Chapter 1330: Children, You Must Work Hard! (Monthly Tickets!)

"Your son and daughter-in-law respectfully greet Imperial Father and Imperial Mother."

"Your daughter-in-law respectfully greets Imperial Father and Imperial Mother."

On the eighth day of the seventh month of the twentieth year of Hongxing, just before noon, the newlywed couple Zhu Hexing and Ding Yuying arrived hand in hand at Kunning Hall to pay their respects to Emperor Zhu and Empress Wu.

The couple had come so late not because they had worn themselves out the day before and overslept, but because Ding Yuying knew Zhu Cilang could never get up early in the morning, so she had told Zhu Hexing to come later, to avoid disturbing their Imperial Father's lie-in.

Seeing how inseparable the two were, Zhu Cilang smiled and said to his wife Wu Sanmei, "Sanmei, what do you think of the wife We chose for Lucky?"

Wu Sanmei did not think her daughter-in-law Ding Yuying was all that wonderful, but she was far more pleasing to the eye than those Jiangnan talents like Zheng Min, Luo Xiaohe, and Shen Xiulan. She smiled and said, "Good daughter-in-law, your mother wishes you to bear our family a little imperial grandson soon, so that your father-in-law and I can hold a grandchild!"

Ding Yuying blushed crimson at her words, lowered her head, gave a soft "Mm," and said quietly, "Your daughter-in-law will certainly work hard."

Zhu Hexing grinned foolishly and said, "Your son will work hard too — together with Yuying!"

What a pair of hardworking good children!

Zhu Cilang smiled and nodded. "Then you had better work hard quickly!"

Quickly too?

Zhu Hexing glanced at Ding Yuying. They really had worked hard — three times in one night; any more and it would damage their health!

Zhu Cilang smiled. "But don't overexert yourselves. Lucky, you still have to go west with Us on campaign to Sichuan — we march next month at the latest!"

That was another piece of good news!

Early that morning, the victory report from Sichuan had reached East Lake Palace — according to the memorial from the Governor-General's Office of Yunnan, Guizhou, and Sichuan, the roving bandits around Kuizhou Prefecture's city were moving with their families toward Kai County and Dazhou. Moreover, scouts who had infiltrated near Kuizhou's city (which the bandits called Yong'an) reported seeing great fires burning in the city, day and night without cease!

This showed the bandits were burning down the Yong'an Palace, built at such cost in manpower and materials. It seemed the bandits in Kuizhou, attacked from front and rear, could hold out no longer and were preparing to abandon the city and flee.

Once Kuizhou was abandoned by the bandits, Zhu Cilang could lead the Ming army from Huguang up the Yangtze, enter Kuizhou Prefecture, and direct the battle for Chongqing Prefecture from close at hand.

"Your Majesty," Wu Sanmei said hurriedly, "isn't it enough that the Three Supports are going to Sichuan? Xing'er hasn't even finished the Military Academy — how could he lead troops in battle?"

Zhu Cilang waved his hand. "The government students at the Military Academy in the Western Capital all must learn to campaign and fight. Classroom study alone is not enough. The students must go to a battlefield, smell the gunpowder, and feel the atmosphere of thousands of troops locked in combat. Lucky, what do you say?"

"Imperial Father is absolutely right. Your son has long been hoping to take the field and kill bandits!" Zhu Hexing nodded with a smile, then said to Ding Yuying, "Yuying, after I go on campaign with Imperial Father, I leave Imperial Mother in your care!"

"No — Yuying will go on campaign with us too!" Zhu Cilang asked Ding Yuying, "Yuying, can your body endure such travel?"

Before Ding Yuying could speak, Wu Sanmei could not help interjecting, "Your Majesty, Yuying is a woman and likely to be with child soon — is it proper for her to go on campaign?"

"Yuying, what do you say?" Zhu Cilang asked with a smile. "Will you stay to look after the Empress, or go to the front with the Crown Prince?"

Ding Yuying answered without hesitation: "Your daughter-in-law is willing to follow His Highness the Crown Prince to the front and see it!"

Zhu Cilang nodded approvingly. "Sanmei, Yuying is willing to go, so let her go. A chance to see a battlefield is rare and valuable for Yuying!"

He looked seriously at Ding Yuying and said, "Yuying, you are the Crown Princess, and in the future you will be Empress — perhaps even Empress Dowager. You will inevitably have to witness bloodshed. Now, while you are young, go and see it!"

Wu Sanmei glanced at Ding Yuying with some sympathy, thinking: This girl is no military-family daughter like Ahuan, born bold and unafraid of corpses. She is a girl from a humble household — how could she have that kind of nerve? Don't let her be frightened out of her wits!

"Yuying, if you are afraid, just tell your mother," Wu Sanmei said. "Your mother will make the decision for you!"

Ding Yuying was of course afraid — but not of seeing dead people. Tiger Tooth Mountain had never been a particularly peaceful place; smugglers and underworld figures passing through would clash from time to time, and she had seen her share of gruesome corpses. What she feared was becoming a corpse herself, and then being given a grand funeral!

"Your daughter-in-law is not afraid!" Ding Yuying said. "Your Majesty is doing this for my good, and I will certainly not disappoint Your Majesty!"

"Good child!" Zhu Cilang smiled. "Yuying, it is enough that you understand Our intentions. You have been tired these past few days — rest well for a few days." He paused. "You need not worry about falling behind in your university courses. We will bring Princess Nisha and Noble Consort Xu west with Us; the two of them can make up your lessons."

Being Crown Princess was simply too hard! Wu Sanmei truly felt sorry for Ding Yuying now — she not only had to work hard at bearing children, but also had to go to the battlefield and witness mountains of corpses and seas of blood, and attend university at the same time. How formidable a person would you have to be to manage all that? No wonder the Crown Princess exams were so difficult!

Zhu Cilang added, "Lucky, Yuying, it is getting late. You should go and kowtow to the Retired Emperor and Retired Empress. Remember — do not mention the campaign, lest they worry."

Emperor Zhu was mainly afraid that Retired Emperor Zhou would nag him afterward. Grandmothers always doted on their grandsons' wives!

Zhu Hehao, Wu Ahuan, and Ahai had arrived at Kunning Hall long ago, but they had to wait until Zhu Hexing and Ding Yuying had paid their respects before they could come in — that was the rule! Everyone had to yield to the Crown Prince and Crown Princess.

Of course, even if they had not yielded, they would not have seen Zhu Cilang, because Zhu Cilang had just come from the Red Fort himself — last night he and Princess Nisha had also been newlyweds!

As soon as the Crown Prince and Yuying left, the Tycoon Prince came in cheerfully with his two wives, and Noble Consort Zheng entered with them.

Since Noble Consort Zheng was Zhu Hehao's birth mother, she was to receive her son and daughters-in-law's obeisance together with them. As for the two daughters-in-law Wu Ahuan and Ahai, Zheng Chagu was very satisfied — the top two in the martial arts examination had both gone to her Tycoon son!

And they were exactly the daughters-in-law her Tycoon son needed!

Because her son was King of the United States, Zheng Chagu had always paid close attention to events in the world and the New World — so she knew that the war between the United States of the New World and the Kingdoms of New Spain, New England, and New France would soon break out in full force, and would last a long time!

The recent news from Europe had not been good! The "Grand Alliance of Land and Sea" between France and Holland was growing ever firmer, and the Kingdom of France, relying on this grand alliance, had replaced Spain and the Holy Roman Empire as the leading power of Christendom.

And the Celestial Empire had become the imagined enemy of the Franco-Dutch alliance! But because the homelands of the two sides were so far apart, neither had the ability to strike a truly fatal blow at the other. Under these circumstances, the collision would unfold on the peripheries of both sides — in India and the New World, for instance.

After the ceremonial obeisance was over, Emperor Zhu smiled and said to his son and daughters-in-law, "Tycoon, Ahuan, Ahai — which of you has truly been on a battlefield?"

"I have!" Ahai said. "I fought with my sister on the great grasslands of the Western Regions!"

Zhu Cilang nodded, then looked at the Tycoon Prince and Wu Ahuan with a grave expression. "Tycoon, the place you, Ahuan, and Ahai are going is not very peaceful, so you must all be prepared to take the field and kill the enemy! This morning a victory report arrived from Yunnan, Guizhou, and Sichuan — Kuizhou Prefecture will be recovered within days. We intend to lead the campaign in person, taking the Crown Prince and his wife and the three of you to Sichuan! Are you willing to go?"

"Your son is willing!"

"Your daughter-in-law is willing!"

"Ahai is willing too!"

None of the three had any objection. Zhu Hehao was already a staff officer at the Marshal's Office — a professional military officer. Wu Ahuan was a military-family daughter, and Ahai was a Mongol woman of the great grasslands. Killing and burning were nothing unfamiliar to the three of them — it was their very profession!

"Good!" Zhu Cilang nodded. "Then go back and prepare. Next month at the latest, we march!"

(End of Chapter)