If I fail to overcome the tribulation, I can only return to the Ming Dynasty and become a prince.

Chapter 328
Although Zhu Zhanji lacked confidence in himself, it was a rare thing for him to be able to lead an army alone at his age, let alone lead an army to counter a rebellion.

However, just like Zhu Di asked Fengcheng Hou Li Bin to lead the army as his deputy during the previous Northern Expedition, this time Zhu Zhanji was going to Jiaozhi to quell the rebellion. Neither Zhu Di nor Zhu Gaochi could really say that he would be allowed to lead the army alone.

Although it is said that Zhu Zhanji is to be trained, the training is not this way.

So this time Zhu Di sent a veteran to serve as Zhu Zhanji's deputy general, to give him some protection.

Because of his friendship with Zhu Zhanji during the Northern Expedition, this task still fell on Fengcheng Hou Li Bin.

"I have met the Marquis of Fengcheng, and I have to trouble the Marquis again this time. This trip to Jiaozhi to quell the rebellion depends entirely on the Marquis." Knowing that Marquis of Fengcheng was his deputy general for this expedition, Zhu Zhanji immediately Arriving at the Fengcheng Hou Mansion, he visited in person.

Although he was the emperor's grandson and the coach, theoretically it was Marquis Fengcheng who should visit him, but Zhu Zhanji, who knew that Marquis Fengcheng was his greatest guarantee for this expedition, still took the initiative to visit him.

After all, Zhu Zhanji knew clearly that when he went to Jiaozhi to suppress the rebellion, he had to win over Li Bin, the Marquis of Fengcheng, if he wanted to achieve some good results.

"His Royal Highness Taisun is too polite. You are the commander-in-chief of countering the rebellion this time. It's time for the general to pay you a visit." Of course, Li Bin was not stupid enough to put on airs in front of the Emperor Taisun. Adhere to the attitude of being a subordinate.

In the face of Li Bin's politeness, Zhu Zhanji still behaved very humbly and spoke polite words to Li Bin. The underlying meaning behind his words was that he hoped that Li Bin could do more in the fight against the rebellion in Jiaozhi. Strength, so that this counterinsurgency can be fought more beautifully.

"Your Highness Taisun, please rest assured. Although the general is not talented, he is still willing to do his best for the Ming Dynasty!" Li Bin slapped his chest loudly, as if he wanted to serve the country with all his loyalty.

In fact, what Li Bin and Zhu Zhanji meant in and out of their words was that Li Bin wanted to join the Taisun's army and earn a meritorious service from the dragon, and Zhu Zhanji also wanted to recruit Li Bin to increase his power.

For a while, the two of them were enjoying themselves as guests and hosts, as if they were a king and a minister.

Although most of the military generals are now more inclined to King Zheng, just like they were inclined to King Han at the beginning, it is not that no one is betting on the emperor's grandson.

After all, Zhu Zhanji, the grandson, is different from Zhu Gaochi, the prince. He has been deeply loved by Zhu Di since he was a child. It can almost be said that he has directly surpassed the prince and been cultivated as the heir to the throne.

Moreover, his performance in martial arts and martial arts is very good in every aspect. He is not as fat as the prince Zhu Gaochi, who is not good at riding and shooting.

Of course, with Zheng Wang and Zhu Zhanyu as comparison, Zhu Zhanji's performance is good but not good enough, at least not impressive enough compared to Zhu Zhanyu.

But Zhu Zhanji also has his advantage, that is, he is the eldest son. Under the current situation of the Ming Dynasty, as long as Zhu Zhanji himself makes no mistakes, he will be the unshakable heir to the throne of the Ming Dynasty.

Especially now that Zhu Zhanchun has gone overseas to join the feudal vassal, and has shown a posture that he will not fight, which makes Zhu Zhanji's position even more stable.

Therefore, in the eyes of nobles like Li Bin, the throne of Zhu Zhanji, the grandson of the emperor, is certain. What he lacks is experience and sufficient prestige.

This time going to Jiaozhi to quell the rebellion was undoubtedly to give Zhu Zhanji military merit and establish prestige in the army. It was also an opportunity for Zhu Zhanji to win over nobles.

After Li Bin received the order to go to Jiaozhi as Zhu Zhanji's deputy general to quell the rebellion, naturally the well-informed nobles from the capital came to him, hoping that he could help Zhu Zhanji seize this opportunity.

The previous Northern Expedition was originally a good opportunity, but the cavalry of the three thousand battalions could not defeat the Mongolian cavalry, so that Zhu Zhanji, who should have made the first contribution, missed the opportunity.

If that was the only way, that would be fine, but in that battle, the Qingyu Guard used artillery to tell the world that times had changed. Not only did Zhu Zhanquan kill generals, seize flags, and capture enemy chiefs alive, he also really showed his strong personal strength. He gained a lot of military merit and became the first achievement of the Northern Expedition.

It can be said that after the Northern Expedition, a considerable number of the nobles turned to Zhu Zhanyu and became the Zheng Wang Party.

The representative among them is of course Anyuan Hou Liu Sheng. He served as Zhu Zhanyu's deputy general during the last Northern Expedition, and later became the vanguard of the army. He is naturally indispensable when discussing merit.

Although the title was not given to the Duke of the Kingdom, it did earn a royal title for the daughter-in-law at home, and the hereditary title was promoted from uncle to queen, which can be said to be a great benefit.

Li Bin was not so lucky. Although he made a lot of contributions during the Northern Expedition, Li Bin and the Three Thousand Battalion performed poorly in the most important decisive battle. Naturally, his contributions to the Northern Expedition were limited to Get a discount.

Except for some regular rewards, Li Bin didn't get any benefits from the last Northern Expedition.Therefore, Li Bin is so active this time, largely because he hopes to get enough benefits from this war to counter the rebellion in the southwest.

Don't get me wrong, although Li Bin can be regarded as one of the military leaders of the Ming Dynasty, the benefits he wants are not free money or reselling military supplies.

It cannot be said that these matters do not exist, but they will not be put on the table and handled by a marquis himself.

For people like Li Bin, who have already found an immediate title, the so-called benefit is the opportunity to raise their title to a higher level.

You must know that apart from the two major battles of Hongwu's founding of the country and Yongle's Jingnan, which were fought by the current Dukes of the Ming Dynasty, only the British Duke and the Duke of Guizhou conquered the Chen Dynasty of Jiaozhi a few years ago and fought for the Ming Dynasty. It was not until the Chief Secretary of Cochin that a new prince appeared.

As for the two Northern Expeditions, because they were conducted personally by the emperor, they could not be granted the title of Duke without truly outstanding achievements.

At that time, Zhu Zhanjun's contribution was enough, but he was a prince and did not need this.

Now that the Northern Expedition has been completed, the Ming Dynasty has basically no major battles to fight. If the nobles want to improve their titles, the only remaining chance is to pacify the southwest.

Originally this was the meat in the bowl of the British Duke and the Yunnan Mu family, but this time the emperor wanted to give his grandson a chance to gain military merit, so Li Bin's opportunity came.

This is also his last chance to become a prince in his life. As long as he can fight well enough in this battle, even if Zhu Di does not give him a prince this time, when Zhu Zhanji succeeds to the throne in the future, he will be the first to join the throne. With Sun's honor, Li Bin felt that he could not escape the title of Duke.

Therefore, Li Bin was particularly devoted and serious in countering the rebellion in southwest China.

"Your Highness Taisun, to put it bluntly, most of our soldiers in the Ming Dynasty are landlubbers. They are not good at water skills, let alone water warfare. Even if we take a boat from Nanjing to Jiaozhi, we may have to go through many twists and turns along the way. Losing one's men and horses." As one of the noble nobles, Li Bin knew the quality and level of the Ming Dynasty's soldiers today, and he also put the problem in front of Zhu Zhanji.

Zhu Zhanji naturally understood this, so he thought of Li Bin and asked, "What about marching by land?"

"No, it's even worse than taking the sea route." Li Bin shook his head, with a helpless expression on his face: "Although the exchanges between Ming Dynasty and Jiaozhi have a history of hundreds of years, they have been in existence since the Song Dynasty. , but most of the exchanges between the two places still rely on sea ships and land business travel.

This land road has always been difficult to walk due to the rugged terrain and smog in the southwest, and the southwest has become a land of barbarians.

The imperial court suffered a loss in this regard. Zhu Neng, the Duke of Cheng, died of illness because of his expedition to the southwest. He was also one of the two Dukes who fell in the Yongle Dynasty.

So we would rather take a bumpy sea route than go deep into the mountains and forests on land!Taking a boat from Nanjing to the south via Quanzhou to Jiaozhi is currently the safest route.

Firstly, Eunuch Zheng's fleet has already taken a familiar route, and secondly, His Highness Prince Zheng has almost wiped out the Japanese pirates and pirates in this area, so safety is guaranteed.

Furthermore, the imperial court had already cultivated a powerful fleet through the conquest of Japan, which was enough to transport soldiers and military supplies for this rebellion.

Moreover, taking the sea route takes much less time than taking the land route, and the consumption of the army is also less. The only possibility that can be considered is that the army is not accustomed to water, and things like seasickness will occur.

But this is not worth mentioning compared to the benefits brought by taking the sea route. After all, if the sea route is used, the logistical supplies can be continuously delivered to the army, and there is no additional consumption. It does not need to be like the land route. Ten kilograms of grain can It is considered efficient if it is transported to three kilograms. "

After listening to Li Bin talking so much, Zhu Zhanji also understood that this expedition must take the sea route.

Thinking of this, Zhu Zhanji continued to ask Li Bin: "Then which army in our Ming Dynasty is good at water warfare? This time when we went south to quell the rebellion, in addition to the new troops from the three guards given by grandpa, grandpa also allowed I will recruit two more health centers. Can Mr. Hou have any recommendations?"

"This... If we want to say which army is good at water warfare in the Ming Dynasty, the navy of Eunuch Zheng will naturally be the first to recommend it. However, Eunuch Zheng's navy shoulders heavy responsibilities. On the one hand, it must be responsible for the transportation of materials to the Japanese country. On the other hand, it must also We are responsible for the transportation of materials for our southward counterinsurgency this time. If both sides rely on Eunuch Zheng's navy, they probably won't be able to spare any extra effort to help us fight the war." Li Bin shook his head and then glanced at Zhu Zhanji. Then he said hesitantly: "But our Ming Dynasty has another fleet, and they are especially good at water battles, but this team is His Royal Highness Prince Zheng's Jade Guard, we can't borrow it!"

Hearing what Li Bin said, Zhu Zhanji's brows instantly wrinkled.

Li Bin may not know the inside story of this trip south to put down the rebellion, but Zhu Zhanji knows clearly that Zhu Di and Zhu Gaochi originally wanted Zhu Zhancheng to go this time, but he did not go on the excuse that his wife was going to have a baby. Now he is going by himself Ask him to borrow troops, how can you borrow them?
(End of this chapter)