Chapter 1697: We Shall Surely Win, Therefore We Are Surely Wise!

Hearing Zhu Youjian's words, Man Gui and Zhang Yiming were all right — merely startled, not yet scared out of their wits. But that pack of good-for-nothing imperial clansmen, from the Prince of Dai, Zhu Dingwei, on down — eight Commandery Princes and a whole crowd of whatever generals — were all terrified witless!

"Y-Your Majesty," the aged, ailing, ashen-faced Prince of Dai, Zhu Dingwei, quaveringly began, "what did you say?"

Zhu Youjian said with a smile, "Old Prince of Dai, you are the princely defender of Datong! Seeing the Tartars break through the wall, you must be itching to take the field and kill the enemy, am I right? Well, now's your chance — We shall take you along to kill the enemy!"

The old prince's legs went weak with fright, and he plopped down on the ground, unable to rise.

Zhu Youjian, still on horseback, saw the old Prince of Dai suddenly shrink by half a head, and hurriedly leaned over to look. Seeing the old man sitting on the ground, he asked with a smile, "Old Prince of Dai, what's the matter with you?"

The old Prince of Dai hastily bowed to Zhu Youjian: "Your Majesty, this subject is a princely defender. According to the ancestral statutes, I may not command troops, nor may I go far from my city."

Zhu Youjian waved his hand with a smile: "What is the old prince saying? We are taking you into battle to kill the caitiffs! We are the Emperor, and We mean to lead the troops in person to kill the caitiffs — can you, the princely defender, shrink back inside your city and not come out? Is that how a loyal and devoted prince of our Great Ming behaves? Besides, aren't the Tartars just thirty li north of Datong, at White Climb Mountain? Isn't the Prince of Dai's ancestral tomb near White Climb Mountain? We have heard that this Khutuktu Khan is a tomb-raiding khan. Do you know what tomb-raiding means? It means digging up people's ancestral graves and taking the treasures within! Your ancestors' graves are about to be dug up — can you refrain from going out and fighting the Tartars to the death?"

Zhu Youjian's fifty-plus years as Retired Emperor truly had not been wasted — he had even learned to slander his opponents as grave robbers, directly pinning the label "Tomb-Raiding Khan" on Khutuktu Khan.

His gaze suddenly turned fierce, burning as it swept over the filial sons and worthy grandsons of the Prince of Dai's house, and his voice deepened: "You are all descendants of Prince Jian of Dai — will you stand by and watch the tombs of your ancestors be dug up by the Tartar caitiffs?"

What else could they do but stand by and watch?

The whole crowd of descendants of Zhu Gui, Prince Jian of Dai, were terrified witless, all staring dumbly at Zhu Youjian, unable even to get out words of supplication.

Zhu Youjian naturally could not wait for them all to prostrate themselves and beg for mercy. He was no tyrant like that unfilial son who specialized in ruining his own family — he was a benevolent sovereign!

"Good! You are all fine fellows!" Zhu Youjian nodded with feigned approval. "Go back today and prepare well. The day after tomorrow — that is, the eighth day of the sixth month — before the third quarter of the yin hour, all of you are to assemble at the North Gate Parade-Ground Fortress, each with your own armor, weapons, and horses. Whoever fails to arrive on time is no descendant of the Great Ancestor Emperor or of Prince Jian of Dai!"

What sort of talk was this? Was this expulsion from the imperial clan rolls?

"Your Majesty, spare us!"

At last someone reacted, weeping and begging for mercy, and then more and more people began weeping and pleading.

"Your Majesty, I truly cannot fight!"

"Your Majesty, I haven't even the strength to truss a chicken."

The whole crowd of princes and generals of the old Zhu family were frightened out of their wits — some kneeling, some weeping, all as if their own fathers had died. The Prince of Dai, Zhu Dingwei, wept most piteously of all, weeping and coughing at once, the very picture of a man so gravely ill he might expire at any moment.

Seeing this, Zhu Youjian was furious! Both were Princes of Dai — think of old Third Brother (Zhu Cijiong) back then, how brave he was, daring at sixteen to fight the eastern barbarians to the bitter end. When Datong could not be held, he went up to Lüliang, then on to Yulin and Yan'an, and later fought his way back to Datong, winning back his fief blade by blade and shot by shot. That was a prince who truly guarded a region for the Great Ming!

And what sort of princely defender are you, Zhu Dingwei? Frightened of death to this degree — and besides, you're going to die next year anyway! Even if you die in battle now, you'd only be losing a year or so of life. When you meet your ancestors and report the cause of your death, how glorious that would be!

To die for the Great Ming — to die for the nation!

"Prince of Dai!" Zhu Youjian's voice now carried real anger. "What are you crying about? What are you afraid of? It's only taking the field to kill caitiffs! If you're afraid even to kill a caitiff, how can you go on being a frontier prince of the Great Ming? Stop crying! Go back and prepare properly, and on the eighth come with Us to kill caitiffs!"

Go kill caitiffs? The Prince of Dai, Zhu Dingwei, wept as he thought: Someone like me, kill caitiffs? More like get killed by caitiffs! What am I to do!

Zhu Youjian did not waste more words on this prince who was about to cry himself to death. He turned to Man Gui and Zhang Yiming, who no longer knew what to say, and said: "We and Our ten thousand troops will not enter the great city. We shall encamp at the North Gate Parade-Ground Fortress. The whole army will rest for one day, and on the eighth we march out to kill caitiffs! Governor Zhang, go prepare some provisions and horse fodder and deliver them to the Parade-Ground Fortress for military use.

Man Gui, come with Us. We have questions for you."

Zhu Youjian's expedition had been undertaken behind the court's back, so he had not had the prefectures and counties along the way prepare anything. The six-hundred-li march had been sustained entirely by the rations and fodder carried at the time of departure. By the time they reached Datong, the household retainers still had some marching rations left, but the horse fodder was nearly gone.

Moreover, a forced march of six hundred li had taken a heavy toll. It would be no exaggeration to say the men were weary and the horses spent, so Zhu Youjian decided to rest for a day and a half, and not take the field against the Chahar until the eighth.

Man Gui and Zhang Yiming exchanged glances, both thinking this Son of Heaven was somewhat reckless. Then they looked again at the cavalry that were filing over in good order and forming up outside the South Gate, and felt that this reckless Son of Heaven really did seem to know how to train troops. They could not tell how skilled those imperial household retainers were in arms, but their ranks were very orderly. And every man wore helmet and armor, with a long spear over his shoulder — quite an intimidating sight.

Could this young Son of Heaven actually drive off that "Fleeing Khan" of the Chahar? If he truly did, then the Great Ming could be said at last to have produced an emperor who could fight!

The North Gate Parade-Ground Fortress of Datong was an outlying fort of Datong city, situated outside the city's north gate. It was a military fort shielding the main city of Datong, extremely sturdy, with a parade ground and barracks inside that could be used to quarter troops. If the Datong garrison's full complement of troops were present, the barracks inside the Parade-Ground Fortress should have been filled with soldiers. But now this Parade-Ground Fortress had long lain abandoned; both the barracks and the official offices were somewhat dilapidated, truly unfit for Zhu Youjian to lodge in.

So Man Gui and Zhang Yiming, who were accompanying him toward the North Gate Parade-Ground Fortress, still wanted to urge Zhu Youjian to enter Datong, but Zhu Youjian smilingly waved them off — Zhu Youjian did not dare enter the great city, because once he entered the great city, getting out again would not be easy!

"Though We are the Emperor, We are no coddled, pampered sort. Did We not march all the way from the Nanhaizi Grand Camp, marching just like the knights before Our tent, sleeping in the open and eating in the wind just the same?"

What? Sleeping in the open and eating in the wind? Marching just the same? Man Gui and Zhang Yiming could scarcely believe the man before them was the Emperor of the Great Ming!

The two of them had also ridden on horseback, following Zhu Youjian as he skirted the outside of Datong city. Both had noticed Zhu Youjian's horsemanship — his skill in the saddle was truly outstanding! One look told you it came from years of hard training!

"Your Majesty," said Zhang Yiming, a civil official who naturally knew that the courtiers would never under any circumstances agree to the Emperor leading a campaign in person, so he ventured to inquire, "This time you have come to Datong — the courtiers and the martial nobility in the capital..."

Zhu Youjian shot Zhang Yiming a glance, thinking: You have the nerve to ask! In the last life, when Khutuktu Khan invaded, you nearly lost Datong, and afterward We dismissed you from office! This time We have come to save you, and you aren't even grateful — have you no conscience?

At that thought he gave a cold snort: "The courtiers and martial nobility naturally would not agree to Our leading a campaign in person, so We did not tell them. Once told, it would have been impossible!"

"Your Majesty..." Zhang Yiming said, "You are a body of ten thousand gold pieces. How can you risk yourself at the front? Better that you move your residence to the Prince of Dai's mansion, and let this subject and Regional Commander Man lead the Datong troops out to battle."

"You cannot defeat Khutuktu Khan! If you could, We would not have come!" Zhu Youjian said with a smile. "But We shall surely win! Therefore We must take the field in person. Khutuktu Khan is a Mongol khan who bullies the weak and fears the strong — at the sight of the eastern barbarians he's like a rabbit, yet he comes to Datong to play the tiger! If We do not deal with him, the northwest will never know peace again, and he will never join Us against the eastern barbarians. So this battle We must fight! And We will surely win!"

(End of Chapter)