Chapter 374: This Emperor Is Very Tough

Zhu Youxiao glanced at Xu Guangqi and said, "My dear minister, why put yourself through this?"

"For Your Majesty, for the Great Ming," Xu Guangqi hurriedly bowed and said, "This is the duty of a minister."

"In that case, I shall follow your advice." Zhu Youxiao nodded and said, "Make the preparations, and set out to return to the capital."

"Yes, Your Majesty." Xu Guangqi said hurriedly, a look of relief appearing on his face.

Before Xu Guangqi had come here, he had not expected matters to proceed so smoothly. Naturally, he was pleased in his heart, and at the same time gratified that he had not been mistaken—His Majesty was indeed a wise ruler capable of restoring the Great Ming to glory.

Although His Majesty was somewhat stubborn, he could still listen to counsel—that was a fine quality a wise ruler ought to possess. As for stubbornness, that too was the persistence an emperor should have.

"If there is nothing else, your minister takes his leave." Xu Guangqi said hurriedly, "Your minister will immediately return to make arrangements and have them prepare."

Zhu Youxiao nodded, which counted as tacit approval of Xu Guangqi's words.

Seeing Zhu Youxiao nod, Xu Guangqi said nothing more and turned to walk out.

His steps were very brisk—clearly, having cast off the burden in his heart, he felt considerably lighter overall.

Here in Jining, Zhu Youxiao was already preparing to return to the capital, but the war situation in Shandong continued nonetheless—though it had basically already taken on a one-sided aspect.

As the Ming army gradually linked up into a continuous line and completed the encirclement, the Wenxiang sect could no longer stir up any trouble. Small groups of commoners surrendering in various places, members of the Wenxiang sect betraying one another—such things were everywhere.

The court was relatively lenient toward the common people—as long as they admitted their mistakes with a good attitude and had no record of misdeeds, they were registered and all released.

As for those whose hands were stained with blood, basically all of them had already been killed. Not a single member of the Wenxiang sect had been spared.

These people had entrenched themselves in Shandong for decades—one could say they were deeply rooted, rebels to the bone. Naturally, such people could not be let off.

Though the path of the government army could not be called rivers of blood, it still left a trail of corpses behind.

Zhang Weixian led his men straight for Qufu, only to find the place empty—but before Qufu he had also wiped out the remnants of the Wenxiang sect.

By the time the main army arrived at Xiazhen, the town was already empty of people—the rebels had long since fled.

At the same time, a startling piece of news spread out:

Xu Hongru was leading his men straight for Jining city.

He was going to attack His Majesty!

Upon receiving this news, everyone was utterly astonished, and then all of them were scared out of their wits.

One had to understand—His Majesty was in Jining city. Whether or not Xu Hongru could take Jining, it would still be a dereliction of duty on their part. To actually let rebels harass His Majesty—their crimes would be great indeed.

So Zhang Weixian wanted to lead his men in a frantic rush toward Jining city, preparing to rescue the Emperor.

Zhang Weixian's side had received the news, and naturally Jining city had received it as well.

Upon learning that Xu Hongru was leading his men toward Jining city, Zhu Youxiao did not take the matter to heart at all. In Zhu Youxiao's view, these people could not withstand a fight at all.

But those beneath him were anxious. If His Majesty were truly frightened, they would all be in serious trouble.

Qi Jin, Xu Guangqi, Huang Kezuan, and others hurriedly came before Zhu Youxiao.

Xu Guangqi said with a somewhat urgent expression, "Your Majesty, your minister has basically finished preparations—we can set out for the capital at once."

Zhu Youxiao looked at the several men and said, "If Xu Hongru had not come, I might have left. Now that Xu Hongru has come, I cannot leave."

Zhu Youxiao said with a grave face, "I am the Emperor of the Great Ming. The people of this Jining city are all my subjects—I cannot abandon my people and leave. Moreover, facing these rebels, if I fled, what would that make me? Would it not be granting prestige to these rebels? It would truly be a loss of face for the court!"

When Zhu Youxiao said these words, his tone was sincere and his expression solemn.

This was not merely empty talk from his lips—he truly thought this way in his heart as well.

As the Emperor himself, of course he could not leave—this point was absolutely critical. If he left, this act would have an extremely, extremely bad effect on his prestige.

This time, he had stirred up so many matters in Shandong that many people were already dissatisfied. His reputation had already suffered damage. If at this moment he abandoned the city and fled, who knew what people would say.

Though an emperor's prestige could not reach the level of a sage, it absolutely had to exist—otherwise, the whole world would betray you.

An emperor absolutely had to maintain his prestige among certain people—only then could he have a core faction loyal to him.

After hearing these words, Xu Guangqi anxiously stepped forward and opened his mouth to say something more.

Zhu Youxiao waved his hand to cut Xu Guangqi off and said directly, "My mind is made up. My dear minister need not say more."

After saying this, Zhu Youxiao turned his head to look at Qi Jin and said slowly with a grave face, "Qi Ai Qing, this time you have only brought five thousand men, and the troops in Jining city cannot be transferred to your command either. That is to say, right now you have only five thousand men in hand. I have only one question—can these five thousand men rout the rebels?"

Upon hearing these words, both Xu Guangqi and Huang Kezuan turned their heads to look at Qi Jin.

As for Qi Jin himself, in his heart there was not the slightest trace of worry, nor even any sense of tension—instead, he was extremely excited.

Qi Jin knew that his opportunity had finally come.

Ever since he had entered the capital, His Majesty had shown him exceptional favor and regard, singling him out for special attention. This had already made many people envious, jealous, and resentful. Qi Jin had also been repaying the Emperor's favor with practical actions, but in the end it still was not quite enough.

That time in the southwest, although his men had put on a display, it had still been too far away.

This time was different.

This time it was right before His Majesty's very eyes. Moreover, the situation was now precarious—this was precisely the moment for him to turn the tide.

As for whether he had confidence—Qi Jin was not worried at all. Although he only had five thousand men, these five thousand of his were absolutely the elite among elites. Not to mention anything else, he had a full thousand heavily armored infantry. In addition, there were musketeers, cannons, and so forth.

With this kind of equipment of his, plus superbly trained soldiers—if he could not even deal with a bunch of rebelling Wenxiang sect members, then he might as well give up training troops altogether.

This time, he absolutely had to do a splendid job.

So Qi Jin stepped forward, bowed, and said, "Your Majesty, your minister will certainly not disappoint Your Majesty's expectations."

"Then go." Zhu Youxiao nodded and said, "I will wait here for news of your victory."

"Yes, Your Majesty." Qi Jin acknowledged, then turned and walked out.

His steps were extremely firm, and he walked very quickly—clearly, he was already somewhat impatient.

Seeing this scene, Xu Guangqi also knew that no matter what he said now, it would be useless.

His Majesty had firmly made up his mind not to leave. Since that was the case, then His Majesty's safety had to be guaranteed.

So Xu Guangqi also bowed and said, "Then if there is nothing else, your minister will also take his leave."

"Go, go." Zhu Youxiao nodded and said.

Although Zhu Youxiao did not know why Xu Guangqi was in such a hurry to leave, he was not in the mood to let Xu Guangqi stay here and annoy him right now, so he directly waved his hand to let him go.

After exiting the door, Huang Kezuan hurriedly grabbed Xu Guangqi and asked directly, "What is Grand Secretary Xu planning to do?"

"Go find Qi Jin." Xu Guangqi said: "There are some things I need to instruct him on. His primary mission this time is not to kill the enemy, but to protect Jining city and safeguard His Majesty's safety. I'm truly afraid that in a moment of impulse he'll throw all caution to the wind. Although Qi Jin is also a seasoned veteran of the battlefield, this matter is truly of great importance—I won't feel at ease without giving him a few words of instruction."

Huang Kezuan nodded, understanding Xu Guangqi's concern, and also understanding his thinking.

In truth, these rebels before them couldn't possibly succeed. As long as troops from various regions arrived—or even if Zhang Weixian turned back to reinforce—these people would all be finished.

What Qi Jin needed to do wasn't to rout or annihilate them at all, but simply to hold them in place.

From the way Qi Jin had just left, it was clear he wasn't going to just hold them in place. That fellow had grand ambitions. If they didn't go give him a few words of instruction now, he would indeed be an unstable factor.

So Huang Kezuan nodded and said: "Then I'll go together with Grand Secretary Xu."

Xu Guangqi glanced at him, nodded, and took the lead walking out.

After the two had left, Zhu Youxiao finally let out a sigh of relief and stretched his limbs.

Then he turned to Chen Hong and said: "Have someone spread the word that I will not leave Jining city."

This would reassure the people and keep Jining city from descending into chaos.

If he were to flee, then the people of Jining would likely flee as well. By then, forget about fighting—Jining city would collapse into chaos on its own.

That was absolutely not what he wanted. If it came to that, this battle might very well be lost.

Additionally, this could also boost his prestige, since many people still preferred a more resolute emperor.

"Yes, this servant will see to it at once." Chen Hong acknowledged and hurried out.

At the same time, the entire city of Jining had fallen into panic—no one had expected the rebels to fight their way here.

However, news that His Majesty was not leaving did indeed reassure the people. After all, with His Majesty here, it proved that Jining city could be held.

Meanwhile, Qi Jin also met with Xu Guangqi and Huang Kezuan. But as for what the two men said, Qi Jin was rather dismissive.

They were merely a band of rebels—what was there to fear?

So Qi Jin led his men out of the city.

With His Majesty in the city, the battlefield naturally couldn't be set in Jining. Qi Jin prepared to meet the enemy head-on and strike them. Of course, scouts were sent out first.

After more than five hundred scouts were dispatched, all kinds of intelligence came streaming back.

In the New Army, intelligence had always been of paramount importance. This was something Zhu Youxiao had emphasized again and again ever since he established the New Army.

Thus, in the New Army, the number of scouts was very large. Scouts were also the elite of the army, their status equivalent to a reconnaissance company in later ages. They were trained in all sorts of skills to a very high standard, and possessed many abilities.

As they went out to gather intelligence, reports quickly came back. In just half a day, they had located Xu Hongru's main force.

Looking at the scout before him, Qi Jin asked: "About twenty thousand men?"

"Yes, General. They have roughly twenty thousand men." The scout quickly replied: "These men are well-equipped. They wear armor, carry swords and spears, and have some bows and arrows—likely looted from various cities."

Qi Jin nodded, not taking it to heart at all.

The enemy only had twenty thousand men—this already made Qi Jin quite satisfied. If they had fifty thousand, that would have been troublesome instead.

Qi Jin wasn't worried about being unable to defeat them; rather, he was worried that if the enemy had too many men, they might split their forces. Now that the enemy only had twenty thousand, they naturally couldn't divide their troops.

So Qi Jin said directly: "Pass the order—forced march, head straight for where the rebels are. Tell them, this time we're going to earn a great merit, for the rebel leader is right ahead of us."

"The Duke of Ying led men to surround and suppress him, yet couldn't catch him; people from all over have been searching for this Xu Hongru, but none have found him. Now that we know Xu Hongru has stumbled right into our arms, we absolutely cannot let him get away!"

"Tell them, we want him alive—this is a great achievement. Once this merit is earned, His Majesty will naturally reward us handsomely."

"Yes, General." His subordinates eagerly acknowledged.

As for the New Army, they had great confidence in themselves. They weren't worried about losing to the rebels either. Qi Jin's words didn't make them underestimate the enemy—rather, they filled them with confidence.

Besides, many of these men before them were veterans of the Qi Family Army, some having long experience on the battlefield—naturally, they felt no fear.

So at Qi Jin's command, the army set out, charging straight toward Xu Hongru's position.

The New Army was well-trained and well-fed, so their physical fitness was excellent. They had also practiced forced marches in peacetime, and even leg wrappings had been universally adopted throughout the army.

They marched at great speed, a host of men creeping toward Xu Hongru through the night.

Meanwhile, Xu Hongru was also urging his subordinates to move faster.

He knew there were pursuers behind him—once word spread that he was heading for Jining, the pursuers would chase after him with everything they had.

He had to speed up the march to buy time, because after reaching Jining city, he would still need to attack it.

If he couldn't take Jining city in a short time, the army behind would certainly catch up. By then, all his schemes would be ruined.

By noon the next day, a scout returned once more to report to Qi Jin that they were now less than thirty li from Xu Hongru's force.

Qi Jin looked at the scout before him, his face grim as he asked coldly: "Has the enemy sent out scouts of their own?"

"Reporting to the General, the enemy has indeed sent out scouts, but only within ten li. We have done our best to avoid contact with them and prevent them from discovering us. Once the two sides are ten li apart, this subordinate will arrange men to eliminate their scouts." The subordinate quickly said: "We absolutely will not delay the General's plans."

Qi Jin nodded and said: "Then now let us select a place to begin the decisive battle."