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

Chapter 353: Shocked Zhu Houxuan
"Enough!" Zhu Houxuan interrupted the ministers' discussion.

All the ministers stopped and stared at Zhu Houxun.

"The military situation at the front line is unclear, but you are making reckless speculations. What is your intention? Aren't you afraid of unresting the people in the capital?" Zhu Houxuan swept his eyes over the ministers.

"Until new military reports arrive, no one is allowed to discuss the military situation!" Zhu Houxuan said in a serious voice.

The ministers exchanged glances quietly and stopped talking.
Zhu Houxuan felt that he had suppressed the discussion among the ministers and was ready to leave.
"Your Highness, we are discussing military intelligence because we are concerned about the safety of His Majesty. The safety of His Majesty is related to the Ming Dynasty. Our discussion is entirely out of public interest. How can it be considered as irresponsible remarks?" A civil official suddenly spoke up.

Zhu Houxuan stopped and looked at the minister in surprise. He dared to contradict him so directly. Zhu Houxuan felt that his authority was challenged.

This was the first time he had been challenged like this since he became regent.
After he became regent, he displayed a series of methods, which made everyone in the court know that Prince Jing was not someone to be trifled with, so no one dared to jump out and offend him.

And now someone actually jumped out like this
The other ministers were also very excited and wanted to see how Zhu Houxuan would deal with it.
"I have just made it clear that you are not allowed to discuss military affairs anymore!" Zhu Houxuan looked at the minister with indifferent eyes and memorized his name in his heart.

"But..." The minister wanted to argue.

Zhu Houxuan interrupted him directly, "Where are the people? Drag this rebellious man out!"

Immediately, two big generals on duty came up and dragged the minister out.
The minister was also stunned. He probably didn't expect Zhu Houxuan to handle the matter so simply and roughly, so he didn't think of what to say for a while...

Zhu Houxuan waved his sleeves and walked towards the back hall...

Leaving the ministers in shock...

Zhu Houxuan walked to the back hall and sat down. The minister's behavior just now made him feel that his power was disintegrating...

He was very clear that the source of his power in the court was Zhu Houzhao. Zhu Houzhao asked him to exercise imperial power, and he and Zhu Houzhao would prosper and suffer together.

Now that Zhu Houzhao is in danger, some people have begun to tentatively challenge his authority...

It is conceivable that as long as the news of Zhu Houzhao's distress came from the front line, even if he was nominally the Prince Regent, the ministers would probably be eager to sideline him...

Thinking of this, Zhu Houxuan sighed deeply. He just dealt with the minister's challenge to his power in a simple and rough manner because he knew that the current situation was not favorable to him. It was meaningless to continue arguing with the minister. He could only cut the Gordian knot...

He didn't know why there had been no new military reports from the front for so long, but he had no other choice but to endure it...

"Your Highness, Eunuch Qian from Kunning Palace requests to see you..." Just as Zhu Houxuan was lost in thought, a voice sounded in his ears.

"Kunning Palace?" Zhu Houxuan asked doubtfully, "Sent by the Queen?"

"That's right." Zhu Houxuan hesitated for a moment and said, "Let him in."

Zhu Houzhao's queen's surname was Xia. Zhu Houxuan had never met her before, and this was the first time they had met.

After a while, a middle-aged eunuch walked in quickly.
"Your servant pays homage to His Royal Highness the Prince Regent." Qian Tong said respectfully.

"Why did the Queen's sister-in-law send you here?"

"Your Highness, please allow me to report. There are some rumors circulating in the streets, and they have now spread to the harem. All the ladies in the harem are worried about Your Majesty. The Queen is also very worried, so the Queen sent me to ask about Your Majesty." Qian Tong said quickly.

Zhu Houxuan felt even more helpless. He could use the toughest attitude towards the ministers, but he really couldn't be that tough towards the emperor's sister-in-law.

"My royal brother will be fine. There will be news back in a day or two." Zhu Houxuan made an excuse and sent Qian Tong away.

The Queen was not the first person to come to Zhu Houxun to ask about Zhu Houzhao's situation. More and more people came to ask about it in the past two days.
There were also many bad rumors circulating in the market, and all the old stories of the orthodox Jingtai period were dug up.

The market in the capital has been very depressed these past two days, and even some wealthy families are planning to move south to escape the war.
These were the sources of Zhu Houxun's pressure, but at this time Zhu Houxun could only grit his teeth and hold on.

However, what made Zhu Houxuan laugh and cry the most during this process was the behavior of Empress Dowager Zhang. Empress Dowager Zhang did not do anything. Everything was normal. She even went to the Royal Theatre to watch a new play as usual yesterday.
In short, he was very indifferent to Zhu Houzhao's safety and did not care at all.

This performance relieved some of Zhu Houxuan's pressure and made him believe the rumors about Zhu Houzhao's life experience.
Just when Zhu Houxuan was under tremendous pressure, the latest military report was finally delivered to the capital and directly to Nangong.

"The young prince led 100,000 cavalrymen to invade from Yulin and besieged General Wang Xun and others in the north of Yingzhou. The emperor went to Yanghe and personally deployed the troops. He led 70,000 soldiers to fight against 100,000 cavalrymen of the northern barbarians. In six days, there were four fierce battles and four victories. The enemy army was defeated. The emperor led his troops north to pursue the remaining enemies. In this battle, more than 10,000 northern barbarians were killed and 13,000 were captured." Zhu Houxuan looked at the military report in disbelief.

"Killed ten thousand people in battle? Captured thirteen thousand people? Is this true?" Zhu Houxun asked anxiously.

"It's true. This is still an underestimation. When I left, our army was capturing Mongols all over the mountains. Now we estimate that we can capture more people. Staff Officer Jiang said this is just a briefing, and he will send out more detailed battle reports later," the messenger who delivered the letter said excitedly.

Zhu Houxuan read the military report carefully again, but he still couldn't believe it. This was far beyond his expectations. He didn't have such high expectations for the new army. He expected that the new army would win, but only a small victory.

Because they were facing the highly mobile Mongols, the initiative of the battle was not in the hands of the new army, which meant that the new army was doomed to not gain much.

And now Zhu Houzhao had actually killed and captured so many Mongols, which was really beyond his imagination. He racked his brains but could not figure out how Zhu Houzhao did it.

This level of capture and captives against the Mongols had not occurred in the Ming Dynasty for hundreds of years.
Zhu Houxuan paced back and forth in great excitement. He forced himself to calm down and thought about how to make good use of this matter.

He thought of the historical Battle of Yingzhou, where 100,000 people fought for a day. The result was recorded in the "Records of Emperor Wuzong of the Ming Dynasty" as "In this battle, 16 heads of the enemy were beheaded, while 52 of our soldiers were killed and 563 were seriously injured."

There was a high possibility that this record would be discredited by the civil officials, and he was now trying his best to prevent and eliminate this possibility.
(End of this chapter)