Outside the city of Beiping, in the mountains of Yanshan, at the Weiweisuo's large camp, several thousand households who were on duty today were chatting with each other in the main tent.

  "Qiu Qianhu, this time among the three guards, our middle guard and left guard have the most new recruits. Look at their right guard, they are strong and powerful, a gift from the Duke of Wei to the King of Yan, unlike us."

  "Alas, it can't be said like that. We, the three princes of Yan Wang's lineage, should unite as one. Although we two guards are newly established, we still bear the expectations of Yan Wang's lineage. Brother Chengyuan, you absolutely must not harbor any resentment."

  "That's all I can say, I just vented a bit." said Zhou Chengyuan, who was also a guard of the thousand households in Yanshan.

  "Shi Hong, later you and I will go take a look at the training situation of these new recruits. As the saying goes, 'it takes a thousand days to nurture soldiers, but only one day to use them'. The border is not yet stable, who knows when we'll have to take up our swords and go into battle? Now is the time to seize the moment."

  Zhu was able to hear and nodded in agreement, just as he was about to respond, a messenger soldier came in from outside the tent.

  "I pay respects to all the thousand-household gentlemen, there is someone outside the camp gate holding a token from the Lord of Yan's palace seeking an audience." He said, handing over a copper-made token with both hands, which was indeed the same token worn by officials of the Yan King's palace.

  Zhou Chengyuan ordered: "Quickly bring him in!"

  The orderly departed, and before long he returned with the Yan King's guards, who bowed and said: "Greetings to you gentlemen. By order of His Highness the Yan King, we are commanded to summon the two thousand-household leaders, Qiu Fu and Zhu Neng, to come to the Yan King's mansion for a meeting!"

  Qiu Fu and Zhu Neng hastily got up and followed the guard to the Yan Wang Mansion. Before leaving for battle, Qiu Fu entrusted Zhou Chengyuan to inspect his new recruits on his behalf, and Zhou Chengyuan nodded in agreement.

  "This face looks familiar, is he one of the new guards recruited by Prince Yan's palace?" Zhu Neng asked the guard.

  "My surname is Zhang and my name is Wu. Three days ago, I was appointed as a personal bodyguard under the command of Prince Yan." The palace guard replied.

  "So it's Brother Zhang, may I ask if Brother Zhang knows why Master Wang is in such a hurry to summon us?"

  "It's not very clear what happened below, but I know that this time the King of Yan summoned four thousand-household gentlemen, and two of them had already arrived at the palace ahead of schedule."

  "Oh? Who could it be?" Zhu Neng asked in puzzlement.

  "I'm not quite sure then."

  After hearing Zhang Wu's words, Qiu Fuzhu and Nian'er exchanged a glance, even more perplexed in their hearts. If it was something important, why were only the four of them summoned, and if it was a trivial matter, wouldn't it be enough to just issue an order and have someone deliver it? Why did they need to be personally summoned? The two followed Zhang Wu with doubts all the way to the Yan Wang Fu.

  "Reporting to Your Excellency, Zhu Neng and Qiu Fu, both thousand-household officials, have arrived."

  "Your humble servant Qiu Fu (Zhu Neng) requests an audience with Your Majesty!"

  "Ah, give two thousand households a seat."

  "Thank you, Your Highness!" Chu Fu and Zhu Neng bowed their heads in gratitude and took their seats. As they looked up, they saw two others sitting at the lower end of the hall, who were none other than the two thousand-household officials who had arrived earlier at the Yan Wang's residence.

  These two men were under the command of Yan Shan's Left Guard, Li Quan and Li Dan.

  Li Jun was originally from Hezhou, and he followed his father Li Wang's military registration to be transferred from Ying Tian to Bei Ping, where he currently holds the position of Deputy Thousand Households. Li Dan, on the other hand, was a surrendered general from the previous dynasty, who had been the defending general when General Xu Da of the Wei State captured Bei Ping. At that time, the Emperor of the previous dynasty had already fled Bei Ping with his entourage, leaving only him to lead the Han soldiers in defending the city. In a fit of anger, he ordered his subordinates to abandon their resistance and allow the imperial army to enter the city. After the fact, this was also considered a meritorious act of surrendering the city, and when the King of Yan established his fiefdom, Li Dan was summoned as the Left Guard Thousand Households.

  The four of them looked at each other in silence, quietly waiting for the first words from Yan Wang.

  "The Emperor of Japan has received a second-class military report from General Ishiyama, and therefore issued an edict summoning the four of you to discuss this matter. Bo Xian, please hand over this military report for the four qianhu to see."

  Qiu Fu took the lead in receiving the military report delivered next week, carefully checked it, and after a while, all four of them had read it.

  Zhu Di saw that the four of them had finished reading and said in a clear voice: "The matter mentioned in this letter can be big or small. I, the king, want to take this opportunity to make my personal guard famous. Can you four accomplish it?"

  The four men stood up and replied in unison: "We are willing to die for Your Highness, the King of Yan!"

  "Haha, no need to die for it, just make things look good and that's enough." Zhu Biao said with a loud laugh.

  Qiu Fu hesitated for a moment, cupped his hands and asked: "May I ask Your Highness the King of Yan, why use our two thousand households? Don't you know that our two thousand households have just been supplemented with many new soldiers? If you want to achieve the effect of establishing your prestige, wouldn't it be better to directly dispatch the Right Guard's great army to crush them?"

  Zhu Dian nodded after listening and motioned for Zhou Chao to explain.

  "Exactly because you are new soldiers, His Majesty the King of Yan intends to dispatch you. On one hand, this is an opportunity to temper your new soldiers, let them experience battle and the struggle for life and death, so they can quickly transform. Moreover, relying on the newly added firearms, you will also be able to swiftly annihilate the mountain bandits. As for the Right Guard, that was bestowed upon our lord by Duke Wei of the State of Wei. To say truly, it is still your two guards who are the legitimate ones, so I am ordering you four to go and suppress the bandits. Do you understand?"

  "We understand, we will not disappoint the King of Yan's expectation! We will definitely eliminate this group of mountain bandits and local ruffians completely!" Chiu Fook and others loudly vowed.

  Zhu Di was overjoyed: "Good! Since you all have made up your minds, how can I, the king, treat you lightly? When you return triumphantly, I will reward you heavily!"

  "Qiu Fu, Zhu Neng, Li Dan, Li Jun, listen to orders!"

  "Agreed!"

  "I hereby order you four to lead the troops to Pinggu to suppress the bandits, with Qiu Fu as the leader, Li Dan as the deputy, and Zhu Neng and Li Jun assisting on the side. You must wipe out all the mountain bandits in the vicinity of Pinggu, to uphold the great military prestige of our Ming dynasty!"

  "We obey your orders!" The four thousand-household leaders responded in unison.

  Zhou Chao continued: "Tomorrow at Chen time, the army will gather, and at three o'clock in Chen time, we will set out. I hope the four of you will return and make good preparations."

  The four of them nodded and took their leave one after another.

  Zhu Di watched the four men leave and sighed, unable to help but say: "It's still because my foundation is unstable. Although I have the power to oversee military and political affairs in one region granted by the Emperor, those old generals look down on me. Without any achievements, how can I bear the weight?"

  "Your Highness doesn't need to be self-pitying. Since the Emperor has ordered Your Highness to govern Beiping, he must have had some trust in you at that time. What was said about Your Highness having no authority now is not true. The three princes and guards are the foundation of Your Highness's power. This campaign against the bandits is just the beginning of Your Highness establishing your prestige, and it won't be long before Your Highness's power shakes the entire north."

  Zhu Dian burst out laughing: "Bo Xian, who said you're inflexible? Your flattery is quite loud, isn't it?"

  Zhou Chao smiled and said, "How could a subordinate like me dare to flatter and fawn? What I just said is all true. From the moment I saw you in the palace, I knew that Your Highness was not someone who would be content with being ordinary. The ambition in your eyes is palpable! Currently, the Crown Prince is weak and often ill, relying on medication to sustain himself. If one day..."

  "Shut up! This matter is settled and will not be mentioned again!" Zhu Di coldly snorted and turned to leave.

  Zhou Chao remained standing in the same place, gazing at Zhu Di's back, with an inexplicable glint in his eyes. Others thought he was just a simple and honest official, but he had his own ambitions. He still remembered everything that happened when he was the prefectural magistrate, and he didn't want to spend another decade or so only to become a minor official like a Shangshu Lang of the Ministry of Rites, nor did he want to continue enduring the condescending attitude of those above him.

  It was precisely because of this that when Zhu Yuanzhang intended to select someone from the Hanlin Academy to send to Beiping, he took the initiative to take it on himself. He gave up what others considered the center of power and came alone to Beiping. He wanted to gamble, to gamble on how big Zhu Di's heart was. In the end, he won the bet but also lost it. Zhu Di's ambition was very great, but at the same time, he was equally respectful of his elder brother Zhu Biao, who shared the same mother.

  Zhou Chao said today that he dared to say so, just to plant a seed in Zhu Di's heart. Who can predict what will happen in the future?

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