"..." Xu Da's expression also froze. Lao Zhu suddenly spoke so clearly that for a moment, he really didn't know how to answer.
"It is true that Yun Gong admires His Highness's knowledge, but... I do have selfish motives for adding fuel to the flames."
"There are quite a lot of rumors among the government and the public that the minister is not on good terms with His Majesty."
Hearing this, Lao Zhu stared at Zhu Di who was looking down fiercely. Zhu Di was so frightened that he quickly and silently let go of the cake in his hand...
"Let Yungong serve as His Highness the Fifth Highness. Firstly, His Highness is truly astonishingly talented and is trying to teach Yungong something. Secondly, I want to eliminate the discussion between the government and the public. The Xu family... can also be better off."
"It's hard? What's wrong? Who dares to make it hard for Duke Wei of the Ming Dynasty?" Lao Zhu's voice was extremely domineering, but everything he said was heart-wrenching. "It's just that you think that your military achievements are high, and you are worried that we will be jealous of you, and that you are worried that we will kill you. You are worried that we will imitate Liu Bang, and give Xu Tiande a label of rebellion. That's done. Killing the chicken to scare the monkeys, right?"
"Your Majesty! I don't dare!" Xu Da's expression changed drastically, he immediately left the table and knelt down heavily in front of Lao Zhu. When the others saw that he was angry, they quickly left the table and knelt down, not daring to speak. Only Zhu Su still had time to comment on Lao Zhu's performance: What a domineering spirit!
"Why don't you dare! You have closed the door to thank guests these days and have not entered the military camp. You don't even dare to meet your old friends from the army who want to drink with you. You shut yourself up in the house like a little daughter-in-law and never leave the house. Mai, don't you just want to avoid suspicion?" Lao Zhu snorted. "You and I grew up together, and now we are the only ones here who are also called junior ministers! You must be estranged from us!"
"This...old brother, you can't say that." Xu Da had a bitter look on his face and raised his head with an aggrieved look: "I...I can't help it."
"The last time I went back to the Northern Expedition, I was careless and underestimated the enemy, which gave Meng Yuan a chance to breathe. Now in this situation, if I raise a large army to attack Bei Yuan again in the Ming Dynasty, it will be like hanging myself - I feel that my life is too long."
"I'm afraid that the stalemate with Meng Yuan will continue with the Great Wall as the boundary. There won't be any big battles to fight for a while."
"The Ming Dynasty needs to recuperate! Now is not the time for us to show off our ferocity in the war. If I don't restrain myself, those arrogant and powerful generals who have no war, why don't they put me up and roast me on the fire?"
"Brother, if you want to stockpile weapons, I want to avoid making it difficult for you..."
As expected of the Duke of Wei, his eyes were whipped into the room. It can be seen at a glance that the Ming Dynasty no longer has the ability to destroy Meng Yuan in one fell swoop. The most important and urgent thing now is to stockpile weapons and cultivate and recuperate.
It's just that... these words still avoided the important and did not mention the slightest mention of his worries about Lao Zhu attacking his heroes. Zhu Su couldn't help but sigh that these people are all old foxes.
"So you thought we didn't need you anymore and were going to attack you, right?" Lao Zhu snorted and laughed. "Juniors like Wen Zhong and Lao Wu are here today, and they just happen to be witnesses for us and your Uncle Xu."
"We, Zhu Yuanzhang, left our words here today. But as long as I, the Ming Dynasty, are here, Xu will not betray Zhu, and Zhu will not abandon Xu!"
"Let the sun and the moon rotate, it will never be easy! Xu Tiande, you underestimated me, Zhu Yuanzhang. Do you think that since we started from the same humble age as Liu Bang, we will do the same thing as him?"
"Let me tell you, it's wrong!"
Lao Zhu's words were unequivocal and left no room for doubt. He had already listened to the history of the Ming Dynasty from Zhu Su and knew that Xu Da himself was someone he could absolutely trust. Even though he later received a cold reception from himself, he still focused on training troops in Peiping to prepare for the fight against the Mongolian Yuan.
Such people must be appeased no matter what. I had promised that the Xu family and the country would be of the same family.
"Brother... no, Your Majesty..." Xu Da was really moved. Even though he is a military god, when it comes to winning people's hearts, he is still dozens of steps lower than Lao Zhu.
"Don't you dare to die for your Majesty!" Seeing this scene of mutual respect between the king and his ministers, Li Wenzhong was also greatly moved, and immediately gave him a great gift to express his excitement. Zhu Su and other brothers had no choice but to bow down and worship together. Xu Da also had tears in his eyes, feeling deeply ashamed of his behavior of judging a gentleman's heart with a villain's heart.
"No need to be polite. Do you know why we have to say these words here, in front of our son, you and Wenzhong?" Lao Zhu helped Xu Da and motioned for Li Wenzhong, Zhu Su and others to come over. , then continued. Xu Da shook his head to express his ignorance. Lao Zhu smiled and took out a roll of paper from his sleeve.
"You and others all think that after tomorrow, the troops will definitely enter Kuma and release Nanshan. Today, I will tell you and others the real plan we have hidden in our hearts!" With a proud look on his face, he slowly took out the scroll of paper in his hand. Open. When everyone took a closer look, Zhu Su couldn't help but complain in his heart: This is not my world map... Oh no, the Map of Kunyu and Ten Thousand Kingdoms!
"Just wait and see, this is my Ming Dynasty, and this is the world..." Lao Zhu said, pointing to the map. As soon as this statement came out, Xu Da, Li Wenzhong, Zhu Di, Zhu Fan and others were shocked. "What? Our Ming Dynasty is so vast, but we only have this small area of a palm?"
Lao Zhu chuckled and looked at the surprised people. He now fully realized what was going on when Zhu Su looked at him and Zhu Biao when he said this. It's really cool to see these country bumpkins with a foresight. "Now, do you know how big the world is?"
"Beyond the Ming Dynasty, there are still so many lands. It's funny that all the dynasties in the past thought they were in heaven and settled in a corner without knowing it."
"Do you think that the Ming Dynasty will not need soldiers in the future? You are wrong! We intend to imitate the emperor of the Zhou Dynasty and enfeoff the countries to outer borders, thinking that we, China, will continue to expand our territory and carry forward our Ming Dynasty clothes!"
"Tiande, do you think you are unblockable? You are wrong."
"Don't let your daughter tell you about the conspiracies of the past dynasties. It's just a fool's errand. We are too lazy to learn the so-called emperor's methods, and we won't do them!"
"I'm telling you clearly now, if you can make great contributions to our Ming Dynasty."
"We will not hesitate to make your Xu family a vassal king!"
Lao Zhu pointed at Xu Da, who was already in a daze. This sentence was like thunder, and Xu Da's ears were buzzing!
Princes and kings? He thought that his fame in this life had reached an all-encompassing level and that he had already reached the bottom line of being a king. If he takes another step forward, the king will definitely be afraid of death without a burial place. But now I heard that people actually don’t recommend making you a vassal king?
It is not an exaggeration to say that the difference between the Dukes of the Ming Dynasty and the princes and kings of the Zhou Dynasty is as great as clouds and mud!
The key is, looking at the map, Xu Da felt that what his brother said might be true!
Zhu Su looked at the high-spirited Lao Zhu with a look of shock. Although he proposed to restart the Zhou Dynasty's feudal system, he only wanted to let Ming take advantage of the opportunity to take over the surrounding countries, and then let the prince surnamed Zhu serve as a screen vassal to guard foreign countries.
Good guy, does Lao Zhu want to learn everything from the Zhou Dynasty in one step, and directly let the domestic military leaders lead the soldiers to establish foundations in foreign territories?
(End of chapter)
