Emperor: When will the Seventh Prince rebel? I will open the city gates to welcome him.

After Hongxuan had arranged everything, he walked out of the military tent.

He watched the five teams march out in an orderly manner and leave Wutonggang.

"Your Highness! What can the guards brought by Yan'er do for Your Highness?" The two sisters Murong Yan and Murong Qin came to Hongxuan.

"Your Majesty! You have assigned tasks to all your personal soldiers, so please assign tasks to our Murong Mansion Guards as well!"

Both Murong Yan and Murong Qin felt that a war seemed to be about to break out.

Hong Xuan pondered for a moment and said, "Yan'er! Qin'er! After the battle is over, your team will be responsible for cleaning up the battlefield! You arrange a hundred guards from Murong Mansion to guard the supplies here and garrison Wutonggang, and the rest of you will ride horses and follow me!"

Murong Yan and Murong Qin were overjoyed: "Yes! Your Majesty!"

Hongxuan rode on a warhorse. He only received 500 warhorses from the military arsenal at the west gate of the imperial palace. For this operation, the number of warhorses used was 183. That is, among the five teams, four teams would walk at night, and the communication and reconnaissance team would ride on horseback.

The ambush site that Hongxuan mentioned was not far from Wutonggang.

A troop of cavalry came here at a gallop.

The leader was Hongxuan.

Hongxuan looked at the terrain on both sides and was very satisfied. "Captain Yu, does this place have a name?" He asked Yu Deshen who was riding with him.

"Reporting to the prince, this place is called Shuangtou Mountain."

"Shuangtou Mountain! Captain Yu, you lead your communications scouts to guard the fork in the road ahead and wait for the arrival of the guards chasing us. The order I gave you before said that you must lead all the guards to this Shuangtou Mountain."

"The last general takes command!"

Yu Deshen galloped away with his communications reconnaissance team.

The other four teams were all on foot, and half an hour later, all the combat troops arrived at the Two-Headed Mountain.

"Peng Fulai! Take your Xuanwu team and hide on the road ahead! Remember what I said to you in the military tent!"

"I will finally understand!"

"All other soldiers, listen up! Block this road with trees and rocks!"

Under Hongxuan's command, the road was quickly blocked.

Dawn breaks.

A group of personal guards led by General Hong Xiuzhi mounted their horses and picked up their swords.

They were ordered by Emperor Dingwen to pursue the 1,000 personal guards led by Prince Zhenbei.

Just out of the East City Gate,

General Hong Xiuzhi saw that Prince Hongze was already waiting.

Hong Xiuzhi bowed respectfully: "Your Highness!"

Prince Hongze looked at Hong Xiuzhi and said, "I know you are pressed for time, so I will make it short for you now!"

"Whatever the prince commands, I will obey it!" General Hong Xiuzhi said respectfully.

Hongze is the crown prince now, so there is a high possibility that he will be the monarch of this empire in the future.

"This time we are going to chase Hong Xuan and kill him! We don't need to bring him back to the capital, do you understand?"

General Hong Xiuzhi was shocked when he heard this.

"Your Highness, do you know that His Majesty's decree only ordered me to pursue the King of Zhenbei! His Majesty did not explicitly instruct my subordinates to kill the King of Zhenbei." General Hong Xiuzhi said in horror.

"Father is talking about pursuit. Do you know what pursuit is?"

"Father's intention is to chase and kill him. Don't you even understand this? Do you need me to teach you? That Zhenbei King Hongxuan must die. If you can't do it, I will settle accounts with you in the future."

Hongze was wearing the clothes of the Crown Prince of the Eastern Palace, with a dragon pattern embroidered on his robe. He looked at Hong Xiuzhi with cold eyes, he knew that this was the best opportunity to get rid of Hongxuan in a fair and open manner.

If we lose this opportunity, things will turn from light to darkness and there will never be such a good opportunity again.

"Besides, on the battlefield, swords and guns are blind. You should understand what I mean!"

Hong Xiuzhi's face, which was originally uncertain, gritted his teeth and said respectfully:

"I will obey the orders of the Crown Prince."

"Hahaha! Great! As long as you work for me, I won't treat you unfairly in the future."

"I am grateful for the grace of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince!"

"Go, come back quickly and bring the good news to this prince!"

"Follow the order!"

General Hong Xiuzhi had no choice as the prince blocked the palace gate and gave him a death order.

Of course he knew the cruelty of court struggles.

With his current position, it is impossible for him not to take sides. Since he is not Hongxuan's man but the prince's faction, he must serve His Royal Highness the Crown Prince.

“If I don’t kill Zhenbei King Hongxuan this time, the prince will not let him go even if I just bring him back.” Hong Xiuzhi said in his heart.

After Crown Prince Hongze watched the thousand-man guard army leave the imperial city, a cruel smile appeared on the corner of his mouth.

"Father has already accepted the proposal to let Hongli go to Yunzhou to be the King of Southern Frontier. Hongxuan, you are indeed a god at foreseeing things. But the more you do this, the more restless I am."

Crown Prince Hongli felt more and more threatened by Hongxuan, so he just came up with a temporary plan and had Hongli exiled to Yunzhou to be the King of Southern Xinjiang.

This kind of extraordinary wisdom made Hongze increasingly worried that he would ascend the throne in the future, as he would be the only variable.

"Seventh brother! Your third brother is grateful to you for picking my name in the Hall of Supreme Harmony and making me the crown prince. However, you are extremely resourceful and you will be the biggest variable in the succession of the throne. Don't blame your brother for being ruthless. If you want to blame someone, blame yourself for being born into a royal family."

On the official road, the commander beside General Hong Xiuzhi asked: "General, do you really want to kill the King of Zhenbei? Anyone with a discerning eye knows that this is just a test from the Emperor. Not allowing us to bring military crossbows says it all!"

"The King of Zhenbei is a thorn in the Crown Prince's side! What do you think? How can the heir to the throne be tested? Even if we don't take action this time, when the Crown Prince inherits the throne in the future, will we be able to trust the King of Zhenbei? It will be the same bloody storm, hum! If that time really comes, I'm afraid even more people will die."

The commander beside him understood.

"I am a stupid subordinate who just realized it!"

Yes, Hongze will inherit the throne of crown prince and will naturally eliminate all those he considers to be enemies.

The princes of all dynasties have done this. If they don’t, it will only appear that the prince is too incompetent.

On the contrary, the more Crown Prince Yue suppresses other princes, and the more other princes surrender, the more capable this crown prince becomes and the more he looks like the heir to the throne.

Early in the morning, Crown Prince Hongze was guarding the east exit of the palace. This was exactly the arrangement of his mother, Queen Zhu.

Hong Xiuzhi, the general of Kyoto, galloped along the road that Hongxuan had to take from Nanjing to Dayan in the north.

A team of more than a thousand people, dragging supplies, had nowhere to hide.

They chased along Hongxuan's route.

Kyoto General Hong Xiuzhi pursued all the way.

From early morning to noon, there was no rest in between.

He looked forward and saw a cavalry of five men waiting for something at the fork in the road.

After seeing the royal guards led by Hong Xiuzhi, the five cavalrymen turned their horses and galloped towards one of the forks.

Hong Xiuzhi's eyes lit up.

"That's them! Don't hold back! Kill them all!"