Chapter Twelve Leaving the Capital

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  "Halt! What brings you here?"

  "Pulling shit!" Zhou Huai'an emerged from behind the cart and explained.

  The two Jin Yiwei in embroidered uniforms took a look and saw Zhou Huaian. They naturally recognized him and hurried forward to salute, saying: "Lord Zhou, how is it you?"

  "Why wasn't it me? Zhang Lao San, the night soil collector, is sick today, so they temporarily hired someone. I was afraid you wouldn't recognize him, so I came along with him." Zhou Huan explained with a smile.

  "I said, how come our brothers who are pulling the cart haven't been seen before!" The two Jin Yiwei guards naturally looked at Zhou Huai'an coming over in person and didn't do any checks, covering their noses to let them pass.

  The night soil cart was pulled into the prison, Zhou Huai had planned everything out, the person to be exchanged was hiding inside the cart. He distracted the prison guards while Xiong Zuoqi quickly swapped the people, and General Xiong would have to endure some suffering.

  Everything was completed without any unexpected events, but Zhou Huaian and others did not expect Xu Xianchun to suddenly inspect the prison, and coincidentally bumped into Zhou Huaian and Xiong Chuyu's feces cart.

  "Prefect Zhou, do you need to personally escort the night soil cart?" The one accompanying Xu Xianchun was Left Thousand Households, who had been ordered by Zhu Yinglong to be beaten with twenty large boards. He didn't dare do anything to Zhu Yinglong, but towards Zhou Huai'an, this hundred households who was lower in rank than himself, he harbored a deep hatred. If not for Zhu Yinglong's words, he would have taken action against Zhou Huai'an long ago. Today, with his arch-nemesis right in front of him and their superior present, it was the perfect opportunity to stir up trouble and use their superior's hand to teach him a lesson. Naturally, he wouldn't let such a good chance slip away, so he started by mocking him.

  Zhou Huai's heart skipped a beat, if it were Xu Xianchun, it would be fine, although he wasn't considered a close confidant, they didn't have any grudges, and he wouldn't make things difficult for himself. Moreover, he had hidden his true identity well, no one in the Imperial Guard knew that he had joined because of Xiong Tingbi's relationship, let alone Xu Xianchun. However, this person surnamed Zuo was a bit troublesome, notorious for being vengeful and narrow-minded, he would likely take advantage of the situation to attack him in front of Xu Xianchun if he found out about his secret. So, pretending to be calm, he replied: "Reporting to Thousand Households Officer, the man who pulls the night soil cart, Zhang Lao San, is sick today, and a temporary replacement was hired, I'm just here to keep an eye on things since the prison guards might not recognize him."

  The smell emanating from the manure cart was truly unbearable, and Xu Xianchu was somewhat reluctant to speak with Zhou Huai'an. However, as Zuo Qianhu was one of his trusted advisors, he had no choice but to step forward and say a few words: "Although Zhou Baihu explained it very clearly, for such trivial matters, you, a baihu, personally came over, which is somewhat beneath your status."

  Zhou Huai'an hastily nodded and agreed, saying yes.

  Xu Xianchun was very satisfied with Zhou Huai'an's attitude towards him, and he hastily led Zuo Qianhu and others away. Zuo Qianhu had originally wanted to search the dung cart, but seeing that his superior did not want to stay any longer, he could only swallow this breath for now.

  Zhou Huanan and La Che's Xiong Zuoqi both secretly thought "good luck", pulling the cart of feces, they quickly left the town's prison.

  The rescued Xiong Tingbiao washed away the prison grime and feces from his body, changed into clean clothes, and met with his daughter. They had a lot of intimate words to say to each other. Zhu Yinglong didn't want to disturb them, so he sent someone to escort him into the underground secret room and then retreated.

  Zhu Yinglong had barely stood at the entrance of the dark room for a moment when he saw the door open, and Xiong Hu walked out with tears still on her face. Fortunately, thanks to her martial arts training, except for excessive blood loss, the knife wounds on her body had already scabbed over, and she would fully recover after a period of recuperation.

  "Master Wang, my father invites you in." Xiong Hu wiped away the tears from the corner of his eyes.

  "Alright, after you, miss!"

  "Prince Wang, my father asks you to go in alone." Xiong Hu stepped aside.

  Zhu Yinglong was taken aback, but still stepped inside, looked up and was shocked to see Xiong Tingbi kneeling on the ground, saying: "The guilty minister thanks Your Highness for saving him!"

  "General Xiong, what's going on? Get up quickly." Zhu Yinglong hurriedly came forward to help the general who would be admired by later generations.

  Suddenly, Xiong Tingbi burst into tears and said: "Your Majesty has broken the law for the sake of this minister, this minister is really guilty, it's not worth saving!"

  Zhu Yinglong looked at this worn-out old face and said, "According to my own thoughts, I shouldn't have saved you. As a general leading troops against the enemy, you should know that the overall situation is important, but you acted impulsively, retreated prematurely, and then failed to provide timely reinforcements, resulting in the loss of key towns like Guangning. Do you know why I still ended up saving you?"

  "Your Highness, my daughter..." Xiong Tingyi suddenly lowered his head after Zhu Yinglong's words. As the father and daughter met, Xiong Tingyi naturally understood the condition between his daughter and the King of Xin.

  "Not bad, this is related to your beloved, but I didn't rescue the general because of her condition. I took the risk because I cherish the general's talent. You should understand my painstaking efforts." Zhu Yinglong said solemnly.

  "Your Majesty, I am guilty..." Xiong Tingyi had spent more than two years in prison, and he had come to realize that he was also responsible for the loss of Guangning. At this moment, he regretted it extremely.

  "This king knows you only have a small part of the responsibility, if it weren't for Wang Huazhen not understanding military affairs and giving reckless orders, you wouldn't be so arrogant. That's why this king saved you, you should know that my imperial brother favors Wei Zhongxian, and as a vassal king I am not allowed to interfere in politics without an edict. So this king had no choice but to use the trick of switching identities to rescue you." Zhu Yinglong explained, "General, now you have two paths to choose from: one is to change your name and surname, take your family and hide away from the world; or still change your name and surname, but from now on do things for this king. After we eliminate the eunuch party, I will restore your original name, General, think carefully about it."

  Xiong Tingbi was struggling intensely in his heart, originally thinking that he would surely die, but unexpectedly being rescued by the young King Xinyang, whom he had never expected to be his savior. From the moment they met, this young king showed wisdom and insight beyond his years, revealing the truth about himself being impulsive and causing Guangning to fall. After a while, his face turned serious, and he bowed to Zhu Yinglong, saying: "Your Majesty, I am not that foolish person. Although I don't know everything that has happened outside these past two years, I do know roughly what's going on. The eunuch party is powerful, and many officials in the court have been deeply entrenched because of me being imprisoned and dying in prison. I was able to escape with my life, but now I want to follow Your Majesty to eliminate the eunuchs and bring peace to their spirits in heaven!"

  "Good, with General Xiong's help, why worry that the evil party won't be eliminated!" Although Zhu Yinglong didn't know what reason Xiong Tingbi had for surrendering, based on his understanding of Xiong Tingbi's character, although he had many shortcomings, he was a man who kept his promises.

  In the southern suburbs, Tianqi Emperor and Zhu Yinglong bid farewell with tears in their eyes. To be honest, Zhu Yinglong didn't have any feelings for this cheap brother, but seeing him leave behind a few tears, he was still moved. Especially since he had occupied someone else's younger brother's body, he was completely another person. In this time and space, the closest person to him was Tianqi Emperor, because he was just like a borrowed corpse, and the blood flowing through his veins was still the same. From a blood relationship perspective, they were indeed still biological brothers, and at this moment, Zhu Yinglong also regarded Zhu Youxiao as his own older brother.

  As the right-hand man of Tianqi Emperor, Wei Zhongxian naturally came to see him off as well. He also shed a few tears like a cat crying over its owner's death, but Zhu Yinglong saw through it at a glance and even left him with a sentence: "I wish Your Highness a harmonious and happy life, may you have a safe journey, smooth sailing, and fulfill your wishes!" This made Zhu Yinglong feel vigilant, and when he looked into the other's seemingly smiling eyes, he felt as if he had fallen into an abyss, as if everything about him was in the other's grasp. A sense of helplessness suddenly surged up in his heart.

  Empress Zhang did not come to see him off in the end, and Zhu Yinglong felt a little disappointed. Forbidden love is indeed attractive, and Zhu Yinglong had already thoroughly imprinted Empress Zhang's lovely face with pear flowers and rain on his mind. The jade pendant on his chest was burning hot.

  Farewell, majestic Beijing City. I will return, Zhu Yinglong secretly vowed in his heart. Suddenly, he regained his strong confidence, because he was no longer the former Zhu Youjian. The former Zhu Youjian could easily eliminate Wei Zhongxian, so couldn't he, a man from a later time and space with hundreds of years more experience?

  For his younger brother's safety on the road, Tianqi Emperor ordered the deployment of 1,000 divine machine camp soldiers to escort and serve as his personal troops. This gave Zhu Yinglong a force of his own. Upon receiving this news, Zhu Yinglong laughed heartily in his mind, effortlessly gaining 1,000 firearms without spending any energy. Although they didn't entirely belong to him and might still have some spies among them, he was already overjoyed. Who wouldn't want free men?

  Xiong Tingbiao was about to be beheaded and his head sent to the nine borders, Zhu Yinglong immediately ordered someone to find Xiong Zhaocan who was following in the team and told him to secretly take all his family members back to Kaifeng.

  As expected, on the way to Kaifeng, I heard that Xiong Tingbi was executed on August 26 and his head was sent to the nine borders. Then I heard that his whole family was implicated. Unfortunately, Zhu Yinglong took a step ahead and the imperial guards sent by the Eastern Depot arrived at Xiong Tingbi's hometown only to find that his family had been reduced to ashes in a big fire several nights ago. It is possible that they had received the news early and set themselves on fire. The imperial guards could only pick up a few unrecognizable bones and return to Beijing to report their mission accomplished.

  Five days after Xiong Tingbi was beheaded, Zhou Huai'an resigned from the Brocade Guard. Of course, there were reasons for this. Since Prince Xin was no longer in the capital, what he said was useless. Naturally, Left Qianhu would harbor resentment towards Zhou Huai'an, who had publicly beaten him twenty times. They fought a fierce battle, almost resulting in loss of life, and Zhou Huai'an was forced to quit. He went south to pursue Zhu Yinglong, but this was also part of his plan. Zhou Huai'an deliberately provoked Left Qianhu, stirring up conflict, and then made a big scene. No one could have guessed that there were ulterior motives behind this.

  Zhu Yinglong walked very slowly, on the one hand to wait for Zhou Huanan to catch up, and on the other hand he wanted to understand the real situation of the people along the way. In addition, Xiong Tingyi's father and daughter were still not fully recovered, so if they walked too fast, they would be exhausted.

  As for how to fight, Zhu Yinglong's later generations are not yet available, so it is necessary to understand the weapon configuration and combat methods of this time and space. With Xiong Tingbi, a veteran general who has been fighting on the battlefield for a long time, Zhu Yinglong has gained a lot. Of course, Xiong Tingbi was curious about some strange ideas that Zhu Yinglong had come up with, such as "guerrilla warfare", "mobile warfare", "trench warfare", "tunnel warfare" and "landmine warfare". These were all new terms that he had never heard of before. The relationship between the old and young men gradually deepened.

  Xiong Tingbi often swore, but in front of Zhu Yinglong he restrained himself a lot. Instead, Zhu Yinglong passed on many of his verbal habits to Xiong, especially the classic phrase "niang xipi" which was later adopted by Chiang Kai-shek. From then on, whenever Xiong scolded someone, all he would say was this one phrase "niang xipi", leaving Zhu helpless with laughter and tears.

  Zhou Huanan finally caught up, after meeting with Xiong Tingyi and his daughter, Zhu Yinglong handed him a piece of paper with the addresses of Xu Guangqi and Song Yingxing, asking him to bring them to Kaifeng. These two are great scientists from the late Ming dynasty, can't let talent slip away! Song Yingxing is probably still at home studying hard, while Xu Guangqi is probably writing "Nong Zheng Quan Shu" at home. Who knows, maybe a Yuan Longping will appear in this space-time! So he must bring them over, as he himself is not cut out for research and invention.

  To reform the people around him first, Zhu Yinglong vigorously promoted the pinyin of later generations, punctuation marks and Arabic numerals among trustworthy people. Xiong's father and daughter were still in contact with these things for the first time, and it was a bit difficult to learn at first, but after getting used to them, they found their benefits. Xiong Tingbi was even more excited. The great generals of the Ming Dynasty who unified the army were basically all scholars from the imperial examination, and some people were both literary and martial arts. Xiong Tingbi and Yuan Chonghuan were among them. In military operations, logistics and supplies were the most important. The previous accounting method was time-consuming and laborious, and sometimes it was easy to make mistakes. After having a numerical accounting method, everything became clear and transparent, and the account books also became thinner. For many years, he thought of military use whenever he thought of Zhu Yinglong, and he felt grateful, admired, and respected him again.

  The father was rescued, and Xiong Hu's heart suddenly felt empty. She only now realized that this young prince was not only a magnet to her, but to everyone else as well. His words were impossible to decipher, and the knowledge he possessed was astonishing to all. He treated people without any of the airs of a prince, yet his speech and demeanor exuded an inexplicable majesty and authority that commanded obedience. Although he could be fierce at times, not allowing anyone to defy his will, it later proved that his ferocity was merely a form of persistence, which ultimately proved that everything he said was correct. How did he know so much? It didn't seem like something a teenager could possess. Where had he learned all these things from? Xiong Hu was at a loss for answers.

  "Liniang, why don't you go learn pinyin with the few princesses? Is there something on your mind?" Knowing his daughter all too well, Xiong Tingbi saw her walking out of the camp with a gloomy expression and followed after her.

  "Father, what do you think of Prince Xin?" Xiong Hu asked in a low voice, raising an eyebrow.

  "The king's talent is only eight out of ten, but he has a talent that can be used to govern heaven and earth." Xiong Tingbi replied.

  "Father, is what daughter said King Wang's ambition?" Xiong Hu corrected his father who did not answer the question.

  "Lier, you're talking about Wangye's ambition to dominate the world, aren't you? Lier, are you asking Father this because you're worried that you'll fall in love with Wangye and it will implicate our family?" Xiong Tingyi smiled as he looked at his precious daughter who had risked her life to save him from prison. Having such a filial daughter, he was content for the rest of his life.

  "Dad..." Xiong Hu seemed to be a bit taken aback by her father's words, and with a bashful expression, she pulled on Xiong Tingbi's right arm, coquettishly saying... Now that the burden was gone, her youthful and girlish nature slowly recovered. After all, she was still a young girl in bloom, needing to be loved and cared for. Now that the hardships were over, it was only natural for her to regain her youthful spirit.

  "Father knows, from the moment he saw King Wang, Father knew that Xin Wang had ambitions. Father didn't know whether Xin Wang's ambitions would be good or bad for the Ming Dynasty, but he didn't hide his ambitions and instead told them to Father straightforwardly. For this candor, this integrity, Father has already died once and no longer has a lord to be loyal to. The deceased Xiong Tingyi has been loyal to the Emperor and the court, while the living Xiong Tingyi only serves King Xin Wang." Xiong Tingyi said calmly.

  "Dad, you......" Xiong Hu looked at his father, the red glow on his face suddenly faded, and he was so surprised that he couldn't speak.

  Life is like a gamble, perhaps this is just another gamble after his rebirth, Xiong Tingyi thought to himself.

  The sunset is setting, Xiong Hu stands on the mountain slope, blowing the bleak autumn wind, scattering her beautiful hair, flying around her temples, muttering to herself, and wandering outside. Perhaps at this moment, only that bit of autumn wind can understand her mood, because it has already blown into her heart.

  If Zhu Yinglong heard these words, he would probably laugh three times, but at this time, Zhu Yinglong was worried about managing his own fiefdom. What should he do? Education is not a bad idea, but he is not the local official. If he were to open a school, it wouldn't be easy unless he used his prince identity. Now that he has been targeted by the eunuch party, they might try to stop him in every way possible, so he could only do it secretly. Training troops would be even more difficult, unless he immediately rebelled and gave the eunuch party an excuse to frame him. That left only business. Having money makes things easier, so let's talk about other things after getting rich.