Chapter 63: Along This Way, My Empire

The imperial highway was long and filled with swirling dust.

Zhu Di led his horse by the reins, step by step, walking with absolute steadiness.

He was no longer the flustered soldier who had fled in haste from Wu Family Village. Every step he took felt as though he were measuring this land, carving everything he had witnessed along the way—the shattered villages, the numb faces, and the trembling spine of old man Wu desperately trying to remain upright—deep into his very bones.

He finally understood.

That fatty, Fan Tong, had made him deliver those parcels not because it happened to be on the way.

That fellow, who usually wore a cheeky grin, spoke nonsense, and was so stingy he would split a single copper coin in half, had wanted him—the Prince of Yan, born into the imperial family and raised deep within the palace—to see for himself what truly supported this dragon throne.

It was supported by countless names like Wu Mang, Liu Sanpao, and Zhang Laosi; by the tears of their parents, the expectations of their wives and children, and their own boiling hot blood and shattered bones.

This road was a lesson taught to him by Fan Tong.

A lesson that could never be learned inside the imperial palace or from any military manual.

If Fan Tong knew what he was thinking, he would surely grin innocently and say, "You're overthinking it. It was simply on your way, saving some postage."

Zhu Di's heart was heavier than ever before, yet clearer than ever before.

Yingtian Prefecture, Kunning Palace.

Empress Ma paced back and forth inside the hall, strands of silver hair at her temples flickering under the candlelight, utterly unable to conceal the anxiety on her face.

"Zhongba! Didn't you say the scout reports claimed the fourth lad should have arrived by noon? What time is it now!"

Sitting upon the dragon throne, Zhu Yuanzhang held a secret memorial in his hand. Hearing this, he raised his head, a trace of impatience on his face. "Soon, soon! Sit down for a while, aren't your legs sore?"

"My son is about to return, how could I possibly sit!" Empress Ma shot him an exasperated glare.

Just as her voice trailed off, a flurry of hurried hoofbeats echoed from outside the hall, followed immediately by a young eunuch who tumbled and crawled inside, his voice shrill and brimming with joy.

"Your Majesty! Empress! His Highness the Fourth Prince... has returned!"

Zhu Yuanzhang and Empress Ma exchanged a glance, stood up simultaneously, and strode quickly toward the palace gates.

Under the moonlight, a tall and robust figure was seen leading an exhausted warhorse as he slowly approached.

Zhu Yuanzhang's footsteps abruptly came to a halt.

He narrowed his small eyes and carefully sized up his son.

Was this truly his fourth son?

He had grown a full head taller than when he left the capital, his shoulders as broad as a small mountain, and his washed-out, coarse cloth military uniform was tightly stretched by bulging muscles. His face had been sharply chiseled by the wind and sand, his skin tanned dark, and his gaze was calm yet tinged with an indescribable, fierce aura.

"Does our Zhu family even grow this tall?" Zhu Yuanzhang muttered unconsciously.

"What of it!" Empress Ma beside him instantly arched her brows in anger, her phoenix eyes widening. "Zhu Zhongba! What do you mean by that?"

"Nothing! I mean nothing by it!" Zhu Yuanzhang quickly forced a sheepish smile, wrinkles bunching up on his face. "I'm just overjoyed! Our boy has grown up, grown sturdy!"

Empress Ma let out a cold snort, ignoring him further as she rushed forward in two or three steps.

Zhu Di walked up close, released the reins, unstrapped the final package from the horse's back, knelt down on both knees, and spoke in a steady voice.

"Your unfilial son Zhu Di pays respects to Father and Mother."

"Get up! Quickly get up!" Empress Ma pulled him to his feet, tears instantly streaming down. She reached out with rough hands, feeling up and down across Zhu Di's body, continuously muttering, "Good, good, as long as you're in one piece... My boy, your mother has missed you to death!"

Weeping all the while, she pulled Zhu Di inward. "Quick, come inside with me. Mother has prepared a table full of all your favorite dishes! Look how dark and thin you've gotten..."

Zhu Yuanzhang thought to himself, *If this counts as thin, a doting mother truly ruins her child!*

Drawn along by his mother and catching the familiar fragrance, the hardest piece of ice in Zhu Di's heart quietly melted away at the edges.

Zhu Yuanzhang stepped forward, heavily patting Zhu Di's shoulder. Feeling muscles as solid as iron blocks, he nodded in satisfaction and let out a hearty laugh. "Not bad! Not bad! This is indeed a fine son of Zhu Yuanzhang!"

Zhu Di handed over that package, along with the wax-sealed pellet he kept inside his tunic.

The three of them entered the side hall, where the table was already laden with delicacies.

Zhu Di was genuinely hungry. He picked up his chopsticks and devoured everything like a whirlwind, leaving Empress Ma torn between heartache and gratification as she endlessly complained that Xu Da hadn't taken proper care of her son.

Meanwhile, Zhu Yuanzhang sat to one side, opening Xu Da's secret memorial and breaking open the wax pellet.

He read extremely slowly, his brows alternately smoothing out and locking tight.

When he finished reading and raised his eyes, he froze completely.

The table full of food was already empty.

Zhu Di put down his chopsticks, wiped his mouth, and called out to the eunuch by the door.

"Bring another table."

Zhu Yuanzhang's eyes nearly popped out of his head.

He looked back down at the absurd food expense ledger for the Vanguard Battalion in the secret memorial, then looked at his broad-shouldered, enormous-appetited son.

A terrifying thought popped into his head.

If Great Ming had tens of thousands of soldiers like this... they would probably eat his entire imperial palace clean!

By the time Crown Prince Zhu Biao entered, the second table of food was also nearing its end.

Empress Ma cast a heartbroken look at her son, then tactfully took her leave, leaving the space to the three father and son figures.

Zhu Yuanzhang handed the secret memorial to Zhu Biao, signaling for him to take a look as well.

"Fourth Lad, is that so-called Golden-Hulled Warrior mentioned by Fan Tong true?" Zhu Yuanzhang asked in a deep voice.

Zhu Di shook his head. "Replying to Father, this son does not know. But the Vanguard Battalion did indeed use a secret medicine. After taking it, their appetites became extraordinary, and a single ordinary soldier could consume the food of three to five men. The consumption of Fan Tong's personal guards was even more terrifying."

He paused slightly before continuing, "However, their strength is boundless, their stamina astonishing, and they fight without fear of death. Their combat prowess is far beyond that of ordinary soldiers."

"As for Fan Tong, what kind of person is he?" Zhu Biao asked gently.

"He loves his soldiers like his own children, treasures wealth as his life, is passionately fond of good food, yet... holds no attachment to power and position." Zhu Di pondered for a moment before offering this assessment.

Following that, he recounted everything he had witnessed in complete detail, starting from assuming the alias "Zhu Hu" to join the Vanguard Battalion, through the bloody battle of Lingbei, and all the way down south on his return journey.

He added no embellishments, nor did he conceal anything.

This included Fan Tong's various unorthodox antics, the death of Wu Mang, the resolute determination of the wounded soldiers' camp, and the harrowing human tragedies he witnessed while delivering the parcels.

Both Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Biao listened in silence.

One was the founder of the Great Ming Dynasty, and the other was its future guardian. From Zhu Di's account, they heard something entirely different.

What Zhu Yuanzhang heard of was an invincible force of tigers and wolves, the possibility of sweeping across the northern desert.

What Zhu Biao saw, however, was the burden behind this army—a burden heavy enough to crush the national treasury, alongside countless shattered families.

"If we strengthen the army using this method, the treasury of our Great Ming will be exhausted within three years," Zhu Biao said, his brows tightly knitted. "Moreover, forcing growth through medicinal stones can never be the righteous path; I fear there will be hidden troubles later."

Zhu Yuanzhang did not refute him.

He looked at his son, who was still gorging himself, and then glanced back at the food expense ledger, shaking his head.

They couldn't afford it! They simply couldn't afford to raise them!

The secret letter also stated that this was merely the effect after a hundredfold dilution.

If it were the undiluted essence... he dared not imagine it.

"Someone come," Zhu Yuanzhang commanded in a deep voice.

A Embroidered Uniform Guard, clad in a fish-scale robe and wearing a Xiuchun saber at his waist, appeared like a ghost within the hall and knelt on one knee.

Zhu Yuanzhang tossed over the bottle of greenish "Immortal Oil" and the scroll containing the alchemy recipe.

"Test the potion on death-row prisoners and record every single reaction."

"As for the formula, hand it over to the Celestial Masters' Mansion on Mount Longhu. Have them thoroughly study what on earth these bones of ancient mythical beasts are."

"As you command!" The figure of the Guard once again vanished into the shadows.

Looking out at the deep night scenery beyond the window, Zhu Yuanzhang felt both the excitement of acquiring a sharp weapon and the underlying worry that the weapon was so keen it might cut his own hands at any moment.

That fatty Fan Tong was as slippery as an eel, just like his father. Was he truly a fortunate general bestowed upon him by the heavens, or a bottomless abyss capable of eating him into poverty?

Even he could no longer be certain.