Chapter 47: A Great Victory and an Unexpected Promotion

Bai Lang's reward has already arrived, not just his; this time the Qing soldiers broke through the pass but gave up halfway, especially suffering a "great defeat" beneath Yanzhou City, which is a rare great victory since the Eastern Barbarians incident. Moreover, since the beginning of this year the defeats beyond the passes have buried the last elite of the Nine Borders and many commanders of the supervising army, and at Zhu Xian Town the Ming army also suffered a great defeat at the hands of the Roving Bandits leader Li Chuang, with Kaifeng Prefecture captured… Amid the chaos there was still a great victory against the Eastern Barbarians, which naturally delighted the court, and even Emperor Chongzhen himself ate a few more bowls of rice.

Thus officials from the Ministry of War arrived immediately to verify the merit, and the eunuch who came out to proclaim the edict of praise, urged by the emperor, rushed over impatiently. In this great victory over a hundred heads were beheaded before and after, and none of the men or women were taken by the Eastern Barbarians; one could say the Qing soldiers suffered a huge loss this time. Consequently, everyone in Yanzhou Prefecture was promoted, becoming rich was impossible— the court was severely short of money, so they could only grant a bit more reward in official rank.

Moreover, since such a strategic victory was achieved, Emperor Chongzhen could not help but act rashly, intending to promote the senior officials of Yanzhou Prefecture into the capital's official ranks, to govern a region and eradicate the Roving Bandits or resist the Eastern Barbarians. Thus the civil officials below the prefecture truly did not know whether to cry or laugh; after this extraordinary promotion, things would not be easy to handle. Bai Lang could not care about their dilemma; the elder before him seemed to have considerable status, but after taking a few quick steps he grasped Bai Lang's hand. "Ah, this victorious report—almost every civil and military official in the court does not believe that our Ming has produced such a fierce warrior. My family believes it, and we congratulate the emperor on the heaven‑sent fierce general for our Ming; now seeing the white‑strong warrior, indeed… the Lord of Guan is reborn!"

These words left Bai Lang a little stunned; he only remembered that the eunuch claimed his surname was Du, though he couldn't catch his given name, and his accent was heavy. Du Gong began to read the imperial edict; the edict indeed sounded extremely stirring, apparently the emperor had the chief scholar rewrite it repeatedly. In short, it seemed that Bai Lang possessed unparalleled loyalty and bravery, and he was granted the title of a thousand‑household commander of Yanzhou, with his rank changed to garrison commander.

Now Bai Lang went from a commoner to a hereditary thousand‑household commander of the Yanzhou Guard, yet he still had not a single soldier under him; even though the edict and the Ministry of War's correspondence named his camp head, there were simply no troops… The next letter was a dispatch from the Ministry of War, ordering the Yanzhou Guard thousand‑household commander to join Governor Deng and lead elite troops to obey orders and eradicate the Roving Bandits. "Governor Deng got promoted? Leapt straight to Governor?" Bai Lang was startled, never expecting the promotion speed for a head‑cutter to be so rapid.

At present his pair of halberds had already been given to the Qing soldiers, perhaps it would take some time before he could retrieve them, and Bai Lang sighed—Governor Deng intended to have the Ministry of War forge a pair of iron halberds for him, but Bai Lang declined. "Then just use swords; after all the iron halberd is quite similar to a sword—though for easier control, just forge a pair of two‑handed great swords." However, before that, Governor Deng and his entourage still had to go to the Capital (Jingcheng) to present themselves before the throne, and Bai Lang naturally had to accompany them, because the emperor had specifically named him to meet such an unparalleled fierce general.

In fact, most people did not believe the report's claim that a single person broke the formation and slew dozens of enemy chieftains; Bai Lang looked at the victorious report and, from an objective standpoint, did not believe it himself. Yet this is the career he has made; Bai Lang is not an extraordinary hulking giant, not a nine‑foot‑tall general— in this era his height is indeed rather impressive, but there are not few people of similar stature. He is only a little over 1.8 meters, and such people are still fairly common in the Ming.

Bai Lang is not a bear‑backed, tiger‑backed man, though he does have a tiger‑backed, wolf‑waist; his upper body forms a standard inverted‑triangle shape, yet he certainly does not look like a general capable of wielding a 64‑jin Purple Gold Halberd— these days generals all have big bellies, and when Bai Lang feels his abdomen he finds only faint six‑pack abs— training in martial arts builds strength, not necessarily a lower body‑fat ratio. The distance from Shandong to the Capital (Jingcheng) is not far, especially if traveling by water it is even less laborious.

Looking at Capital (Jingcheng) (Capital (Jingcheng) (Jingcheng)), Bai Lang, mounted on his horse, found it rather spectacular—when he later visited Capital (Jingcheng) (Capital (Jingcheng) (Jingcheng)) in later generations, the city walls had long been demolished, and now one could still see the magnificent walls. "Seems just like that?" he felt no emotion, nor thought the demolition of the walls in later times was bad. Later architects would speak while standing without effort, saying they would preserve the walls and build a new city, asking how to solve livelihood issues, where the money for construction would come from, how to gather so many materials. The architects didn't care…

After entering the city, Bai Lang thought it was acceptable; later legends claim that when Capital (Jingcheng) (Capital (Jingcheng) (Jingcheng)) was dry, sandstorms filled the sky, rain turned the ground to mud, and everywhere there were piles of dung—things that now seem nonexistent, "Even if they existed, it would be a good thing for the Qing!" Bai Lang muttered, but no one around heard him clearly. Within the city there are residences for officials who come to pay tribute, and Governor Deng, to win over Bai Lang, specifically ordered that Bai Lang live with him, a treatment befitting a governor‑level honor.

Bai Lang could neither accept nor reject; after all, his daily routine is just exerting strength and cultivating martial arts, so where he lives truly matters little. He already has an official robe—a blue one with a bear on it, typical of a fifth‑rank official— but just before the audience with the throne, the Ministry of War sent a new robe, a crimson one trimmed with leopard spots. "A fourth‑rank robe? I'm a fifth‑rank official," Bai Lang couldn't understand, but he didn't bother to figure it out; after all, he came here by training through killing, slaying Roving Bandits and Tartars alike— before Yu Yu recovers, Bai Lang feels he can carve out a bright future.

Bai Lang also attended the court session, but his seat was near the outer edge, and the emperor's appearance was essentially indistinguishable; after the session, he followed the freshly appointed Governor Deng to the Orchid Terrace to meet Emperor Chongzhen. This Emperor Chongzhen looked older than his actual age, his hair already slightly greying, and his garments could not be called luxurious—rather simple, not exaggeratedly patched. When meeting the emperor, the great general and the junior eunuch did not carefully check whether Bai Lang carried any weapon—if the rumors about such a fierce general were true, even unarmed he could kill with ease.

Only a few junior eunuchs stood between Bai Lang and the emperor, but Emperor Chongzhen himself stepped the junior eunuchs aside, "These are the loyal and brave soldiers of our Ming, why such formality!" After a brief discussion with Governor Deng, the emperor again felt invigorated—he experiences this several times a year, the impatient emperor is consistently like this. The emperor regained hope, and next he would meet the fierce general proclaimed in the victory report; at first sight Bai Lang could see a hint of approval in the emperor's eyes……