Zhu Yuanzhang returned to Chuzhou City grumbling all the way. Tang He initially chimed in a few times, but soon realized he couldn’t get a word in edgewise, so he simply kept quiet and let their elder brother continue his tirade.
Thus, when Old Zhu finished arranging various matters and returned home still muttering angrily, Zhu Wenzheng was completely baffled.
What? The Goryeo people had that many ulterior motives?
Mu Qing rolled his eyes subtly and, not wanting to be infected by such foolishness, quickly moved his small stool to sit beside his mother.
Ma Xiuying patted the child’s head. “Don’t be afraid, Wenqing. Your father is cursing at others.”
After saying this, she shot a sharp glare at Old Zhu.
Zhu Yuanzhang was still pacing in circles, oblivious to his wife’s dagger-like stare. The more he thought about it, the angrier he became, until he finally ordered Zhu Wenzheng to summon people to the Council Hall for a meeting.
Did the Goryeo people think they could reap the spoils without facing their broadswords?
Old Zhu came and went in a whirlwind, leaving Ma Xiuying shaking her head helplessly. She had just returned from the Grand Commander’s Mansion and wanted to talk with her husband, but it seemed she would have to wait until evening.
Mu Qing rested his chin in his hands, lost in thought. At this point in time, Old Zhu was constrained on all fronts, with few troops under his command, making it difficult for him to act freely.
There were too many rebel forces in the Central Plains, and the court focused its main efforts on dealing with the powerful Red Turban Armies of Liu Futong and Xu Shouhui. Later, the exceptionally prominent Zhang Shicheng emerged, making Guo Zixing appear even more insignificant by comparison.
While Liu Futong and others were constantly engaged in guerrilla warfare, pursued by local militias organized by the court and regional forces, the greatest danger for Commander Guo Zixing came not from the previous siege led by Jia Lu, but from other rebel commanders within their own ranks.
Over the years serving under Commander Guo, Old Zhu hadn’t ventured far, but he had cleaned up many of Old Guo’s messes. Old Guo only wanted to occupy territory and be a local warlord, but their father had no intention of holing up in Chuzhou.
At this time, Old Zhu might have considered overthrowing the Yuan dynasty, but it was merely a thought. His certainty that Liu Futong would become the founding emperor of the Great Ming showed he lacked such grand ambitions yet; his actions were primarily for self-preservation.
If the Goryeo people could see that the Great Yuan’s rule was crumbling, Old Zhu naturally could too. However, he had little experience dealing with the court’s regular armies and always felt somewhat nervous when confronting them.
He might have been nervous before, but there was no need for that anymore.
The court’s 300,000 elite troops had been reduced to just 10,000 remnants by Yesun Temur’s mismanagement, and the international coalition painstakingly assembled by Tuotuo was doomed to collapse. The Battle of Gaoyou was a turning point; from then on, the court could only rely on local militias to suppress the rebel forces.
Brother Wenzheng said Tuotuo had already been recalled to Dadu by the emperor, meaning the army outside Gaoyou City would soon disintegrate. Once those former imperial troops scattered and reinvented themselves as Red Turban soldiers, it would be time for Old Zhu to leave Chuzhou and expand his territory.
If he remembered correctly, this would happen around the New Year.
No, he couldn’t just wait passively—he had to find a way to bluff through this.
Looking on the bright side, what if Old Zhu never suspected him at all?
The light screen had appeared mysteriously, and they called the voice within it the “heavenly voice.” If it was a “heavenly voice,” it must be from a deity—what did that have to do with him, the utterly ordinary Zhu Wenqing?
Yes, that was exactly it.
The heavenly voice was the heavenly voice, he was himself—they had no connection whatsoever.
The little unlucky one patted his chest to perk himself up. After convincing himself, he immediately snapped out of his gloomy state, grabbed his small stool, and toddled back on his short legs to become his mother’s shadow. “Mom, Mom, you rest. Let me do it, let me.”
Ma Xiuying: ???
Just a moment ago, this kid was squatting by the door saying he wanted to be a melancholy little mushroom. How did he suddenly turn into a busy little bee in the blink of an eye?
The little one wasn’t even as tall as a broom—did he even know how to sweep the floor?
While the little bee busied himself in the backyard, Old Zhu in the front Council Hall wasn’t idle either.
Mu Qing had guessed correctly—Zhu Yuanzhang was indeed preparing to leave Chuzhou.
Currently, the troops in Chuzhou nominally belonged to Commander Guo. Zhu Yuanzhang only had a personal guard unit by his side, but it must not be forgotten that both the Chuzhou troops and the personal guards recruited from Zhongli under Commander Guo had been trained by Old Zhu himself. Particularly the seven hundred men from Zhongli—fellow villagers, childhood playmates, and neighbors—this force had extraordinary cohesion.
He had brought his wife from Haozhou to Chuzhou to give her a better life, not to make her feign courtesy with her natal family for his sake. Wouldn’t that be putting the cart before the horse?
They must leave. They absolutely had to leave.
If he could capture one Chuzhou, he could capture another. If Commander Guo wanted to stay in Chuzhou and be a local emperor, so be it. He would take his brothers and continue fighting elsewhere.
Part of what the heavenly voice said had already come true. Regardless of whether the rest would prove accurate, at least the immediate crisis had passed.
Once Tuotuo left, government troops would surely fall into chaos—the perfect time for them to go out and capture cities and territories.
Xu Da’s eyes gleamed with excitement. “Big brother, how should we fight?”
Zhu Yuanzhang grinned. “We wait.”
Tuotuo had just left—the government troops hadn’t descended into chaos yet. There was no need to rush. Let Zhang Shicheng strike first outside the city to get things started.
Xu Da clicked his tongue regretfully. “Big brother, how long do we wait?”
“No hurry—it should happen within days.” Zhu Yuanzhang unrolled the map. This was a new map Li Shanchang had worked overtime to create in recent days, infinitely better than any they had used before. “The heavenly voice said that after Tuotuo leaves, his million-strong army would scatter in all directions, with many being recruited by the Red Turban Army. Old Xu, you go keep watch near Gaoyou these next few days. Remember—don’t clash with government troops. Just observe where they flee when chaos breaks out.”
Xu Da might be rough around the edges, but he wasn’t stupid. He immediately understood what his big brother meant. “Leave this to me, big brother. You can rest assured.”
After the government troops scattered with nowhere to go, and given that they were short on manpower here—once they took Hezhou, they could open their doors wide to recruit those former government soldiers.
Their big brother had a real talent for training troops. No matter what their previous status had been, once under their command, they would become their soldiers.
Tang He looked at the prominently marked Hezhou on the map and asked, “Big brother, Hezhou doesn’t have many government troops. Right now everyone’s focused on Gaoyou. Even if the government troops don’t fall into chaos, we could take the opportunity to attack Hezhou.”
Zhu Yuanzhang shook his head. “The heavenly voice said government troops would fall into chaos after Tuotuo leaves, but we don’t know if that’s true. What if the new marshal sent by the court manages to control that million-strong army?”
Hezhou’s defensive forces, however small, wouldn’t number less than five thousand. They couldn’t take Hezhou without losses. Until they knew the situation of the million-strong army outside Gaoyou City, they must preserve their strength.
They currently had few troops under their command, and if they lost more in the siege, wouldn’t the gains outweigh the losses?
Tang He sighed, “I was too impatient.”
Originally, he had written a letter inviting Zhu Yuanzhang to join Guo Zixing. Everything had been fine at first—Zhu Yuanzhang gained Commander Guo’s favor and even married his adopted daughter. But now, even in the same city, they had to engage in scheming, which left him feeling uneasy.
Zhu Yuanzhang patted his old comrade’s shoulder, the smile in his eyes fading somewhat. “The grain in Chuzhou is almost exhausted. It’s not us who should be anxious next.”
He had long said that Chuzhou, surrounded by mountains on all sides, was not a place for long-term settlement. If Commander Guo wanted to stay in Chuzhou, he would have to solve the grain problem. But if he only had Chuzhou under his control, the grain supply would never be resolved.
He wasn’t anxious; his mindset was steady.
Commander Guo’s trusted aides capable of leading troops were only Guo Tianxu and Zhang Tianyou. The abilities of those two were barely enough to avoid becoming a laughingstock. By the time they returned from conquering and plundering, the people of Chuzhou would have already starved to death.
So even if Commander Guo was unwilling to let him lead troops into battle, this time he would surely send him along.
Of course, he definitely wouldn’t get command authority—that was Guo Tianxu’s exclusive privilege. He would just be following behind Guo Tianxu, doing odd jobs.
“A general in the field is not bound by orders from the court.” Once they left Chuzhou and he split forces with Guo Tianxu, how to fight would no longer be up to Guo Tianxu.
Zhu Yuanzhang waited for the opportunity to deploy troops. Meanwhile, Mu Qing, still just a young child, was also waiting—for the next video to arrive.
He didn’t know if the videos would come only once or periodically. He felt like the person waiting for the second shoe to drop. If it weren’t for the fact that bringing him along wasn’t suitable for official business, he would have wanted to stick to Old Zhu’s side like an accessory.
He waited and waited. He waited until Zhang Shicheng achieved a great victory and crushed the Yuan army, until Old Zhu went out and captured Hezhou, until Liu Futong found Han Shantong’s son Han Lin’er, who was fleeing abroad, brought him to his side, and proclaimed him emperor. Yet he still didn’t get the second video.
Alas, when would the second shoe drop? Was there even a second shoe?
Moreover, their father became even more convinced that Liu Futong was the founding emperor of the Great Ming.
Winter passed and spring arrived, all things revived, and the youngest child of the Old Zhu family grew a year older, becoming the six-year-old Zhu Wenqing.
The situation with the government troops was exactly as the heavenly voice had described. Not long after Tuotuo left, the army fell into chaos internally. The newly appointed Marshal couldn’t command the troops under him. The grain and fodder in Gaoyou City were nearly depleted, and the rebel forces inside the city fought back with desperate ferocity. Hundreds of thousands of troops were actually scattered by the starving salt workers.
The court’s campaign against the rebel forces temporarily came to a halt. Rebel forces across the regions blossomed everywhere once again. The grain in Chuzhou was basically exhausted, and Marshal Guo Zixing finally remembered to seize territory and find food.
Clearly, Marshal Guo knew how capable his son was. While making Guo Tianxu the commander-in-chief, he didn’t forget to have Zhu Yuanzhang assist him.
But Old Zhu had a temper too. Having endured so much frustration before, he absolutely refused to accept the order this time. It was only after Marshal Guo repeatedly urged and pleaded that he finally agreed to step up.
The little unlucky one, Mu Qing, remarked that he knew this scenario—it was the “Three Visits to the Thatched Cottage,” a classic scene from the Three Kingdoms.
Old Zhu’s actions always delivered results. After Hezhou was captured, Zhu Yuanzhang was delighted, and Guo Zixing was even more pleased.
Having been willing to marry his adopted daughter to Zhu Yuanzhang, he naturally didn’t harbor deep hatred toward him. Though he’d been displeased for a while when provoked, once that period passed, he’d recall Old Zhu’s merits.
In this campaign against Hezhou, Zhu Yuanzhang had taken the lead in achieving victory, and Commander Guo wasn’t stingy with rewards. He immediately appointed him as the Regional Military Commander and put him in charge of defending Hezhou.
Old Zhu didn’t pretend to be modest either. As soon as he received the order, he moved his entire family to Hezhou, not wanting to stay in Chuzhou a moment longer.
He had no choice but to hurry—his wife was getting further along in her pregnancy, and any further delay would make relocating difficult.
When news of Liu Futong establishing the capital in Bozhou and founding the Song dynasty reached Hezhou, Zhu Yuanzhang was holding his young child’s hand, teaching him how to write.
The little unlucky one thought his own handwriting was actually much neater, but his opinion was ruthlessly suppressed. He could only let Old Zhu guide his hand to produce even more crooked characters, after which he had to put on a show and remark, “It’s normal for a child’s hands to be small and lacking strength, so the writing isn’t good.”
After the messenger left, Old Zhu stood up and walked over to his wife, who was doing needlework. He declared confidently, “Liu Futong has enthroned Han Lin’er as emperor, calling him the Little Prince Ming. Just listen to that title—now he’s the Little Prince Ming, but in the future, when the Mongols are driven out of the Central Plains, he’ll surely become the Great Prince Ming.”