Father can be an enemy country

Chapter 1348: He is the real father

"Is Lao Si so bold?" Boss Zhu's eyes, which had been narrowed all the time, suddenly widened and he said angrily, "What does he regard as military orders? What does he regard as military law? And what does he regard as our imperial edict?"

"The fourth brother is indeed wrong this time..." the prince sighed.

"He's more than wrong. He's guilty!" Boss Zhu became more and more angry as he spoke. He slammed the table and said, "And Lao Liu, how did he manage to be a military supervisor? Lao Si went missing, why didn't he report it immediately?!"

"Because we could no longer contact the army at that time, it would be useless to report it. It would only make father angry." The prince hurriedly explained on behalf of the sixth brother.

The prince understood Zhu Zhen's difficulties very well, because in the past, he was the one who cleaned up the mess for his troublesome brother...

"Well, let's not talk about him for now." Zhu Zhen had really worked hard and made great contributions. Even Zhu Yuanzhang, a scumbag father, couldn't bear to blame him, so he focused his firepower on the fourth brother and said, "Send a message to the sixth brother immediately, and tell him to quickly send the beast of the fourth brother into the city. I will personally skin that beast and let him know what it means to not violate military orders and military discipline!"

"Oh, I understand." The prince knew that it was useless to persuade his father when he was angry. Besides, it was still a long time before the fourth prince would be sent back to the capital. So he nodded to indicate that he had taken note.

"And Lan Yu, he's quite capable! First, report a victory report, let us be happy, and praise him to the sky. Then report the matter of the fourth brother, so that we may not be able to punish him immediately because the tone is too high!" Zhu Yuanzhang said, crumpling up the half-drafted "love letter" on the table, holding it in his hand, and said hatefully:

"Wei Qing and Li Jing would never play tricks on their emperor!"

"..." The prince sighed inwardly after hearing this. Lan Yu was also caught in an unexpected disaster. The good situation was actually messed up by the fourth brother. Now the Duke, who was set in stone, was in danger.

~~
Things were outrageous enough at this point, but even more outrageous news came back a few days later... Lan Yu further reported that he sent people to chase them for 600 miles, all the way to the Kerulen River, but still failed to catch up with the Prince of Yan and his entourage.

Lan Yu reported that he had sent Geng Zhong to continue the pursuit, and also attached the handwritten letter left by Zhu Di:
'The Yuan Lord fled to Hara and Forest, and we are going to chase him. Tell the third child not to worry about him, he will come back when he catches him. '

"We're going to chase them? Chase your mother's legs!" Zhu Yuanzhang slammed the table again, and said angrily: "We've already chased them for 600 miles, and we still want to chase them, are we going to chase them to the horizon?!"

"The fourth brother is like this..." the prince said helplessly.

"Does he know what's going on in Mobei? Does he have enough food and grass? Isn't he afraid of never coming back?" Zhu Yuanzhang pounded the table and roared, "What's even more abominable is that the army could have returned victoriously, but because of him, they were forced to stay in Mobei and take unnecessary risks. He really deserves death!"

"After receiving Lan Yu's report, the Sixth Brother and Fu Youde ordered the army to return, and only sent 20,000 people to the west to meet the Fourth Brother." The prince smiled bitterly and said, "But the Third Brother insisted on leading the team, so Lan Yu had no choice but to let him do it..."

"What? The third son is gone too?!" Zhu Yuanzhang was stunned. Well, another son's life or death was in doubt.

"Not only the third son, but also the sixth, second, and fifth sons went." The prince said to his father in advance, "And the eleventh and twelfth sons also wanted to go, but were forced to stay in Daning by the sixth son."

Zhu Yuanzhang almost choked up, and said with trembling lips: "What has possessed them? Do they have to line up to die?"

"It's like this." The prince explained quickly: "The sixth son was really worried about them, and with Nahachu's men as guides, they could cross the desert and take a shortcut to Karakorum, so he also led 20,000 troops to the north to support them. At this time, the second son happened to have arrived in Daning with 50,000 Shaanxi soldiers. After learning about this, he insisted on following them with 20,000 soldiers... The fifth son, of course, had to escort them, and this is the situation." "Okay, okay, now we're going to kill them all." Zhu Yuanzhang was so angry that he was about to have a heart attack. He gasped and said: "Originally, we only thought we had lost one son. Now, one has become five. If anything happens to them, how can we live?"

"Father, take care." The prince rubbed his chest and sighed, "I can understand it. The five brothers grew up together and experienced so many dangers and tests together. They don't say it, but in their hearts they regard each other as more important than themselves..."

If he hadn't seen his old father almost dying of anger, he would have wanted to go to Mobei...

"They are only concerned about their brotherhood. Aren't they afraid that their old father will worry to death?" Zhu Yuanzhang said with great resentment, "Are we so unimportant in their hearts?"

"What does this have to do with anything? It's not Father who is in danger." The prince comforted him, "If they were in another place, they would definitely go to help Father."

"We won't put ourselves in danger!" Zhu Yuanzhang said with a frown, "We send our sons to the front line to let the soldiers see that our sons are with them and are not causing trouble for them?!"

"Alas, a general is not subject to the orders of the emperor when he is away from home. They are gone, so there is no point for father to worry." The prince comforted his old father, "Look at the bright side, the sixth and third brothers are gone, there is nothing to worry about."

"How can we not worry?" Zhu Yuanzhang cursed, "Winter is coming to Mobei soon. If we are not careful, people will freeze to death. Do you understand?!"

"The Sixth Brother has definitely considered this, so don't worry, Father." The prince said softly, "If even the Sixth Brother is not trusted in what he does, then no one else can be trusted."

"What we are most worried about is him..." Zhu Yuanzhang sighed and whispered, "This family and this country cannot do without him."

"Yes." The prince agreed deeply.

When Zhu Yuanzhang thought of the culprit who caused all this, he gnashed his teeth and said, "Send an order to Lao Liu, tie up that beast as soon as you find him, give him 200 military sticks first, and then tie him to the military flag for public display!"

"Father, even if you want to torture him, you have to wait until he returns. How can we march thousands of miles if we severely injure the fourth child?" The prince pleaded.

"Torture must be used as soon as possible, otherwise the soldiers' resentment will not be resolved and the army's morale will be broken." Zhu Yuanzhang himself was a private and understood the soldiers' mentality too well.

"You can't hit him so many times, or he'll kill the fourth brother." The prince had no choice but to settle for the next best option.

"It's a relief for him to die. Otherwise, we will execute him after returning to Beijing!" Zhu Yuanzhang said murderously.

The fourth brother's behavior this time really offended Boss Zhu. In Zhu Yuanzhang's view, this was a much greater sin than the seventh, eighth, and tenth brothers.

So the prince begged desperately, but all he did was reduce the number of military sticks from 200 to 80, and changed the process of tying the sticks to the flagpole for public display to a circle around the camp...

(End of this chapter)