Chapter 149 Return home
Qiu Ruofeng contacted the forces within Xuzhou Prefecture, informed them of the news that Zhu Chengwu had returned to Xuzhou City, and conveyed Zhu Chengwu's request.

Qiuyue sent messages from the Li family, the Xiaodao Gang, and the county government to the Fu'an Marquis's large army that was staying in front of Yantai Pass, asking them to return as quickly as possible...

For a time, the Ming Dynasty was in turmoil!
Countless true and false news began to fill every corner of the Ming Dynasty.

"Chief Executive Gao, do you think we need to return to Xuzhou City?"

In front of Yantai Pass, Zhao Xinghan and Gao Yao sat opposite each other.

"The news coming from the Li family, the Xiaodao Gang, and the government is the same!
The news that the Marquis has returned to Fu'an Marquis Mansion in Xuzhou City should be true!

It is possible that one line has a problem, but the possibility of all three lines having problems at the same time is extremely small.”

Gao Yao did not give a clear answer to Zhao Xinghan's question, but the meaning and tendency revealed in his words were very obvious.

"But if we return now, all the work we did before, the spies we sent out, the maps we drew...all will be in vain!

As long as we pass Yantai Pass, we will be less than 200 miles away from the capital!"

Although he had received Zhu Chengwu's order and understood that there was little possibility that problems would arise with the Li family, the Xiaodao Gang, and the government office at the same time, Zhao Xinghan was still a little hesitant about withdrawing his troops and returning to Xuzhou City.

"General Zhao, do you think we should move on now?"

Hearing what Zhao Xinghan said, Gao Yao frowned.

"We have come here now, less than 200 miles from the capital...

It would be a shame to retreat now!
Besides, Queen Zhao and Old Marquis Zhao in the capital might be waiting for us with all their heart."

Zhao Xinghan looked towards the capital, with complex emotions flashing in his eyes.

He might have been worried about Queen Zhao and the Zhao family, but at this moment Zhao Xinghan was more unwilling to lose the opportunity to achieve success and be awarded a title and promoted.

“General Zhao, the Marquis is the foundation of everything!

Since the Marquis has returned to Xuzhou City and has sent orders, we should obey them!"

Gao Yao's tone suddenly became heavy.

Obviously Gao Yao believed that since Zhu Chengwu's order had arrived and Zhu Chengwu had made the decision, they should obey unconditionally.

Zhao Xinghan was stunned by Gao Yao's change in tone.

Zhao Xinghan then realized that Gao Yao was a die-hard fan of Zhu Chengwu who grew up with him. How could he hesitate when Zhu Chengwu gave him an order?

"But Madam, Xiumin, and the Ghost Mother... they haven't returned yet! Should we wait for them..."

Zhao Xinghan still didn't want to retreat to Xuzhou City like this, so he found an excuse.

Zhao Xinghan wanted to delay for a while to see if there were any changes.

After all, opportunities are rare!

Once you enter Beijing, promotion and title are just around the corner.

"General Zhao, the three lines of information sent by the Marquis all require us to set off and return to Xuzhou City immediately after receiving the news!
I don't know why the Marquis is so anxious, but I believe he must have his reasons for issuing such an order!
General Zhao, the Marquis's orders should be our highest instructions!
I don't think there is any need for us to wait for the Madam and the others now!

With so many of us retreating, Madam and the others can easily find out our whereabouts with just a little inquiry!

Besides, after our main force leaves, we can just leave a few banners of soldiers and horses behind to wait for Madam and the others to return and then send them a message!"

Gao Yao was resolute in his attitude.

Obviously, in Gaoyao, all of Zhu Chengwu's orders must be obeyed unconditionally.

Once Gao Yao goes against Zhu Chengwu's orders, no one can make him compromise in carrying out Zhu Chengwu's orders.

Whether it's Cui Shuyun, the wife of the Marquis's Mansion, or Zhu Xiumin, Zhu Chengwu's younger sister...it's all the same.

Gao Yao's determination and ruthlessness were beyond Zhao Xinghan's expectations.

"Chief Steward Gao, you are right! Since the Marquis has sent an order, we should obey it!

As for Madam and Xiumin... we only left a few people behind to provide support."

Seeing Gao Yao refusing to give in, Zhao Xinghan finally had no choice but to give in.

The firm words after the change in attitude were just because Zhao Xinghan didn't want to give Gao Yao the opportunity to "complain" and "make trouble" in front of Zhu Chengwu.

And Gao Yao said something very right, Zhu Chengwu is the foundation of everything.

No matter how regretful and unwilling Zhao Xinghan was to leave the capital so close to him, he had no choice but to obey Zhu Chengwu's will.

Otherwise, when the time comes to settle accounts, the merit may no longer be merit...

Seeing that Zhao Xinghan finally agreed to lead the large army back to Xuzhou City immediately, Gao Yao secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

As a former rival and teammate who respected each other, Gao Yao did not want Zhao Xinghan to be blinded by power and success and do some unwise tricks like "a general is not subject to the orders of his king when he is away from the court".

Zhao Xinghan and Cui Shuyun are different!
Cui Shuyun is just an empty shell with only the title of the chief lady. Whether her order is effective or not depends on whether other senior officials in the Marquisate give face to Cui Shuyun and agree with her decision.

She led the group of "a general must obey the orders of his sovereign when away from home", and everyone who knew about it, including the Marquis, knew what was going on.

But Zhao Xinghan is different!

Zhao Xinghan is a high-ranking official in the marquisate who holds enormous power. With the power in his hands, if Zhao Xinghan plays tricks like "a general is not bound by the orders of the emperor when he is away from the court", not only will he eventually lose Zhu Chengwu's trust, power and status, but the power of Fu'an Marquisate will also suffer losses.

Based on Gao Yao's understanding of Zhu Chengwu, even if Zhao Xinghan and Zhu Chengwu were relatives and had a close personal relationship, once Zhao Xinghan played such a trick, he would inevitably be severely reprimanded by Zhu Chengwu, and might even be completely marginalized or killed.

As Zhao Xinghan and Gao Yao reached an agreement, they immediately began to command the large army stationed in Fu'an Marquis Mansion five miles away from Yantai Pass to retreat.

The large-scale movement of more than 100,000 combat troops and auxiliary troops could not be carried out silently.

Many of them were weak and unable to keep up with the pace of Zhu Chengwu and the three great Shaolin monks who were fighting and marching, so they could only stay here to monitor the Yantai Pass garrison and the Fu'an Marquis Mansion's large army. The spies discovered the abnormal movement of the Fu'an Marquis Mansion's large army at the first time.

They immediately reported the unusual actions of the Fu'an Marquisate's large army to the forces behind them.

They tried to use this to locate Zhu Chengwu's whereabouts and find out the final outcome of the battle between Zhu Chengwu and the monks of Shaolin Temple.

Before discovering the unusual movement of the large army from the Fu'an Marquisate, many people believed that Zhu Chengwu and the Shaolin monks had not yet decided the final outcome and were still fighting, but their traces had not been discovered!

But now, with the unusual actions of the Fu'an Marquis's large army, they understood.

The battle between Fu'an Hou Zhu Chengwu and the monks of Shaolin Temple may have already been decided.

As the large army of Fu'an Marquis' Mansion moved abnormally, the news that Zhu Chengwu appeared in Xuzhou City spread like wildfire.

Some of this news came from the Fu'an Marquis's large army, some came from the direction of Xuzhou City, and some came from the Li family, the Xiaodao Gang, the county government, and other channels...

The large army of Marquis Fu'an gave up marching towards the capital and instead quickly retreated towards Xuzhou City, which indirectly proved the authenticity of the news.

Zhu Chengwu fought against the three great monks. Everyone only knew that they fought for a long time. The monk Wuwo died in the battle, and the Zen Master Fangyuan took his place...

As for the final result, no one knows yet!
Because as Zhu Chengwu and several masters of Shaolin Temple's physical injuries and energy consumption reached a limit, in order to avoid being unaware of the oriole behind them or capsizing in the gutter, Zhu Chengwu and several masters of Shaolin Temple tacitly began to pay attention to hiding their traces.

This was not only to prevent the unlucky party from taking advantage, but also a battle between Zhu Chengwu and the Shaolin masters.

When the body and the inner energy have reached a limit, whoever can hide his or her own body and discover the opponent's trail first will gain the advantage of a sneak attack.

Therefore, in the end, whether it was Cui Shuyun and other people from the Fu'an Marquis Mansion, the Yantai Pass Guard and others, or the curious onlookers, spies from all sides... in the end, they all lost the trace of Zhu Chengwu and the Shaolin masters.

Even though Zhu Chengwu and several Shaolin masters fought from time to time, they discovered the traces of Zhu Chengwu and several Shaolin masters based on the bursts of breath and fluctuations of vital energy.

But when they arrived, Zhu Chengwu had already finished fighting with several Shaolin masters and moved on.

Therefore, under such circumstances, the people in Fu'an Marquis Mansion, the commander of Yantai Pass and many other wanderers in the martial arts world had no idea that the battle between Zhu Chengwu and the Shaolin monks had ended with the appearance of Wudang Taoist Qingfeng!

Along the way, many wanderers and spies who could not find any trace of Zhu Chengwu and the other Shaolin masters, and could not find out the final outcome of the battle between Zhu Chengwu and the Shaolin Temple, began to turn their attention to the monks of the Shaolin Temple and the large army of the Marquis of Fu'an.

As the pillar of power, once Zhu Chengwu and the other Shaolin masters decide the winner, the result will definitely be fed back to the monks of Shaolin Temple and Fu'an Hou's army.

However, when the major forces received news that the Fu'an Marquis's large army would no longer enter the capital but would return to Xuzhou City, they were a little confused about the current situation.

Because before they received the news that the large army from Fu'an Marquis' Mansion was returning to Xuzhou City, they had already received the news that the monks of Shaolin Temple had returned and were strictly guarding the mountain gate.

When they first received the news about Shaolin Temple from spies near the Temple, many forces thought that several great masters of Shaolin Temple had been defeated!

After all, the news of the death of the monk Wuwo in battle had been known by many people!

Afterwards, it is not impossible that Zhu Chengwu will defeat or kill the three masters Wu Se, Wu Xiang and Fang Yuan!

After receiving the news from the Shaolin Temple, many forces have decided to surrender to Zhu Chengwu and share the fallen cake of Shaolin Temple!

What’s more, Shaolin Temple is a thousand-year-old sect and the leading figure in the martial arts world.

But now the "victorious" Fu'an Marquis and his large army have begun to return to their old nest in Xuzhou City.

If Marquis Fu'an really won, he should now take advantage of the victory over Shaolin Temple and speed up his march to Beijing to overwhelm the world.

In this situation, unless both sides suffer losses...

Although I have some guesses in my mind, I still need evidence.

After all, this determines the final decision of which side the major forces will lean towards.

It will affect the rise and fall, honor and disgrace of all major forces in the next few decades!

The basis for making such a decision must not be guesswork or deduction!
Therefore, in the future, there will be more and more merchants and wanderers of all kinds in Xuzhou City and near Songshan Mountain where the Shaolin Temple is located.

The Qinzheng Hall of the Ming Palace.

The father and son, King Ming and the Crown Prince, reunited again.

"Father, my third brother won't come to the capital! What should we do now?"

The prince was at a loss for words.

Although Zhu Chengwu did not go to Beijing, it meant that his position as crown prince was preserved.

But Zhu Chengwu is not dead, which means that the sword of Damocles hanging over his head is still there.

"I have no choice! Prince, you only have two choices now. Either you immediately bow down to Wu Ge'er and ask for peace, or even give up the position of crown prince to Wu Ge'er; or you completely join forces with the anti-Wu faction in Shaolin Wu and fight Wu Ge'er to the end!"

Ming Wang sounded weak as he spoke.

The end of Ming Wang's life had come more than three years ago, and now he has endured for more than three years, and has reached his limit.

Originally, King Ming wanted to take his son Zhu Chengwu with him before he died, but now it seems that is not possible.

"It's all the fault of Shaolin Temple. They were obviously not strong, but they still tried to force their way to the top. Now...

Not only did they fail, but they also made all your preparations go to waste!"

Hearing King Ming's words, the prince sounded depressed.

Although the prince had heard about the three great monks of Shaolin Temple taking action before, he was once very excited.

But now the Shaolin Temple's plan failed, and instead forced Zhu Chengwu to return to Xuzhou City, which made the prince very angry.

After all, this made the prince lose the opportunity to use the power of King Ming to completely eliminate the threat of Zhu Chengwu.

“However, the three great monks have been famous in the martial arts world for decades, and they are definitely not ordinary people.

Now everyone is saying that the three great monks and... the third brother are both injured.

Therefore, the third brother had to return to Xuzhou City to recuperate!

Father, do you think we should...?"

The prince's eyes flickered, and his words revealed his intention to kill the man while he was ill.

"Cough...cough cough..."

King Ming did not reply to the prince immediately, but coughed a few times to relieve the anger in his heart.

The deadline is approaching, and the King is too weak!
However, no matter how weak he was, after being king for decades, King Ming could see that as things progressed, his and the prince's plan would no longer be successful.

The King is very worried about the Crown Prince!
The prince is, after all, the son of King Ming and his first wife, the sweetheart in his heart.

"Prince, there is no chance!"

After Ming Wang felt relieved from the depression in his heart, he sighed.

"Father..."

There was a look of "as expected" in the prince's eyes, but he still wanted to try his best.

However, the King did not give the prince a chance to finish his speech.

"Prince, with the intelligence capabilities of your Prince's Mansion, you should know about the sudden battle outside the capital city!

You probably have some guesses about the two warring parties.
Today, I will tell you for sure!
You are right!
The group with more people are the ones I invited, and the group with fewer people should be Wu Ge'er's secret agent.

The Duke of Qi and the Duke of Yan in the Grand Clan Academy, Wu Gensheng in the Imperial Palace, the Marquis of Xibei and the Earl of Jing'an in the military, these five masters were once my greatest support in controlling the Ming court, suppressing the Zhao family, and balancing the Wudang and Shaolin!
Unfortunately, for some reasons, Earl Jing'an eventually became closer and closer to the Zhao family!

But after all, Marquis Jing'an owes me a favor. As long as I ask, it will be enough to make him remain neutral at some critical moments.

Just like before…

Earl Jing'an remained relatively neutral.

The Marquis of Xibei held back the two absolutely elite guards controlled by the Zhao family, while keeping an eye on the Earl of Jing'an.

The Da Zong Zheng Yuan, headed by the Duke of Qi and the Duke of Yan, checked and balanced the Zhao family, the Duke of Zhao and others.

I will sacrifice my reputation again and use the favors I have accumulated over the past thirty years to persuade You Zhang, Li Xun Huan, and Shen Tian Jun...

You Zhang and I have been king and subject for decades, and I helped Li Xunhuan and Shen Tianjun a lot when they were weak and in trouble. I am confident that I can ask them to help me once.

As a representative of the ritual and legal school, You Zhang is not only a cabinet minister of the imperial court, but also a master of Yang Shen in the art of spiritual cultivation.

In the capital, I used the Kingly Dragon Qi and You Zhang to work together, which was enough to weaken the top masters' combat power by 40% and completely suppress the ordinary masters.

More than 20 years ago, Li Xunhuan's Flying Dagger had already reached the level of a master who could never miss a target.

Even against the Grandmaster, it has great deterrent effect.

A few years ago, Li Xunhuan used Xiao Li Flying Dagger to kill Shangguan Jinhong, one of the strongest people under the Grandmaster, and then gained something else and became a Grandmaster.

His Xiao Li Flying Dagger is naturally even more terrifying!
Shen Tianjun is the current patriarch of the Shen family, which has a very long tradition in the martial arts world of the Ming Dynasty.

Relying on the family-inherited Qiankun Divine Art and Qiankun First Finger, he is not a weakling among the masters.

Plus the trump card I have been hiding, the imperial master Wu Gensheng!
In my original plan, Li Xunhuan, Shen Tianjun and Wu Gensheng would join forces to confront Wu Ge'er head-on.

I used the kingly dragon energy and You Zhang used the power of the Yang God to suppress him secretly. No matter how talented Wu Ge'er was, even if he had just broken through to the Grandmaster level and had the combat power of a top Grandmaster, it was enough to make Wu Ge'er's sword useless and leave him helpless!
However, I didn’t expect that while I was making plans, Wu Ge’er was not idle either.

Not only did Wu Geer have the ultimate master's combat power when he just achieved the master level, he also had another ultimate master-level helper...

Prince, don't blame the three great monks of Shaolin Temple!

Even if the three great monks hadn't intervened, Wu Ge'er would have fallen into my trap!

We may not necessarily achieve the final victory!

After all, my arrangement is only aimed at a top-level master-level fighter!
And even if we win, we can't keep two top masters at the same time...

unless…

Unless we reach an agreement with Wudang and Shaolin from the very beginning!
We agreed to take action together in the capital!
Let's combine the strength of our Zhu Dynasty, Wudang and Shaolin to deal with Wu Ge'er together.

Only in this way can we keep two top-level masters, Zhao Yuguang and Feng Qingyang, at the same time, while restraining them.

However, before the fact was established, who could have imagined that Wu Ge'er had such strength and such connections?
Before this battle, the Ming Dynasty did not have any top-level master fighters. "

The words of the Ming King contain sighs.

King Ming did not expect that his estimate of Zhu Chengwu's highest combat power would actually become a reality, and that another top-notch master-level combat power suddenly emerged from Zhu Chengwu's side.

This is really unexpected!

Moreover, according to Li Xunhuan, Shen Tianjun, Wu Gensheng and others, the magical skills displayed by the top master who suddenly appeared were simply unheard of, and could actually transform people into dragons!

This…

Could it be another creation of Wu Ge’er?

Or is it really the case that people associate with like-minded people?

Because the Ming Dynasty court and Wudang and Shaolin did not have any top-level masters before, they were unable to make friends with this top-level master who suddenly appeared!
Wu Ge'er has the combat power of a top master level, and this top master level expert suddenly appeared?
(End of this chapter)