Ming Dynasty: The Crocodile King of Han Prince Zhu Gaoxu's Family

Chapter 301 The Frustrated Prince of Han
"Your Highness?" The general who walked in was completely bewildered. He had never expected the Prince of Han to issue such a contradictory order. He was ordered to both commit a desperate gamble and send a large amount of supplies and even troops back to Yunnan!

Because the Prince of Han's order could be seen as either a pre-emptive preparation for a retreat after defeat, or as a complete do-or-die effort to decide the fate of the war in one battle. Therefore, the general who delivered the order was somewhat surprised and unsure of what to do.

"Do it this way, send the order!" Seeing the general's hesitation, the Prince of Han did not explain further, but instead made the decision directly.

"Yes!" Seeing the Prince of Han's serious expression, the messenger had no choice but to nod in agreement and then prepared to leave.

"Wait!" Seeing the officer about to leave, the Prince of Han called him back. The officer, who was about to go out to deliver orders, had no choice but to turn back to the Prince of Han again, awaiting his new commands.

"Take this back to the Crown Prince." After stopping the general who was leaving, the Prince of Han strode to the table, searched for a while, and finally picked up a blank document. He pondered for a moment, then carefully wrote the two large characters "Yu" and "Yu" on it. He gently blew on the ink to dry it, and examined the two characters he had written with a smile. His eyes revealed a tenderness and affection that no one had ever seen before. Finally, the Prince of Han nodded in satisfaction and handed the document to the general who had been called back with a proud expression.

"Yes!" The general, who had been called upon, looked at the memorial in his hand with a strange expression. He couldn't help but think to himself: Your Highness, you're writing a letter to your son, why are you using a blank memorial? It's like submitting a memorial to the emperor! Your letter was rejected by the heir apparent for being unacceptable! Although the general accepted the memorial from the Prince of Han with a serious expression, he silently complained as he left the room.

"Boss, although you are older than me, you have the advantage of being ahead of me."

But my son is better than your son!

My grandson is older than yours! My grandson will definitely be more outstanding than yours. Because, if this uprising fails, I will put everything aside and personally train him! Watching the general's departing figure carrying the memorial, the Prince of Han seemed to see his unborn grandson in the air. His ferocious eyes, which seemed to see through everything, gradually softened.

The Prince of Han raised his head and silently spoke to the sky, as if he were seeing his deceased elder brother there. It was as if he were once again engaging in a new round of competition with his departed brother!
Time flies, and several days have passed in the blink of an eye.

As Zhao Wangye had predicted, when he arrived at the Chu Wangye's residence, he was directly captured by the Chu Wangye in conjunction with the imperial court!

While the Prince of Han in Jinan unsurprisingly won his battle against the imperial court, in the final decisive battle, he was betrayed and stabbed in the back by his own generals. Right there on the battlefield, in front of the young Emperor Zhu Zhanji, he was swept off his horse and thrown from his horse. Then, completely bewildered, the Prince of Han was captured by his nephew, Zhu Zhanji!
"Where is the third brother?! Did you kill him?" In Jinan, although he was captured, the Prince of Han was not afraid of his eldest nephew at all. He still held his head high with arrogance and did not forget to ask urgently about the whereabouts of his third brother, Prince Zhao, and whether he had been killed by his eldest nephew, Zhu Zhanji.

"Your Highness, Prince Zhao has been captured alive at Prince Chu's residence!" Faced with the question from Prince Han, Zhu Zhanji, who was sitting in the main seat, did not answer. Instead, it was Fan Zhong, who escorted him in, who spoke up.

"Slap!" Dissatisfied with Fan Zhong's answer, the Prince of Han turned around and slapped Fan Zhong across the face. After the slap, perhaps because he hurt his hand, the Prince of Han gently rubbed his hands together.

"Fan Zhong, you were my father's stable boy! Do you really think you'll change for the better now that you're with this brat?!" The Prince of Han stared at Fan Zhong's face with disdain, his eyes full of mockery. Then, as if he had suddenly discovered a new continent, the Prince of Han's pupils contracted, and he grabbed Fan Zhong's hand, placing it in front of him, his eyes fixed on a pure copper ring on Fan Zhong's hand.

"You're my father's man! When did you become this brat's man?!" The Prince of Han glanced at the ring on Fan Zhong's hand with a complicated expression, but then stared intently at Fan Zhong's face and asked.

"Your Highness, I am the commander of the Imperial Guard and have always been His Majesty's man!" Fan Zhong gently freed himself from the Prince of Han's hand and looked at Zhu Zhanji respectfully.

"Speak, how do you intend to deal with me? Kill me or torture me? Do whatever you want!" The Prince of Han, acting like a rogue, ignored Zhu Zhanji's expression, found a chair, lazily sat down, and casually crossed his legs, leaning back arrogantly at Zhu Zhanji. However, the Prince of Han's eyes were constantly fixed on Fan Zhong.

"Second Uncle is joking. This is just a family dispute. Why make a big fuss about fighting and killing? That would only make us a laughingstock to outsiders." Zhu Zhanji acted as if he hadn't seen his second uncle's shameless behavior. Instead, he smiled and casually described the rebellion of the Prince of Han and the Prince of Zhao as a minor family dispute.

"Damn! Are you possessed by your father?"

"Looking at you like this, I thought it was my elder brother, Emperor Renzong, sitting here!" After hearing Zhu Zhanji's words, the Prince of Han also had a look of surprise on his face, and spoke in a sarcastic tone. He did not expect that his nephew, who had always been threatening to kill him, would actually let him, the mastermind of the rebellion, go.

"Second Uncle, go and rest." Looking at the Prince of Han's shameless behavior, Zhu Zhanji rubbed his forehead and told Fan Zhong to take the Prince of Han away to rest. He was really tired of his second uncle's shameless behavior and didn't want to watch anymore.

"Your Highness, please." Fan Zhong approached the Prince of Han and respectfully invited him to leave. After all, even if this prince were to rebel, the Emperor would only say it was a family matter. Fan Zhong couldn't afford to offend this prince! Moreover, this prince had an even more formidable figure in his family!
"Heh!" Prince Han stared at Fan Zhong and chuckled lightly. He then stood up, leaning on his chair, and without even greeting Zhu Zhanhe, turned and left.

"Fan Zhong, you know quite a lot! I hope you will always be loyal to the Emperor!" At the door of the room where the Prince of Han was resting, the Prince of Han ignored the two rows of soldiers guarding the door and looked at Fan Zhong with a meaningful expression.

"Your Highness, rest assured, Fan Zhong swears to serve the Emperor to the death!" Fan Zhong did not directly respond to what the Prince of Han said, but simply replied with a sentence before turning around and leaving.

"Interesting!" Watching Fan Zhong leave, the Prince of Han suddenly realized that Fan Zhong had been wearing this ring since his father, the Yongle Emperor, died, but he hadn't noticed it until now. Now, it seemed that Fan Zhong was probably keeping some kind of contingency plan left by his father, the Yongle Emperor, and perhaps even for his son, the Crown Prince of Han! The Prince of Han's conversation with Fan Zhong earlier was merely a test. And Fan Zhong's tentative acceptance of the ring hadn't disappointed the Prince of Han; in fact, it had pleased him greatly!
From the earlier probing, Prince Han knew that as the commander of the Imperial Guard, Fan Zhong's loyalty was never to Emperor Renzong (Zhu Gaochi) or Emperor Xuande (Zhu Zhanji), but to Emperor Yongle! And to every emperor of the Ming Dynasty after Emperor Yongle! In other words, no matter who sat on the throne, Fan Zhong would always be loyal only to the emperor himself!
At this moment, recalling the golden dragon token in his son's hand, the Prince of Han's face suddenly became extremely distorted.

(End of this chapter)