Chapter 66: Discipline

Hongwu Third Year, October.

In the Imperial City, the autumn sun filtered through the ginkgo leaves, casting dappled light on the bluestone ground.

Zhu Yong returned from inspecting the capital garrison, rode his Red Sky horse through East Hua Gate into the palace, and prepared to go to Kunning Palace to pay his respects to Empress Ma.

Just as he reached the Imperial Garden, a burst of cries and shouts was heard.

"Prince, spare me! I admit my fault!"

"Please, let Xiao Anzi go!"

Zhu Yong furrowed his brow, urged his horse forward, and followed the sound.

Beside a rockery in the southeast corner of the Imperial Garden, three youths were surrounding a small eunuch lying on the ground.

Leading them was the Third Prince Zhu Shuang, dressed in a brocade robe, holding a slender bamboo rod.

Next to him stood the Fourth Prince Zhu Gang, grinning merrily.

Also present was the Sixth Prince Zhu Fu, only six years old, cradled by his wet nurse, clapping and laughing.

The eunuch was barely twelve or thirteen, lying prone, his back clothing torn in several places, revealing reddened, swollen whip marks.

"You let my cricket die! I'll beat you, you dog servant!" Zhu Shuang raised the bamboo rod again, ready to strike.

"Stop!"

A shout rang out like thunder.

Zhu Shuang's hand trembled, and the bamboo rod fell to the ground.

The three turned their heads and saw Zhu Yong flip off his horse and stride toward them.

"Second... Second Prince..." Zhu Shuang's face went pale.

Zhu Gang quickly straightened up, "Second Prince."

Zhu Yong stepped closer, glanced at the eunuch on the ground, then at his three younger brothers, his expression darkening.

"What happened?"

"Second Prince, this eunuch killed Third Prince's Constant Victory General; that cricket cost Third Prince twenty taels of silver!" Zhu Gang reported first.

Zhu Yong crouched, examined the eunuch's wounds, and said gravely, "What is your name? How did the cricket die?"

The eunuch endured the pain and whispered, "I am called Xiao Anzi, I clean the Imperial Garden... Third Prince's cricket. Yesterday when I fed it it was fine; this morning it... it died. I truly do not know what happened..."

Zhu Yong rose and looked at Zhu Shuang, "All because of a cricket, you beat a person like this?"

"Second Prince, that was the Constant Victory General! It defeated Fourth Prince's Black Overlord and Fifth Prince's Golden Armor God!" Zhu Shuang still sounded indignant.

"So what? A bug more precious than a person?" Zhu Yong's voice grew cold.

Zhu Shuang, pressed by this aura, dared not speak.

Zhu Yong turned to Royal Guard Captain Zhang Wu and said, "Zhang Wu, take Xiao Anzi to the Imperial Medical Office for treatment, and charge it to Wu Wang Fu's account."

"Understood!" Zhang Wu stepped forward, carefully lifting Xiao Anzi.

Xiao Anzi wept, repeatedly kowtowing, "Thank you, Prince Wu! Thank you, Prince Wu!"

After Zhang Wu carried Xiao Anzi away, Zhu Yong finally turned and stared at his three younger brothers.

"Lao San, Lao Si, Lao Liu, you come with me."

Zhu Shuang and Zhu Gang exchanged glances, dared not defy, and followed Zhu Yong to the clearing behind the rockery.

The wet nurse, still holding Zhu Fu, tried to leave, but Zhu Yong said, "Wet nurse, set down the Sixth, and step back yourself."

"Prince, the Sixth Prince is still young..." the wet nurse hesitated.

"Set him down." Zhu Yong's voice was low but carried unquestionable authority.

The wet nurse had to set Zhu Fu down and retreat to a distance.

Zhu Fu, only six, could barely stand steady, looked at Zhu Yong, and, frightened, slipped behind Zhu Gang.

Zhu Yong looked at his three brothers and said gravely, "Kneel."

"Second Prince!" Zhu Shuang shouted.

"I said, kneel," Zhu Yong repeated.

Zhu Shuang and Zhu Gang knelt reluctantly, and Zhu Fu, seeing his two older brothers kneel, also bowed down in bewildered obedience.

"Do you know where you went wrong?" Zhu Yong asked.

"Second Prince, it's just beating a eunuch... which master in the palace doesn't beat a servant?" Zhu Shuang muttered.

Zhu Yong stared at him and said, "Then tell me, did Father ever beat a eunuch? Did Mother ever beat a palace maid? Did Eldest Brother ever beat a servant?"

Zhu Shuang was at a loss for words.

"Father often said that our Zhu family comes from poverty, so we understand the people's suffering best; now that we are Emperor, princes, we must not forget our roots."

Zhu Yong said word for word, "Eunuchs and palace maids are also people, also born of father and mother; you beat a person to death over a cricket—is that what a prince should do?"

"Moreover, if you treat these eunuchs and palace maids this way, and later they bear grudges..."

Zhu Gang, hearing this, trembled instantly, then whispered, "Second Prince, we admit our fault..."

"Admit fault... I see you don't! The Sixth is only six, and you expose him to this, making him think beating people is proper," Zhu Yong bellowed.

Zhu Fu, startled by the shout, burst into tears.

Zhu Yong looked at him, his tone softening slightly, "Sixth, Second Prince isn't scolding you; you're still young and naive, but your Third and Fourth brothers shouldn't have shown you this."

He turned to Zhu Shuang and Zhu Gang and said, "Extend your hands."

The two dared not defy and stretched out their palms.

Zhu Yong unfastened a horsewhip from his waist—one he used while inspecting the capital garrison; its handle was ebony, its lash of cowhide.

"Today I discipline you on behalf of Father and Mother: Third, strike the eunuch ten times; I will flog you twenty lashes; Fourth, stand by and watch without intervening, ten lashes; Sixth, you're still young, no flogging, but you must watch and remember today's lesson."

Having said so, he raised the whip.

"Whack!"

A single lash struck Zhu Shuang's palm.

Zhu Shuang winced, inhaling a sharp gasp of cold air from the pain, but clenched his teeth and did not cry out.

Zhu Yong, though he had held back ninety percent of his strength, still felt a scorching pain as the whip struck his hand.

"One, two, three..."

One lash after another, neither too fast nor too slow.

Zhu Shuang's palm quickly swelled red, tears swirling in his eye sockets, yet stubbornly refused to fall.

After twenty lashes, Zhu Yong looked toward Zhu Gang.

Zhu Gang shivered in fear, but still reached out his hand.

After ten more lashes, Zhu Gang's hand also swelled.

When he finished, Zhu Yong sheathed the whip and said in a deep voice, "Remember today's pain; if you ever let me know you bully eunuchs or palace maids again, it won't be just a palm‑whipping that simple."

"Yes... Second Prince..." the two lowered their heads and said.

"Go, each of you write the phrase 'the benevolent love others' one hundred times, deliver it to Wu Wang Fu for me to see tomorrow; if you can't finish, you are not allowed to eat." Zhu Yong said.

"One hundred times..." Zhu Gang said with a pained face.

"If that's too few, then two hundred times," Zhu Yong said.

"No, no, no, one hundred times, one hundred times!" Zhu Gang hurriedly replied.

Zhu Shuang, however, still stiffened his neck and said, "Second Prince, you beat us for a eunuch, I will tell Father!"

Zhu Yong looked at him, then suddenly laughed, "Fine, go report it; let's see whether Father scolds you or scolds me."

Zhu Shuang gritted his teeth, scrambled to his feet, and ran toward Qianqing Palace.

Zhu Gang hesitated briefly, then followed.

Zhu Fu was still kneeling on the ground, at a loss.

Zhu Yong lifted him, patted the dust off his body, and said, "Lao Liu, remember, hitting people is wrong, especially bullying those weaker than yourself; that is the behavior of a coward. A true strong person protects the weak."

Zhu Fu nodded as if half‑understood.

"Go! Find your wet nurse," Zhu Yong said as he set him down.

The wet nurse hurried over, scooped up Zhu Fu, and left.

Zhu Yong shook his head and continued toward Kunning Palace.