Chapter 58

Unexpectedly, Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Youjian shook his head slightly.

He looked coldly at Lan Yu and said,

"I give you only one month."

Upon hearing this, Lan Yu could not help but start in surprise.

"Your Majesty... one month? In one month, the soldiers will barely have learned to form battle arrays."

Lan Yu had spent half his life on horseback, crushing countless enemy forces under his command.

Yet this was the first time in his life he had ever heard of such a thing.

There were troops in this world expected to march to the battlefield after merely one month of training!

Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Youjian nodded slightly and said,

"If they can form battle arrays, that is enough!"

The moment the words left his lips,

a look of ruthless ferocity suddenly surfaced on Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Youjian's face.

"In this battle, you are permitted only to lose, not to win!"

Lan Yu froze upon hearing this.

"Your Majesty, but the Taizu Emperor said these are the imperial clan, the noble scions of the heavenly lineage..."

"I know."

Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Youjian stood silently to the side, quietly observing Lan Yu before him.

As soon as the words were spoken, Lan Yu guessed Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Youjian's intent.

Realizing the implications, Lan Yu immediately broke out in a cold sweat.

No wonder they are damn Zhu family members!

They strike with such ruthlessness!

Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Youjian stared intently at Lan Yu and said,

"For this battle, I have only two requirements."

"First, you must lose; you are not permitted to win."

"Second, General, you must ensure your own safety; the Great Ming is in dire need of capable men, and you must not endanger yourself!"

"If you accomplish these two things,"

"you shall remain the Duke of Liang of our Great Ming."

Speaking thus,

Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Youjian changed his tone, suddenly lowering his voice to say,

"No, you shall be the Duke of Liang!"

Having been raised within the deep palace since childhood, Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Youjian naturally knew all about Lan Yu's affairs clearly.

The moment the words were spoken,

Lan Yu froze on the spot in astonishment.

He immediately prostrated himself before Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Youjian, whispering,

"This humble subject accepts the imperial decree!"

Having spoken, Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Youjian slowly set down the teacup in his hand and instructed,

"Wang Wang Chengen, entertain General Lan on my behalf."

"Yes."

Lifted from the ground by Wang Wang Wang Chengen, Lan Yu felt a wave of bewilderment wash over his heart.

The same Qianqing Palace.

The same tone of voice.

At this moment, Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Youjian resembled someone extremely closely.

—That person was Zhu Biao!

In essence, Zhu Biao was simply Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Yuanzhang, who had been thoroughly versed in the Four Books and Five Classics since childhood.

One might call him an 'Old Zhu Plus' version.

As an imperial prince, Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Youjian had naturally been steeped in historical texts since youth.

Then, after this period of grooming by Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Yuanzhang, combined with the relentless pressure of enemies both inside and outside the passes,

the aura revealed in his every gesture and movement

had already acquired a certain resemblance to Zhu Biao.

60, Zhu Zhu Yujian: This does not look like an imperial lodge to this master; it looks more like a military camp...

As decree after decree issued from Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Youjian,

a vast tract of land at the foot of the capital city walls began to see massive construction underway.

Watching the dust rising in the distance, the expressions of the various princes of the Great Ming finally relaxed somewhat.

The Prince of Jin, Zhu Zhu Shenxuan, snorted coldly and said,

"Now this looks proper; this Son of Heaven truly lacks understanding of propriety."

"Shouldn't this imperial lodge have been prepared long ago?"

"This Prince thought it had long been ready, forcing our children to squeeze in with those rough soldiers in the Capital Garrison for so many days!"

Beside him, the Prince of Tang, Zhu Zhu Yujian, gazed out toward the city outskirts with brows tightly knitted.

"Something is still wrong; I feel something is strange somewhere."

Zhu Zhu Shenxuan said disdainfully,

"There's no room left in the city."

"But every member of our Zhu family is blessed; if the Ancestral Emperor could see so many dragon sons and grandsons, he would likely be so delighted he couldn't close his mouth."

"Ah, exactly, dig a large pool in the middle; I love listening to songs by the pond, otherwise I can't even eat my meals."

Among the various feudal princes.

Indeed, massive construction was underway outside the city.

These feudal princes had rarely seen a construction site in their daily lives.

They only felt that the scale was truly immense.

Only the memorial from the Tang Prince, Zhu Zhu Yujian, had not been submitted.

Those people outside the city, no matter how one looked at them, did not seem to be building an imperial palace.

The area dug out in the middle also did not look like a pond under construction.

Instead, it looked like... a main army camp!

Just as the group of feudal princes was gazing at the "construction site" outside the city from Qihua Gate.

Two young eunuchs came running over in haste.

Looking at the assembled princes, they said,

"Your Highnesses, His Majesty has issued an edict: tomorrow, a sacrifice to Heaven will be held in the imperial suburbs to report to our ancestral ancestors; please, Your Highnesses, prepare your ceremonial robes in advance."

Zhu Zhu Shenxuan, with brows tightly locked, whispered in a low voice,

"Honored Eunuch, did His Majesty mention anything about the expenses for the journey, and the names for the various feudal houses...?"

Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Yuanzhang had established ancestral regulations.

From the day a member of the imperial clan was given a name,

they could receive a monthly stipend from the court.

However, this policy was destined to become increasingly distorted as the imperial clan's population grew ever larger.

After all, one needed a name to receive the stipend.

The Ancestral Emperor never specified at what age a name must be given.

Starting from the Wanli reign, the Court of the Imperial Clan began withholding the registration of names for imperial clan members.

Many collateral branches of the imperial clan lived and died without ever obtaining a name.

As for the stipends for the various feudal houses, they were all collected by the Prince of the Blood of that respective house.

As for whether the Prince of the Blood distributed them to the younger generation below him,

that depended entirely on the Prince's conscience.

If the names of the children from all the feudal houses could be granted now,