The substitute prince: Reported the emperor's brother at the beginning

The Crown Prince now had ample confidence. He stood up, resting his hands on his back, and said with great dignity: "I already have 50,000 elite soldiers under my direct command, plus the troops from the Beijing garrison who have defected to me, totaling over a hundred thousand. Is it possible that I cannot take down a small palace?"

The prince spoke passionately and domineeringly, looking towards the distant palace with eyes full of desire.

The counselors all disagreed.

"Your Highness, if we launch an uprising now, our chances of victory are far from certain."

"The 10,000 imperial guards in the palace are very powerful. Relying on the palace is enough to resist. Besides, the other imperial troops who have not surrendered are also unlikely to be on the same side with us."

"If we fail to capture the palace immediately, the remaining troops nearby will continue to come to the capital to support us. By then, we will have no way to retreat."

"Yes, Your Highness. The other troops in the capital also have tens of thousands of elite soldiers, ready to attack our army at any time."

"What's more, there are those who have surrendered. They are just waiting for the benefits after Your Highness ascends the throne. If we start a rebellion now, there will be people who will not fully agree."

The Second Prince knew all this, and he finally fell silent.

The counselors heaved a sigh of relief when they saw that the prince had listened.

"Your Highness, you are the Crown Prince, and legally the heir to the throne."

"We just need to wait patiently for a while. Given the emperor's physical condition, he won't be able to leave soon."

"Your Highness, if you start a rebellion now, you will be considered a traitor, and all the princes in the world will have a reason to cause trouble."

This reason completely calmed the prince down.

His greatest advantage is his status as the crown prince. Neither the fourth nor the sixth son is qualified to compete with him legally.

"But in this case, Father will investigate."

The counselors immediately said, "Don't worry, Prince. If the Emperor really wanted to forcefully investigate Your Highness, he wouldn't just have the Dali Temple investigate the Ministry of Works, but would directly summon you to the Eastern Palace."

"In our opinion, we should wait and see what happens, and try to hide all our strength."

"Besides, the Emperor doesn't dare to push too far. He's also worried that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince will really purge his court."

The prince is still confident. No matter how angry Emperor Wu is, it's already this time, how can he dare to act recklessly?

"It's just the weapons needed for the training of this large army..."

The prince had a headache. Although he had 50,000 elite soldiers at his disposal, only 30,000 of them were well-trained, and the other 20,000 were just newly recruited soldiers.

Seeing that the fourth brother was very active, I also prepared more.

In the past, military equipment could be seized from the Ministry of Industry, but how can it be seized in the future?

The counselors thought this was a trivial matter: "Your Highness, why worry? With the Dongfang family here, there's no need to worry about lack of weapons."

But the prince was not happy when he mentioned the Dongfang family.

The Dongfang family is not only the Queen's maiden family, but also the Prince's grandfather's family.

However, this Dongfang family needs money to support the prince's various needs, and the price is not low.

The prince was quite dissatisfied with them. They wanted to support his ascension to the throne, so why did they need so much money? They were his wife’s family, so couldn’t he just give them a gift?

Unfortunately, even the Queen's face was useless, and what made him even more depressed was that the Queen, his own mother, actually sided with the Dongfang family.

The counselors laughed and said, "Your Highness, it's nothing serious. It's just some money. When you ascend the throne, it will all be yours."

The prince finally nodded in satisfaction: "You are right, nothing is more important than ascending the throne."

He secretly swore in his heart that once he ascended the throne, the bastard Fourth Brother would have no chance of survival.

As for the Dongfang family, he will also deal with them and make them pay back everything with interest.

......

At this time, Ning Yi had just inspected the Xiao family's largest mine.

All of the Xiao family’s mines and workshops were confiscated.

No assets of any value were taken and all were sent to the palace.

However, the intelligence department purchased this mine in the name of a businessman.

The old miners were gathered together again and work started as soon as possible.

Watching carts of ore being pushed out and transported to the ironworks not far away.

Qin Haifeng said excitedly: "Your Highness, this time we don't have to worry about iron materials anymore."

"It's more than just iron." Ning Yi said unconcernedly, "The formula I gave to those old foremen this time is enough to produce a large amount of fine steel."

Zeng Zhizhong, who was following beside him, said with anticipation in his eyes, "Your Highness, this time, within a few months, we will be able to produce enough military supplies for tens of thousands of troops."

"Even these mines can also provide places for training troops."

Ning Yi nodded. This time, the harvest was quite fruitful. Not only were several mines taken over, but there were also many more places for the Beijing camp to train troops.

I believe that more than 20,000 soldiers can be trained in a short time.

Zeng Zhizhong immediately suggested: "Your Highness, now is the time to go out and recruit soldiers from all over the place."

"First, recruit and train them as deserters. After a little reorganization, they will become a powerful army."

"Okay, let's do it." Ning Yi gave the order on the spot. Time waits for no one.

Hearing the intelligence department's report on the recent situation in the palace, Ning Yi looked strange.

"This fourth brother has become an indestructible cockroach. No matter how hard you try, he can't be killed."

The fourth brother was able to get away with such a big thing. Is the old emperor really out of his mind?

Zeng Zhizhong pondered for a moment and said, "Your Highness, I think that the Emperor is not unaware of the Fourth Prince's actions, but simply does not want to punish him severely."

Ning Yi was a little surprised: "Why?"

Zeng Zhizhong smiled and said, "It's simple. The Emperor is not feeling well right now, and all he cares about is his own safety and his affairs after his death. He doesn't want to kill his own son in his final days. How would history judge him then?"

Ning Yi thought about it and it made sense. It seemed that this Fourth Brother could not be dealt with in a short time. He could even tolerate such heinous acts as secretly manufacturing a large number of weapons and reorganizing the army. How else could he deal with him?

"This time it's a good thing. The fourth brother got beaten up and suffered heavy losses. The second brother won't have an easy time either."

Ning Yi felt relieved when he thought about the second brother being pursued by the emperor. This time, he could be both the mantis and the oriole, so why not?

Zeng Zhizhong said slowly, "Your Highness, now, if we want the Fourth Prince to be executed, the best way is to force him to raise an army."

Ning Yi knew very well that if he wanted to deal with the fourth brother, the old emperor would have to deal with him unless the fourth brother rebelled.

"However, Your Highness has another unexpected gain." Zeng Zhizhong said meaningfully, "After this incident, the Fourth Prince must be extremely resentful of the Second Prince. A fierce struggle will ensue between them. Your Highness should simply seize this opportunity to develop yourself."

This made Ning Yi very satisfied. He said with a smile: "Well said. The rest will be left to those two brothers to perform. As for me, I will also have to do it as soon as possible."

Ning Yi arranged everything and returned to the Prince's Mansion with satisfaction.

After giving the little brats some careful training, as they were heading to the middle courtyard, he suddenly asked curiously, "How long has it been since the princess came to the middle courtyard?"

Zeng Rou, who was standing beside her, heard the words "Prince's Consort" and fear flashed in her beautiful big eyes. The last lesson was indeed a heavy one.

He replied quietly, "Your Highness, the princess hasn't come since the last incident."

"Really?" Ning Yi pondered for a moment, "Is she so obedient? This prince will go and see for himself."

The Crown Princess is the beloved daughter of the Minister of War, and there will be many things that will require the Minister of War's support in the future.