I am the prince of the Ming Dynasty, I don't give up

Chapter 310 The Secret of the Border General

Twelve years ago, Zhu Houzhao was only fifteen years old. He had just ascended the throne for a few days and had not even finished the mourning period for his father when he received an urgent report from the border saying that the Ming army had suffered its biggest defeat in decades.

This is simply the most ruthless and violent humiliation
It is hard to imagine how much impact this incident had on Zhu Houzhao, who was still a teenager at the time.

Judging from Zhu Houzhao's actions today, the impact of the defeat at Yutailing has continued to this day, and the emperor still feels resentful about it twelve years later.

"The Battle of Yutailing has always been in my heart and I dare not forget it for a single day. It is this Battle of Yutailing that has inspired me for the past twelve years," Zhu Houzhao said solemnly.

"General! The past is different from today. Today we have strong soldiers and horses. If the Mongols dare to go south again, we will make sure they never return!" Jiang Bin said immediately.

Jiang Bin's words brought a smile to Zhu Houxuan's face.

"This general has wanted to visit Yutai Mountain for the past twelve years, and today this wish has finally come true." Zhu Houzhao exclaimed, "Let's go up and take a look!"

"General, your body is worth a ton of gold. You can't put yourself in danger!" Wanning Right Guard Commander Su Xingdong hurriedly advised.

Others also tried to persuade Zhu Houzhao, mainly because this was already the northernmost end of the Ming Dynasty's defense system. It didn't matter if they went a little further, but they were afraid that Zhu Houzhao would want to go further north after reaching Yutai Ridge.
Zhu Houzhao was displeased when he heard this. He said with a straight face: "Why? What risk can there be for so many loyal and brave soldiers? This general has already decided to go to Yutai Ridge!"

The people present could not persuade him and had to do as Zhu Houzhao wished.

Jiang Bin sent more scouts to the north so that they could react as quickly as possible if the situation changed.

Zhu Houzhao finally climbed up the Yutai Ridge that he had longed for, but there was no trace of the fierce battle on Yutai Ridge.

Zhu Houzhao took out a telescope and looked towards the north. After looking for a long time, he still didn't know what he saw.

Zhu Houzhao did not propose to continue to go north. He was not stupid and knew that there was no point in going north.
"What's over there?" Zhu Houzhao suddenly asked, pointing at the foot of a mountain in the distance.

Everyone present looked at Wanning Right Guard Commander Su Xingdong. Su Xingdong looked in the direction Zhu Houzhao pointed and said, "Nothing, nothing, it's just a barren slope."

Zhu Houzhao said nothing, but looked at Su Xingdong coldly. Su Xingdong immediately changed his words and said, "That is the burial place of the soldiers who died in the Battle of Yutailing."

Zhu Houzhao's expression changed a little, and he ordered: "Go there and pay tribute to the soldiers who died in the Battle of Yutailing."

Jiang Jiangong looked at Su Xingdong in surprise, not understanding why he had just lied.
However, after arriving at the cemetery, Jiang Jiangong began to understand why Su Xingdong lied, because this cemetery was overgrown with weeds and bushes, many of the tombs could hardly be recognized as tombs, and there were only a few signs of worship, which showed that the defenders here rarely came to take care of this cemetery.

"Your Majesty, please forgive me, Your Majesty, please forgive me!" Su Xingdong and Huo Yu, the guerrilla general of Xinhekou Fort, both knelt down.

Zhu Houzhao glanced at them. Although his impression of them had become bad, he still didn't punish them. He saw that the soldiers on the border had a hard life. If they often came to take care of this cemetery, it would definitely take up a lot of energy and resources, so it was understandable. Zhu Houzhao himself didn't notice that he had begun to think about problems from other people's perspectives.

"Order the soldiers to reorganize this cemetery." Zhu Houzhao gave the order.

The accompanying soldiers immediately took action.

Su Xingdong and Huo Yu both breathed a sigh of relief and carefully wiped the cold sweat from their heads.

Jiang Jiangong, who was standing by, felt something was wrong, but he couldn't tell what was wrong.
So Jiang Jiangong quietly paid some attention to observe the two people, and he actually saw something - the two people had been exchanging glances with each other, and they were looking in the same direction intentionally or unintentionally.

This aroused Jiang Jiangong's curiosity even more. He looked in that direction calmly, but did not see anything strange. There was only an abandoned beacon tower standing alone in that direction, and it was quite far away from them.

The new troops and auxiliary soldiers moved quickly, and they had almost cleaned up the cemetery in an hour.
Zhu Houzhao led his soldiers to pay homage to the tomb. After the worship, he always felt that he heard some strange noises.
"Did you hear any sound?" Zhu Houzhao asked directly.

The people accompanying him listened carefully and shook their heads, saying they didn't hear anything.

Jiang Jiangong clearly felt that Su Xingdong and Huo Yu were obviously flustered when Zhu Houzhao asked the question, but they quickly controlled it.
This made Jiang Jiangong even more curious.

He also listened carefully, and when listening, he paid special attention to the direction of the beacon tower, and he really heard some faint sounds.
"There is a sound coming from there!" Jiang Jiangong said, pointing to the beacon tower in the distance.

With Jiang Jiangong's reminder, more people heard that voice.
"Send someone to take a look!" Zhu Houzhao ordered.

"I'll send someone right away!" Su Xingdong and Huo Yu said hurriedly.

"No need for you two generals!" Jiang Jiangong spoke out to stop them and ordered a group of soldiers to go and check.

Su Xingdong and Huo Yu continued to try to fight for it, but were rejected by Jiang Jiangong. More people noticed the abnormality of these two people and separated them from Zhu Houzhao.
There was only one path leading to the abandoned beacon tower, and it was difficult for hundreds of soldiers to walk on the path. They soon sent someone to report back a shocking piece of news:

There were more than 50 Mongols imprisoned in that abandoned beacon tower! The noises just now were made by them.
Everyone was nervous when they heard the word "Mongols", but when they heard the word "imprisoned", everyone was confused.
Zhu Houzhao was even more interested. He had been patrolling the border for several months and had not seen any Mongols. Now there were more than 50 of them imprisoned. He ordered the Mongols to be brought over so that he could interrogate them personally.
Su Xingdong and Huo Yu's faces turned pale.

A dozen Mongolians were quickly escorted over. They all had Mongolian hairstyles and wore Mongolian-style fur coats, but they were all skinny, smelled terrible, and looked like they were dying. There was no trace of the legendary Mongolian toughness.
"Why are you Mongols here?" Zhu Houzhao asked, covering his nose.

"We are not Mongolians, we are Ming people!"

(End of this chapter)