Father can be an enemy country

Chapter 1349 Waiting for the Day

In the following days, Boss Zhu inevitably fell into anxiety, ten times more anxious than when he first marched south.

The fourth brother naturally became his emotional outlet. Boss Zhu would issue an edict to Zhu Zhen every now and then. He would first ask a few questions about their movements, then scold the fourth brother for being lawless, disloyal and unfilial, and finally swear to give the fourth brother all kinds of outrageous punishments!
Including but not limited to being torn apart by five horses, skinning and stuffing with straw, and slow slicing to death... So the sixth brother had no way of showing the imperial edict to his brothers. Otherwise, their father-son relationship would be almost over.

Zhu Yuanzhang suffered from insomnia for whole nights. When he finally fell asleep, he either dreamed that his sons were ambushed and captured by the Mongols, or that a sudden snowstorm in the northern desert froze them all to death... He became even more worried.

The more I worry, the worse I sleep. The worse I sleep, the more nightmares I have. The more nightmares I have, the more worried I become... It's a vicious cycle.

If you don’t sleep well at night, you will feel tired during the day. Not only will your speed in reading and replying to posts drop sharply, but you will even be in a daze during court sessions.

Seeing the emperor sitting on the dragon throne in silence with a donkey face and dark circles under his eyes, the ministers, who had just relaxed for a few days, were worried again. The first thing they did when they returned home from court every day was to burn incense and pray to the princes to return safely. If anything happened to those princes, they would all be dead...

Zhu Yuanzhang was in such a bad mood that even Li Shanchang was affected. At the morning court session that day, seeing the emperor's haggard expression, Li Shanchang advised: "Your Majesty, don't worry too much. The princes are blessed by heaven and will surely return safely."

Zhu Yuanzhang got angry when he heard this: "You think we are worrying too much? Send an order to send the youngest son of Duke Hanguo to Mobei, so that he can understand our feelings!"

"Your Majesty, please calm down. My youngest son is only eight years old..." Li Shanchang knelt down immediately.

"Look, you're already so scared before it's even been delivered!" Zhu Yuanzhang spat and said, "In the future, you should talk less while standing."

"Yes..." Li Shanchang was sweating profusely and dared not talk nonsense anymore.

~~
The only thing that made Boss Zhu feel at ease was that Zhu Zhen could send back messages regularly to report their movements.

On October 5, they received a report from Zhu Zhen on September 15, saying that they had already met up with Zhu Gang and his party in the Bayanaobao area.

He also learned from Zhu Gang that Geng Zhong, before setting out, had already searched the area around the Tula River, where he discovered the battlefield where the Mongols had killed each other, as well as the marks left by the Prince of Yan and his entourage.

Five days later, Zhu Yuanzhang received another report from Zhu Zhen saying that they had arrived in the Tula River area and that they were certain that the Northern Yuan emperor had been killed by the Oirat tribe while fleeing westward. The Qiexue troops protecting the Northern Yuan emperor were almost wiped out in this battle. But the Northern Yuan emperor should have fled north, so the Oirat people and Lao Si's party also went north to pursue him.

This made Zhu Yuanzhang's heart rise to his throat. What he feared was really what happened. It seemed that a fierce battle was inevitable. Fortunately, Lao Liu brought many people with him, otherwise these rebellious sons would really have to die in Mobei.

This was also the most anxious period for Zhu Yuanzhang. He had no appetite and was eagerly waiting for Lao Liu to update every day.

In order to get the news as soon as possible, he ordered that the report from Mobei be delivered to him as soon as possible without going through the prince.

This put the prince in great trouble, and he joined the team that was waiting anxiously, staying in Wenhua Hall every day just to get the news earlier.

As a result, they had to wait for ten days before Zhu Zhen sent the next report, which made the father and son very tired.

Zhu Biao could not wait to grab the letter from the eunuch and just as he was about to read it, Zhu Yuanzhang said anxiously, "Bring it here so we can read it together."

He placed the letter on the imperial desk and read it with Zhu. Zhu Zhen reported that the scouts found that the Yan Wang's troops were engaged in a fierce battle with the Oirat people. But the fourth brother and his entourage came and went like the wind, and their whereabouts were erratic, so the scouts could not find them either.

The situation was urgent, so he decided to release a large number of Kongming lanterns every night to see if he could get in touch with Lao Si. At the same time, the army camped nearby at Langjuxu Mountain, waiting for Lao Si to join them... "Is that all?" Zhu Yuanzhang turned to the back of the letter with an unsatisfied look, but there was not a single word. He immediately slammed the table in anger and said, "I've waited for ten days, and you only show me this?"

"Yeah, this is too short." The prince was also dissatisfied and frowned, "And after watching it, I am even more worried about them."

"That's right." Zhu Yuanzhang shouted angrily, "What happened next?!"

"Then we have to wait for Lao Liu's report." The prince smiled bitterly and said, "I guess we can get in touch with him in the next report..."

"Oh, I hope so." Zhu Yuanzhang was once again in a state of worry, and said with a bitter face: "Actually, we are fine, the key is your mother. She has just recovered, and she can't stand such a big stimulation."

"Yes, although my mother didn't ask, she burned incense and chanted in the Buddhist temple every day, and she was worried." The prince also said sadly: "Next time, there must be good news..."

~~
Next, Boss Zhu and his family spent the longest five days of their lives...

On the morning of October 25, outside the Jiangdong Gate, there was a hurried sound of horse bells. The civilians and merchants waiting in line to enter the city, as well as the defenders on and off the city walls, all looked in the direction of the sound and saw a team of messengers with red flags on their backs and gongs hanging from their waists galloping in.

When people saw the bright red flags on the backs of the messengers, they shouted with joy: "Red flags announce victory! Red flags announce victory!"

The common people of the Ming Dynasty all knew that messengers would only carry red flags on their backs when reporting victory!
The people quickly moved their horses and carriages, and the defenders removed the barricades at the city gate, allowing the messengers to enter the city quickly.

The messenger rushed all the way through the capital, and wherever he went, officials and citizens cheered and rejoiced. When the messenger arrived at the imperial palace in the southeast corner of the capital, the entire capital had turned into a sea of ​​celebration.

The messenger galloped all the way to the gate of Xihua before he pulled the reins and jumped off the horse.

At Xihuamen, eunuchs from the Wuying Palace were guarding there every day, waiting for news from the front line.

When the eunuch saw the messenger with the red flag announcing victory, he asked loudly, "Did the Sixth Prince send it?!"

"That's right!" the messenger responded and took out the copper cylinder sealed with wax from his back.

"Come with us." The eunuch led the messenger and trotted into the palace and came to the Wuying Hall.

Then he took the copper cylinder from the messenger and quickly walked into the palace to report: "Your Majesty, there is new news."

"Oh..." The prince took two steps at a time and walked to him, took the letter box, unscrewed the seal, took out the letter inside, unfolded it and read it once, then read it again...

"What exactly is it about?" Zhu Yuanzhang leaned over the imperial desk and asked urgently, "Can you please stop keeping us in suspense?"

"The Sixth and Fourth Brothers have reunited at Mount Langjuxu." The prince could not hold back his tears and choked up as he said, "They also wiped out more than 70,000 Oirat soldiers, captured the Northern Yuan Emperor Toghon Temur, the crown prince Tianbaonu, the leader of the Oirat tribe Yesudier and others, and took the imperial seal of the Yuan Dynasty!"

(End of this chapter)