Chapter 775: Generals, Time for a Remedial Lesson!

In the fourth year of Hongxing of the Great Ming, as the year drew to a close, the banks of the Yangtze were already swept by biting winds. In the waiting hall beside the Xihua Gate of East Lake Palace in Wuchang, two military officers in crimson robes were talking in a corner.

"You brat, you've really gone too far, bringing home a foreign woman like that — you're going to ruin our Li family's reputation!"

The one doing the scolding was Li Ruolian, currently Deputy Military Advisor of the Grand Marshal's Office and concurrently Director of the Military Studies Bureau.

"Foreign women are good at bearing children! Just look at her figure, her bosom, her hips — she's built for breeding! Isn't she pregnant right now? Of the three unfilial acts, having no heir is the gravest! Your nephew still has no son, so marrying a fertile foreign woman is filial piety — I'm a filial son!"

The one replying was Li Shaoyou, the Great Ming Empire's interim ambassador to the Holy Roman Empire. The fellow had always had a glib tongue, and now that he was a diplomat, tempered by experience on the international stage, he was even more eloquent.

"You, a filial son? Have you asked your father? He has three sons, and you're the most unfilial of them all!"

Li Ruolian continued scolding with a stern face.

"Uncle, I've made something of myself now. Once I've seen His Majesty, I'll be a hero of the national crisis for certain — maybe I'll even get a noble title, bringing glory to our ancestors."

Li Shaoyou still spoke with conviction. He truly hadn't counted as a filial son before — the money he earned wasn't even enough for his own spending, he hadn't married or had children at his age, and he especially liked frequenting places like the Qinhuai River. But now he had made something of himself!

This time he had brought back more than 700 Arabian horses (over 200 had died on the road), more than 300 large European horses (not counting his wife), a Dutch-built warship, several dozen Dutch sailors, a great quantity of firearms and ammunition, countless machines, equipment, and raw materials, many Western technical books, many unmarried Dutch skilled craftsmen whose wives had died or who had never married at an advanced age — oh, and a certain Prince Kong, said to be the foremost warrior of the Kingdom of France.

And also his own work, Ambassador Li's Journey to the West!

These were all merits!

Although Ji Kun took the lion's share, as deputy envoy he could still claim a small half of the credit, right?

"You—"

Li Ruolian was about to continue his reprimand when a duck-like voice called out: "Li Shaoyou! Who is Li Shaoyou?"

Li Ruolian turned to look and froze on the spot — it was Huang Xiaobao, the brush-holding eunuch of the Directorate of Ceremonial!

After Huang Dabao had gone to Beijing to mourn, Huang Xiaobao was the most senior figure in East Lake Palace. It was only that eunuchs had little power now; in the old days he would have been the "Inner Chancellor," a figure who could have stood toe-to-toe with Wei Zaode!

"Eunuch Huang, why have you come in person?" Li Ruolian immediately went up to greet him.

"Deputy Military Advisor Li?" Huang Xiaobao was startled. "Your name isn't on the audience list!"

"I came together with Li Shaoyou." Li Ruolian pointed at his nephew. "He's my nephew."

"Oh," Huang Xiaobao smiled, "then come along together. His Majesty is anxious to see you."

At this, everyone in the waiting hall cast envious glances — audiences had rules: one had to submit a request to the Directorate of Ceremonial in advance, and the Directorate would then arrange a time based on the circumstances. Once arranged, the order of audiences was generally not changed, unless the Emperor truly needed to see someone urgently.

Then Huang Xiaobao added: "Everyone else may leave. His Majesty has no time to see you today; the Directorate of Ceremonial will make new arrangements later."

Only Li Shaoyou alone!

Was he about to be given a major appointment?

"No need to kneel — come forward and speak. Grant them seats!"

Zhu Cilang had grown somewhat impatient waiting! When he saw Li Ruolian and Li Shaoyou walk in, he didn't let them kowtow, but instead told them to sit down quickly and speak.

"We thank Your Majesty for granting seats."

"This subject respectfully inquires after Your Majesty's sacred well-being."

Li Ruolian and Li Shaoyou hastily thanked him for the seats and paid their respects. Their backsides had barely touched the chairs when Zhu Cilang spoke.

"Who exactly is this Prince Kong, the foremost warrior of the Kingdom of France? What's his surname? What's his given name? Where is his fief?"

The question left Li Ruolian and Huang Xiaobao, who stood nearby, completely baffled.

Prince Kong was of course surnamed Kong — he was of the same clan as that strongman, the Duke of Yansheng!

"Your Majesty," Li Shaoyou hurriedly rose to answer, "this Prince Kong has the compound surname Bourbon, the given name Louis, and the style de."

So it was Louis de Bourbon!

Li Shaoyou continued: "As for his fief, it is in Condé County, Champagne Prefecture, in the Kingdom of France. Because he is a close relative of the French king, he is an iron-capped prince with hereditary succession, and is therefore called the Prince of Condé."

Zhu Cilang said in surprise: "Isn't that the Grand Condé?"

"No, no, not the Grand Condé," Li Shaoyou said. "He's not grand at all — short and stocky, just a little fellow."

Then that was right!

Zhu Cilang thought to himself: So it is the Grand Condé! France's dwarf general, feared by all of Europe — how on earth did Ji Kun manage to lure this fellow to China?

"Where is the Prince of Condé now?" Zhu Cilang asked urgently.

"Still in Shanghai."

Zhu Cilang said: "Summon Li Yan, Wu Xiang, Wu Sanfu, and Zheng Zhilong to the palace at once!"

Li Yan was still serving as Grand Military Advisor, Wu Xiang was still Minister of the Ministry of War, and Wu Sanfu, who commanded troops in the field, had returned to Wuhan for the New Year. It was already the end of the twelfth month; all the government offices were about to close for the holiday, and the officials' minds were on the New Year — the offices had to celebrate too! New Year's Eve dinners had to be arranged, big red envelopes prepared, staff assigned to overtime duty, and many people still had to return to their hometowns. There was a whole pile of things to do!

Li Yan and Wu Xiang were both busy in their offices when eunuchs summoned them to East Lake Palace for an audience. When they arrived and found Li Ruolian, Wu Sanfu, and Zheng Zhilong all present, they grew tense.

Was there going to be a war?

At the height of New Year celebrations, couldn't the Great Ming's enemies take a rest?

"All of you, sit. There is an important matter to discuss." Seeing that everyone had arrived, Zhu Cilang invited them to take their seats.

After the men had paid their respects, they each took their seats and then all looked at Zhu Cilang, whose face was alight with excitement.

So happy — could it be that the eastern barbarians had already begun fighting among themselves?

Zhu Cilang spoke: "Our Great Ming now has ample troops and provisions, our equipment is of fine quality, and we have acquired some good horses. The only deficiency is a lack of capable generals."

A lack of capable generals?

Wu Xiang glanced at his son Wu Sanfu; both father and son wore aggrieved expressions.

They had already worked very hard!

"But now there is a way to remedy this weakness." Zhu Cilang said, "Recently the mission that visited Europe has returned, bringing back a number of foreign officers. Among them is the foremost general of the Kingdom of France — a truly outstanding one!"

"Your Majesty," Wu Xiang asked, "do you intend to give the foreign general a major command?"

Use the Prince of Condé to fight Dodo and Ajige?

That wouldn't be right...

"Not a major command, but proper use," Zhu Cilang said. "Better to teach a man to fish than to give him a fish. However brilliant the foreign generals may be, they belong to others in the end. Rather than use them to direct battles, it is better to invite them to serve as instructors and teach our own commanders Western military science."

China of course also had many fine works on military science — some on strategy, some on tactics. For instance, Qi Jiguang's New Treatise on Military Efficiency and Record of Military Training, and Mao Yuanyi's Treatise on Military Preparedness were all formidable military treatises.

In particular, the *Records of Military Training* by Qi Jiguang was a military manual of high practical value. Much of its content was still selected as teaching material by the Military Academy, and the middle- and high-ranking officers of the Ming army were all familiar with its contents.

But Zhu Cilang's new army had, after all, adopted the Western-style Maurice formation as its primary field tactic, so officers could not be trained entirely from the *Records of Military Training*, the *New Book of Effective Discipline*, and the *Treatise on Military Preparedness*. For this reason, the Zhu Emperor had begun introducing Western instructors to help train the troops from very early on, and had also opened a Military Academy with Western officers serving as instructors to cultivate new-style officers.

However, the Western officers he had previously engaged through the Portuguese and the Dutch were of uneven quality, and none of them had experience commanding larger-scale formations in battle. At best, they had served as low- or mid-ranking officers on European battlefields, commanding a few dozen, a hundred, or at most a few hundred men — and all of them were infantry and artillery officers. There were no cavalry officers, and still less any staff officers.

So Zhu Cilang's new army was in fact just a collection of infantry battalions and regimental gun batteries. Individually, their combat strength was not weak, but once they were formed into a large corps, they could not bring their strength to bear, and fell far short of the level needed to crush the Qing army.

Zhu Cilang said, "Have the Military Academy open a remedial course for general officers, and invite the Prince of Condé and his men to give the lectures. Let all officers above battalion level come and study!"

(End of Chapter)