Chapter 1696: Gentlemen of Datong, Follow Us and Slay the Barbarians!

Outside the South Gate of Datong, Governor Zhang Yiming of Datong, Regional Commander Man Gui of Datong, several elders of the Ma and Ma family generals of Datong, the hereditary military officers of the Eight Guards of Datong who remained in the city, and of course the supremely noble Commandery Prince of Dai, Zhu Dingwei, along with several collateral Commandery Princes of the Dai princely establishment such as the Prince of Guangling, the Prince of Shanyin, the Prince of Hechuan, the Prince of Zaoqiang, the Prince of Lechang, the Prince of Jiyang, the Prince of Fuchuan, the Prince of Yongqing, and so on, plus a crowd of State-Defending Generals, State-Supporting Generals, and State-Upholding Generals barely presentable enough to look at, all in python robes and black gauze caps, arranged strictly by rank and precedence, were waiting anxiously.

They were waiting for the Son of Heaven of the Great Ming, who was personally leading the imperial army on campaign!

By all reason, the Son of Heaven personally taking the field ought to be an immensely heartening affair, and Datong was a military city, where most of the prominent figures in the city were connected to military affairs.

Even the State-Defending Generals, State-Supporting Generals, and State-Upholding Generals of the Ming imperial clan—did they not all bear the title of general? According to the intent of their founding ancestor Zhu Yuanzhang, they— This time the Son of Heaven of the Great Ming had personally taken the field! Even if these "generals" could not ride into battle to slay the enemy, they ought at least to show some high morale. Yet why were these generals, and the Commandery Princes above them, and even the aged and visibly unwell Commandery Prince of Dai, Zhu Dingwei, all so ill at ease?

It was not only these scions of the imperial house who were ill at ease—even Governor Zhang Yiming of Datong and Regional Commander Man Gui of Datong, the highest civil and military officials of the Datong garrison, both looked somewhat restless and unable to sit still!

And their unease and restlessness were not without cause. Had the Son of Heaven personally taking the field happened in the early years of the dynasty, it would of course have been a fine thing that the border garrison commanders could only have begged for. In those days the Son of Heaven was a mounted sovereign, the officials were meritorious fierce generals, and even the guard battalion officers below them were all fierce warriors who had come through mountains of corpses and seas of blood!

In those days, when the Son of Heaven personally took the field, that was the moment for everyone to win glory and build their careers!

But this was no longer the early years of the dynasty. The realm was beset by troubles within and without, the border garrisons were in turmoil, the border troops had no security of food or clothing, and the Son of Heaven had grown up deep within the palace, raised among women, and was young besides. What "imperial personal campaign"? It was just a child playing games!

This was even more absurd than the personal campaigns of the Ying Temple and the Wu Temple in former times. At the Tumu Incident, the Ying Temple sovereign was already twenty-three; at the Battle of Yingzhou, the Wu Temple sovereign was already twenty-seven.

But the present young Son of Heaven was only eighteen. And that was by nominal age!

This time it was a child emperor playing at war!

And what was more, this child emperor had no sons and no brothers. If he were to be lost in battle, who would become emperor? If the succession were to be worked out in order, it would be that great fat Prince of Fu, Zhu Changxun, who became emperor! The great Wanli succession struggle waged over him and the Guang Temple sovereign had stirred up enormous storms. Thinking of this, Man Gui and Zhang Yiming could only sigh in despair—no matter how much the Donglin faction and the eunuch faction at court fought over the selection of a new sovereign, the blame would be pinned on the two of them for certain!

Just as this great crowd of people hung their heads in dejection, inwardly groaning at their misfortune, they saw the dozen or so fast riders sent out ahead to greet the imperial procession come racing back at flying speed. At their head was none other than Assistant Regional Commander Fang Zikun of the Datong garrison headquarters battalion, who from far off shouted toward Zhang Yiming and Man Gui: "His Majesty has arrived! His Majesty has arrived!"

The civil officials, military officers, and nobles of the Datong garrison, who had grown somewhat impatient in their waiting, let out a low buzz of murmuring, and involuntarily began straightening their robes and caps, then craned their necks to look.

Then they saw dust and smoke filling the sky, and heard a rumbling roar. Ah! The momentum of His Majesty's arrival was truly awe-inspiring!

Man Gui, who had been standing there with a solemn expression, changed color. He knew that the low rumble was the sound of horse hooves striking the ground, so dense that it merged into one continuous sound. Standing on the ground, Man Gui could feel the earth trembling faintly beneath him. It really was more than ten thousand iron cavalry, each man with two horses!

Man Gui drew a deep breath, straightened his body, craned his neck, and began gazing southward.

No one knew how long it was, but just as the thunderous hoofbeats grew louder and louder and the trembling of the earth more and more violent, yellow dragon banners finally appeared on the horizon—not one, but a full twelve of them. These were the imperial standards, flying in the wind, snapping and rolling. Only then came a leaping expanse of spear tips flashing with cold light—these were iron cavalry charging with lances couched, their horse lances slung diagonally across their backs.

Man Gui's expression changed again, from alarm to astonishment.

For he had already noticed that the ranks of this great body of the Son of Heaven's household cavalry approaching him were extremely orderly! They moved in large units of several hundred riders, formed into one five-file column after another, advancing along the official road at a quick march.

Such speed, such formation, such orderliness—to an expert like Man Gui, it was clear at a glance that these cavalrymen had undergone a considerable period of strict and concentrated training.

They certainly looked very imposing!

It was just that he did not know how their martial skills were. They had better not be showpieces that only knew how to line up but could not fight!

It was not at all strange that Man Gui had such thoughts, because although the household retainers of Ming border commanders could also ride and charge formations, they were in essence a group of feudal warriors who fought on individual valor. They were not much accustomed to forming great formations of several hundred or a thousand riders for a charge, let alone sending out ten thousand iron cavalry at once—and no border commander had ten thousand household retainers anyway!

Since the household retainer system had come into being, Li Chengliang, who had the most household retainers, had at his peak fewer than five thousand. And those five thousand rarely had the chance to be concentrated in one place, for they had to hold the line in various locations! It was only when troops were sent to Joseon that more than three thousand went at one time.

And after the decline of the two great border military groups of the Eastern Li and the Western Ma, "great Regional Commanders" like Man Gui, Zu Dashou, and Zhao Shuaijiao could at most have a thousand-odd household retainers, and even those were not as elite as the retainers of the Western Ma and Eastern Li.

The Western Ma and Eastern Li were border generals who had risen over many years, long entrenched in one region, with plenty of time to manage their own household retainer groups.

But men like Man Gui, Zu Dashou, and Zhao Shuaijiao had not been rising for long; all had been promoted from mid-level officers to Regional Commander rank only during the Tianqi era, so their household retainer groups were all somewhat hollow.

Just as Man Gui was wondering whether these imperial household cavalry were embroidered pillows, the great body of cavalry had already drawn near the South Gate fortress of Datong.

The first to appear were several hundred gold-armored riders, all tall, strapping men, their armor and dress immaculate, every man in a long golden body armor that, struck by the sunlight, reflected a golden glare bright enough to blind the eyes.

The formation of these several hundred riders was also extremely orderly, and they could even change formation while on the move. While advancing at a quick march, they slowly spread out, and the five-file column transformed into three horizontal ranks—two of the ranks were longer, formed from two columns each, and one rank was shorter, formed from a single column.

The three horizontal ranks, front and rear, stood displayed before Man Gui, Zhang Yiming, and the others like three walls of knights, and then came to a halt.

It had to be said, this skill at lining up and changing formation truly opened one's eyes!

At that moment, the formation of these gold-armored riders changed again. The two front ranks split apart in the middle, becoming four units, which moved to left and right, opening a passage. Then a hundred-odd gold-armored cavalrymen were seen, clustered around twelve triangular dragon banners, surging out through this passage and arriving before Man Gui, Zhang Yiming, and the others.

At the center of the twelve dragon banners was a youth in golden helmet and golden armor, riding a tall, fine horse—none other than the Chongzhen Emperor of the Great Ming, Zhu Youjian.

Man Gui and Zhang Yiming had both gone to the capital to report on their duties and had seen His Majesty in the Hall of Literary Splendor, so of course they recognized him at a glance now. They hastily led the assembled dignitaries of the Datong garrison in kneeling and kowtowing, shouting "Long live the Emperor" in unison.

Zhu Youjian's mood today looked extremely good, his face brimming with smiles. Because his vanguard cavalry, having set out from the Nanhaizi great camp outside Beijing, had performed quite well along the way. Six hundred li of road had been covered in a few days, with very few men falling out, and the marching discipline had been quite good. So much so that many prefectures and counties along the route had not even noticed the great army passing through!

This was a true royal army! With such a royal army, was there any fear of not defeating that runaway khan of the Chakhar tribe?

He looked at Man Gui and Zhang Yiming, who had come to greet him, and at a crowd of high officials he did not recognize—presumably all commanders of the Datong garrison troops—and smiled and nodded. "Rise, all of you rise!"

Seeing Man Gui climb up from the ground, Zhu Youjian asked again: "Man Gui, that Hutudun of the Chakhar tribe hasn't run off yet, has he?"

"Ah, not yet." Man Gui answered with his mouth, but inwardly he thought: They have a hundred thousand troops—why would they run?

"Good! As long as he hasn't run!" Zhu Youjian smiled, then raised his voice and uttered a heroic declaration that startled a whole crowd into near-collapse: "Gentlemen of Datong, follow Us and slay the barbarians!"

(End of Chapter)