Chapter 25: Still Remember Riding a Bamboo Horse in Youth; Now the Dragon Bridle Passes Before the Old Court

Clip-clop—the sound of hooves echoed through the empty Forbidden City.

Zhu Youjian held Zhou Yu's slender waist with one arm and gripped the reins tightly with the other, the fine horse beneath them stepping lightly as it trotted along the flagstone imperial way.

The crisp autumn wind blew straight into their faces, tousling both their hair into a bit of a mess.

Zhou Yu had been somewhat nervous at first, her hands clutching tightly at the hem of Zhu Youjian's robe, but soon the novel, thrilling sensation made her forget her fear.

Her cheeks were flushed pink by the wind, yet her eyes sparkled with excitement.

"Slower, Your Majesty, slower…"

Her voice carried a slight tremble, but more than that, it was full of delight.

A smile played at the corner of Zhu Youjian's mouth; far from slowing down, he gently squeezed the horse's flanks with his legs, and the horse beneath him abruptly surged forward.

"Hold on tight!"

"Aaaah… I said slow down!"

The group galloped on and soon passed through the Xuanwu Gate, arriving at the Qianming Gate at the entrance to the Western Park.

The moment they passed through the gate's archway, the view before them opened wide in a sudden burst of clarity.

The boundless lake surface shimmered with ripples under the morning light, like an enormous spread of brocade.

By the lakeside, emerald shade mirrored itself, strange rocks stood arrayed, and the distant pavilions and towers loomed faintly through the thin mist, like a fairyland.

"Wow…"

Zhou Yu could not help but let out a gasp of wonder. She had grown up in the water towns of Jiangnan and was used to little bridges over flowing streams, but she had never seen such a vast and magnificent imperial garden.

Zhu Youjian, too, was moved by the scene before him. He reined in the horse, slowing its pace, and let it amble freely along the lakeshore.

He looked around; the Western Park in autumn had a flavor all its own.

The breeze carried the moisture of the water and the clean scent of grass and trees. A few waterbirds skimmed across the lake's surface, leaving behind ring after ring of ripples.

The leaves on the trees had already begun to yellow; now and then a few were blown down by the wind, dancing in the air like golden butterflies.

In the thickets, nameless autumn insects were still chirping tirelessly, lending a touch of vitality to this tranquility.

Zhu Youjian drew a deep breath, feeling that the pent-up gloom weighing on his chest these past days had dissipated considerably with this one breath of fresh air.

He could not help but sigh inwardly — no wonder so many emperors in history had indulged themselves in pleasure and become inept rulers.

In a place like this, surrounded by such beauty, who could remain unmoved?

If he had not transmigrated into this pivotal juncture, when the realm of Cathay was sinking and the divine land collapsing into chaos —

he might well have been tempted to try out that life of a debauched ruler, with three palaces, six courts, and seventy-two consorts, with music and revelry every night!

These past days, he had racked his brains and exhausted his mind, and the places he had been were none other than Qianqing Palace, Wenhua Hall, and Wuying Hall.

Those halls, though grand and seemingly vast in space, exuded everywhere a heaviness that oppressed the heart.

The enthronement-urging rites, the accession rites, the court assembly rites — they had weighed down even his own disposition, making it heavy.

The maneuvering and leveraging, the mutual games of just a few short days, had nearly made him forget one thing.

This entire Forbidden City, along with the Western Park before his eyes — it all belonged to him.

—I am the Son of Heaven!

In later ages, even those so-called financial magnates and business titans — could any of them truly own an entire walled city as their personal residence?!

And outside this walled city lay Beijing, a city of a million souls.

Further out lay the metropolitan region of Hebei, with its ten million souls.

Further still lay the Great Ming's two capitals and thirteen provinces, with over a hundred million living subjects!

And beyond this vast land, there was an even wider world.

The tributary states of East Asia, the kingdoms of the Southern Seas, even distant Europe and the Americas…

Since he had come to this age and become the master of this land, why could he not make the entire world the "Western Park" of Cathay?

Once this thought arose, it spread like wildfire across a prairie, utterly unstoppable.

An indescribable surge of heroic ambition surged through his chest. Zhu Youjian could no longer suppress the passion welling up inside him; he abruptly threw back his head and let out a long howl toward the vast lake!

"Ahhh—"

The youth's howl, youthful yet brimming with vitality, echoed over the empty Western Park, startling a flock of egrets into flight.

Zhou Yu flinched at his sudden outburst.

But turning her head to see his high-spirited, triumphant look, she could not help but join in, shouting "Ahhh—" right along with him.

For a moment, the deep palace resounded with the rising and falling shouts of a young boy and girl.

After shouting for a while, both stopped and could not help but exchange a smile.

Zhu Youjian's mood was greatly lifted. He dismounted, then reached out and helped Zhou Yu down as well.

He called over Gao Shiming, who had been following at a distance the whole time.

"Companion Gao, send someone to inform Tu Wenfu. Tell him that in two hours, We shall proceed in person to the Inner Parade Ground to inspect the eunuch corps."

"This slave obeys the decree."

Gao Shiming bowed in acknowledgment, then with a wave of his hand, a junior eunuch immediately accepted the order and hurried off at a run toward the palace city.

Having arranged the matter, Zhu Youjian took Zhou Yu by the hand, and the two began to stroll slowly along the lakeside path.

Warm sunlight filtered through the treetops, scattering dappled light and shadow upon the ground.

These past few days, his mind had been stifled and blocked, and in his eagerness to break open the situation, his actions had inevitably been hasty and harsh, carrying a streak of ruthlessness.

Earlier in Qianqing Palace, though his face had shown nothing as he helped Zhou Yu leap onto the horse's back,

what he had been thinking of was still staging a blitzkrieg drama at the Inner Parade Ground.

He would beat the drum and muster the troops on the spot, then, with a murderous air, see for himself just what sort of goods those "Mamluks" were that Wei the Fourth of Hebei had trained for him.

He had even already worked out how he would erupt if the eunuch corps' performance proved pathetic, and how he would use the opportunity to purge the inner court.

Come to think of it, it was practically a standard set of "crooked-mouthed dragon king" face-slapping pulp fiction tropes.

But now, washed clean by this lake-and-mountain scenery and the beauty at his side, that pent-up gloom had been swept away entirely, and his mind grew clear.

He immediately realized where the flaw in his choice lay.

A surprise inspection — it might seem impressive, but in truth it was undermining his own foundation.

If the eunuch corps performed well, that would be fine, but once they performed poorly under such a surprise inspection — and that was practically a foregone conclusion —

then beyond the loss of face for the Directorate of the Imperial Horses, the greater loss would be to his own imperial dignity.

This army was the Palace Guard, the core armed force that in theory protected the Son of Heaven and guarded the capital.

Its greatest value was its very existence.

So long as it existed, its true fighting strength would forever hover between the extremes of utter weakness and supreme might.

This is what one might call an "existentialist" armed force.

The civil officials would fear it, the Capital Camps would fear it, and the guard stations around the capital region would fear it too.

To purge the eunuch corps, there were plenty of methods — one could take it slowly, boil the frog in warm water; there was no need for such impatience, still less for this method of exposing one's own weaknesses.

"Advantage must not be pushed to its limit, power must not be wielded to its extreme..."

Zhu Youjian murmured softly to himself in his heart.

Restrain haste and practice forbearance — these four words are easy to say, but hard to carry out.

Especially for a man who holds great power in his hands, restraining one's own desires and impulses is far more difficult than unleashing them.

Having thought this through, he felt his heart and mind open wide, and his whole body relaxed.

He turned his head to look at Zhou Yu, a genuine smile spreading across his face.

"Come, Changqiu, let me take you on a proper stroll through this Western Park."

Holding her hand, he pointed toward a cluster of buildings in the distance.

"When I was little, my imperial father brought my imperial brother and me here to play a few times."

"Back then we even rode bamboo horses here — and then my imperial brother made me cry, which scared him so badly he started crying himself, haha."

"Come, just around the bend ahead, straight to the end — that's the Leopard Quarter. You're from Jiangnan, so you've surely never seen a leopard, right? Haha, let me broaden your horizons."

"Let me tell you, that leopard — don't be fooled by how fierce it looks; when it calls, it sounds just like a little cat..."

The warm afternoon sunlight spilled down, casting two long, slender shadows.

One of them, the taller one, walked along unhurriedly; the other, the shorter one, skipped and bounced like a butterfly.