Father can be an enemy to the country

After the army went out, everything was peaceful in Gyeongju City.

The various Mongolian tribes were temporarily without horses, so they had no ability to make troubles. They all stayed on their respective pastures. Naha Chu was still recuperating in the military camp... Zhu Zhen would not let him go until the army found the Beiyuan royal court.

Besides, the army had just set off, and there was nothing to worry about on the front line. Even if something went wrong, Fu Youde was enough, and Zhu Zhen went to Daning City for inspection.

In fact, his main purpose is to comfort the wounded fourth brother. He originally wrote a sincere letter of apology to his fourth brother, explaining the reasons, telling him that he had no choice but to do so, and promising that he would be able to steal the limelight when he went south... In short, it was a good coax.

Unexpectedly, the fourth brother did not reply. Moreover, Deng Duo, who he sent to deliver the message, didn't even get to see his fourth brother, and came back dejected after being rejected.

When Zhu Zhen saw that his fourth brother was really hot, how could this be possible? In terms of love, the relationship between the two of them as brothers cannot be affected. Yu Li, the fourth child is now in charge of Daning, what can I do if I give up my job?

So he had to make the trip himself. It was six hundred miles from Qingzhou to Daning. Zhu Zhen hurried all the way and arrived at Daning City in three days.

It took the same three days to complete the journey between Qingzhou and Daning. Zhu Zhen was much more relaxed than Lan Yu and the others.

Lan Yu and the others were walking on thick snow in the wind and snow, while Zhu Zhen was already on a flat and wide official road under their feet. There are two inns along the way where you can change horses and rest, so there is nothing to brag about.

Naturally, all the civil and military personnel in Daning City had already left the city to greet the prince.

Zhu Zhen still didn't see the fourth brother in the crowd...

"It seems that the fourth brother is really angry with me." Zhu Zhen directed the envoy to Daning, Duke Cao Li Jinglong, and said with a smile: "I have to go to the door immediately to plead guilty."

Li Jinglong sighed hurriedly: "His Royal Highness King Yan must be really ill. I haven't seen him until now."

"Ah? You've never seen your fourth uncle?" Zhu Zhen was surprised.

"No." Li Jinglong said with a bitter smile: "I greeted Prince Yan like this when he came down, but he didn't show up in the carriage. He only asked Commander Qiu to say that he was not feeling well and there was no need to pick up the wind, so he let us go back. After that I went to visit him several times, but he kept closing the door and thanking visitors.”

"What's going on?" Zhu Zhen frowned and looked at Qiu Fu who came to greet him. With his sensitivity, how could he not realize that there must be something fishy about this matter?

"Back to your lord," Qiu Fu said sarcastically despite the cool breeze blowing on the grassland in August, but he was sweating profusely: "I will report the details to you alone."

"Yes." Zhu Zhen nodded, then paused his questioning, and entered Daning City surrounded by civil and military officials.

On the way, I didn't forget to ask Li Jinglong about Daning's defense, farming, and herders' resettlement status. Li Jinglong could answer general questions decently, but once Zhu Zhen asked him for detailed figures, his charming old cousin was stunned and couldn't answer.

Knowing that the prince was coming to inspect, Li Jinglong had done his homework in advance, but he didn't expect that Zhu Zhen would ask such detailed questions, and he showed his timidity.

Zhu Zhen was not surprised by this. These second-generation generals were generally too ambitious and had high aspirations but low abilities. Few of them were willing to work down-to-earth. Li Jinglong is considered dedicated, at least he can do some superficial work...

But this kind of fake dedication is worse than really lying down. If 'Flat Head' had already understood that he was a idiot, he wouldn't have handed over an army of 500,000 to him to cause trouble.

That's why Zhu Zhen came to Daning worriedly when the fourth brother gave up his choice. To a large extent, it was because he was worried about Li Jinglong.

As a result, after taking the exam, I found that my worries were not unnecessary...

However, Zhu Zhen couldn't care less about fighting with him, he had to deal with the fourth brother's problem first.

"You should go back first." Zhu Zhen said to Li Jinglong: "I will not eat the reception banquet, and give it to the soldiers."

"It's already noon, we always have to eat." Li Jinglong hurriedly advised.

"Why, are you worried that my fourth brother will be rejected by me?" Zhu Zhen glanced at him.

"No, no, that's not what I meant." Seeing Zhu Zhen's impatience, how could Li Jinglong dare to talk nonsense? He quickly waved his hand and said: "Your Majesty, please do as you please. I will just follow my orders."

Zhu Zhen, accompanied by Qiu Fu, went straight to King Yan's residence.

"Let's talk now." After entering the door, Zhu Zhen looked at Qiu Fu with a cold face and said, "Is the fourth brother not in Daning?"

The reason is very simple. Fourth brother is not an endless sissy. Even if he wants to express his dissatisfaction, there is a limit. As a result, no one has seen him until now, which can only mean that he is either ill or not in Daning at all.

But if he really gets a disease that prevents him from seeing people, Qiu Fu and the others will ask Fifth Brother for help immediately, so there is only the last possibility left.

"..." Sure enough, Qiu Fu was shocked when he heard this. He froze for a while before nodding with difficulty: "Yes."

"Where has he gone?!" Zhu Zhen suddenly turned dark and asked sternly: "If you dare to hide it again, I will kill you now!"

"Yes!" Qiu Fu was so frightened that he quickly knelt down and said with a mournful face: "Back to the Sixth Prince, our prince went on an expedition with the left guard of Yanshan Mountain."

Zhu Zhen's head buzzed. There was indeed a guard under King Yan in the expeditionary army. They were added at the strong request of the fourth brother. Unexpectedly, the fourth brother was not trying to gain opportunities for his brothers to make meritorious deeds, but was instead creating opportunities for himself.

"Isn't this nonsense?!" Zhu Zhen couldn't help but get furious. The fourth brother, who was responsible for guarding Daning, dared to leave his post without authorization. If it were an ordinary officer, even a few heads would be chopped off!

He grabbed Qiu Fu's collar and asked angrily: "Why didn't you report it earlier? What's the use of saying it now!"

At this time, the expeditionary army had already penetrated deep into the desert and temporarily lost contact with the rear.

"Our prince won't let you..." Qiu Fu's face turned pale and he couldn't control himself with fear. "He ordered us to help him hide it until we can no longer hide it, so we can only do it."

"He asked you to die, so you will die too?!" Zhu Zhen cursed.

"Then I can only die..." Qiu Fu said with a bitter face.

"Damn it, there's no fuel-efficient lamp!" Zhu Zhen pushed Qiu Fu away and didn't go into the hall. He just sat on the threshold and pulled his face in thought.

After a while, Qiu Fu took out another letter from his arms and presented it: "This is from our Highness to the prince, but he asked to take it out when the paper can no longer contain the fire."

"You are really obedient." Zhu Zhen snorted coldly, took it, tore open the cover of the letter, unfolded the paper and saw that it was indeed the bold and powerful handwriting of the fourth brother.

‘Lao Liu, when I read this letter, I am no longer in Daning. Maybe I am in the desert, maybe I have reached the fishing sea. ’

"I know Fourth Brother. My long-cherished wish since I was young is to lead troops across Mobei, drinking horses from the sea and strangling rocks like famous generals in ancient times." This time may be the last battle, I can't miss it. I don’t blame you, I know you are afraid that I will make a mistake, but I can’t just go back like this without killing a single Tatar. ’

'So I pretended to be a sergeant and followed Yanshan's left guard. Zhang Yuqiufu and the others were all following my orders. Don't blame me. In addition, if Xie reads this letter too early and helps fourth brother delay reporting it for a few days, fourth brother will kowtow to Xie...'

After reading the letter, Zhu Zhen looked up to the sky, with a smile on his face.