Chapter 420: A Crude Brute's Discourtesy!

Wang Dou turned to look and saw it was Regional Commander Meng Ruhu, Sun Yingyuan, Huang Degong, and Vice Regional Commander Zhang Yingyuan, Zhou Yuji, and others. Behind them followed a large group of officers, all clad in armor, their armor plates clanking and ringing.

The one who had spoken was Capital Training Garrison Regional Commander Sun Yingyuan. He was in his forties, with a commanding and dignified bearing, wearing a cloud-wing helmet and a long-body surcoat, the armor plates exposed in the bright-armor style. From shoulder to arm he also wore a pair of arm guards, the armor plates of fine quality, gleaming and shining.

At his waist he wore a leather belt hung with bow, arrows, and a treasured sword. As he walked, the bright red python robe beneath was intermittently revealed at his arms and the swing of his legs.

Not only was Sun Yingyuan dressed this way; Huang Degong, Zhou Yuji, and all the Capital Training Garrison officers behind them were attired the same.

However, the personal guard soldiers behind them, apart from the cloud-wing helmets and arm guards, wore long-body surcoats of the concealed-armor style, the plates lined inside and not exposed. Each man's surcoat was deep red, looking from afar like red clouds — this was the origin of the Ming army being praised as the "Red Army."

The officers and soldiers of the Capital Training Garrison wore the most orthodox armor style of the Great Ming, looking imposing and extraordinary. In particular, Sun Yingyuan, Huang Degong, and Zhou Yuji were famous generals of the Capital Training Garrison, and the troops under their command could be said to be the last combat-capable force of the garrison, deeply commended by the Chongzhen Emperor. In their bearing was a natural heroic confidence.

Seeing Sun Yingyuan speak, Wang Dou cupped his hands and smiled: "So it is Regional Commander Sun. This junior officer greets the Grand General."

He also gave a circling bow to Huang Degong, Meng Ruhu, Zhou Yuji, and the others.

Sun Yingyuan smiled slightly: "We are all comrades-in-arms, why such excessive courtesy."

He looked Wang Dou over carefully and sighed: "Already several years ago I heard of the General's great name; it is a pity we could not meet."

He looked at the officers behind Wang Dou and all the guard commanders, revealing an appreciative expression, and sighed again: "All are fierce and valiant warriors — no wonder you could slay the rebel Zhang!"

He said: "Let me make introductions."

Pointing to the full-bearded, massively built Huang Degong beside him, he said: "Just call him Huang Chuangzi."

Huang Degong split his wide mouth into a grin: "I like being called that. The brothers in the army all call me that."

He spoke with a slight Anhui accent. Wang Dou knew that although he was a man of Kaiyuan in Liaodong, his ancestors came from Hefei, so the accent was not strange.

Sun Yingyuan then pointed to the taciturn and seemingly quite honest and sincere Zhou Yuji and said: "This one is rather stiff; greeting him with military courtesy will suffice."

Finally he pointed to the one whose face was full of the marks of hardship, clad from head to toe in bright armor and wearing a worn old cloak — Meng Ruhu — and said: "This is the Bandit-Suppression Regional Commander Meng Ruhu, Marshal Meng. Your slaying of the rebel Zhang has avenged a great grudge for our Marshal Meng."

Meng Ruhu's expression was complicated. In pursuing and suppressing Zhang Xianzhong, he had suffered the greatest losses. His son Meng Xianjie and nephew Meng Zhong had died in battle, and his great command banners and military tallies had all been lost. Yet he could not say that Wang Dou's great victory at Xiangyang was wrong, so he merely sighed.

Behind him, his Central Army Assistant Regional Commander Ma Zhi, however, felt aggrieved and muttered under his breath: "Wasn't it just luck, happening to run into the rebel Zhang?"

Although his voice was low, Wang Dou and the others all heard it. Behind him, Xie Yike and Gao Shiyin were both furious and were about to retort when Meng Ruhu already burst out with a roar, bellowing at Ma Zhi: "Luck? Is there such a thing as luck in this world? If you had encountered the rebel Zhang at Xiangyang, could you have taken his head? Could you have annihilated his two thousand elite cavalry?"

Ma Zhi was scolded until his head was covered in lumps and could only lower his head in silence. He also knew that although Wang Dou was now an Assistant Regional Commander like himself, Wang Dou had twice performed great deeds and would be promoted in the blink of an eye, soon standing equal with Meng Ruhu and the others — something he himself could not compare with.

Besides, when entering Xiangyang city, he had also seen the incomparably elite Shunxiang Army on the city walls. He had heard that Wang Dou had as many as seven thousand such troops inside and outside Xiangyang city — who would not feel a chill in their heart and dare to act rashly?

Sun Yingyuan also furrowed his brow. He was introducing the various officers to Wang Dou when this Ma Zhi suddenly muttered a remark — words that were unreasonable and utterly improper.

Wang Dou smiled faintly: "General Ma's words were unintentional; let it be."

Meng Ruhu seized the chance to wrap things up and barked at Ma Zhi: "Back at camp I'll deal with you."

Huang Degong stepped out and smoothed things over: "Alright, alright, the most important thing now is to drink! I hear the Drunken Immortal Tavern north of the city is quite good, and you can even see the scenery of the Han River. I'll book the whole tavern, and we can all celebrate properly."

He said to Wang Dou: "It's set for the hour of Chen. General Wang must come. We shall drink heartily and not return until drunk."

Wang Dou knew they wished to befriend him, and was he not of the same mind? He smiled and said: "With such warm hospitality, Dou will certainly go."

At the moment everyone was in full armor, so naturally they had to return to camp to change into casual clothes before attending the banquet.

Wang Dou was just about to take his leave when he suddenly heard a shrill voice: "Yo, everyone's here."

Everyone looked and saw it was the eunuchs Liu and Lu Jiude emerging from within the command gate. Behind each of them followed several trusted eunuch attendants. Beside the sedan chairs outside the command gate, a large crowd of minor attendants had also gathered; seeing their masters come out, they all hurried forward to attend them.

The one who had spoken was the Grand Eunuch Liu. Toward the army-supervising inner-court officials, no one dared be negligent, let alone Liu, who came from the Directorate of Ceremonial, had long supervised various armies, and whose prestige was well established. Everyone saluted and greeted the two eunuchs.

A young eunuch carefully fastened a brocade-and-gold-thread cloak for Liu, who enjoyed it with unhurried leisure, paying no mind to the greetings. Suddenly his eyes lit up — he had spotted Wang Dou among the crowd.

He adjusted his cloak and outer robe slightly and walked toward Wang Dou, opening with a smile: "Just now in the important ground of the White Tiger Hall, it was not convenient to greet the General. Seeing you again now, you are indeed martial and extraordinary — no wonder you could achieve great victories at Luoyang and Xiangyang and perform unprecedented, wondrous deeds."

His expression was originally somber and gloomy, but when he smiled now, there was a hint of amiability.

Behind him followed the eunuch Lu Jiude, who was all smiles, his face glossy and sleek.

Wang Dou did not know what this eunuch intended and smiled faintly: "You are too kind, Eunuch; Dou dare not accept such praise."

Liu said: "It is good to meet. By the way, I happen to have a matter to discuss with the General."

Wang Dou's thoughts raced, and he said: "Please speak, Eunuch."

Liu said: "I know that in the General's great victory at Xiangyang, you slew two thousand of the rebel Zhang's elite cavalry and captured a great many mules and fine steeds. I wonder if we might come to an arrangement — could you let me have three hundred fine horses?"

The moment these words were spoken, the atmosphere in the field grew subtle. Mobile Corps Commanders and Assistant Regional Commanders like Ma Wenzhi and Ma Zhi all took pleasure in his misfortune. Meng Ruhu, Sun Yingyuan, Huang Degong, and the others furrowed their brows. Sun Yingyuan in particular looked rather displeased — this damned eunuch, insatiably greedy, with no regard for person or occasion.

At this time, Liu was Sun Yingyuan's army supervisor. This man, relying on his long tenure supervising various armies and his position as a eunuch of the Directorate of Ceremonial, used his power to act arrogantly. Not only did he incessantly make demands of Sun Yingyuan, he also encroached on military supplies, took the camp's elite soldiers entirely into his own personal battalion, and falsely claimed many merits. Sun Yingyuan, mindful that he was an inner-court supervisor, did not wish to offend him lightly.

But what kind of man was Wang Dou? Although Sun Yingyuan was meeting Wang Dou for the first time, he knew this Wang Dou was not one to be trifled with — he feared trouble might erupt.

He coughed once and stepped forward, saying in a low voice: "Supervising Minister..."

Liu waved a hand, cutting off Sun Yingyuan, and looked displeased at Wang Dou: "Yes or no, General Wang, give me an answer. It's not as if I would short you on silver."

Wang Dou's face darkened. He had some understanding of Liu and Lu Jiude. Lu Jiude was greedy, yes, but at critical moments he merely took bribes to bend the rules and would gather monks to chant Buddha's name, praying to escape death; other than that, he had no great evil deeds. But what of this Liu? In the seventh year of Chongzhen, he had accepted Li Zicheng's bribe, allowing his forces to break out of Chexiang Gorge and snatch survival from certain doom.

Not only greedy, but cold and vicious by nature, he let his troops plunder and pillage, and trifling with bandits and harming the people was commonplace for him. In the historical fourteenth year of Chongzhen, when Li Zicheng captured Nanyang, Liu seized women and fled north. Later, finding that the women slowed his flight, he drowned every one of the captured women in the river.

And now he was even trying to extort from Wang Dou himself. Others might not dare offend an inner-court official lightly, but Wang Dou had no such qualms.

Moreover, although mules were plentiful on the eastern route, warhorses were few. Liu opened his mouth and demanded three hundred fine horses — what were fine horses? At minimum, warhorses. How could he be willing to give them? As for silver, never mind whether Liu would pay or not — even if he did, would Wang Dou be short of that bit of money?

Thinking this, he said coolly: "This official is also short of fine horses, so I must apologize. Farewell!"

He tossed his cloak and strode away.

All the Shunxiang Army officers followed behind Wang Dou in great strides. Xie Yike and Gao Shiyin even turned their heads back to glare furiously at Liu.

Wen Daxing's eyes flashed with cold light, his gaze sweeping across Liu's neck. In the eleventh year of Chongzhen, he had followed the General in killing the Grand Eunuch Gao Qiqian. At the time he had been terrified, but now that the matter was past, looking back, it was nothing more than that.

If this Liu dared to keep babbling insolently, he would send him after Gao Qiqian!

Liu had never imagined that Wang Dou would be so ungrateful, so unable to appreciate kindness, publicly slapping his face. It took him a long moment to react, and he shrieked in shock and fury: "How dare a crude brute be so discourteous!"

Meng Ruhu, Sun Yingyuan, Huang Degong, and the others had not expected Wang Dou to dare publicly humiliate Liu, and they were all struck speechless on the spot.

That evening at the hour of Chen, Wang Dou arrived at the Drunken Immortal Tavern with Xie Yike and two squads of guards. He had always been like this — even on the eastern route, he always kept at least one or two squads of guards by his side.

Meng Ruhu, Sun Yingyuan, Huang Degong, Zhou Yuji, and the others were already waiting downstairs to welcome him, followed by a large crowd of subordinate officers, each dressed in brocade robes and casual attire. The looks those subordinate officers gave Wang Dou were somewhat strange — among them were admiration, but also schadenfreude and other emotions. This Wang Dou had thoroughly offended Supervising Minister Liu.

Huang Degong strode out with a great laugh and clapped Wang Dou heartily on the shoulder: "Grand General Wang, you've finally come."

He also lowered his voice: “Offending Eunuch Director Liu is no good thing — be careful he doesn’t lodge a complaint with His Majesty.”

Wang Dou smiled faintly: “It doesn’t matter.”

Huang Degong and Zhou Yuji both sympathized with Wang Dou and Sun Yingyuan. The two of them were supervised by Lu Jiude, which was tolerable — though Lu Jiude was greedy, he still understood the occasion and knew when to stop. But Sun Yingyuan served under Liu, and who knew how many reprimands he usually suffered. Now Wang Dou had also offended Liu — this was truly…

Yet seeing Wang Dou’s calm expression, Huang Degong felt admiration. When he thought about it, although people like themselves dared not lightly offend the inner officials, Wang Dou was different. He was renowned throughout the realm, and his military strength was formidable. No matter how overbearing Liu was, he could not reach Wang Dou’s head.

Even if he made a whispered report to His Majesty, just think — a weighty minister of state on one side, a household slave on the other. Everyone knew which way the Emperor would lean.

Meng Ruhu and Sun Yingyuan also came out and exchanged low words with Wang Dou. It was plain to see that both old generals cared deeply about Wang Dou.

Wang Dou felt warmth in his heart. For each person’s goodwill, he gave thanks one by one. As for the matter with Liu, he did not take it to heart.

The group exchanged more pleasantries for a while, then together they surged upstairs.

…

(Note: The “ting belt” was the waist belt of the time, with either punched holes or a spring catch. “Arm-hands,” also called arm-bindings, were a type of arm armor commonly used in the Ming army; they did not exist before the Ming.)

(Another note: Great Ming armor was very imposing, not the listless appearance seen on television. Interested friends can look up the “Entering the Police and Stepping into the Imperial Guard” scroll and the “Pacifying the Rebels and Winning Victory” scroll to see the actual armor styles of the Great Ming.) (To be continued..)