The stupid son of Chongba

Chapter 155: The prince is training his troops, and Lao Zhu is opening a betting competition! The emperor is really crazy!
Zhu Yuanzhang's face looked a little dark.

Although these 10,000 soldiers were troublemakers in the army, they were also veterans of the Northern Expedition and elites who had emerged from the swords and guns.

On the battlefield, they are the veterans who are least likely to die!

Zhu Ju, that bad boy, just shamelessly took away 10,000 people, and he still needs money from his father!
Just thinking about it... I feel unhappy!

"Dad, you don't look very well. Are you feeling unwell? Hehe..."

Zhu Ju calmed down the arrogant soldiers behind him, turned to look at Zhu Yuanzhang, and said with a smile,

"Hurry up and announce to everyone who is the first in this round!"

Zhu Yuanzhang: "!!!"

"You are the first, you are the first, okay!"

Old Zhu said angrily,

"Don't think that everything will be fine just because you got first place! This is just the first step! We are not only examining the recruitment ability! With your flowery words and shameless cheating, you can only be proud for a short while! You will cry later!"

"Xuda!"

"You arrange it. Let's move on to the next project!"

After saying that, he walked away.

Xu Da's mood at this moment was much better than Zhu Yuanzhang's. He smiled and winked at Zhu Ju.

My good son-in-law is really capable!
"For the first project, His Royal Highness King Wu did the best, recruiting 10,000 people!"

Xu Da highly praised it,
"To be honest, even I can't do this! It shows that His Royal Highness the King of Wu has a strong insight into human nature! He can immediately grasp the pain points of the soldiers, so he is so popular! That's why so many people gather under his royal flag!"

He paused for a moment before continuing:
"In fact, this is the most basic quality for a general! As princes, the others are slightly inferior. The Prince of Yan and the Prince of Jin are OK, the Prince of Qin is just so-so, and as for the Prince of Zhou...! I can only give you a poor evaluation."

Upon hearing this, Zhu Su lowered his head in shame.

There were tens of thousands of people there, but he only recruited more than fifty people.

Although the fact that his fiefdom was not located in the frontier was one reason, his poor performance was indeed due to his own lack of ability.

"However, Your Highness Prince Zhou, don't be too discouraged. The purpose of His Majesty's holding this martial arts exercise is to train you! The worse you are, the greater your improvement will be!"

Xu Da said in a deep voice,
"Don't be complacent, other princes. As His Majesty said, recruitment is only the first step! I can tell you the truth, the people standing behind you today are the most stubborn and undisciplined veterans in the army!"

"It's not easy to get them to be your real guards! The more people there are, the more difficult it will be!"

"The next task is for you to do everything you can to make these newly recruited guards obey your orders and enforce discipline! This is to test whether you have the ability to lead! You must know that when you guard the border in the future, you will have to manage far more than just these few people!"

Zhu Di, Zhu Gang and others looked stern.

"No wonder they look so arrogant. Even with double the military pay, it's hard to hire them. It turns out they are all difficult to deal with in the army..."

"Yeah, it's so difficult to recruit them, and we still have to take care of them? This..."

They were all muttering to each other, and all felt a little pressured.

On weekdays, he only manages the slaves and eunuchs in the office, who are all obedient slaves. How can they be compared with these hot-blooded soldiers?

They were asked to take care of thousands of people at once, and they were all a little overwhelmed.

"The second project has a deadline of half a month! The military camp has been built for you, right at the foot of Purple Gold Mountain! We will divide the areas for you later."

Xu Da said again,
"During the next half month, no one will come to help you. You will eat and live with your personal guards, and stay together every day! Whether you tame them or they control you, it all depends on your abilities and skills!"

"Follow me now!"

As soon as he finished speaking, he took the lead, leading Zhu Ju and others, as well as the soldiers on the field, towards the military camp.

Several princes stood in a row, all of them looking a little worried...

Just as Xu Da said, what if we are caught?

Although he is of noble status and will not be bullied, those old soldiers may pretend to obey and secretly disobey the rules!

Zhu Di glanced sideways at Zhu Ju, but was surprised to see that Zhu Ju looked calm and composed.

It would be difficult for them to deal with one or two thousand soldiers, but Zhu Ju has ten thousand soldiers!
Why didn't he panic at all?

"Brother Six..."

Zhu Di came close to Zhu Ju and whispered,

"How are you going to manage these 10,000 men under your command? It's not easy! The general has said that these people are the troublemakers in the army and are probably prone to causing trouble..."

Upon hearing this, Zhu Ju turned his head slightly and looked at Zhu Di.

"none of your business?"

He said with a smile,
"Why don't you just take care of your own business? Why are you worrying about me?"

Zhu Di's face turned slightly red.

"Sixth brother, I just want to discuss this with you. Right now, we have the most people, so it's more difficult to manage them."

"If they cause trouble, it will be embarrassing for us brothers, right?"

When Zhu Ju heard this, he sneered.

"Cause trouble? Old Four, if you have this idea, it means you need to practice more."

He patted Zhu Di on the shoulder and said.

"As for me, the more the better. Not to mention 10,000 people, even if they were 100,000 or 1 million, I would still train them and keep them obedient!"

"Okay, figure it out yourself!"

Zhu Di: "..."

"This Lao Liu, isn't he afraid of exaggerating?"

Zhu Gang said somewhat unhappily,

"He can train 100,000 or even 1 million people. Does he know how many people there are in 1 million? How many people are there in the entire Ming Dynasty?"

"Really... let him be arrogant! When he causes trouble, we will laugh at him together! Fourth brother, come here, let's discuss it together and come up with a set of rules. When we add up our strength, our strength will definitely be higher than that of Sixth brother!"

For a moment, several princes huddled together for warmth and decided to brainstorm to deal with the upcoming battle. Only Zhu Ju was excluded.

It was as if he was isolated.

Xu Da noticed the situation behind him and slowed down his pace. When Zhu Ju caught up with him, he asked with a smile:
"Your Highness. They have already formed an alliance, but you have been excluded."

Zhu Ju glanced at Xu Da.

"It's not that I was excluded, it's that I excluded them."

"Uncle Xu, you have to know that wild beasts always travel alone, only cattle and sheep travel in herds!"

"What good solutions can these idiots come up with? If a few piles of shit are piled together, they are no longer shit."

Xu Da was stunned.

Wild beasts always travel alone, but cattle and sheep travel in herds?
This son-in-law is so arrogant!
Although I don’t like Zhu Di very much, I have to say that this kid’s performance today was remarkable. He is definitely a talented general!

Prince of Jin Zhu Gang is also good and should be able to be a good vassal king in the future.

So in Zhu Ju's eyes, these people are just a bunch of shit?

"Are you so confident?"

Xu Da couldn't help but say,

"As your future father-in-law, I must remind you that these ten thousand people are very difficult to manage! Not to mention you, even I may not be able to deal with them all within half a month!"

"If you don't take this seriously, there will definitely be big problems!"

Hearing this, Zhu Ju smiled and waved his hand.

"Thank you Uncle Xu for the reminder, but I really know what's going on."

Seeing him like this, Xu Da said no more and just sighed softly.

Young people are young after all, they are arrogant and have not experienced setbacks and hardships.

Wait until they give you a good beating and then you'll behave yourself.

He originally wanted to take this opportunity to teach Zhu Ju some methods of training soldiers, which could be considered as giving special training to his good son-in-law.

But seeing Zhu Ju's appearance...

Forget it, maybe it would be better to let him suffer a little loss!
……

After the performance of "recruiting personal guards", some of the generals followed the army of 10,000 to assist Xu Da in settling down, while the rest accompanied Zhu Yuanzhang away.

"How are our boys?"

Zhu Yuanzhang walked in front, with his hands behind his back and asked with a smile.

"Your Highnesses are so brave and heroic, they will become great men in the future!"

"Yes! Your Majesty is worthy of being the true dragon emperor! As the saying goes, a dragon gives birth to nine sons, each one is different. But each one is very outstanding! Especially King Wu, he is amazing!"

"Yes, the King of Yan and the King of Jin are not bad, the King of Qin is also OK, and the King of Zhou... his talent must lie somewhere else, right!"

"..."

The generals flattered Zhu Yuanzhang, who was very pleased and laughed, stroking his beard.

Who doesn’t want his son to be successful?
Our Zhu Yuanzhang's sons are all outstanding! Nothing wrong with them. Nothing exaggerated!
Although Zhu Ju always made him angry, to be honest, Zhu Yuanzhang admired and was happy about him.

No matter whether you are thick-skinned or courageous, these are all advantages in his eyes, and they are advantages for creating miracles and accomplishing great things!
Even Zhu Biao did not possess this trait!
"Hehe... OK, OK, you said it well!"

Zhu Yuanzhang laughed and said,
"I just don't know to what extent these people will be able to control the guards in half a month."

"Come on... why don't we open a handicap and be the banker ourselves? Who wants to place a bet?"

Zhu Biao: "..."

Dad must have drunk too much. He is the emperor, but he is gambling openly!

"Father, please leave this matter to me, you..."

Zhu Biao Liandao,

“…You are not suited for this.”

He originally wanted to say, "Don't lose your identity!" But after thinking about it, he felt that it was an offense to his father's authority, so he immediately spoke more tactfully.

"Ahem... you're right, then you come! We're all just having fun! Don't spend too much money, let's just order enough?"

Zhu Yuanzhang seemed to realize the problem with his words, and he quickly coughed twice and said,

"Bet on whoever you think can best manage these guards!"

"Who comes first?"

Upon hearing this, all the generals around him fell into deep thought.

This way of gambling is really interesting!

"I'm betting on His Royal Highness Prince Yan."

Tang He, who was following Zhu Yuanzhang, did not hesitate at this moment. He thought for a moment and said,

"Although His Royal Highness the King of Wu did the best in the first phase, those 10,000 people are too difficult to manage. I don't think he can manage them well!"

"On the contrary, after observing the ability of His Royal Highness Prince Yan today, I feel that he has great potential. The number of his personal guards is also acceptable. It is not too difficult, nor too simple... I will bet on him! I will bet on a jar of fifty-year-old wine!"

"My request is not high. If I can use this jar of wine to get two jars of good wine from His Majesty, I will be satisfied."

When Zhu Yuanzhang heard what Tang He said, he burst into laughter.

"Hahahaha...you old fellow, you actually stole my treasures!"

"We don't even have a few jars of that fifty-year-old fine wine, but it's really precious! But if you really bet on the right thing, we'll give you two jars and let you drink to your heart's content!"

Zhu's words aroused the interest of all the generals, and they all followed suit:

"I agree with Commander Tang. Your Highness Prince Yan has potential. I'm betting on Your Highness Prince Yan!"

"You all bet on Prince Yan? Then I bet on Prince Jin! I think His Royal Highness Prince Jin is quite capable!"

"You've already bet on the King of Yan and the King of Jin? Then I'll just have some fun and bet on the King of Qin. After all, there are fewer people on His Royal Highness' side, so it's easier to manage!"

"I still choose King Yan!"

"..."

The generals were talking to each other, and Zhu Biao was overwhelmed by it.

Well, I have to find someone in the gambling house to ask how the odds are set. At the moment, it seems that Zhu Di has become the favorite to win.

Zhu Su was excluded. After all, he only had about fifty people. The important thing next was to just participate, and he was not eligible to compete for the winner.

As for Zhu Ju... To be honest, Zhu Ju really amazed everyone, recruiting 10,000 people in one go! This was an operation that no one present could replicate!

Even if Zhu Yuanzhang were to take over, he wouldn't be able to do it without the status of emperor!

But then again, it is easy to recruit people but difficult to manage them. Ten thousand veterans, even if everyone spits, can drown them! It can be said that each of these veterans has his own ideas. They are always thinking about playing tricks, trying all kinds of ways to be lazy and negative in training.

On the battlefield, they might be good at infiltration and reconnaissance, but in the military camp, this group of people is enough to give even the commander a headache!
Besides, Zhu Ju is the youngest among all the princes... He doesn't look like he can intimidate ten thousand people!

Therefore... Zhu Ju, like Zhu Su, became an unpopular candidate. The veterans were not optimistic about him.

Listening to the generals' words, Zhu Yuanzhang smiled but said nothing.

After hearing the last part, he turned to look at Zhu Biao and said:
"Biao'er, what about you? Who do you think is the best?"

"You know the personalities of these brothers best."

Zhu Biao heard this without any hesitation.

"Father, I think Xiaojuzi will definitely win. Since he has the ability to recruit 10,000 people, he must have the confidence to manage them well!"

Zhu Yuanzhang glanced aside slightly.

"Oh? Haha, you are so confident in this brat?"

He asked with a smile.

Zhu Biao nodded firmly.

"Of course! Little Orange has never let me down!"

"It will definitely be the case this time!"

Zhu Yuanzhang laughed.

"You know what? I'm really looking forward to seeing what this kid can do to us this time."

"Let's go, let's go, today's show is over, let's come back for acceptance in half a month."

……

Time flies and half a month has passed.

At the foot of Purple Mountain, in the military camp.

Zhu Yuanzhang picked his teeth and walked slowly outside the camp.

In front of him were his five grown-up sons.

"Haha, you guys are quite tanned! You really look a bit like a soldier."

Zhu Yuanzhang smiled and nodded, saying,

"It's better to be darker! Thin and tender skin is for women! We men should be darker!"

"Let's take a look...well, the fourth one is the darkest!"

Zhu Di smiled, revealing a mouthful of white teeth.

"Father, the fourth child is naturally dark, not tanned!"

Zhu Gang Road.

"Hahaha……"

When this was said, everyone laughed, but Zhu Di stared at it.

This bastard third brother, the emperor finally praised him a few words, but he ended up sabotaging us like this.

"Alright! Let's stop talking nonsense. We are here today to inspect your achievements."

Zhu Yuanzhang waved his hand and said seriously,
"See what you can do to lead the team in the next half month!"

"Who comes first?"

Upon hearing this, Zhu Di and Zhu Gang both looked stern.

"Father, let me go first!"

"Father, let me go first!"

The two spoke at almost the same time. "Haha, you are very confident."

Zhu Yuanzhang stroked his beard and smiled.
"We heard that it was the third brother who called first, so let him go first! Then the fourth brother, the second brother, and the sixth brother!"

"Let's go! Check out your camp!"

Zhu Gang nodded repeatedly.

"Yes! Father!"

"My son's camp is just ahead!"

……

"Humph!"

"what!"

"Humph!"

"what!"

Several rows of soldiers stood together, practicing long fist, and they looked quite energetic.

"Father, how is it, is it okay?"

Zhu Gang pointed at the soldiers in front of him and said with a bit of pride,

"I have suffered a lot from them in the past half month! I finally had to use all means to bring them out."

"Look at this army's appearance. It can be described in one word: heroic and valiant!"

As he spoke, he waved to the soldiers in the formation.

"We swear to be loyal to His Royal Highness Prince Jin until death! We will follow His Royal Highness Prince Jin's lead!"

The soldiers shouted in unison.

"Hey, it's really good. They're almost trained to be death warriors!"

"Look. You said that His Royal Highness Prince Jin was good at what he did. Haha. I was betting on him at that time!"

"It's really good! I don't know how he trained to reach this level in just half a month."

"..."

Listening to the praises from many generals, Zhu Gang's mouth corners kept rising.

At the same time, Zhu Chong, Zhu Di, Zhu Ju and others were also watching from the side.

"Third brother did a good job, what do you think, second brother?"

Zhu Di laughed.

Zhu Chong nodded.

"It's OK, but there are not enough people. It's not much more than the old five."

Zhu Ju glanced at it and couldn't help but sneer.

"I'm afraid this kid is going to go against the grain again and do something cunning."

"But it's not very smart to play tricks in front of my father."

It was obvious that there was something wrong with Zhu Gang's display of power. The people in front of him were at most a ceremonial guard.

He hid the real main force of the army and didn't show it out... How could he get away with this from his father?

Think more.

Zhu Yuanzhang also looked at the soldiers in the parade ground and nodded slightly.

"Your drill is pretty good. These soldiers are very energetic!"

He said,

"But, remember you have more than a thousand guards, right? You only have less than a hundred people on your side!"

"Pull out all your thousand-plus people. We want to watch them drill together!"

"With just these few people, what can you see?"

Zhu Gang's smiling face froze slightly.

"This...Father..."

He hesitated a little.

"how?"

Zhu Yuanzhang looked serious and asked,

"You can't show it?"

Zhu Gang shook his head and waved his hands repeatedly.

"No, no! Father...I will go right away, right away..."

Having said that, he ran into the military camp.

"Brothers, please give me some face..."

"The Emperor is coming to inspect today, so you can help out and train together. I know you are all veterans, and even if you don't train on weekdays, you will definitely have no problem dealing with the Emperor! Okay?"

"I'll give you a raise! For the next two months... no, for the next six months, I'll give you double your salary!"

"Yes, yes, come on, move, move..."

He begged and pleaded for help, and finally woke up some of the soldiers in the camp.

But there are still many who don't obey orders.

"Training in front of His Majesty? We don't usually train much, so how can we go now? His Majesty will be furious and we will all be in trouble!"

"That's right, Your Highness Prince Jin, I've neglected my training, and my back and legs are cramping right now. I just can't get up. Even if I go, I'll embarrass you, so I won't go!"

"Well, let's just stay in the camp. It's okay if we don't go, but it's hard to say if we go. We might even get mad at you! I don't want to take any risks for such a small amount of money."

"..."

A few veteran soldiers got together and made those who wanted to make money back off.

"You, what do you mean!"

Zhu Gang said angrily,

"You are all my personal guards. If I tell you to go, you must go!"

"Everyone, get up!"

However, his order had no deterrent effect.

"Your Highness, this is not right, is it?"

One of the veterans said with a half-smile,

"From the beginning, you kept choosing among us. The 100 people you chose were your real personal guards. You gave them all the best treatment. We were the ones you eliminated, and you didn't care much about us."

"But today, why do you want us to go out? Wouldn't it be better if you just asked your 100 guards to go?"

Zhu Gang's face changed.

"Am I eliminating you? Aren't you guys unwilling to obey?!"

He said angrily,

"When it comes to training, he makes all kinds of excuses! Every time he feels uncomfortable here or there!"

"You guys just don't obey discipline! I can only gather those who obey discipline together. During this period, did I continue to persuade you? Did I let those soldiers who are willing to train persuade you? As long as you are willing to come together, I will give you the best treatment!"

"Although I am the King of Jin, I don't get much money every month. I am now in debt!"

"I... am I easy?!"

Zhu Gang became more and more excited as he spoke, and he almost cried at the end!
Thinking about the past half month, it’s really a tear of bitterness!

At the beginning, we had a good discussion with Zhu Di and Zhu Chong and came up with several methods and plans.

However, after really interacting with this group of veterans, I found that it was not the case at all!

It’s such a beautiful thought!

Among more than a thousand people, it would be good if a hundred of them were willing to cooperate with the training! The rest were extremely difficult to deal with!

Fighting wits and courage with them every day consumed most of his energy and in the end there was no effect. Zhu Gang was really at a loss and could only focus on those obedient soldiers, hoping to form a beautiful square formation to deal with his father.

But... obviously, my father is not so easy to fool...

Faced with the excited Zhu Gang, the soldiers in the camp remained indifferent.

"Your Highness, it's not that we don't want to go, it's just that we don't practice enough and we don't have much enthusiasm right now!"

"Yes, Your Highness, otherwise... you can encourage us and make us excited, then we will be full of energy and spirit!"

"Yep……"

This group of veteran soldiers echoed with a smile on their faces.

"I...I'll give you one last chance!"

Zhu Gang gritted his teeth and said,
"You're not happy just because you think the money is too little!"

"Just cooperate with me once! Just this once! I don't care what you did before, as long as you cooperate with me this time, I will reward you handsomely!"

"I……"

He was about to add more, but his shoulder was suddenly held down by a big hand.

"Okay, don't give me your last chance."

Zhu Yuanzhang grabbed Zhu Gang's shoulders, his face turning dark.

When Zhu Gang heard what his father said, his legs suddenly went limp and his face turned pale with fright.

"Father, I, I..."

His voice was trembling.

Now, I wanted to show my face, but ended up showing my butt instead...

Zhu Yuanzhang reprimanded mercilessly,
"Always thinking of big rewards, using rewards to motivate others, do you have that much money? Can you give out that much reward!"

"Let me tell you, rewards are only given after you have made military achievements! They are never promised casually! Otherwise, you will become a sucker, a rich fat pig! Your soldiers will not respect you, but will become even more uncooperative, thus taking more money out of you!"

"You are also called a military commander?"

Zhu Gang looked a little ashamed and lowered his head.

Swish!

When the soldiers saw Zhu Yuanzhang, they all stood up at once. It only took them one second to change from being slick-faced to being honest.

"Third brother, did you see it?"

Zhu Biao said softly,
"Why is it that Father only needs to stand here to make everyone behave, while you go through so much trouble and still can't command them?"

"What is the difference between you and your father? Think carefully about the answer to this question."

Zhu Gang lowered his head and said:

"Yes, big brother... I, I will definitely think about it carefully..."

Zhu Yuanzhang's gaze swept across the soldiers, but did not stop on them. Instead, he looked at Zhu Di and others.

"Don't tell me that the results of your half-month training are all the same as Zhu Gang's."

He said coldly,
"Who's coming next?"

"The fourth one, or the second one? Or the sixth one?"

Zhu Chong quickly lowered his head, not daring to look at Zhu Yuanzhang, obviously feeling a little guilty.

He is no better than Zhu Gang, and at this moment he has nothing to show for himself.

Zhu Di, on the other hand, raised his head and said in a deep voice:
"Father, let me do it."

"Although I cannot meet your request, I have tried my best and used all possible methods."

Zhu Yuanzhang nodded slightly.

"Okay, let's go to your place then."

……

In a moment, everyone arrived at King Yan's camp.

Zhu Di walked quickly into the camp, and in a short while, a large group of troops had poured out.

"Show your majesty a set of punches!"

Zhu Di ordered.

Swish!

The square formation of more than 2,000 people seemed a little sparse, but at Zhu Di's command, they were able to follow the orders and started practicing Changquan.

"Humph!"

"what!"

"Humph!"

"what!"

After all, there were a lot of people, and the sounds of "grunting and hawing" echoed through the sky, and all the generals nodded when they heard it.

"Not bad, not bad, it has some flavor."

"Your Highness Prince Yan is amazing! He is worthy of being the prince I favor the most!"

"Guess who I saw in His Royal Highness Prince Yan? I saw His Majesty's shadow! He has the potential to become a great general!"

"..."

The generals flattered him again, but this time, their flattery seemed more realistic.

"Old Four can do it!"

Zhu Biao was also a little surprised and patted Zhu Di on the shoulder approvingly.

Zhu Yuanzhang's expression also eased a lot, and he said softly:

"This is still somewhat presentable. Although the formation is not very neat, at least it can be commanded. However, the spirit is still insufficient and cannot be compared with a truly elite force."

"Looking at this state, it can barely be considered a third-rate unit, capable of fighting a favorable battle."

"Fourth brother, tell everyone, especially your two brothers, how you did it."

A third-rate troop may not sound very good, but it is actually a high praise!
You have to know that Zhu Di was just a teenager. It was already commendable that he could control the army without any guidance by relying on the methods he figured out on his own!

"Your Majesty, thank you for your praise. Your Majesty, thank you for your praise."

Zhu Di said modestly,
"This time, it is considered the best effect. The previous training sessions were all a mess. So this is not the credit of this son, but the credit of my father and my uncles."

"It is because of the majesty of our father that they are so honest and dare not act rashly."

Zhu Yuanzhang nodded slightly.

This reason does account for a lot of factors.

The emperor is here, who dares to be so slick? Are you trying to kill yourself?!

"If I really have to say what my experience is, it's four words: use kindness and severity together."

Zhu Di said seriously,
"In fact, giving generous treatment like Third Brother does can indeed inspire the soldiers' enthusiasm for training. But as Father and Big Brother said, if there is only favor but no authority, military discipline will be relaxed, and the soldiers will not have awe and will instead treat us like little kids!"

"So right from the start, I set up ten military rules! Then, after announcing them, I deliberately picked out a few particularly dishonest people and gave them severe punishments to serve as a warning to others!"

"That way, they will know that I am not joking with them! They will be more respectful of me. At the very least, they will not treat me like a little kid to be tricked or laughed at."

When Zhu Yuanzhang heard this, he nodded with satisfaction.

"Listen, listen! You two older brothers are not as smart as your younger brother!"

Old Zhu pointed at Zhu Gang and Zhu Chong and scolded them,

"Old Four has grasped the essence of this. It is right to use both kindness and severity!"

"Old Four, read them the military rules you established. Let us listen too!"

(End of this chapter)