Jingnan Strategy

Chapter 79 Zhongyuan Festival
"Dang...dang...dang..."

The next day, when the morning bell began to ring, people throughout Nanjing woke up from their sleep to welcome their busy day.

Like them, there are two thousand royal leopard guards and elite cavalry at the Donghua gate of the Forbidden City.

In front of this elite cavalry team stood two armored military attachés, an old man and a young man, riding horses in the bend of the river.

"drive……"

In the mist, a wisp of maroon came from Gennan Street in Donghuangcheng City, and the sound of horse hooves could be heard clearly.

When it got closer, it saw Zhu Gaoxu, wearing a black round-collared robe, coming on horseback.

When the troops saw Zhu Gaoxu, Zhu Gaoxu also saw the two military attachés, one old and one young.

Don't be too familiar with the young military attache Zhu Gaoxu, because his identity is Xu Zengshou, the imperial guard. As for the other old military attache wearing a burqa, he is not very familiar with it.

With doubts, he rode past the imperial leopards and guards on both sides of the street, and came to the two military attaches to bow.

"Uncle, old general..."

Zhu Gaoxu bowed on the horseback, which did not make people feel uncomfortable. After all, his identity was displayed here. No matter how much he messed around, he would still be a county king in the future.

"His Royal Highness" Xu Zengshou and the veteran generals performed salutes one after another.

Perhaps because he saw that Zhu Gaoxu didn't know the veteran, Xu Zengshou also smiled and stretched out his hand to introduce:

"Your Highness, this is General Guo, the Marquis of Wuding. You should know him."

"Wu Dinghou?" Upon hearing Xu Zengshou's introduction, Zhu Gaoxu looked at the majestic-looking burqa veteran in surprise, and the other party also raised his hand and bowed in return.

If you are not familiar with the history of the early Ming Dynasty, you may not know much about Guo Ying. However, for Zhu Gaoxu, who studied the art of war under Fu Youde and Feng Sheng, he does not know much about Guo Ying's deeds.

Before learning the art of war, he always thought that the current ranking of veterans was Fu Youde, Feng Sheng, Geng Bingwen, Song Sheng...

However, after several months of study, he realized that Geng Bingwen still had to rank behind Guo Ying.

Guo Ying has been following Zhu Yuanzhang since the 13th year of Zhizheng. He followed Zhu Yuanzhang, Xu Da, and Chang Yuchun to attack Chen Youliang and Zhang Shicheng, and pacified the Central Plains, Yunnan and other places. He experienced hundreds of battles and achieved so many achievements that even Zhu Gaoxu could not defeat him. List one.

From the Northern Expedition to defeat Wang Baobao, to the recapture of Yunnan, and the great victory in fishing with Lan Yu, it can be said that Guo Ying has always been the best candidate for "brave and good at fighting" in the early Ming Dynasty.

Not only can he fight, but he also has a very close relationship with Lao Zhu.

At the beginning, he entered the stage of history as Lao Zhu's personal guard. After the subsequent battles, Lao Zhu also married his compatriot sister to become a relative.

After Queen Ma and Concubine Li Shu died one after another, Concubine Guo Ning also became the master of the harem in the late Hongwu period. Guo Ying was also recalled to Nanjing after growing old and was responsible for managing the imperial guards and the elite cavalry in front of the palace.

It can be said that Lao Zhu trusts him very much and the relationship between the two is very close.

"Wu Dinghou, you are so polite..."

After knowing that the person in front of him was Guo Ying, Zhu Gaoxu naturally did not dare to neglect and quickly bowed in return.

"Well..." Regarding Zhu Gaoxu's show of goodwill, Guo Ying did not show any emotional fluctuations and was just polite.

Seeing this, Zhu Gaoxu did not get entangled, but drove Chi Huan to Xu Zengshou's side.

"Uncle didn't come today?"

Zhu Gaoxu looked around and asked Xu Zengshou curiously after not seeing Xu Huizu.

In response, Xu Zengshou shook his head: "I have been busy building ships at the Longjiang Shipyard for the last month. I had something to do the day before yesterday and led my troops to Songjiang. It will be difficult to come back within a month."

Hearing this, Zhu Gaoxu nodded to express his understanding. When Xu Zengshou saw this, he also joked with him and said:
"You guys are only busy with official duties at home, and you are too lazy to move around with your relatives."

"I've been busy these days, and it's not like my uncle didn't know why he was teasing me..." Zhu Gaoxu responded helplessly, causing Xu Zengshou to laugh: "Of course I know, I just said it to tease you."

"You, on the other hand, are walking around the palace, but you don't go anywhere except Wuying Hall."

"I led patrols in the Wenhua Hall and the Main Hall, and I didn't bump into you even once."

Speaking of this, Xu Zengshou was a little speechless, and even felt that his nephew's personality had changed too much.

If it were the previous Zhu Gaoxu who was granted the status of walking in the palace and managing the affairs of the Wuying Palace, he would have to go to the main hall to show off and stage a drama of returning home in glorious robes.

However, now, Zhu Gaoxu lives like walking on thin ice all day long, and Xu Zengshou can feel his cautious appearance even after meeting him twice.

"I……"

Xu Zengshou wanted to say something more, but at this moment the Donghua Gate opened, and the emperor's coat appeared in the corridor.

More than a hundred eunuchs guarded the large chariot, which was two feet long and one foot wide and pulled by six horses. Zhu Gaoxu and the others could only watch from a distance.

Fortunately, although the carriage was big, it was not slow in walking, so it didn't take more than two seconds to reach Zhu Gaoxu and the others.

Guo Ying took the lead in dismounting, followed closely by Zhu Gaoxu and Xu Zengshou. After the three dismounted, they bowed and sang: "Long live..."

The breeze was blowing slowly, and Zhu Yuanzhang opened the window of the carriage, but he did not speak to Zhu Gaoxu, but looked at Guo Ying and said with a smile:

"Guo Si, if you are not in good health, don't wear armor and ride a horse. Get in the car and talk to me."

"Your Majesty, take your orders..." Guo Ying agreed without being humble or arrogant, and then stepped onto the coat of arms cautiously.

When he got into the carriage, Zhu Yuanzhang also closed the window and did not say a word to Zhu Gaoxu from beginning to end.

After a while, the chariot moved again, and Zhu Gaoxu and Xu Zengshou also got on their horses.

However, unlike Zhu Gaoxu, Xu Zengshou needed to command two thousand imperial leopards, guards and fine cavalry to clear the way, so there were only Zhu Gaoxu on horseback and more than a hundred eunuchs on foot next to the chariot.

Riding on horseback, Zhu Gaoxu did not feel that Zhu Yuanzhang was unkind to him.

From spending more than a month with Zhu Yuanzhang, he gradually discovered that Zhu Yuanzhang was far more complicated than he could guess.

He still can't see clearly what Zhu Yuanzhang's attitude is towards him. Instead, as he gets to know him better, he feels frightened of him from the bottom of his heart.

Sometimes Zhu Gaoxu thinks about how difficult it is for his uncle to bear this kind of pressure and accompany Zhu Yuanzhang all the way to the age of 37.

If it were him, I'm afraid he wouldn't even make it past the age of 30, and he would probably be driven into a lunatic state.

Thinking of this, Zhu Gaoxu could only ride on his horse with his eyes and nose in mind. Compared with his silence, Zhu Yuanzhang in the big train was peeping at Zhu Gaoxu's actions through the gap in the window.

Guo Ying on the side seemed to have seen the funny side of the Hongwu Emperor, so he was not surprised.

After a long time, Zhu Yuanzhang withdrew his gaze, turned around and sat back in his seat, with a complicated expression on his face.

"My eyes can see countless people, but there is no one I cannot see through."

"Only this kid, I can't see through."

"Guo Si, do you think my grandson has changed a bit?"

Zhu Yuanzhang asked Guo Ying, and Guo Ying also looked thoughtful about his question. After a while, he nodded and said:
"Back to Your Majesty, to tell you the truth, I have seen His Highness from a distance before. At that time, I felt that His Highness's perverse and cruel temperament could be seen through at a glance."

"When I looked at him again today, I felt that he had changed his appearance. Every move he made seemed like he was walking on thin ice."

"To be disrespectful, I thought your majesty might have scared this person into something sick before..."

(End of this chapter)