After Zhu Yunwen finished speaking, before the three Yangs could say anything, Zhao Qingzhu and ten Jinyiwei centurions rushed out.

After rushing out, the Imperial Guards drew their long swords, but Zhao Qingzhu still did not use any weapons.

She effortlessly leaped up, casually kicking out a few times and sending several burly men flying.

At the same time, the Jinyiwei centurions wielded their long swords and almost killed a big man with a single blow.

In just one exchange, more than a dozen assassins had fallen to the ground, which greatly shocked the Three Yangs.

The remaining assassins were also shocked by this scene.

They never expected that their target would be so formidable.

But now that the die is cast, there's no choice but to grit our teeth and keep going.

However, the result was that he became the target of the real-name Imperial Guards and Zhao Qingzhu, who were easily defeated.

In this way, it would only take about the time it takes to drink a cup of tea. Thirty or forty assassins were already lying on the ground. Zhao Qingzhu slowly returned, mounted her horse, and said with a smirk:

"None of these people can fight."

The ten Imperial Guards remained silent, continuing to guard Zhu Yunwen on horseback, constantly on guard of the surroundings.

Yang Shiqi, Yang Rong, and Yang Pu's faces twitched; they were not surprised that these Imperial Guards had such abilities.

What shocked them was that Zhao Qingzhu, such a petite girl, was actually so powerful.

Yang Shiqi said, "I was really blind before. I didn't realize that you were so capable. How rude of me."

Zhao Qingzhu chuckled and said, "No one who has met me thinks I know martial arts, so there's nothing strange about it."

The three Yangs chuckled, thinking that it would be strange if an ordinary person saw a girl like her and thought she was very skilled in martial arts.

After this assassination attempt, the number of assassination attempts they encountered along the way toward Nanjing increased significantly.

Perhaps because their location had already been exposed, and they were already close to Nanjing, making them a more obvious target, the number of assassins increased.

On the way to Nanjing, a journey of just over a day, Zhu Yunwen was assassinated seven times.

But not a single round posed any threat to him.

Sometimes, Zhao Qingzhu didn't even need to lift a finger; the Imperial Guards alone were enough to take care of the assassins.

More than a day later, Zhu Yunwen finally arrived outside Nanjing. Looking at the city in the distance, which resembled a sleeping tiger crouching on the earth, a cold smile appeared on Zhu Yunwen's face, and he said:

“I’m back. Those who tried to assassinate me will have to pay the price. My previous tolerance does not mean I will allow you to attempt to assassinate me.”

He was referring to Zhu Yunwen and the three border princes.

After bringing the three Yangs into the capital, Zhu Yunwen went straight back to the palace.

He wanted to take Sanyang to see Zhu Yuanzhang first, since he had said he was going to find these three people when he left the palace.

Now that it has been found, naturally Zhu Yuanzhang should take a look.

In the imperial study, Zhu Yuanzhang looked at the three young men kneeling on the ground and felt a deep sense of emotion.

These three individuals served nearly four emperors. Despite their exceptional abilities, the emperors they encountered became increasingly bizarre as time went on.

Fortunately, things have changed and are no longer developing as recorded in that history book.

So Zhu Yuanzhang casually asked a few questions.

He began by saying, "The remnants of the Northern Yuan Mongols still exist. Some tribes of the Northern Yuan may gather at any time and pose a threat to the borders of our Great Ming. Do the three of you have any solutions?"

Yang Shiqi was the oldest, at twenty-seven years old, and also the most capable of the three.

He slowly began to speak:

"In my humble opinion, there is only one way to deal with these nomadic peoples: to fight them until they surrender completely and become utterly afraid of the Ming Dynasty. At that time, we can naturally avoid a lot of trouble."

Yang Rong said, "We need to not only fight them, but also find ways to educate them. Educating nomadic peoples is troublesome, but it's not impossible. As long as we have good methods to implement them and educate those nomadic peoples, we will have a chance to stop the fighting in the long term."

At this moment, Yang Pu also spoke up, saying, "Beating them is to let them know the power of our Great Ming Dynasty, while educating them is to give them a way out."

These two methods are indeed very effective. However, I believe that we can also make some better deployments based on this.

For example, after we've terrified them, we can send some troops there to control and govern them, preventing them from rebelling against the Ming Dynasty in the future.

After listening to their words, Zhu Yuanzhang nodded and said:

"Indeed, the three of you possess remarkable talents, and the methods you have proposed, when combined, can indeed resolve this hidden danger of the Northern Yuan."

As he spoke, he looked at Zhu Yunwen and, on a whim, said:

"I wonder if Yunwen has anything to add?"

Zhu Yunwen smiled and said, "Their methods are all good, and perhaps they are the means we must use. However, I think we can add another one, which is to trade some of the good things of our Great Ming with the Northern Yuan Mongols through trade."

Especially for necessities, we can be more lenient at the beginning. We can buy and sell them in large quantities at low prices. For example, salt, rice, flour, and other better quality goods.

Once they get used to using these things, if they have any thoughts of causing conflict with the Ming Dynasty again, we can cut them off.

By then, they had become accustomed to using some of our good things, and suddenly losing them would inevitably cause them distress. Going back to eating only beef and mutton would likely be difficult for them.

Zhu Yuanzhang thought for a moment after hearing this and said:

"Yes, that's a good idea. This method is relatively gentle, but if it succeeds, I estimate that those Mongolian herders will collapse. After all, they've been pampered by us, and suddenly cutting off all trade will definitely be unbearable for them."

The three Yangs also thought that Zhu Yunwen's method was very good.

At this point, Zhu Yuanzhang was quite satisfied with the assessment of the Three Yangs, so he spoke up:

"I will first appoint three people as tutors in the Wenhua Hall, who will be responsible for accompanying the Crown Prince in his studies on weekdays."

In addition, you should also offer suggestions on the memorials that the Crown Prince wants to review, thus providing assistance.

Upon hearing this, the three Yangs all knelt down to express their gratitude.

This shows that they were highly valued. First, they were allowed to enter the Wenhua Hall as companions and assist Zhu Yunwen in handling memorials.

Although the official position was low, it had already granted considerable power.