The June wind was somewhat cool, blowing on the trees, flowers and plants in Kunning Palace, making rustling sounds.

The moon is bright and the stars are sparse, which seems to indicate that tomorrow will be another sunny day.

Zhu Ying quietly accompanied the old man, listening carefully to his memories, which were also the memories of his original self.

Perhaps the turtle named Xiao Hei really left a deep impression on the original body, or perhaps the memory of the little turtle just happened to still exist.

After this, Zhu Ying no longer had the tingling feeling of memory that he had before it appeared.

Zhu Yuanzhang kept talking tirelessly, recounting many details of his past experiences with his eldest sister and eldest grandson.

There was a look of slow recollection in his eyes, as if he wanted to tell his eldest grandson everything.

Liu He stood respectfully aside, listening to His Majesty talking about the Queen Mother. He was a little frightened at first.

After all, ever since the Queen Mother passed away, anyone in the palace who dared to mention the Queen Mother was doomed to suffer the consequences.

At that time, His Majesty will be extremely furious. The punishment may be severe at the least, or even death at the worst. Even the princes and grandchildren of the emperor will be beaten with a stick.

But looking at His Majesty's smiling face, Liu He finally understood what His Majesty was thinking and needing.

Liu He thought about it carefully and found a very strange problem.

In His Majesty's speech, the topic almost always revolved around the Empress Dowager and His Royal Highness the Grandson. His Royal Highness the Crown Prince did not appear very often.

If we rank them in Your Majesty's mind, the first one would naturally be the Empress, the second one would be His Royal Highness the Grandson, and the third one would be His Royal Highness the Crown Prince.

Although such an idea seemed a bit rebellious, Liu He couldn't help but think about it.

As the bright moon hung high in the sky, Zhu Yuanzhang's voice became softer and softer, and soon he fell asleep leaning on Zhu Ying's shoulder.

"Your Highness, look at this." Liu He bent his body, cat-walked to the other side of Zhu Ying, and asked in a low voice.

Zhu Ying looked at the old man's sweet sleeping face and thought that he was immersed in a beautiful dream.

"Grandpa has just fallen asleep. Wait for half an incense stick of time until he falls into a deep sleep, then go to the palace to sleep." Zhu Ying ordered.

"Yes, Your Highness." Liu He replied softly, and then waited respectfully beside him.

Zhu Ying looked at the old man again and felt a little emotional.

A person like the old man, who fought on the battlefield when he was young and served as emperor for 25 years, has always been very vigilant.

The fact that he could fall asleep while leaning on his shoulder showed that the old man completely trusted him and was even somewhat dependent on him.

"Grandpa, don't worry. You regard me as your closest relative. To your grandson, I am the same."

Zhu Ying sighed inwardly.

The old man was the second person he regarded as a relative since he came to this world.

The first one was naturally his adoptive father who pulled him out of the river. Even though he was poor, he still got him food so he didn’t starve to death.

During the time he spent with his adoptive father, he truly felt his adoptive father's love for him.

Although his adoptive father was not very good at communication, Zhu Ying, who was only eight years old at the time, actually had a soul from the afterlife in his twenties living in his body.

Today, in front of the coffin of Crown Prince Zhu Biao, Zhu Ying did not cry, and even her emotions did not fluctuate much.

But when his adoptive father passed away, Zhu Ying cried heartbreakingly. To Zhu Ying at that time, his adoptive father was just his father and there was no difference.

He had already experienced fatherly love, so it was impossible for him to put himself in the shoes of Crown Prince Zhu Biao, because when it came to fatherly love, he already had someone in his heart.

As for the old man, he did not deny that he had the idea of ​​taking advantage of him when he first met him.

The emergence of this idea was inevitable. After all, he had no intention of staying in Ming Dynasty at that time, so he naturally had to make use of all the available resources around him.

Although at first he believed that he and the old man's eldest grandson were not closely related and were not the same person.

But I didn't expect that after going around in circles, I actually turned out to be the old man's eldest grandson.

Half an incense stick of time passed quickly. Although Zhu Ying was a little absent-minded, it must be said that Liu He next to him was almost always counting the time silently in his heart.

As soon as the time came, he reminded Zhu Ying immediately.

As the eunuch in charge of the Imperial Household Department, Liu He always stayed by His Majesty's side and had an extremely accurate grasp of time, like a running clock.

Zhu Ying nodded slightly upon hearing that and carefully put her arms around the old man. As soon as she did so, the old man's brows subconsciously frowned and his body felt tense.

"Grandpa, it's me, grandson. I'll take you to bed."

Seeing this, Zhu Ying stopped and whispered in the old man's ear.

As if he heard a familiar voice, Zhu Yuanzhang's brows suddenly relaxed, and his originally tense body also relaxed.

Zhu Ying slowly picked up the old man and walked towards Kunning Palace.

Liu He immediately called the palace maids and eunuchs to help His Majesty change clothes.

The undressing part was a little troublesome. The old man held Zhu Ying tightly in his hands the whole time, just like a child holding his favorite toy and refusing to let go when he goes to sleep.

When Zhu Ying saw this, a hint of warmth flashed in his eyes.

What is the difference between him at this moment and the original Zhu Xiongying?

It is possible that Zhu Xiongying is him, and everything in his later life was just a dream during his fake death.

Thinking of this, Zhu Ying gently held the old man's big hand. The old man felt the warmth of his palm and slightly let go, and then he completed the changing of clothes.

When the old man lay down and covered himself with the quilt, Zhu Ying was about to leave when the old man suddenly curled up and shook, as if he had a nightmare.

"Grandpa, my grandson is here and has always been here." Zhu Ying said hurriedly.

The old man then relaxed again.

Zhu Ying felt a little distressed. The old man must have been under so much longing that he behaved like this. Perhaps he had always been living tenaciously.

If it were anyone else, they would have been depressed long ago, but the old man had been suppressing this depressed mood deep in his heart.

It is no wonder that when others mentioned this matter or mentioned Empress Ma, Zhu Yuanzhang would become extremely furious and even lose his mind.

This aroused the depression in Zhu Yuanzhang's heart, so that in his later years, he became more murderous and cruel.

Zhu Ying waved to Liu He and others. Liu He immediately understood what His Royal Highness Chang Sun meant, and withdrew with many palace maids and eunuchs.

Zhu Ying was half lying next to the old man, but the old man was sleeping soundly while he was suffering from insomnia.

According to common sense, Zhu Ying was almost certainly the future heir to the Ming Empire. He should be extremely happy that he was entering the palace for the first time and sleeping directly in the Kunning Palace.

After all, the position of emperor, especially the emperor of the world's most powerful country in the early Ming Dynasty, holds power that truly covers the sky with one hand.

But in Zhu Ying's eyes today, there is no imperial power. The only thing he sees is a lonely old man who finally waited for his grandson.

There were still candles burning in the bedroom, making it very bright.

When Liu He and others left, they did not blow out the candles. As eunuchs close to His Majesty, it was obviously a big deal that they did not even extinguish the candles when they left.

But Liu He did just that, and it was very natural. There was only one possibility, that is, the old man was afraid of the dark and must have light to fall asleep every night.

Zhu Ying sat quietly, listening to the snoring of the old man next to him. After an unknown amount of time, he slowly fell asleep.

At the door, Liu He was guarding quietly. Even if a young eunuch came to replace him, he was rejected by Liu He.

"Tonight is the first time that His Royal Highness Chang Sun sleeps in the palace. I'm afraid he might not be used to it, so I'll be the one to watch over him personally."

…

The next morning, in the Western Regions, the City of Heroes.

In the City Lord's Mansion, six people headed by Liu Sheng and Jiang Yun sat together.

Those who can sit here are all Zhu Ying’s ten major disciples, who are the ten most outstanding ones among Zhu Ying’s hundreds of disciples.

There are only six people in the City of Heroes, and four others are responsible for the jurisdiction of the forces in the desert and grassland respectively.

Being able to become one of Zhu Ying’s ten direct disciples, the things he experienced are not something that can be told to outsiders.

In order to ensure their loyalty to him, Zhu Ying made these ten disciples pass the test of humanity.

For example, Liu Sheng was once "accidentally" captured by the enemy army, and then he was forced to reveal all the secrets about Zhu Ying, and was intimidated and threatened, and even threatened with his wife and daughter.

The final result was that Liu Sheng refused to tell the truth even until his death, and suffered a lot during the process. In the end, he was "rescued" by Zhu Ying's men.

Almost all the other ten disciples had experienced similar situations and finally passed the test, thus gaining Zhu Ying's trust and coming into contact with core power.

These things seem a bit dark, but for Zhu Ying, there is no choice.

Although the indoctrination of ideas is effective, no one knows whether they can control themselves when it comes to their own interests.

In ancient times, such a fast communication speed could only be maintained by relying on personal worship. It was impossible for Zhu Ying to take charge of all matters at once, so he had to resort to this last resort.

Fortunately, not to mention other places, perhaps because of the cultural intersections in the Western Regions, people are very accepting of such tests.

Even knowing that he had passed the test, he not only did not feel any resentment, but was also very proud and complacent, because of the Western Regions, the desert, and the grasslands.

They all have similar customs, such as coming-of-age ceremonies, warrior baptisms, and the like, and there are countless tests of loyalty.

"I have also told you what Li Xiucai thought about the blank document. Now the teacher's wooden box has been sent to the Daming Post Station. What do you think of the teacher's other instructions?"

Liu Sheng called everyone to a meeting. He first explained Li Xiucai's analysis yesterday and then asked questions.

"Good boy Liu Sheng, since it is the teacher's order, we should just do it. What, do you want us to follow your orders and disobey the teacher's order?"

The tallest and strongest man among the six people immediately buzzed when he heard this, and his tone showed that he was very unhappy about Liu Sheng discussing the teacher's thoughts.

As soon as the sturdy man said this, except for Jiang Yun, the others immediately looked at him unfriendly.

Liu Sheng immediately realized that they had misunderstood, and quickly explained:

"Of course we must obey the teacher's instructions. I don't mean the crops, but whether the teacher will be in danger in the capital, and whether we should send people to the capital of Daming to support him."

"If something really happens, we won't be afraid that the teacher will be left alone. Even if he dies, we must rescue the teacher."