5: Chapter 5: The Nobles of Huaixi Gather Together

Only after Jiang Wan's figure disappeared behind the moon gate did the tense atmosphere in the courtyard finally relax.

General Lan Yu let out a long sigh of relief, feeling that the clothes on his back had already been soaked through with cold sweat.

He walked over to Crown Prince Zhu Yuntong, but stuttered for a long time without being able to say anything coherent.

"Great-uncle, what are you dazed for?" Crown Prince Zhu Yuntong put down his wine cup, looked up at him, and said, "Jiang Wan, that dog, has been leashed for the moment, but before dawn, we still have much to do."

General Lan Yu gave a start, instantly snapping back to reality.

Right! The important business!

He looked at Crown Prince Zhu Yuntong, his gaze having completely changed.

If before, he had been forced into a corner and was holding the mentality of treating a dead horse like a live one, then now, he even felt a faint sense of excitement.

This kid was born to do great things!

"Your Highness is right!" General Lan Yu's voice unconsciously took on a note of respect. He cupped his hands and said in a deep voice, "I will go arrange it right now! Eight hundred brothers—at one command, they will certainly be able to assemble before dawn!"

"No rush," Crown Prince Zhu Yuntong waved his hand. "First, send your most trusted men to invite a few people over."

He stretched out his finger, dipped it in some wine on the tabletop, and wrote down a few names.

"Duke of Song General Feng Sheng, Duke of Ying General Fu Youde, Marquis of Dingyuan General Wang Bi, Marquis of Heshou Zhang Yi..."

General Lan Yu looked at those familiar names on the table, his heart shaken.

These people were all core figures of the Huaixi Nobility group, and also the illustrious meritorious officials who had followed Zhu Yuanzhang in conquering the world.

"Send your men, but don't say anything more. Take my jade pendant and just tell them that I, the legitimate son of the Crown Prince, the current legitimate eldest grandson of the Great Ming, have important matters to discuss with them. Tell them to come immediately, right now, and in secret. Whoever doesn't come, let him wait to have his family property confiscated and his clan executed."

Hearing these incredibly domineering words, General Lan Yu not only didn't find them inappropriate but instead felt his blood boiling.

That's right! This is how it should be!

"Good! I will go myself!" General Lan Yu said, preparing to set off.

"You cannot go," Crown Prince Zhu Yuntong stopped him. "You are too high-profile. Send a few clever men instead, and be quick."

"Yes!"

General Lan Yu accepted the order, turned, and strode out of the courtyard to arrange the manpower.

That back, unexpectedly, had a bit more determination and ferocity than before, as if he had returned to being that invincible general who once dominated the battlefield.

The night grew deeper, and in the backyard of the Mansion of the Duke of Liang, even the wind seemed to have stopped.

When General Lan Yu returned with a swift stride, Crown Prince Zhu Yuntong was sitting in the main seat of the secret room in General Lan Yu's mansion, gently rubbing the rim of a teacup with his fingertips, his expression calm and composed, as if the youth who had just kicked the Commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard to his knees was merely an illusion from General Lan Yu's tired eyes.

"Your Highness, everything has been arranged." General Lan Yu's voice was very low, but the excitement could not be hidden. "The ones I sent are the top death soldiers in the mansion; they are tight-lipped and skilled, so they definitely won't mess things up."

Crown Prince Zhu Yuntong gave a grunt, which counted as a response.

"Great-uncle, tell me, isn't human nature a very interesting thing?" He suddenly spoke up, asking a completely unrelated question.

General Lan Yu was stunned, unable to keep up with this erratic train of thought, and could only vaguely say, "Your Highness is right."

"Jiang Wan is a good dog. He fears death, and fears even more that his family will die, so he dares not gamble." Crown Prince Zhu Yuntong toyed with the wine cup, his gaze deep. "But the few who are coming next are different. They all crawled out of piles of corpses, each holding immense wealth in their hands. They fear death more than anyone, but they also dare to risk their lives more than anyone."

General Lan Yu felt a shiver in his heart; he understood what Crown Prince Zhu Yuntong meant.

These people would not give up until they reached the Yellow River, and would not shed tears until they saw the coffin.

Wanting them to bet their lives and fortunes would be much harder than scaring a single Jiang Wan.

"Your Highness, rest assured," General Lan Yu viciously guaranteed. "If they don't know what's good for them, I... I will tie them up and bring them here!"

Crown Prince Zhu Yuntong heard this, chuckled, and shook his head. "Tie them up? Great-uncle, we are inviting people to conspire in a great undertaking, not acting like mountain bandits holding hostages."

After speaking, he said no more, closed his eyes, and leaned back in the chair, seemingly dozing off.

General Lan Yu looked at him, his heart in turmoil.

The thoughts of this grand-nephew were hard to guess!

Time passed bit by bit, and the secret room was so quiet that one could hear one's own heartbeat.

About an hour later, a slight commotion came from deep within the mansion.

General Lan Yu's spirits lifted, knowing that people had arrived.

He walked quickly to the door, lowered his voice to give a few instructions, and then returned to Crown Prince Zhu Yuntong's side, standing quietly in attendance.

The first person led into the room was a burly man with a thick beard, who was none other than Marquis of Dingyuan General Wang Bi.

As soon as he entered and saw General Lan Yu, he immediately complained in a hushed voice, "I say, Grand Marshal Lan, what kind of trick is this? Sending people to drag me out of my bed in the middle of the night, acting all mysterious and saying it's a matter of heaven-shaking importance. If you can't explain the ins and outs of this, I won't let you off!"

General Lan Yu ignored him and just pursed his lips toward the center of the room.

General Wang Bi followed his gaze and only then discovered that there was still someone sitting in the main seat.

That person was wearing black clothes, with his back to him, and his figure looked somewhat thin.

"This is..."

Before he could finish his question, the second person also arrived.

The newcomer had graying hair and beard, a thin face, but an exceptionally steady gait; it was the veteran general of the Ming Army, Duke of Ying General Fu Youde.

General Fu Youde was much more composed than General Wang Bi. After entering, he first scanned the room, his gaze resting on General Lan Yu for a moment, and finally landing on the back of the black-clad youth.

He did not speak, but his brows were tightly furrowed.

Immediately after, Marquis of Heshou Zhang Yi and Duke of Kaiguo Chang Sheng were also successively led in.

Chang Sheng was the son of Prince Kaiping Chang Yuchun, and the biological uncle of Crown Prince Zhu Yuntong.

As soon as he saw General Lan Yu's setup, his heart skipped a beat. He hurriedly leaned close to General Lan Yu and asked in a low voice, "Brother-in-law, what is actually going on? That jade pendant... is it Yuntong's?"

General Lan Yu nodded heavily at him.

The last to arrive were Duke of Song General Feng Sheng and Duke of Cao Li Jinglong.

General Feng Sheng was an old general, whose seniority was even greater than General Lan Yu's. As soon as he entered, he snorted coldly, "General Lan Yu, you had better have a reasonable explanation."

And following behind him, Duke of Cao Li Jinglong looked as if he hadn't woken up, yawning, with sleep in the corners of his eyes.

His father was Li Wenzhong, the nephew of Zhu Yuanzhang; by that reckoning, he was also a relative of the imperial family.

However, this Duke of Cao spent his days cockfighting, walking dogs, and flirting with women; in the eyes of these meritorious military nobles, he was just an unlearned, dissolute playboy.

"I say, Uncle Lan, it's the middle of the night, and a moment of spring night is worth a thousand gold; you called me here, surely you don't intend to treat me to the northwest wind, do you?" Duke of Cao Li Jinglong said in a devil-may-care manner, his eyes darting around everywhere.

In the room, almost all of the core group of the Great Ming Huaixi Nobility, except for a few, had arrived.

They exchanged glances, each heart filled with doubt and unease.

General Lan Yu cleared his throat and said in a deep voice, "Everyone, you have all arrived. Inviting you all here tonight is indeed for a matter of heaven-shaking importance, concerning the lives and fortunes of us all."

As he spoke, he turned sideways and bowed respectfully toward the figure to the side.

"Your Highness, everyone is here."

Your Highness! It really is him!

Amidst the uncertain and astonished gazes of the crowd, the black-clad youth finally slowly stood up and turned around.

The candlelight illuminated his face.

It was a face that still carried a bit of childishness, with handsome features. In a trance, the few old men like General Feng Sheng seemed to see the young Crown Prince Yiwen.

"Third... Third Imperial Grandson, Your Highness?" General Fu Youde was the first to exclaim.

"Yuntong! Is it really you?" Chang Sheng was so shocked that his eyes were almost popping out.

His own little nephew, that child who was timid in the palace and didn't even dare to lift his head when meeting people, how could he appear here in the middle of the night? And... and sitting in the main seat?

The dissolute smile on Duke of Cao Li Jinglong's face also froze; he rubbed his eyes, somewhat unable to believe what he was seeing.

General Wang Bi, General Feng Sheng, and the others also looked at each other, their minds unable to process it for a moment.

One was a disgraced Imperial Grandson confined to the Eastern Palace, acting like a useless person; the other was the arrogant and domineering head of the Huaixi military generals.

How could these two people, who had absolutely nothing to do with each other, have come together?

For a time, no one dared to speak. Although they had some guesses before coming, when it was truly before their eyes, it still felt unreal.

Crown Prince Zhu Yuntong's gaze calmly swept over everyone's face: General Feng Sheng's maturity, General Fu Youde's prudence, General Wang Bi's roughness, Chang Sheng's concern, and Duke of Cao Li Jinglong's devil-may-care...

He took in everyone's reactions, then smiled slightly: "Dear dukes and marquises, uncle, cousin, for disturbing you in the middle of the night, Yuntong offers his greetings."

His voice was clear and bright, neither humble nor arrogant, and in the silent night, it reached everyone's ears clearly.

Yet this ordinary greeting made these veteran generals, who had charged out of mountains of corpses and seas of blood, feel a chill run down their spines for no reason.