"Gan Yue!"
At the city gate, Gan Yue spoke his name in unskilled Chinese, and Zhu Di nodded with a dark face: "I know!"
After he finished speaking, he turned around and returned to the city with Yao Guangxiao, pretending to go find Zhu Gaoxu.
Seeing his intention, Yao Guangxiao stopped him and said as calmly as possible: "Your Highness does not need to go to the Second Highness. The Second Highness may not necessarily see you."
"He dares!" Zhu Di's eyes widened in anger, but Yao Guangxiao sighed: "Unless you want to make everyone aware of it."
As soon as he said this, Zhu Di was stunned. He didn't expect that this kid Zhu Gaoxu would threaten him with such a thing.
"Your Highness told you that on purpose, and also on purpose to prevent you from leaving the city."
"If others don't let me leave the city, I can go to His Highness and find a token so I can leave the city, but I'm afraid you can't."
"If others know that you can't leave the city, they will inevitably think too much."
"Your Highness, I only dared to do this because I expected that you would not make the matter known to everyone..."
Yao Guangxiao's words penetrated into Zhu Di's chest word by word.
He didn't expect that one day he would be plotted by his second son.
But he was more worried about one thing than heartache, so he turned around and signaled to the guards behind him not to follow him yet, and he pulled Yao Guangxiao forward a few steps.
At dusk, he asked Yao Guangxiao with a gloomy face: "Old monk, tell me if my second brother will force me to rebel."
"No..." Yao Guangxiao said firmly: "Although His Highness has military skills, his reputation is not as good as His Highness. If Your Highness is unwilling, the troops and horses of the Sandu Division will be unable to be controlled by His Highness, and things will be difficult to achieve."
"Then what does he mean by not letting me out?" Zhu Di was so angry that he didn't bother to analyze it, so he simply asked Yao Guangxiao.
Regarding this point, Yao Guangxiao also thought about it carefully, so he hesitated and said: "Maybe he is waiting for the news from the south, and wants to see if His Highness will be so tough if he knows the news from the south."
"Waiting for the news from the south..." Zhu Di's face turned ugly. After all, Zhu Gaoxu had said that his father's health was failing, and Zhu Yunwen would probably succeed to the throne soon.
But Zhu Di didn't believe it. He knew his father's physical condition very well.
"Your Highness, have you forgotten your Majesty's family letter?"
Yao Guangxiao's words awakened the dreamer, and Zhu Di recalled Zhu Yuanzhang's family letters.
From some angles, that letter from home does look a lot like Zhu Yuanzhang's final instructions.
"This...should not happen..."
Zhu Di refused to believe what Zhu Gaoxu and Yao Guangxiao said, so before Yao Guangxiao could speak again, he simply waved his hand: "Go and have a rest early."
He no longer went to Zhu Gaoxu because he was also very uneasy.
Seeing this, Yao Guangxiao let him leave, but after he walked away, Yao Guangxiao walked back to the city gate.
"Master, please take..."
"Please general, please take this poor monk to see His Highness the King of Bohai."
At the gate of the city, Gan Yue saw Yao Guangxiao coming with two guards. He immediately tried to stop Yao Guangxiao as before.
But before he opened his mouth, Yao Guangxiao revealed his purpose.
His purpose was beyond Gan Yue's expectation. After all, His Highness had never told him, so he could only ask carefully: "Master and His Highness..."
"They can be considered friends." Yao Guangxiao's kind-hearted image came in handy at this time, but as a member of the Tangqi family, Gan Yue would not let people go to see His Highness so easily, so he said: "Please The master will give you a name, and I will send someone to ask His Highness if he wants to see you."
"Okay..." Yao Guangxiao nodded, and then reported his name: "Dao Yan."
"Master Daoyan, please wait a moment." Gan Yue bowed in return, and then sent someone to ask Zhu Gaoxu.
When they met, Zhu Gaoxu met the people sent by Gan Yue.
"Dao Yan..." Hearing Yao Guangxiao's name, Zhu Gaoxu thought of the memory of his predecessor.
In the memory of his predecessor, Yao Guangxiao was only close to Zhu Di, and was not close to any of the three sons of the Yan family.
It's not surprising if you think about it carefully. After all, Yao Guangxiao was already forty-seven years old when he entered Yan Mansion, and Zhu Di was only twenty-two at that time.
For a monk like Yao Guangxiao, who was older than Zhu Di and had no children left in the world, there was no need for him to choose a prince.
After all, at his age, he is very likely to be ahead of Zhu Di. Zhu Di can give him what he wants, so there is no need to find three princes.
"Li Chu, go and invite him over."
Zhu Gaoxu replied to the soldier. The soldier did not expect that His Highness actually remembered the name of one of his little flag officers, so he grinned happily: "Yes! I will go and invite the master here right now!"
As soon as he finished speaking, he exited the wooden house and went to invite Yao Guangxiao.
Seeing him leaving, Zhu Gaoxu also smiled at Lin Su, Yang Zhan and others in the wooden house: "We will reminisce about the past tomorrow, and leave time to the master now."
"Okay!" Yang Zhan and the others also knew that Zhu Gaoxu had something to talk to the monk named Dao Yan, so they wisely stood up, saluted, and then left the wooden house.
Wang Yi led another soldier to clean the wooden house, and then walked to the door and took a look at Zhu Gaoxu.
"You personally lead the inspection and don't let anyone get closer than 20 steps to this wooden house."
Zhu Gaoxu explained, Wang Yi also nodded and walked out of the wooden house.
Not long after, Li Chu, who had left earlier, walked to the door of the wooden house with a monk in black robes.
"Your Highness..." Li Chu asked cautiously, but Zhu Gaoxu chuckled and nodded: "Thank you very much. You can leave now. I will talk to the master about something."
"Yes!" Li Chu straightened his back, bowed in return, and then left happily.
The conversation between them surprised Yao Guangxiao who was standing at the door.
He did not expect that Zhu Gaoxu had such a good relationship with the lower-level soldiers. After all, even Zhu Di could only maintain relations with middle- and lower-level military attachés such as Baihu Officer and Chief Flag Officer.
"Master, please come in."
Zhu Gaoxu's voice came out, and Yao Guangxiao did not hesitate. Both of them knew that the matter they had to talk about was huge, and it was best to resolve it quickly without delay.
Entering the wooden house, Yao Guangxiao bowed first: "Your Highness, you are well..."
"Master, please sit down first. I think you know that I am pressed for time."
Zhu Gaoxu got straight to the point, and Yao Guangxiao also took advantage of the situation and sat on the specially placed chair in front of Zhu Gaoxu.
The distance between the two is only one step, which can be said to be enough for a conversation.
Yao Guangxiao has a kind face and kind eyes. If it were not for the eye-catching black robe, it would be difficult for Zhu Gaoxu to associate him with the monk Daoyan who was known as the "monster who brought harm to the country" in history.
"Why is the Second Highness so sure that that person is about to leave..."
Yao Guangxiao was straight to the point and more open-minded than Zhu Gaoxu. Zhu Gaoxu said frankly: "I know the situation of that person. After the Taiyuan person left, he was exhausted mentally and physically."
"Right now, he's probably busy preparing for my eldest brother to go on stage."
"Why does Your Highness think that that person will target you and Your Highness after taking the stage?" Yao Guangxiao asked his question. After all, he didn't think Zhu Yunwen would leave a good answer and find another way.
"When people are depressed for too long, they will want to be released." Zhu Gaoxu said calmly: "If you can't be released, you will become sick from overwork. I don't need to elaborate on this point, right?"
Zhu Gaoxu described Zhu Biao's death as a disease caused by overwork. Although this is not appropriate, it makes sense. After all, Zhu Biao did die suddenly due to deficiency of Qi, blood and body.
"An ancient saying goes, if the father dies, the son will not change the patriarchal system for three years..."
Yao Guangxiao first borrowed the words of the ancients and then advised Zhu Gaoxu: "Even if the grandson ascends to the throne, he still needs to stick to the old system for three years. Your Highness, why are you in a hurry?"
"The ancients also said something, that is, when people leave, the tea will cool down." Zhu Gaoxu looked directly into Yao Guangxiao's eyes: "If Xiao Gui Cao Sui was the norm, then this idiom would not be so famous."
"Even so, His Highness does not need to treat His Highness King Yan like that." Yao Guangxiao saw that he could not convince Zhu Gaoxu, so he began to use the righteousness of father and son to suppress him.
Unfortunately, his remarks had no effect on Zhu Gaoxu.
"I am doing this to protect my father, not to imprison him."
He expressed his thoughts openly and honestly. Although this idea seemed far-fetched to Yao Guangxiao, Zhu Gaoxu had his own reasons.
In history, why did Zhu Yunwen not follow Qi Tai's suggestion and capture Zhu Di immediately, but instead chose Zhou Wang Zhu Ji in Henan?
In the final analysis, it was because Zhu Di controlled more than 200,000 soldiers and horses in the Sandu Division at that time, and most of the officials in Peiping also had old ties with Zhu Di and Xu Da. Zhu Yunwen was afraid of forcing Zhu Di to rebel, so he chose Zhu Ju.
After capturing Zhu Xi, Zhu Yunwen also waited and watched Zhu Di's reaction, and at the same time continued to increase the punishment of Zhu Xi.
From the very beginning when he was taken to Nanjing, then later Zhu Di remained indifferent and further deposed Zhu Ji and Zhu Youdun as common people, and then they were exiled to Yunnan...
Every step of the way is testing Zhu Di's bottom line.
After making sure that Zhu Di would not rebel, he began to take back the military power in Zhu Di's hands.
After Zhu Di took back the military power, Zhu Yunwen no longer pretended, and many ministers openly proposed to reduce the vassalship appeared in the temple.
At this point, Zhu Yunwen stopped pretending, and announced many policies against the vassal kings in one breath. At the same time, he eliminated the kings of Xiang, Qi, Dai, and Min who were dangerous to Nanjing, and increased his influence on the kings of Chu and Shu. , King Ning’s surveillance.
In this way, if Zhu Di still has evil intentions, Nanjing can use the canal and Shanxi, Liaodong, and Daning to squeeze the living scope of Yanfu while ensuring its own safety.
It can be said that Zhu Di was able to survive the first wave of Zhu Yunqi's attempts to cut down the vassals because he had military power, while the second wave was Zhu Yunqi's second move to target him, the leader of the vassals.
Because the second step was completed, Zhu Yunwen thought that Zhu Di had no possibility of rebellion, so he asked Zhang Bing and Xie Gui to attack Zhu Di.
But he didn't expect that the two of them would fall apart due to intelligence leaks, and Zhu Di's prestige in Hebei allowed him to easily capture Peiping.
In this process, the military power in Zhu Di's hands was the best talisman.
Zhu Gaoxu controlled Zhu Di because he was worried that something would go wrong, causing Zhu Di to release his military power in advance.
Anyway, the army is in Modong at the moment. As long as the military power is secured, it will be almost late May when the news of Lao Zhu's death comes.
Not surprisingly, at that time there would be a lot of talk about reducing the vassal status in Nanjing.
At that time, Zhu Gaoxu returned the military power to Zhu Di and asked him to slowly return to Peiping with his army. During this period, Zhu Yunwen did not dare to touch him, and could only touch Zhu Ji, who had met Feng Sheng privately in his early years.
Jianwen and the vassal reduction must be based on the script that Zhu Gaoxu knew. What he had to do was to maintain this script.
So in Zhu Gaoxu's view, he was not confining Zhu Di, but protecting him.
Of course, only he knew these things, so in Yao Guangxiao's view, Zhu Gaoxu's words were somewhat unreasonable.
"Does King Yan still need protection?"
Yao Guangxiao looked at the calm Zhu Gaoxu, and his impression of Zhu Gaoxu declined rapidly.
"Master, how do you think my eldest brother will cut down the feudal vassal?" Zhu Gaoxu did not answer directly, but asked instead.
But before Yao Guangxiao could speak, Zhu Gaoxu spoke first: "Reduce military power, concentrate it in the capital, and then give it wealth and keep it in captivity?"
What he said were all methods used by previous dynasties to reduce vassal status. Therefore, Yao Guangxiao could not refute and could only nod.
"Haha..." Zhu Gaoxu chuckled: "I'm afraid his methods will open the eyes of the master and my father."
His determination made Yao Guangxiao hesitate. After all, he really couldn't imagine what other methods Zhu Yunwen would create to reduce the vassal.
"I know him, even better than he knows himself..."
Zhu Gaoxu continued to speak: "He will not follow my "On Cutting Down the Domain", nor will he follow the path set for him by my grandfather."
"He has suppressed it for too long, and once he is released, he will be eager to prove himself."
"In short, the master is following what I said. During this period, except for my father who cannot leave Wulianghatu City, the rest of the generals will not be blocked from entering or exiting the city gate."
As the sky darkened, Zhu Gaoxu picked up a candle, lit it, and placed it on the table next to him and Yao Guangxiao.
The drifting firelight made it impossible for Yao Guangxiao to see clearly Zhu Gaoxu's expression, let alone his thoughts.
"Isn't His Highness worried that His Highness King Yan will get angry and order people to break open the city gate?"
While Yao Guangxiao was still in the capital, Zhu Gaoxu didn't know Zhu Di well enough, but Zhu Gaoxu knew Zhu Di better than him.
Facing his inquiry, Zhu Gaoxu leaned back on his chair and smiled confidently: "My grandfather was very cruel to corrupt officials, but he could not be cruel to his own family. Even if there were more scum in the family, he would just let it go." Teach yourself a lesson and don’t want to let others teach you a lesson.”
"At this point, my father is worse than my grandfather."
It's strange that Zhu Gaoxu would be worried about Zhu Di. Historically, the third child conspired with others to poison him, and they were all preparing to usurp the throne.
But Zhu Di didn't even beat him. He just ordered the death of Lao San's palace officials, but he didn't punish Lao San himself at all.
This was Zhu Di. If anyone else had faced this kind of thing, the third child would have been cut in half.
Even if Zhu Yuanzhang had a protective character, he would at least have to demote his son to a commoner and imprison him in the high walls of Fengyang for a lifetime.
Judging from the way Zhu Di dealt with his predecessor and his third son in history, where has he reached the point of what he is doing now?
"In this case, the poor monk knows how to tell His Highness King Yan..."
When Zhu Gaoxu's answer was revealed, Yao Guangxiao knew that he and Zhu Di would not be able to convince Zhu Gaoxu because he knew Zhu Di's character so well.
He stood up and was about to tell Zhu Di what was going on here. But just as he stood up, Zhu Gaoxu said, "Master, wait a minute."
"Huh?" Yao Guangxiao turned back in confusion, wondering what else Zhu Gaoxu could talk to him about.
He looked at Zhu Gaoxu and saw that half of Zhu Gaoxu's face was hidden in the darkness, and the other half of his face was also blurred in the candlelight.
"After the master returns, he will tell my father that I will let him leave Ulianghatu City by the end of the month at the earliest, and I will return to Jilin City at that time."
"But before that, I would like to ask my father to transfer a batch of military rations to me as a way out for my father and son in the future."
Zhu Gaoxu has been thinking about how to solve Jilin City's financial resources. Even though he has asked Yi Shiha to persuade Yang Bin, and even though Lao Zhu has transferred so much food to him, he still can't stop muttering in his heart.
Because of this, he set his sights on Zhu Di very early, which is why he was so happy when he knew he could participate in this northern tour.
Since Lao Zhu had just delivered money and grain to the three capital divisions, the guard warehouses of the three capital divisions in Beiping, Daning, and Liaodong were all very full at this time.
More than 200,000 soldiers and civilians patrolled the north, consuming thousands of kilograms of food every day.
As long as Zhu Di makes a little operation, Zhu Gaoxu can obtain tens of thousands of grains and beans.
"Taking military rations privately is a serious crime..."
Yao Guangxiao did not expect that Zhu Gaoxu would dare to focus on military rations.
"It's just sending troops and horses out to search and allocating rations normally. Why use military rations privately?"
Zhu Gaoxu is not afraid of boiling water, and added later: "If my eldest brother hadn't cut off the feudal clan, I would have given it back."
"..." Looking at Zhu Gaoxu's confident look, Yao Guangxiao didn't know where his confidence came from, but for some reason, he felt that Zhu Gaoxu must have some information before he dared to do such shocking things.
He did not leave, but sat back on the chair, looking at Zhu Gaoxu solemnly: "The poor monk would like to ask Your Highness, what will you do if the person on stage really cuts off the vassal?"
"I don't know what to do, or I can't do anything." Zhu Gaoxu's answer was beyond his expectation: "When the day comes to cut down the vassal state, I will wait for my father to do it instead of doing it myself."
"Master should know that even if I take action, I can only take Liaodong."
"Grandpa built the Great Wall at Yanshan, and there are seventeenth uncle to the north of Yanshan. I can't endanger the pass no matter what."
"Only if my father takes action can I have a chance to enter the border."
"It seems that His Highness has no connection with Guan Nei." Yao Guangxiao couldn't help but shake his head after hearing Zhu Gaoxu's words.
He knew Zhu Di very well, and Zhu Di would never rebel, so as long as Zhu Gaoxu didn't lie, it would be impossible for Zhu Di to affect the Yan Mansion because of Zhu Gaoxu.
As for Zhu Gaoxu's statement that he could win Liaodong, Yao Guangxiao didn't believe it either.
Yang Wen, Wu Gao, and Ping'an were in charge of Liaodong. Fu Rang was just the person who supervised the farming in southern Liaoning and could not help Zhu Gaoxu much at all.
Bohai's soldiers only had 13,000 households. How could they fight against Liaodong's 14,000 households? Not to mention that Liaodong was a military town and all the cities were very solidly built. What could Zhu Gaoxu do to attack these cities?
I'm afraid that before he could break into 30,000 guards, troops from Shandong Dusi, Peiping Dusi, and Peiping Dusi had already arrived in Shenyang.
"In this case, the poor monk retires..."
Yao Guangxiao stood up and left. He didn't know what backup plan Zhu Gaoxu had left, but no matter what backup plan he had left, it was enough as long as it did not affect the Yan Mansion.
Watching him leave, Zhu Gaoxu could also feel that Yao Guangxiao had no expectations for him, but the more he behaved like this, the more Zhu Gaoxu looked forward to the scene where he and Yao Guangxiao would meet in the future.
"Old monk, I'm not talking nonsense..."
He teased softly, then leaned on the chair, closed his eyes and rested.
While he was resting, Yao Guangxiao left his wooden house and returned to the wooden house where Zhu Di lived.
When he walked into the wooden house, Zhu Di was lying on his side on the wooden bed, sulking alone.
Listening to Yao Guangxiao's unique light footsteps, Zhu Di also said angrily: "How is it? What did the boy say?"
Yao Guangxiao did not answer in a hurry, but lit the candle, then found a seat to sit down. He breathed a sigh of relief and then said: "His Royal Highness said that the military power will be returned to you at the end of the month, and you will be allowed to enter and exit the city freely."
"During this period, the generals in the city will not be targeted and can come and go freely."
"Zhu Neng, Qiu Fu, and Zhang Yu, too?" When Zhu Di heard Yao Guangxiao's words, he suddenly turned over and sat up, but saw Yao Guangxiao nodding.
"So, this kid is not afraid that I will make things worse?" Zhu Di felt like he was facing his own sister Xu. He had clearly felt that the eldest son was more like Mei Zi and the second son was like himself.
But now it seems that after the second brother left the town, he neutralized the two people's tempers and kept himself under control.
Zhu Di felt uncomfortable at the thought of being controlled by his second son like this: "Did he say anything else?"
"I told you..." Yao Guangxiao didn't hide anything and told all the conversations he had with Zhu Gaoxu.
Listening to the conversation relayed from his mouth, Zhu Di's heart became colder and colder.
He stood up and drank a glass of hot water to relieve his nervousness, then sat down next to Yao Guangxiao and asked cautiously: "How much do you think you can take seriously what the second brother said?"
"Why do you have to ask this poor monk? In fact, you already have the answer yourself." Yao Guangxiao didn't know Zhu Yunwen very well, but Zhu Di knew Zhu Yunwen very well.
When Zhu Di left town in Peking, Zhu Yunwen was already five years old, so he had naturally met Zhu Yunwen.
Regarding Zhu Yunwen, Zhu Di felt that his second son's evaluation was very appropriate. He did grow up in a repressive environment.
However, Zhu Di did not agree with his second son's belief that Zhu Yunwen would use other methods to reduce the vassal status.
After all, in his opinion, "The Treatise on Cutting Down the Domain" has been approved by the vassal kings across the country, and the only dissenters, Zhu Fan and Zhu Ping, have also passed away.
With this method, it only takes two or three generations to completely solve the problem of the vassal king, and it can also ensure local preparedness for enemies and counter rebellion. It is already a foolproof strategy.
So in his opinion, there was no need for Zhu Yunwen to choose an additional path and walk it again.
Besides, people like him are Zhu Yunwen's uncles after all. He can't kill his uncle.
"As for the second child, I think it's half true and half false."
Zhu Di gave his answer, and Yao Guangxiao nodded slightly after hearing it, and then asked: "What is your highness's attitude?"
"I..." Zhu Di hesitated for a moment. Although he felt very aggrieved, the second child was his own baby after all, so he could only continue to be aggrieved: "I will take a break for half a month. As for the military rations... …”
He thought for a while and made sure that no one would think that he would deliver military rations to Jilin City. He continued: "Old monk, ask Zhu Neng, Qiu Fu, and Zhang Yu to lead their cavalry out of the city every day to patrol the border. Then adjust the grain from Yang Wen."
"By the way, doesn't the second brother have a brother working under Yang Wen? Let them discuss it themselves. I don't care anyway."
Zhu Di kept saying that he didn't care, but he arranged all kinds of things.
Seeing his stubborn appearance of helping, Yao Guangxiao chuckled and shook his head, then stood up and left the room.
But after he left, Zhu Di held the water glass in his hand and looked at the candlelight in front of him in a daze, wondering if he was thinking about Zhu Gaoxu's words.
After a long time, he put down the water glass in his hand, stood up and lay back on the wooden bed, murmuring:
"If nothing happens, don't think I dare not teach you a lesson..."
Halfway through the words, Zhu Di thought of Zhu Gaoxu's bravery, and his voice gradually became weak: "Let your mother teach you a lesson!"
(End of chapter)
