Chapter 32: The Apparition of Emperor Gao

The haze continued to hang over Peking, and an old Taoist priest was saying in the market that something big was about to happen.

Just a few days after June, the city of Beiping was suddenly filled with troops. The Beiping Commander and the Provincial Governor took the official mobilization order from the Ministry of War and mobilized the seven guards in Beiping to station in Beiping.

Outside the city of Beiping, two governors came from the court, one stationed in Linqing and the other in Shanhaiguan; Governor Song Zhong, who had already arrived in Kaiping, led an army of tens of thousands and headed straight for Beiping!

At this time, the city of Peking was filled with solemnity. The noisy hustle and bustle of the past was gone. All that was left was groups of iron horses galloping on the streets. The huge footsteps of the infantry on both sides, "click, click, click...", were neatly arranged near and intertwined in the distance, full of murderous aura. The square formations arranged horizontally and vertically were like a steel forest.

The officials in the power center of the Ming Dynasty were very gracious and paid enough attention to the Prince of Yan! The scene was very grand.

The gate of Prince Yan's Mansion was closed tightly, the entire mansion was blocked, and soldiers in armor were on high alert inside the gate.

At the entrance of the front hall, all kinds of strange people walked in one after another. There were warriors in armor, who put their swords on the rack at the entrance, monks in cassocks holding Zen sticks, and fortune tellers in Taoist robes...

Zhu Gaoxu also walked to the front hall, wearing a armor that didn't fit him well. He didn't go back after arriving at the Prince of Yan's mansion that day, and didn't have time to take his own armor. He found a piece of armor in the Prince of Yan's mansion that was a little tighter.

At this time, he saw the prince also walking towards him with heavy steps, so Zhu Gaoxu slowed down on the road and waited for the prince to approach.

"Brother!" Zhu Gaoxu turned around and stood still, shouting.

The prince glanced at him, his sweaty face looking very indifferent, and wanted to walk past without saying a word.

Zhu Gaoxu grabbed his shoulders. The prince shrugged but failed to shake off Zhu Gaoxu's strong hand. He then asked coldly, "Did you poison him in the capital?"

Zhu Gaoxu said, "Brother, please believe me for once. I really don't want to harm you! We are brothers. Even if the situation forces me, I can't be cruel enough to harm you! Now that we are facing a powerful enemy, why don't you and I put aside our old grudges, forgive me once, and reconcile again? If you and I are brothers, it will only make our relatives sad and our enemies happy!"

The prince struggled hard for a while, then left with a "humph".

Zhu Gaoxu had no choice but to follow him to the front hall.

Soon, hundreds of people stood in the spacious hall, all with solemn expressions, with only a few whispers occasionally. Zhu Gaoxu stood silently for a long time, and suddenly found that everyone turned their heads and saluted in one direction. He also looked in that direction and was immediately stunned.

I saw the King of Yan's hands were tied behind his back! Zhang Yu and Zhu Neng escorted him in, and everyone was shocked.

The King of Yan had a painful look on his face. He waited for everyone to separate to make way for him, then he walked through the crowd and went to the upper seat. Yao Guangxiao, who was standing in the front, turned around and stomped on the floor tiles with his Zen stick twice, and everyone gradually quieted down.

"Everyone." The King of Yan looked around, "You have followed me through life and death for many years, I thank you! Now the people in the court want my life, in order to prevent the people from suffering..."

Everyone suddenly became excited and started making loud noises, interrupting King Yan's words.

Although Zhu Gaoxu knew that Prince Yan had already planned to start a rebellion, he disagreed with what he said and was unconsciously aroused... Damn it! Even if Emperor Jianwen wanted to reduce the power of the vassal states and take ambitious actions, there are many ways to reduce the power of the vassal states. If he had to use this method, wouldn't it be intentional to provoke a war?

Using war to solve problems is never the first choice!

In this world, we cannot expect everyone to be saints! Even pigs, dogs and ants have a desire to survive, let alone humans? Should we surrender and be willing to die when a knife is put to our necks? Then why didn't Emperor Jianwen choose a better way to do things?

Although Zhu Gaoxu did not think that his adoptive father was a good person, he fairly supported his father in this matter: his father had no choice, but Emperor Jianwen had a choice!

For a moment, Zhu Gaoxu also had the urge to jump out and shout for the Prince of Yan, but he finally didn't... The last time he won over Zhang Xin to make contributions, he wanted to really help; but when it was not necessary, he didn't want to be in the limelight. This matter had already been arranged as a "surplus actor", and there was no need for Zhu Gaoxu to sing.

Being too prominent in front of King Yan is not necessarily a good thing.

"Ahem!" The King of Yan coughed twice, and when everyone calmed down again, he said, "You have been with me through thick and thin, and we have been friends for many years. I really don't want you to die with me. The ministers in the court, such as Qi and Huang, only want my life. If you tie me up and send me to the authorities now, maybe I can make up for my crime and save one or two..."

As soon as he finished speaking, there was a burst of wailing in the crowd. The sound was so loud that it almost shook the tiles off the roof of the temple! Everyone turned around to see what was going on.

The cry came from a burly man with a big beard, crying so hard that tears and snot flowed out. Such a strong man cried like a child, and everyone was shocked.

The big man was Zhang Yu. Zhang Yu cried, and said loudly with snot and tears, "In the past, the Mongols were in power and treated the Chinese people like pigs and dogs! Emperor Gao was furious and led his weak people to fight bloody battles to drive out the Tartars, restore our Chinese clothing, save our Han family's incense, and establish the great Ming Dynasty! Tens of millions of people sacrificed their lives for the great cause. How difficult it was to start a business!"

Everyone was immediately in awe, even their hair stood on end.

Zhang Yu continued to cry, "The Emperor Gao then enfeoffed the kings, and the throne will be passed down for eternity, but..." Zhang Yu's eyes widened, "Before the Emperor Gao's tomb was dry, the kings suffered disasters, their countries were destroyed, and their bodies were destroyed! What's worse, they were falsely accused of crimes. Who will redress their injustice in the future? Are the descendants of the Emperor Gao going to suffer injustice for eternity?!"

The King of Yan was in tears at this time, and said, "I will be captured today, and if you are allowed to stay, you can still go to the court to tell your grievances. If we are all convicted, who will speak up for me?"

Suddenly, a large group of people in the hall fell to the ground, crying and shouting for the "Taizu" to appear.

At this time, Qian Hu Qiu Fu suddenly stood up and said, "Even if the King of Yan surrenders, you will all be waiting to be killed. The villains Huang and Qi in the court are in power, will they really spare you? It is better to die on the battlefield than to sit and wait for death!"

"Fuck! Fuck..." A group of warriors first let out a crude and simple roar.

Qiu Fu took advantage of the situation and raised his arm, saying, "We will fight to the capital, capture Qi Tai and Huang Zicheng alive and offer them as sacrifices to the ancestral temple. We will not stop until we have one man left. We will put an end to the rebellion!"

Everyone said together, "Follow the will of Heaven and quell the rebellion!"

The generals rushed forward, surrounded the King of Yan, untied the ropes on his body, and then crowded around the throne and pressed him down on it. Then everyone knelt down.

The King of Yan sat on the upper seat steadily, patted the armrest with his right hand, "Since you brothers are willing to sacrifice your lives, how can I be afraid of death?"

Everyone said, "We are willing to lead the way for the king."

The King of Yan said, "In this case, we have to use our wits. The official outside is clamoring to arrest the officials in the palace, so I will do as he wishes and let them in first."

The Prince of Yan turned to the side and said, "Ma He, go to the door and ask the governor Zhang Bing and the commander-in-chief Xie Gui to come in and check on the people they want to arrest."

Ma He bowed and said, "I obey your command!"

After a while, a group of soldiers came in with ropes, and the civil and military officials were very conscientious and tied each other up.

The King of Yan stood up, picked up a heavy sword from the side of the throne, and said, "Gao Xu, take this sword and kill the treacherous ministers and the cowards who flee from the battlefield!"

Zhu Gaoxu took the sword, but felt that it was quite heavy. It seemed that it was not a practical weapon but something used to show off his domineering appearance. Fortunately, he had extraordinary arm strength, so he was able to use it appropriately.

At this time, Zhang Yu and Zhu Neng called Zhu Gaoxu, and the three of them left the hall together. As they had already discussed, the three of them would lead a group of soldiers, Zhu Neng led the soldiers to the back of the corridor, and Zhu Gaoxu and Zhang Yu led the soldiers to the back of the front hall.

The people led by Zhu Gaoxu crawled to the back door of the hall. There were about a hundred of them, all guards of the palace, all wearing armor and holding sharp weapons.

Because Zhang Xin had already come to report the news, Zhang Xin was responsible for arresting Prince Yan himself, and the two people outside the door received a military order to arrest the people in Prince Yan's mansion... According to the previous conspiracy: Now that Prince Yan himself has tied up the officials in the mansion, the two officials have no reason to use troops against the mansion. They only need to follow orders and do their own job and come in to arrest people.

The soldiers of the various garrisons in Peking fought under the command of Prince Yan all year round. Without orders from the Ministry of War, they were unwilling to do anything beyond their orders.

Zhu Gaoxu and others lay there waiting for a long time, but there was still no movement. At first, everyone was waiting nervously, not moving at all. The military discipline was very good, but they lay there for too long, and finally some people started to change their positions, and some people even started to talk in a low voice.

A soldier nearby whispered, "Fuck it, we're finally going to do it. We've been waiting for the day to make a great contribution..."

Zhu Gaoxu had sharp ears and heard it, so he turned his head and looked in the direction of the voice. He saw that the soldier was almost as young as himself, with a red face and a very excited look.

Zhu Gaoxu couldn't help but whispered, "Brother, it won't be long before you decide that farming is the best option."

The soldier looked at Zhu Gaoxu blankly, not daring to talk back. After a while he lowered his head and remained silent.

I don't know how long I waited before I heard the voice of King Yan yelling, "Damn it! What do you want to do? You actually have a fake document!"

After hearing this, Zhu Gaoxu suddenly remembered his words when he was being unreasonable and ready to fall out with the king in the inn. Surprisingly, they were not much different from what the Prince of Yan said!

He immediately stood up, raised his heavy sword and said, "Charge!"

Zhu Gaoxu was the first to jump out and rushed into the back door, and everyone rushed in. Zhu Gaoxu ran into the hall and saw Zhang Yu and another group of armored soldiers just arrived at the main entrance of the hall.

Two red-robed officials stood in the middle of the hall, their faces filled with fear. One of them shouted, "Not good!"

Zhu Gaoxu aimed at the official who was shouting and rushed to him. When the sword was about to get close, he suddenly changed direction, changing from stabbing to horizontal attack, and hit him in the face with the hilt of the sword. The official cried out in pain, staggered and covered his face with his hands. Zhu Gaoxu jumped up and pushed him to the ground, and then wrapped the official's red robe to cover the tip of the sword, and was about to find the heart and stab it...

At this moment, a big man with a beard suddenly rushed over. It was Zhang Yu. Without saying a word, Zhang Yu stabbed the official in the side of the chest with a knife.

Regardless of how the official screamed, Zhang Yu twisted the knife in his hand inside the official's body before pulling it out, splashing blood all over his face.

Zhang Yugan | The person who was held down by Zhu Gaoxu died, and he actually looked at Zhu Gaoxu with a puzzled look.