My father Zhu Gaoxu

Chapter 820 Prodigal Son

"Prodigal son, what a prodigal son!"

In the imperial city of Xijing of the Han Dynasty, Zhu Gaoxu stood in the Wuying Palace and became furious, so frightened that Liu Mian and Liu Ke's uncle and nephew did not dare to speak out.

"Father, don't get so angry that Kaiping City hangs alone in the northern border. If you continue to defend it, it will be lost sooner or later. It's better to withdraw on your own initiative."

Zhu Zhanhe hurriedly stepped forward to persuade.

"That's because Zhu Zhanji, a prodigal son, is too timid. He failed to hold on to the inheritance left by his father. Kaiping was used to attack the grassland, but he chose to shrink the defense line on the border. This did not give Kaiping away in vain. Give it to Wala?"

Zhu Gaoxu cursed angrily again. Although he did not go to Kaiping at the beginning, he still knew the place very well. If Kaiping was lost, the Ming Dynasty's defense line would have to retreat for at least several hundred miles, and the city of Beijing would also lose a strategic depth.

"This one……"

Zhu Zhanhe didn't know how to persuade him when he heard this, but to be honest, Zhu Zhanji's shrinking of the border defense line also made Zhu Zhanhe very dissatisfied. After all, his shrinkage had completely destroyed Zhu Di's previous northern expeditions. All the results of the battle were thrown away.

What's more serious is that because Zhu Zhanji sat back and watched the various forces in the grassland become stronger, the pressure on the northern border increased, which would lead to the tragedy of the Tumubao Incident sooner or later.

Zhu Gaoxu lost his temper for a long time, and finally calmed down, and then asked Zhu Zhanhe: "Zhanhe, the Ming Dynasty is becoming more and more useless. Not only has Jiaozhi been lost, but Kaiping has also been lost. At this rate, If you go down, the country and country left behind by your imperial grandfather will be destroyed sooner or later!"

"Father, what do you mean?"

Zhu Zhanhe was stunned when he heard this. He heard that there was something in Zhu Gaoxu's words, so he asked again.

"What I mean is very simple. Although the Ming Dynasty was passed down to Zhu Zhanji, a prodigal son, it is still the power of our Zhu family. As a descendant of the Zhu family, I naturally cannot watch him destroy the inheritance of my ancestors!"

When Zhu Gaoxu said it to the end, his eyes shone slightly, and his face was full of unabashed ambition.

Liu Mian and Liu Ke's uncle and nephew below heard Zhu Gaoxu's words and looked at each other excitedly, but then they lowered their heads deeply and did not dare to express any opinions on this matter.

Zhu Zhanhe frowned when he heard this. The meaning of Zhu Gaoxu's words was very clear. He didn't want to watch Zhu Zhanji ruin the foundation of the Ming Dynasty. Naturally, there was only one way, and that was to lead his troops back to the Ming Dynasty and seize the throne like Zhu Di did. .

"I can understand my father's mood, but you also need to calm down. We, the great men, are too far away from the Ming Dynasty. Even if we want to interfere with the Ming Dynasty's affairs, we are unable to do so!"

Zhu Zhanhe immediately persuaded him.

Zhu Di's rebellion was in Beijing. Even if it was far away from Nanjing, it was still within the Ming Dynasty. Even so, it took four years to reach Nanjing. In comparison, the Han Dynasty was thousands of miles away from the Ming Dynasty.

Moreover, Zhu Gaoxu once did something to attack Beijing. No matter how stupid Zhu Zhanji was, he would definitely deploy heavy troops in Tianjin and Beijing. Therefore, it was almost unrealistic for Zhu Gaoxu to lead his troops back to the Ming Dynasty.

"Why are you so weak? Our steamship runs so fast. It won't take long to return to the Ming Dynasty. And you have improved the steamship to make it faster. When the time comes, I will lead the army to go back directly by boat. I will definitely be able to kill He was caught off guard!" Zhu Gaoxu said confidently.

"Father, you don't know. The new type of steamship has indeed been successfully researched. However, the structure of this kind of ship is complex and the construction speed is very slow. Moreover, it will take time to transform it into a battleship. I estimate that the fastest is seven years. It will take eight years to replace all of our navy with steam ships."

Zhu Zhanhe explained hurriedly.

Seven or eight years is already enough when everything goes well. If some unexpected problems arise, it may take more time.

"I didn't say we would fight back to the Ming Dynasty now. Liu Mian and your Jin Yiwei will increase your efforts to collect all kinds of information about the Ming Dynasty. In addition, you must bribe and persuade some people within the Ming Dynasty to join us. As for Zhan Heqi, we must also be prepared. , as long as there is a problem with Ming Dynasty, we will immediately lead our troops to fight back!"

Zhu Gaoxu ordered ambitiously.

"I will obey your orders!"

Liu Mian and Liu Ke's uncle and nephew immediately agreed. The reason why they left the Ming Dynasty in the first place was actually more because they were forced to have no choice. Now Zhu Gaoxu is determined to return to the Ming Dynasty, which makes their uncle and nephew very excited. After all, no matter how good the man is, It’s not their hometown either. Who doesn’t want to return home in fine clothes?

"That's...okay!"

Zhu Zhanhe had no choice but to reluctantly agree at this time. Although Zhu Gaoxu already had ambitions for the Ming Dynasty, at least he would not send troops now. This was considered very restrained for the impatient Zhu Gaoxu.

Seeing that his son agreed, Zhu Gaoxu was also very happy. He immediately praised him a few words and then waved everyone to leave. He wanted to think carefully about how to send troops to the Ming Dynasty in the future?

After leaving Wuying Hall, Zhu Zhanhe returned to Zhan Shifu, and then he fell into deep thought.

Zhu Zhanhe was not particularly surprised that Zhu Gaoxu wanted to return to the Ming Dynasty and seize the throne. After all, Zhu Gaoxu led his troops into Beijing. If Zhu Zhanji hadn't run so fast, the Ming Dynasty might have changed. .

Of course, this is also due to Zhu Zhanji's own failure. He has been on the throne for so long, but his performance is very disappointing. Just abandoning Jiaozhi, he even abandoned Kaiping.

You must know that the Ming Dynasty moved its capital to Beijing, which was already very close to the border. Now that Kaiping has been lost, the border in the north of the Ming Dynasty has retreated hundreds of miles. If the grassland people send troops in the future, they can even reach the gates of Beijing overnight.

For example, Zhu Zhanhe has been worried about the Tumu Fort incident. In fact, Tumu Fort is only more than 200 miles away from Beijing. Think about it, the Wala army directly attacked hundreds of miles away from Beijing and kidnapped the Ming emperor. It is said that at that moment, Ming Dynasty was almost close to being destroyed.

"The emperor's several expeditions to the north have created such a huge military advantage over the grassland. You don't need to do anything at all. Just maintain the original military deployment and send large troops out of the grassland from time to time to sweep up. Why do you have to shrink the border defense? Where is the strength of the army?"

Zhu Zhanhe finally said to himself, hating that iron could not become steel.

With the current national strength of the Ming Dynasty, it is completely possible to send troops to sweep the grasslands every few years. At that time, it can wipe out the forces on the grasslands, help the Ming Dynasty train its troops, and at the same time give some military generals the opportunity to perform meritorious service and maintain the renewal of military generals.

But Zhu Zhanji was unwilling to do such a simple thing. Of course, there were also some civil servants pushing behind it, because they did not want to take the risk of war, but they also did not want to see military generals taking the lead, which ultimately led to the current situation.

(End of this chapter)