Dad, you call these house guards? They're going to rebel!

"Household guards... household guards?"

Zhu Gaochi, who was still catching his breath, almost choked when he heard those two words.

He widened his eyes, stared intently at Zhu Zhanjun, his voice trembling, "Second brother! Are you crazy? This is a national war! You... you're taking three thousand household guards, mere caretakers, to rescue the emperor? Are you trying to hasten your grandfather's death, or ensure our family's complete extinction?"

Fang Bin, standing nearby, couldn't help but scoff. Although his table had just been kicked over, the absurdity of the situation made him forget his fear. "Your Highness Prince Zheng, I admire your filial piety. But the battlefield is not a game! Three thousand household guards? They probably can't even defeat Arutai's vanguard scouts. Going there would be a suicide mission! Listen to my advice, pack your belongings, and flee south!"

"Shut up!"

Zhu Zhanjun slapped Fang Bin across the face. The sound was crisp.

"Slap!"

Fang Bin was stunned, clutching his face and looking at Zhu Zhanjun in disbelief.

"If you dare to disrupt my army's morale again, you will be executed without mercy."

Zhu Zhanjun glanced at him coldly, then turned to Zhu Gaochi, his expression shifting to a playful one.

"Father, don't worry, my household guards... are a bit special."

Zhu Gaochi, now helped to sit up by the Crown Princess, knew his son too well. Although he seemed unreliable, he never did anything without certainty.

But... three thousand men to save a three hundred thousand strong army? Wasn't that bragging on an unbelievable scale?

"Special? How so? Do they have three heads and six arms?"

Zhu Gaochi scolded him irritably, "Hurry back to your prince's mansion! Don't cause trouble here! Xia Yuanji, how much money does the Ministry of Revenue have left? Quickly recruit a suicide squad..."

"Father, the Ministry of Revenue is out of money."

Zhu Zhanjun interrupted directly, "Besides, temporary recruits, farmers, will just be fodder for the Mongols on the battlefield. My soldiers are already assembled outside the city."

"What?"

Zhu Gaochi and the Crown Princess exclaimed simultaneously.

"Assembled outside the city? You... you mobilized troops without authorization? Where did you get military authority?"

Zhu Gaochi was so scared that the flesh on his face trembled. "Second brother, tell me the truth, are you... are you trying to start a rebellion?"

As he uttered the last two words, Zhu Gaochi's voice became almost inaudible, his face filled with terror.

Secretly harboring armed men was a crime punishable by extermination of nine generations of kin!

Zhu Zhanjun spread his hands helplessly, "Father, what are you thinking? If I wanted to rebel, would I wait until today? I would have tied you up long ago while Imperial Grandfather was away. These three thousand men are truly my 'private soldiers' that I've raised through frugally saving over the years. They usually work the fields in various manors. It's only because Imperial Grandfather is in trouble that I've gathered them."

"Farmers?"

Fang Bin couldn't help but interject again, covering his face and sneering, "Your Highness, you're sending a group of farmers to confront the Mongol iron cavalry? This is simply a colossal joke!"

Zhu Zhanjun ignored him and directly unfastened the token from his waist, placing it in Zhu Gaochi's hand.

"Father, words are useless. Give me a written order to allow me to lead troops to pass through the frontier. If you don't trust me, you can come with me to the training ground outside the city right now. If, after seeing it, you still think it's not enough, I, Zhu Zhanjun, will immediately twist off my head and give it to you to kick like a ball!"

Zhu Gaochi looked into his son's determined eyes, and the panic in his heart actually subsided a bit.

He took a deep breath, pushed away the Crown Princess's support, and struggled to stand up.

"Fine! I'll go with you to see! If you dare to fool me with a bunch of farmers, I won't wait for your grandfather to act; I'll break your legs myself!"

Half an hour later.

On the northern outskirts of Beijing City, in a secluded royal hunting ground.

Zhu Gaochi sat in his carriage, wrapped in thick fox fur, his face still pale.

Fang Bin, Xia Yuanji, and a few other ministers rode alongside, their faces etched with helplessness and anxiety.

"Your Highness, stop looking and let's go back. With such heavy snow, where would any troops be?"

Fang Bin complained, shrinking his neck.

Zhu Zhanjun, riding a black horse at the front, reined in his horse at the remark and turned back with a smile, "Minister Fang, open your eyes wide and see clearly, what is that ahead?"

Everyone followed the direction of his whip.

At the end of the snow-covered plain, a faint black line could be seen.

At first, the black line was silent.

But after just a few breaths, the ground began to tremble.

"Thump! Thump! Thump!"

It wasn't the sound of scattered hooves, but a uniform, muffled thud!

With every step, the accumulated snow on the ground was shaken loose and flew up!

As the distance closed, everyone's pupils contracted to the size of pinpricks.

It was a moving wall forged from steel.

Three thousand cavalry, both men and horses clad in heavy armor!

The horses were a head taller than ordinary Mongol horses, with thick, sturdy limbs, covered in heavy barding, only their pair of scarlet eyes exposed.

The men wore ferocious demon-faced helmets, mail armor covered by mingguang armor, wielded Mo Dao (Sabers) that were a zhang long, and carried half-human-height Shenbi Crossbows on their backs!

A killing aura, like a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood, washed over them.

"Hee-lull-lull--!"

The imperial horse pulling Zhu Gaochi's carriage was startled, whinnying madly and trying to retreat, nearly overturning the carriage.

Fang Bin and the others' mounts went weak-kneed, collapsing with a thump in the snow, throwing the several Ministers to the ground.

"This... this..."

Zhu Gaochi gripped the carriage window frame tightly, his knuckles white, his mouth agape wide enough to fit an egg.