"Are you leaving?"
In the early morning of mid-April, when Guo Yan felt a chill on her body and slowly opened her eyes, she only saw Zhu Gaoxu who had already gotten up and was being dressed by two maids.
"I'll be back in a month or two. I won't go anywhere then and will stay with you until the autumn harvest."
Zhu Gaoxu looked at the two maids who were wearing Chinese clothes and walking in some pain. He stretched out his hand and snatched his clothes from their hands.
"temple……"
"Go and have a good rest."
Zhu Gaoxu took the clothes and walked out of the palace without giving the two a chance to speak.
Not long after, he walked to the palace stables dressed neatly and saw Chi Huan, who was locked in the stables and sleeping comfortably.
Chi Huan twitched his ears and woke up with two flicks of his tongue.
When it saw Zhu Gaoxu, who was wearing a mandarin duck battle coat, it stood up as if it had been given a shot of blood and walked towards Zhu Gaoxu.
Zhu Gaoxu opened the stable door for it and said to Jing Jun who was guarding the stable behind him: "Take the armor and send it to the dock. I will take it out for a spin first."
"Yes..." The two Jingjun responded, and Zhu Gaoxu also put on the saddle for Chi Huan himself, turned over and rode it out of the back door of the palace.
They came to the street, where the clean concrete streets were visible.
On the streets where the sky was slightly bright, there were already many people driving their cattle and horses to prepare to leave the city for farming.
They greeted Zhu Gaoxu warmly, and Zhu Gaoxu responded with a nod and a smile, and rode Chi Huan out of Jilin City.
Outside Jilin City, large areas of rice fields and wheat fields have been planted. Looking at the fields filled with grain, Zhu Gaoxu had no other thoughts except sighing.
His mind seemed to be empty, allowing Chi Huan to lead him around.
Perhaps only a quarter of an hour had passed before Chi Huan felt comfortable walking around. He stopped and pulled the reins in Zhu Gaoxu's hand to wake him up.
Returning to reality, Zhu Gaoxu took one last look at the people of Jilin City farming in the fields, and finally rode Chi Huan towards the Jilin Pier.
When he arrived at the pier, the thirty or so horse boats on the pier were already half full.
Three thousand military horses and three thousand riding horses were driven onto the ship and sailed to Zhaozhou City first.
As they left first, three thousand cavalry also began to board the ship one after another.
When he arrived at the pier, Zhu Gaoxu saw Yi Shiha sitting on the side of the road, waiting quietly.
Sure enough, when he saw his arrival, Yi Shiha walked quickly and bowed after a few steps: "Your Highness, the matter is done, but what Yang Shanren will do depends on him."
"Okay." After hearing that Yi Shiha had done everything well, Zhu Gaoxu nodded and dismounted.
When the soldiers following him saw this, they immediately led Chi Huan onto the boat.
Chi Huan didn't make any fuss and let the soldiers lead him onto the boat.
After they got on the boat, Zhu Gaoxu looked at Yishiha and explained to him: "This patrol to the north may not yield much, so you must do a good job in reclaiming wasteland in Jilin. Will Jilin City be able to do this in the coming year?" To be self-sufficient depends on this year.”
"Please rest assured, Your Highness, I know what to do." Yi Shiha responded.
Seeing this, Zhu Gaoxu also raised his head and walked towards the horse boat on which Chi Huan was boarding, and soon disappeared from Yi Shiha's eyes.
Soon, with the sound of the horn, Zhu Gaoxu followed the fleet to Zhaozhou again.
At the same time, soldiers and horses from Liaodong, Daning, and Peiping also gathered towards the Quaning Guard.
As the commander-in-chief this time, Zhu Di finally waited for Yang Wen who came to take office after waiting for more than half a month.
Taking Yang Wen and hundreds of cavalrymen from his headquarters, more than 5,000 Yanfu cavalry set off northward, heading all the way to Quaningwei.
Although Yao Guangxiao was sixty-three, he was still able to ride a horse proficiently, so the entire army was not slowed down by him.
Compared with Zhu Di, Yao Guangxiao was more thoughtful. He had inquired about the identities of most of the people brought by Yang Wen, so when he was on the road, he deliberately slowed down his horse and came to the side of a commander in his early twenties.
"Commander Yang, it seems that you are an old acquaintance with my Second Highness, right?"
When Yao Guangxiao spoke, the commander in his early twenties also turned around in surprise. Perhaps he did not expect that the person who came to him first was actually a monk.
"Commander Yang Zhan of Zhangdewei, I don't know who the master is..."
More than three years have passed, and Yang Zhan has grown more mature, and his figure is much stronger than three years ago.
Now, he had just been transferred to the north with Yang Wen, and was appointed as the commander of the Zhangde Guard. He was in charge of two thousand soldiers of the Zhangde Guard and accompanied the King of Yan on his northern tour.
Of course, rather than being promoted, he was more happy that this time he could see His Highness, whom he had not seen for three years.
After joining the army for three years, he is no longer the ignorant young man he was at the beginning, so he is a little wary of Yao Guangxiao.
"The poor monk is Yao Guangxiao, a monk in Yanfu." Yao Guangxiao responded kindly. Although Yang Zhan had never heard of Yao Guangxiao, judging from his age, he might be someone close to his highness, so His behavior was also more polite.
Seeing the sudden change in his behavior, Yao Guangxiao also roughly knew Zhu Gaoxu's position in Yang Zhan's heart.
In order to bring the two of them closer, he began to discuss with Yang Zhan how to quell the Japanese rebellion and return to the native land. From time to time, he would also intersperse some of the things Zhu Gaoxu had done in Peking.
This kind of conversation made Yang Zhan feel a little more relieved. At least the other party was not someone who knew nothing.
But no matter what Yao Guangxiao said, Yang Zhan was always wary. After all, he had experienced many intrigues in the past three years, and these things made him understand that the army was not so simple.
If you want him to let down his guard, you can only find Wang Xuan, Fu Rang and Zhu Gaoxu.
However, Yao Guangxiao didn't want to get anything from Yang Zhan, he just wanted to be a familiar face and get a feel for the other person's character and character.
After a brief inspection, he felt that Yang Zhan was a very good person. He knew etiquette and remembered kindness. He was a good talent.
Originally, he thought that Yang Zhan was a person with a "similar personality" to Zhu Gaoxu. Now it seems that Yang Zhan is not similar to the Zhu Gaoxu of the past, but more like the Zhu Gaoxu that people say now.
"Perhaps His Highness is really a prodigal son who has changed his temper."
Yao Guangxiao counted the beads, found an opportunity, left Yang Zhan, and returned to Zhu Di.
"Where have you been? I've been looking for you for a long time."
Seeing Yao Guangxiao appear, Zhu Di looked at Yao Guangxiao who suddenly caught up from behind in surprise.
"I just went to meet someone."
Yao Guangxiao smiled kindly. Zhu Di felt a little strange, but didn't think much about it.
The road going north was boring, with grasslands, hills and mountains for seven consecutive days. It was not until we got out of Yanshan that we saw the endless Daning grassland.
After arriving at Daning Grassland, you can see soldiers and horses being transferred to Quaning Guard from time to time.
When these soldiers and horses saw Zhu Di's banner, they came over one after another. Even though it was not in line with the military mobilization order given by Dusi Yamen, it showed that Zhu Di had high prestige in Sandusi.
On the ninth day, Zhu Di's team had expanded from the 5,000 Yanfu cavalry that started the expedition to more than 30,000 horse infantry and cavalry.
Of course, when they arrived at Quaning Guard, the size of the northern patrol team outside Quaning Guard was jaw-dropping.
Zhu Zhi, Guo Ying, Wu Gao, Liaodong Dusi and the three guards of the Liao King, totaled 3,600 cavalry and 20,000 sharp soldiers.
Zhu Quan, Bu Wan, Liu Zhen, Beiping Dusi and Ning Wang's three guards, a total of 4,500 cavalry and 26,000 sharp soldiers.
Zhu Di, Yang Wen, Zhu Neng, the Peiping Dusi and the three guards of Yanwang have a total of 6,500 cavalry and 23,000 sharp soldiers.
In addition, there are 3,000 horse infantry and 5,000 infantry soldiers guarded by King Gu.
These four tribes have a total of 14,600 horses, 80,000 horsemen and 80,000 foot soldiers, and a total of 94,600 people.
The tents stretching for more than ten miles surrounded the Quanning Acropolis. The Ming army flags covering dozens of miles were ringing and the north wind was howling.
This scene is a majestic sight that no one can refuse.
Yang Wen, Yang Zhan and others, who were accustomed to fighting in the south and at sea, were in a daze for a while, and felt a sudden sense of heroism in their hearts.
"OK!"
The short Chulema looked at the endless company camp, and Zhu Di also said proudly: "In this northern patrol, I will completely drive away the northern captives and teach Nahala Wushangshangshangshang memory!"
Zhu Di was not the only one to feel this way. All the Ming army generals who saw this scene had firm eyes and a sense of pride in their hearts.
"If we include the troops of His Highness the Second Highness, we can probably gather an army of 100,000."
Yang Wen looked at Zhu Di and told him his guess.
What he said was what Zhu Di thought. After all, the scale of this northern patrol was unprecedentedly large, and it was impossible for his second son to miss such an opportunity to shine, and would definitely bring a large army.
"The second brother's horse infantry should be the largest in Sandusi. If he brings enough horse infantry, we can go straight to Lingbei in the north this time and teach Nahalawu to escape completely!"
Zhu Di shook the reins and walked back and forth in front of the army. Listening to his words, everyone's faces were filled with smiles, except Yao Guangxiao who remained calm.
"Brother!"
Suddenly, more than ten people on horseback came from the camp under the low hill. Zhu Di looked carefully and saw Zhu Quan, Zhu Zhi, Guo Ying and others galloping towards them.
More than ten people rode up the short hill to meet Zhu Di.
"Why do you call me brother?"
Seeing Zhu Quan and Zhu Zhi coming on horseback, Zhu Di grinned. Although his mouth was asking, his face was very happy.
"The third brother passed away, so the eldest brother will naturally become the fourth brother."
When Zhu Quan arrived in front of Zhu Di, he couldn't help but smile bitterly when asked. Zhu Zhi on the side did not call him brother Zhu Di. After all, he was late in the feudal period and had not met Zhu Di a few times. He was not as close as Zhu Quan and Zhu Zhi.
"Fifteenth brother is quite restrained, but it doesn't matter. Just visit the north with me and your seventeenth brother more often."
Seeing Zhu Zhi's restraint, Zhu Di also grinned and at the same time turned his attention to Guo Ying, who was standing aside indifferently.
Although he is thirty-three, Guo Ying, wearing military uniform, still looks energetic.
"Um..." A second ago, Zhu Di said that Zhu Zhi was reserved, but when he saw Guo Ying, he became embarrassed.
"Wu Dinghou, I went to Jilin to see my daughter-in-law. I didn't treat her badly."
Embarrassed, Zhu Di used Guo Yan to close the relationship, but Guo Ying just nodded calmly: "The general will know, thank you His Highness Bohai for taking care of him."
"Hey..." Zhu Di, who felt that the conversation was too white, turned his attention to the generals who followed them.
Liu Zhen and Ping An are old acquaintances. As for Wu Gao and Zhu Di, they also trained with him for a period of time in Peking. Wu Gao was in his forties, but he had a cold attitude towards the vassal king and only did his own duties. , so many people in the military dislike him.
Zhu Di just smiled and nodded to them as a greeting.
After saying hello, he turned to Zhu Neng and said: "You lead the army to camp, and the other generals have a good rest. Three days later, the army will set off to the north. A letter came from Lao Er, saying that it was before Wulianghatu City. Join us south.”
"Yes!" Zhu Neng turned his horse's head and controlled more than 30,000 troops to camp outside. Zhu Di himself led the military commander and the above generals to Quaning Guard to discuss matters.
Yang Wen left Yang Zhan behind and asked him to assist Zhu Neng in leading the army to camp.
Yang Zhan still respected Yang Wen very much. After all, he was considered his benefactor.
Under Yang Wen's arrangement, Yang Zhan and Zhu Neng led their troops to the outskirts.
Zhu Neng didn't know the relationship between Yang Zhan and Zhu Gaoxu, so he roughly understood his level while talking to him on the road, and he and he divided their forces to set up camp.
Two hours later, when the two camps were erected, both sides went to the other side's camp to study.
There is no need to go into too much detail about Zhu Neng's ability. Even Yang Zhan, who had been following Yang Wen for three years, couldn't help but praise him when he saw the camp he had set up.
But when he was praising him, the sound of horse hooves was heard outside the camp. A general got off his horse and looked for Yang Zhan.
"Take a closer look. The fortress in the north is a little different from when we were in the south. See what you can do..."
"Yang Zhan!!"
Yang Zhan was still explaining to his commanding officers and Qianhu officials, when the next second he suddenly heard someone calling him by his first name.
He subconsciously turned around, only to see someone hugging him directly: "You've changed a lot, kid!"
Yang Zhan was hugged without even recognizing this man. His subordinates also looked at this man in surprise who was close to their commander.
After breaking free from the man's arm, Yang Zhan still wanted to be angry, but when he saw the man's face, he punched him: "You guys, you scared me!"
"Hehe!" The man dodged Yang Zhan's punch and grinned at the same time: "How dare you do it after seeing big brother."
"Fuck you, you can be the sixth at most, right? Lin Wuliu!" Yang Zhan teased, and the person coming was none other than Lin Su, who was transferred to Kaiping Right Guard as the commander.
When Zhu Yuanzhang ordered the ban, Lin Su and Wu Zhangyi were the ones guarding Zhu Gaoxu.
Yang Zhan and Wang Xuan visited Zhu Gaoxu many times, sending messages through their hands or having conversations through the door.
Over the past few months, several people have become familiar with each other.
"Why did you become the commander of Kaiping Right Guard? Isn't the commander of Kaiping Right Guard Lin Su?"
When old friends meet again, there is naturally endless things to talk about, but what makes Yang Zhan confused is Lin Wuliu's identity.
"Your Highness changed my name. Now I am called Lin Su." Lin Su walked forward with a smile, hugged Yang Zhan and said with a smile: "Let's go to your camp to drink tea and eat meat."
"I don't have meat for you..." Yang Zhan was helpless, but Lin Su grinned: "Can I still give you meat? I brought a fat sheep from Kaiping Youwei, and I happened to eat it today."
"Okay!" After hearing that he could eat mutton, Yang Zhan put his arms around Lin Su and returned to his camp.
When passing the gate of Zhu Neng's camp, he happened to meet Zhu Neng who had returned from studying at Yang Zhan's camp.
Zhu Neng knew Lin Su, so he couldn't help but look surprised when he saw how close Lin Su and Yang Zhan were.
Feeling Zhu Neng's gaze, in order to make Yang Zhan's life comfortable in the north, Lin Su also hammered Yang Zhan's shoulder and introduced to Zhu Neng: "Brother Zhu, this is Yang Zhan, His Highness's wife when he was in Yingtian City. Good brother!"
"Oh...that's it..." Zhu Neng was stunned by Lin Su's words. He really didn't know that Yang Zhan and Zhu Gaoxu had such a relationship.
"Are you going back to the camp to reminisce about old times?" Zhu Neng looked at the two of them and asked. Seeing Lin Su nodding, he said: "Your Highness has brought a few jars of wine. I will have someone send you two kilograms. Don't drink too much." many."
"Isn't this good..." Yang Zhan was still a little restrained, but Lin Su nodded readily: "Okay!"
Seeing that Lin Su agreed and Zhu Neng left, Lin Su also explained to Yang Zhan: "King Yan likes His Highness, let's eat meat and drink wine without worry, it will be fine."
"That's good..." Yang Zhan nodded, and then led Lin Su towards his tent.
The two of them chatted about their experiences in the past three years. After entering the tent, they drank tea and ate some dried fruits while waiting for the mutton.
Before the mutton was ready, Zhu Neng's wine had already been delivered.
The two of them resisted drinking and waited until the mutton was served before they started drinking and eating meat.
"You are far away from us, but you are close to Wang Xuan. I read the newspaper and it seems that he has also been promoted to an official position."
"Yes, he is now the commander of the capital. Although he is still on the same level as us, he can already control the soldiers and horses of the capital, and he has the same official position as the commander of the capital."
Lin Su talked about Wang Xuan, and Yang Zhan also smiled and explained that after all, he and Wang Xuan were not far apart, especially since he had been following Yang Wen in Guangxi to fight the rebellion last year. The two of them were only a thousand miles apart, so they exchanged letters. Easy.
He was very happy about Wang Xuan's situation, but when Lin Su heard what Yang Zhan said, he also thought of some of his former brothers, so he asked Yang Zhan: "You and Commander Yang went to Yingtian to report on their duties." Alright?"
"We went, what happened?" Yang Zhan asked curiously while eating meat and drinking wine.
"You didn't go to find Wang Jian and Wu Zhangyi?" Lin Su talked about his colleagues back then. Yang Zhan also stopped drinking and looked at Lin Su: "You don't know? Shouldn't you? Do you want to go to Yingtian first to report on your work?"
"I couldn't go..." Lin Su sighed, and explained somewhat helplessly: "Commander Fu Du and I had just arrived in Shenyang when we received an order from the Dudu Mansion to let our military attachés who were transferred to Kaiping leave for Kaiping immediately. Therefore, I was unable to respond to Tian’s report.”
"That's it." Yang Zhan put down the wine glass in his hand, looked at Lin Su's expression, and then slowly said: "Of course I will go look for it, but they are not doing too well right now, and Wang Jian is still in the official position of Baihu His position was suspended, but Wu Zhangyi was promoted to Chief Flag Officer, but his life was not too good, so he avoided me."
As soon as Yang Zhan opened his mouth, Lin Su knew what Wang Jian and Wu Zhangyi were thinking.
If they were ordinary friends, they would naturally be jealous or fawn over them, but Wang Jian and Wu Zhangyi were not like that. They were good brothers with Yang Zhan and himself.
After not seeing each other for three years, the former friends and brothers have become commanders and commanders, while I am just a small official of hundreds of households and chief flag officer.
Such a gap is naturally embarrassing, so they can only avoid Yang Zhan.
After learning about the current situation of the two of them, Lin Su took a sip of wine and sighed: "If the brothers and I had not made up our minds to go north with His Highness, we would probably be like Wu Zhangyi and the others now."
"Well..." Yang Zhan did not refute. After all, he also felt sorry for Wang Jian and Wu Zhangyi.
He stayed in the army for three years and came into contact with all kinds of people, from Dusi in Zhejiang to Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi and Huguang. He met as many as eighty commanders and officials from thousands of households.
But to be fair, the quality and abilities of this group of people are uneven. Those with strong abilities have to learn from them, while those with weak abilities are not even as good as Wu Zhangyi.
Since Zhu Yuanzhang gave very preferential treatment to the military attaches who fought against him, as long as they did not cause trouble like the Huaixi nobles, they could basically pass on hereditary official positions to their descendants.
Such a system has ensured the prosperity of the military attaches from generation to generation, but it has also resulted in uneven military strength in various places.
Some military attachés can lead dozens of men to hunt down dozens of bandits, but they will be repelled by the bandits. Some military attaches can lead hundreds of soldiers to chase hundreds or even thousands of bandits.
Judging from what Yang Zhan has seen and heard, the capabilities of the military attachés from Zhejiang to Guangdong are very worrying, and they are no longer as powerful as they were more than ten years ago.
In the entire Ming Dynasty, the only armies that could fight were Sichuan, Yunnan, and Guangxi, followed by Shaanxi Dusi and Xingdusi, as well as Peking, Daning, and Liaodong.
Slightly less important are provinces such as Shanxi and Huguang that need border preparations to counter insurgency and long-term security wars.
Apart from these, the quality of military attaches and soldiers in the remaining provinces is worrying.
"Over in the southwest, I heard that the Marquis of Xiping has already mobilized an army to attack the rebels of Daogan Mengna."
Yang Zhan said with some emotion: "When I exchanged letters with Wang Xuan, he said that the Marquis of Xiping had prepared an army of 60,000 this time to attack Yun Jiemu in one fell swoop."
"I don't know where it is, but I think it is similar to the Mobei Royal Court." Lin Su was not sure about the situation in the southwest. He smiled and took a bite of meat, and said with a hearty smile:
"By the way, His Highness will also participate in the Northern Tour this time, and you will also be able to see His Highness then."
"That's right!" Yang Zhan couldn't help but smile, and revealed to Lin Su: "The place where you and I work are far away, but it doesn't matter, because if nothing else, after this northern tour, I should I will go to Liaodong with Commander-in-Chief Yang to take up a post."
"At that time, I will see if I can take up a post in Liaonan or Liaoshen area so that I can go to His Highness and Fu Du to direct their affairs."
"Are you going to Liaodong?" Lin Su was also surprised by the news. After reacting, he said with a hint of envy: "You guys are lucky. If you can go on the Northern Patrol with His Highness in the future, you might be able to climb up soon." He has been given the official position of commander in the capital."
"How is that possible!" Yang Zhan didn't know whether to laugh or cry: "At my age, serving as a commander is enough, but at your age, it's time for you to be promoted."
"I'm only twenty-eight!"
"That's bigger than me!"
"Nonsense! Come drink!"
"Just drink..."
In the camp, the two of them were laughing and chatting constantly, and while pushing cups and changing cups, they remembered the days in Yingtian Capital.
But compared to their laughter and laughter, Zhu Gaoxu, hundreds of miles away, was not so comfortable...
(End of chapter)
