In the past few days, Zhu Yunwen gradually stopped paying attention to this matter.
Instead, he entrusted everything to Ma Sanbao to study on his own.
He then went to the military camp to observe the training situation.
For the first day or two, Zhu Di accompanied him. During this time, Zhu Yunwen and Fu Youde would occasionally put on an act, pretending to be at odds with each other, which made Zhu Di very happy.
Starting from the third day, Zhu Di no longer accompanied him. Instead, Zhu Yunwen led his men to the military camp and had Fu Youde introduce him to the locals.
Without Zhu Di's company that day, the two naturally didn't need to put on an act anymore.
Then, Fu Youde, while managing the affairs, cupped his hands to Zhu Yunwen and said:
"Your Highness, I have offended you greatly these days. Please forgive me."
Zhu Yunwen smiled and waved his hand, saying:
“We both know the truth, so why be so polite? Now that my fourth uncle is no longer with us, there are some things we can truly talk about.”
Fu Youde nodded and said:
"Yes, I've been under a lot of pressure these past few days, afraid that the Fourth Prince would notice something amiss. Fortunately, I managed to keep it from him. Right now, he must be happy, thinking that Your Highness and I are at odds."
Zhu Yunwen smiled and nodded, then said:
"Let's get down to business. How's the recruitment and training of soldiers on the northern border going?"
Fu Youde said seriously:
"Recruiting soldiers in the north is going smoothly. We now have nearly 50,000 border guards and 30,000 regular troops, for a total of 80,000 troops."
"They are more than capable of guarding the north. The remnants of the Northern Yuan forces were utterly routed in the last battle, so with these 80,000 troops as a deterrent, the safety of the north can be guaranteed."
Zhu Yunwen nodded slightly, then said:
"My fourth uncle doesn't have these troops under his command, does he?"
Fu Youde looked around, then said to Zhu Yunwen:
"Absolutely not, Your Highness can rest assured on this point. I personally recruited almost all of these soldiers, and I know the background of each and every one of them very well."
As for those military officers and generals, I've kept a close watch on them, and none of them have had a chance to contact Zhu Di. Therefore, Your Highness the Crown Prince can rest assured.
Zhu Yunwen smiled: "I naturally trust you to handle things; I believe you absolutely possess that ability. However, I am still worried about one thing: is Zhu Di secretly training troops?"
Fu Youde said with a serious expression:
"Zhu Di doesn't have the guts yet. At most, he's just trained a few hundred to a thousand more soldiers in his residence."
As for secretly keeping soldiers, he would never do that without military power. After all, military power in the north is currently almost entirely in my hands.
Therefore, Your Highness, you can rest assured. Furthermore, with me keeping an eye on him, if he secretly recruits soldiers, I will discover it immediately.
Furthermore, he couldn't deceive the Emperor either. If he were to secretly train soldiers, the Embroidered Uniform Guard would find out immediately and report it to the Emperor, the consequences of which Zhu Di couldn't bear.
Zhu Yunwen nodded slightly. Each prince's mansion would train its own guards, and these guards usually numbered only a few hundred. So even if Zhu Di trained more auxiliary soldiers to serve as his personal guards, it wouldn't matter much. After all, a few hundred or a thousand men wouldn't pose a significant threat.
As long as he doesn't secretly recruit a large number of soldiers and train them privately, that's a good thing.
Even if they want to stir up some waves in the future, it's unlikely.
"Then I can rest assured. You continue to keep an eye on Zhu Di in the north. I will not repeat what I have told you before. You should also know the seriousness of this matter."
What Zhu Yunwen was referring to was the need to guard against Zhu Di.
Since Fu Youde has chosen to stand on Zhu Yunwen's side, he naturally has to serve Zhu Yunwen wholeheartedly.
Putting everything else aside, Fu Youde's own future life and death are almost entirely in Zhu Yunwen's hands.
If Zhu Yunwen could protect Fu Youde once, he could also protect Fu Youde a second or even a third time in some dangerous situations.
Therefore, unless Fu Youde is a fool, he understands that he must not betray Zhu Yunwen, otherwise the consequences would be unbearable for him.
After gaining a general understanding of the situation in the north, Zhu Yunwen was temporarily relieved about the north.
From the current perspective, at least, this fourth uncle poses no threat to me.
As long as he slowly grows stronger and doesn't resort to any of the shady tactics that Zhu Yunwen did in history, then Zhu Di will have no chance to snatch the throne from Zhu Yunwen.
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