Chapter 41: You Hold the Lance, I Draw the Bow-Desastre na Grande Ming(Se houver algo estranho, não se assuste.)

In the courtyard of the Imperial Hospital's side rooms, Zhu Wenzheng, who had long since recovered from his chronic illness, was practicing martial arts.

Though he remained alive, his name had already become a taboo within the Great Ming. Ministers of both civil and military ranks were strictly forbidden from meeting or even speaking with him. Even the imperial physician who used to change his dressings dared not set foot in the small courtyard once his wounds had healed. He lived in the palace under virtual house arrest, with the sole exception that the Empress, in her mercy, permitted his family to visit once a month.

Zhu Wenzheng had long since extinguished any lingering ambitions in his heart. Having spent more time by the Old Zhu's side than his own flesh-and-blood sons, he naturally knew the fate of those who betrayed the Old Zhu. He felt deeply grateful simply to have escaped with his life.

His only remaining wish was to watch his child grow up, occasionally test the boy's studies, and teach him martial arts. To live out the rest of his days in peace would be enough.

Suddenly, from over the courtyard wall, came the booming voice of Li Jinglong:

"Zhu Wenzheng, the Prince of Qin asks if you can still wield a long spear?"

"Zhu Wenzheng, the Prince of Qin asks if you can still firmly mount a fierce steed?"

Zhu Wenzheng laughed to the skies, vaulted over the wall, and waved his hand. "Of course! Does the Prince of Qin have any further instructions?"

Leading a snow-white steed, Li Jinglong turned the horse's head and smiled, "The Grand Commander says: With me drawing the bow and you holding the spear, even a million Yuan troops would be like entering an empty territory."

Zhu Wenzheng cupped his fists respectfully and said, "The sinner Zhu Wenzheng awaits your command."

Outside the Bian River by Kaifeng City, Zhu Shuang was lingering with an army of thirty thousand. Zhang Yu, Zhu Neng, and the others kept silent, until Qiu Fu finally could not hold it in any longer. "My Lord, aren't we going to fight the Yuan troops? We've been strolling by this river for three days now. Surely we haven't come here just for a spring outing, have we?"

Zhu Shuang smiled benignly. "You wooden-headed blockhead, didn't you see that Zhang Yu and the others didn't make a peep? Can't you tell I'm waiting for someone? Make another peep and I'll give you two big slaps."

Qiu Fu shrank his neck, and Zhu Shuang was satisfied.

So much for arrogant and unruly generals—not when they served under someone with a backbone. Disobedience simply meant someone was asking for a beating.

Take notes, good nephew Zhu Yunwen.

Finally, a small boat appeared in the middle of the river, pursued all the way along the bank by a squad of Yuan scouts shooting arrows.

Zhu Shuang pointed his riding crop and commanded, "Qiu Fu, capture those Tartars and question them. If you can't get anything out of them, dig a pit and bury them."

Qiu Fu led a squad away to carry out the order.

Seeing the boat draw ashore, Zhu Shuang hurried forward to pull the man ashore and embrace him. "To gain my elder brother is worth more than thirty thousand troops."

Zhang Yu and Zhu Neng were utterly bewildered. Aside from the two great generals Xu and Chang, who else in this era could possibly warrant such high praise from the Commander?

"The sinner Zhu Wenzheng greets the Commander-in-Chief of the Pacification Army."

Only then did the others suddenly understand. After all, this was the ferocious warrior who had single-handedly held off Chen Youliang's sixty thousand troops with just twenty thousand; saying thirty thousand was actually an understatement.

Zhu Shuang tossed a bronze tiger-tally to Zhu Wenzheng.

"Big brother, catch. From today onward, you are the Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Pacification Army."

Zhu Wenzheng was no coy man. He cupped his fists and said, "This subordinate obeys."

"Younger brother, before this subordinate came, Uncle brought something for you."

With a wave of Zhu Wenzheng's hand, Li Jinglong and Chang Sheng laboriously heaved a suit of armor engraved with shimmering golden twelve-dragon patterns off the boat and placed it before him.

Zhu Shuang tapped it and frowned—it was gilded bronze.

"These twelve coiled dragons of the Son of Heaven—this Prince is unworthy of them. Men, hang this armor in the commander's tent to represent the Son of Heaven inspecting the forces here."

Knowing the Old Zhu's temperament, Zhu Wenzheng rode his horse closer to Zhu Shuang and asked quietly, "Are you truly not tempted in the slightest?"

Zhu Shuang spat contemptuously. "Using a piece of junk to test people—who do you take me for? If you have the ability, bring me a golden suit of armor."

Hearing this, Zhu Wenzheng swayed and nearly fell off his horse, thinking to himself that his younger brother was truly... delightfully eccentric.

Zhu Shuang raised his arms and shouted, "Lads, the imperial court's Northern Expedition army has messed up! Now they're surrounded in a dead city, just like a flock of sheep and pigs waiting for the butcher—you know what cattle and horses mean, right?"

"My father, Emperor Zhu, gave us an imperial edict demanding that we travel thousands of miles to rescue this bunch of cattle and horses. Their Northern Expedition army's lives are lives, but our Pacification Army's lives mean nothing?"

"My father... though he's the Emperor, he's nearly fifty and getting senile in his old age."

The Pacification Army burst into loud laughter, Zhu Shuang completely ignoring the fact that the faces of Li Jinglong and Chang Sheng had turned liver-colored.

He continued, "What do his Ming armies have to do with us? We've been eating chaff and wild herbs here, and he's never provided us with a single bite of food. Am I right, lads?"

"Right, right, right! The Commander is right!"

"Right! To hell with their lives!"

"Our mission is to seize territory! What we need to do is seize territory! Only with territory do we get money and women. We won't just seize the Yuan army's territory; we'll also take back all the territory that those cattle and horses lost!"

"You know the rules of the Pacification Army: thirty mu of land for every captured plot, and it can be inherited by your descendants. Those who render meritorious service will be rewarded with gold and silver, and upon retirement, they can serve as officials. You know my rules: minor officials can be promoted in rank after twelve years!"

"For those who are wounded or disabled, the Commander's Mansion will provide for you for the rest of your lives. For those who die in battle, the Commander's Mansion will care for your families, old and young alike!"

"I have no royal mausoleum. In the future, I plan to choose a mountain outside the capital to build a Garden of Loyal Martyrs, so that when I accompany my brothers to the netherworld, we can still drink from giant bowls and eat great chunks of meat. How does that sound?"

Qiu Fu tilted his head and asked, "Does the Commander look down on us for being crude?"

"What the hell—aside from the fact that you hate washing your feet... well, forget it, I'm used to it by now."

"That sounds wonderful!"

"Lads, what are we going out to do?"

"Seize money, seize land, seize women!"

The entire army roared in unison. Zhu Wenzheng rubbed his temples, his mind full of dark lines as he muttered, "My younger brother's method of governing an army is something the sages of military strategy have never heard of. Truly... truly..."

Zhu Shuang asked curiously, "Truly what?"

Zhu Wenzheng replied speechlessly, "Truly unorthodox."

"Then how did Old Zhu boost morale back in the day?"

"Uncle excelled at handing out official titles and making grand promises, often squandering rewards of land without restraint..."

Zhu Shuang was left speechless. So that was the root cause behind the Old Zhu's massive purge of meritorious officials! You gave away more than half the realm in rewards, and only realized later—how could you not flip out? If you're going to make empty promises, fine, but just to save face you actually handed out real land, and as a result, the founding heroes of the Hongwu era happily swallowed a poisoned pill.

As a modern mid-level manager, Zhu Shuang found this backward and barbaric management system utterly absurd. He was nothing like the Old Zhu; he only confiscated corrupt officials' wealth without exterminating their entire clans—if everyone was dead, who was going to work for him?

The Pacification Army advanced with unstoppable momentum. Originally, a few small bands of Yuan scouts saw that every single man in the Pacification Army wore iron armor, with breastplates gleaming like mirrors under the sun, and each man riding two horses. Then they looked down at their own crude leather armor, patted the mules and donkeys they were riding, burst into tears, and scattered like birds and beasts.

With elite troops and fierce generals all taken away by Wang Baobao, Zhu Shuang instantly lost interest upon seeing this remaining bunch of beggar-like Yuan soldiers scattered across Henan.

Approaching Dengzhou (modern-day Zhengzhou, Henan), the city walls of Dengzhou were even lower than Kaifeng's by nearly a meter, constructed of bricks overall with a small section of earthen wall, causing Zhu Shuang to frown deeply.

A few Yuan soldiers stood idly on the city walls. Seeing the menacing and aggressive Pacification Army, they immediately beat the city gate drums and lit the beacon towers.

"Enemy attack!"

The Dengzhou Darughachi, Nai'er Buhe, stuck his head out from the top of the city wall in curiosity and muttered, "Where on earth did these Ming troops pop up from? Their equipment is actually this luxurious?"

He was dumbfounded. For the first time in his life, he was seeing even ordinary foot soldiers clad in full suits of armor.

Zhu Shuang looked through his telescope and saw that the man on the city wall was an old acquaintance—wasn't this Santa Claus?

"Zhang Dabiao, drag out my Italian artillery and give the bastards a salvo!"

Zhang Yu, who served concurrently as the commander of the military law enforcement squad and the artillery battalion commander, said speechlessly, "Does the Commander want single-shot or volley fire?"

"Just drag all the cannons out. Won't that turtle Nai'er shrink back the moment he sees the formation?"

Zhang Yu ordered the artillerymen to quietly set up the breech-loading Falangji cannons behind a large tree and gave the order: "Three rounds per volley. Ignite, fire!"

A cannonball traced a parabolic arc toward the city ramparts. You couldn't blame Nai'er Buhe for being sluggish; in this era, cannonballs were all solid shot, and this was his first time seeing explosive shells housed in lead casings.

Zhu Shuang would have preferred to use the optimal copper-cased shells, but copper coins were the mainstream currency of the day—where was he supposed to find that much copper ore?

Though lead-encased iron-plated shells were not durable for long-term storage, their explosive effect was just as good.

As a result, the gate tower, which had previously been packed with Yuan soldiers, was abruptly cleared into a vast open space, leaving behind broken walls and limbs scattered everywhere. The surviving Yuan soldiers didn't even have time to wipe the blood from their faces; they were scared out of their wits.

Seeing Nai'er Buhe blown into a fine mist of blood, Zhu Shuang crossed his chest and made the sign of the cross, praying that God would bless him with a complete set of testicles in his next life.

Zhu Wenzheng was dazed for a moment before snapping back to reality, his face flushed with excitement as he said, "Younger brother, why not take this opportunity to blast open the city gates with artillery? Dengzhou City can be taken today!"

Zhu Shuang shook his head. "We are civilized men. The rule of courtesy before force must never be forgotten."