Chapter 1534: Success

But he was still a youth, after all. No matter how much he disciplined himself, that youthful nature of liking to laugh and play still left quite a few traces deep inside. He didn't dare show it normally, so now that he had a chance to let it out a little, truth be told, he felt a secret, gleeful delight inside.

"You were right in the first part — our dynasty bears the Mandate of Heaven, and its civil and military officials are all loyal, brave, and diligent. There is nothing under heaven that cannot be accomplished. But what you said after that isn't quite right..." He smiled, a rare expression, and teased Zheng Sen. "How could you possibly assist me? At your age and with that frame of yours, it's more like I'd be the one looking after you."

"Your Highness, don't you look down on me!" Zheng Sen grew anxious the moment he heard that, his face scrunching up. "I may be young, but I've studied military texts and marksmanship for many years! Your Highness surely knows — my marksmanship is among the best of all the attendants. Protecting the Crown Prince is more than within my ability!"

That part was true. Zheng Sen had always loved playing with weapons, especially firearms, so after years of practice, he had become the best shot among the young attendants.

"No matter how good your marksmanship is, you can only fire a few shots. How much use is that?" The Crown Prince remained unconvinced. "If we were really surrounded, you alone couldn't protect me, could you?"

"... Your Highness just looks down on people!" Zheng Sen was momentarily speechless and finally puffed out his cheeks in frustration. "Anyway, I already wrote to my father saying that for this tour of the Crown Prince, I was specially assigned to accompany you at your side — an exceptional honor no one else can easily get. I absolutely will not bring shame to my father. If Your Highness encounters danger, even if my bones are ground to dust, I will protect Your Highness's safety. Anyone who wishes to harm Your Highness will have to step over my dead body first!"

Though his frame was small and young, his attitude was so utterly sincere that it was especially convincing. The Crown Prince felt both glad and moved. "Alright... thank you. Then I'll rely on you to protect me."

"Of course! I won't just protect Your Highness now — when I grow up, I'll protect Your Highness even more! Didn't Your Highness say you'd let me lead troops into battle in the future, let me become a great general, a marshal? Once I become a marshal, I'll be even more able to protect Your Highness, right?" Zheng Sen's spirit remained highly fervent. "His Majesty the Emperor of our Great Han is brilliant and mighty, and the marshals are all heroes without equal. The Great Han realm was carved out by their own hands and feet. With Your Highness's kind heart, you will surely become a good emperor just like His Majesty. When that time comes, we must also surround and guard Your Highness just like the marshals do, and never bring shame to our forebears!"

"Good... good, very good." The Crown Prince's lips trembled slightly. It took him great effort to remain composed.

Objectively speaking, Zheng Sen's words were somewhat presumptuous — if someone were to seize on fragments, they could even find an intent to sow discord between Crown Prince and Emperor. Yet the Crown Prince could feel, from the words of this eleven-year-old child, a completely unreserved sincerity. Zheng Sen didn't just see him as the lofty Crown Prince; he truly saw him as a friend.

In all his years, people before him had only ever been utterly deferential. Who would ever speak to him like this? This kind of earnest genuineness was something he had rarely encountered before.

"You will become a marshal."

He was far too short on friends.

After Zheng Sen's outburst, the two of them talked much more with each other, though most of the time it was Zheng Sen speaking while the Crown Prince simply listened quietly.

In breadth of learning, the Crown Prince far surpassed Zheng Sen, but in richness of experience, the Crown Prince naturally could not compare to Zheng Sen, who had lived long-term in two countries and three regions and experienced all sorts of local customs and cultures. Zheng Sen was of a childlike disposition to begin with, and with the added intent of showing off before the Crown Prince, he described everything with even greater vividness and drama, leaving the Crown Prince utterly captivated as he listened.

"Truthfully, I rather envy you — you can go anywhere." After listening for a long while, he said to Zheng Sen with envy.

"Your Highness can too, can't you? As the Crown Prince, you can go wherever you wish. Aren't you going to Goryeo this time? You'll surely go to even more places in the future. If only I could keep following Your Highness then." Zheng Sen replied.

"It's not the same." The Crown Prince smiled bitterly.

He knew that as Crown Prince, he absolutely could not go wherever he wished. To tour and inspect the various regions — how much toil for the people and waste of resources that would be. If he became emperor in the future, burdened with countless affairs of state, he would have even fewer chances to travel around, at most going to inspect the borders. But he did not pour cold water on Zheng Sen's enthusiasm.

"Anyway, if you want to become a marshal in the future, you'll surely have to join the army and run around everywhere. When that time comes, write me lots of letters and tell me about the local customs of each place. That way, even if I can't go, I'll still get to know quite a few things."

"Alright, I'll definitely do that!" Zheng Sen agreed at once.

Just then, the Crown Prince suddenly thought of a very interesting idea.

"Let me give you a courtesy name."

"A courtesy name?" Zheng Sen was a little bewildered for a moment.

In the former Ming era and even earlier, youths born into scholar-official families who had already begun their education would be given a courtesy name by their elders and teachers — even the imperial family was no exception. But the new dynasty was somewhat different. As everyone knew, the new dynasty's emperor had risen from humble origins and did not care for that set of customs. So, before they had fathomed the Emperor's mind on the matter, which of those teachers would dare to give courtesy names to the Crown Prince or the sons of nobles and relatives around him?

Still, cultural traditions persisted, and many sons of high officials had received courtesy names from their elders after starting school. Among the Crown Prince's young attendants, there were naturally quite a few such cases.

But Zheng Sen was different. His father had originally been an illiterate giant pirate of the seas, and on top of that, he had not been by his side for a long time, so no one had ever given him a courtesy name. Thus, the Crown Prince wanted to help him pick one, as a way of commemorating having made a friend.

After the Crown Prince explained it to him for a while, Zheng Sen found it novel and agreed.

"So that's what it is... Alright then, Your Highness, give me a courtesy name — make it a nice-sounding one."

"How about Jingchang?" the Crown Prince asked after pondering for a moment. "The 'Instructions of Yi' in the Book of Documents says: 'Now the king inherits his virtue — in nothing is the beginning more important. Establish love through kinship, establish respect through elders. It begins with the family and state, and ends throughout the four seas.' The meaning is very good, isn't it? Besides, 'Jingchang' can also be heard as 'Respecting Yunchang.' If you want to be a military commander, you can't not respect Guan Yunchang!"

Having been educated for many years, the Crown Prince had read not only orthodox classics and histories like the Book of Documents, but also a fair number of miscellaneous books like Romance of the Three Kingdoms, treating them as casual diversions. By this time, Romance of the Three Kingdoms had been popular throughout the realm for many years, and many passages had long become familiar to all ears, even children being no exception.

However, despite the Crown Prince having racked his brains to find a courtesy name with such rich meaning, Zheng Sen did not much like it and instead shook his head.

"Zheng Jingchang... Zheng Jingchang, it sounds so awkward, Your Highness. Not nice, not nice at all..."

What's not nice about it? The Crown Prince smiled wryly. But he didn't like to force things on others, so he decided to think of another.

"How about Kelie?" he asked again after a moment. "The 'Successful Completion of the War' chapter in the Book of Documents says: 'The former kings established the state and opened up the land; Duke Liu was able to carry forward the achievements of his forebears.' Don't you want to be a commanding marshal? Then you should have 'success in war.' 'Ke' and 'Lie' are both related to the martial feats of a commander. Zheng Kelie — it sounds pretty good too..."

Zheng Sen lowered his head and thought for a while, but in the end, he still wasn't quite satisfied. "Your Highness, this one is too bookish. I don't like it. Just give me something plain and simple..."

"You don't like this one, you don't like that one — what exactly do you like?" After having two names rejected in a row, the Crown Prince was feeling a bit displeased. "You like plain and simple? Fine. For this trip to Goryeo, what we want is to achieve success the moment our horses arrive. So you might as well be called Success. Zheng Chenggong, Zheng Chenggong — I hope you can achieve great merit and become a pillar of the court."

"Success?" Though the Crown Prince had only said it offhandedly, Zheng Sen's eyebrows lifted. "That sounds really nice! Zheng Chenggong, Zheng Chenggong... Mm, it's really very good. Your Highness, use this one as my courtesy name — Success, Success! I've received a courtesy name bestowed by the Crown Prince himself!"

As he spoke, he gesticulated excitedly, his youthful nature fully revealed.

I painstakingly thought of ones with such rich meaning for you, and you didn't like them. I casually toss out a remark, and you take it right up. What's in that head of yours, liking something so crude? People who don't know better, seeing this courtesy name I gave you, would think I don't read books... The Crown Prince felt somewhat dejected inside.

But seeing his friend so happy, he soon became happy too. "Alright then, from now on your courtesy name shall be Success. Zheng Chenggong — may you and I, on this journey, achieve success the moment our horses arrive."

"Mm, success the moment our horses arrive!" The youth who had just received his courtesy name clenched his fists.

As the long night faded, dawn accompanied by the light of daybreak gradually descended upon the world. Looking out, the boundless gray sea and the sky merged into one, with only the farthest edge revealing a tiny corner of the rising sun.

But soon, golden radiance reflected off the morning clouds and slowly spread across the sky, rivaling molten steel just poured from a blast furnace, quickly reddening half the sky. After a while, the red sun rose steadily upward, its light radiating in all directions, the sea of clouds dyed in a riot of colors, brilliant as brocade. The ceaselessly surging waves of the sea flickered in and out of view amidst the colorful sea of clouds, shifting every instant, like decorative patterns upon woven silk.

"The ancients often spoke of 'gazing at the ocean and sighing at its vastness.' Now I finally understand what that means!" The Crown Prince, who had been standing on the deck all along admiring the sunrise over the sea, could not help but exclaim with emotion.

After leaving the capital, he had taken his attendants and accompanying ministers to Tianjin Port, and there boarded a navy warship, embarking on his inspection tour. He had many matters to deal with along the way, and on top of that, he had been somewhat seasick the whole time, so in the previous days he could only fall asleep very late and thus missed the chance to watch the sunrise in the mornings. After several days of tossing on the sea, the Crown Prince had finally adapted to life at sea and was no longer seasick, and so he was finally in the mood to come watch the sunrise.