Before Zhu Yu could say anything more, Zhu Dan raised his hand, signaling him to let him finish speaking: "I don't trust anyone to take over the throne of the Great Zhou. Although I have never met Jingxing, I can tell from the letters you sent to my grandmother and me that he is a wise and capable young man."
"He would definitely do a better job as emperor than I would. But don't worry, I won't just abandon him right away. I'll keep Jingxing by my side and teach him for a few years."
He smiled easily: "Let's raise him until he's eighteen. He'll be an adult at eighteen, and there are still nine years left. I can teach him slowly, no rush."
The people inside the hall fell silent.
Three days later, Zhu Danqing led an army of 200,000 men, along with Prince An, Princess An, Lu Yucheng, Lu Yuyan, and others, to inspect the troops and set off.
The remaining 400,000 troops departed from their respective garrisons and will join the emperor's army in five days.
Before setting off, Zhu Dan issued an edict appointing Zhu Jingxing, the eldest son of Prince An, as the Crown Prince of the Great Zhou. During his absence from Shengjing, the two prime ministers, Bu Feizhang and Gu Weizhi, would assist the Crown Prince in handling state affairs.
The imperial edict caused an uproar throughout the court. Although their current emperor appeared mild-mannered, once he made up his mind, nothing could change it. Otherwise, after eleven years on the throne, he wouldn't have ignored their repeated petitions urging him to establish an empress and take concubines.
The Empress Dowager knew the crux of the Emperor's problem, so ever since Zhu Yu and Lu Xiaoyun got married, she never mentioned that he should marry and have children again.
Even so, she never regretted the imperial decree that led to the marriage of Zhu Yu and Lu Xiaoyun, because she knew her two grandsons of the emperor too well.
If she hadn't done that back then, a real fratricidal conflict would have occurred, which would have been a disaster for the Great Zhou Dynasty.
If the emperor has any complaints, he should blame his wife alone.
The Empress Dowager, however, was filled with rage and cursed him viciously every day. She even became obsessed, giving Zhu Dan those kinds of drugs and sending palace maids to his bed.
Even so, Zhu Dan did not touch the palace maids. He soaked himself in ice and had Imperial Physician Jiang administer acupuncture to detoxify him.
He thought that since he hadn't given in once, his mother wouldn't dare treat him like that again. But only half a year later, she did it again.
When the Empress Dowager found out, she issued an imperial edict confining her to her own palace until she died of illness three years later.
...
Pingcheng had become a living hell, with the corpses of slaughtered civilians everywhere. After the Northern Qi soldiers occupied Pingcheng, all the men were killed, and the young women were abducted and subjected to all kinds of humiliation.
Of the 130,000 Yan troops, 100,000 became rebels, and the remaining 30,000 who refused to submit were almost completely slaughtered by Xiao Cheng and Zhu Ruorou.
At this moment, the prefect of Xuancheng was leading the soldiers defending the city in a desperate fight against the attack of the Northern Qi cavalry. Only two thousand men remained on the city wall. If reinforcements did not arrive, they would not be able to hold out for more than a few hours.
The prefect's eyes were bloodshot; his hands had gone numb from killing so many people in the past few days. After cleaving a Northern Qi soldier who had scaled the city wall with one hand, he leaned against the wall, panting heavily.
He's dying; he's about to pass away.
"My lord, you should flee. The Northern Qi army will be invading in just a few hours!" the subordinate continued to urge.
"I'm not running away anymore, I'll just die if I have to!" The prefect, his hands covered in blood, struggled to his feet but failed and fell back down heavily.
He served the Great Zhou Dynasty his entire life, and it was his blessing to have met a wise ruler. So be it, he died for the Great Zhou and for the people. It was all worth it!
Suddenly, a thunderous roar of hooves swept in with overwhelming force, shaking the earth and making the city walls tremble!
"Big, big, big, sir, there are cavalry, so many, so many..." The subordinate couldn't speak properly, his tongue was trembling.
The prefect was greatly alarmed. Could it be that the Northern Qi cavalry had arrived again?!
"You really think highly of him," the prefect said with a wry smile, forcing himself to sit up.
He mustered all his strength to stand up and looked ahead. Under the endless sky, he saw tens of thousands of cavalrymen galloping in from nowhere.
Everyone was dressed in cold armor, and even their warhorses were clad in armor.
A large flag bearing the character "Zhou" fluttered in the cold wind!
It's reinforcements, reinforcements from the imperial court! But how could the imperial court's reinforcements arrive so quickly after only ten days?
"Yes, yes, it's His Highness Prince An! His Highness Prince An has led his cavalry to our aid!" the subordinate shouted.
On the white horse, a man in silver armor rode in a cloud of dust, his red cloak billowing in the wind behind his silver armor, adding a touch of crimson to the white world, and carrying an extremely cold and murderous aura as he swept in.
The prefect was so shocked that he almost stopped shouting.
That was the Great Zhou Dynasty, the return of the God of War who struck fear into the hearts of all under heaven!
Upon closer inspection, I noticed there was a woman beside His Highness Prince An!
The woman was also dressed in silver armor, shouting, "Kill!"
Wherever the red-tasseled spear went, it cut down the Northern Qi soldiers one by one.
What impressive skills, what a fierce killing intent!
Which of those Northern Qi soldiers hadn't heard of His Highness Prince An of Great Zhou, and who didn't know that he was a god of war and a god of slaughter, a master strategist?
It was evident that the woman beside him worked seamlessly with him; the two of them descended like gods, leading their cavalry to reap their heads one by one.
Zhu Yu and Lu Xiaoyun led 100,000 cavalrymen at breakneck speed, and wherever their army went, the Northern Qi army was routed.
Soon, the Northern Qi army that was attacking Xuancheng was routed, with 100,000 of the most valiant and powerful Zhou cavalry facing 30,000 Northern Qi soldiers.
In just two hours, all the Northern Qi soldiers had fallen to the blade, and the battle was over!
Zhu Yu turned to the side on his horse and personally took a handkerchief to wipe the blood off Lu Xiaoyun's face.
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