Dressed as the prince's substitute? I took the throne

Hu Yongwei glanced at the deputy general beside him and said in a deep voice, "Remember, you must never mention this in front of the soldiers. You are the deputy general of the Imperial Guard. Your words and actions will greatly affect the soldiers!"

"Let's go back and talk!"

Returning to the barracks, Hu Yongwei closed the door and looked at his deputy general with a serious expression: "I always have a feeling that King Xiaoyao is not dead!"

"what?"

The deputy general was shocked: "But, we have clearly seen his coffin, and the funeral was held in the Xiaoyao King's palace. We all saw it!"

Hu Yongwei smiled bitterly and shook his head: "Of course I know this, but after meeting King Xiaoyao that time, I always have a feeling that he is the future leader of the Wu Dynasty. I have an urge to follow him forever!"

The deputy general was shocked. He didn't expect Hu Yongwei to say such words. Hu Yongwei was very arrogant before, and because of his youthful vigor, he basically never submitted to anyone.

Even the commander-in-chief of the Imperial Guards was only as good as Hu Yongwei in terms of martial arts, and could not convince Hu Yongwei.

"We'll wait and see, but for now, have the soldiers strictly guard all the city gates. If anyone suspicious is found, they must be arrested and interrogated. It's better to arrest a thousand by mistake than to let even one go!"

"By the way, has His Majesty issued any orders to deploy troops recently?"

The deputy general shook his head and said, "I haven't heard of that. Even the troops in the capital region don't seem to be mobilized by His Majesty."

"Isn't Your Majesty worried that the Liao Kingdom will launch a massive attack on the Wu Dynasty? Or is he ready to abandon us and go on his own to find immortality?"

"General, since you think so too, why did you stop the soldiers before?" Seeing Hu Yongwei ask such a question, the deputy general laughed.

Hu Yongwei shook his head and whispered, "The situation is still unclear. If we spread rumors in the army, we will be convicted!"

"Besides, before knowing the final result, I don't want Your Majesty to be like that!"

Although Hu Yongwei said so much, he was already disappointed with Emperor Wu in his heart. When he ascended the throne, he said in a high-sounding way that he wanted to change the status quo of the Wu Dynasty, realize the revival of the Wu Dynasty, and even restore it to its peak and heyday.

Unfortunately, over the years, we have only been treating the symptoms and not the root cause. All the measures seem to be just for show, which can only change the atmosphere of the Wu Dynasty for a period of time, but in essence there is no change.

"Come on, follow me to Prince Xiaoyao's residence!"

At this time, Zhou Chuxuan was lying on the bed, studying how to build a mortar.

In this era, although gunpowder technology was not very advanced, if the army could be equipped with grenade launchers and mortars, the damage to the enemy would undoubtedly be enormous.

"Maybe, they need to improve their gunpowder technology! Otherwise, it will be difficult to produce artillery shells of qualified quality!" Zhou Chuxuan said to himself with a brush in his mouth.

I can't imagine that if the Fuling Army was equipped with dozens of mortars, even if I only had 5,000 troops, it would be enough to capture the capital.

Just as Zhou Chuxuan was lost in thought, Murong Xue came in from outside and whispered, "Your Highness, the commander-in-chief of the Imperial Guard, Hu Yongwei, is here! He's right outside, and he wants to pay his respects to Your Highness!"

"Hu Yongwei!"

Zhou Chuxuan chuckled softly: "You guys go out and deal with it for now. If you can't handle it, you can bring him in to see me!"

"Yes!"

Murong Xue went out and came to Hu Yongwei: "General Hu, His Highness passed away not long ago. Thank you for your condolences. I believe His Highness's spirit in heaven must be very pleased!"

Looking at the deserted and somewhat desolate courtyard, Hu Yongwei lowered his voice and said, "General Murong, I admire your highness very much. May I ask, General Murong, is your highness really dead?"

Murong Xue immediately looked at Hu Yongwei seriously: "General Hu, how can you say such nonsense? His Highness's coffin is right here, how can you say such things?"

Hu Yongwei apologized repeatedly, "I'm sorry, General Murong, I just... can't believe it!"

Hu Yongwei stared at Zhou Chuxuan's coffin and the sad expressions of those present for a long time, his brows furrowed. "General Murong, if there ever comes a day when Xiaoyao Palace needs me for something, I will definitely help you!"

At this moment, a slight cough was heard from inside the room. Murong Xue immediately stood up and said, "General Hu, please follow me!"

When Hu Yongwei entered the room and saw Zhou Chuxuan sitting on the bed, he immediately knelt on the ground and said, "I am Hu Yongwei, the commander of the Imperial Guards. I kowtow to Your Highness!"

Hu Yongwei's mood could no longer be described as excitement. His Highness was not dead, His Highness was still alive!

Zhou Chuxuan gently waved his hand: "General Hu, get up! From the look in your eyes, I can see that you are not a blindly loyal person. So, I want to know if General Hu is willing to follow me and conspire to rule the world together!"

"The general is willing!"

Hu Yongwei said in a resounding voice, "From now on, I will be your Highness's servant. As long as your Highness wants me to do something, I will go through fire and water without hesitation!"

Zhou Chuxuan chuckled softly and said, "General Hu, aren't you afraid that I might do something that would bring chaos to the world? Why do you dare to follow me so wholeheartedly?"

"I am not afraid!"

Hu Yongwei said firmly, "I was born into a poor family, so I can naturally tell who is truly working for the good of the people and wants to bring peace to the world!"

"I saw it in His Highness, but not in the Emperor! I will always believe in His Highness!"

"it is good!"

Zhou Chuxuan nodded. If he could bring the huge force of the Imperial Guard under his command, his power would definitely increase dramatically, and controlling the Imperial Guard was equivalent to controlling the capital.

"General Hu, how many confidants do you have in the Imperial Guards that you can completely trust?"

Hu Yongwei pondered for a moment and said, "Your Highness, there are a total of seven or eight hundred people from my hometown in the Imperial Guard. I've gotten to know quite a few of them over the years you've been in my camp. So far, if you add up the numbers, there are probably three to five thousand of them. The rest, I can forcibly mobilize with my token!"

"In other words, if you didn't have Zhou Wanjiang's military token, you could mobilize three to five thousand people!"

"That's right!"

Zhou Chuxuan nodded. These people were enough. "Okay, in that case, you take some confidants to the Fuling Army camp, take my token, find General Han Bin, and ask him to make a batch of my new weapons for you!"

"Your Highness, are you talking about a repeating crossbow?"

"Repeating crossbow?" Zhou Chuxuan shook his head. "I've already eliminated that! Go ahead, there's a surprise waiting for you there!"