Chapter 611: Refugees Blocking the Road

After the sweltering summer days passed, the weather gradually turned somewhat cool.

In this late-Ming era, the real summer heat never lasted long—one could say it came in a hurry and left in a hurry. It was the long winter that truly gave one a headache.

At this moment, Zhu Youxiao sat in the carriage, feeling somewhat drowsy.

Though the carriage did not sway violently, he still felt like sleeping. This habit of wanting to sleep while riding in a vehicle had not been cured across two lifetimes—there was simply no helping it.

It was fortunate that the cement-paved road was smooth; otherwise, with all the jolting, Zhu Youxiao would not have been able to bear it.

The Great Ming did not have many cement roads, but the one between Beijing and Tianjin was the very first cement road ever built. There were relay stations along the roadside, which besides handling courier duties also took care of routine road maintenance.

Moreover, since this era had no heavy trucks, the cement slabs were more than sufficient—there was no risk of any major problems arising.

At this moment, Zhu Youxiao sat in a spacious four-wheeled carriage, with Noble Consort Tian and Noble Consort Yuan flanking him on either side, watching him carefully and ready at any moment to reach out and steady him.

They were very worried—if His Majesty happened to topple over, he could easily hit his head. Though there were soft cushions, there were also tables, teapots, and the like inside.

Zhu Youxiao raised his eyelids, glanced at the two of them, and said with a smile: "Why must you be so tense?"

The two of them looked at Zhu Youxiao helplessly.

Noble Consort Yuan said with a coquettish pout: "Your Majesty may not be tense, but this time the two of us have come out with Your Majesty—if even a single hair of Your Majesty's were to fall out, we would be blamed by the Empress when we return."

Noble Consort Tian nodded along beside her, bobbing her head like a chick pecking at rice.

Zhu Youxiao glanced at the two of them and said: "How come I never noticed before that the two of you get along so well?"

This was not something Zhu Youxiao said deliberately—it was merely a casual remark.

After all, the two of them coordinated so seamlessly when they spoke, and one could tell this was not something developed in just a day or two. So the formidable Empress Zhang really had driven the two of them to band together?

Were they banding together to resist, or banding together for warmth?

But judging from the current situation, this was clearly banding together for warmth.

Seeing that Noble Consort Yuan was about to explain, and Noble Consort Tian also wore an anxious expression, Zhu Youxiao quickly reached out, grabbing one of each of their hands, and said: "It's all my fault for neglecting you all these years, driving you to fear me to such an extent. I have done poorly."

The two exchanged a glance, momentarily at a loss for what to say.

In truth, everyone in the palace knew that the Emperor doted only on the Empress—the two of them had been like free add-ons ever since they entered the palace. They had always been careful and cautious, and it had only gotten a bit better these past two years after they had children.

But they had never expected Zhu Youxiao to treat them with such an attitude, which left them somewhat bewildered.

The two of them remained tense.

Zhu Youxiao patted them and said: "Don't be so tense. You are both my noble consorts—we are husband and wife after all. Don't always think of yourselves as concubines."

"The Empress is the Empress, and noble consorts are noble consorts. Both of you hold proper rank—don't act like aggrieved little concubines. Besides, even a concubine is allowed to throw a tantrum and act spoiled before her master."

Upon hearing these words and seeing Zhu Youxiao's playful expression, Noble Consort Yuan and Noble Consort Tian both burst out laughing with a snort.

The two exchanged a glance, and Noble Consort Yuan said with a coquettish tone: "Your Majesty, how can you speak like that? It's far too vulgar. You are the Emperor—you must observe propriety. If such words were heard by others, what would they think?"

Zhu Youxiao waved his hand dismissively and said: "This is just how our family is—who's going to do anything about it?"

He said this with complete confidence, then continued: "What was the founding emperor of our Zhu family's origin? Just because it's passed down to descendants, we get to act high and mighty? People must not forget their roots."

"Go look at the imperial edicts of the founding emperor and the Yongle Emperor back in the day—they're all written in plain vernacular, with plenty of cursing in them."

This was something only Zhu Youxiao dared to say; the two noble consorts did not dare utter a single word.

Privately discussing the founding emperor was not something they dared to do, though they knew that what His Majesty said was probably true.

Zhu Youxiao had never treated this matter as a disgrace—he was proud of it.

Zhu Yuanzhang's line, "I was but a commoner from Huaixi—what has the world to do with me?"—how bold and magnificent was that?

That was just how the old Zhu family was—if you didn't like it, you had to swallow it.

Noble Consort Yuan giggled.

Noble Consort Tian covered her mouth and laughed beside her.

"Stop laughing—if you laugh any more, I'll have to discipline you." As Zhu Youxiao said this, he reached out and smacked both of them on their rears, producing a crisp *smack* sound.

Zhu Youxiao withdrew his hand and asked with some confusion: "I didn't use any force—why did it sound so loud?"

Noble Consort Tian and Noble Consort Yuan would not stand for this—both of them pounced onto Zhu Youxiao and began acting spoiled.

Through what had just happened, they had gradually regained some sense of familiarity, and their fear of Zhu Youxiao had diminished considerably.

On the carriage shaft, Wei Chao glanced at the guard Yu Jikang sitting beside him and said: "Get down."

Yu Jikang was startled and did not understand. He looked at Wei Chao and was about to speak when Wei Chao shot him a fierce glare.

Then he heard laughter coming from inside the carriage and instantly understood—he immediately jumped off the carriage.

Wei Chao directly gave the order: "Have everyone spread out. No one is to come within ten paces of the carriage."

"Yes, Your Excellency." Yu Jikang quickly acknowledged and ran off to relay the order.

Wei Chao drove the carriage and slowed its pace.

At a time like this, one absolutely must not drive fast—especially not speed up—otherwise accidents could easily happen.

If His Majesty were jolted and something happened, he could not bear that responsibility.

Inside the carriage at this moment.

Zhu Youxiao naturally had no idea what Wei Chao was doing. If he knew what Wei Chao was doing, he would surely scold him.

Though he did want to try out some carriage vibrations, this was hardly the time! Playing carriage-shaking games with two noble consorts in the carriage—was he crazy?

Besides, he had already tried that when returning from Liaodong before—this time, he would let it go.

After laughing and fooling around for a while, Zhu Youxiao said: "Alright now—if we keep this up, something's going to happen."

Noble Consort Yuan and Noble Consort Tian naturally understood as well, but both of them looked at Zhu Youxiao with eager, gleaming eyes,

Which took Zhu Youxiao by surprise. Just moments ago these two had been so timid and hesitant—now they dared to strike back with full force?

Women, indeed—not to be trifled with.

Along the way they chatted and laughed, occasionally stopping to stroll around whenever they passed somewhere interesting. This time, Zhu Youxiao truly was touring the scenery at his leisure.

Zhu Youxiao's convoy was by no means small—more than thirty carriages in total, front and back. Besides daily necessities of food and clothing, there were also outdoor supplies such as tents and the like.

There was also the equipment carried by the guards. Among them, several carts were loaded with ammunition, fitted with mortars on top, and there were even three rocket-launcher vehicles and two Gatling-style machine-gun vehicles.

There were also many kinds of ammunition, and every guard escorting them carried the newest guns, with revolvers holstered at their waists.

The guards who were able to accompany Zhu Youxiao this time were not only of clean background and spotless records, but also utterly loyal—they could be said to be the latter-day equivalent of Zhongnanhai bodyguards.

The firepower of these men was formidable; though they numbered only a little over three hundred, it was enough to fight a small-scale war.

Zhu Youxiao was having a good time on the carriage, when suddenly he felt the vehicle lurch, and then the procession came to a halt.

Zhu Youxiao hastily lifted the carriage curtain, poked his head out, glanced at Wei Chao, and asked, "Has something happened?"

Wei Chao looked at Zhu Youxiao, his face full of helplessness.

Whether something had happened or not was hard to say—the procession had just stopped, and word from the front hadn't arrived yet.

But what did that excited expression on Your Majesty's face mean?

Were you hoping something had happened?

Zhu Youxiao indeed hoped something had happened.

He had come out this many times, yet he had never gotten to play the part of the righteous hero who draws his sword to help the downtrodden.

Zhu Youxiao remembered very clearly that in his previous life he had watched a TV drama about an emperor traveling incognito, and in that show, every time the emperor went out, he would encounter a beautiful young lady in distress, and then he would always help her family handle some matter, show off a bit, gain some fame, and sleep with a bunch of beautiful ladies. As for the other plot points, he had no impression at all.

Now it was finally his turn.

This time, if he went out and encountered some lady in distress, he too could stage a scene of the hero saving the beauty.

Except that TV dramas were made up—in actual history, the one who did this sort of thing was the Zhengde Emperor, and he had left behind many legends: the dragon sporting with the phoenix, Li Fengjie, the Dragon-Phoenix Inn, and so on and so forth.

It was just that the Zhengde Emperor had been so thoroughly smeared by later generations that he was hardly recognizable.

Zhu Youxiao had once read a record showing that the relationship between the Zhengde Emperor and his Empress was not as terrible as history claimed—in fact, it was quite good. It was only that he was an emperor who loved martial affairs, and his temperament was a bit too rigid; if he had been born in later times, he would have been a textbook straight-talking, iron-willed man.

For example, in one record, the Zhengde Emperor once said to his Empress, "I can see you've grown thinner and your health is poor. Later, have them stew some meat for you—just eat more meat at every meal and you'll be fine."

At this moment, a horse finally galloped up from the front, and the man in the saddle was none other than Qi Yuangong.

Qi Yuangong arrived before Zhu Youxiao and said respectfully, "Young Master, a great many refugees have appeared on the road ahead, and they're blocking the way. Our carriage cannot pass for the time being."

"Have you had anyone drive them off?" Zhu Youxiao looked at Qi Yuangong and asked.

Hearing this, Qi Yuangong was taken aback, then hastily shook his head.

Who didn't know that the current Emperor treated the common people exceptionally well?

If he dared to drive off refugees at a time like this, he reckoned his fate would be very grim.

"Then let's go take a look." Zhu Youxiao glanced at Qi Yuangong and said.

"Yes, Young Master." Qi Yuangong acknowledged the order, hastily dismounted, and prepared to accompany Zhu Youxiao over to take a look.

Zhu Youxiao had already jumped down from the carriage. He reached out, lifted the front hem of his long robe, and tucked it into his waistband.

Then he said to Wei Chao beside him, "Bring the horse over."

"Yes, Young Master." Wei Chao hastily acknowledged, and at the same time waved to the people behind him.