Chapter 1313 Where Is the Fourth Brother?

After the army set out, everything was peaceful in Qingzhou City.

The Mongolian tribes temporarily lost their horses, so they had no ability to make trouble, and all stayed obediently on their own pastures. Nahachu was still recovering in the military camp... Zhu Zhen would not let him go before the army found the Northern Yuan Dynasty.

Besides, the army had just set out, and there was nothing to worry about on the front line. Even if there were some problems, Fu Youde would be enough. Zhu Zhen went to Daning City for inspection.

In fact, his main purpose was to comfort his fourth brother who was hurt. He originally wrote a sincere apology letter to his fourth brother, explaining the reasons, telling him that he had no choice, and promised that he would let him take the limelight in the future when he went south... In short, it was a good coaxing.

Who knew that the fourth brother did not reply. Moreover, Deng Duo, who he sent to deliver the letter, did not even get to see the fourth brother. He was turned away and returned in disgrace.

Zhu Zhen saw that the fourth brother was really angry. How could this be possible? Emotionally, their close relationship cannot be affected. Logically, the fourth brother is now in charge of Daning, how can he give up?

So he had to go there in person. It was 600 miles from Qingzhou to Daning, and Zhu Zhen hurried all the way and arrived at the foot of Daning in three days.

It took Zhu Zhen three days to complete the journey between Qingzhou and Daning, which was much easier than Lan Yu and his team.

Lan Yu and his team walked on the thick snow in the wind, while Zhu Zhen was walking on the flat and wide official road. There were two post houses along the way to change horses and rest, so there was nothing to brag about.

Naturally, all the civil and military officials in Daning City had already left the city to welcome the prince.

Zhu Zhen still didn't see his fourth brother in the crowd...

"It seems that my fourth brother is really angry with me." Zhu Zhen said to Li Jinglong, the commander of Daning, Duke of Cao, with a smile: "I have to go to his house and apologize immediately."

Li Jinglong sighed: "His Royal Highness Prince Yan must be really sick. I haven't seen him until now."

"Ah? You haven't seen your fourth uncle?" Zhu Zhen was surprised.

"No." Li Jinglong smiled bitterly: "When His Royal Highness Prince Yan came, I also greeted him like this, but he didn't show up in the carriage. He just asked Commander Qiu to say that he was not feeling well and there was no need to welcome him, so he let us go back. After that, I went to visit him several times, but he always closed the door to refuse visitors."

"What's going on?" Zhu Zhen frowned and looked at Qiu Fu who came to greet him. With his sensitivity, how could he not notice that there must be something strange about this matter?

"Reply to the prince," the grassland in August was already cool, but Qiu Fu was sweating profusely, and said embarrassedly: "Let me report the inside story alone."

"Yes." Zhu Zhen nodded, and stopped asking questions. He entered Daning City surrounded by civil and military officials.

On the way, he did not forget to ask Li Jinglong about Daning's defense, farming, and herdsmen resettlement. Li Jinglong could answer the general questions properly, but once Zhu Zhen asked him for detailed numbers, the romantic old cousin was dumbfounded and could not answer.

Knowing that the prince was coming to inspect, Li Jinglong had done his homework in advance, but he did not expect Zhu Zhen to ask so much, and he was timid as a result.

Zhu Zhen was not surprised by this. These second-generation generals were generally ambitious and had high expectations but low skills. Few were willing to work down to earth. Li Jinglong is considered dedicated, at least he can put on a show...

But this kind of fake dedication is worse than lying down. If the 'flat-headed' had known that he was a fool earlier, he would not have handed over 500,000 troops to him.

So when the fourth brother quit, Zhu Zhen was worried and ran to Daning, largely because he was worried about Li Jinglong.

As a result, he found out after a test that his worries were not unnecessary...

But Zhu Zhen couldn't afford to get angry with him, he had to deal with the fourth brother's problem first.

"You go back first." Zhu Zhen said to Li Jinglong: "I won't eat the welcoming banquet, give it to the soldiers."

"It's noon now, we have to eat." Li Jinglong hurriedly advised.

"Why, are you worried that the fourth brother will be rejected by me?" Zhu Zhen glanced at him.

"No, no, that's not what I mean." Seeing Zhu Zhen's impatience, how dare Li Jinglong talk nonsense? He waved his hand and said, "Your Highness, please do as you wish. I will obey your order."

Accompanied by Qiu Fu, Zhu Zhen went straight to the headquarters of the Prince of Yan.

"Let's talk now." After entering the door, Zhu Zhen looked at Qiu Fu with a cold face and said, "Is the fourth brother not in Daning?"

The reason is simple. The fourth brother is not a woman without counts. Even if he wants to express dissatisfaction, there is a limit. As a result, no one has seen him so far, which can only mean that he is either sick or not in Daning at all.

But if he really has a disease that cannot see people, Qiu Fu and others will ask the fifth brother for help first, so there is only the last possibility left.

"..." As expected, Qiu Fu was shocked when he heard this, and he was stiff for a long time before he nodded with difficulty: "Yes."

"Where did he go?!" Zhu Zhen's face darkened immediately, and he asked sternly: "If you dare to hide it again, I will chop you off now!"

"Yes!" Qiu Fu was so scared that he knelt down quickly, crying and said: "Replying to the Sixth Prince, our prince followed the Yanshan Left Guard on the expedition."

Zhu Zhen's head buzzed. There was indeed a guard under the command of the King of Yan in the expeditionary army. It was added at the strong request of the fourth brother. Unexpectedly, the fourth brother was not trying to win the opportunity for his brothers to make merit, but to create opportunities for himself.

"Isn't this nonsense?!" Zhu Zhen couldn't help but get angry. The fourth brother was responsible for guarding Daning, but he dared to leave his post without permission. If it were an ordinary officer, he would have chopped off several heads!

He grabbed Qiu Fu's collar and asked angrily: "Why didn't you report it earlier? What's the point of saying it now!"

At this moment, the expeditionary army had already gone deep into the desert and temporarily lost contact with the rear.

"Our prince won't let us..." Qiu Fu's face turned pale, and he was terrified. "He ordered us to help him keep it secret until we can't keep it secret anymore, and we can only do it."

"He told you to die, and you also want to die?!" Zhu Zhen cursed.

"Then you can only die..." Qiu Fu said with a bitter face.

"Damn it, not a single one of them is easy to deal with!" Zhu Zhen pushed Qiu Fu away, and didn't go into the hall, but sat directly on the doorstep, thinking with a sullen face.

After a while, Qiu Fu took out another letter from his bosom and presented it to the prince, saying, "This is from our highness to the prince, but he asked that when the truth can no longer be hidden, he should take it out."

"You are really obedient." Zhu Zhen snorted coldly, took it and tore open the envelope, unfolded the letter paper and saw that it was indeed the rough and powerful handwriting of the fourth brother.

'Sixth brother, if you see this letter, I am no longer in Daning, maybe in the desert, maybe I have already reached Buyuer Lake. '

'You know the fourth brother. My long-cherished wish since I was a child is to lead troops to sweep across the northern desert, like the ancient famous generals who drank water from the vast sea and engraved stones in Yanran. This time may be the last battle, and I can't miss it. I don't blame you. I know you are afraid that I will make a mistake, but I can't go back without killing a single Tartar. '

'So I disguised myself as a sergeant and followed the left guard of Yanshan. Zhang Yu and Qiu Fu all followed my orders. Don't blame me. Besides, if you saw this letter too early and helped Fourth Brother delay the report for a few days, Fourth Brother would kowtow to you...’

After reading the letter, Zhu Zhen lay on his back with a smile on his face.