Zhu Gaoxu has been stupid all his life, and he has been a reckless man all his life, but when he had no intention of competing for the position in the end, he played a wonderful move.

He arranged it very properly, first giving Zhu Ling a task through the relationship between his bodyguard Zhu Lin and Zhu Ling, and then asking Zhu Ling to find other candidates to perform the task among the guards of Zhu Ling's deceased son.

Even, in order to ensure that the task can be completed, everyone, including Zhu Gaoxu, including Zhu Lin's father and son, has been hiding from Zhu Zhanyan from beginning to end.

Because, they are all Zhu Zhanyan's most trusted and closest people, and others' impression of Zhu Zhanyan may only be brutal, only warmongers and the like, but they are different.

Decades of getting along day and night have made them very clear that Zhu Zhanyan is actually a person who is cold on the outside and hot on the inside, and is very good to his own people.

Don't look at Qian Yong and the others now have no official position or title, but that's all because Zhu Zhanyan is not a legitimate person in power now, once Zhu Zhanyan succeeds in ascending to the throne, all those he once trusted the most will be rewarded.

What's more, now that he can't reward officials and knights, Zhu Zhanyan has never treated Qian Yong and others materially.

Qian Yong's son Qian Zhong received an education at the level of the prince and grandson, and he was about to enter the university hall in the palace, in addition to this, the Wu Wangfu would send a lot of rice, flour, cotton and linen and silver money to the three people's families every month.

Similarly, as the prince of Zhu Zhan's guard, he can be called the best in the world in terms of treatment, and even the four guards of Tengxiang supported by Emperor Xuande are out of reach.

All this, more or less light or heavy, has contributed to the completion of this plan from the front or side.

And when Zhu Zhanyan received the news, he had just arrived at Pingyang Mansion and had not yet crossed the Yellow River.

In the makeshift tent, Zhu Zhan Yan sat on a chair, his face expressionless, his hands tightly squeezing the letter paper, the green tendons on the back of his hands were protruding, and the cyan blood vessels were clearly visible.

Even his arms trembled slightly.

"So, you knew it from start to finish, didn't you?"

I don't know how long it took, Zhu Zhanyan slowly raised his head and looked at Zhu Ping who was kneeling on the ground in front of him.

Zhu Ping didn't speak, but his head, which was already lowered, became even lower.

……

"I got it......"

After a long time, Zhu Zhanyan let out a soft sigh.

"You go out first, let me be alone for a while."

"Yes......"

Zhu Ling bowed his head and saluted Zhu Zhanyan, then slowly got up and exited the camp with the prince guard who came to deliver the letter.

Looking at the slowly falling curtain, Zhu Zhanyan's eyes were empty.

Is it how good and deep his feelings for Zhu Ling, the personal guard, are? Not really, at least not all.

In which year did Zhu Ling become his personal guard? Zhu Zhanyan didn't remember very clearly, he only remembered that it was after the old man's success in Jingnan, and he was only five years old that year.

But now, he is about to enter the age of no doubt.

Thirty-five years have passed, Zhu Ling has been his personal bodyguard for thirty-five years, and when he was a child, he still liked to tease Zhu Ling and Zhu Ping, because his mentality had not changed much at that time, and he was more inclined to the later generations rather than this era of hierarchy.

Looking back now, Zhu Zhanyan suddenly felt that he was actually quite excessive at that time.

There is no such thing as martial arts, it is just a product of people's imagination, but martial arts really exist.

If you want to be a guard, and you are a personal guard, and you are the personal guard of Zhu Zhanyan, the son of the Han Dynasty, nothing else can be good, but there are two things that must be had.

The first is faithfulness, and the second is skill.

The loyalty of Zhu Lin's family can stand the test of time, and in the past 35 years, Zhu Lin has never betrayed his father Zhu Gaoxu, and Zhu Ling and Zhu Ping have not betrayed themselves.

In terms of skills, Zhu Ling and Zhu Ping have to undergo rigorous training since they were young, and at the same time, as Zhu Zhanyan's personal guard, Zhu Gaoxu will also cultivate their loyalty.

During the day, there were special people to train their skills, and at night, they were also given the outhouse of Zhu Zhan's room to sleep.

At that time, Zhu Zhanyan liked to tease them......

Thinking of this, Zhu Zhanyan sighed, lowered his head to look at his right hand, which was still trembling slightly, and shook his head and smiled bitterly.

Zhu Zhanyan has always felt that he is mature enough, and the experience of being a human being in two lives has made his mentality extremely mature, and even he looks down on everyone in this Ming Dynasty in his heart.

Because he has in his mind things that these people can't think of even in a few hundred years, because he knows the future that these people can't think of in their heads, because he feels that he can change the fate of this Ming Dynasty and even the whole world with a single move......

As it turned out, he thought so, did what he did, and succeeded.

But when everything came to this, this place that was about to reach the end, Zhu Ling's generosity to death made Zhu Zhanyan understand that he had actually always been a person with an immature mind.

Some people say that a man's maturity is actually in an instant.

Or the failure of a relationship, or the sublimation of a relationship.

Or the joy of becoming a father for the first time, or the sadness of the death of a loved one.

In the past, Zhu Zhanyan thought that he was mature enough, because he had experienced what others had not experienced.

He could ruthlessly use the grassland people to build a Beijing view when he was ten years old, so that the grassland people were terrified for more than 20 years.

He can burn down the Indochina Peninsula at the age of eleven, leaving the Indochina Peninsula in misery and leaving none of the aborigines of the five countries alive.

He could go on an expedition to the Wa Kingdom at the age of eleven and make everyone on the entire Wa Island pay for the hatred in his heart for his own personal vendetta.

He can make the Delhi Sultan's Ah San charge for the war he started without humanity, act as a death squad, and he doesn't care how many deaths he has.

He could have started slaughtering the Peptide people and even the whole of Europe hundreds of years in advance......

But it wasn't until now that Zhu Zhanyan understood that he was actually immature, and everything he did was actually just an impulse of emotions brought by later generations under the blessing.

Those things were indeed initiated by him, and they seemed to be done for himself, but in fact they were for the emotion and obsession in his heart.

And now, when the news of Zhu Ling's generous death in order to be able to ascend the throne smoothly and justifiably reached his ears, Zhu Zhan Yan really realized one thing clearly.

Now he is not only able to control the life and death of a person, a group of people, and even a country in just a few words, but also because of his own desires, predicaments, and futures, etc., so that the people he values die for himself.

It was only at this time that Zhu Zhanyan realized that he had not been mature enough.

……

It's night.

Zhu Ping stood at the door of the tent and looked at Zhu Zhanyan not far away with a worried expression.

After learning the news of Zhu Ling's death, Zhu Zhan Yan drove him and the guards of the prince who delivered the message away, and sat alone on the hill south of the camp.

Until it was dark, the grain of rice was not eaten, and not a drop of water was entered.

From the time he became Zhu Zhan's personal guard to the present, he had never seen Zhu Zhanyan like this, which made him a little worried.

But in fact, Zhu Zhanyan is just reflecting.

Reflect on yourself and on what you have done.

Sitting on the hill, looking at the bright moon and stars in the sky, Zhu Zhanyan figured out a lot of things.

In the ninth year of Yongle, at his suggestion and under his facilitation, his father Zhu Gaoxu gave up the forces that he had worked hard and gathered for many years, and the family went to Yunnan to take up the domain.

At that time, Zhu Zhanyan just felt that his father would not have a better development in Beijing, the position of the crown prince was destined to be his uncle's, and it was unbreakable, and the old man was also a referee who pulled his hands.

In such a situation, instead of wasting time in Beijing, it is better to give up everything accumulated before, go to Yunnan, where the emperor is far away, and make a new career there.

But in retrospect, the decision highlights its immaturity.

Most of the generals' camp regard you as the backbone, and maybe they also have such thoughts as the ministers of the dragon, but no matter how they say, they are sparing no effort to help you and help you get that position.

But what about yourself?

Walked away, indeed, this did not have much impact on himself and his father at that time, but it was a relief, but what about the military generals' camp?

From the beginning of the Jingnan period to the ninth year of Yongle's accession, the thirteen years of support were lost overnight.

That's not all, since the separation of the civil and military families, the fight between the civil and military generals has never stopped, and the civil ministers have always pressed the generals.

Supporting Zhu Gaoxu, who represents the guise of a military general, is the hope of the generals.

However, the departure of his own family not only took away the hope of the generals, but also made them fall into the situation of being suppressed by Wenchen again, even more violently than before.

Except for the time when he was a vassal officer, it was the same in the matter of dealing with the throne.

Many people think that Zhu Zhanyan is hypocritical, and they think that he is both a man and a stander, and he wants to be the emperor and fame, just like Emperor Taizong back then.

But in fact, Zhu Zhanyan really doesn't have much obsession with that position.

Regarding the throne, Zhu Zhanyan corrected his mentality a long time ago.

Zhu Zhanyan has always wanted to be an emperor, and it would be good to be an emperor for a while, in fact, he knows how tiring the emperor's job is.

Wake up earlier than the chicken, sleep later than the dog, and every day you have to watch out whether the civil official wants to pry your family, whether the military generals will support the army and respect themselves, and whether anyone covets your position......

Even if none of these situations have occurred, you still have to watch out for whether the officials under your command are using the power in their hands to do a lot of evil, bully the market, and extort tyranny.

After all, the embankment of a thousand miles collapsed in an anthill.

At that time, King Wu controlled Shuntianfu, and although Zhu Zhanyan at that time focused on the battlefield of the Western Expedition to Europe, he still experienced the feeling of being an emperor when he came back a few times.

In this regard, he only wants to say one word: tired.

Every day, there are endless excerpts, endless opinions, and endless situations.

Therefore, whether others say that he is hypocritical, or that he is both a man and a stand, he has never been in a hurry, and even decided to evacuate Shuntian after determining that Zhu Qizhen would most likely not grow into a wise monarch.

However, at that time, he never imagined how many people would be disappointed by his decision.

It's like Zhu Ling......

Thinking of Zhu Ling, Zhu Zhanyan sighed softly again.

Growing up with him since he was a child, maybe in Zhu Ling's mind, he is destined to be the one who sits on the throne, right? Otherwise, he might not have accepted his father's orders, and chose to die generously in order for himself to sit on the throne smoothly and justifiably.

Thinking of this, Zhu Zhanyan slowly stood up and gently patted his legs, which were a little numb from sitting for a long time.

Zhu Ping, who had been paying attention to Zhu Zhanyan in the back, saw this, his eyes lit up, and he walked quickly behind Zhu Zhanyan.

"Your Royal Highness, there is food hot on the stove, do you want to eat first?"

"Zhu Ping." Zhu Zhanyan took a deep breath, turned around and looked straight at Zhu Ping.

"Pass the order, let the prince guard pick two skilled horsemen to cross the Yellow River first, and go to find the army of Yexian."

"After Zhu Ling's incident, he must have been startled at first, and after knowing the news of the imminent arrival of our army, he will most likely choose to retreat."

"Of course, it's best if he doesn't retreat."

"Let him inform him and send me back the corpses of Emperor Ming and Zhu Ling in their entirety!"

"If he is obedient, I will consider leaving him a whole corpse, and I can also consider adopting a gentle policy for those herdsmen on the grassland who are interested in joining the Ming Dynasty."

But if he is disobedient...... Then let him wait to be nailed to the pillar of shame in the history of the Northern Yuan Dynasty! ”

"When the time comes, I will treat them the same way I treat them! Not a single one to stay! ”

"Yes!" Zhu Ping was violently excited, and replied loudly.

……

Seeing Zhu Ping leave very excitedly, Zhu Zhan Yan stood on the hill and looked condescendingly at the Ming army camp below.

At this moment, he finally understood that being the emperor was different from what he thought at the beginning.

Being an emperor is never a matter of one person, but a family, a family, and even all those who follow you.

In the past, he was not mature enough, and his ideas were too selfish, and he always thought that the emperor should be the emperor if he wanted to, and if he didn't want to be, he should not be.

But now he understands that Zhao Kuangyin of the Northern Song Dynasty was added to the yellow robe, which may not be an excuse he was looking for.

……

With the issuance of Zhu Zhan's order, it was not only Zhu Ping who was excited, but the entire Ming army camp was excited.

Many people don't know why they are excited, but they can't help but feel excited when they look at the excitement of the people around them.

In the dark night, the two figures quickly left the Ming army camp and headed towards the west.

In comparison, the one at this moment is not very good.

After Zhu Ling committed suicide in front of Ye Xian after killing Zhu Qizhen, Ye Xian knew that the matter was big and immediately began to retreat.

When Zhu Zhanyan received the news of Zhu Ling's death, he was already out of Ningxia Zhongwei, and he was about to retreat to Yibula Mountain at this time.

Don't look at the emperor who dared to unite with the Eastern Chagatai Khanate before, or even go south to the Ming Dynasty and capture the Ming Dynasty, but that was when he had a countermeasure.

As he thought at the beginning, as long as he offered Zhu Qizhen and surrendered to the Ming Dynasty as a weak party, at least Zhu Zhanyan would not do things absolutely.

But now it's different.

Although Zhu Ling and Zhu Qizhen were not killed by him, who would believe them when they said it?

And most importantly...... It is also very clear that he is not the opponent of the Ming army led by Zhu Zhanyan.

Others don't know, but he knows, because after the Ming army went west to Europe, especially after the pacification of the Eastern European battlefield, many fleeing Europeans crossed Siberia, entered the north of Asia, and even entered the range of activities of Warat.

From the mouths of those people, they also got more information about Zhu Zhanyan first, and also got the power of weapons such as white phosphorus eggs and fire oil bombs, which can be said to be dehumanizing.

No one wants to die, and no one wants to make senseless sacrifices...... And even more so first.

(End of chapter)