Chapter 1713: What a Huge Black Pot to Carry!

"Governor Zhang, did you fight your way out of Datong City? Where is His Majesty? Has he already—"

When Zhang Weixian heard that Zhang Yiming was bringing troops to Hunyuan Prefecture, he immediately went out of the city to meet him. Seeing the travel-worn Grand Governor Zhang, he did not even greet him but grabbed him and started asking questions.

After a few questions, he noticed that Zhang Yiming's expression was a little strange, so he stopped. After thinking for a moment, he began asking again: "Governor Zhang, let me ask you—on the seventh day of the sixth month, did His Majesty take a thousand horsemen out of the city to fight the Tartars?"

Zhang Yiming shook his head. "Not a thousand—only six or seven hundred. They all went out through the North Gate. At that time there were still several hundred men from the Datong garrison outside the city, already engaged with the Tartar cavalry."

Old Master Zhang Weixian sighed and shook his head repeatedly. "Then did His Majesty win a round?"

"Yes, yes." Zhang Yiming nodded. "He did win a round. Duke of the State, how do you know all this?"

Zhang Weixian did not answer, but pressed on: "After that, did His Majesty lead a thousand men across the Yu River?"

"That's right!" Zhang Yiming said. "Regional Commander Man tried to stop him at first, but how could he be stopped?"

"Then His Majesty encountered the main force of the Chahar tribe on the east bank of the Yu River?"

"Right, right. Duke of the State, so you already know everything!" Zhang Yiming nodded in admiration.

The Duke of the State went on: "Then His Majesty was surrounded by the Tartars and sent men to Datong City to call for help?"

"..." Zhang Yiming did not react for a moment.

The Duke of the State was still talking: "Then Man Gui led more than ten thousand elite Datong troops and more than ten thousand headquarters cavalry across the river to rescue His Majesty, only to be surrounded by the Tartars' hundred thousand troops. Then the Tartars turned and attacked your Datong City, and you could not hold it, so you broke out and fled! Isn't that right?"

Zhang Yiming stared wide-eyed at Zhang Weixian. "Duke of the State, who did you hear this from?"

"Who else? The Prince of Dai and the several Commandery Princes in Datong City!" Zhang Weixian asked urgently, "Governor Zhang, how is the Son of Heaven? Is he still alive? Has it turned out like the Ying Temple at Tumu Fortress?"

Zhang Yiming pointed at Zhang Weixian, unable to speak clearly: "D-D-Duke of the State, wh-what nonsense are you talking?"

"Nonsense? What nonsense?" Zhang Weixian looked at Zhang Yiming and sensed something was wrong too.

"That—that part after crossing the Yu River and fighting the Tartars is all nonsense!" Zhang Yiming raised a thumb and said, "Our His Majesty is the bravest of the three armies!"

What? His Majesty the bravest of the three armies?

Zhang Weixian was stunned. "Bravest in what way?"

Zhang Yiming said: "On the west bank of the Yu River, His Majesty encountered the foremost warrior of the Mongols, Guiyingqia!"

"I know of this man," Zhang Weixian said. "He is the Myriarch of the center army under Hutudun Khan, with the strength to hold off ten thousand men!"

Zhang Yiming waved a hand. "His Majesty cut him down!"

"What? What did you say?" Zhang Weixian stared wide-eyed. "Who cut down whom?"

"Of course our His Majesty cut down the foremost warrior of the Mongols!" Zhang Yiming said in an exaggerated tone. "Cut him down in battle! Thirty rounds of combat, and Guiyingqia was slain in the field!"

"Ah!" Zhang Weixian was so shocked his mouth hung open.

Zhang Yiming went on: "That Guiyingqia's wife is Hutudun Khan's sister, the Grand Princess Wuliangha. When she heard her husband had been slain by His Majesty, she burned for revenge, disguised herself as Hutudun Khan to seek vengeance, and challenged His Majesty to single combat on the east bank of the Yu River. After only a few rounds, His Majesty captured her!"

"Single combat, and then capturing her..." Zhang Weixian's voice had gone hoarse. "Is this really His Majesty?"

"It's not over yet!" Zhang Yiming said. "Just as His Majesty captured Wuliangha alive, the main forces of both sides arrived. His Majesty led the cavalry in a charge through the enemy lines!"

"A charge? Whose lines?"

"Hutudun Khan's lines, of course!" Zhang Yiming said. "The two armies fought from dusk on the seventh until late into the night. His Majesty charged in and out seven times, leaving the Chahar troops strewn dead across the field!"

Seven times in and seven times out... Is this Zhu Youjian or Zhao Zilong?

"Hutudun Khan was defeated?"

"A crushing defeat!" Zhang Yiming said. "After the defeat at the Yu River, Hutudun Khan was still unwilling to accept it and fell back to Mount Baideng to hold out. Then on the ninth, His Majesty led twenty thousand men in a frontal assault on the forty or fifty thousand Tartars on Mount Baideng!"

"What? Twenty thousand against forty or fifty thousand... and a frontal assault?" Zhang Weixian asked. "Did he win?"

"A great victory!" Zhang Yiming said. "His Majesty is not only skilled at single combat and charging lines, he is also expert with artillery. He bombarded Hutudun Khan's main camp until Hutudun Khan's army collapsed in disorder, then commanded the armored troops in a fierce assault and routed Hutudun Khan's forces in one blow. Hutudun Khan fled in panic, and by the tenth he had fled beyond the Datong border wall!"

"What? Hutudun Khan was defeated just like that?" Zhang Weixian truly could not believe it.

"That's right," Zhang Yiming nodded. "Defeated!"

"A hundred thousand troops, just like that..."

"Utterly routed by His Majesty's twenty thousand men!" Zhang Yiming said admiringly. "Since Emperor Chengzu, our Great Ming has finally produced another His Majesty who truly knows how to fight. And this His Majesty of ours is still so young—only eighteen. His future is limitless!"

Indeed! Only eighteen and already that ferocious—what will he be like later? Cold sweat was pouring from Zhang Weixian's forehead!

Now it was Zhang Yiming's turn to ask questions: "Duke of the State, what brings you to Datong Garrison?"

"I—I came to support His Majesty!" Zhang Weixian hastily explained. "That day His Majesty left behind an edict reading 'If you want war, then war it is,' and led ten thousand troops out of the capital. The Grand Secretaries, Empress Zhou, and Empress Zhang were all worried for His Majesty's safety, so they ordered me, the Duke of Cheng, the Marquis of Funing, and the two Commanders Luo to lead twenty thousand troops out of the capital to support His Majesty. We never expected His Majesty to march so fast that we could not keep up..."

"Then where are the Prince of Dai and the several Commandery Princes of the Prince of Dai's line right now?" Zhang Yiming asked.

"They are..." Zhang Weixian could of course hear that Zhang Yiming's tone was off, and he also knew that those princes' words had been wrong. "Governor Zhang, you are looking for them to..."

"By imperial order!" Zhang Yiming said.

To be precise, by palace edict. Because the Grand Secretaries of the Grand Secretariat had not accompanied the campaign, Zhu Youjian had no way to issue a formal edict bearing the Grand Secretariat's countersigned instructions.

But within the territory of Datong Garrison, the force of a palace edict was now exactly the same as a countersigned edict!

Zhang Weixian's face suddenly changed drastically, because he remembered the memorials that the Prince of Dai and the other Commandery Princes had sent to the Grand Secretariat, Empress Zhou, and Empress Zhang!

The contents of those memorials were nothing short of deluded ravings that cursed the Son of Heaven!

And in a place like Beijing, good news never leaves the city, but bad news travels ten thousand li. Once the memorials recklessly written by the Prince of Dai and the Commandery Princes reached Beijing, the whole realm would know! How great the impact would be—anyone could figure that out with their heel.

Moreover, he himself, the Duke of Cheng, the Marquis of Funing, and the father-and-son pair Luo Sigong and Luo Yangxing would hardly escape involvement either!

"Duke of the State, what has happened?" Zhang Yiming could also see that something was wrong and quickly asked.

"Something terrible!" Zhang Weixian stamped his foot. "This time I, the Duke of Cheng, the Marquis of Funing, and the father-and-son pair Luo Sigong and Luo Yangxing have been badly screwed over by those princes in Datong!"

"What did those princes do?" Zhang Yiming pressed urgently.

"Deluded ravings that curse the Son of Heaven... and they even wrote the rumor that the Son of Heaven was trapped in Datong into memorials and sent them to Beijing!"

"Ah!" Zhang Yiming looked at the Duke of the State and asked in a low voice, "My Lord Duke, you didn't put your name on those memorials, did you?"

"No." Zhang Weixian was drenched in cold sweat. He had almost signed! Later he had felt that as a Commander, putting his name after a bunch of useless princes would be meaningless, so he had not written his name down.

"Then it's not too bad," Zhang Yiming said with relief.

"What do you mean not too bad?" Zhang Weixian stamped his foot. "If this blows up, no one gets away clean!"

"Don't be hasty, Duke!" Zhang Yiming said soothingly. "Send men at once to overtake those princes' memorials, and then impeach them for deluding the masses with sorcery and cursing the Son of Heaven! And by the way, those princes must not be allowed to get away — they must all be arrested!"

"Right, right, right." Zhang Weixian gritted his teeth. "None of them are worth a thing. They plotted treason, and every one of them should be sent to reflect on their crimes behind the high walls of Fengyang!"

(End of Chapter)