Chapter 366: First to Land

"Kid, I told you not to charge too far ahead." Zhu Di shot him a glare.

Zhu Qiong laughed sheepishly, "Got too excited, couldn't hold back."

Zhu Di shook his head and didn't scold him again.

This kid has the same character as his Second Prince.

Once on the battlefield, he cares about nothing, only knows how to charge forward.

May 10, the second feint attack.

May 11, the third.

Each time, the Ming forces would rush to the foot of the wall, fire a few volleys, then fall back.

The Ottomans were worn out, yet dared not let down their guard.

They knew the Ming main force hadn't moved yet.

The Wu Wang brandishing Double Hammers still stood behind, watching.

May 12, pre‑dawn.

Before sunrise, a sudden roar of a steam engine echoed over the sea.

Twenty steamships looped around from the south and landed on the west coast of the Gallipoli Peninsula.

Five thousand Longxiang Army elite slipped silently onto the shore.

At daybreak, behind the Ottoman line, the crack of Flintlock Guns rang in unison.

"Bang bang bang..."

The wall erupted into chaos at once.

The commander turned and saw the entire rear filled with Ming troops.

"Envelopment! Attack!" Zhu Di rode forward at the head and charged out.

Twenty thousand men roared in unison, charging the wall.

Zhu Qiong rode on horseback behind Zhu Di, raising his Wolf Fang Club over his head.

This time, Zhu Di didn't stop him.

"Kid, keep up!"

Zhu Qiong squeezed the horse's belly, the dark‑red horse whinnied, and surged forward.

The ditch before the wall was leapt over by the warhorse.

Ottoman soldiers on the wall frantically shot arrows, but it was already too late.

The front Ming troops set up Ladders and began climbing.

Zhu Qiong rushed to the foot of the wall, dismounted, grabbed his Wolf Fang Club and scrambled up the Ladder.

The eleven‑year‑old child was nimbler than an adult.

In a few moves he reached the top, swung his club and knocked a bowman who was firing arrows to the ground.

The archer let out a howl and fell from the wall.

Zhu Qiong leapt onto the wall, sweeping his Wolf Fang Club side to side.

Though still young, his strength was great; one swing and the Ottoman soldier couldn't withstand it.

A spearman charged, thrusting his spear toward his chest.

Zhu Qiong sidestepped, and his club struck the spear shaft.

The shaft snapped in two, the spearman's palm split, and he screamed.

The second swing hit his shoulder; the sound of bone shattering was audible.

Another Ottoman soldier rushed, slashing at his neck with a curved blade.

Zhu Qiong ducked, then swung back, striking the man's knee.

The man let out a howl, fell to one knee, and before he could react, the second club smashed his occiput.

Zhu Qiong stood on the wall, drenched in blood, his Wolf Fang Club dripping, his eyes shining terrifyingly.

Behind him, more and more Longxiang Army troops climbed the wall.

Ottoman soldiers on the wall began to rout.

Some fled backward, some knelt and surrendered.

When Zhu Di climbed up, Zhu Qiong had already pierced half a section of the wall.

He stood amid a pile of corpses, panting heavily, his Wolf Fang Club planted in the ground.

Zhu Di looked at the corpses and swallowed a mouthful of saliva.

"How many did you kill?"

"Too many to count." Zhu Qiong wiped the blood from his face.

Zhu Di didn't ask again.

He turned his head toward the city; the Ottoman line had completely collapsed.

Surrounded from front and rear, attacked on both sides, the defenders dropped their weapons and knelt everywhere.

Zhu Di patted Zhu Qiong's shoulder and said, "Kid, well done."

Zhu Qiong grinned, showing a mouth missing a front tooth.

Zhu Di looked at the smiling face and couldn't help sighing.

This father‑son pair truly seem cut from the same mold—their combat power, their reckless tactics...

The Gallipoli Peninsula had been taken.

The news reached Bursa; Zhu Yong was in the Central Command Tent studying a map.

Zhang Wu strode in, his face alight with excitement, "Prince! It's taken! Prince of Yan led his men to breach the line, the defenders surrendered!"

Zhu Yong put down the map and stood up.

"What are the casualties?"

"Longxiang Army lost fewer than two hundred in battle; the Yan army's losses are a bit larger, together still under a thousand."

Zhu Yong nodded.

Fewer than a thousand casualties, swapping a front line, it's worth it.

"Relay the order: the whole army will cross the sea, target Constantinople."

"Yes!"

That afternoon, eighty thousand Ming army began the sea crossing.

Steamships shuttled back and forth, ferrying squads of soldiers across the strait.

Zhu Yong stood at the bow, looking at the land across the water.

The Gallipoli Peninsula, the lands of Europe.

Since leaving Yingtian Prefecture in the sixteenth year of Hongwu, third month, it has been three years.

In those three years, he conquered the Timur Empire, the Two‑River Basin, and the Anatolian Plateau.

Now he stands on European soil.

Opposite is Constantinople, the Ottoman capital, the Eastern Gate of the Christian world.

"Father!" Zhu QiongJiong's voice came from behind.

Zhu Yong turned, seeing his son at the stern, a Wolf Fang Club slung over his shoulder, bloodied all over, his face flushed with excitement.

"How many did you kill?" Asking this, Zhu Yong suddenly felt a bit like that fellow Lan Yu.

"Can't count, maybe… thirty or forty." Zhu QiongJiong scratched his head.

Zhu Yong nodded and said nothing more.

Zhu QiongJiong walked over, stood beside his father, and stared at the opposite shore.

"Father, that's Constantinople?"

"Hmm."

"Is it big?"

"Big, bigger than Yingtian Prefecture."

Zhu QiongJiong's eyes lit up.

"Father, can we capture it?"

Zhu Yong looked at the land drawing nearer and said calmly, "We can."

Mid‑June, Yingtian Prefecture.

Zhu Yuanzhang sat in Qianqing Palace, holding a battle report just transferred from the Western Regions.

Empress Ma sat beside him, stitching, occasionally looking up at him.

"Zhong Ba, what's wrong?" she asked, unable to hold back.

Zhu Yuanzhang handed the report to her.

"Yong Er's side fought another battle, took the Gallipoli Peninsula, has already crossed the strait, troops at the foot of Constantinople's walls."

Empress Ma took the report, glanced at it a few times, her eyes slightly red.

"That child fights without regard for his life."

Zhu Yuanzhang snorted, "When will he ever die?"

He stood, walked two steps in the hall, then suddenly stopped.

He went to the window and looked at the western sky.

Outside, the setting sun sank, dyeing the entire Imperial City golden.

Outside Yingtian Prefecture's construction site, workers were still feverishly laying tracks.

The railway from Yingtian to Lanzhou has already reached Xi'an.

Zhu Biao stood on the site, looking at the already‑laid tracks, thinking of his second brother far in Europe.

This railway is being built for him.

One day it will reach Samarkand, reach Constantinople.

Then the second brother's return will be swift.

"Accelerate progress, aim to reach Lanzhou by next year," he told the officials beside him.

The officials nodded in agreement.

Zhu Biao looked up at the sky and silently thought, "Second brother, take care."

Outside Constantinople, eighty thousand Ming army set up a camp.

Tents stretched for miles, War Flags fluttered, covering the whole plain.

Zhu Yong stood on a small hill, gazing at the millennial ancient city in the distance.

The walls towered, majestic as a mountain, stretching from the Marmara Sea to the Golden Horn Bay.

This is the world's foremost stronghold, the capital of the Byzantine Empire, the Ottoman capital.

For a thousand years countless armies have camped at its gates; those who could breach it are few.

Zhu QiongJiong stood beside his father, looking up at the city, his eyes wide and round.

"Father, these walls… are much higher than Kaiping City."

Zhu Yong nodded, "They are high, but that doesn't matter; even the tallest walls have their breaking moments."

He turned and walked down the hill, leaving without looking back, "Relay the order: the whole army rests for three days. After three days, assault."

Fifty thousand Longxiang Army, thirty thousand Yan army, all standing straight.

Zhu QiongJiong stood in the ranks, the Wolf Fang Club slung over his shoulder, his eyes shining terrifyingly.

Zhu QiongJiong knew that the real hard battle was about to begin.