He didn't know what the guard had said to his father that day that made his father, who had always doted on him, even want to kill him.

He sensed a deep sense of crisis, so he rarely appeared before his father, learning how to protect himself in the ruthless palace.

Without his father's favor and his mother's love, one can imagine how difficult his life was during those years in the palace.

At the age of thirteen, he took the initiative to request to join the Northern Army.

He vividly remembered that day when he knelt before his father and said, "Father, I wish to go to the Northern Army on the northwestern frontier. Please grant my request."

The emperor's face was grim, his eyes filled with undisguised disgust. He looked at the kneeling boy on the ground and asked coldly, "Why? What's the reason?"

He clenched his fists, straightened his back, and said, "To protect the Great Zhou Dynasty."

"Protect the Great Zhou Dynasty?" The emperor's eyes were full of sarcasm, his face etched with wrinkles, as he mocked, "Do you truly wish to protect the Great Zhou Dynasty, or do you merely seek to seize military power?"

He said, "I want them all."

Zhang Zhongwei was standing beside the emperor at that time. Upon hearing these words, he broke out in a cold sweat and wished he could cover Zhu Yu's mouth.

The emperor roared, "How dare you! Zhu Yu, how dare you! Do you know what you're saying?! What do you want military power for?!"

Zhu Yu looked directly into the emperor's eyes: "Your subject knows what your subject is talking about. Your subject wants both. If you don't want military power and don't want to make military achievements, what would your subject do in the army? Your father would not want a useless son who is completely incompetent and can't even control a single Northern Army."

He paused and then said, "I am of royal blood. I want to use my military merits to earn the title of king from my father and move out of the palace to establish my own independent government."

He needed to find out what that guard had said to his father when he was five years old, and why his father had come to despise him so much. Only with his own independent royal palace could he investigate the truth.

Trapped in the palace, or casually sent to a small residence outside the palace when he reached a certain age, without his own power, he had no ability to investigate.

Unlike his elder brother, he was not made crown prince at a very young age.

Unlike his second and third brothers, whose mothers' families held a pivotal position in the court.

Unlike his fifth brother, whose mother, though of low rank, was unique in her status, he himself was personally taught and guided by the Imperial Preceptor.

Joining the army and earning military merits was his only option.

The emperor's eyes flashed with a cold light: "You want to bestow a title of king?"

"yes."

Why?

Zhu Yu straightened up and said, "Since neither Mother nor Father wants to see me, then I will move out of the palace and establish my own residence. This will be better for you and Mother, and even better for me."

Zhang Zhongwei's back was completely soaked; he was practically kneeling before Zhu Yu.

The emperor sneered, "Zhu Yu, I underestimated you. You really dare to speak so boldly. In these past few years, I have ignored you completely. Have you ever resented me?"

Zhu Yu calmly said, "I have resented it. I cannot understand why my mother abandoned me and my father disliked me. If that is the case, why did my father and mother bring me into this world in the first place!"

The emperor's gloomy face seemed to drip blood as he swept the teacup beside him to the ground.

Zhu Yu was not afraid at all. Even when a shard of porcelain cut his right eyebrow and blood flowed down, blurring his vision, he didn't wipe it away. He had experienced everything in the past few years. If he was still afraid, he wouldn't have survived until now.

"Since I am so cold to my family, which displeases you, then I will join the army and move out of the palace, so that I will try my best not to get in your way and make you unhappy."

Zhang Zhongwei finally couldn't bear it any longer and knelt down with a thud: "Your Highness, Fourth Prince, this old servant begs you, please stop talking. You are the Emperor's son, how could the Emperor not like you..."

The emperor gave Zhang Zhongwei a cold glance: "Zhang Zhongwei, get out!"

"Your Majesty, the Fourth Prince is still young, please don't take his words to heart..."

"Get out!" Although the emperor spoke to Zhang Zhongwei, his cold eyes were fixed on Zhu Yu, who was kneeling on the ground with his face covered in blood.

Zhang Zhongwei left with trepidation.

You could hear a pin drop inside the main hall.

One was sitting, and the other was kneeling upright.

As the sun gradually set in the west, Zhu Yu remained kneeling upright, maintaining his original posture.

The blood had stopped flowing and remained dry, clinging to the right side of his face.

After a long silence, the emperor finally spoke coldly: "Very well! Since that's the case, then I grant your request! As long as you can bring the Northern Army under your control within five years, I will grant your request, bestow upon you the title of king, and grant you a royal palace! If you cannot, heh, Zhu Yu..."

Before the old emperor could finish speaking, Zhu Yu said, "If it is not possible, I request that Your Majesty depose me and reduce me to a commoner, and that I never set foot in Shengjing again!"

"good!"

"Your son thanks Your Majesty!"

"I will not tell Duan Chang that you are my fourth prince. If you want to earn military merit, you must start from the bottom!"

Duan Chang was the commander of the Northern Army at that time.

"Thank you, Father Emperor!" Zhu Yu said, standing up and striding away.

From that moment on, he never looked back.

When he left Shengjing City, he had no one with him, only one hundred taels of silver, two changes of clothes, and not even a horse.

Shengjing is two thousand li away from the northwest border.

He walked to the Northwest.

Along the way, he fought with dogs for food, dealt with robbers, and had his last seventy taels of silver stolen.

He slept in pigsties, waded through icy water, and almost became wolf food.

For the first five years in the Northern Army, he lived in anonymity, nearly dying on the battlefield countless times, suffering numerous knife and arrow wounds, and shedding countless drops of blood.

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