Chapter 1678: Li Zicheng! Even Burned to Ashes, We Would Know You!

With that, Li Jin and Li Hongji were finally at ease.

If they couldn't get taken on as the Son of Heaven's household retainers, they could still go back and keep working as post-station runners. Being a post-station runner had no future, but at least it was a steady bowl of food!

If they truly had no food to eat, with the little skill the two of them had, what other way out was there besides rebelling and becoming kings?

So the uncle and nephew thanked Zhao the Skinner, and then had a good meal — all of it wine and food that Zhao the Skinner had brought: watered-down cloudy wine and slightly rank pig's-head meat, and they ate until their mouths shone with grease. After the meal, Zhao the Skinner personally led them, mounted post-horses, and headed for Ningxia Guard city to collect the reward.

But what the three of them probably never imagined at that moment was that the eunuch Lu Jiude, who was stationed in Ningxia Guard city and specifically tasked with recruiting Li Zicheng from among the post-station runners, had been nearly worried to death over this matter of the great bandit chief Li!

Truly, when those above move their lips, those below run their legs off!

Eunuch Lu had come out carrying a secret mission personally entrusted to him by Zhu Youjian — to fix the selection and find Li Zicheng!

Of course, Zhu Youjian had not named him outright, but he had given quite detailed conditions: not only stipulating "surname Li," "post-station runner of Ningxia Guard," and "twenty to thirty years old," but he had even provided a portrait! A large forehead, thick eyebrows, high cheekbones, deep-set eyes, a high nose, a big beard — that was the look they were to seize, no, to recruit!

And they absolutely had to recruit someone exactly matching it. If they failed to find him — heh heh — there would be no good end!

Nor should they think of faking it, because Zhu Youjian would inspect the man personally!

Yet Lu Jiude had been searching in Ningxia Guard for a long time and simply could not find him! To find a household retainer matching Zhu Youjian's requirements, he had even paid the reward out of his own pocket, and was one step away from issuing an arrest warrant and posting the portrait. Was this hunting a rebel or recruiting a household retainer?!

And what Lu Jiude found even more unbearable was that every few days Zhu Youjian would send some junior eunuch to press him — Found him yet? You must hurry! We, the Emperor, are frantic!

Of course he was frantic. If they were a little late, Li Zicheng might well go off and rebel!

Then the Great Ming would lose one loyal subject and gain one more rebel!

Zhu Youjian pressured Lu Jiude, so Lu Jiude had no choice but to pressure the Ningxia Regional Commander Du Hongyu and the Vice Regional Commander You Shilu, sending them out every day with the "portrait" to search.

Du Hongyu and You Shilu were baffled by his pressure, and even suspected that this Lu Jiude had once taken a wife before becoming a eunuch — and that the big-bearded bandit chief (Li Zicheng) was the son he had lost many years ago!

A long-lost son of Eunuch Lu's was of course something they had to help find, so they dispatched trusted men to search every post station below. But before those trusted men had even returned, Zhao the Skinner had brought in the very two men Eunuch Lu yearned for day and night — the uncle and nephew Li Hongji and Li Jin.

Hearing that two candidates for household retainer matching Emperor Zhu's requirements had arrived at once, Eunuch Lu was so overjoyed he nearly ran out to welcome them himself. Only when he reached the courtyard did he remember that he was here recruiting household retainers on behalf of the Son of Heaven!

So he hurried back inside and seated himself properly in the main hall.

A burly giant named Hu Dawei, a Commandant of the Ningxia garrison, led the equally fierce-looking Li Hongji and Li Jin before Eunuch Lu.

The moment Lu Jiude saw the faces of the uncle and nephew Li Hongji and Li Jin, his heart bloomed with joy — it was them! And two at once. Surely His Majesty would be satisfied now?

"Eunuch, these two are uncle and nephew. The younger-looking one is the uncle, named Li Hongji. The older-looking one is the nephew, named Li Jin. Both are from Mizhi County, Yan'an Prefecture, Shaanxi, and work as post-station runners at Mengcheng Post. You two, stop kneeling — stand up quickly and let Eunuch Lu have a look at you."

The speaker was Hu Dawei. He was a Mongol, himself of household-retainer origin, and had risen step by step to Commandant because of his fine skill at cutting men down.

Lu Jiude, on imperial assignment in Ningxia Guard, had seen that he was tall, fierce, and capable, so he had seconded him to his side and was even preparing to have him made an officer in the Vanguard of the Imperial Guard.

"Dawei, have you tested these two in archery, horsemanship, and martial skill?" Lu Jiude asked, putting on a show.

With Li Hongji's and Li Jin's looks and height, plus their native place and occupation, their level of martial skill no longer mattered. Even if they were a little lacking, they could simply be taught after returning — it could always be fudged through.

"Eunuch, this officer tested them personally," Hu Dawei said. "Their martial skill is not poor. Their archery and horsemanship are excellent, and their strength is considerable. With proper training, both could become shock troops."

How could Li Zicheng's and Li Guo's martial skill be poor? Those two were mounted Sons of Heaven!

Moreover, because Shaanxi had four great border garrisons and a great many guard battalions, and because it frequently clashed with the Mongols, the local folk had always been fierce. Many commoner sons were also well-versed in martial arts, and in a real fight they were no worse than a Mongol barbarian soldier like Hu Dawei — in history, hadn't Hu Dawei been killed by Li Zicheng?

Lu Jiude nodded with satisfaction and looked smilingly at the uncle and nephew Li Hongji and Li Jin: So we've finally found you!

He said with a smile, "Good. Since you've tested them, Dawei, we'll leave tomorrow. His Majesty is still waiting!"

What? In such a hurry?

Li Hongji and Li Jin were both taken aback. They had wanted to return to Mizhi first and explain things to their families!

"Ah, right," Lu Jiude also remembered. "Do you two have families? Have you both taken wives?"

At the word "wives," Li Hongji broke into a grin and asked, "Eunuch, I heard from Zhao the Skinner at Mengcheng Post that the Emperor will also grant palace maids to me and my big nephew as wives. Is that true?"

"True, true," Lu Jiude said with a laugh. "But the palace maids released from the palace are limited in number, so you must get to the capital quickly. If you arrive late, there won't be any left."

Hearing that the palace maids were limited, Li Hongji grew a little anxious and glanced at Li Jin. "Nephew, how about we first go with the Eunuch to Beijing?"

Li Jin frowned. "What about the family? Mother, grandmother, and my little uncle — they still need to be settled, don't they?"

"Bring the whole family along!" Lu Jiude said. "His Majesty also grants you household retainers office land — five hundred mu per man. You uncle and nephew together will have a thousand mu of office land, yielding at least several hundred shi of rent a year. As long as you remain the Son of Heaven's household retainers, this office land is yours to use, and it pays no imperial grain tax and no levies!"

Five hundred mu of land in the capital region was worth a considerable sum, and could not simply be given away to household retainers. Ownership of the land remained with the imperial house; it was merely granted to the retainers as office land. All income the land produced during the retainer's term of service belonged to the retainer himself, with no taxes or levies owed. Of course, the office land was not free.

When household retainers went on campaign, they had to provide their own horses, armor, weapons, and support troops, and all or part of these expenses had to come from the five hundred mu of office land — Zhu Youjian would grant a certain amount of subsidy based on the length of the retainer's campaign and his losses.

Though they had no ownership rights, the income from five hundred mu of capital-region land was still very high!

The uncle and nephew Li Hongji and Li Jin had truly risen to heaven in a single step. Even Squire Ai, the richest man in their village and a juren, could not compare with them now.

With such enormous benefits laid before them, the uncle and nephew naturally had to hurry off to Beijing. So they no longer had any thought of going to Mizhi County to fetch their families themselves. Instead, they asked Zhao the Skinner, who had come with them, to do them the favor of going to Mizhi to bring out their two mothers and Li Hongji's little brother. They themselves traveled day and night with Lu Jiude and Hu Dawei toward Beijing. The party finally arrived at the Nanhaizi Grand Camp south of Beijing on the second day of the second month of the first year of Chongzhen, and on the very next day — the third of the second month — they were received by the Great Ming's Chongzhen Emperor, Zhu Youjian.

"I, Li Hongji, and I, Li Jin, respectfully wish His Majesty the Emperor sacred peace. Ten thousand years, ten thousand years, ten thousand times ten thousand years."

In the great hall of the Nanhaizi Grand Camp, Li Hongji and Li Jin were kowtowing in salute to the Great Ming Emperor, hailing him with cries of "Ten thousand years."

"Rise. Li Hongji, Li Jin — stand up!" The Emperor, seated high above, spoke, and his voice sounded deeply stirred, even trembling a little.

The uncle and nephew Li Hongji and Li Jin were themselves dazed, and of course did not notice anything odd in the Emperor's tone. They only heard someone tell them to rise, so they hastily scrambled up from the floor, then forgot all the etiquette Lu Jiude had instructed them in and simply stared up at the Emperor like fools.

And Zhu Youjian stared fixedly at Li Hongji, lightly grinding his teeth: Li Zicheng, oh Li Zicheng — even if you were burned to ashes, We would know you!

(End of Chapter)