiangxi and Zhejiang, who had previously belonged to Zhang Fu's subordinates.

The selection of these soldiers and horses is subject to the dispatch of the Ministry of War. But Zhu Gaoxu didn't think that this was a deliberate matter for the military department, because as he judged, the emperor was fine a few days ago; The military department may only consider that when the Jiangxi and Zhejiang soldiers returned to the guard, the road was relatively close.

At that time, in Annan, Zhu Gaoxu also thought so, so he was not the slightest dissatisfied. My father was still on the throne, and it didn't matter what troops he sent to escort the captives. Because Zhu Di would not use this method to deal with Zhu Gaoxu, Zhu Gaochu could not resist Zhu Di.

Nearly Wanwei Army, now in the barracks outside the capital city, the efficiency of the Ming Dynasty's administration is not high, and it should not be disbanded within a day. However, according to the system, Zhu Gaoxu can no longer mobilize these soldiers and horses; The military generals, civil officials, and eunuchs in the army should obey the transfer of the military department and return to the guard post one after another.

In addition to the guards, there were more than 100 cavalry left, which were Zhu Gaoxu's Han palace guards; The guards followed him into Beijing, mainly to be responsible for the close quarters along the way. This kind of thing is already a great grace, Zhu Gaoxu has been fighting for Zhu Di, so he can have armored soldiers to escort him into Beijing.

If it is in the capital of another vassal king, don't say that there can't be a large number of private soldiers, even if a certain number of weapons and armor are hidden in the mansion, they will also be impeached for plotting against the big crime.

Zhu Gaoxu thought of Qiu Fu and He Fu again. Qi Guogong and Ning Yuanhou are currently both in Beijing and serve in the Governor's Mansion of the Five Armies.

It is impossible for a general like them to have a little military power in the Beijing Division.

…… Zhu Gaoxu has been in the Ming Dynasty for almost nine years, and he still has a general understanding of the various systems of the imperial court. What he saw and heard confirmed what he learned in the textbook: the Ming and Qing dynasties were the pinnacle of the development of feudal centralization. During this period, centralized power and civil politics had developed relatively well.

If the division wants to mobilize troops and horses in Beijing, without the consent of the emperor and the central power circle, it is simply wishful thinking. The complex rules of checks and balances have long since completely divided power.

Only the feudal vassal king has a bit of power, because Taizu trusts his son more than his ministers; This is also why Jianwen and Yongle both want to cut the feudal domain, because they don't trust the feudal king, but they want to sleep peacefully.

In the Governor's Mansion of the Five Armies alone, Tai Zu tossed it several times.

From the Generalissimo's Mansion, the Privy Council, and the Metropolitan Governor's Mansion, it was divided into five yamen, collectively known as the Five Military Governor's Mansion. Since the Hongwu period, the power of the governor's office of the five armies has also been cut again and again, first with the right to command the army and the right to transfer the army, and now it has almost become five yamen that make people eat in the corpse.

Taizu even the prime minister has cleared up, tightly holding the power in his own hands, and completely does not allow any minister to have too much power, let alone military power. If a few people could mobilize the army of the Jing Division, Taizu would definitely not live so long, because he would not be able to sleep every night.

Most of the princes and military ministers, nobles, and imperial relatives who lived in Beijing served in the Governor's Office of the Five Armies.

At present, the Governor's Office of the Five Armed Forces only has a small amount of the right to command troops in the national guards, and does not have the slightest right to transfer troops. The official rank of the military ministers is very high, and they are transcendent by virtue of their affection for fighting with the emperor, but of course they have no real power.

Now that the Ming Dynasty has been established for decades, the friendship between some noble and military ministers and the royal family is still there, and they are still very open in the temple. This is already quite good, and many civil officials are very envious of the right of the nobles to speak and are dissatisfied with it.

Zhu Gaoxu pondered for a while, and now he must think about it as soon as possible: once he gets out of the tunnel, what will he do? Otherwise, if you go out, you don't know what to do, and the situation is still very dangerous.