My Pen Pal Zhu Yuanzhang

Chapter 379: Entering the Palace to Ask for Punishment

"Retreat, everyone, retreat quickly, the Marshal has given the order, everyone, retreat quickly!"

After Chen Zuyi reluctantly issued the order to retreat, he watched his commanders loudly ordering everyone to retreat. When the pirates heard the order to retreat, they scattered like monkeys when a tree fell, and fled in all directions. He felt as if he had lost all hope.

It's over, everything is over. The foundation that he had worked hard for more than ten years was destroyed in an instant. He couldn't accept this!
More and more Ming troops surged up and began to gradually occupy the high ground. Seeing Chen Zuyi still standing there with a look of despair on his face, his commander stepped forward and shouted:
"Marshal, hurry up, it will be too late if you don't leave now!"

Chen Zuyi was like a walking corpse, with no reaction at all. After his men shouted at him several times, he finally came to his senses, his face as pale as death.

Everyone can escape, but where can he, the king of Malacca, escape to? The world is so big, where can he find a place to stay?
"Marshal, don't hesitate. As long as there is life, there will be no shortage of firewood!"

"General, hurry up and leave! As long as you are still the king of Srivijaya, the Ming Dynasty cannot touch you, unless Zhu Yuanzhang does not want Srivijaya to pay tribute!"

At this moment, a word from his trusted subordinate gave Chen Zuyi a glimmer of hope. He knew where he should go, the palace of Srivijaya!
He just didn't believe that the Ming army could break into the palace!
The Ming Dynasty came to attack Chen Zuyi, not to conquer Srivijaya. Unless the Ming Dynasty directly declared war on Srivijaya, attacking the royal palace would not be in line with the tribute system.

Even when the Ming Dynasty attacked Annan some time ago, there was no news of them reaching the royal palace!

"Go, retreat, retreat now!"

Chen Zuyi yelled at the top of his lungs: "Everyone, retreat to the palace!"

At this moment, in the bridge of the Dingyuan ship, the lieutenant generals were summarizing the information coming from the front line, and then reporting it to Xu Da and others one by one.

It seems that the guys from the Musket Battalion have taken over the beach. Xu Da nodded with satisfaction. Although this was all expected, this was the first cross-sea landing operation of the Ming Dynasty and it was a huge success. It was of great historical significance!
However, we cannot celebrate our success yet. If we don’t completely wipe out Chen Zuyi, the mission will not be considered successfully completed.

Thinking of this, he ordered: "Pass my order, the Dingyuan ship continues to advance forward, let all the musket battalions land, cooperate with the vanguard troops, and capture Chen Zuyi in one fell swoop!"

After the order was conveyed, the helmsman immediately drove at full speed towards the beach, while Xu Huizu, Zhu Di and Li Jinglong began to get excited.

Finally, it was time for them to show their skills. Although the main force of the pirates had been defeated by the vanguard, they had no meat to eat, but they still had to drink some soup.

Just as the three men were ready to go outside, ready to take their guns and ammunition and get ready for landing, they were stopped by Xu Da.

"Don't get too excited, you three boys. Especially you, Zhu Laosi, who gets so excited when you hear about a war. You three, don't participate in the battle. There are more important things to do later!"

"What?" The three were dumbfounded when they heard this. The passion that had just been ignited was instantly extinguished by Xu Da's basin of cold water.

"Father... No, Commander, didn't you just order the remaining musket battalions to prepare for landing? If there is something important, you can ask Xu Huizu and Li Jinglong to go. I am a centurion of the battalion. If I don't lead the troops, who will?"

Zhu Di was so anxious that he almost blurted out "father-in-law". Fortunately, he reacted quickly. This was not in the palace, but on a warship, so he had to call his official title and position. He couldn't just call him "father-in-law" casually.

"Yes, yes, Captain Zhu is right. I am also a captain of the first battalion, and I have to assist Captain Zhu in leading the troops in battle. Commander, if there is anything important, why don't you just let Xu Huizu handle it? Why do you have to drag us along?"

Li Jinglong also said: "Xu Huizu is more reliable than the two of us, you should find him!"

Xu Huizu glared at the two men, his eyes almost emitting flames. Good fellows, just like that, you two guys just abandoned me like that? "Commander, the three of us are one, either we all go to land, or we all obey your orders!"

After Xu Huizu finished speaking, he looked straight at Zhu Di and Li Jinglong, and his meaning was very clear: since you don’t want to play with me, then don’t even think about getting the soup!

Li Wenzhong and Tang He laughed after hearing this. The other officers in the bridge couldn't help laughing, and they tried hard not to laugh. These three funny guys were the only ones who dared to speak to the founding heroes of the Ming Dynasty in this way.

But then again, since the Northern Expedition began, the lieutenant generals have fought side by side with Zhu Di and Xu Huizu. Although they are not brothers in the same trench, they still know them very well.

Although Zhu Di was usually careless and foolish, and did not look like a prince of the Ming Dynasty in any way, he was really dedicated in fighting, had brains, and was loved by his soldiers.

As for Li Jinglong, although we have not seen any outstanding performance from him since the Southern Expedition, he has one biggest characteristic, that is, he listens to advice and does whatever he is told to do. He is not like other children of nobles who know nothing but like to give orders during command. Based on this point alone, no one can dislike him.

Not to mention Xu Huizu, who was approachable, calm and wise. He and Zhu Di were able to play wonderful cooperation, and won the respect of everyone.

But now it seems that Young Master Xu has also learned some bad things. It seems that after hanging out with the Fourth Prince and Young Master Li for too long, he has started to become more cunning.

"What are you three thinking about?" Li Wenzhong said in a dignified manner:
"After we land, you three boys will come with us into the palace!"

"Into the palace?"

When the three heard this, they were stunned for a moment, and then they realized that in order to wipe out Chen Zuyi, they had to inform the King of Srivijaya. After all, Chen Zuyi was a king of a different surname here, right?

Although it was Chen Zuyi who actually controlled Srivijaya, they also had a king in name.

Li Jinglong bravely said, "Deputy Commander, do you mean that we did not declare war, but we attacked Srivijaya for no reason, but we have to give an explanation to their king?"

Li Wenzhong's eyes widened immediately. "What nonsense are you talking about? Do we, the great Celestial Empire, need to give an explanation? Is the King of Srivijaya qualified to do so?"

Li Jinglong's neck shrank immediately, and he thought for a moment before speaking:

"I understand. The King of Srivijaya, as a vassal state of the Ming Dynasty, allowed Chen Zuyi and his gang of pirates to wreak havoc in Malacca and even rob Ming merchant ships, offending the power of the Ming Dynasty. We are going to bring an army to punish them. This is called having a legitimate reason!"

"You kid are not that stupid!" Although Li Wenzhong cursed, he was very proud in his heart. It seemed that after these days of training, his son had made some progress.

"If you want to do as I say, we should just attack the palace and capture their king to be done with it." Zhu Di couldn't help but say.

"Don't mess around, Old Four." Xu Da said with a smile, "In our Ming Dynasty, we always follow two principles when doing things: one is to have a legitimate reason, and the other is to use both kindness and severity.

It's easy to conquer Srivijaya, but who will take care of the subsequent governance? You, Zhu Laosi? What the Ming Dynasty needs is that there will be no more pirates in Srivijaya. If we can turn this place into a market for the Ming Dynasty, it will be even better! "

(End of this chapter)