Imperial Master of the Ming Dynasty

Prison, execution chamber.

In the gloomy room, the walls were covered with various horrific torture instruments, and the indelible smell of blood lingered faintly around.

What is quite strange is that a man wearing prison uniform is sitting on the Taishi chair with a golden sword.

The two jailors with knives, one old and one young, stood in front of him instead.

"It will be of great benefit to you and your son if you can handle this matter for me, the prince."

Zhu Gaoxu said calmly, casually took off the goldfish bag from his waist and threw it over.

The old jailer's stubble was already turning white. He took the goldfish bag, weighed it gently in his palm, and suddenly smiled.

The young jailer with a sinister face next to him was so greedy that his eyes almost popped out of his head.

"father."

The old jailer glared at his son, put the goldfish bag in his arms, and assured Zhu Gaoxu with a smile on his face.

"Don't worry, Your Highness, I've been in this business since the Hongwu Dynasty, and I'm determined not to make any mistakes."

Zhu Gaoxu glanced at the young jailer and ordered impatiently: "Your son is reckless...be careful and don't mess up."

Normally, not only would Zhu Gaojiu not be so verbose, he would not even look at such a jailer.

But after all, today is different from the past. Zhu Gaoxu is in prison and needs others, and the key is that Jiang Xinghuo is involved, so he said a few words to his mother-in-law.

Yes, as the execution date approaches, Zhu Gaoxu plans to rescue Jiang Xinghuo.

Of course, Zhu Gaoxu could not just watch Jiang Xinghuo die, even though Jiang Xinghuo had been looking forward to that day.

Not to mention that Zhu Gaoxu is a relatively emotional person... Well, in other words, he is not a rational person.

As the only teacher he recognized, Jiang Xinghuo was a person that Zhu Gaoxu respected very much and was both a teacher and a friend.

Even from a purely profit perspective, Jiang Xinghuo, who has terrifying planning abilities, will be Zhu Gaoxu's most powerful planner to make up for his own shortcomings and compete for the throne.

Zhu Gaoxu knows very well what his weaknesses are.

Compared with his eldest brother Zhu Gaochi, the people he associates with are all generals in the army. He can conquer the world, but he cannot rule the world.

Therefore, Jiang Xinghuo must not die!

But Jiang Xinghuo was guilty of the crime of being linked to the Ten Clan, and was sentenced to death by Emperor Yongle himself. Zhu Gaoxu thought about how he would shamelessly plead with his father. His father didn't know Jiang Xinghuo, and he didn't know how valuable he was. He must have There will be no tolerance.

This is easy to understand. Fang Xiaoru has recruited many disciples, and there are hundreds of people in the Tenth Clan. Why should he pardon Jiang Xinghuo alone?

Zhu Gaoxu simply chose the low-cost and quick-result method - risking his own life.

At the end of these troubled times, not to mention the nameless corpses that died in the wild, even in the city of Nanjing, there will always be beggars and swordsmen who died of unknown causes.

All in all, for Zhu Gaoxu, who has great hands and eyes, there is no shortage of suitable corpses for the imposters, and the only thing left is to get rid of the jailer.

Generally speaking, within three days before execution, if someone suddenly dies in prison, it will definitely attract the attention of the prosecutor.

The further forward in time, the lower the probability of being exposed.

Therefore, Zhu Gaoxu did not plan to wait, and planned to take action tonight.

After dispatching the jailer who specialized in this kind of shady business, Zhu Gaoxu personally carried the food box to Jiang Xinghuo's cell. The guard guard just ignored him and even took off the key from his waist to help him open the cell. iron gate.

Zhu Gaoxu saw Jiang Xinghuo lying on a pile of straw, staring directly at the roof of the cell, seeming to be deep in thought.

"What is Mr. Jiang thinking?"

"Thinking about the meaning of life."

Of course life is meaningful. Isn’t it pointless to strive to be the emperor? Zhu Gaoxu cursed.

However, he did not dare to say this in front of Jiang Xinghuo. You must know that his current identity is still "Gao Yu", the defeated general of the Southern Army, not Zhu Gaoxu, the second prince of Emperor Yongle.

Otherwise, Zhu Gaoxu couldn't guarantee whether Jiang Xinghuo would tell him certain things if his real identity was changed.

"Let's eat first."

Zhu Gaoxu took out the food box. The dishes inside were still steaming. It was obvious that they had just been prepared and delivered.

Chicken breast with bamboo shoots, cockles with rice wine grains, fish with frozen ginger and vinegar, fermented tofu, braised pork, salted duck, boiled vegetables, in addition to rice and oil sauce meat pie, as well as Langya crisp candy and other dessert platters.

Finally, Zhu Gaoxu took out another jar of sealed wine, with some traces of soil on the jar.

With a "pop" sound, Zhu Gaoxu pulled out the mud sealing the wine bottle.

Jiang Xinghuo twitched his nose hard, woke up, and stood up.

"What kind of wine? It tastes so good."

Zhu Gaoxu poured a bowl and handed it to Jiang Xinghuo.

"When I was still a baby, I stole it from my grandfather and hurriedly dug a hole and buried it. At that time, my father came to see me. I felt that the matter had been exposed, so I sat on the ground and didn't dare to move my buttocks. As a result, my father thought I pooped my pants on the ground and beat me hard."

Jiang Xinghuo took two sips of the wine, and it was fragrant in his throat. He didn't feel anything in his stomach until it became spicy after a while.

"Your father... seems to believe in education with sticks and sticks."

"Lao Qiu Ba, who used to lick blood from his knife when he was young, naturally has a bad temper."

When chatting about these things, Zhu Gaoxu didn't take it seriously. Instead, he asked: "Where is Mr. Jiang? How did Mr. Jiang's father treat you when you were a child?"

Jiang Xinghuo thought for a moment, took a bite of food and replied: "It's good, both parents are alive, so I miss them very much... It's just that I haven't been back for so long now that the images in my memory are a bit blurry. I even need to think about it." Remember who your parents were, what they did, and who you are."

After pinching a piece of Langya Crispy Candy, Jiang Xinghuo put it in his mouth and chewed it for a while. It was very crispy and not sticky to the teeth.

"I loved eating seaweed and peanuts when I was a kid. Well, you must have never seen peanuts. They are a very big bean with the same texture, crunchy. Once I was chewing and playing with it, and suddenly I felt something was wrong in my mouth, and I spit it out. There was a fragment that looked like a tooth. I thought I had knocked off a tooth, which scared me, but later I found out it was dental calculus, well, it was tartar."

Zhu Gaoxu listened while eating the food, and finally commented: "Mr. Jiang was very timid when he was a child. I led my third brother to fight with those noble brats, and I was not afraid of having eight of my teeth knocked out."

Jiang Xinghuo lazily leaned against the bed made of straw piles and raised his head to pour the wine.

While eating and drinking like this, Jiang Xinghuo also started to say some sighs that Zhu Gaoxu couldn't understand.

"In fact, I sometimes feel that if a person disappears, to this world, it may be similar to the fluttering of cicada wings or the falling leaves of trees. It is silent and insignificant. It may only live in the memory of the person concerned."

"...I am like a traveler across the ocean. The sea is vast and traceless, and a solitary boat passes through one scenery after another. It is a bit fresh at first, but then becomes helpless."

"It's not that I'm indifferent to life, nor that I'm sad. I just lost my patience. I don't even have the patience to get up. I just want to lie down."

"I have been too far away from the shore in my life, and I don't know if I can return to my hometown. So sometimes I lose control of my emotions and scream for help at the sea, which is like saying goodbye..."

The two of them talked about their own things for a long time.

Zhu Gaoxu also drank too much and watched the drunk Jiang Xinghuo being dragged out by the old jailer, and a body was dragged in.

Then he passed by the young jailer. Zhu Gaoxu staggered back to his cell and fell asleep directly.