After Ade and the others left, Zhao Youde returned home in high spirits, as the saying goes, good birds choose trees and perch, now the Northern Yuan and Timurid Empire are powerful and the Ming Dynasty is obviously powerless to resist, otherwise it is impossible for the Timurid Empire and the Northern Yuan army to drive straight to Lanzhou.

Therefore, Zhao Youde made a very wise decision, that is, to take refuge in Beiyuan to ensure his life and career.

Judging from the current situation, his decision was too correct, the offensive of the Northern Yuan and Timurid empires in the northwest was unstoppable, and the momentum was like a bamboo, so that the Ming army led by Zhou Zheng could only hold on to a few cities, and in the long run, the northwest would eventually fall.

"Master, go and take a look, my daughter hasn't been in a drop of water for a few days, and if she continues like this, her body will collapse." As soon as he got home, Zhao Youde's wife hurriedly greeted him and said with a worried face.

"This kid!" Zhao Youde frowned slightly when he heard this, and walked towards the back house.

"Miss, just take a bite, don't eat what your body can't stand anymore." In a quiet courtyard in the back house, in an elegant room on the second floor of the attic on the second floor, two maids carried bowls of porridge and bitterly persuaded a young woman lying on the bed.

This haggard young woman with chapped lips was Zhao Youde's only daughter, Zhao Ruimin, because Zhao Youde took refuge in the Northern Yuan Dynasty, she was deeply affected and became a traitor in the eyes of the people in the city, so she wanted to run away from home but was arrested, and then went on a hunger strike to protest.

"Sir, ma'am!" Seeing that Zhao Youde and his wife were coming, the two maids hurriedly bowed and saluted.

"Go down first." Zhao Youde glanced at the untouched food on the table beside him, waved his hand at the maid, and the two maids bowed and retreated.

Zhao Ruimin knew that Zhao Youde was coming, but she didn't mean to move to greet her, but still lay there motionless with her eyes closed, as if she was dead.

"I know, you are angry with your father, but your father is also forced to be helpless when he does this, the army of the Northern Yuan has broken through the city, if your father does not come out to preside over the overall situation, the whole city will be harmed by those Northern Yuan soldiers."

After the two maids left, Zhao Youde came to the bedside and looked at Zhao Ruimin with a loving face, "Maybe you think Dad did something wrong, but Dad saved many people in the city by doing this." ”

"Dad, the gentleman doesn't eat the food that comes to you, you have been studying hard for more than ten years, have you forgotten the teachings of the saints, and you are in the company of those tigers and wolves who have invaded the Ming Dynasty!" After hearing Zhao Youde's words, Zhao Ruimin opened his eyes and sat up strongly, biting his lip and looking at Zhao Youde with a sad face.

"Those who know the times are Junjie, my father is not the kind of nerd who reads to death, and when the Mongols entered Jiangnan, didn't the ministers of the Northern Song Dynasty change hands one after another?"

Zhao Youde's face changed slightly when he heard this, and it was not pleasant to be accused of being a traitor by his favorite woman, and then said in a deep voice, "Now that your father has attached himself to Da Yuan, you don't have to think about that family business anymore, unless he also takes refuge in Da Yuan, the two of you will have no chance in this life." ”

Hearing this, Zhao Ruimin's eyes couldn't help flashing a look of pain, the "he" in Zhao Youde's mouth refers to her fiancé Zhang Guang, Zhang Guang was admitted to the Jingshi Wutang three years ago, and Zhao Ruimin's childhood sweetheart, the two had no guesses.

Zhao Ruimin fled a few days ago because he wanted to go to Zhang Guang in the capital, but unfortunately he was arrested by Zhao Youde before he left Didao City.

"Dad, do you really think that Daming lost this war?" Zhao Ruimin did not argue with Zhao Youde, and after hesitating for a while, he looked at Zhao Youde faintly.

"Jiayuguan has been breached, and Zhongguo Gong can only hide in Lanzhou City now, what hope does Daming have?" Zhao Youde frowned slightly when he heard this, and said quietly, it was precisely because of this that he chose to take refuge in Beiyuan.

"Dad, King Zhongwu is still in Guanxi, there are more than 200,000 troops of the Ming Dynasty in Guanxi, as long as King Zhongwu frees his hand, then the Northern Yuan and Western Chagatai will definitely be defeated!"

Zhao Ruimin didn't agree with Zhao Youde's words, shook his head and looked at Zhao Youde solemnly, "Dad, do you really believe that Qinglong City has been lost, as far as my daughter knows, Qinglong City is a stone city that cannot be conquered from the outside, and with the strength of Beiyuan and Xichagatai, it can only be besieged, and it is impossible to capture it at all." ”

"Dad, look at it, there is an introduction to Qinglong City on this, how can such a strong city be conquered by manpower?" As he spoke, Zhao Ruimin took out a copy of "Mingxin Daily" from the bedside and handed it to Zhao Youde with both hands.

This "Ming Xin Bao" is an issue half a year ago, under the vigorous promotion of Li Yuntian, "Ming Xin Bao" has now been distributed in various parts of the Ming Dynasty, because it publishes the latest current affairs and interesting news of the Ming Dynasty, so it is very popular among the people.

Zhao Youde naturally read the copy of "Ming Xin Bao" that Zhao Ruimin took, and as an official of the imperial court, he naturally had to pay attention to the latest trends in the current affairs of the imperial court, so "Ming Xin Bao" was the best choice for officials in the capital like them.

After the Northern Yuan captured Didao City, they hyped up the news that the Qinglong City in Guanxi had been breached, and Li Yuntian and other generals in Guanxi had been killed, which hit the morale of the soldiers and civilians in the city.

"Although Qinglong City is indestructible, but there are seven guards in the West, although they are nominally attached to my Ming Dynasty, in fact, they are in their own ways, and King Zhongwu has made a big mistake by letting them enter the city."

Zhao Youde took the "Ming Xin Bao" and glanced at it, then sighed and said to Zhao Ruimin, "According to the news that my father got that the reason why Qinglong City was broken was because the people of the Seven Guards of Guanxi rebelled under the bewitchment of the Northern Yuan Dynasty and opened the gate of the Blue Dragon City to welcome the soldiers of the Northern Yuan Dynasty into the city. ”

"Dad, can you believe Beiyuan's words?" Zhao Ruimin also heard that the fall of Qinglong City was related to the Guanxi Qiwei of the Qin Dynasty, but she didn't believe such rumors, and bit her lip and said to Zhao Youde, "Dad, think about it, the Zhongwu King is eloquent, since he dares to let the people of the Guanxi Qiwei enter the city, then there must be a way to restrain them, even if the Guanxi Qiwei rebels, how can they stir up any big storms?" ”

Zhao Youde frowned when he heard this, and fell into silence, Zhao Ruimin was right, what a heroic figure Li Yuntian was, even he knew that the Seven Guards of Kansai might rebel, and Li Yuntian, who knew the importance of the war situation in Kansai, would he sit idly by?

"Dad, the people of the Northern Yuan and Western Chagatai have been in the pass for a long time, but why haven't they launched an attack on the defense line built by Zhongguo Gong for a long time? As far as her daughter knew, King Chungmu held back their army of more than 200,000 in Kansai, making the enemy army in Kansai unable to break through the defense line of Chungkoko. ”

Zhao Ruimin saw that Zhao Youde's face showed a thoughtful look, so he struck while the iron was hot and persuaded, "Dad, don't forget, King Zhongwu didn't bring reinforcements when he went to Guanxi, and those reinforcements didn't come to the northwest, this must be King Zhongwu's killer weapon, once King Zhongwu uses this killer weapon, the battle situation in Kansai will change dramatically!" ”

"You...... How did you know that King Chungmu had a killer feature? Zhao Youde suddenly came back to his senses when he heard this, and looked at Zhao Ruimin in surprise, only a very few people knew about Li Yuntian's failure to bring reinforcements to Kansai, and the news had been blocked from the outside world, and even he only knew some superficial information from it.

It was precisely because Li Yuntian's reinforcements came to the northwest that Zhao Youde made up his mind to choose to join the enemy, in his opinion, the Ming Dynasty no longer had the military strength to resist the Northern Yuan and Timurid Empire.

"If the reinforcements of King Zhongwu come, how can the Duke of Zhongguo retreat to Lanzhou?" Zhao Ruimin was slightly stunned, and then asked pretending to be calm, his eyes flashing with a look of panic.

"Zhang Guang is here!" Zhao Ruimin's panic did not escape Zhao Youde's eyes, the so-called knowing daughter is like a father, Zhao Youde immediately guessed what was going on from Zhao Ruimin's flickering eyes, stared at Zhao Ruimin and asked in a deep voice, if it wasn't for Zhang Guang, how could Zhao Ruimin know so much military intelligence?

"I didn't ...... No! After Zhao Youde's questioning, Zhao Ruimin suddenly became even more flustered, and hurriedly opened his mouth to deny it, and his cheeks became crimson because of excitement.

"Min'er, although my father took refuge in Beiyuan, Zhang Guang is not only my father's future son-in-law, our two families are also world friends, and my father will not embarrass him."

From Zhao Ruimin's reaction, Zhao Youde immediately realized that Zhang Guang had indeed come to Di Dao City secretly, so he said with a serious expression, "This is very important to Dad, if the battle situation in Kansai is not as Beiyuan said, then Dad must hurry up and prepare to retreat, otherwise our family will be finished!" ”

Although Zhao Youde did not know what the current war situation was, he knew that Li Yuntian in Guanxi was the core figure in this battle, and once Li Yuntian launched a counterattack in Guanxi, then the Timurid Empire and the Northern Yuan coalition army in the northwest would immediately be in a predicament, and if the Northern Yuan and Timurid Empire were defeated, then what was waiting for him would be a catastrophe.

Therefore, Zhao Youde must now take precautions to leave a way back for himself, he must know the true situation of the current battle situation, so that he will not be led by the nose by Beiyuan, and he will be sold by Beiyuan and help Beiyuan count the money.

"Dad, you send someone to the Fan Ji grocery store in the city to hand over this hairpin to the shopkeeper, and Brother Zhang Guang has a chance to come to see you." Zhao Ruimin groaned for a moment when she heard this, picked up the hairpin placed at the bedside and handed it to Zhao Youde, her previous words were actually what Zhang Guang asked her to tell Zhao Youde.

In fact, Zhao Ruimin could have escaped from the city, but on the way out of the city, he was suddenly stopped by Zhang Guang, which made Zhao Ruimin surprised and delighted.

After the Timurid Empire and the Northern Yuan Dynasty broke through the Jiayu Pass, Zhang Guang and a group of students from the Lecture Hall in the Northwest were ordered to come to the Northwest to strengthen the Lecture and Martial Arts to collect intelligence from the local intelligence network.

Because Zhang Guang's future father-in-law Zhao Youde was an official in Lintao Mansion, he was sent to Di Dao City by Jian Wutang, but he didn't expect Lu Tianxing to unexpectedly break through Di Dao City, and he didn't expect that Zhao Youde would join the enemy, which made him feel shocked in his heart and his mood was very complicated.

Zhang Guang naturally did not want Zhao Youde to go further and further on the road of no return to the enemy, so he reminded Zhao Youde through Zhao Ruimin that the current battle situation was still favorable to the Ming Dynasty, otherwise the enemy army in the northwest would not have been standing still and did not attack Zhou Zheng's Lanzhou defense line with all his might.