Chapter 31: What? You Are Sun Yingyuan?

"By His Majesty's decree, the chosen warriors shall ascend the platform to receive their rewards—!"

At the eunuch's shrill call, the crowd below parted naturally, opening a path.

The first to mount the high platform was a man of extraordinarily towering build.

He wore a coarse cloth tunic washed so pale it was nearly white; his hands and feet were large, his face dark and weathered, yet his eyes shone with unusual brightness.

He strode before the platform, bowed his head, and knelt, his voice booming like a great bell: "This commoner Sun Yingyuan kowtows before Your Majesty! May His Majesty live ten thousand years, ten thousand years, ten thousand of ten thousand years!"

The inner attendant beside him, charged with calling out the names, at once strained his throat and shouted: "Directorate of the Imperial Horses — Sun Yingyuan! Master of bow and horse, his skill surpassed the entire field! By His Majesty's special reward, silver five taels—!"

Zhu Youjian's heart jolted fiercely!

Sun Yingyuan?

You are Sun Yingyuan?!

He stared fixedly at the man kneeling below the platform.

The man's frame was immensely tall.

Shoulders broad, back thick, joints heavy and stout; his waist was more than twice Zhu Youjian's own, and his entire body radiated a sense of explosive power.

A square, country-face, thick brows, large eyes — though his face was covered in dust and grime, it could not conceal his fierce, martial spirit.

What a perfect image of a classical battlefield commander!

Even someone as untrained as himself could see at a single glance that this man must be peerlessly brave.

This must be that Sun Yingyuan from the history books!

The Sun Yingyuan who, in the late Chongzhen years, was ranked alongside Huang Degong and Zhou Yuji as one of the "Three Great Warriors of the Capital Camps"!

Zhu Youjian felt a surge of absurdity well up in his heart.

A great general like this, who in the future would be enough to uphold the prestige of the Capital Camps, was right now, at this very moment, nothing more than a groom tending horses at the Tianshi Nunnery pasture?

History is truly stranger than any tale ever told.

Unable to restrain himself any longer, he personally took two ingots — ten taels of silver — from the silver chest beside him and strode over to Sun Yingyuan.

"A fine warrior!"

Zhu Youjian's voice brimmed with admiration. He bent down, personally helped Sun Yingyuan to his feet, pressed the heavy silver into his hands, and clapped him firmly on his thick shoulder.

"A warrior of uncommon skill, yet you have been stooping among hay and fodder. That was Our negligence."

"Now that you have shown your mettle before Us, We cannot let a pearl such as you lie buried in the dust."

"This silver is Our personal reward to you. Take it home and settle your family well."

"From this day forward, you are no longer a horse-keeper at the Tianshi Nunnery. Come and be one of Our Han Generals!"

Sun Yingyuan was first stunned, and then a vast, wild joy surged through his heart.

He held the ingot of cold, heavy silver in both hands, and it felt as weighty as a thousand jun.

He looked at the young emperor before him, and his eyes reddened in an instant.

He was originally a down-and-out hereditary military household from the Ji Garrison, helping others herd horses. This year the northern lands had seen a minor drought, and his master's household was struggling too, so they told him to go out and find some other livelihood.

That was how he had drifted all the way to the capital, relying on his skill at breaking horses to get into the pasture and earn a bit of grain — never imagining he would meet with such a heaven-sent opportunity today!

"Your Majesty… this commoner… this humble officer is alone, with no family." Sun Yingyuan's voice was choked with emotion as he replied.

In truth, "Han General" was no general at all; this frontier rustic newly arrived in the capital knew nothing of such things, and so had made a small, laughable mistake.

But Zhu Youjian did not correct him, merely laughing heartily and clapping him on the shoulder.

"No matter, no matter! If you prove yourself fierce and invincible on the battlefield and earn military merit, why worry about family, estate, or a beautiful wife?"

Sun Yingyuan's voice had already taken on a sobbing tone. His words were simple, yet they carried a sincerity and resolve that came from the very marrow of his bones.

"Your Majesty's heavenly grace! This humble officer Sun Yingyuan is willing to die for Your Majesty! I would dash my brains upon the ground and die ten thousand deaths without a word of refusal!"

"Rise," Zhu Youjian said gently. "We shall await the day you establish your deeds and achievements."

Sun Yingyuan rose and withdrew to one side.

But Zhu Youjian's heart remained unsettled for a long time.

One Sun Yingyuan had already given him such delighted surprise — what of Zhou Yuji and Huang Degong?

Could they also be buried in some forgotten corner, waiting for him to discover them?

And those fierce generals who would win renown in later ages — where were men like Zhao Lujiao and Cao Bianjiao?

Liaodong? Shaanxi? Shanxi? Zhili?

His heart brimmed with anticipation, and his energy for distributing the remaining rewards surged.

"Four Guards Camp — Li Tieniu! Upper reward, silver four taels!"

"Valiant Guard Camp — Zhang Dashan! Upper reward, silver four taels!"

The twenty-eight warriors who had earned the upper reward mounted the high platform one by one, each brimming with excitement.

Many of them had never in their lives seen so much silver, still less dared imagine receiving it from the Emperor's own hands.

As each man took the heavy reward silver from Zhu Youjian's hands, he trembled with emotion, hot tears brimming in his eyes, and the sound of kowtowing and grateful thanks rose in an unbroken chorus.

The junior inner attendants beside them wrote furiously, recording each warrior's name and unit affiliation one by one in the register.

Once the upper rewards were distributed, it was time for the middle rewards, which accounted for the greatest number of men.

"Four Guards Camp — Zhao Shitou, middle reward, two taels!"

"Valiant Guard Camp — Wang Mazi, middle reward, two taels!"

At first, Zhu Youjian was full of enthusiasm, offering a few warm words of encouragement to every soldier who came up to receive his reward.

But as the numbers grew, his movements gradually became mechanical, and the smile on his face began to stiffen.

His arm, from the repeated lifting and handing over, began to ache in waves.

His voice, too, from ceaseless talking, grew somewhat hoarse.

He looked out at the dense, dark mass of people below the platform, and his hot blood slowly began to cool.

A thought suddenly surfaced in his mind.

No.

This was not how things should be done.

When Yuan Shikai drilled the Xiaozhan Army and won men's hearts with generous pay, did he personally hand out the silver to every soldier one by one?

Ah, but that actually is quite possible.

For Yuan Big-Head, drilling the army was everything — if the army succeeded, he succeeded; if the army failed, he failed.

But his own situation was different...

The Great Ming had countless problems; he could not spend forever attending to every matter personally.

The Emperor's authority lies in setting the rules and in commanding the hundred officials — not in attending to every matter personally.

The sage governs the officials, not the common people.

What he needed to do was establish a fair and effective system, one that could deliver rewards accurately into every man's hands, and then supervise the officials who executed that system.

Not turn himself into a coin-dispensing tool.

After this bout of self-exoneration, Zhu Youjian stopped what he was doing and said to Xu Yingyuan beside him, "For the remaining rewards, there is no need to mount the platform one by one."

"All those receiving the lower reward, form rows of ten and receive your silver below the platform after your name is called. We shall watch them from here."

"As commanded!"

Xu Yingyuan immediately relayed the decree.

At once, order below the platform shifted; the soldiers began forming groups of ten and queuing below the platform to receive their rewards, and the pace quickened considerably.

Yet among the thousands of soldiers on the parade ground who had not yet been rewarded, a restlessness gradually began to stir.

They watched their comrades walk away beaming with gleaming silver, their eyes filled with envy and dejection. Some even simply plopped down onto the ground, utterly listless.

To all of this, Zhu Youjian turned a blind eye.

He merely stood quietly atop the high platform, his gaze steady, listening intently as the inner attendant loudly called out the name of every reward recipient.

"Four Guards Camp — Liu Sangou, lower reward, one tael!"

"Valiant Guard Camp — Chen Erdan, lower reward, one tael!"

The autumn sun stretched his shadow long, casting it across this parade ground filled with both hope and dejection.

Yet those on the parade ground did not know — this was only the beginning...