305, Prince Zhennan Rebellion

305, Prince Zhennan Rebellion

"master."

On this day, Zhao Lang led his men to patrol the border and discovered a Hu army. The number of the enemy was more than ten times that of theirs.

They knew that if they faced the other party head-on like this, they would definitely be the ones who suffered.

After a change of mind, Zhao Lang made a gesture and led his brothers to ambush on the road that the Hu people must pass.

In the end, they defeated the larger force with fewer troops and annihilated the Hu army.

Zhao Lang killed a leader of the Hu people at the cost of being injured.

When Prince Ding, who was in the military camp, heard the good news, he burst into laughter and praised his son in front of all the soldiers, "You are worthy of being my son. You have the demeanor of the general in my youth!"

"Like father, like son. The Crown Prince has inherited your courage and wisdom, General. He fought brilliantly!" The veterans present praised their Crown Prince for his rare victory over a large force, annihilating a small force of Hu soldiers. Most importantly, their Crown Prince didn't lose a single soldier!

What does it mean to not lose a single soldier in a battle? Even veteran generals like them can hardly do this.

The other soldiers present also highly recognized their prince's performance this time and began to re-examine their prince.

When Zhao Rui learned about this, he was so angry that he crushed a teacup and cursed: "So many people can't kill Zhao Lang, what a bunch of useless trash!" This group of useless trash was naturally referring to Hu Bing who failed to kill Zhao Lang.

It was three days later when Zhao Lang returned to the military camp. Thanks to this battle, he jumped from a centurion to a thousand-householder and began to emerge in the army.

However, after becoming a captain, he continued to stay in the army to recuperate and did not return to the palace.

Li Qun went out for a while and returned to their master. He whispered in his ear, "Master, you guessed right. Zhao Rui has sent someone out to deliver a letter."

"Let people keep an eye on him and find evidence of his collusion with the Hu people!" Zhao Lang narrowed his eyes slightly.

As he expected, he achieved military merits, began to stand out in front of their father and the soldiers, and gained recognition from some people. Zhao Rui could no longer sit still.

"I'm aware of this and have asked my brothers to keep an eye on him," said Li Qun.

"Don't tell Lord Lu about my injury." Zhao Lang didn't want Lu Mingfei to worry about his injury.

"Yes, I understand."

"Go down."

Seeing their master waving his hand, Li Qun retreated outside.

***

Lu Mingfei, who had already led his men back to the base, was unaware of what had happened at the border, let alone Zhao Lang's injury. However, not long after he returned to the base, he learned of a bigger piece of news: the Prince of Zhennan had declared himself king.

The moment he heard the news, he had a premonition that troubled times had begun.

Looking at the white snow on the mountain, Lu Mingfei sighed and muttered to himself, "It seems that the Prince of Zhennan can't wait any longer."

"But it's also true. These princes have been suppressed by the imperial court for so many years, and sooner or later they will rebel. It's only natural for anyone to have rebelled after generations of guarding the borders and working for the court and the emperor, only to be met with suspicion and suppression from the emperor and the court."

Especially the Zhennan King. The first generation of Zhennan King was a good brother who conquered the world with Emperor Taizu. After Taizu became emperor, he sent his good brother to guard the border. From then on, the descendants of Zhennan King lived at the border for generations, guarding the southern territory of Dayan.

However, the peace and stability that the Zhennan Prince had earned through generations of sacrifice, and the blood and lives of countless men, was not rewarded with the trust of the court and the emperor, but rather the suspicion of the emperor and the court. The late emperor even took the Zhennan Prince's son to Kyoto as a hostage for over a decade, using this to manipulate and threaten the Zhennan Prince.

The sons of feudal lords from all over the country were also treated in the same way, including Prince Ding, who had been a hostage in Kyoto Prefecture for more than ten years.

Many of these princes were descendants of the brothers who had followed Taizu to conquer the world, as well as descendants of the royal family.

Some of the actions of the Zhao royal family are indeed chilling. When imperial power falls, these vassal kings all want to be the master of the world, and chaos will become inevitable.

If he were in the position of the Prince of Zhennan, he would have planned to usurp the throne long ago, and would not have waited until now. However, the Prince of Zhennan had only declared himself king now, which was indeed a relatively good opportunity. If the Prince of Zhennan could achieve great things, his reputation in the future would not be too bad.

With the Zhennan Prince setting this precedent, the other princes would likely follow suit, and it wouldn't be long before the Ding Prince would also make a move. If the Ding Prince also declared himself king, then Zhao Lang, the legitimate son, would be in even greater danger. Because if the Ding Prince's other sons wanted to become the crown prince, they would have to kill Zhao Lang, the crown prince.

"I wonder how Zhao Lang is doing at the border now." Thinking of the person he had not seen for a long time, Lu Mingfei also missed him a little.

But he also knew in his heart that if they wanted to pursue great achievements and gain a place in this chaos, and not become meat under the knife of others and be slaughtered by others, then they must control more soldiers and food in order to have greater control and voice.

The day after he learned that Prince Zhennan had rebelled, he led his men into the county town closest to their base.

That night, he secretly led his men into the county magistrate's home and apprehended the corrupt official who exploited the people. He then had his men disguise themselves as the corrupt official and ordered the arrest and execution of the former county magistrate's magistrate's advisor, as well as some corrupt officials in the yamen. They quickly promoted a group of their own men to fill these positions, quickly gaining control of the yamen, the county, and the local garrison.

Then they began to use the county town as their base and started to build the first small military county.

Lu Mingfei also moved from the mountains to a house in the county town to work and handle some matters.

So this year, he couldn't rush back home to reunite with his family during the New Year. He could only write a letter and prepare some New Year gifts in advance, and ask the guards around him to send them back to his family.

***

By the time Lu Youtian received the letter and New Year's gift sent by his eldest son, it was already the 28th day of the twelfth lunar month.

After the new emperor ascended the throne, the situation in Kyoto Prefecture stabilized, and many shops in the city resumed business. Their braised food shop, the Lu family's pancake shop, and the hot pot restaurant they jointly operated also resumed business.

Their two workshops outside the city resumed operations several months ago, and the goods in the workshops were already ordered by big merchants early on, so they didn't have to worry about not being able to sell the goods.

However, after the shop in the city reopened, Lu Youtian did not let his wife and children come into the city again. Instead, he let his wife and children stay in the village and arranged for someone to take charge of the store affairs in the city. He himself often ran around and was busy everywhere.

After receiving the letter sent by his eldest son, he went into the city to find Lu Qingfeng, and the two of them closed the door and talked in the room.

At this time, the two of them already had some premonition in their hearts, knowing that their eldest son (adopted son) was going out to visit friends, probably not just to find friends.

Seeing Lu Youtian's worry, Lu Qingfeng could only pat Lu Youtian on the shoulder and comfort him, "Don't worry, Mingfei has always been a cautious child. Since he is away, he must have his reasons. We just need to arrange everything at home and wait for him to come back."

"Yeah." Lu Youtian sighed and was not comforted by Lu Qingfeng's words.

The two of them had a meal together that day and drank a couple of glasses of wine before Lu Youtian left the hot pot restaurant and returned to live in the small courtyard on Chunxi Road. Since his eldest son no longer lived here, he no longer had to worry about disturbing his studies and rest. When he was in the city, he lived in this small courtyard and no longer lived at the braised food restaurant.

But every time he came back here and saw that the once bustling courtyard was now home to only him, he always felt a sense of loss and longing.

Not long ago, the news that Prince Zhennan declared himself king spread throughout the entire Kyoto city, and ordinary people like them naturally knew about it.

Earlier, many people in pubs and teahouses were discussing this matter, but since the government arrested a group of people, not many people talked about it outside, and everyone only dared to discuss it in private.

Thinking about the current situation and his eldest son who was away doing something unknown, Lu Youtian couldn't sleep that night for the first time in his life.

And on that night, the sound of horse hooves was heard outside the street, and shouts of killing were heard from the other side of the imperial city.

Lu Youtian was half asleep when he was awakened by a knock on the door. Hearing the voice of his own, he went to open the door and asked the person outside: "What's going on? Why are you knocking on my door in the middle of the night? What happened?"

"Master, there is movement in the imperial city. There are troops passing by outside." Ji Kang said outside the door.

"Go and wake up the others, let's get ready." Lu Youtian, who had experienced Hu Bing's invasion of the city once, was panicked and scared when he heard the noise at night, but he also knew that it was useless to be afraid at this time, and they had to make plans to protect themselves.

"Yes." Ji Kang asked their master to go back to the house first, and he went to wake up everyone else.

Soon everyone else in the courtyard got up, holding bows and crossbows in their hands, guarding the door of their master's house and the entrance of the courtyard.

Lu Youtian himself couldn't sleep and sat in the room waiting.

Just at this moment, there was a knock on the door.

“Knock knock—”

"who?"

"It's me, Lu Qingfeng."

When the people inside heard that the person coming outside was a familiar person, they opened the door of the yard and let the person outside in. Author's words: Thank you Bole 9492239 (9492239) for your support, mua! To know more exciting content, please leave me a message on Liancheng Reading