The prefect came out of the court, wiping cold sweat: Fortunately, Zhu Rui was fine, otherwise he wouldn't be enough to kill him.
Lao Zhu knew that beating these servants would only treat the symptoms but not the root cause, so he ordered more Yulin guards to protect the Qin, Jin, Yan, and Wu mansions.
There are not that many Yulin troops, so we can only spend money and ask the princes to recruit their own troops.
In fact, it was a disguised form of allowing the princes to expand the number of personal soldiers.
After hearing this, Liu Bowen sighed: "This is a harmful act of raising tigers, and there will be endless troubles in the future."
Zhu Rui is okay.
Zhu Fan, Zhu Xi, and Zhu Di are all good at fighting. Once you have more soldiers in hand, and you can hone your skills against various enemies such as the Mongols, it will be impossible to have no ambition in the future.
Once this incident broke out, Lao Zhu was even more worried about letting Zhu Bai and Zhu Biao go out.
Lao Zhu: "How about you go to Hangzhou and come back."
Hangzhou is not even 600 miles away...
Zhu Biao was helpless: "Father, since I'm out, I'd better just walk around more."
Lao Zhu threatened Zhu Bai again: "Don't go to Lingnan. We used that place to exile criminal officials. It's full of snakes, insects, rats, ants and miasma. It's not fun at all."
Zhu Bai: "I want to go, I want to go. Guangzhou Port is the only external port of our Ming Empire, so I naturally want to go and see it."
Lao Zhu still refused to let go and did not explain the departure date.
Zhu Bai was secretly worried and had no choice.
Zhu Biao could only say to Lao Zhu: "My father is about to conquer the world. If my son dares not even leave the house, he may not be able to convince everyone in the future."
Lao Zhu thought about it, so he could only personally select 200 people from the pro-military captains for Zhu Biao.
Including the people Zhu Bai had to take before, there were five hundred people.
Zhu Bai said there were too many people and it would be troublesome to have food and accommodation on the way.
Lao Zhu carefully selected and reduced it to two hundred.
Zhu Bai still shook his head: "It's still too many. It can't exceed one hundred."
Lao Zhu: "No, no more."
Zhu Bai sighed: "Father, if you are really worried, His Highness the Prince will not go this time. I will leave as soon as possible."
In fact, a hundred people are too many for him. They have to take care of food and control wherever they go, which is very troublesome.
If he is alone, he can bring up to thirty guards, which is great.
Zhu Biao hurriedly said: "Father, it's better to follow the arrangements of the twelfth brother."
Although he was reluctant, Lao Zhu also knew that Zhu Bai would not be able to leave without nodding, so he could only reduce the number of people to a hundred elite soldiers, plus guard posts along the way to support them.
It got hot early in Guangdong, so Zhu Bai and Zhu Biao set off after fifteen.
Thanks to Zhu Ju's clamoring to give Zhu Biao a blessing, Concubine Hu Shun could join her in bidding farewell to Zhu Bai at the palace gate.
Zhu Bai has grown a little taller this year, and now he has reached Concubine Hu Shun's chest.
But standing surrounded by those tall guards, he still looked so small.
Concubine Hu Shun felt so reluctant and worried that she didn't dare to speak out at the moment, she could only look at Zhu Bai.
Zhu Bai had comforted Concubine Hu Shun for a long time last night.
Concubine Hu Shun knew very well that her son was a dragon or a Kunpeng. It would be a pity to imprison him with the palace wall. She wanted to let him fly in the sky and sea.
Moreover, Zhu Bai also said that he was paving the way back. What is the specific way out, but there is no explanation.
Queen Ma and Lao Zhu gave Zhu Biao and Zhu Bai a few words of advice at this moment.
Zhu Bai replied with a smile: "Father, the Emperor and the Empress, don't worry, I will definitely take good care of His Highness the Crown Prince."
Queen Ma and Lao Zhu sighed secretly at the same time: Why don't you say this even if you don't say this. After you said this, why do we feel more worried?
According to the plan, Zhu Biao and Zhu Bai would take the land route to Changzhou, then switch to water transportation from Changzhou, pass through Suzhou through the canal, and then go to Hangzhou. After landing in Hangzhou, they would take the land route to Fuzhou and Guangzhou, then go to Chengdu, and then go all the way north. Xi'an, Peiping and Taiyuan, and then all the way back south.
Everywhere they went, the prefect would send someone to deliver a letter to Lao Zhu at high speed.
Queen Ma looked at Zhu Biao and his team disappearing into the distance from the imperial city, and couldn't help but blush.
Lao Zhu comforted her: "Don't worry, I didn't say that we have to go through all the thirteen chief secretaries this time. If there are any problems along the way, you can ask them to come back. Just go there next time."
Queen Ma nodded: "I didn't think so before, but this time I saw Biao'er go on a long trip, and I felt that he had really grown up."
Lao Zhu smiled: "We have already embraced our grandson, and it's time for our son to be independent."
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Zhu Biao and Zhu Bai's first destination was Changzhou.
Since ancient times, there have been three major cities in the south of the Yangtze River: Yingtian (previously also called Jinling, Jiankang, etc.), Suzhou and Hangzhou.
Changzhou happens to be stuck between these three cities, and it also controls Taihu Lake and the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal.
Suzhou is a land of grain production and a prosperous town. It continuously supplies grain and money to Yingtian through the canal.
If you control Changzhou, you will control the Taihu defense line of Suzhou and Hangzhou, and the "blood supply line" of Yingtian.
In addition, Changzhou has an outlet leading directly to the sea. Defending Changzhou also closes the door for the enemy to attack the fertile land south of the Yangtze River from the sea. As the saying goes, "defending Changzhou can solidify the throat of the coast."
Therefore, Changzhou was very important to Jiangnan, to the sky, and to the entire Ming Dynasty in terms of military, economy and politics.
This is also the reason why Zhu Bai and the others chose Changzhou as their first stop this time.
Zhu Bai naturally knew the importance of Changzhou, so he made an exception and set up a second-level official dental bureau here.
It is only over two hundred miles from Yingtian to Changzhou.
But Zhu Bai and the others were riding in a horse-drawn carriage, dragging their luggage and clothing with them, so they couldn't walk very fast. They could only cover seventy or eighty miles in one day.
This speed is similar to the speed of the carriages transporting goods from the Guanya Bureau.
Most of the official and dental bureaus are escorting bank account books or other important items. It is not safe to stay in ordinary hotels, and the conditions of staying in inns are too poor.
In addition, the business of Guanya Bureau is booming now, and people come and go to Yingtian almost every day, so Zhu Bo simply asked each Guanya Bureau to find a suitable place to build a post station every 70 to 80 miles on the way to and from Yingtian. , and the construction was carried out according to the standard drawings he gave.
That time when Fatty got stuck in the wall, Zhu Bai was inspired by the Xie family and the Sun family to build the outer wall of the station according to the level of a city wall.
The wall is two feet high and easy to defend but difficult to attack. It also has watchtowers and walkways so soldiers can patrol the wall.
The inn building is four stories high, and its outer walls are all made of strips of stone, which is smooth and solid.
Even if the wall is breached, it will be difficult to enter the station building.
The inn only accommodates people related to the Guan Ya Bureau and does not accept other merchants or people from the government. Guards patrol it 24 hours a day.
Therefore, it is not an exaggeration to say that the inn is a small city.
When it got dark, they just arrived at the planned destination, the Guanya Bureau's inn at the foot of Maoshan Mountain.
Zhu Biao couldn't compare to Zhu Bai who spent all day jumping around outside. He was really tired after a long day of driving.
He was a little worried when he saw the towering mountains and dense woods not far away.
There must be bandits hiding in the deep mountains, and thieves deep in the lush forests.
He said to Zhu Bai with some concern: "Twelfth brother, it may not be safe here."
