Chapter 110

But this unit of Oirat cavalry before them had completely shed the rigid shadows of years past.

Their flexibility far surpassed that of the old opponents he and his father had faced in their day.

Gazing at the Oirat cavalry fleeing into the distance,

Zhu Di, mounted on his horse, heaved a long, meaningful sigh.

"In the end, they have still managed to dust off the signature skills they once relied on."

Riding back to camp, Zhu Di, surrounded by Fan Zhong, Zhang Fu, and others,

strode with long steps toward the central command tent.

"Zhang Fu, what is the status of the troops gathered from each camp?"

Zhang Fu, following closely behind Zhu Di, dared not delay for even a moment and immediately bowed his head to report,

"Reporting to Your Majesty, the Three Thousand Camp has lost one hundred men, along with three thousand two hundred various types of firelocks."

Zhu Di did not even lift his eyelids.

Instead, he immediately shouted sternly,

"Nonsense!"

"Do you think the men of the Three Great Camps just stood there waiting to be hacked down?"

"Take men out immediately to investigate exactly how many troops were brought on this campaign."

"The Son of Heaven leads the expedition in person; have they come here to balance the books?!"

After a night of fierce fighting,

Zhu Di had roughly grasped the situation within the Ming army.

Overall combat effectiveness had actually not declined much.

What truly startled Zhu Di was the shortfall in personnel.

The vacancies in each camp amounted to at least one-third!

The very first military pay Zhu Di received during his Jingnan Campaign came from embezzling funds for phantom soldiers.

How could he not know the little schemes lurking in these generals' hearts?

Zhang Fu could not help but shudder.

He immediately rushed into the various camps accompanied by several dozen members of the Embroidered Uniform Guard.

At first, these commanders remained rather stubborn.

But upon seeing the man inside the central command tent,

they immediately laid out the true state of the Ming army without holding anything back.

Listening to the reports from these few scoundrels,

Zhu Di's face turned iron-green.

Even Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Qizhen, who had been sitting aside too afraid to make a sound, could no longer remain seated.

"You told Me there were two hundred thousand heavenly soldiers."

"Yet you only have one hundred and fifty thousand men under your command?"

"This is the crime of deceiving the sovereign!"

"This humble official deserves death..."

Zhu Di fixed a look of utter contempt on Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Qizhen beside him and shouted sternly,

"If they had told you directly there were only one hundred and fifty thousand men, would you not have led anyone out at all?!"

The moment these words left his mouth, Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Qizhen, who had just been brimming with aggression and ready to restore his "imperial majesty," instantly deflated.

Let alone one hundred and fifty thousand men;

even with only eighty thousand, Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Qizhen would have dared to lead them out.

There was no question about it.

As long as there were many people, the advantage was ours!

Anger burned in Zhu Di's heart,

but there was nothing he could do.

The unspoken rules of the army were just like this; both Zhu Di and Zhu Zhu Gaoxu had risen to power this way in the past.

Moreover,

even if Zhu Di wanted to punish them now, he could not simply execute all of them.

Otherwise, the connection between the central command and the various camps below would be severed.

Replacing commanders on the eve of battle was also a grave taboo.

If he had not stopped Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Qizhen just now, that young fool would have likely ordered these men dragged out and beheaded with a single command.

Zhu Di stared intently at the assembly of generals before him and said in a low voice,

"Twenty military bastinado strokes for each of you; allow you to redeem your crimes through meritorious service."

"Consider this my greeting gift to you after all these years of not seeing each other."

..... .. 0

"How is it?"

Hearing Zhu Di's description,

the group of generals before him instantly broke out in a cold sweat.

They did not know how Zhu Di had arrived here.

But for a man who had been dead for over twenty years to suddenly pop up and speak such words,

anyone would have their hair stand on end.

"This humble official vows to follow Your Majesty to the death!"

Listening to the sound of military staves being wielded outside.

Zhang Fu stepped forward on his own to report:

"In any case, more than half of the provisions we brought out have already been lost."

"We have also suffered significant losses in warhorses and livestock."

"We have now managed to gain a foothold; we should hurry and prepare to withdraw."

Zhu Di's expression was gloomy.

He glanced at the battle reports behind him.

Unable to help himself, he let out a long sigh and said:

"Having lost so much, if we return now like this, won't we just give the civil officials in the court ammunition to criticize us?"

Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Qizhen also could not help but nod and say:

"Exactly; if we give those pedantic scholars ammunition, how will I, the Emperor, control military power in the future?"

"Can you not look a bit further ahead? War is merely the continuation of politics."

Hearing Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Qizhen's words, the corner of Zhu Di's mouth twitched slightly.

He kicked Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Qizhen squarely on the buttocks and scolded harshly:

"I am seizing military power for the future rulers of the Great Ming!"

"Not for you, little brat!"

"If you ever do this again, I will come together with the High Emperor to flay you alive!"

Lying prone over the sand table, Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Qizhen nodded with a face full of grievance.

Didn't they say Great-Grandfather doted on my father?

Didn't they say the elderly love the house and even the crows upon it?

Why is Great-Grandfather so rude to me, the Emperor!

Thinking thus, tears involuntarily began to well up in Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Qizhen's eyes.

In the end, it was Fan Zhong who broke the deadlock.

"But Your Majesty, after last night's battle, I fear Esen will not be so easily lured."

"Perhaps Esen has already withdrawn by now."

This was precisely what Zhu Di feared most.

If Esen simply fled like this.

Then Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Qizhen would lose an enormous amount of face.

He would not even be able to retrieve his dignity.