Daming Greedy Wolf Star

Chapter 531 The So-Called Man

Zhu Gaoxu had been a fool and a reckless man all his life. In the end, when he had no intention of competing for the throne, he made a brilliant move.

He arranged everything properly. First, he assigned the task to Zhu Ling through the relationship between his bodyguard Zhu Lin and Zhu Ling, and then asked Zhu Ling to find other candidates to perform the task among the bodyguards of Zhu Ling's dead son.

In fact, in order to ensure that the mission could be completed, everyone, including Zhu Gaoxu, Zhu Lin and his son, kept the secret from Zhu Zhanhe from the beginning to the end.

Because they are Zhu Zhanhe's most trusted and closest people. Others may only have the impression of Zhu Zhanhe as cruelty, warmongers and the like, but they are different.

After decades of getting along day and night, they knew that Zhu Zhanhe was actually a cold-hearted person who was very kind to his own people.

Even though Qian Yong and others do not have official positions or titles now, that is all because Zhu Zhanhe is not yet a legitimate person in power. Once Zhu Zhanhe succeeds in taking office, all those he once trusted the most will receive rewards.

What's more, now that officials and titles cannot be rewarded, Zhu Zhanhe has never treated Qian Yong and others materially.

Qian Yong's son Qian Zhong received an education at the level of a prince or grandson. He was just short of entering the palace's university hall. In addition, Prince Wu's Mansion would send a lot of rice, flour, cotton, linen and food to the three people's homes every month. money.

Similarly, the guards of the crown prince who are Zhu Zhanhe's personal guards can be said to be the best in the world in terms of treatment. Even the four Tengxiang guards who were single-handedly supported by the late Emperor Xuande are out of reach.

All these, more or less light or heavy, contribute to the completion of this plan from the front or side.

When Zhu Zhanhe received the news, he had just arrived at Pingyang Mansion and had not yet crossed the Yellow River.

In the temporary camp, Zhu Zhanhe was sitting on a chair with an expressionless face, holding the letter tightly with both hands. The veins on the back of his hands were bulging, and the blue blood vessels were clearly visible.

Even his arms were trembling slightly.

"So, you know it from beginning to end, right?"

After an unknown amount of time, Zhu Zhanhe slowly raised his head and looked at Zhu Ping, who was kneeling on the ground in front of him.

Zhu Ping didn't speak, but his originally lowered head became even lower.

……

"I see……"

After a long time, Zhu Zhanhe let out a sigh.

"You go out first and let me be alone."

"Yes……"

Zhu Ling bowed his head and saluted Zhu Zhanhe, then slowly stood up and exited the camp together with the prince's guard who came to deliver the message.

Looking at the slowly falling curtain, Zhu Zhanhe's eyes were empty.

Is it because of how good and deep his feelings are for Zhu Ling, his personal bodyguard?Actually not, at least not entirely.

In what year did Zhu Ling become his personal bodyguard?Zhu Zhanhe didn't remember clearly. He only remembered that it was after the old man's arrest was successful, and he was only five years old that year.

But now, he is about to enter his forties.

Zhu Ling has been his personal guard for 35 years. When he was a child, he still liked to tease Zhu Ling and Zhu Ping because his mentality had not changed much at that time and he was more interested in future generations than this level. Sen Ming's era.

Looking back now, Zhu Zhanhe suddenly felt that he had gone too far at that time.

There is no such thing as martial arts. It is just a product of people's imagination, but martial arts does exist.

If you want to be a bodyguard, and a personal bodyguard, especially the personal bodyguard of Zhu Zhanhe, the crown prince of Han Dynasty, you may not be good at other things, but there are two things you must have.

The first is loyalty, and the second is skill.

The loyalty of the Zhu Lin family can stand the test of time. As far as Zhu Zhanhe knows, in the past 35 years, Zhu Lin has never betrayed his father, Zhu Gaoxu, and Zhu Ling and Zhu Ping have not betrayed him.

In terms of skills, Zhu Ling and Zhu Ping have to undergo rigorous training since childhood. At the same time, as Zhu Zhanhe's personal guard, Zhu Gaoxu will also cultivate their loyalty.

During the day, special people trained their skills, and at night, they slept in the outhouse of Zhu Zhanhe's room.

At that time, Zhu Zhanhe liked to tease them...

Thinking of this, Zhu Zhanhe let out a long sigh, lowered his head and looked at his right hand that was still slightly trembling, shook his head and smiled bitterly.

Zhu Zhanhe has always felt that he is mature enough. The experience of two lives has made his mentality extremely mature, and he even looks down on everyone in the Ming Dynasty from the bottom of his heart.

Because there are things in his mind that these people would not even think of in a few hundred years, because he knows the future that these people can’t even think of, because he feels that he can change the Ming Dynasty and even the entire world with just a few moves. destiny……

Facts have proved that this is what he thought and did, and he succeeded.

But when everything came to this point, which was about to reach the end, Zhu Ling's generous death made Zhu Zhanhe understand that he had always been a mentally immature person.

Some people say that a man matures in an instant.

Either it is the failure of a relationship, or it is the sublimation of a relationship.

Or the joy of becoming a father for the first time, or the sadness of the death of a loved one.

In the past, Zhu Zhanhe thought that he was mature enough because he had experienced things that others had not experienced.

He could ruthlessly use prairie people to build a capital at the age of ten, making the prairie people terrified for more than [-] years.

When he was 11 years old, he could burn down the Indochina Peninsula and devastate all life in the Indochina Peninsula, leaving only ten indigenous people in five countries alive.

He could go on an expedition to Japan when he was 11 years old. For his own personal hatred, he could make everyone on the entire Japanese island pay for the hatred in his heart.

He can inhumanely let Asan of the Sultan of Delhi charge for the war he started, acting as a death squad, and he doesn't care how many people die.

He could have started massacring the Utopians and even the entire Europe hundreds of years in advance...

But it was only now that Zhu Zhanhe realized that he was actually immature, and that everything he did was actually an impulse blessed by the emotions brought by later generations.

Those things were indeed initiated by him, and they seemed to be done for himself, but in fact they were for the emotion and obsession in his heart.

But now, when the news that Zhu Ling generously died so that he could successfully and legitimately ascend the throne reached his ears, Zhu Zhanhe realized one thing really clearly.

Now, he can not only control the life and death of a person, a group of people, or even a country with just a few words, but he can also make the people he values ​​​​die for him because of his own desires, dilemmas, future and other factors.

It was only then that Zhu Zhanhe realized that he had never been mature enough.

……

That night.

Zhu Ping stood at the door of the tent, looking worriedly at Zhu Zhanhe not far away.

After learning the news of Zhu Ling's death, Zhu Zhanhe drove him and the crown prince's guards away, and then sat alone on the hill south of the camp.

Until dark, not a grain of rice was eaten, not a drop of water was taken in.

From the time he became Zhu Zhanhe's personal guard to now, he had never seen Zhu Zhanhe like this, which made him a little worried.

But in reality, Zhu Zhanhe was just reflecting.

Reflect on yourself and reflect on what you have done.

Sitting on the hill, looking at the obscured moon and stars in the sky, Zhu Zhanhe thought about many things.

In the ninth year of Yongle, at his suggestion and with his encouragement, his father Zhu Gaoxu gave up the power he had built up after years of hard work and moved his family to Yunnan to join the feudal clan.

At that time, Zhu Zhanhe just felt that his father would not have a better development in Beijing. The position of prince was destined to be his uncle's, and it was unbreakable. At the same time, the old man was also a referee with one hand.

Under such circumstances, instead of wasting time in Beijing, it is better to give up everything that has been accumulated before, go to Yunnan, where the sky is high and the emperor is far away, and start a new career there.

But looking back now, this decision highlights my immaturity.

Most of the general camp regards you as the backbone. Maybe they also have the idea of ​​​​following the Dragon Minister, but no matter what, they will spare no effort to help you and help you obtain that position.

But what about yourself?
As soon as he left, it was true that it did not have much impact on himself and his father at the time. On the contrary, it was a kind of relief. But what about the general camp?

Counting from the Jingnan period to the ninth year of Yongle's reign, 13 years of support was wasted overnight.

That's not all. Since the separation of civil and military families, the battles between civil servants and military generals have never stopped, and civil servants have always suppressed the military commanders.

Supporting Zhu Gaoxu, who represents a military general, is the hope of the military generals.

However, the departure of his family not only took away the hope of the generals, but also put them into a situation of being suppressed by civil servants again, even more intensely than before.

Except for the time of vassalage, it was the same when it came to the throne.

Many people think that Zhu Zhanhe is pretentious and think that he is both responsible and established. He wants to be an emperor and also wants to be famous, just like Emperor Taizong back then.

But in fact, Zhu Zhanhe really doesn't have much obsession with that position.

Regarding the throne, Zhu Zhanhe had corrected his mentality long ago.

Zhu Zhanhe had always wanted to be an emperor, just to enjoy the addiction of being an emperor. In fact, he knew how tiring the job of being an emperor was.

You wake up earlier than a chicken and go to bed later than a dog. Every day you have to be wary of whether the civil servants are trying to pry into your family fortune, whether the generals and generals in the military will respect themselves, and whether there is anyone coveting your position...

Even if none of these situations occur, you still have to be careful whether the officials under you take advantage of the power in their hands to do all kinds of evil, bully the market, and impose excessive taxes.

After all, the embankment of a thousand miles collapsed in an ant's nest.

At that time, King Wu's lineage controlled Shuntian Mansion. Although Zhu Zhanhe was focused on the battlefield of the Western Expedition in Europe at that time, he still experienced the feeling of being an emperor during the few times he came back.

In this regard, he only wanted to say one word: tired.

Every day there are endless things to deal with, endless opinions to listen to, and endless situations that arise.

Therefore, whether others said he was hypocritical or that he was serious and upright, he was never in a hurry, and even decided to evacuate Shuntian after confirming that Zhu Qizhen would not grow into a wise monarch with a high probability.

However, at that time, he never thought about how many people his decision would disappoint.

Just like Zhu Ling...

Thinking of Zhu Ling, Zhu Zhanhe sighed softly again.

Having grown up with him since childhood, perhaps in Zhu Ling's mind, he was destined to be the one to sit on the throne, right?Otherwise, he might not accept his father's order and choose to die generously so that he could smoothly and legitimately sit on the throne.

Thinking of this, Zhu Zhanhe stood up slowly and gently patted his legs that were numb from sitting for a long time.

Zhu Ping, who had been paying attention to Zhu Zhanhe from behind, his eyes lit up when he saw this, and he walked quickly behind Zhu Zhanhe.

"Your Highness, the food is hot on the stove. Would you like to eat some first?"

"Zhu Ping." Zhu Zhanhe took a deep breath, turned around and looked directly at Zhu Ping.

"Send the order and ask the crown prince's guards to pick two people with excellent equestrian skills to cross the Yellow River first and go to find Ye Xian's army."

"After what happened to Zhu Ling, he must have been alerted first. After knowing the news that our army is coming, he will most likely choose to retreat."

"Of course, it would be best if he didn't retreat."

"Have someone tell him to bring back the bodies of Emperor Ming and Zhu Ling intact!"

"If he is obedient, I will consider leaving his body intact. I may also consider adopting a gentle policy towards those herdsmen on the grassland who intend to join the Ming Dynasty."

"But if he disobeys...then let him wait to be nailed to the pillar of shame in Beiyuan history!"

"When the time comes, I will treat them the same way I treated the Japanese! No one will be left alive!"

"Yes!" Zhu Ping suddenly cheered up and replied loudly.

……

Seeing Zhu Ping leave in great excitement, Zhu Zhanhe stood on the hill and looked down at the Ming army camp below.

At this moment, he finally understood that being an emperor was different from what he had originally thought.

Being an emperor has never been about one person, but about a family, a family, and even all the people who follow you.

In the past, he was not mature enough and his thoughts were too selfish. He always thought that he could be the emperor if he wanted to be, and he should not be the emperor if he didn't want to be.

But now he understands that the fact that Zhao Kuangyin of the Northern Song Dynasty was wearing a yellow robe may not be the excuse he was looking for.

……

As Zhu Zhanhe's order was issued, Zhu Ping was not the only one who became excited, the entire Ming army camp became excited.

Many people don't know why they are excited, but they can't help but feel excited when they see the excitement of the people around them.

Under the dark night, two figures quickly left the Ming army camp and headed towards the west.

In comparison, the situation at this moment is not very good.

After Zhu Ling killed Zhu Qizhen and committed suicide in front of Ye Xian, Ye Xian knew that the matter was serious and immediately began to retreat.

When Zhu Zhanhe received the news of Zhu Ling's death, he was no longer in Ningxia Zhongwei. At this time, he was about to retreat to Yibula Mountain.

Don't look at the fact that he dared to unite with the Eastern Chagatai Khanate before, and even went south to Daming to capture the emperor of Ming, but that was only when he had a countermeasure.

Just as he had thought at the beginning, as long as he offered Zhu Qizhen and surrendered to the Ming Dynasty as the weak side, at least Zhu Zhanhe would not make things impossible.

But it's different now.

Although Zhu Ling and Zhu Qizhen were not killed by him, who would believe it?
And the most important thing is... it is also clear that he is not the opponent of the Ming army led by Zhu Zhanhe.

Others didn't know it, but he knew it, because after the Ming army conquered Europe, especially after the battlefields in Eastern Europe were pacified, many Europeans fled across Siberia, entered northern Asia, and even entered the territory of Oara.

From the mouths of those people, I first obtained more information about Zhu Zhanhe, and also obtained the power of weapons such as white phosphorus eggs and kerosene bombs that can be said to annihilate humanity.

No one wants to die, and no one wants to make unnecessary sacrifices... That's especially true first.

(End of this chapter)