Chapter 114

"Your Majesty asks for a strategy, and I offer a strategy; there is not a shred of emotion in it."

The corner of Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Yuanzhang's mouth twitched slightly.

It felt as if ten thousand horses were galloping in his heart.

Was this really without a shred of emotion?

This was hating him for not dying!

"You..."

Looking at Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Yuanzhang's furious appearance.

A glimmer of hope inevitably surfaced in Su Qiao's eyes.

However.

Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Yuanzhang's words came to an abrupt halt.

Only then did he remember.

It was not Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Yunwen who had been surrounded.

It was that fellow Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Qizhen.

Hmm...

In that single instant.

Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Yuanzhang suddenly felt that all of this made perfect sense.

"This idea is not bad!"

Su Qiao: ...?????

"No, Your Majesty, this... you... the Imperial Grandson."

This wasn't Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Yunwen digging up my ancestral grave.

This was Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Yunwen digging up his own ancestral grave, wasn't it?

After realizing this strategy was being asked on behalf of Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Qizhen.

Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Yuanzhang felt even more that this stratagem was reasonable, and sat aside with a look of gratification.

He actually began nodding in approval.

"Good, very good!"

"The more I think about this method, the better it seems!"

"We must make these Tartars—no, make these Japanese pirates pirates unable to resist coming, even if they know it is a trap!"

For a brief moment.

Su Qiao somewhat suspected that Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Yuanzhang had obtained a paternity test report between himself and Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Yunwen.

Having said this, Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Yuanzhang waved his hand at Su Qiao and said,

"That will do; you have no further business here, you may return."

Su Qiao stared blankly at Commander Commander Jiang Huang.

Before Commander Commander Jiang Huang could even step forward.

Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Yuanzhang clicked his tongue with gratification and said,

"There is no need to send him back to the Imperial Prison."

"He has suffered quite a bit in the cell these past days; let him go home and rest for a few."

"I'll give you lad a few days of leave."

Su Qiao was completely numb.

"Then, what about my sentence of execution pending review?"

Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Yuanzhang smiled brightly, patted Su Qiao on the shoulder, and laughed,

"Rest assured, I have pardoned you!"

"Pardoned?!"

520

"It's pardoned just like that?!"

Ten thousand horses galloped uncontrollably in Su Qiao's heart.

It's pardoned just like that for me?!

I worked so hard to get a sentence of execution pending review.

And now it's all thrown away just because I tricked Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Yunwen once?!

Is there any justice left?!

"No, Your Majesty..."

Just as Su Qiao was about to speak.

Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Yuanzhang waved his hand impatiently and said,

"Enough, hurry back and rest; there is nothing more for you here. I must go check on Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Yunwen; you all leave first."

Before Su Qiao could even react.

Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Yuanzhang broke into a light trot and ran out of the Eastern Palace.

As if afraid Su Qiao would chase after him.

I originally thought my crime would be increased by one degree.

How is it that even the original sentence of execution pending review is lost?!

Did I spend these few months in the great prison for nothing?!

"Director Commander Commander Jiang..."

Commander Commander Jiang Huan smiled brightly at Su Qiao and said,

"Lord Su, congratulations; you are the first in our Great Ming to enter and exit our Imperial Prison twice."

"You... I... this."

Just as Su Qiao was floundering in the Eastern Palace,

in another spacetime, Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Qizhen watched the expression on Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Yuanzhang's face.

Immediately, an ominous premonition arose in his heart.

Suspended in midair, Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Qizhen still turned to look at Zhu Di beside him.

"Great-grandfather, Great-great-grandfather ignores me, but you cannot ignore me!"

"I am the Emperor of the Great Ming! Three hundred men are truly not enough!"

"For this outing of mine, I brought over three hundred cooks alone!"

98, Esen: Whoever captures the Son of Heaven of the Great Ming alive shall be rewarded with a thousand taels of gold and an fief of ten Battalion Commander!

"Three hundred men?"

"Who told you it was three hundred men?"

Zhu Di turned and shouted loudly to Fan Zhong behind him,

"Fan Zhong!"

"This subordinate is present."

"Select three elite warriors for His Majesty!"

"Three?!"

Fan Zhong stared at Zhu Di, dumbfounded.

"Your Majesty, three?"

"Yes, just three."

Zhu Di sat upright in the central command, eyeing Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Qizhen beside him with keen interest.

"Did Esen not say he would not come? Did he not say he would not show himself?"

"We intend to make Esen know that if he does not return, he will regret it for the rest of his life!"

Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Qizhen looked at Zhu Di and pleaded bitterly,

"Great-grandfather, your subject is not cut out for this; three men are not enough, three men are not enough!"

Zhu Di stared fixedly at Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Qizhen and roared,

"So you know you are not cut out for it?!"

"Then why did you not attend to matters sooner?!"

"An imperial expedition must look like an imperial expedition! You must know that without me, you would have already been captured by Esen by now!"

Finally, Zhu Di stared fixedly at Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Qizhen and whispered lowly:

"Furthermore, I must tell you one thing, and you had better remember it."

"There are only Zhu family members who die in battle; none who flee back."

"The men of our Zhu family must possess blood and backbone!"

A trace of ruthlessness suddenly surfaced on Zhu Di's person.

Through these few days of living together from dawn to dusk, Zhu Di had also seen clearly.

On Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Qizhen's person, there were still traces of Zhu Zhu Zhanji's shadow.

It was just that for some reason, Zhu Zhu Zhanji had actually passed away so early.

Having grown up since childhood within the deep palace, Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Qizhen had the intention but had not yet been cultivated with the capability.

Having been scolded by Zhu Di, Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Qizhen's figure could not help but tremble slightly.

And then he could only accept this reality before his eyes.

At present, the only buff Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Qizhen possessed was this chat group.

Looking at Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Qizhen, who had been forcibly dragged onto a warhorse, Fan Zhong spoke with some worry:

"Your Majesty, His Majesty has been raised since childhood within the deep palace; aren't these three people a bit too few?"

Hearing this, Zhu Di's eyebrows inevitably lowered, and he whispered lowly:

"I initially did not expect that little rascal wouldn't even live to be forty years old."

"This child's foundation is actually passable; it is just that he ascended the throne too early and hasn't had time to temper his muscles and bones yet."

"If this battle is won, I can then cultivate another emperor capable of guarding the nation's gates for the myriad people under heaven; why would one not do it?"

Fan Zhong looked at Zhu Di excitedly and said:

"Your Majesty, but, but what if we lose? If anything should happen to His Majesty."

Hearing Fan Zhong's question, Zhu Di could not help but fall into deep thought.

Only after a long while did he laboriously lift his head, look at Fan Zhong, and ask:

"If we lose, why do I feel as though it would bring even greater benefit to the Great Ming?"

Fan Zhong: "..."

In the Great Ming during the Zhengtong era, only Zhu Di would dare to speak such words.

But setting aside hierarchy and status.

Zhu Di's statement.

Seemed, to have some logic!

Several hours later.

The Son of Heaven of the Great Ming, Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Qizhen, personally led three Embroidered Uniform Guard cavalrymen and abruptly appeared amidst the clustered mountains.

It was not until the moment he was driven out of the military camp while on his warhorse that Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Qizhen realized.

That the battlefield was far from being as fun as he had imagined.

Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Qizhen rode his horse all the way to a section of the Great Wall beacon tower.

Inside the beacon tower, more than ten corpses lay scattered haphazardly.

No one had collected their bodies, because the fortresses located ten-plus li south of this place had all been eliminated one by one by the Oirat army.

Kings, marquises, generals, and ministers throughout the ages have reaped all the great achievements in history.

Yet these soldiers who truly guarded the borders cannot be seen leaving even a ripple in the historical records.

This is war!

There is absolutely no romantic war under heaven.

As long as it is war, it is definitely cruel and bloody.

It was not until climbing the beacon tower and gazing out at the boundless grassland that Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Qizhen realized what a terrible decision he had made.

Tens of thousands of soldiers died on the battlefield just because of his ignorance.

Regarding the Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Qizhen in history.

Perhaps he achieved nothing in military affairs.

But Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Qizhen absolutely qualifies as a good person.

This is not only because Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Qizhen abolished the Ming Dynasty's system of concubines and consorts being buried alive with the deceased.

The Yangji Northern Northern Yuan (Hospices for the Destitute), established by Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Yuanzhang in those years for the court to adopt all widowers, widows, orphans, childless elderly, and the disabled throughout the land, was also implemented and promoted by Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Qizhen.

Until the early Chenghua era, the Yangji Northern Northern Yuan of Shuntian Prefecture alone, funded by the court, had taken in nearly ten thousand widowed, orphaned, and lonely elderly people, providing daily porridge and vegetables, meat once a month, with all expenses appropriated by the court.

This was the limit that a feudal empire based primarily on a small-peasant economy could support.

In contrast, looking at the so-called "Kang-Qian Prosperous Era" of the Qing Dynasty, the Yangji Northern Northern Yuan across the entire province of Sichuan took in no more than nine hundred and eighty widowed, orphaned, and lonely individuals.

One entire province could not match a single prefecture; the difference in quality was immediately apparent.

Looking at the skeletal remains on the Great Wall, Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Qizhen, whose mentality was no different from a child's, suffered a significant shock deep within his heart.

Just as Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Qizhen was undergoing a fierce "internal struggle" deep within his heart.

In the deep mountains in the distance.

Several Oirat scouts were also slapping their own faces in disbelief.

"Batu, is this the Son of Heaven of the Great Ming?"

"Nonsense, this is Han territory; could there be anyone else full enough to have nothing better to do than wear dragon robes?"

"No, then what are we waiting for! With only three people by his side, if we few brothers go directly forward, tie up this Son of Heaven of the Great Ming, wouldn't that be a merit soaring to the heavens?!"

"Do you not wish to live anymore?!"

"Useless as this little emperor may be, he is still the Emperor of Great Ming."

"Do not be fooled by the appearance of these three being too weak to tie up a chicken; they are undoubtedly experts from Great Ming's inner palace, and you and I may not be their match."

"..."

The emperor's status was simply that valuable.

Even if he stood stark naked before ordinary people,

no commoner would dare harbor the slightest wicked thought.

One could always suspect that some expert capable of turning clouds with a flip of the hand was hiding nearby in the shadows to protect him.

These several guards did not dare delay for even a moment.

Immediately, they rushed back at top speed to Esen's tent to report to Esen.

Upon the vast grasslands,

Esen still had not recovered from the shock of that night.

A man who had been dead for over twenty years

had suddenly come back to life and nearly taken his own life.

Anyone in such a situation would doubt their very existence.

Could it be that Zhu Di had been feigning death all these twenty-plus years?

No, that cannot be right.

Even if he had feigned death, Zhu Di should be over ninety years old by now!

The person he saw that night looked nothing like a man in his nineties.

He looked exactly the same as the Yongle Emperor Esen had seen in his youth!

Just as Esen was doubting his very existence,

Esen's younger brother, Hearing Hearing Bayan Temür, entered the tent with two scouts, their faces brimming with joy.

"Brother, great news!"

"What is it?"

"That little emperor has made another foolish move; he is currently touring the border with only three companions!"

Hearing Hearing Hearing Bayan Temür's words, Esen's body trembled involuntarily.

"Three people? Touring the border?!"

The two scouts behind him immediately stated with absolute certainty,

"We definitely did not see wrong; it was indeed Great Ming's dragon robe, strolling leisurely along the Great Wall."