Chapter 178: Zhu Biao: Father! Zhu Ying's son looks exactly like Xiongying!

For Zhu Yuanzhang, occupying the Yuan capital and seizing the dozens of cities built by Northern Yuan was nothing more than gaining some population and territory.

As long as Northern Yuan still existed.

The threat from the north would still be like a sword hanging high, ready to invade Great Ming at any time.

As long as Northern Yuan still existed, the northern border would never have peace.

Therefore, his greatest wish was to disintegrate Northern Yuan and make it fall into a state of fragmentation.

This was the true purpose of the Northern Expedition and the greatest result of the battle.

After the ministers retreated, Zhu Yuanzhang called out softly: "Biao'er."

Then, his gaze carrying expectation and even more concern, he asked: "Do you think this time, our Northern Expedition army can disintegrate Northern Yuan?"

The current Zhu Yuanzhang was already old and frail; his heart was filled only with clearing all obstacles for Zhu Biao in the future and solving all difficulties one by one.

Only in this way could Zhu Biao fully develop the people's livelihood in the future and make Great Ming increasingly prosperous.

Becoming an existence like Emperor Wen of Han.

In this way.

Future history books would surely have the story of him and his son.

"Father."

Zhu Biao smiled and said with a firm expression: "The results achieved by the Northern Expedition army this time have long exceeded our expectations."

"Originally, we envisioned that if the Northern Expedition army could strike the Northern Yuan capital within a year, it would be a great victory."

"But now, in less than eight months, such brilliant results have been achieved, which is extremely rare."

"I believe the Northern Expedition army will definitely not let us down."

In his words.

Zhu Biao was full of confidence in the Northern Expedition army, without any doubt.

"Hmm." Zhu Yuanzhang nodded; after Zhu Biao said this, the heavy stone in his heart seemed to have fallen, and his expression relaxed a lot.

"By the way."

Zhu Yuanzhang seemed to have remembered something, a smile appearing on his face, and he asked: "A while ago you met Zhu Ying's wife and son, how did you feel? She is from a merchant background, did she have that merchant air?"

"She does not have a merchant air, but rather has the temperament of a young lady from a noble family," Zhu Biao smiled earnestly and said slowly: "Facing me, she did not show too much fear, her behavior was dignified and polite, and she is indeed worthy of Zhu Ying."

"As long as she is worthy, that's fine," Zhu Yuanzhang nodded slightly, then sighed softly, saying with a bit of regret: "What a pity, this Zhu Ying married too early, otherwise he could have become my granddaughter's husband."

At this time!

The expression on Zhu Biao's face became somewhat intriguing; he stared at his father and said slowly: "Father, do you believe that there is such a thing as reincarnation in this world?"

Hearing this, Zhu Yuanzhang was stunned for a moment, then asked with a smile: "Silly boy, what did you encounter?"

"Why would you say such things?"

"Whether there is reincarnation or not, I don't know, but if there really is, that would be good."

Mentioning reincarnation, a look of deep sadness appeared on Zhu Yuanzhang's weathered old face.

Clearly, he was thinking of his wife.

Reincarnation!

The bits and pieces of the past instantly surged into his heart.

If it were true, that would be a great thing.

"Father."

Zhu Biao looked up slightly, his gaze full of attachment and reminiscence: "I saw Zhu Ying's wife and son last time; do you know what I saw?"

"Zhu Ying's son looks exactly like Xiongying when he was a child."

"No, he looks exactly like Xiongying before he was two years old."

"If I hadn't watched Xiongying... sigh!"

"I really thought he was Xiongying."

Zhu Biao was full of emotion; he would only mention this in front of Zhu Yuanzhang.

After all, seeing someone so similar to Xiongying again felt like a lifetime ago, and that complex emotion was hard to describe.

Sometimes, Zhu Biao really hoped that the child was his Xiongying, reincarnated.

"Is he really that similar?" Zhu Yuanzhang looked at Zhu Biao's appearance and could not help but be somewhat surprised, asking.

"Hmm." Zhu Biao nodded heavily, his tone very serious: "Exactly the same! If it weren't so, why would I suddenly mention this?"

Speaking of this.

A bitter smile appeared on Zhu Biao's face, his heart filled with mixed feelings.

Seeing Zhu Biao like this, Zhu Yuanzhang stood up slowly, walked to his side, patted his shoulder lightly, and comforted him: "It's all in the past, everything is in the past."

Yuan capital!

In front of the city, intense murderous intent permeated, like a thick haze, shrouding the entire city. The entire Yuan capital had been surrounded layer by layer by the Great Ming army, airtight.

Four days ago, although the two garrison cities of Northern Yuan had three hundred thousand troops guarding them, these troops were already a defeated force, their morale low, like birds startled by the mere twang of a bowstring.

Facing the Northern Expedition momentum of Great Ming like a surging tide, after only three days of repeated attacks, with cannons firing and shaking the heavens and earth, those two garrison cities quickly fell, almost collapsing at a single blow.

Even though the Northern Yuan Grand Marshal Manzi tried his best to maintain the situation, he still could not stop the sharp military edge of the Great Ming army.

More than three hundred thousand Yuan soldiers instantly disintegrated, fleeing in all directions like birds and beasts.

After all, these Yuan soldiers were all pieced together from various tribes, and their hearts were not united.

Moreover, as the news of the Yuan Emperor secretly retreating north spread, although there was no clear notice, the military morale was even more scattered, like a pile of loose sand.

At this moment!

The Great Ming army launched a siege from three sides at the three city gates of the Yuan capital, leaving only the north gate.

This was precisely the strategy of "surrounding three sides and leaving one open."

If they surrounded all the Yuan soldiers, the Yuan soldiers in the city might fight to the death out of despair, and the battle would inevitably be extremely tragic.

But leaving a gap was completely different; the Yuan soldiers would have a glimmer of luck in their hearts, and their morale would further disintegrate.

This battle!

Was the key battle of the Northern Expedition.

Once this capital city was broken, Northern Yuan would usher in a curtain-call battle on the surface.

Even if the Yuan Emperor truly succeeded in fleeing, fleeing to the northern frontier, fleeing to their ancestral land, the name of Northern Yuan would also completely exist in name only.

After all, having lost the capital and lost many cities, Northern Yuan could no longer maintain the majesty of a dynasty and could only return to the state of former nomadic groups and nomadic tribes, being blocked outside the Great Wall by Great Ming, and its threat to Great Ming would also be much less than before.

"Where is the Daning border army?"

Zhu Ying rode the Wufeng treasure horse, holding a battle saber, and shouted loudly.

His voice was like thunder, resounding all around, carrying a chilling momentum.

"Kill, kill, kill."

Behind Zhu Ying, there were no longer any infantry, all were cavalry.

Through this Northern Expedition battle, Zhu Ying not only broke cities and killed enemies on the battlefield but also captured one hundred thousand Northern Yuan iron cavalry.

After a great battle, he used his military merit to request and successfully reorganized all the Daning infantry into cavalry, significantly increasing the army's combat power, making the Daning border army even more powerful, with everyone being cavalry.

"All soldiers!"

Zhu Ying's voice was low but full of power: "Follow me and kill!"

After saying this.

Zhu Ying slapped his warhorse hard, and Wufeng let out a high-pitched neigh, like a black lightning bolt, rushing swiftly toward the Yuan capital city gate in front, its speed so fast that it was worthy of being a treasure horse.

Liu Lei led the personal guards and waited quietly for a while.

When Zhu Ying had opened a distance of fifty paces from them, Liu Lei shouted loudly: "Personal Guard Battalion, follow the General, kill!"

His voice was like thunder, carrying an indomitable momentum.

Following that, he led the personal guard cavalry like a surging flood, rushing toward the front, the sound of hooves shaking the earth slightly.

Zhu Ying was still as brave and fearless as usual.

On the city tower, arrows fell like locusts, but they could not hurt Zhu Ying in the slightest.

At this time, the morale of the Yuan soldiers on the city tower had long since fallen to the bottom, and even the defensive arrow rain became sparse, with no power at all.

Zhu Ying approached the city gate easily without much effort.

"Break!"

Zhu Ying roared, held his battle saber high, mobilized his whole body's strength, and surging internal breath surged, all added to the battle saber.

Then.

Zhu Ying slashed hard at the city gate in front of him, the momentum of which could be described as enough to slash everything open.

The moment the blade edge touched the city gate.

With only a loud "Boom," the powerful force instantly slashed the city gate open, internal breath vibrated, erupting with an invisible but extremely destructive explosive force, instantly shattering the huge city gate, iron filings splashing, sparks flying.

"The God of Slaughter... that God of Slaughter from the Ming country has come again."

"Zhu Ying!"

"It's that God of Slaughter Zhu Ying again."

"Retreat, retreat quickly."

"He is an evil ghost."

"We are no match for him at all."

"Retreat..."

The Yuan soldiers screamed in terror, their voices full of fear and despair.

Unlike in the past when breaking through cities, the Yuan soldiers would madly rush out to fight; at this moment, after Zhu Ying broke the city gate, those Yuan soldiers seemed to see the most terrifying monster in the world, scared into fleeing madly in all directions.

Even if there were Yuan generals trying to maintain order, it was of no avail in this chaotic situation.

Military morale had already scattered, morale was gone, and these Yuan soldiers wished they could grow a few more legs to flee this terrifying battlefield at the fastest speed.

But how could Zhu Ying let them go easily?

He waved his battle saber, and Wufeng, like a black stream of light, rushed directly to pursue the fleeing Yuan soldiers.

After Zhu Ying caught up with those Yuan soldiers, his battle saber danced with tiger-like wind, cold light flashing, and one Yuan soldier after another was easily beheaded by him.

"Killed Northern Yuan soldier, picked up 1 point of strength, picked up 5 days of lifespan."

"Killed Northern Yuan soldier, picked up 1 point of internal breath..."

For Zhu Ying, the pleasant prompt sound kept ringing in his mind.

Zhu Ying seized the opportunity, like a hungry beast, killing enemies madly, every time he swung his saber, it carried the vitality of several Yuan soldiers.

Behind Zhu Ying, Liu Lei led the personal guards like a sharp long spear, rushing in madly.

A large number of Daning cavalry also followed closely, rushing into the city like a surging tide, launching a mad slaughter.

Facing the Yuan soldiers who had lost their morale and were already defeated, the soldiers under Zhu Ying's command only followed one principle: those who held weapons and resisted, kill! Those who knelt to surrender and discarded their weapons, live!

Time passed slowly, and the entire Yuan capital city fell into chaos.

Especially at the north gate, countless people were scrambling to flee outside the city, the scene chaotic beyond compare.

Hundreds of thousands of people were crowded at the city gate, despair and fear spreading like a plague, every person's face full of panic.

At the north gate, besides the fleeing Yuan soldiers, there were also Northern Yuan nobles in the city, dragging their families along, their expressions flustered.

There were even many civilians involved in this torrent of flight; they were at a loss, just wanting to flee this city about to be swallowed by the flames of war as soon as possible.

Following the breaking of the two garrison cities, the Yuan court discussion stopped, and the Imperial Palace Imperial Guard seemed to have disappeared without a trace.

This sudden change made many nobles who were originally unaware panic.

They realized that the Emperor had run away, and the Ming army was about to break the city; where should they go?

So in the few days the Great Ming army attacked, people were fleeing everywhere in the Yuan capital city; even though the Grand Marshal Manzi tried his best to maintain order, he could not stop this wave of flight.

"Don't block it."

"Move aside quickly."

"The Ming army has already started attacking the city, run quickly."

"The city gate is blocked, those in front, move quickly."

"Quickly..."

At the north city gate of the Yuan capital, the noise and shouting intertwined, noisy beyond compare, the scene chaotic to the extreme.

They pushed and shoved each other, refusing to give way.

The originally extremely wide city gate was now blocked airtight, like a huge whirlpool, involving everyone, that kind of chaos and despair was suffocating.

As the capital city, the three city gates of the Yuan capital were now all blocked tightly.

One could imagine how terrifying this scene was, like the end of the world coming.

But at this moment, the Yuan army's defeat was set.

The city was chaotic, and it was not something the Yuan army could suppress, nor did they have the opportunity to suppress it.

Time passed quietly!

The situation in the Yuan capital city became increasingly chaotic, with defeated soldiers everywhere and refugees everywhere, the entire city seeming to fall into an endless dark abyss.

In the Imperial Palace, Manzi stood quietly in the hall, his eyes gazing complexly at the dragon throne.

That dragon throne once symbolized supreme power, but now it seemed to have become a joke, like the Jingkang Incident of the Song Dynasty reappearing.

"Your Majesty."

Manzi whispered to himself: "Although you abandoned this subordinate, you at least took this subordinate's family away."

"For this, this subordinate will repay you even with ten thousand deaths."

"Presumably, you are now safely back in the depths of the northern frontier, the Ming army shouldn't be able to catch up with you, right?"

His voice carried a trace of helplessness, and a trace of loyalty, echoing in the empty hall.

"Report."

A Yuan army general covered in blood ran into the hall in a hurry, reporting with a terrified expression: "Reporting to the Grand Marshal, the Ming army has already broken the city, and a large number of Ming army troops have killed their way into the city."

"My Great Yuan, has truly been defeated."

This general's voice was full of despair, as if the world collapsed at this moment.

Manzi turned around slowly, looking calmly at these generals in front of him, his face without the slightest blame.

After all, even the Emperor had fled, so what qualifications did he have to blame the army under his command?

Moreover, as early as after the two garrison cities were broken, a large number of troops had already retreated to the northern frontier and did not return to rescue the Yuan capital.

Even those who stayed in the Yuan capital only had a few tens of thousands of troops, and they were still fleeing madly at this moment.

"As long as the Emperor is still here, my Great Yuan still has hope of killing our way back."

Manzi said with a firm expression: "Generals, as subjects, as warriors, you have tried your best."

"Today, I will not stop you either."

"If you are willing to coexist with the country, then wait for the Ming army here with me."

"If you want to return to the northern frontier and save your lives, then take off your battle armor and mix into the refugees."

"The Ming army shouldn't attack civilians, escape in the chaos."

Manzi's voice carried fatigue, and a kind of determination, as if making a final struggle.

Hearing the sound!

Among these dozen or so generals, many immediately showed signs of being moved.

"Grand Marshal."

A general stepped forward, his expression anxious, looking at Manzi and saying: "This subordinate's family is still in the northern frontier; if this subordinate dies, then this subordinate's family will become slaves, this subordinate cannot die with the Grand Marshal."

"This subordinate is the same."

"Grand Marshal, take care."

"This subordinate takes his leave..."

Instantly, half of the generals retreated quickly; their figures appeared somewhat hurried in the hall, and they were even more terrified, fleeing in a sorry state.

"Generals."

Manzi laughed loudly, his laughter carrying a bit of tragedy: "You are all good sons and good warriors of my Great Yuan."

"Let us fight the last battle for Great Yuan."

After saying this.

Manzi drew the battle saber from his waist.

Following that.

He sat directly on the steps in front of the dragon throne, his eyes carrying unyielding fearlessness, waiting quietly.

The remaining nine generals also drew their battle sabers one after another; their faces were full of loyalty and determination, standing quietly beside Manzi, preparing to welcome the final battle.

Clearly, in any era, in any country, there would be loyal and righteous people.

Their loyalty and courage were worthy of admiration.

For them, perhaps for anyone, dying for the country was the most glorious way to die.

Time passed second by second.

"Kill, kill, kill."

"Those who hold weapons, kill."

"Lay down weapons and surrender, spare your lives."

"The Grand General has ordered that our Great Ming is a benevolent and righteous army, not slaughtering civilians at will; civilians returning to their homes can be spared from the scourge of war."

"If any soldiers mix into the civilians, kill them all."

"Kill..."

Countless shouts of killing rang out everywhere in the Yuan capital city, one after another, as if it were a passionate war song.

Countless Ming army troops rushed into the city like a surging tide.

Compared to the cruelty and inhumanity of foreign tribes, the soldiers of Great Ming were still restrained after killing their way into the city.

Because Guo Ying had issued strict military orders before the battle to restrain his troops and not slaughter at will.

After all.

This new Yuan capital city would be the territory of Great Ming, and the civilians inside would also become the subjects of Great Ming.

This was different from killing their way into the northern frontier, a place that could not be controlled; in the northern frontier, they could use the rules of the grassland tribes—those taller than a cart wheel, kill.

But in the city, Great Ming could completely control the situation.

After all, in the days of the prosperous Tang and the powerful Han, this place belonged to the territory of the Central Plains, the Hetao region.

At the palace gate, Zhu Ying held his battle saber high and swung it hard; with a loud "Boom," the palace gate shattered, iron filings splashing.

"Tell the brothers."

Before Zhu Ying rushed into the Imperial Palace, he shouted loudly: "After entering the Imperial Palace, loot and plunder openly."

"As long as you can take it, anything valuable can be taken away."

At this moment.

Zhu Ying's voice was full of heroism, announcing a grand carnival to the soldiers under his command.

"The General is wise."

The many Daning soldiers behind Zhu Ying shouted excitedly, each one excited, their eyes flashing with greedy light.

This bit of authority, Zhu Ying still had.

Moreover, Zhu Ying also knew that the Imperial Palace treasury had been transported away by the Yuan Emperor, but there must be some treasures left behind that could not be transported.

Through the reconnaissance of the golden eagle, Zhu Ying had long mastered the movements of the Yuan army.

Very quickly.

Zhu Ying led his army directly into this Yuan capital Imperial Palace.

This was also his first time breaking through the capital of a country and stepping into the Imperial Palace.

That sense of achievement made Zhu Ying's heart incredibly excited.

When Zhu Ying arrived at the Imperial Palace court discussion hall, Manzi and a group of generals were all standing up with battle sabers in hand, their expressions solemn.

Their eyes carried unwillingness and determination.

Clearly.

They were ready to welcome the death that was about to come.

Zhu Ying's large group of personal guards rushed directly into the hall and stood on all four sides, blocking all paths.

But without Zhu Ying's order, they did not make a move, just looking coldly at these Yuan generals.

"So many Yuan generals."

Zhu Ying looked at the Yuan generals in the hall, a smile appearing on his face: "It can be considered a great gift package left for me."

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 179 =====