Chapter 57 Return
With Yesen's order, the Oirat army moved quickly towards Datong and soon arrived near Datong.
During this period, the Oirat treated Emperor Zhu Qizhen better than before, and Yuan Bin had already noticed something was wrong.
His intuition told him that all this was definitely related to Yesen's private meeting with the emperor that day.
Although Yuan Bin was unwilling to admit it in his heart, he had vaguely guessed that the emperor had most likely reached some kind of consensus with Yesen and took this opportunity to return to the Ming Dynasty.
Although this wish is good, the Oirat are not fools. If the garrison commander really finds out that the emperor is still alive, the Oirat will only continue to "use the emperor to control the princes."
Yuan Bin was able to judge that Zhu Qizhen did this with the determination of "fighting to the death". Even if he could not use this as an opportunity to return to the interior, he could at least annoy the emperor who had already ascended the throne and disrupt the domestic court.
After all, the current emperor was once a princess. According to the ancient system of succession to the throne, this has never happened before. It is inevitable that someone in the Ming Dynasty will take the opportunity to cause chaos.
Yuan Bin's mood was inevitably complicated. Although they were now captured by the Oirat, they were still Ming people. He hoped that his family and the people of the Ming Dynasty would be safe and live a good life.
But the Emperor is always the Emperor...
Compared with foreigners like Ha Ming who surrendered halfway and could have integrated into the Wala after Zhu Qizhen's death, Yuan Bin was more conflicted.
The emperor is indeed his monarch, but the Ming Dynasty is also his home and country. It is really difficult for him to accept and make a decision that the emperor is willing to harm the country and ordinary people for his own selfish interests.
But the Oirat people obviously did not care about the ideas of Zhu Qizhen, Yuan Bin and others. They just acted according to their interests and continued to move towards Datong.
On the other hand, Zhu Yuhuan was also looking forward to Zhu Qizhen's possible arrival.
Zhu Yuhuan knew Zhu Qizhen as well as Zhu Qizhen himself. Once Zhu Qizhen knew the news of his ascension to the throne, he would be filled with hatred and would rack his brains to find a way to make the guards recognize him as the living emperor.
In addition, Zhu Yuhuan could also guess that Yesen had encountered obstacles everywhere during this period, and he must still have doubts about Zhu Qizhen's identity. Moreover, the army was mainly defensive during this period, so Yesen would inevitably underestimate the enemy. Even if he planned to return to Wala, he would definitely give Zhu Qizhen one last try.
That was why Zhu Yuhuan insisted on going to Datong in person to see his "deceased" brother rest in peace.
Since he had become the emperor, Zhu Yuhuan didn't care what his reputation would become. Of course, it would be best if Zhu Qizhen never came back.
Shi Heng had already received news from the capital and learned that Zhu Yuhuan was coming in person. He immediately became alert, fearing that a second emperor would get into trouble on the border.
The first one is fine, but this one is someone he has been clinging to for a long time. Even if he dies on the spot, he will never let anything happen to Zhu Yuhuan.
However, Zhu Yuhuan had said in advance that they would take a detour to Datong from the rear, and that they would have a large army accompanying them, so it would be absolutely safe and worry-free, so he didn't need to make a big fuss. Shi Heng had no choice but to keep his troops in place.
After all, Zhu Yuhuan was leading a large army, and even if they were marching quickly, their speed could not match that of the Oirat. Therefore, before Shi Heng saw Zhu Yuhuan, he saw the Oirat army knocking on the door.
Zhu Yuhuan had previously sent someone to deliver a message at full speed, telling Shi Heng to delay as much as possible so as to prevent Yesen from losing patience.
Therefore, Shi Heng did not turn a blind eye to the emperor's order mentioned by Yesen like Yang Hong and others did. Instead, he asked the soldiers to tell Yesen that there was a new emperor in the capital, so how could he be in the hands of the Oirat people?
Yesen insisted that the emperor in his hands was the legitimate emperor Zhu Qizhen, and asked Shi Heng to verify it personally. As long as he was given enough gold, silver and food, he could return Zhu Qizhen to the Ming Dynasty.
There were few soldiers around Shi Heng who had seen the emperor. Even if there were some who knew the emperor, they had received Shi Heng's orders to lie and claim that they had not seen the emperor.
As for Shi Heng going to see it in person, or opening the city gate to let Zhu Qizhen in, that was of course impossible. Shi Heng naturally would not reveal that he had no intention of confirming the emperor's authenticity. He just told Yesen that if he really wanted to return the so-called emperor, he should put the person in a basket and have the soldiers guarding the city pull him up to the city wall for confirmation.
It is highly likely that Yesen would not agree. Even if he really agreed to Shi Heng's request, Shi Heng could easily make the rope break accidentally and directly get rid of the emperor, who he did not know whether he was real or fake.
Things turned out just as Shi Heng had expected. Yesen certainly could not return the emperor so easily. The two sides could only argue back and forth about whether the emperor was real or fake.
Zhu Yuhuan was obviously aware that the Oirat could escape at any time, so he only brought the guards he brought back from Yunnan, the elite soldiers of the Nanjing Jingying, and a small number of soldiers from the three camps carrying muskets, and traveled day and night, and finally arrived in Datong as soon as possible.
Shi Heng had been worried for a long time. When he heard the news that the emperor had arrived safely, he finally breathed a sigh of relief and immediately went to meet Zhu Yuhuan in person.
The two met again as king and minister, but this time Zhu Yuhuan became the real "king", and Shi Heng was no longer the soldier who waited for his uncle's vacancy and tried his best to make a future for himself.
Zhu Yuhuan first summoned everyone and briefly asked about Datong's recent defense and war preparations. Then he let everyone else continue to do their duties, leaving only Shi Heng to meet the emperor.
When Shi Heng saw everyone leave, he bowed again and said, "Your Majesty, I pay my respects to you. Long live Your Majesty."
Zhu Yuhuan raised his eyebrows slightly, already understanding what Shi Heng meant. It was simply to express his loyalty to him again, proving that he had always been loyal to Zhu Yuhuan all these years.
Zhu Yuhuan waved his hand to signal him to stand up and said, "Get up."
Shi Heng stood up and saw Zhu Yuhuan wearing a red helmet and black armor. He looked calm and steady, and more stable than when they first met.
Zhu Yuhuan asked with a smile: "Why are you looking at me twice?"
Shi Heng's heart trembled, and he immediately said, "Your Majesty is more elegant than before, and wearing the red helmet and black armor of the Yongle period, he looks like the majestic Emperor Taizong... I am a rough man, and I have been disrespectful in front of Your Majesty. Please punish me."
Zhu Yuhuan half-jokingly said, "You speak as if you have met Emperor Taizong."
Shi Heng could tell her tone was quite relaxed and that she had no ulterior motives, so he smiled and said, "If Emperor Taizong could see your majesty's current demeanor, he would surely be very pleased."
Zhu Yuhuan consciously skipped this part of the courtesy and simply asked, "Have you met the emperor brought by the Oirat these days?"
Seeing her get straight to the point, Shi Heng stopped flattering her and replied respectfully, "I have indeed seen him from a distance a few times. However, the city walls have been reinforced recently to defend against the Oirat Mongols, and the Oirat Mongols are wary of allowing prisoners of war too close to the walls. Therefore, I and other generals have been unable to confirm..."
Zhu Yuhuan looked at him quietly and said, "Now it's just you and me. I want you to tell the truth. Is that man my brother Zhu Qizhen?"
Shi Heng was silent for a long time under her gaze, and for a moment he could not grasp the psychology of Zhu Yuhuan, who had become the emperor at this moment.
Did the emperor want him to stand on her side and lie, or to admit it honestly...
Shi Heng gritted his teeth and answered honestly, "That man must have been the late emperor who had committed suicide and died for his country..."
"The late emperor..." Zhu Yuhuan chewed on the word, then smiled at Shi Heng's uneasy look and said, "That's great. I'm not afraid of him coming, I'm just afraid of him not coming."
Shi Heng was slightly stunned, but soon he understood Zhu Yuhuan's meaning from her smile.
That is a meaning that anyone who has been to the battlefield will understand, revealing a clear murderous intent.
It seems that Zhu Qizhen is doomed to die.
But now Shi Heng was a little confused.
If that's the case, then why did the emperor come in person? Why not just secretly send him a message and ask him to find a way to kill Zhu Qizhen and be done with it? He couldn't have come just to get a few high-quality muskets from the capital, could he?
Unless the emperor wants to kill Zhu Qizhen himself.
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