A few naughty boys lit up their kicks at the foot of the Forbidden City wall with playful smiles.
Then he excitedly enjoyed the sound of explosions blooming over the imperial city.
"Go! Get out of here! Whose kid is unlucky!"
The patrolling Imperial City guards laughed and cursed several times as if to drive them away, and the naughty children ran away yelling.
"Unlucky boy!" the head guard scolded again, but with a smile on his face.
"Boss!" A guard who seemed to have just joined the palace, who was at least seventeen or eighteen years old, looked at the direction in which the urchins disappeared and asked cautiously, "This... you are not going to arrest them?"
"Catch who?"
"Those kids?"
"Why arrest?"
"At the foot of the imperial city, they are setting off firecrackers like this... in case the palace is shocked..."
"The people in the palace are not that rich!" The head guard smiled, "You already said he is a child. It is not a big deal for him to set off a few firecrackers during the Chinese New Year..." He said and smiled again, "
In the early years when Emperor Taizu Gao was here, he would set off firecrackers for the children of ordinary people in the surrounding areas! What kind of thing is this?"
"That's right!" Another guard also said, "The Chinese New Year is coming soon. When everyone is celebrating, there is no need to make a fuss about a few kids setting off cannons!"
At this moment, the head guard's expression suddenly changed and he walked quickly towards the palace gate.
"Uncle Guo, please slow down!"
A carriage stopped in front of the Meridian Gate, and Zhao Shi, wearing a python robe, got out.
Seeing the head guard, he smiled slightly and said, "Are you on duty today?"
"Exactly a humble position!" The head guard smiled, "Are you going to see the emperor?"
"Yes!" Zhao Shi nodded reservedly, politely and kindly, but also with a bit of majesty as an uncle.
~~
After experiencing the battlefield in Burma, Zhao Shi seemed to have lost his youthfulness in a short period of time and became more and more like a man.
After passing through the Meridian Gate, before reaching the Qianqing Gate, a group of guards came towards me.
"small stone?"
"Brother Qi!"
The leader was none other than Zhao Shi's good friend Li Qi, the county horse and son of Cao Guogong Li Jinglong.
"How long have you been back?" Li Qi knocked on Zhao Shi's shoulder, "You're not looking for me either?" As he said that, he looked Zhao Shi up and down with a bit of envy, "This time you went out, you looked better than before.
More energetic!”
"I just returned to Beijing the day before yesterday..." Zhao Shi smiled shyly, "You also know that in my family, I just came back and I didn't allow me to go anywhere, for fear that I would be lost. If I hadn't come to the palace today,
Man, I can’t get out yet!”
"Hey!" Li Qi waved to the guards around him to let them go first, then hugged Zhao Shi's shoulders affectionately and laughed in a low voice, "Isn't there a lot of fishing on this trip to Burma? Hehe, I am
I heard that everyone who went to Myanmar this time has made a fortune!"
Zhao Shi smiled, somewhat bitterly.
Because the carnage of the battlefield suddenly appeared in his mind, as well as the dying begging for mercy and curses of the massacred people.
"I brought you something!" Zhao Shi shook his head to dispel those emotions.
"What good stuff?" Li Qi asked with a smile, "It's not some kind of gemstone or ivory, right? I really don't care about those things!"
The two have been good friends since childhood. Li Qi would not speak so casually to outsiders.
Zhao Shi smiled and scolded, "I know your family is rich!" After saying that, he paused and said, "I brought you two Yunnan horses. Although they are small, they have good endurance and can walk on mountain roads as well as on flat ground. I brought them for you.
These two Burmese greyhounds are so awesome!"
Li Qi has been fond of these living creatures since he was a child. He smiled and rubbed Zhao Shi's head, "Thank you!" After saying that, he let go of Zhao Shi in front of the Qianqing Gate and smiled softly, "I'll wait for you at the guard's office. Ah, after you meet the emperor later, I will take you to eat roast mutton next to the mule and horse farm, see you there!"
“See you or see you!”
~~
Seeing Li Qi go away, Zhao Shi adjusted his clothes and pretended to be mature.
After entering the Qianqing Gate, according to the rules, I first went to the guard room to hand over my badge, and then sat down and waited in the room.
Not long after, the young eunuch Li Buquan came over and said, "Uncle Guo, long live the Lord's message to you!"
"Thank you!"
~
"Your Majesty, Zhao Shi, comes to see the Emperor!"
Zhu Yunxi was sitting behind the court, looking at his fierce brother-in-law, and suddenly felt like a grown-up son in our family.
"Get up!" Zhu Yunxi smiled, "I took a trip to Burma, and I'm even older than before!" After saying that, he asked again, "Why didn't you come back with Hong Xi and the others?"
"Back to the emperor, just before His Royal Highness the Crown Prince left, there was a strong rebellion in Burma. I followed Wu Zhentai to suppress the bandits, so I was not delayed for a month!" Zhao Shi said neither humble nor overbearing.
Zhu Yunxi frowned slightly, "Is there a lot of civil unrest over there in Myanmar?"
"It's mostly mountain people who are causing trouble!" Zhao Shi said, "There are only three to five hundred people!" As he said this, he seemed to be hesitant to speak.
"What, you have something to say?" Zhu Yunxi could tell at a glance that Zhao Shi had something in mind.
"Senior..." Zhao Shi hesitated again and again, "Although the number of mountain people in Burma who are rebelling is small, it is a big headache. If a small group of sergeants are to clear it out, they will fight against it. If a large army is dispatched, they will burrow into the valley! "
"And they are causing rebellion because..."
"Why?" Zhu Yunxi asked with a smile, "But it doesn't matter!"
"The military discipline of our army..." Zhao Shi felt a little embarrassed to say it, "it still needs to be rectified!"
Zhu Yunxi had heard a little bit about this matter.
When those killers arrive in a foreign country, no one cares about them. They are like wild horses that have escaped the reins and cannot be robbed happily. The officers rob the powerful local kings, while the people below can only rob other people...
If you rob someone, why don't they resist? Besides, you are an outsider!
But the matter is generally very complicated.
The troops conquering Burma are all disbanded border troops, and they have no military pay...
As for the second-generation nobles who lead the troops, among the leading skills they learned from me, feeding on the enemy is the most motivating method for the soldiers.
"It is not a long-term solution to continue like this!" Zhao Shi glanced at Zhu Yunxi's expression and whispered, "We still have to take care of what should be taken care of! After all, Burma has been included in the territory of the Ming Dynasty, and the barbarian mountain people are also the emperor's subjects! "
"The fact that you have this kind of knowledge shows that you have really grown up!" Zhu Yunxi said with a smile, "All of Wu's killers are brave and foolhardy!"
"Well..." Zhao Shi paused, "Wu Zhentai leads the troops well. Whenever there is a war, he always charges forward and sets an example for the three armies..."
"Based on this alone, he is only a qualified general, not a qualified coach!" Zhu Yunxi smiled.
"Well..." Zhao Shi pondered for a moment, then reached out and took out a memorial from his arms, "Your Majesty, this is compiled by Wu Zhentai, the list of meritorious soldiers and the list of those who died in battle... .”
"Okay, let's go over here!" Zhu Yunxi tapped the imperial case with his slender fingers, "What are your plans for the future? Where do you want to work?"
Hearing this, Zhao Shi raised his head with a smile, "I want to go to the Firearms Camp." He said with a smile, "I used to think that the strongest in the army were strong bows, powerful crossbows, fast horses and cavalry. But go
After arriving in Burma, I discovered that only a volley of guns on the battlefield is invincible!"
"When I went to Burma, I was blessed by the Holy Spirit to bring five hundred musketeers with me! On the battlefield, these five hundred people were more powerful than tens of thousands of people! They formed front and rear formations, and the enemy was unable to get close with the volley of guns!"
"Like joining the army?" Zhu Yunxi smiled, "Have you ever thought about joining the Sixth Ministry and studying government affairs?"
Zhao Shi thought for a moment and said, "Your Majesty, I am a relative."
"Don't do anything!" Zhu Yunxi understood the meaning of Zhao Shi's words.
In the Ming Dynasty, there was an unspoken rule that everyone recognized. Wife relatives could be military attachés, but they could never be civil servants.
"You like military affairs! But you must know that what you fight in war is money and food. A commander must not only be brave and strategic, but also strategize!" Zhu Yunxi said with a smile, "After the New Year, go to the Ministry of War and learn military supplies from Ru Yu!"
"I obey the decree!"
At this moment, Xin Yande, who was walking in the Nan Study Room, came in from outside. Without even looking at Zhao Shi, he walked straight to Zhu Yunxi and whispered in a low voice.
Suddenly, Zhao Shi noticed that the emperor's brother-in-law's face, which had been gentle just now, suddenly became a little ferocious.
"Are you determined not to let me have a good year?"
In the Qianqing Palace, the emperor's sneer suddenly sounded.