At the end of February of the thirteenth year of orthodoxy, Li Yuntian led Li Anmin and Li Anming and others to embark on the road to the Western Regions.

As for where Li Yuntian is going to inspect the orthodox emperor this time, it is not clearly pointed out, which means that the entire Ming Dynasty is within the scope of Li Yuntian's inspection, after all, Li Yuntian is the left capital of the Ming Dynasty, and the imperial history originally had the power to supervise hundreds of officials in the world.

Because it was a long way to inspect the Western Regions and Nanyang this time, it was impossible for Li Yuntian to travel with great fanfare, and he had to rush to his destination as soon as possible.

Therefore, when Li Yuntian left the capital, he only took more than 300 guards with him, and rushed to Guanxi under the escort of 500 cavalry of the Xiaowu Army.

According to Li Yuntian's plan, his current inspection will follow a counterclockwise order, first by land to the Western Regions, through the Eastern Chagatai Khanate and the Timurid Empire to the Persian Gulf, then from the Persian Gulf to the Ming Navy warships to the South Seas, and finally disembark at the Ningbo Military Port, take the canal back to Beijing.

Li Yuntian thought about it, it would take two or three years for him to walk down in such a circle, although the journey was difficult but it was definitely worth it, the Ming territory in the Western Regions and Nanyang was inevitably alienated from the Ming Dynasty because it was far away from the Ming Dynasty, Li Yuntian wanted to use this inspection to narrow the distance with the local people, and tell them that the Ming Dynasty had not forgotten them.

Although there were 500 cavalry of the Xiaowu army to escort Li Yuntian and his party out of the capital, they did not follow Li Yuntian to the Western Regions, and they would return after arriving in Taiyuan.

In Li Yuntian's view, this is the safest and most convenient way, and the local Xiaowu army is more aware of the local situation, which can not only speed up the march but also ensure safety to the greatest extent.

Li Yuntian entered Taiyuan City secretly, so that he did not know about it until he stayed in the office of the Xiaowu Army in the city, and the Shanxi political envoy, Shanxi according to the inspection envoy, and Shanxi Commander did not know about it, and hurriedly changed into civilian clothes to come to visit.

Speaking of Taiyuan, Li Yuntian couldn't help but think of the fact that when Emperor Yongle died, he rushed back to the capital to send Emperor Hongxi to the throne.

At that time, Li Yuntian was still a young man in his early twenties, and now twenty years have passed in a blink of an eye, his sons are in their twenties, and time flies too fast, everything seems to have happened yesterday.

Li Yuntian's official document on behalf of the Heavenly Patrol has been sent to the Ming provinces by the imperial court with an eight-hundred-mile fast ride, and the chief official of the Shanxi Third Division also thought that Li Yuntian's goal was Jiangnan, and he was so frightened that his face turned green when he learned that Li Yuntian had come to Taiyuan City, you must know that this is not a good thing, and no one wants to commit it in the hands of Li Yuntian.

However, to the satisfaction of the chief officer of the Third Division of Shanxi, Li Yuntian did not mean to stay in Taiyuan City for a long time, and left the next day under the escort of the cavalry of the Shanxi Xiaowu Army to continue westward, which made them feel relieved, and secretly guessed where Li Yuntian was going, and further west was the desolate Gansu and Guanxi.

Although he was curious in his heart, the chief officer of the Third Division of Shanxi did not dare to chew his tongue, Li Yuntian obviously wanted to hide his whereabouts on this trip, if they leaked the secret, they would definitely be punished, who was full of food and went to ask for trouble!

When arriving at Jiayuguan, Li Yuntian deliberately stayed for one more day, and went to the cemetery on the mountain on the side of the pass to visit the Ming soldiers who died here that year, if it were not for Zhou Zheng to lead the Ming army to defend Jiayuguan and delay the pace of the Timurid Empire and the Northern Yuan coalition army to advance eastward, then at least half of the Ming Dynasty would have fallen into the flames of war, so these soldiers who died in battle can be described as meritorious.

Li Yuntian didn't bring too many people with him when he went to the cemetery, only Li Anming, Li Anmin and a few guards, he didn't want to disturb the soldiers who were sleeping here.

In front of the gate of the cemetery is a monument made of fine stones, which records the battle of Jiayuguan for people to admire and commemorate.

Li Yuntian laid a wreath at the monument, stood in front of the monument with a serious expression and fell into contemplation, the so-called one will succeed and ten thousand bones will wither, he knows that his status today is the life of countless soldiers in exchange, and it is they who have achieved his current glory.

"This gentleman, may I ask if you have relatives who died here?" Because Li Yuntian stood in front of the monument for a long time, this attracted the attention of the cemetery guards, and from the costumes of Li Yuntian and others, it was either rich or expensive, so the director of the cemetery was alarmed, so he came to check.

"It's my brother." Li Yuntian came back to his senses when he heard this, glanced at the empty sleeve of the gardener's right hand and the two scary scars on his cheek, and asked with a smile, "It's lonely to guard the cemetery here." ”

"I'm not lonely, I have so many brothers with me." The director of the kindergarten is a man in his thirties, shook his head when he heard this, and said with a smile, "Mr. is from a rich and noble family, and it is really great to let my brother join the army and serve the country." ”

Vaguely, the dean felt that the gentleman in front of him was a little familiar, as if he had seen it somewhere, but he couldn't remember it for a while.

"You are amazing, according to your injuries, you should be able to go to a better place to do something leisurely, but you chose this lonely errand." Li Yuntian smiled and gave a thumbs up to the director, according to the pension regulations of the Jiangwu Hall, a person like the director of the garden can be transferred to the industry under the Jiangwu Tang to engage in idle work.

"I'm fine compared to these brothers, at least I'm alive." The director waved his hand disappreciatively, and then looked at the monument with a sad look on his face.

"Yes, they are the real heroes, without them, it would be difficult to achieve today's loyal king!" Li Yuntian bowed slightly when he heard this, looked at the monument and said with feeling.

"This gentleman, your words are inappropriate, Prince Zhong is a great hero in the world, without him risking his life to drag the enemy army in Guanxi, we would not be able to hold the defense line of Gansu at all." Hearing this, the head couldn't help frowning slightly, and opened his mouth to correct Li Yuntian's statement.

"The heroes of this world should be these unknown devotees, and the loyal king cannot get rid of the shackles of Vanity Fair, and it is difficult to be called a hero." Li Yuntian didn't think he was a hero, and said with a smile.

"This gentleman, please retract what you said just now, Lord Zhong is not only an important minister of the court, but also the military god of our Xiaowu army, we will not allow anyone to offend him!" The principal's face had turned blue when he heard this, and he said in a cold voice.

"The god of war?" Li Yuntian was slightly stunned when he heard this, he didn't expect him to have such a high evaluation among the soldiers.

"This brother, this king is just lucky, and he really doesn't dare to call himself a 'god of war'." Then, Li Yuntian laughed, looked at the pale head and said, he felt that if he didn't report his family, he might be unable to eliminate the misunderstanding.

"This king?" The director was annoyed in his heart that the person in front of him despised the loyal prince who was worshiped as a god of war by the soldiers, and suddenly heard that he called himself "this king" and couldn't help but be stunned there, and he didn't react for a while.

"This eldest brother, this gentleman is the loyal prince, and the loyal prince is here to pay tribute to the soldiers who died in the war." At this time, Li Anmin, who was standing aside, opened his mouth to show the principal Li Yuntian's identity.

"You...... Are you the prince of loyalty? The director came back to his senses at this time, and looked at Li Yuntian in disbelief, he never thought that Li Yuntian would come here, no wonder he felt that this gentleman was a little familiar before, it turned out to be the loyal prince who was extremely feared by him.

"Brother, I've worked hard for you all these years." Li Yuntian nodded with a smile, stretched out his fist and slapped the dean's chest, which was a more intimate way to greet him.

"No...... It's not hard, it's not ...... It's not as hard as the king, the king ...... The prince has all the opportunities, and he is not ...... less than one ten-thousandth of the prince. After confirming Li Yuntian's identity, the head of the park suddenly became excited, and stammered a little, to be honest, he never imagined that Li Yuntian would appear here.

"This king came to bring the emperor's reward for the imperial wine this time, you gather your brothers, let's get drunk today." Li Yuntian laughed and said in a deep voice to the dean, in addition to paying tribute to the soldiers who died in battle, he also came to visit the brothers guarding the cemetery.

"Brothers, the prince has come to see us!" The dean was immediately overjoyed when he heard this, he knew that the imperial wine brought by Li Yuntian was definitely the best in the wine, and he hurriedly went to find his brothers excitedly, it was a great honor to be able to drink with Li Yuntian.

Li Yuntian smiled and looked at the back of the director, his trip to the cemetery also has an important task, that is, to plan the industry under the command of the cemetery, and now all the money that this cemetery needs to spend is allocated by the lecture hall, Li Yuntian feels that it is not a way to go on for a long time.

After all, the amount of money allocated is limited, although it seems to be nothing now, but with the progress of society, the allocation will definitely not be able to catch up with the growth of economy and consumption, and the cemetery will definitely fall into trouble due to the lack of funds in the future, after all, everyone has to support their families, and it is impossible for everyone to contribute all the time.

Moreover, in Li Yuntian's view, it is better to teach people to fish than to teach them to fish, so he came this time to plan and establish an industry under his name for the cemetery, so that the cemetery can develop self-reliantly, and it is also a better protection of the cemetery.

Not only this cemetery in Jiayuguan, but all the cemeteries in the Ming Dynasty in the future must carry out their own industries in this mode to ensure that the cemetery can be adequately maintained.

Li Yuntian drank very much at the banquet, and for the first time in so many years, he was drunk and was helped back by Li Anmin and Li Anming.

The guardians in the cemetery are all wounded veterans who survived the first battle of Jiayuguan, and they are unwilling to leave those brothers who died in battle, and they are not willing to cause trouble to the martial arts hall, so they chose the profession of guarding the tomb, and settled here, Li Yuntian admired them very much, so it was natural to solve their worries, so that their families could get an errand in the industry of the cemetery.

Li Anmin and Li Anming deeply experienced Li Yuntian's supreme prestige in the army from the veterans who guarded the cemetery and were in awe of Li Yuntian, and the two realized that Li Yuntian's status in the army was not obtained out of thin air, during which he experienced countless tests of life and death, and the experience of blood and fire was the honor that he fought for with his life.

If the two want to gain the respect of the soldiers, they must also share weal and woe with the soldiers, life and death, and only in this way can they truly become a supported general.