Chapter 547: The Great Army Sets Out

"I never expected that you, my dear minister, would have experienced so much over these years and devoted so much heart to the Great Ming. Very good indeed."

Zhu Youxiao looked at Zuo Guangdou and said with a smile: "I already know. Now that you've returned to the capital this time, is there any particular office you have in mind, my dear minister?"

Hearing this, Zuo Guangdou was taken aback for a moment, then said with a calm expression: "Your servant will follow Your Majesty's arrangement."

In truth, the Emperor rarely asked ministers such things. Even if the Emperor did ask a minister such a question, the minister would never dare to casually tell the Emperor which office he wanted to go to — that would be asking for trouble.

Zhu Youxiao was only being polite anyway, and seeing that Zuo Guangdou knew his place, he felt reassured.

Zhu Youxiao said with a smile: "The post of Minister of Works is vacant. You shall fill that vacancy for now."

Hearing this, a smile appeared on Zuo Guangdou's face. He then stood up, bowed, and said: "Your servant thanks Your Majesty."

In truth, this arrangement was nothing out of the ordinary — it could be considered perfectly standard.

Governors serving in the provinces who were recalled to the capital would basically all take up posts as Ministers of the Six Ministries; that had always been the rule. Otherwise, they wouldn't have been recalled — they would have been left to wander outside forever.

Being recalled to the capital proved that you had done well; if you had done poorly, you would have been sent to Nanjing to retire, not brought to Beijing.

Arranging the post of Minister of Works also conformed to this convention.

Usually, upon entering the capital, one was not assigned to a major ministry. As for offices like the Ministry of Personnel or the Ministry of Revenue — don't even think about it. Those wouldn't be given, unless the Emperor specially promoted someone, or there were special circumstances.

An old minister being reinstated might enjoy such treatment, but a newcomer being promoted had no chance. So Minister of Works was a very fitting position.

"My dear minister, you may return now." Zhu Youxiao nodded and said, then turned to Wei Chao beside him and instructed once more: "Have someone prepare a carriage to send Minister Zuo back. Don't let him walk through the snow again."

Having a carriage travel within the palace grounds — this was a fine favor granted by the Emperor; ordinary people would never enjoy such treatment.

Though it was only once, and it was because of the heavy snowfall that he was sent off, it was still a rare honor.

Zuo Guangdou directly prostrated himself on the ground and said respectfully: "Your servant thanks Your Majesty!"

This was the Emperor elevating him, letting people know that he was one of the Emperor's trusted ministers.

After all, the factions in the court were clearly divided these days. For someone like Zuo Guangdou to insert himself in like this, it would basically be very hard to survive at court — being ostracized was inevitable.

Especially with Han Kuang's side — they would very likely make some move. Zhu Youxiao's approach here was actually protecting Zuo Guangdou.

After Zuo Guangdou left, Zhu Youxiao did not remain in the Qianqing Palace. Instead, he changed locations and went straight to Empress Zhang's quarters.

In the evening, he ate hotpot at Empress Zhang's place again and stayed there to sleep, not returning to the Qianqing Palace.

During this recent period, Zhu Youxiao had once again begun to enjoy the leisurely life of the harem.

In the days that followed, nothing major happened at court, and the realm remained fairly stable. The only thing was that quite a few routine memorials about snow disasters from various regions came in; the court sent many people to provide disaster relief, and grain was distributed from various localities.

Over these years, the thing Zhu Youxiao had done most was stockpile grain and build granaries across the regions — very much like a mouse hoarding food for the winter. Now it was finally proving useful.

After all, the Great Ming would face many disasters and hardships in the years ahead, and there were simply too many places that needed grain. There was no choice — they could only store it up slowly.

Time flowed like water; days and months passed like the sun and moon. In the blink of an eye, the eighth year of Tianqi had passed, and the ninth year of Tianqi had arrived.

The spring of the ninth year of Tianqi came somewhat late, and compared to last year, it was still a bit colder. Some of the snow had melted — one could say the spring chill was still biting — and the entire Great Ming was slowly reviving.

However, the atmosphere at court was rather grave, because the Great Ming was about to send out its armies.

Originally, this matter had already encountered some setbacks at court, and the reason was simple: this year's spring had come even later, the snow in various regions had not melted, and it seemed like this year's spring plowing might run into problems.

If the spring plowing ran into problems, then this campaign might have to be called off.

If the spring plowing had problems, this year's grain could not be consumed on a large scale. Though they had stored quite a bit, war truly consumed grain — and it consumed a great deal.

Under such circumstances, canceling this war was the best choice. After all, if the snow didn't melt, if spring came late, and if the fields couldn't be plowed in spring, the trouble would be enormous.

Fortunately, Heaven was still cooperative. Just when everyone was worried, spring was finally released, and the snow melted.

The matter of war was put on the agenda. The armies set out; the men marched.

After several batches of the main forces had departed, Zhu Youxiao also set out.

This time, Zhu Youxiao was going to Liaodong — of course, not to fight. His purposes were more political, along with even more economic objectives. The fighting would have to be pushed back for a while.

He wasn't needed for this campaign, so Zhu Youxiao could enjoy himself with a clear conscience.

When the news reached Liaodong, Xiong Tingbi was overjoyed.

He had been in Liaodong for eight years now. How had he gotten through these eight years?

It was about to be nine years — three years and then another three, three years and then another three.

Though his official rank had been promoted again and again, and he was now the Governor-General of Liaodong, what kind of place was this? Who would be willing to endure such hardship here?

If it weren't for the Emperor giving him confidence, he would have long stopped wanting to work here. Now this opportunity had finally come — he could finally lead his men to destroy the Jianzhou barbarians!

The first few years were the hardest to endure — cleaning up the mess in Liaodong, living in constant fear day and night; then hiding inside the cities, defending in a stifled, suffocated manner. Life could truly be said to be unbearably difficult.

Later, after fighting one battle in Liaodong, life became much better. Now it could be said to be getting better and better.

Once this campaign destroyed the Jianzhou barbarians, he could leave Liaodong.

First, there would be nothing left for him to do; second, he had been in Liaodong for far too long. If His Majesty hadn't trusted him, he would probably have been riddled with holes by someone long ago.

Retire after achieving success — go back and do his job well.

Xiong Tingbi began to prepare actively, waiting for Zhu Youxiao's arrival.

The further northeast one went, the colder it got. Though Beijing could be considered the north, its overall temperatures were still tolerable.

The further north one traveled, the colder it was. However, the ground was hard, which was good for transport, so setting out at this time was best.

By the time everyone had arrived in Liaodong and made preparations, the weather was beginning to warm up — just right for fighting.

Among the contingents hurrying toward Liaodong, one formation was particularly eye-catching.

This formation was extremely large, and within it was a huge carriage pulled by sixteen tall, sturdy horses — a truly magnificent sight.

Naturally, this carriage belonged to no one else but Zhu Youxiao.

The carriage used the most advanced technology from the Hundred Crafts Institute, such as plate springs and steel bearings, allowing the carriage to maintain stability while also possessing a measure of flexibility.

When the great carriage moved forward, it was also much steadier. The interior was very spacious, like a small mobile house.

Zhu Youxiao sat inside and could live very comfortably.

This point wasn't actually that important to Zhu Youxiao. Over these years, he had traveled far and wide; though he hadn't endured any real hardship, traveling was no problem for him.

However, when this carriage was built, it actually received the support of many ministers, who said something about the dignity of the Son of Heaven, about how his might should awe the realm — so a great carriage like this for the Emperor to ride was meant to be shown to outsiders. After all, this time the Emperor was going to Liaodong, not merely for the sake of war.

They had already found all the reasons for him, and quite resolute ones at that, so Zhu Youxiao accepted. After all, the Great Ming didn't lack horses these days—finding some good ones to pull the carriage was no trouble at all.

All sixteen horses pulling the carriage were chestnut red, without a single strand of off-colored hair—the selection process had been extremely strict.

Seeing this, Zhu Youxiao came to understand just how extravagant Zhang Juzheng had been back in his day.

When he saw this carriage, Zhu Youxiao felt it was extravagant indeed—even for an emperor to ride in, it was a bit much.

But Zhang Juzheng back then—he had people carry him. A grand sedan chair borne by forty-eight men—you can see how excessive that was.

Zhang Juzheng spent his days teaching the Wanli Emperor to be frugal, cutting and re-cutting the palace's expenditures, even to the point where only half the lamps were lit.

The monthly wages of eunuchs and palace maids were reduced again and again, and many halls in the palace had half collapsed. Because of the budget cuts, the gardens and such were barely maintained, looking overgrown and dilapidated.

And in contrast, there was Zhang Juzheng's own lavish lifestyle. How could a young Wanli Emperor not develop a rebellious mentality? How could he not see Zhang Juzheng as a powerful minister like Cao Cao?

In fact, in the Wanli Emperor's young heart, he had likely spent many years in fear and trepidation, terrified that Zhang Juzheng might replace him, or even collude with his mother.

After all, the Wanli Emperor's mother and Zhang Juzheng had once made him issue an edict of self-blame, and he also had a younger brother who was deeply favored by his mother. This was what led to the things the Wanli Emperor did later.

Karma!

Zhu Youxiao sat up straight, pulling himself out of his recollections. He turned his head to look at Wei Chao and asked, "Have the men been sent out?"

"Reporting to Your Majesty, they have already gone," Wei Chao said. "The Ministry of Rites, the Directorate of Ceremonial, the Embroidered Uniform Guard, and the Eastern Depot have all sent people. Leading them is Vice Minister Zhao of the Ministry of Rites—they departed early this morning."

Zhu Youxiao nodded and said, "Very good."

"Go and invite Sun Chengzong over," Zhu Youxiao said after thinking for a moment.

This time when coming to Liaodong, Zhu Youxiao had brought Sun Chengzong along, while Xu Guangqi had been left behind in the capital.

Previously, wherever Zhu Youxiao went, he always brought Xu Guangqi. But this time was different—although Xu Guangqi had very much wanted to come, he hadn't succeeded.

The reason Zhu Youxiao brought Sun Chengzong was, on the one hand, because he understood military affairs, and on the other hand, because of the regrets of history.

No matter how you look at it, in the original history, Sun Chengzong's death in Liaodong had been far too tragic. His entire family had died—that kind of utter resolve was rare.

This time Zhu Youxiao brought Sun Chengzong up here to bear witness, and so that he could consult with him on matters if anything came up.

As for the Duke of Ying, Zhang Weixian—no chance for him. Let him stay in the capital.

Before long, Sun Chengzong walked over.

A grand official like him naturally had his own private carriage—though not as extravagant as Zhu Youxiao's, it was still a four-wheeled carriage pulled by two horses, smooth and fast.

Zhu Youxiao had also thought last time whether these ministers who urged him to get a bigger carriage were doing it for their own benefit.

If he switched to a bigger carriage, they could switch too as a matter of course. Otherwise, if he was still riding in a small carriage while they upgraded to big ones, that would be improper.

They could only be one rank below him—just like in later generations, where subordinates in many organizations have to upgrade their leader's car first.

If the leader drives a car worth three hundred thousand, then you as the subordinate drive one worth a hundred-plus thousand. But if the leader drives a car worth over a million, isn't it reasonable for you to get one worth six hundred thousand?

After all, it's not money from your own pocket, and you're the one enjoying it—who wouldn't want that?

But Zhu Youxiao quickly cast aside such dark thoughts. If he kept thinking like that, there would be no good people left in the world, and he probably wouldn't be able to trust anyone or adopt any suggestions at all.

Before long, Sun Chengzong boarded Zhu Youxiao's luxurious carriage.

Seeing that Sun Chengzong was about to perform the formal salute, Zhu Youxiao quickly waved his hand and said, "In weather this cold and freezing, no need for formalities. Come, my dear minister, sit quickly—I've already had wine warmed, just in time for a drink to warm the body."

"Yes, Your Majesty." Sun Chengzong quickly acknowledged.

Though advanced in years, Sun Chengzong's health was still quite good. Even so, traveling this road in this weather was still hard to endure. Having some wine at the Emperor's side was most welcome.

Once Sun Chengzong was seated, Wei Chao laid out the wine and dishes.

As for worrying that the bumps might spill the wine and food—that was impossible. This road had been opened by the army, already packed flat, and there were people up ahead specifically clearing the way—how could there be any jostling?

Both the horses and the drivers had been carefully selected—there wouldn't be a single problem. The carriage was perfectly steady; one could safely drink and eat meat here.

Wei Chao attended to the sovereign and his minister from the side, pouring two cups of warm wine for them.

"Come, have a drink first." Zhu Youxiao looked at Sun Chengzong and said with a smile, "I toast to you, Teacher Sun. It's been a long time since we've had a proper drink together."

Hearing this form of address from Zhu Youxiao, Sun Chengzong's body trembled slightly, then a smile spread across his face as he said, "Your Majesty was exceptionally clever when studying in your youth. Now that you have become emperor, you have also become the great restorer of the Ming. Your minister offers congratulations to Your Majesty."

Sun Chengzong was Zhu Youxiao's teacher, except that Zhu Youxiao hadn't shown this kind of closeness in a very long time.

This wasn't because Zhu Youxiao didn't want to show it, but rather because sometimes circumstances left him no choice.

However, what couldn't be done before could now be done.

The sovereign and minister finished their wine, and Zhu Youxiao continued, "Vice Minister Sun departed early this morning."