Chapter 247 The Second Son of the King of Yan

Just after the New Year, there had been a few heavy snowfalls in Peking, and the thick white snow was deep and knee-deep. On the city wall, King Yan Zhu Di let out a long breath of white breath. Looking south, the whole world outside the city of Peking was like a white world. The sky had cleared up, and I saw black pedestrians walking in the snow.

Zhu Di's face was solemn. Although he won the first stage of victory, he was not happy at all. The pressure of food had forced him to lay off nearly 100,000 troops. Originally, Lan Yu's attack on Sichuan gave him a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to move south, but God did not help. Several consecutive blizzards disrupted his strategic plan. The army leading by Zhang Yu was also trapped in Shanxi to pacify Dingzhou. Now the news has been cut off. The concerns about the army advancing west, the concerns about the shortage of food, and the movements of the army in Liaodong were pressed in his heart like three mountains, making him feel heavy.

"It seems that we must take action." Zhu Di sighed and said to himself.

"Your Highness, let me go if you have any actions!" Zhu Neng, the general next to me, immediately whispered to the order.

Zhu Neng was also over thirty years old. He was regarded as his favorite general by Zhu Di, together with Zhang Yu, but unlike Zhang Yu, Zhu Neng was relatively thin and dark in appearance, and looked unfavorable. However, when leading troops to fight, Zhu Di was most relieved. He followed Zhu Di many times to the north to attack Mongolia, made great contributions, and was especially good at using surprise troops to win.

Zhu Di nodded and said, "Don't worry, you will have no less tasks, but this time I want others to go."

He suddenly asked again: "General Zhu, do you think my Xier can go to Shanxi alone?"

Zhu Neng thought about it and said, "I thought the second prince was more than brave and more than enough to charge into the general, but if he was allowed to stand alone, I thought he was not good enough."

“Why?”

Although Zhu Di was slightly disappointed, he always valued Zhu Neng's opinions. "Don't you think he has changed a lot after returning from the capital? He is much more stable and mature than before."

Zhu Neng smiled slightly and said, "Your Highness, my subordinates are not saying that the second prince is immature and steady. What I mean is that the second prince has no experience in fighting alone, so he cannot be the general."

Zhu Di breathed a sigh of relief and smiled again: "But I never give him the chance to exercise, where does he accumulate experience?"

As soon as he finished speaking, a noise came from the city, "Your Highness has an order that no army is allowed to leave the city."

"I'm not going out for official business, I'm just going to hunt." This is Zhu Gaoxi's voice.

Zhu Di was surprised and walked to the inner wall again and looked down. He saw hundreds of cavalry standing in the snow in front of the city gate. The general in charge was his son Gao Xi. He smiled and asked loudly, "Where is my son going?"

Zhu Gaoxi did not expect that his father was in the city. He immediately got off the horse and knelt down and said, "Father, I want to go hunting, I hope my father will approve it!"

Seeing that his son was very polite, Zhu Di couldn't help but feel a little moved, and shouted, "The ground is cold, stand up and talk."

Zhu Gaoxi stood up and said, "The child is bored in the city and wants to go out and hunt."

"But outside the city, where are you hunting?"

"The child also understands it, but if he doesn't try it, how can he know that he can't hunt? The child is willing to hunt pheasants and serve wine for his father."

Zhu Di rushed to him and immediately ordered: "Open the city gate and let the second prince go out."

The city gate opened wide, and Zhu Gaoxi shouted and led hundreds of cavalry to rush out of the city. After a moment, the brigade of cavalry disappeared into the distance, leaving only small black dots.

"How do you feel about him now?" Zhu Di asked Zhu Nengdao with a smile.

Zhu Neng nodded, "It feels pretty good. Don't use your power to suppress others. If Mr. Lu is with him and has a good general as his deputy, he can fight in Shanxi alone."

Zhu Di smiled slightly and said, "I am going to fight Shanxi and Shaanxi in person. At that time, Xier will follow me to fight and I will grant him experience."

Zhu Neng was shocked and hurriedly said, "Your Highness is cautious. It will take at least several months to fight Shanxi. Once the imperial court Li Jinglong's army arrives, it may be difficult for Peking to resist."

Zhu Di snorted coldly and said, "I'm just worried that he won't come!"

In the evening, Zhu Gaoxi returned from hunting, and his hard work paid off. During this trip, he actually hunted more than 300 prey, various pheasants, wild birds, and many deer and hares. He returned with a full load, but he also paid the price. Two subordinates slipped and fell and injured, and broke their arms.

Although they returned home with great pleasure, everyone and the horses were indeed a little tired. The horses were panting white. They stopped riding horses, but led their horses to walk slowly on the snow, preparing to return to the military camp. When the sun set, the snow was covered with a layer of roses and dragged out the long figures of the cavalry.

Zhu Gaoxi also walked on the ground like the soldiers, but this was his true love for war horses. In the past few days, he was also worried. His father twice wanted to make him expedition to Shanxi, but he was abandoned by Yao Guangxiao's firm opposition. Yao Guangxiao said with confidence: "The battle in Shanxi is related to the overall situation, and the King of Jin is also a good soldier. How can Your Highness take risks to train newcomers? Once Shanxi fails, it will not only hurt morale, but also cause Qin and Jin to join forces again to attack Peiping with the court army. At that time, Your Highness will be in danger!'

Thinking of this, Zhu Gaoxi couldn't help but gritted his teeth. Without Lu Siyuan telling him, he also knew that Yao Guangxiao would be the biggest obstacle to his future throne, and he had to get rid of him.

At this moment, a team of guards from afar were coming on horseback, escorting a carriage. The road was already very narrow, but the other party showed no sign of slowing down. Instead, he shouted: "The prince is here, and the army ahead quickly dodges."

Zhu Gaoxi's subordinates all looked at him together. Zhu Gaoxi looked gloomy and said nothing. When the other party was only fifty steps away, he suddenly pulled out his dagger and stabbed the two horses hard on the buttocks. The two war horses were injured and neighed, facing the other party. At this time, the cavalry team on the opposite side was slowing down. Suddenly, they saw war horses rushing towards each other. They were shocked and rushed to the side. Unexpectedly, the snow on the ground was slippery, and the horses were not enough to collect, and they fell one after another, causing a serious chaos, and dozens of war horses fell down. The cavalry fell off the horse. Although the snow was deep underground, many people were still injured or injured by war horses. However, the worst was Zhu Gaochi's carriage. The carriage hit a big tree heavily and then fell to the ground.

The followers were so scared that they shouted: "Criminal! Crown!"

After shouting for a long time, he faintly heard a moan from the carriage. Several entourages rushed up to pry open the car door and helped Zhu Gaochi out of the carriage. Zhu Gaochi was obese and did not seem to be injured, but a piece of skin broke on his forehead and blood continued to flow, causing blood to be covered in his face, body and hands. The entourages panicked and hurriedly used golden sore medicine to apply wounds to him.

The perpetrator Zhu Gaoxi saw it from afar and was secretly surprised. He suddenly remembered what Lu Siyuan had repeatedly told him to respect his elder brother on the surface so that his father would be assured to let him succeed to the throne. Zhu Gaoxi immediately ran over and shouted: "Brother! How are you?"

Zhu Gaochi's followers all glared at him, but Zhu Gaochi waved his hand and smiled: "There is no big problem, the blood has stopped."

Zhu Gaoxi took the eldest brother's hand and apologized: "It's me that I didn't control the shock horse and caused the eldest brother to be injured. I want to apologize to my father!"

As soon as he said this, several impatient followers next to him even clamored loudly. Everyone could see clearly that there were two daggers on the buttocks of the war horse and his face said that the war horse was frightened. This was clearly a deliberate murder.

Zhu Gaochi shouted, "This is my brother, you must not be rude."

Everyone was silent, and Zhu Gaochi comforted his brother again and said, "I am anxious to go home today. I forgot that it was snowing and the road was slippery. If my father asked, I will explain myself and I will not let you be punished."

"I'll send my brother back home!" Zhu Gaoxi said sincerely

"No need, go back to the barracks and have a break early!"

Zhu Gaochi stood up with difficulty and immediately ordered: "Everyone sort it out and go home!"

With the support of two guards, he climbed up a horse. Because he was too fat, he was unsteady in riding the horse. He had to support him from both guards. When Zhu Gaoxi saw him, a trace of contempt flashed in his eyes. At this time, a murderous intent suddenly appeared in his heart. The eldest brother was so close to him and had no protection. His hand was slowly pressed on the hilt of the knife, but he hesitated for a moment and let go. Zhu Gaoxi turned around and shouted: "Divide half of the prey he hit to my eldest brother."

"Thank you!" Zhu Gaochi nodded with a smile and let his horse go slowly.

After watching Zhu Gaochi walk away, Zhu Gaoxi said harshly on the ground, and cursed in a low voice: "I'm still hypocritical, I'm dead fat pig, why don't you hit you to death?"

He turned over his horse, pulled his war horse hard, and rushed towards the barracks.

Zhu Gaochi walked very slowly, and the pain on his forehead made him grin. A guard next to him said angrily: "Criminal, it is obvious that he deliberately urged us to hit us today, and almost injured the prince. You must report this to the general clearly."

"Shut up!" Zhu Gaochi shouted angrily: "This is my brother, who dares to report to your father!"

He was worried and turned around and told everyone, "Listen, today we are walking too fast and accidentally slipped on the snow. No one is allowed to tell the truth to the general, otherwise I will ask you."

After pausing, he added: "Even my mother and my master are not allowed to say it. In short, let's forget about this, don't you hear it."

Everyone had no choice but to agree. Zhu Gaochi did not dare to go back to the house directly. Instead, he found a small pharmacy, cleaned the wound on his forehead, and then returned to the house and sneaked back to his room from the side door.

Although Zhu Gaochi concealed this matter, Zhu Gaoxi refused to give up. As soon as he returned to the military camp, he found his master Lu Siyuan and told the matter in its original form. Finally, he said: "Master, you told me a few days ago that in order to compete for the throne, Li Shimin in the early Tang Dynasty did not hesitate to kill his brothers at Xuanwu Gate and force his father to abdicate. In the end, he created an invincible career and was called Tian Khan. I originally wanted to do it today, but in the end he hesitated for a moment, and lost the opportunity. Am I not cruel enough?"

"This is not that you are not cruel enough, it means you can control yourself."

Lu Siyuan stroked his beard and smiled with a yin smile: "Yes, it's not a husband. If you want to accomplish a big thing, you have to make up your mind to kill people. This is the necessity of the struggle for the throne, but you must also look at the right time to kill people. Why can Li Shimin kill Jiancheng and Yuanji? The key is that he has the military power. At that time, Jiancheng will seize his military power. If he doesn't take action, Jiancheng will kill him. But now you are different. If you don't have any soldiers in your hands, you will only be in vain for Gao Chi in the end. Do you understand? This is the fundamental reason why I asked you to get the army no matter what. As long as you have the army in your hands, you will not be afraid that your father will turn against you. At that time, you will repeat the Xuanwu Gate Incident, and the future Ming Dynasty will be yours."

"I understand, thank you for your teachings. If I ascend to the throne in the future, I will definitely be named Master as the national teacher."

"No! No!" Lu Siyuan laughed and said, "Actually, the life I want to live is as carefree as a god. If you can help you to the throne, I will do a big thing in my life. At that time, you just need to give me a mountain and I will live a life of a god."

Zhu Gaoxi nodded silently, and he frowned again: "But I can't take the troops. Yao Guangxiao's bald donkey ruined my big deal several times."
Chapter completed!