Chapter 135: Soldiers are powerful and fast

“However, father, since you have such determination and strength, why didn’t you take action earlier to get rid of... and control my third brother? Why did you have to wait until now to take action?” The prince was puzzled.

This is also the biggest doubt in the prince's mind at the moment.

In the past three years, King Ming has only been helping him to compete with Queen Zhao and the Zhao family, but he chose to ignore the key point of everything, his third brother, Marquis Fu'an in Xuzhou City.

The prince originally thought that King Ming did not have enough power. After Zhao's power was dispersed, he no longer had the strength to suppress a martial arts legend.

Or maybe the King is still concerned about the relationship between father and son.

But now that it has been proven that Prince Ming has enough power and determination to deal with his third brother Zhu Chengwu, the prince does not understand why Prince Ming did not cut off the source of the problem and directly capture or kill his third brother Zhu Chengwu in the past three years.

"Prince, things are not as simple as you think!
Now that things have developed to this point, I am about to run out of steam again...

I'll tell you some things!
As a king, relying on the means laid out by Taizu in the capital, I can use some special means.

According to the deduction of the Grand Sect’s Academy, this method can not only restrict Grandmasters and Yangshen masters, but can even make Wu Ge’er’s Earth Core Fire Lotus and Lotus Fire God ineffective!
But outside the capital, my methods will not work.

Without my means and without seeing me personally leading the charge, those people would not dare to go to Xuzhou City so easily to capture and kill Wu Ge'er.

Strength is one factor, and another factor is that I am not there to back them up. They cannot trust each other, and they are also afraid that Wu Ge'er will run away!

At that time, if you fail to kill the snake, you will suffer from it instead.

That's why over the past three years, I have tried every possible means to bring Wu Ge'er back to the capital.

Until now…

As for what this method is, you will naturally understand it when you truly ascend to the throne!"

For the first time, Prince Ming spoke out his real purpose of trying to lure his son Zhu Chengwu back to the capital over the past three years.

To be honest, King Ming did not want to resort to such means.

Using this method would result in killing 800 enemies and injuring 1,000 of your own people.

Moreover, Zhu Chengwu is also the descendant of the Ming King.

In fact, in Ming Wang's mind, as long as Zhu Chengwu was willing to admit his mistakes to Ming Wang, and even discuss more with Ming Wang, and promise to adhere to Ming Wang's governing policies after taking the throne, and at the same time crack down on and suppress the Zhao family to prevent them from reviving, Ming Wang could establish Zhu Chengwu as the heir to the throne.

It’s a pity that King Ming lives in the royal palace and it is impossible for him to go to Xuzhou City to meet Zhu Chengwu.

It was also impossible for Zhu Chengwu to break into the Ming King's palace alone and have a heart-to-heart talk with his father, the Ming King.

That's too dangerous!
So some ideas are destined to remain just ideas.

Everyone has their own stance and everyone has their own concerns.

Initiative is a good thing, and no one wants to give it up.

"So that's it! I didn't expect that Taizu would leave such a method for his descendants!" The prince suddenly realized and was also very surprised.

No wonder Ming Wang's actions seemed strange at times over the past three years. If this was true, then everything made sense.

Behind these strange actions of King Ming was an attempt to force Zhu Chengwu back to the capital as soon as possible.

Just when King Ming and the Crown Prince had finished their heart-to-heart talk and were preparing for the decisive battle two months later.

Zhu Chengwu, who was far away in the Fu'an Marquis Mansion in Xuzhou City, was also not idle.

Zhu Chengwu once again entered into a semi-secluded state of practice.

Zhu Chengwu has handed over the integration of forces to his senior subordinates.

Zhu Chengwu's most important task in the past two months is to consolidate the Grandmaster realm he has just broken through and push his combat power to a higher level.

In this martial arts world, military strength is important, but top-notch martial arts combat power is equally important.

Time passed slowly in the arms race between Fu'an Marquis' Mansion and Ming Palace.

Two months passed in the blink of an eye.

Outside the city of Xuzhou, in the newly built parade ground.

Zhu Chengwu stood on a high platform, with many high-ranking officials of Fu'an Marquis Mansion beside him.

Below the high platform was Zhao Xinghan's 25000-strong regular army, with the Fu'an Marquis's guards as the backbone.

According to the military system of the Ming Dynasty, there was a team of 10 people with a team leader; 5 teams to a flag with a chief flag; 5 flags to a school with a colonel; 4 schools to an office with a thousand households; 5 offices to a guard with a guard commander.

These approximately 25000 people were divided into five guards and were under the unified command of Zhao Xinghan.

On the left side of these 25000 regular troops are hundreds of junior warriors and dozens of first-rate masters from affiliated forces.

The leader among them was Li Shijie, the young master of the Li family.

On the right side of the regular army were the supports sent by some allied forces of the Fu'an Marquisate.

Unlike allied forces and affiliated forces, their relationship with the Fu'an Marquisate is not that close, and they do not have to abide by Zhu Chengwu's requirement to send half of their warriors to the mainstream or above.

Therefore, although the number of people on the right side of the regular army seems to be large, their actual combat power may not be comparable to the hundreds of second-rate warriors and dozens of first-rate masters of the affiliated forces on the left side.

Moreover, because they all came from powerful forces, they were not subordinate to each other, did not submit to each other, and had no leader. The warriors on the right side seemed chaotic and had no discipline.

Further out, there are many wandering travelers who are attracted by the task list and fulfillment list of Fu'an Marquis Mansion.

Although it was very dangerous to follow Marquis Fu'an into the capital this time, if it wasn't dangerous, how could Marquis Fu'an take out so many rare resources and even magical skills to "tempt" him.

For many wanderers in the martial arts world, they are not afraid of danger, what they are afraid of is not even having a chance to fight.

Unparalleled skills and rare resources are all reasons worth fighting for.

What's more, Fu'an Marquis Zhu Chengwu is famous for his generosity towards wandering travelers.

“Today, we gather here to enter the capital and take back everything that this Marquis deserves!
Chengwu will always remember the kindness of all the generals and righteous men!

Set off! "

Zhu Chengwu looked around at the army formation and two groups of martial artists below the platform, and finally spoke briefly and concisely.

The clear voice rang in the ears of everyone present.

It shows Zhu Chengwu's profound internal skills.

Zhu Chengwu wanted to say more and seize the high ground of public opinion.

But it is a fact that he went to the capital without an imperial edict, and it is also a fact that he rebelled against the king and his father. No matter how much he says, it will only give people the impression that he is quibbling, and the more he says, the more mistakes he will make!

So Zhu Chengwu finally decided to keep it simple!

If you can’t stand on “righteousness”, then put forward “profit”.

That is why Zhu Chengwu talked about kindness and said he would keep it in mind.

This is what it means to lure people with benefits and share wealth.

"May the Lord die for you!"

"I wish the Marquis would die for me~~"

Led by the senior officials of the Marquis' Mansion on the high platform, a unified voice resounded through the sky.

"set off!"

After a while, when the thunderous voices of "I am willing to die for you" died down, the army began to move out of camp.

Coincidentally, when Zhu Chengwu led a large army out of Xuzhou City, Zhao Jinbao of the Zhao family also left the northern border again with his two elite guards, the Tiger Fang Guards and the Thousand Mile Leopard Cavalry.

After Zhao Jinhu's death, the Tiger Tooth Guard, Zhao Jinhu's elite direct descendants that the Zhao family had put a lot of effort into building, came into the hands of Zhao Jinbao, who was also a descendant of the Zhao family.

In addition to the elite Zhao family, the Chang family in the northwest, the Jing'an Earl in the west, the Xu family in the east... these large families and forces that control the military forces of the Ming Dynasty court are also frequently making unusual moves.

In addition to the army, Zhu Chengwu also discovered countless spies when he led a large force away from the base outside Xuzhou City.

Zhu Chengwu did not pay much attention to such secret agents.

From the moment Zhu Chengwu publicly announced two months ago that he would lead a large army into Beijing two months later, it was destined that by the day when the Fu'an Marquisate officially marched, all kinds of spies would be indispensable.

Zhu Chengwu is not good at marching and fighting. His only strength is martial arts.

Rather than hiding and still being unable to escape the eyes of other major forces, it is better to march openly.

In this way, others cannot determine Zhu Chengwu's true leadership level.

In fact, due to the existence of extraordinary powers such as martial arts and spiritual refining, the movement of large troops in this world is difficult to hide from the eyes of those who are interested.

Most outstanding military generals can only conceal their true military intentions.

Or they may plan many steps one after another, so that even if the opponent understands their temporary marching route, they will be helpless when failure comes in the end!

This is just like Zhu Chengwu’s chess and go in his previous life.

Everyone plays openly, and those who hide their true intentions better and calculate more steps will naturally have a higher chance of winning.

As Zhu Chengwu led his large army forward, most of the cities along the way surrendered.

Although Zhu Chengwu came to the capital without an imperial edict, according to the laws of the Ming Dynasty, they should resist to the death and resolutely suppress Zhu Chengwu's "rebellion."

But how many people in the world are seeking death?

Just as everyone knew what Zhu Chengwu's purpose of entering the capital was, everyone also knew that the dozens of cities along the way from Xuzhou City to the capital had almost no power to resist Zhu Chengwu's army.

This is not to say that some provincial capitals and prefectural capitals, even if they gathered the strength of the entire province and prefecture, could not even gather 25,000 regular troops. After occupying the advantageous geographical location, they were still unable to defend against the siege of Zhao Xinghan's five guards.

Rather, it's the lack of high-end power.

They could not withstand the decapitation attack of the warriors led by Zhu Chengwu.

Even if the top-notch one is confident that he can defend it, what about the junior master?
What’s more, after the Junior Grandmaster, there is the martial arts legend Zhu Chengwu!

It was because they were unsure of the combat power of Zhu Chengwu, the martial arts legend, after he officially achieved the status of a grandmaster, that is why some provincial and prefectural capitals, even though they clearly had grandmaster and minor grandmaster-level combat power, did not come forward.

Instead, he wisely turned the flag over the wall.

For some big forces, they don’t care who becomes the Ming Wang, they only care about their own interests and inheritance.

If they are promised that their status will not change and that there will be no retaliation later, some forces are so shameless that they can change their positions three times a day.

Zhu Chengwu did not pay much attention to these fence-sitters.

Zhu Chengwu now has very few direct subordinates, and what he wants is a fence-sitter who can do it without any effort.

Otherwise, if they were all hard, stinking bones, and they had to fight to the death in every city and pass, then the troops under Zhu Chengwu would probably be exhausted before they could even get halfway.

Everyone hates having spineless and fence-sitters under their command!

But everyone likes their opponents to be full of spineless and fence-sitters!

This is the difference in feeling brought about by different positions.

Of course, Zhu Chengwu also encountered fierce resistance along the way.

Even though there were advance reconnaissance by the Secret Service Battalion, and people with outstanding eloquence such as Cui Zongyan, Zhu Chengcheng, and Dai Fayan tried to persuade them to surrender in advance, and there were secret assassinations by the Death Soldier Battalion against some Ming king's diehards and those who adhered to the rites and laws, there were still some generals who not only killed the people sent by Zhu Chengwu to persuade them to surrender, but also made the assassination of the Death Soldier Battalion fail.

Most of these main generals were either killed or captured by Zhu Chengwu and his masters after Zhu Chengwu arrived with a large force.

However, there are some tough problems that Zhu Chengwu cannot deal with for the time being.

For example, the Yantai Pass in front of us.

Zhu Chengwu never imagined that the general leading the army at such an ordinary pass could actually have the combat power of a junior grandmaster.

The soldiers under his command are rare elite.

Plus steady command.

Relying solely on the Yantai garrison and the temporary militia, they blocked the attack of the five regular troops commanded by Zhao Xinghan himself.

Even when Li Shijie led many warriors to launch a decapitation attack, they were blocked by the generals of the garrison and driven off the city wall.

"My lord, you may need to take action!" After being blocked at Yantai Pass for a whole day and night, Zhao Xinghan, Cui Zongyan, Gao Yao, Li Shijie and others finally couldn't bear it anymore and came to Zhu Chengwu together.

"General Zhao, don't be anxious! It's only been a day and a night! Let the soldiers set up camp and prepare for a protracted war."

Zhu Chengwu waved his hand to stop the requests of Zhao Xinghan and others.

He looked at Yantai Pass in front of him with serious and excited eyes.

"Master Hou..."

Zhao Xinghan looked at Zhu Chengwu, whose behavior was completely different from before when he encountered obstacles, and his tone was hesitant.

You must know that speed is of the essence in war!
Moreover, the reason why the Marquis Fu'an Mansion had been able to travel the first two-thirds of the journey so smoothly was probably because it had been sweeping the entire journey with overwhelming force.

Even though there were Ming Wang's diehards and ritual and law diehards who stubbornly stood in the way, with the cooperation of the army and martial arts masters, there was no impact on the marching speed of Fu'an Marquis' Mansion.

After all, Zhu Chengwu will personally take on the toughest tasks.

On the way before, Zhu Chengwu personally captured two enemy generals who refused to surrender.

Before arriving at the Yantai Pass in front of them, there had never been any pass or city that could hold off the Fu'an Marquis's large army for more than half a day.

Two-thirds of the way through, due to the overwhelming force in front, the resistance encountered by the Fu'an Marquis Mansion on the way forward was getting weaker and weaker, and the morale of the Fu'an Marquis Mansion's large army was also getting higher and higher.

Zhao Xinghan didn't want to destroy the morale and deterrence that had been built up with great difficulty.

嗏

After being blocked by the Yantai Pass in front of him for a day and a night, Zhao Xinghan could feel that the invincible morale of his soldiers was dissipating.

The morale of the soldiers guarding Yantai Pass has improved compared to the first encounter.

This is a situation of one thing gaining while the other loses!
Zhao Xinghan didn't understand why Zhu Chengwu, the supreme commander and the most powerful fighter, had not taken any action this time.

If they were blocked by Yantai Pass for too long, not only would the resistance encountered in the next one-third of the journey be intensified, but even the cities and passes in the two-thirds of the journey that had already been traveled might become disloyal.

After all, in order to speed up and avoid causing major unrest, two-thirds of the cities and passes that the Fu'an Marquis Mansion has passed through are still controlled by the original group of "fence-sitters" and "soft-hearted" people!

Once they find that the Marquis Fu'an Mansion has suffered a setback and its chance of winning has decreased, they will most likely change the flag on the city wall again, add insult to injury, and block the Marquis Fu'an Mansion's retreat.

In fact, after leaving Xuzhou City, the Fu'an Marquisate had already embarked on a road of no return where they could only succeed and not fail, and could only move forward and not retreat.

Now that there are obstacles on this road, Zhu Chengwu, as the helmsman, has not taken any action, and Zhao Xinghan is deeply confused.

(End of this chapter)