Father can be an enemy country

Chapter 1352 Return
The northern border of Ming Dynasty.

After conquering the Wolf's Lair and abdicating the throne at Guyan, the army escorted the prisoners and returned to the capital along the route that Huo Piao's cavalry had taken.

The route is roughly from Hulanhushiwen to Sanxiakou, then across the Yinma River to Kaiping Prefecture, the former Yuanshangdu, and then back to Gyeongju.

If it is changed into the place names of later generations, it would be from Ulaanbaatar to Xilin Gol and then to Chifeng... The whole journey is 'only' more than 2,200 miles, which is already the shortest route.

Previously, when Zhu Zhen and the second brother sent troops to support the fourth brother, they also took this route. The military situation was urgent at the time, and they marched at high intensity throughout the journey. They arrived at Langjuxu Mountain in less than a month.

Now there was no urgent military information on the return journey, and the army was exhausted. They were carrying prisoners, so the marching speed naturally slowed down a lot. They only walked fifty miles a day, and it took a month and a half to return to Gyeongju.

It was already the end of winter, and the grassland was covered with snow again, turning it into a blanket of silver, just as it was when they set out on the expedition.

But the difference is that when the expedition was launched in February, this land still belonged to the Northern Yuan Dynasty. Now, it is the territory of the Ming Dynasty and is under the jurisdiction of the Daningdusi.

Fu Youde and Lan Yu led the generals to welcome the king's triumphant return forty miles outside Qingzhou City.

"Congratulations, Your Highness, on your successful mission. May your name be passed down through the ages for conquering the Wolf and Lair!" The two men came to Zhu Zhen's mount and bowed down.

"Hahaha, no need to bow, generals." Zhu Zhen dismounted, personally helped the two men up and said, "The real credit goes to you. I am just offering you a gift at the right time!"

"Hey, how could we not know that the prince played a very important role in this Northern Expedition, but he left all the limelight to us." Lan Yu said with a smile.

Zhu Zhen looked at him deeply. Perhaps because he had lost the fourth brother at the last minute and had been worried all the time, there was no arrogance on Lan Yu's face.

"Good, very good." Zhu Zhen patted his shoulder with satisfaction and said with a smile: "The credit will be left to you."

"Your Highness, we bow to thank you." The generals bowed again happily, and Fu Youde smiled and said, "Your Highness's sacrificial text for Fenglangjuxu is already known to the world, and the emperor will definitely reward us handsomely."

"That's exactly what we want." Zhu Zhen laughed, and saw from the corner of his eye that there was a dense row of empty prisoner cars behind the welcoming team. He asked, "Are these prepared for the prisoners?"

"Yes, the emperor has granted permission to the empress and the princes of the Northern Yuan Dynasty to ride in carriages to preserve their dignity. The rest of the captured princes and nobles will be brought to the capital in prison so that the people of the world will know that the remnant Yuan Dynasty has been destroyed!" Fu Youde said in a loud voice first.

After a pause, he whispered, "But there are three more prisoner carts, prepared for Prince Yan, Governor Ping, and Commander Zhang."

As he spoke, his eyes drifted behind Zhu Zhen, but he did not see the one he was looking for among the kings.

"Don't worry, my fourth brother won't defect." Zhu Zhen said calmly, "Because there is an imperial decree to send him to the capital, so I locked him up in the carriage."

As he spoke, he pointed to a tightly covered carriage behind him. The guard opened the door and saw Zhu Di lying inside.

In fact, Zhu Di was thick-skinned and tough, and with the help of Lao Wu, he could have turned over and walked on the ground long ago. But what would the soldiers think if they saw him running around after being beaten with 80 military sticks for more than a month?
Anyway, I don’t think it’s just because he is gifted…

Therefore, Zhu Di stayed in the carriage all the time. Even when he couldn't hold it anymore and came out to take a breath, he was on crutches. With his superb acting skills, everyone thought that His Royal Highness the Prince of Yan was still lame.

After Fu Youde and the others had inspected the goods, Zhu Zhen ordered the door to be closed, and then whispered to Fu Youde, "It's so cold, if you must ride in a prisoner car, can you wrap it in a blanket?"

"Yes, but when passing through the prefectures and counties, it must be removed so that the people can see clearly..." Fu Youde said with a wry smile, took out an imperial edict from his sleeve, handed it to him and said, "It's not that I want to be the bad guy, Your Majesty, you should read it yourself." "Of course I know." Zhu Zhen shook his head, but did not take the imperial edict and said, "Don't you still trust your old Fu?"

"Alas..." Fu Youde sighed, "Your Majesty is always so considerate of his subordinates. To be honest, I was prepared to be scolded by your Majesty when I came here."

"Hey, this is my father's order, what does it have to do with you?" Zhu Zhen smiled and said, "Besides, my fourth brother did something wrong and should be punished."

"That being said, I'm really worried that His Royal Highness the Prince of Yan can't stand it..." Fu Youde said with a distressed look on his face, "Daning is a vast land with few people, so it's okay, but after entering the pass, it's more than 2,000 miles, and you have to pass through more than a dozen prefectures, dozens of counties, and tens of millions of people will line the streets to welcome you. They will all see His Royal Highness the Prince of Yan sitting in a prison car. Isn't this too humiliating?"

Lan Yu behind him just felt relieved, almost couldn't help laughing, secretly said: "Serves him right."

Zhu Zhen glanced at Lan Yu, and he was so frightened that he immediately shrank his head and dared not gloat over other people's misfortune anymore.

"Old Master, what you said makes sense," Zhu Zhen pretended to think for a moment, then said seriously, "But the order cannot be disobeyed, let Fourth Brother change the car."

"Your Majesty..." Fu Youde wanted to persuade him again, but Zhu Zhen gave him a look, and he understood. He said in a deep voice: "Push the prison cart up!"

During the meal time, dozens of high-ranking prisoners and Zhu Di, Ping An and Zhang Yu were all sent into the prison car.

The army escorted the prisoner van slowly towards Gyeongju City.

~~
The army planned to rest in Gyeongju City for three days and then continue south.

Zhu Zhen and his brothers returned to his old base, took a bath, changed clothes, had a big meal, and then slept all day.

The next morning, Zhu Zhen summoned Fu Youde.

"Why don't you take a rest for a while, Your Majesty?" Fu Youde asked respectfully after greeting him.

"You've slept enough and you're free anyway, so I asked you to come and chat with me." Zhu Zhen smiled and asked him to sit down.

"It's good to be young." Looking at Zhu Zhen who was full of energy again, Fu Youde said enviously: "If it were me, I would not be able to rest for at least ten days or half a month."

"Haha, if I were your age and still had your physique, I would be thankful." Zhu Zhen laughed, picked up the teacup and took a sip, saying, "It's finally over."

"Yes." Fu Youde also said with deep emotion: "On the second day of February, we swore to march out in Tongzhou. On the twenty-second day of winter, the prince returned with the Yuan Lord in triumph, exactly two hundred and ninety days!"

As he said this, he smiled and said, "Fortunately, God blesses us, the emperor is wise, and the prince is intelligent. We did a good job and won completely."

"What do you mean by 'still count'?" Zhu Zhen laughed and said, "It means you did a great job! You won completely!"

"Yes, yes." Fu Youde laughed and said, "Am I not used to being modest? We did a great job. In the whole war, we killed more than 100,000 enemies and captured nearly one million people. We also captured the Northern Yuan royal family and Nahachu. We also destroyed the Oirat and Dorji tribes. The brilliant results and thorough victory are unprecedented not only in this dynasty, but also in the Han and Tang dynasties!"

(End of this chapter)