Chapter 1095: The Ultimate Chuunibyou Galdan (Seeking Subscriptions)

Choros Galdan is now a second-year student at Laoshan Middle School, and Laoshan Middle School is a famous school! Most of its students are the children of nobles or military officers from the Laoshan–Pukou area. You can't exactly say they are all successors to the Ming dynasty, but they are the future defenders of the Ming dynasty. So every one of them takes the rise and fall of the realm as their own responsibility, and their pride could not be higher.

And Choros Galdan, among them, is a very unusual presence!

Because the Ming dynasty seems to have no need for him to defend it, and his family's ancestor even captured a Ming emperor and held him for over a year. Although the man was later sent back whole and intact, the Ming dynasty's face and substance were both utterly lost, and from then on it fell into decline. In the history classes at Laoshan Middle School, this period of history is truly heart-wrenching, and many students listen to the teacher's lessons with tears in their eyes — this is mandatory! Because quite a few of their ancestors died for the country in the Tumu Crisis.

Their ancestors were killed, so as filial sons and worthy grandsons, how could they not weep and wail to heaven?

And Choros Galdan happens to be the direct descendant of that Choros Esen, the very ancestor who captured Emperor Yingzong of Ming and, along the way, slaughtered quite a few of the future defenders of the Ming!

His situation at Laoshan Middle School can well be imagined. Over this matter, he has certainly taken no small number of beatings!

But Galdan does not blame his ancestor in the least. His ancestor captured the Ming emperor — how extraordinary, how admirable!

And the fact that he, Galdan, always gets beaten up by a bunch of descendants of his ancestor's defeated foes is his own uselessness — how can he blame his ancestor?

So after taking a beating, Galdan has always applied himself even more diligently to his studies and martial training.

And his mind is not dull, and his body is strong and sturdy; add hard work and diligence on top of that, and what then? Among the second-years at Laoshan, he is also one of the top students.

Being first in both civil and martial matters is impossible — the second-year class at Laoshan is packed with academic overachievers and swarms of warriors.

But combining civil and martial abilities, Galdan is first among the Laoshan second-years!

Those who study better than him do not have martial skills as strong as his. And those whose martial skills are higher than his do not study as well as he does.

Even among the boys who have beaten him up, behind his back there is not one who does not admire him — this Galdan has not disgraced his ancestor! He will be somebody in the future!

There are also some second-years with a bit more vigilance who say behind Galdan's back that this boy will surely achieve great things, and might well become a second Esen, and that he should be eliminated as soon as possible to remove a future threat.

But no matter how vigilant a bunch of second-year students are, they could not possibly rid the nation of a menace and kill Galdan. The administration at Laoshan Middle School is still very strict! If it is so strict, why does Galdan keep getting beaten up? That is because Laoshan Middle School originally permits students to fight!

Laoshan Middle School trains the future defenders of the Ming. If you cannot fight, can you defend the Ming? How was the Battle of Tumu lost? In the final analysis, was it not because they could not fight? So Laoshan Middle School has fighting classes, and not just one — there is fighting on horseback, fighting on foot, professionals teaching the use of firearms and bows and arrows, group formation fighting, and also fighting theory classes — all kinds of military strategy.

If the teachers and students of the six famous schools of Yingtian Prefecture — Laoshan Middle School, Pukou Middle School, Army Middle School, Nanjing Middle School, Yingtian Middle School, and Jinling Girls' Middle School — were to travel back in time as a group to the era of Emperor Yingzong of Ming, they would surely beat Grand Preceptor Esen to the ground. With the mounted-charge skills of these "first-years," "second-years," "third-years," and "fourth-years" (the Ming currently has no senior high school, so middle school is a four-year system), the Ming nobles of the Tumu era would not stand a chance!

And Galdan often gets beaten black and blue because of "extracurricular fighting training" — such extracurricular training must be conducted in designated grounds, and requires protective gear and specially made training weapons, and there are teachers supervising during training. So it is not very likely to result in death, and cases of being crippled are also rare.

Moreover, Galdan has a friend looking out for him — not many, just one! It is Zhu Cilang's rich son Zhu Hehao, the future King of America, who is now also studying in the second year at Laoshan and is Galdan's classmate.

Others worry that Galdan will become a second Esen, but Zhu Hehao is not worried in the slightest, and has even made friends with Galdan — this is the breadth of a king's heart!

The students of Laoshan Middle School all board at the school, and Zhu Hehao is no exception. However, his dormitory inside Laoshan Middle School is not a single room (it is an aristocratic school, so the lodging conditions are still very good), but a small building, and he does not live there alone — his guards and study-companion eunuchs accompany him. He has guards and eunuchs following him everywhere, which is very inconvenient. So after class, Zhu Hehao generally does not go visiting classmates' dormitories; if he wants to meet someone, he sends a eunuch or guard to summon them.

This evening after dinner, Zhu Hehao's good friend Galdan was met by one of Zhu Hehao's guards, named Feng Xifan.

Galdan, who was doing mathematics problems in his own dormitory, heard someone push the door open, turned his head, and saw Feng Xifan. He was very familiar with Feng Xifan, and said at once: "Xifan, did the King of America send you?"

"It is precisely His Highness who sent this humble official to invite the Living Buddha over." Feng Xifan was in his twenties, a short Fujian man, and a bit thin, not looking much like a guard.

His father was named Feng Chengshi, a Bureau Secretary of the Works Section under the Dongning Military Commissioner serving Zheng Sen. Feng Xifan himself, after graduating from Dongning Middle School, took the military academy examination once and the imperial academy examination once, and failed both. So he went through Zheng Chagu's connections and became one of Zhu Hehao's guards.

The "Living Buddha" in Feng Xifan's mouth naturally refers to Galdan.

Galdan was born in the seventeenth year of Chongzhen, and has just turned sixteen this year. He is very tall and big, with a highly intimidating square face, very striking features, a shaved head that draws great attention, and is currently wearing a monk's robe.

"Very well, this humble monk will come at once." Galdan immediately closed his books and papers, stood up, picked up his sword (wooden), and followed Feng Xifan out of his dormitory, heading toward the small building where Zhu Hehao lived.

Entering the small building, Galdan saw Zhu Hehao standing smiling in the parlor to greet him. Zhu Hehao was two years younger than Galdan, looked very much like Zhu Cilang, and was also very tall.

"King of America."

"Khutuktu."

The two youths exchanged a bow between equals, then walked together toward the study — in the classrooms of Laoshan Middle School there are only teachers and students, no sovereign and subject. But after class, the distinction between sovereign and subject still exists; however, ordinary teachers and students meeting a young prince studying at the school need not kneel, and only need to bow with clasped hands.

But Galdan's status was also out of the ordinary, so he did not need to bow to Zhu Hehao; the two could treat each other as equals.

"Monk, sit." Once inside the study, Zhu Hehao was not so formal, and directly called Galdan "Monk" — this nickname started back at Laoshan Primary School. What did a bunch of little kids know? Seeing a Galdan who looked like "Ikkyu-san," of course they called him a monk.

And Galdan smiled. He had been happier at Laoshan Primary School than at Laoshan Middle School. Back then everyone was little, and they did not ostracize him so much as a "second Esen."

"Rich Boy, what do you want with me?"

The nickname "Rich Boy" was given to the son by Zhu Cilang, and classmates at Laoshan Primary School and Laoshan Middle School also privately called Zhu Hehao that.

"Do you want to go home?" Zhu Hehao asked.

"Go home?" Galdan was taken aback. "Go home to which home?"

"Of course, to the home of the Dzungar tribe." Zhu Hehao said with a smile, "You have been away from home for many years, haven't you? Don't you want to go back and take a look?"

"This..." Galdan paused. "Can I really go back?"

"Of course!" Zhu Hehao said. "My Imperial Father wants you to make a trip to Chuhe City. I reckon he wants you to give your fifth brother a reminder — this is no longer the age of Genghis Khan. Even with two hundred thousand archers, there is no chance to roam the world as a conqueror anymore."

Galdan shook his head and said: "Of course I understand this reasoning, but my fifth brother..."

Galdan has spent so many years in Nanjing, and moreover is part of the top second-year circles of the Ming, so of course he knows that the Ming of today is not to be trifled with, that the Ming's second-years are all very fierce, and that there are also the Nine Border Youth Armies, even fiercer than the second-years!

But he is not confident he can persuade his fifth brother Sengge.

(End of Chapter)