Ming Dynasty: Traveling through the harem, Zhu Yuanzhang was dumbfounded

Chapter 210 Zhu Di's Sixth Sense
In the capital city, inside Xu Da's residence, everyone in the Xu residence came to welcome the seriously ill commander.

Xu Da was leaning on the bed in the room. He looked very ill and his face was almost pale. Mrs. Xu Da came to him holding the newly born Xu Miaojin.

Like Empress Ma, Madam Xu also had a kind face, and one could tell at a glance that she was a very good lady.

In fact, Madam Xu had a close personal relationship with Empress Ma. The two of them often got together to discuss how to teach their husbands a lesson so that they would be obedient.

Xu Da, who had a daughter in his old age, looked at the baby in the woman's arms. The baby seemed to realize that the big man in front of her was her biological father. She originally wanted to cry because of hunger, but now she reached out to grab Xu Da's beard.

Xu Da naturally didn't care about his daughter's playfulness. Instead, when he saw that she couldn't catch him, he took the initiative to move forward and let her grab the end of his beard. In the end, he actually pulled out several gray hairs.

This made Xu Da laugh out loud.

As he laughed, Xu Da looked at his wife solemnly. His eyes became deep and he began to sink into memories. He couldn't help but say goodbye:
"Madam, it's really hard for you to be with me. Since the beginning of the chaos and strife, I have not been able to let you live a good life. How long has peace lasted? I might..."

While comforting her daughter in her arms, the lady looked at her husband with a resolute gaze and said in a resolute voice:

"Alright! I know what you want to say, it's nothing more than some sad words of parting, but I'm telling you, it doesn't matter if you die, you should think carefully about your brothers in the barracks.

How will His Majesty treat them once you are gone?"

Xu Da, who was about to say something, was suddenly choked by his wife's words. He never expected that his wife would remind him like this before he even started to arrange his funeral arrangements, and forced him to swallow the words that were about to come back.

He was also very clear that if he left this world in a hurry, some foolish people under his command would start to have evil ideas.

This was not something Xu Da could control, but rather the result of human nature. The emperor was far away and whoever had the military power was the boss.

As the lieutenant commander of the Five Military Commanderies, he knows best what human nature is.

Don’t even mention what will happen after he dies.

Take some of the garrisons in the Ming Dynasty for example. A few local commanders of the garrison system do not obey the orders of the court, do not do their own work well, and instead sell out their own people for a little bit of petty profit.

Especially the garrison troops in charge of farming, who were deceived by the instructions of the commander-in-chief or some captains and sold their entire families.

This kind of thing happened repeatedly. As the Central Commander, Xu Da protected these people many times because they were once meritorious officials. If it weren't for him, Zhu Yuanzhang would have eliminated all of them long ago.

After this period of life and death experiences, Xu Da has completely let go. He understands that these cancers will not make the Ming Dynasty stronger, but will only make it weaker and weaker.

Some time ago, he went with Zhu Di from Peking to the territory under the charge of Liaodong Regional Military Commission. After investigation, he found out that the local commander had abused his power and sold state-owned land, which directly led to more than one uprising among the local garrison troops.

The final outcome was forced down.

When he thought about the fact that he was seriously ill now, if he really passed away in the future, his elder brother Zhu Yuanzhang would definitely use thundering means to eliminate all these people.

Thinking of this, Xu Da's face suddenly showed a look of not knowing whether to laugh or cry:

“Madam, you are right. My death is not a big deal. My brothers are the most important. But Madam, I have made a decision. If things can return to the way they were before, I will personally eliminate these cancers of the Ming Dynasty.

When the uprising first started, these people relied on the fact that they were soldiers in the rebel army fighting against the tyrannical Yuan Dynasty and became proud of their achievements. Every time they captured a city, they wanted to kill for three days and three nights, and committed brutal acts against many unarmed civilians, women and children, completely violating the benevolent policy ordered by the eldest brother.

At the beginning, I didn't kill them all because they were brothers who had shared weal and woe. But if I forgive them now, I would be harming their families.

No one can harm the kingdom that my elder brother and I have conquered, not even our brothers!"

"Well, I am happy for the people of the world that you have made such a change." Madam Xu caressed Xu Miaojin kindly, and at the same time said worriedly:
"But, can Zhenjiang Prefecture really find a way to save you?
Even Doctor Ouyang, who is known as the reincarnation of Bian Que, was helpless against back carbuncle, so what use would the things he, an imperial censor, came up with in Zhenjiang Prefecture have?"

When Zhu Di personally brought Xu Da back to the capital, he received an order from Zhu Biao to stay.

Tell them that the only way to treat back carbuncle is to go to Zhenjiang Prefecture and let Yang Chen provide special treatment.

When Mrs. Xu heard the news, she felt suspicious at first.

Few people knew what happened in Zhenjiang Prefecture. The only thing they could hear was a faint rumor that Zhenjiang Prefecture was heaven.

However, Mrs. Xu has always scoffed at such "rumors".

She also knew that since Empress Ma and Zhu Yuanzhang went to Zhenjiang Prefecture and had not returned yet, who could guarantee that Xu Da's illness could be cured here?

You must know that Xu Da's back carbuncle caused many doctors to become autistic.

At the moment, Mrs. Xu feels a mixture of love and hate towards this only hope of survival.

Compared with his wife's suspicion, Xu Da seemed to be suddenly enlightened and at the same time trusted Yang Chen very much.

"Hahaha! Madam, you worry too much. If there were other people in Zhenjiang Prefecture, I would definitely not be worried. But with Yang Chen there, there might be some unexpected things that might happen.

Madam, don't worry about this matter. My sister-in-law and brother are already there. Why should we worry about this and that?
Besides, even if I really can’t save him, it only means that my life has come to an end, and the rest of the journey will be left to future generations to handle.”

"It's up to you. You take a good rest tonight and we'll go together tomorrow."

After saying that, Madam Xu asked Xu Da to take one last look at Xu Miaojin to make sure that she was asleep before she left.

At the same time, in another garden of the Xu Mansion, Xu Miaoyun pinched Zhu Di's ear and asked him to read carefully from a piece of silk book on the table.

Faced with the pressure from his wife, Zhu Di did not dare to resist at all, because when he knew that he was going to marry Xu Miaoyun, this guy took advantage of Xu Da's absence and ran directly to the door to cancel the engagement.

At that time, Zhu Di had never seen Xu Miaoyun and thought she was ugly. As a result, he was punished by Zhu Biao according to the family rules and was lying in bed unable to get up. Xu Miaoyun personally delivered medicine to his home. Zhu Di accidentally caught a glimpse of the girl's peerless beauty, and he realized that he almost missed a beautiful wife.

But when he wanted to marry her, Xu Miaoyun made many demands on him, one of which was that from now on, Zhu Di's status in the family would never be higher than hers.

Faced with such an unreasonable request, how could Zhu Di agree?

In the end, he still succumbed to the pressure from his parents. If he did not agree, Zhu Yuanzhang and Empress Ma would punish him according to the family rules.

Zhu Di knew that he could not offend anyone but his father, so he gave in on the spot and swore to Xu Miaoyun that he would never get against her from now on. From then on, Zhu Di became a complete henpecked man.

"Read to me! What on earth is on it?" Xu Miaoyun controlled Zhu Di, making him feel very embarrassed. He could only endure the discomfort caused by his ears and read the content on it.

Then start reading it word by word.

"Wife! Wait for me to read it. It says that my father is worried that Chier will not be in good health in the future, so he ordered you to let Chier eat less from today on. Don't let him get too fat, otherwise Chier will not be in good health in the future, which will affect his image as a prince in the future."

"Hey! Wife, isn't it strange? My father used to like Chi'er the most. He wanted him to eat more so that he could grow stronger. Why didn't he let him eat anything today?"

Although Zhu Yuanzhang was able to annihilate the Oirat and Tatar one step ahead of time, he had to do more than that. He also had to prevent Zhu Gaochi from being so distressed, so he planned to let Zhu Di keep an eye on Xu Miaoyun and not feed Zhu Gaochi without restraint.

Otherwise, as a prince, he could not maintain the appearance of being wise and brave, which was really embarrassing for Zhu Yuanzhang.

Zhu Yuanzhang felt bad when he thought that his grandson died of obesity.

After letting go of Zhu Di's ear, Xu Miaoyun thought about the fact that her son couldn't eat enough to get fat, and she felt extremely confused in her heart.

"There must be a reason why your father suddenly made this strange move, but my husband, you must know that Chi'er is my son, he is a piece of flesh that fell from my body. If he is hungry, I, as a mother, will be so distressed."

Seeing his wife's sad look, Zhu Di softened his heart, quickly took her into his arms, and gently comforted her:
"Wife, it's okay. Your husband is here. As long as your husband is here, he will definitely find out everything and make Chi'er fat."

"I believe it for now. By the way, how are we going to get to Zhenjiang Prefecture tomorrow? My father's body can't stand the strain of a carriage. If we are not careful, his condition will get worse, and then..."

Xu Miaoyun didn't dare to say anything further as she was too worried.

"Don't worry, wife. We won't take a carriage. We'll take a weakened version of the train."

"What do you mean?" Xu Miaojin, who was nestled in Zhu Di's arms, broke free from his embrace and looked at him straight, hoping that he could explain it clearly.

"It's like this, my eldest brother has already told me that Zhenjiang Prefecture is building a railway to the capital, and it would take several hours to get from the capital to Zhenjiang Prefecture.

But by taking this rail carriage, the travel time can be shortened to one hour. Currently, only we can use it, and it is still in the trial stage. My eldest brother even took a ride on it a few days ago.

I heard that Yang Chen seemed to have angered my father to the point of fainting in Zhenjiang Prefecture."

"What? That Yang Chen was able to make your father faint with anger? Is this true or false? It can't be a lie, right? Your father is the emperor. If someone can make the emperor faint with anger, shouldn't he be punished?"

When Xu Miaoyun heard the news that Yang Chen had made Zhu Yuanzhang faint by himself, she immediately felt that it was impossible.

You have to know what kind of temper Zhu Yuanzhang has. Xu Miaoyun is very clear about it. As for this father-in-law's hot temper, Xu Miaoyun was able to get good treatment because she gave birth to Zhu Gaochi as her first child.

If the first child was not a boy but a girl, there is no guarantee that Zhu Yuanzhang would not treat their family as well as he does now.

What Yang Chen did was truly unbelievable, which made Xu Miaoyun lose her composure for a moment.

Feeling that his ears were much more comfortable, Zhu Di took the opportunity to express his inner panic over the past two days.

"Wife, I'm telling you the truth. My eyelids have been twitching these past two days. I always feel like something big is going to happen."

It turned out that since entering the capital, Zhu Di's sixth sense, which he had relied on for a long time, told him to leave this place of trouble as soon as possible, otherwise he would be in great trouble.

Zhu Di, who had been busy taking care of his father-in-law, forced himself to suppress this strange feeling, and only felt willing to talk about it now that he had some free time and was with his wife.

However, Xu Miaoyun stared at him with wide eyes and said:

"Are you crazy? My father is going to Zhenjiang Prefecture for treatment tomorrow, and now you tell me that you feel something is wrong. What? Do you want my father to go faster?

"Okay! Zhu Di, I misjudged you! I didn't expect you to be such a cold-blooded guy! I will take Chi'er back to my parents' home, and from now on, don't even think about seeing me again!"

After saying that, Xu Miaoyun pretended to get up and leave, and Zhu Di hurriedly reached out to stop her.

Nonsense! This is his wife, he knows her best, Xu Miaoyun is a man of his words, if he doesn't make a move, I'm afraid he will have to find someone else in the future.

"No! Listen to me, my wife. I feel this uneasiness myself. I feel that my father's fainting may have something to do with me!"

"To tell you the truth, this isn't the first time this has happened. The last time my father and I were training in the martial arts arena, I was distracted by this matter and my father hit me on the wrist with a weapon and forced me to take off my armor. I was also scolded by my father for this.

Afterwards, the Imperial Guards in the palace urgently notified me that my father had something urgent to discuss with me. At that time, I didn’t think much about it, just changed my clothes and left, but guess what happened?

My father actually wanted to beat me for something that hadn’t happened yet. No, no, he had already beaten me. If my eldest brother hadn’t been there, I would have been beaten to death by my father!”

Recalling the last time Zhu Yuanzhang knew about the Five Dragons co-existing in the same dynasty and tried to snatch the throne from him for his eldest nephew, Zhu Yuanzhang's angry look was still very vivid in Zhu Di's mind.

If you are not careful, it will cost your life!
"What are you talking about? Did you catch a cold and burn your brain?" Xu Miaoyun looked at Zhu Di in disbelief, looking him up and down and said, "Anyway, my father's illness must be cured. If it's not cured, don't even think about letting me into your house in the future."

The other party had made its attitude clear, and Zhu Di could only smile bitterly. In the end, just like last time, he believed that his sixth sense was an illusion and that nothing dangerous would happen to him.

The next morning, Zhu Biao saw his younger brother leading the whole family to the agreed place.

"Big brother!"

"Old Four! Long time no see. I heard that you have been dominating the battlefield in the north and have recovered a lot of territory. You really made Ming proud!"

Zhu Biao patted his brother on the shoulder and couldn't help but tell him what was happening on the official front line.

"No way! It's all because of the weapons that Brother Yang invented in Zhenjiang Prefecture. They are so useful. Once a shell is fired, the enemy will be blown to pieces and have no fighting power. This reduces a lot of our strength, and it's easy to harvest their heads!"

Zhu Biao was also extremely surprised to learn that the weapons of Zhenjiang Prefecture had demonstrated their effectiveness on the battlefield of the Jurchen tribe.

(End of this chapter)