Zhu Wenzheng carried Chen Biao on his back, but he ran slower than Li Wenzhong and Chen Ying. However, he had Chen Biao as his hostage, so Li Wenzhong and Chen Ying did not dare to stop him, fearing that Chen Biao would fall.
So he carried Chen Biao and ran all the way to the triumphant Deng Yu and Zhao Desheng, shocking everyone.
"Wen Zheng, what are you doing?" Deng Yu's smug expression froze.
Zhu Wenzhen and Li Wenzhong had been displaced in their lives, so even their names were given by Zhu Yuanzhang, so naturally they had no courtesy names.
Li Wenzhong originally planned to choose a courtesy name when he got married, but he did not get married for a long time, so he postponed it; Chen Ying's courtesy name "Wenying" was actually his original name "Zhu Wenying".
Many princes of the imperial clan left no official name behind, only titles . Those who did had their names given to them by their fathers before they were crowned, or they chose their own names to socialize with scholars. Given Zhu Wenzheng's personality, he probably wouldn't bother asking for a name in his lifetime.
Wouldn’t it be more handsome to just call him “King So-and-so”?
So Deng Yu called Zhu Wenzhen by his name directly, not because Zhu Wenzhen's status was lower than his.
But the man Deng Yu had kidnapped seemed to have misunderstood. He looked at Zhu Wenzheng and a calculating look appeared in his eyes.
Zhu Wenzheng put the dying Chen Biao down and said carelessly, "Brother Biao's legs are too short. I...ah?! Give me some face in front of the captives!"
Chen Ying and Li Wenzhong each grabbed one of Zhu Wenzhen's shoulders and dragged him outside.
Chen Biao squatted on the ground, holding his stomach, and gasped, "You made me lose face, and you still want face? Brother Ying and Brother Zhong, beat him up!"
Zhu Wenzhen was howling and shaking his head like a madman. He was dragged out of the door by Chen Ying and Li Wenzhong and taken outside to "compete".
Deng Yu: "This..."
Zhao Desheng almost tore his beard off.
This is the Great Yuan Emperor in front of you! You three are usually so serious and reliable, why are you so unruly today? At least act a little politely in front of the Great Yuan Emperor!
"Sir, are you okay?" Zhao Desheng participated in the first literacy training class for generals, so he habitually changed the address of "little military advisor" to "Sir".
He helped Chen Biao up and asked worriedly, "Are you hurt?"
Chen Biao said with a sullen face, "My stomach has been bumping along on Brother Zheng's shoulders all the way, and I feel like vomiting."
Deng Yu quickly had someone pour warm water, then held the cup and fed it to Chen Biao: "You deserve a beating!"
Zhu Wenzheng is such a fool! He deserves to lose face in front of the Yuan Dynasty's dog emperor!
After drinking the water, Chen Biao rubbed his stomach and finally caught his breath.
He looked at the man standing proudly in the middle hall, wearing a dragon robe, his hands tied behind his back, his body straight and straight, and wondered, "Is the Great Yuan Emperor you are talking about the man in the dragon robe?"
Zhao Desheng and Deng Yu's stern faces immediately brightened up again, and they said in unison, "Of course! It's him!"
Chen Biao was speechless: "He is obviously not the Emperor of the Yuan Dynasty! Are you going to withdraw your troops after capturing him?!"
Zhao Desheng and Deng Yu's smiles froze at the same time.
The two of them pointed at the man in the dragon robe and said, "That's him! He's wearing a dragon robe!"
Chen Biao held his head in his hands and sighed silently. "Even if we don't know the Great Yuan Emperor, you all know that he was a tyrant whose body was hollowed out by alcohol and sex, right? Look at his spirit and energy. Does he look like a person whose body was hollowed out by alcohol and sex? Look at his expression, his demeanor..."
Chen Biao held his head and looked at the man in the dragon robe, and was even more speechless: "Besides, he is short and thin. Does he look like a member of the Yuan Dynasty royal family?"
Zhao Desheng and Deng Yu were stunned for a moment, and then they woke up a little from their joy.
They also looked carefully at the "Emperor of Yuan Dynasty" and felt more and more uneasy.
Zhao Desheng stammered, "Look, look at his dragon robe. It fits him perfectly. If it was a temporary change of clothes, how could it fit so well?"
Chen Biao held his head, his neck shaking back and forth. "It's just tailoring. They had enough time to organize their troops and break out. Look closely at his dragon robe. It's just a few hastily stitched stitches. It looks like it fits, but the stitches are not tight. Even if you couldn't see his clothes clearly during the battle, you should have noticed the problem by looking at his figure, right? This double is so perfunctory!"
Chen Biao was speechless.
He and Uncle Xu had calculated everything, so that Generals Deng Yu and Zhao Desheng were blocking the route the Yuan Emperor had to take back to Shangdu. If they hadn't captured the person after a fierce battle, it would have been fine. But they had captured the wrong person? This was unbelievable!
It would be fine if only one person made a mistake, but how could both Deng Yu and Zhao Desheng make a mistake?
Chen Biao raised his head and looked at Deng Yu and Zhao Desheng's expressions as if they had been struck by lightning. Remembering their previous expressions, he guessed the reason.
"Do you think Marshal Xu and I planned everything, easily captured Dadu, and sent you to block the Yuan Emperor's escape route? Thinking victory was certain, you became careless?" Chen Biao lowered his head with his hands and frowned, "You are arrogant and impetuous."
Zhao Desheng and Deng Yu hung their hands, their bodies trembling slightly, their expressions filled with anger and self-blame.
Arrogant soldiers will surely be defeated.
They were arrogant, complacent, impetuous and lax at the most critical moment, and caught a substitute emperor who could have been caught without mistake if they had been a little calmer and more observant.
Now that they have calmed down and recalled, there were many doubts when the Yuan Emperor was arrested.
But they all turned a blind eye at the time and happily withdrew their troops, thinking they had made a great contribution, but in fact they made a huge mistake.
"Oh, a bunch of trash." The short old man stopped pretending and sneered, "The Emperor of the Great Yuan has escaped danger and moved to Shangdu! Once the Great Yuan army is reorganized, the Iron Hoofed Buddha will crush you to the ground!"
Chen Biao said angrily, "Shut up, it's impossible. With his foolish appearance, you can't expect him to fight back. You might as well hope that Genghis Khan or Kublai Khan can break through the void, travel through time, and jump to this point in time to help the Yuan Dynasty establish its empire."
The short old man: "..."
Chen Biao's words were so strange that he couldn't react to what Chen Biao was saying for a moment.
Deng Yu and Zhao Desheng sank to their knees, their eyes reddening as they cried, "Please punish us, sir! I'll send troops in pursuit immediately!"
The short old man frowned and looked at Chen Biao in confusion.
Obviously, he couldn't understand why two generals would kneel before such a childish boy.
It would be fine if the young boy was addressed as "Prince" or "Young Master", but the titles of "Military Advisor" and "Sir" made him a little confused, and he couldn't guess what Chen Biao's identity was.
Chen Biao said sternly, "It's too late to pursue them now. Punishment will certainly be imposed. First, each of you will receive fifty military sticks, then write a self-criticism and recite it in front of the entire army, reflecting on your pride and impetuousness that led to tragedy this time. Your positions will be temporarily suspended until the lord makes his decision. During this time, you will work hard and make amends for your sins."
This matter is very big if you say it is big, but it is also very small if you say it is small.
They hadn't intentionally spared the Yuan Emperor; it was simply negligence. On the battlefield, carelessness was common, but as long as there were no serious consequences and there was a chance to make amends, Chen Biao knew Zhu Yuanzhang well enough to know he wouldn't make things too difficult for them.
The Ming army had already occupied Dadu. A foolish and aging Yuan emperor posed less of a threat to the Ming than the Crown Prince and Kuyuk Timur in Gansu. Deng Yu and Zhao Desheng's achievements were, at best, more than offsetting their faults.
However, Chen Biao was also worried that this incident would cause some people to criticize him and force Zhu Yuanzhang to "execute Deng Yu and Zhao Desheng with tears" in order to stabilize the military morale, so he gave the two of them a heavier punishment first.
Fifty military sticks, one careless blow could kill someone. Although Chen Biao would certainly instruct the executioners to take it easy and not hit too hard, this number of military sticks was already very "sincere".
Furthermore, making a self-criticism in front of the entire army was practically impossible in this era; it would be humiliating. If this were done to a scholar, it would be worse than death.
Chen Biao knew Deng Yu and Zhao Desheng well; they wouldn't "commit suicide out of shame" for their public self-criticisms. However, like the military cane, this "humiliation" also demonstrated the sincerity of the punishment, silencing any "political enemies" who might have wanted to take advantage of the opportunity to eliminate Deng Yu and Zhao Desheng.
Chen Biao didn't know whether the two of them had political enemies, he was just preparing for the future.
After hearing what Chen Biao said, the two of them thought about it for a moment and realized that Chen Biao was helping them, so they immediately accepted the punishment.
Zhao Desheng sat down on the ground, crying and wailing, "It's all my fault! Sir, your plan was perfect this time. It could have wiped out the Yuan bandits without a single soldier! Why was I so stupid?"
Deng Yu clenched his hands tightly. Besides anger and self-blame, he also felt a lot of guilt towards Chen Biao.
Their vanguard of only a few tens of thousands of men easily achieved the greatest success in the Northern Expedition, and Chen Biao's contribution was invaluable. This battle could have ended perfectly, but it was ruined by them.
If the Yuan emperor could be captured, Chen Biao would probably become a legendary military strategist in history comparable to Zhang Liang and Zhuge Liang through this battle.
"Well, your mistake was complacency and negligence. The result was a complete accident." Chen Biao glanced at the old man who looked at Deng Yu and Zhao Desheng in grief and anger with a look of satisfaction on his face, and said, "I originally suggested that the Lord release that dog emperor back to the grassland."
The old man's eyes widened in disbelief: "What did you say?!"
Chen Biao sneered, "You know how foolish your old emperor is. You're already a veteran minister, so you know the whole story. After my lord captured Dadu and founded the Ming Dynasty, the first thing he did was to pacify the Central Plains. Only then did he slowly clean up the remaining Northern Yuan forces in the barren grasslands."
Seeing Zhao Desheng still crying, Chen Biao threw a handkerchief to him and said, "Dry your tears and listen to me quietly."
Zhao Desheng clutched the handkerchief thrown by Chen Biao and stuffed it into his sleeve. He wiped his tears with his sleeve and stood behind Chen Biao with Deng Yu on his left and right, like Chen Biao's bodyguards.
Faint roars and cursing could be heard outside. Chen Ying and Li Wenzhong were teaming up to beat Zhu Wenzhen, completely unaware that a tragedy had just unfolded here.
"The remnants of the Yuan Dynasty are nesting in the grasslands. If we drive them beyond the Great Wall, they can still accumulate strength to harass the Ming border. But we cannot continue the Northern Expedition at this time. A northern expedition to the grasslands will do more harm than good and may even cause trouble in our own backyard. We must first recapture the Central Plains and restore order before we can slowly make our way to the grasslands."
Chen Biao explained slowly and calmly.
This was not what he was thinking at the time. He actually wrote a letter to Zhu Yuanzhang, suggesting that Zhu Yuanzhang should quietly release the Yuan emperor after capturing him, and arrange spies around the Yuan emperor to plant a nail in the remaining Yuan court.
Although we haven't been able to deliver the nail yet, other strategic goals can still be achieved.
"Although I also look down on the Yuan crown prince, he is at least young and strong, and his mind is much clearer than the old emperor. Kuyuk Timur is also more powerful than Bolo Timur. If the old emperor is captured, the Yuan crown prince can ascend the throne openly. By then, the remaining Yuan forces on the grasslands may unite and invade Gansu directly from the north."
"If the old emperor returns safely to Shangdu, the Yuan prince will remain the prince, and the remaining Yuan tribes on the grassland will only obey the old emperor's orders." Chen Biao laughed sarcastically. "Given the old emperor's cowardice and suspicion, do you think he will send people to Gansu to rescue the prince?"
Deng Yu, whose mind had been dazzled by the great victory of the Northern Expedition, now regained its composure: "He won't. He's a coward. He will definitely send his troops to defend Shangdu."
Chen Biao spread his hands. "Ambitious individuals in the remnant Yuan will certainly want to rescue the crown prince and join forces with Kuyuk Timur to attack the Ming. But the old emperor has other older princes around him. They pose no threat to the Yuan crown prince's position. But what if the Yuan crown prince dies? Even if the Yuan Dynasty becomes a remnant Yuan or the Northern Yuan Dynasty, their civil strife will not end until the old emperor dies. I hope the old emperor can live a few more years, giving the Ming Dynasty more time to develop. Don't you agree, my loyal old minister of the Yuan Dynasty?"
The old man was so shocked that he couldn't speak.
He was wholeheartedly devoted to being loyal to the emperor and serving his country, which was why he came up with the idea of replacing one thing with another.
In fact, he was not the only one wearing the dragon robe. There were also people of different heights and shapes wearing dragon robes while leaving. Of course, the old emperor was not wearing a dragon robe.
So Deng Yu and Zhao Desheng only targeted the person wearing the dragon robe, and anyone they caught would not be the emperor.
It's just that these two people were really blind and caught the one who looked the least like, even though they didn't know what the emperor of the Yuan Dynasty looked like.
When Chen Biao said that everything was under control, the old man sneered, thinking that Chen Biao was deliberately bluffing.
But after Chen Biao explained his prediction in detail, the old man was horrified to find that the future might really be as the child said.
He even had the treasonous idea of following the child's advice, thinking that if the emperor died, it would be more beneficial for the Yuan Dynasty to recover its lost territory!
"You, who are you!" The old man's voice trembled, his eyes staring at Chen Biao, trying to walk towards Chen Biao.
Deng Yu and Zhao Desheng took a step sideways, standing in front of Chen Biao and showing half of their swords.
Deng Yu raised his foot and kicked the old man's knee. The old man staggered and half-knelt on the ground, shouting at the top of his lungs: "Are you Chen Biao? That evil Chen Biao!"
Deng Yu and Zhao Desheng drew their swords and were furious.
Chen Biao reached out his hands and grabbed the hems of the two men's clothes, pulling them back. "Don't be angry. The more the captives argue, the more afraid they are. I am Chen Biao. Don't call them monsters just because you're not as skilled as them. At your age, can't you afford to lose?"
Chen Biao gave a well-behaved smile, but his words were more poisonous than arsenic.
The old man managed to steady himself, then stood up shakily, acting as if he would rather die than surrender.
Chen Biao sat at the top with a carefree attitude and a vicious smile on his face; Deng Yu and Zhao Desheng had dark faces and held knives, looking like executioners.
They looked like villains, forcing the old man, a loyal and staunch minister.
The old man cursed, "You possess such talent, why are you aiding bandits in this chaotic world? The chaos and suffering of the people are all caused by you! Centuries from now, you will be cursed for eternity in history!"
Chen Biao was stunned for a moment and then burst into laughter.
It was rare for him to laugh so heartily in front of outsiders. Laughing like that would be funny and unsightly. Chen Biao wanted to save face.
But this time, he really couldn't help it and laughed until tears came out.
When the old man saw Chen Biao laughing, he thought even more that Chen Biao was a born troublemaker. He cursed people endlessly without using any dirty words, and his speech was eloquent. It was obvious that he had a strong cultural background and was probably a great scholar in the court.
When Zhu Wenzheng walked in, rubbing the corner of his mouth, he looked at the scene in confusion and asked, "What's wrong?"
Deng Yu and Zhao Desheng said guiltily: "We arrested the wrong person."
Zhu Wenzheng glanced at the old man in the dragon robe who was still swearing and ignoring them, and said calmly, "Oh. Then go and receive your punishment. Biaoer should have told you how to punish you. Who is that old man?"
Zhu Wen was clenching his fists, ready to hit someone.
Chen Biao wiped away the tears of laughter and ignored his three confused brothers. He smiled and said, "Alright, old man, stop scolding me. Let's not talk about the winners and losers. After the Ming Dynasty becomes the new dynasty that overthrew the Yuan Dynasty and unified the country, the history books will only record the great deeds of the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty."
He stood up, took a big step forward, walked past Deng Yu and Zhao Desheng, and stood in front of the old man without fear.
In order to blend in with the scholars copying books and find out about the situation in Dadu, Chen Biao deliberately wore a scholar's robe, tied his two pigtails into a high ponytail, and fixed it with a wooden hairpin. He looked like a young scholar who was well-read in poetry and books.
He raised his hands to his chest and lifted them slightly, allowing his hands to emerge from his sleeves.
"Ever since the uprising of Chen Sheng and Wu Guang in the Qin Dynasty, tyrants and incompetent rulers who refused to let their people live a good life would be driven off the throne by the people who rose up in rebellion."
"Since the Yuan Dynasty took control of the Central Plains, the country has not had a single day of peace. The people are living in dire straits, and that's why we want to overthrow the Yuan Dynasty. How dare you lie and confuse right and wrong, blaming the chaos on those who rebelled?!"
"Don't you have eyes? Can't you see that the people are starving to death?"
"Oh, you loyal ministers have been living a carefree life with Emperor Yuan, enjoying a feast and a feast every day. How could you possibly watch the people starve to death?"
Chen Biao took a step forward. The old man unconsciously took a step back, covering his chest with his hands, and glared at Chen Biao.
Chen Biao said arrogantly, "Do you think that if you would rather die than surrender now, future generations will praise you as a loyal minister?"
"If the Yuan Dynasty had ever experienced a prosperous era, and the people had lived a good life for even a dozen years, you would probably be honored as a loyal minister of the Yuan Dynasty."
"Unfortunately, no. The people have lived in darkness every day since the Yuan Dynasty took control of the Central Plains. They have long hoped that the Tatars would be driven out and China would be restored."
"You are preventing the chaos from ending, preventing a good emperor from replacing a bad one, and preventing the people of the world from having a better life. You are aiding and abetting the evil, you are an accomplice to the evil!"
"You will be nailed to the pillar of shame for eternity. Your words will be recorded for generations to come. The chaos in the world was caused by those who rebelled, and has nothing to do with the incompetent emperor!"
"Old man, do you remember the saying 'Why not eat meat?'"
"Congratulations! Every scholar, including your descendants, will use the new allusion you just contributed."
The old man sat down on the ground with his eyes bloodshot.
Chen Biao leaned forward slightly and said slowly, "I already know who you are. Chen Zuren, the top scholar of the Yuan Dynasty, a direct scholar of the Hanlin Academy, and a councilor of the Secretariat. He is short and thin, with one eye injured. The pupil color is slightly lighter than normal, and he is almost blind. You are the top scholar Chen Zuren, right?"
The old man insisted: "So what!"
Chen Biao snorted coldly: "You are well-versed in the Four Books and Five Classics, and you call yourself a loyal minister and a remonstrator, yet you turn a blind eye to the suffering of the people. What books have you read?"
"Actually, you don't really care about the fall of the Yuan Dynasty. You only care about my lord's origin, right?"
"I'm telling you, your aristocratic family's talk about only aristocratic families being able to become emperors should have been swept into the dustbin of history long ago."
"What is Heaven's will? Heaven's ways are constant; they do not exist for the sake of Yao, nor do they perish for the sake of Jie! The will of the people is Heaven's will!"
"Except for Liu Bang of the Han Dynasty, who was a member of the uprising army and overthrew the old nobles of the six kingdoms and ascended the throne, the fruits of victory of the uprisings of the common people in every dynasty were plundered by the aristocratic families and powerful people!"
"In the future generations, only my lord, the Ming Wang, is born into a humble family! He raised an army and has no connection with the aristocratic families that have been rich and powerful for generations!"
"You're talking to me about history books? About future generations?"
Chen Biao grabbed his cuffs with both hands, spread his arms, and let his wide sleeves flutter in the wind.
He tilted his head slightly with a scornful smile on his face.
"Then I'll tell you! History books only say that the Han and Ming dynasties were the most righteous rulers of the land!"
"Chen Zuren! You will be despised by future generations!"
"And the Ming Dynasty! Will create another prosperous era, far surpassing the Han and Tang Dynasties!"
The old man's heart was pounding. He wanted to retort, but he felt his blood rushing up, his head ached, and his vision went dark.
He trembled and fell to the ground, his body twitching twice, and he was completely silent just like that?!