Chapter 3: Personal Inspection of the Capital Camps

"Empress, Empress, quickly help me put on my armor!"

Inside Kunning Palace, Empress Zhou rested her chin on one hand, sometimes smiling, sometimes wearing a face full of sweetness—a woman's heart is like a needle at the bottom of the sea, who knows what she was thinking.

A burst of hurried footsteps came, and it turned out to be the palace maid Xiaomei running in, her brows dancing with joy.

"Empress, great news, great news! His Majesty is coming!"

"Ah—? Quickly prepare a bath and a change of clothes for me!"

Come to think of it, it had been who knows how long since the Chongzhen Emperor had last come to Kunning Palace. When Empress Zhou suddenly heard this news, her face was naturally full of surprise and delight. The palace maids around her bustled about as if it were New Year's, their feet barely touching the ground.

Before long, the Chongzhen Emperor ran in with an excited expression, waving his hand and saying:

"No rush for the bath—tonight I shall bathe together with the Empress. All of you, withdraw!"

The palace maids were genuinely happy for the Empress from the bottom of their hearts. Upon hearing the Emperor's decree, they set down their tasks and hurried out, as if to leave some space for the Emperor and Empress.

"Your Majesty~, saying we should bathe together in front of so many people, your concubine..."

Empress Zhou's originally cool and aloof face was now flushed with red. Though her words sounded like a reproach, spoken to Chongzhen, it was really just her being coy.

The Empress was being coy with him—she was the mother of the nation, after all. Thinking of this, the Chongzhen Emperor's thoughts began to wander.

But a chill swept over him, and the Chongzhen Emperor suddenly remembered that the urgent matter at hand was not to make love with the Empress, but how to keep his own life safe before Li Zicheng came knocking.

Chongzhen first placed his hopes on the defenses of the southern capital. The capital had high walls and deep moats, and dozens of red barbarian cannons besides. In his subconscious, he was still unwilling to easily abandon this capital city and flee like a homeless dog.

After all, this was a national capital of over two hundred years, embodying countless layers of Chinese culture—abandoning it lightly would truly be a pity.

As she helped the Chongzhen Emperor into his custom-made pure gold armor and placed the Black Tortoise helmet on his head, Empress Zhou's beautiful eyes brimmed with spring. The man before her looked majestic no matter how she looked at him—she had never felt this way before.

She buried her head against Chongzhen's chest and said softly:

"Your concubine will await Your Majesty's return... to bathe together..."

"Hahaha, Empress, just wait for me!"

Once the Chongzhen Emperor donned this suit of armor, he suddenly felt a surge of heroic grandeur. Since transmigrating here, this was the first time he'd felt a bit like an emperor. Seizing the moment before the feeling faded, he grabbed his treasured sword and strode out of Kunning Palace without looking back.

"Empress, that Emperor has come back again."

"Yes, tonight sisters must hide far, far away~"

"Nattering—you few dead girls, no sense of propriety."

Though Empress Zhou said this, her heart was already blooming with joy. She sat at the dressing table meticulously adorning herself, while the palace maids gathered around chattering endlessly.

Empress Zhou's face was full of happiness. In truth, she asked for very little—if the Chongzhen Emperor could come visit from time to time, she would be content.

The Emperor's travel protocol was extremely cumbersome. No matter what Chongzhen said, this was not something that could be changed or abolished overnight. Forceful methods wouldn't work here—the end result would just be a crowd of ceremonial eunuchs and palace maids kowtowing around him.

Left with no choice, the Chongzhen Emperor could only nod in agreement. But by this time, the excitement he'd felt about reviewing the troops had vanished completely. This first step was far too vexing.

The Chongzhen Emperor waited with a black face for a full hour or more before the imperial carriage and procession were finally prepared. Word had it that it was only because Li Chun had hastily requisitioned the ministers' horses from the morning court that it could be done so quickly.

The whole procession beat drums and gongs, and finally, stumbling and lurching, arrived at the drill grounds of the capital's inner city.

This drill ground had a tall city wall at its southeast and northwest corners, called the South-Suppressing Gate and North-Suppressing Gate respectively, while the drill pavilion stood tall between the two gates.

The drill ground within the imperial city was different from ordinary ones. Around it, resplendent pavilions and towers stood in close array. Gazing into the distance, one saw nothing but the vast Ming imperial palace—quite grand and imposing.

Since its construction in the Yongle era, this inner-city drill ground had always been the training and exercise grounds for the Capital Camps of the northern capital. Even in the relatively recent Wanli reign, tens of thousands of elite soldiers had been mobilized back and forth here.

Yet now, though the drill ground remained as majestic as ever, with banners densely covering the walls and gates around it and the Ming dynasty's dark bird banners flying high, within it all seemed feeble and weak. Along the crenellations, which numbered fully two thousand, only a few camp soldiers lounging in the shade could be seen leaning askew.

Wu Xiang stood at the front in full armor, his expression extremely grim. He waved his hand to signal the quartermaster to stop and said impatiently:

"Stop reading that off. You might fool others, but can you fool me?"

Wu Xiang still felt as if he were living in a dream. Whether it was the conversation with the Emperor that morning or everything before his eyes now, he had never imagined he would experience any of this.

The very first thing the Emperor did after recovering from his great illness was to put him in charge of the Capital Camps, and then personally don armor to come inspect. It wasn't just Wu Xiang who was shocked—the officers inside and outside the Capital Camps had no preparation at all. They gathered to discuss for a while and could only resort to desperate measures.

This matter had little to do with Wu Xiang's prestige or ability. Everyone knew the urgent task was to drag out everyone who could be dragged out before the Emperor arrived—get the numbers up first, or heads would roll.

Thinking of this, Wu Xiang asked Dong Qi, the Vice Regional Commander of the Capital Camps who stood nearby with a worried brow:

"The numbers don't even reach ten thousand. Can you scrape together any more?"

Wu Xiang was considered one of the more prestigious military officers in the capital at present. He had served as a militia Regional Commander in Liaodong, been on the battlefield, and killed Tartars. Hearing his words, Dong Qi's face showed difficulty as he stammered:

"Commander Wu, even these few men—this is everyone who could possibly come!"

"Your subordinate knows His Majesty is coming to inspect, but this happened so suddenly. Most of these men are only registered on the rolls in name. Your subordinate's position is lowly—how would I dare go drag people out of their mansions? I truly cannot scrape together any more."

Wu Xiang sighed. Though he had been idle at home for many years, he was no fool and naturally understood the situation.

Vice Regional Commander Dong Qi was also a pitiful man—one of the very few officers in the Capital Camps without any background. He had his own difficulties, and managing to reach this position in the Capital Camps was already a great strain on him.

The Capital Camps as they stood now were mostly name-only registrations for the powerful and privileged, and by this critical moment, most of them had long since fled.

Of the men remaining, some were the old, weak, sick, and disabled who couldn't run and had nowhere to go, and some were those genuinely willing to defend the capital to the death—though the latter were far too few.

Dong Qi belonged to the type who wanted to flee but couldn't, because he had no background at all. Everything he had was given by the Emperor. If he ran, he'd just be a common nobody again—where could he even go?

In history, Dong Qi had not been a coward either. Possessing considerable benevolence and general's talent, he led the few remaining camp soldiers who stayed and died fighting on the walls of Beijing, repaying the Chongzhen Emperor's kindness to him with his blood.

Wu Xiang softened his tone and asked again:

"Young Dong, tell me honestly—what is the actual strength of the Capital Camps?"

"Probably... fewer than three thousand."

Before long, a burst of gongs and drums came from the North-Suppressing Gate, and a procession of roughly a hundred or so men marched over grandly—it was the Chongzhen Emperor's inspection tour of the Capital Camps arriving.

Dong Qi and Wu Xiang were in the middle of discussing countermeasures when they suddenly heard the clamor of gongs and drums in the distance and knew the Emperor had come. But no one had expected that Chongzhen, who usually only cared about approving memorials, would come out for this inspection of the Capital Camps so quickly.

Wu Xiang and Dong Qi exchanged glances. The two could only steel themselves and step forward to perform the great kowtow ceremony before the imperial carriage, prostrating and shouting:

"Your old minister (your humble subordinate) pays respects to His Majesty, ten thousand years, ten thousand years, ten thousand times ten thousand years!"

This trip out of the palace had been beset by troubles at every turn for the Chongzhen Emperor. Still, the journey to the imperial drill grounds of the Capital Camps had gone smoothly enough—he hadn't encountered any of those legendary incidents of someone risking death to block the imperial carriage. Now, however, he was beginning to feel somewhat nervous.

But to say he was nervous at the prospect of seeing the heroic bearing of his Ming soldiers—that would be pure nonsense. The Chongzhen Emperor was no fool now; he understood that the Capital Camps at this point existed in name only.

No, he was nervous for his own life. The capital for preserving his life was something he could not afford not to take seriously.