Beiping City is located on the border, and its prosperity is not comparable to that of the Central Plains. However, this is an important place for passing through the pass, and all kinds of merchants coming and going make Beiping City seem extraordinary.

  In the city center was originally the old site of the imperial palace of the previous dynasty, which was burned down by an order from the current emperor. Now it is the new mansion of the Prince of Yan, which was built last year.

  The fourth son of the emperor, Zhu Di, was granted the title of King Yan in the third year of Hongwu. The emperor then ordered the Ministry of Works to build the palace of the King of Yan on the site of the old imperial palace in Dadu, which took nine years to complete.

  Inside the Wangfu, a grand hall is set up in the middle of the surrounding halls. The hall has white marble pillars standing tall, and the candle holders reflect the bright lights illuminating the spacious hall. Although this Yanwang Fu cannot be described as luxurious, it can be said to be solemn and majestic.

  At this time, the King of Yan Zhu Di had just arrived in Beiping from his hometown of Fengyang and was sitting in the main hall of the palace with a worried expression. He thought to himself that he was not familiar with the affairs of the vassal state since he had just arrived in Beiping, and even his three guards as the king were not fully staffed. The officials in the mansion were also idle people. Unlike his two elder brothers, King Qin Zhu Youqian and King Jin Zhu, who each had more than 50,000 armored soldiers and numerous civil officials and strategists. Compared to them, Zhu Di, the King of Yan, seemed very shabby.

  At the time when Zhu Di was secretly worried, the Queen of Yan Wang brought in the newly born second son of Yan Wang and walked into the hall. When Zhu Di saw his beloved queen bringing their son over, he put aside his worries and went to greet them.

  She was originally a lady from Huizhou, the eldest daughter of Xu Da, the Duke of Wei. She was appointed as the Princess of Yan in the 9th year of Hongwu and has since given birth to two sons and two daughters for Zhu Di. She is a virtuous wife who assists Zhu Di with his affairs and has helped him greatly. Zhu Di loves and respects her deeply, and the couple treats each other with courtesy and respect.

  "What's wrong, Your Highness? You didn't even come to have lunch?" Originally, the King of Yan and the Queen would eat together every day, but today Xu Shi was waiting for the King of Yan in the back hall. Not seeing Zhu Di come for a long time, she became suspicious and asked the wet nurse to take care of her eldest son Zhu Gaochi. She then carried her second son Zhu Gaoxu and went to the main hall to look for Zhu Di.

  "Alas, isn't it because of the troubles caused by relatives and officials that you are worried?" Zhu Di thought to himself as he listened to Xu Shi's words.

  The King of Yan's consort thought for a moment and then smiled brightly at Zhu Di: "This matter is easy, Your Highness."

  "Empress, what good plan do you have? Quickly tell me!" Zhu Di hastily sought advice from Xu Shi.

  "Your Highness can issue a proclamation in Beiping City and its surrounding countryside to recruit soldiers."

  "This matter, I have also thought about it. Originally, the Emperor had given us, the kings of Yan, permission to mobilize local troops and recruit soldiers on our own. However, my consort should know that since the establishment of our kingdom, everything within the palace requires a large amount of money. Where can we get the military expenses for recruiting soldiers?" Zhu Di shook his head in refutation.

  The King of Yan's consort smiled indifferently and said, "Your Highness can indicate on the notice that those who respond to the call will not only be exempt from household duties and rent, but also exempt a small amount of taxes for the households that send soldiers. Also, explain the great righteousness of family and country in terms of emotions, and grant them fame, fortune, and benefits in terms of interests! This matter should be settled."

  Zhu Di was overjoyed after hearing this and then asked again: "What about the officials and scholars in the palace?"

  "This is up to your own abilities, Your Highness." The princess smiled and spoke in a low, mysterious tone.

  "Alas, my dear concubine, please tell me quickly, I've been worried sick about this matter until my hair has turned white." Zhu Di was speechless, his beloved concubine was perfect in every way, except that sometimes she had a bit of a princess temperament.

  "Hehe, Your Highness only needs to write a letter to the Emperor and ask for several civil officials and strategists." The queen replied, no longer teasing Zhu Di.

  Zhu Dian hesitated and said: "Can this be done? If Father King finds out that I am so incompetent that I haven't even gathered all the officials, won't he blame me?"

  "It's definitely not going to happen. It's been four years since the imperial examination was abolished in our dynasty, and all the scholars in the world are nameless. Those few officials serving under the kings of the various vassal states may seem impressive, but they're just a bunch of misfits filling up the numbers." The Princess of Yan said confidently.

  "All right, I'll draft a letter and have someone deliver it to Ying Tian." Zhu Di made up his mind and started writing the letter. The Crown Prince's consort quietly watched and waited for her husband to finish writing the letter before they went to have dinner together.

  After parting with Wang Shi and his brothers, Zhang Feng found an inn to stay in within the city of Beiping. For several days, he carefully toured the city, thinking about where to enlist in the army.

  On this day, Zhang Feng had just finished lunch and was about to go out of the city for a stroll. As he walked to the North Gate, he found that there was a crowd of people gathered at the gate, watching something with curiosity, so he stepped forward to take a look.

  In the crowd at the entrance, three layers in and out, Zhang Feng squeezed for half a day without moving half a step. Zhang Feng was secretly angry and used Wudang steps to squeeze in hard. Upon closer inspection, it turned out to be a notice that read:

  "Today, the initial stability has been established, but the border areas are not yet secure. I have received the imperial edict to accept the title of King of Yan and garrison at Beiping... Now, as the king responsible for guarding the northern borders, how can we have only a few soldiers in the three garrisons? I specially write this letter to inform you, hoping that wise men will come forward to join us."

  Below is attached a recruitment notice from the Guard Command of the Yanwang Fu in Beiping, which was personally written by King Yan himself.

  Zhang Feng was overjoyed after reading it. He had been worried about where to go to join the army, and this notice was like timely rain. The King of Yan had ordered him to guard the border, and as a member of the King's personal guard, he would inevitably fight against the Mongols, which was exactly what Zhang Feng wanted. Zhang Feng immediately squeezed out of the crowd and rushed to the Commanding Office of the Guard at the King of Yan's palace.

  Ever since the recruitment notices were posted in Beiping and its surrounding areas, the Guard Command has been flooded with people, queuing up like a long snake. The officials of the Guard Command are both delighted and anxious, delighted that the hospital is finally fully staffed, but anxious that there are only a handful of suitable candidates for officer positions.

  Zhang Feng rushed here to find a long queue, and there was no way out. He could only stand silently in the crowd and wait. As the sun slanted westward, the long queue finally dwindled to almost nothing. Standing for an entire afternoon didn't pose any difficulty for Zhang Feng; after all, what he needed was concentration, which he had cultivated from his days of practicing martial arts on Wudang Mountain. Having waited in line for half a day hadn't made Zhang Feng feel tired, but instead, it had invigorated him even more.

  "The next one..." The officer in charge of the recruitment shouted weakly, Zhang Feng responded and walked forward, the officer looked up at him with a surprised expression, after all, it was rare to see someone so spirited among the last batch of people.

  Name

  Zhang Feng

  "Native place"

  "Huguang Governor's Office Xiangyang Prefecture Xiangzhou people."

  The officer looked at him in surprise and wondered how there were still people coming from so far to join the army, and he continued to ask:

  "Only a few people left in the family"

  "...no one" Zhang Feng replied in a low voice.

  The officer was even more puzzled, not only was his hometown remote, but he was also an orphan. However, he didn't pay much attention to it and waved his hand to let Zhang Feng go in for the next test.

  Zhang Feng walked into the house and came to a courtyard, where stone locks and other training equipment were placed. This was a small martial arts arena. There were also several men in the yard who were being tested. A large man with half of his arm bare walked over.

  "You, the new kid, come over here and take your test quickly, stop dawdling around. I'm exhausted from a whole day of work." The big man scolded Zhang Feng.

  "Come on, first show Grandpa a stone lock." The big man led Zhang Feng to the courtyard and said lightly.

  Zhang Feng looked up and glanced at the big man without responding, then turned around and walked towards Shi Suo. The stone locks on the ground weighed from 100 to 500 kilograms each.

  Zhang Feng first tried the weight of fifty kilograms with his hand, and then walked directly to two hundred kilograms. The big man hugged his arms and watched coldly, thinking that this little guy was not afraid of losing face, how could he lift two hundred kilograms with such a small body? The big man did not believe that Zhang Feng could lift the stone lock at all, and was waiting to see how Zhang Feng would lose face.

  In fact, Zhang Feng could lift more than 200 catties, but today's recruitment assessment only required 200 catties to pass, so Zhang Feng didn't intend to exert himself and simply grabbed a 200-catty stone lock.

  Dahan stared at Zhang Feng in shock, his mouth agape, and was speechless for a long time. Zhang Feng put down the stone lock and walked over to ask, "Did I pass?"

  "Calculate... calculate... calculate" Da Han stuttered and couldn't finish the sentence, Zhang Feng ignored him and turned to walk towards another assessment.

  At this time, two people were standing outside the courtyard looking inside. The two men were Qiu Fu and Zhu Nai, the commander and deputy commander of the Imperial Guard Command of the Yanwangfu. This recruitment was mainly to supplement the troops in the Yanshan Imperial Guard Command, so as direct superiors, they came over to inspect personally.

  Although the recruited soldiers were generally good, they didn't find anyone with real talent in their eyes. The two of them thought they would leave disappointed today, but unexpectedly, they discovered a gem at the end. After observing Zhang Feng for half a day, they found that he passed all kinds of tests with ease, and they were even more delighted in their hearts.

  "Brother Qiu, do you think this person can be considered the top scorer in today's assessment?" Zhu Neng asked beside Qiu Fu.

  Qiu Fu stroked his long beard and said, "There is no doubt that this man has strength to spare in all the events, he must be the champion of the military."

  Zhu nodded in agreement and immediately called over a nearby guard, whispering something in his ear.

  "Shall we go? It's almost time today, how about you and I go have a few drinks?"

  "Haha, Brother Qiu has invited me, I should accompany him." After saying that, the two of them left together...

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