Since the Accounting: A Chronicle of the Roman Khanate

Chapter 786 Yuan You's sarcastic remarks about Prince Wu's choice of spouse are really too wicked!
While Jessica was directing his soldiers to form ranks, Zhu Wenku suddenly ran up to his banner.

"Have you thought it through?" he asked immediately.

"Hmm..." Zhu Wenku nodded hesitantly, "I still want to try her trick to see if it works."

“No problem. I’ve left enough space here. Just have them move the cavalry forward.” Jessica agreed without hesitation.

"Huh? You've already thought it through?" Zhu Wenkui was quite surprised.

“I can tell what’s going on from your hesitation,” Jessica explained. “It’s basically a choice between two options, and both are feasible. So when planning the array, we just need to take both possibilities into account and coordinate them. It’s not too difficult.”

"Solving both options shouldn't be too difficult, right?" Zhu Wenkui asked curiously.

“It’s not difficult. When I was a mercenary leader, the French gave me more than a dozen ideas.” Jessica spread her hands. “I told Hans to go and negotiate with them, saying how could they give such orders? They can’t even plan the marching route. But he came back after going around in circles and said that these dozen or so people are all high-ranking nobles, and none of them are willing to submit to each other. We can only figure it out ourselves.”

"Huh? How can we win like this?" Zhu Wenkui was utterly astonished.

“We definitely didn’t win.” Jessica scratched his head and grumbled, “We were intercepted by the English halfway there and beaten to a pulp. All the nobles were kidnapped by the English too. Luckily, we’re experienced and knew something was wrong beforehand, so we ran fast…”

"..."

"Two options—especially two feasible options—were a fairly easy situation to handle. So, I didn't insist on it at the time." Jessica also specifically told him, "When we set off, the Queen specifically told me that if I encountered any special circumstances, I should contact Miss Jeanne, explain the situation to everyone, and then arrange a plan to avoid misjudging the situation and causing a military disaster. So, if it really wasn't feasible, we just said so directly."

"How could my mom make such a promise?" Zhu Wenku asked in surprise. "Does she have so little faith in me?"

"Back then, news of the old King Wu hadn't reached us yet, but she was, after all, the Queen. Few people knew the King Wu better than her. It's not surprising that she could foresee this outcome and ask the ministers to do their best to avoid it," Jessica speculated. "But I certainly can't tell you this. It's too hurtful."

"Then why did you tell me?" Zhu Wenkui immediately realized what was going on.

“Our relationship isn’t that of a typical lord and vassal. If we were just ordinary lords and employers, I certainly wouldn’t say such things—do you think I would have said such things to the French back then?” Jessica explained, “Everyone felt that you were the kind of almost ideal monarch, generous, hardworking, and willing to listen to everyone’s opinions—maybe you were just a little bad at fighting. Didn’t the philosophers of Serris say that when a lord is fair and close to his vassals, the vassals will also respect and be friendly to their lord? It is precisely because you are a wise monarch that we speak so directly.”

"Oh, I see." Zhu Wenku was quite pleased. "Alright, then you handle it. Three... Miss Tang said she wants to move the place where the warhorses are kept a little further to the right. Do you think that will cause any problems?"

“No problem, I’ll have Carl arrange it.” Jessica nodded. “Also, you don’t need to come in person for this. Just send a messenger to tell me not to launch an attack yet, but to cooperate with her first.”

“Well, I’ll handle this myself,” Zhu Wenku insisted. “You’re not Han Chinese, so you don’t know how sensitive we are about giving orders not to allow generals to attack. I’m free anyway, so I’ll explain it myself.”

"Huh?" Jessica thought for a moment about the Three Kingdoms stories he'd read, but couldn't immediately recall which one it was. However, he didn't dwell on it too much, and quickly reminded him, "If you're free, could you please go check on the artillery positions? To be honest, I'm still a little worried about that Urban..."

"Alright, I'll go keep an eye on it right away." Zhu Wenku waved his hand, mounted his horse, and left.

Jessica looked around and found that the Poles still showed no intention of advancing. They had concentrated their main force at the bottom of a gentle slope, with one side against the woods and the other side fully deployed, waiting for the Ming army to attack.

"Can this even move..." he muttered to himself, then after a moment's thought, he called out, "Karl!"

“I’m here, General!” A young officer ran over.

“Go tell Brother Patrick to have his men move a little further to the right, and have the supply convoy fill up the water buckets and take them over. If Miss Tang’s men don’t fare well in the assault, they’ll go back over there to change horses,” Jessica instructed.
"Also, tell Sir Schlatter that we need to change the plan. He should narrow and thicken the formation, leaving a distance of twenty Roman feet between him and Patrick. If Miss Tang's men retreat, they should be allowed to pass through here; if the Poles pursue, his cavalry should immediately counter-charge along with the infantry. He served in the Knights before, so he should know when is the best time. Let him make his own judgment."

"Also, send a messenger upstream to call little Protop back. Tell them to leave the flag where it is, trying not to be spotted by the Poles on the other side of the river, and to take a route away from the riverbank, circling back through the forest. It's not a long distance, and with the detour time, I'll give them two hours." As he spoke, he picked up a metal ball from the side and twisted it a few times. "The messengers know the way, right? They should be able to find them in half an hour and deliver the order, right?"

“Sure, I can run there in twenty minutes—but what is this?” Carl asked curiously.

“It’s for keeping track of time. His Highness just made it these past few days,” Jessica said. “Give this to him and tell him to come on time.”

Carl was very curious, examining the metal ball closely. Jessica flicked him with her whip, and he hurriedly snapped out of his daze, responded, and quickly left.

Zhu Wenkui had already returned to the artillery position, beaming, and was talking with the others. At that moment, Tang Sai'er also arrived.

“I was just looking for you,” Zhu Wenkui said, quickly greeting her. “I just talked to them about it and realized this problem—according to your plan, my artillery position also needs to be moved. Initially, in Jessica’s plan, we should use our artillery advantage to actively bombard the Poles, forcing them to abandon their existing positions and engage our infantry. But if we follow your plan, what will happen to my cannons?”

"Aren't those cars Guo Er gave you pretty good?" Tang Sai'er said, "Just follow me, won't you?"

“That vehicle can only carry small cannons; large cannons aren’t so easily maneuverable,” Zhu Wenkui replied.

“Then bring the small cannons up there. I’ll have Lao Liang leave some men behind to support you.” Tang Sai’er pointed ahead: “See that grove of trees on the side? Follow my men and push the small cannons to the opposite side of their formation. I’ll test their strength a few times first. If there are no problems, you can bombard the group closest to the grove. After you finish bombarding, don’t give them time to react. Have Lao Liang and Li Li move in immediately.” “There’s not enough space to move around in the grove. It’ll become a crowded battle, a war of attrition,” Zhu Wenku pointed out.

“If you can see it, the enemy must know it too,” Tang Sai’er replied. “But that’s exactly the effect we want. We’re crowded together, and the enemy is crowded together. If they’re all crammed together over there, the infantry will join the battle and drag them into melee combat. We can also launch a flanking maneuver from the other side.”

"The way you're saying it sounds just like Old Yang's..." Zhu Wenku complained, "He seemed to have the same attitude just now."

"You went to deliver the order yourself? What did he tell you?" Tang Sai'er asked curiously.

Zhu Wenku then briefly recounted the conversation that had just taken place.

"I only realized what you meant when you said that," he told Tang Sai'er. "Old Yang kept saying I was bad at the game, but I actually have to thank him..."

“Old Yang is actually very strong, don’t look down on him,” Tang Sai’er advised. “He thinks you’re just average, but that doesn’t necessarily mean you’re really. Last time I saw him glance at the map, and then he ran outside the tent to explain the formation strategy to everyone. He just relied on his memory and calculations to set up the formation out of thin air, arranging the positions of tens of thousands of people according to each commander. He assigned tasks to each team of a hundred or two hundred people, and he talked for half an hour straight. His level is among the best in the Central Plains.”

"Huh? Didn't you say before that Europeans weren't very good?" Zhu Wenkui said in surprise.

“The lower the average level, the higher the requirements for the commander-in-chief,” Tang Sai’er explained. “Because the military skills of the subordinates are relatively weak, and the middle and lower-ranking officers are not very reliable, you have to calculate for them, and even take into account all the possible reactions that everyone might have and to what extent the mission can be carried out. In comparison, it is much more difficult than commanding a high-quality army. That’s why we always say that the first step in war is actually training troops.”

“Alright…” Zhu Wenkui could only nod: “No wonder my mom trusts them so much…”

"What did the Princess say?" Tang Sai'er asked hurriedly, "Besides Commander Yang, who else could it be?"

“Jeanne, my dear,” Zhu Wenkui said without hesitation, “What my mother meant was… it was similar to what’s said in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms. How did it go? ‘When in doubt about foreign affairs, ask Old Yang; when in doubt about domestic affairs, ask Jeanne.’ That’s roughly the feeling.”

“Old Yang is fine, but Jeanne… I think we should be careful. That woman is too cunning; the more I think about it, the more uneasy I feel.” Tang Sai’er shook her head: “Besides, although it’s a bit late to say this now, but…”

"But what happened?" Zhu Wenkui pressed.

“At this point, it’s unrealistic to tell you to stay away from her. But you have to consider that you are Prince Wu, not an ordinary person. You have to consider the political implications of your every move.” Tang Sai’er suddenly seemed “mature” and even lectured Zhu Wenkui: “No one cares if you find a female companion, but if you want to take it a step further—Jeanne is a foreigner after all.”

“Uh…” Zhu Wenku roughly understood what she meant.

All Seresians, regardless of the era, like to use the terms "Chinese" and "foreigners" frequently. This actually has little to do with the international order of the time, or even the prevailing principles for defining nations; rather, it's a simplistic way of distinguishing between insiders and outsiders, or between close and distant relatives. Therefore, there's a phenomenon of ignoring the vast differences between "foreigners" from different countries and forcibly categorizing the world into two "nations."

If we had to put it into perspective, these two terms are more like the counterparts of "Chinese" and "barbarians." This is why, even with registered residence, some people are considered "foreigners" because they are perceived as not being "Chinese," while others, even living overseas, are generally considered "Chinese." This isn't really a matter of nationality.

When someone raises this term, they are actually expressing a distinction between the Chinese and the barbarians. This concept has penetrated deep into the cultural core of the Central Plains people; even if they don't consciously think about it, they can't help but think this way.

Therefore, Tang Sai'er is clearly raising a very significant question, denying that Rangna has Chinese identity.

“We still have important matters to attend to, but since you have some free time, you should think about it more.” Tang Sai’er continued, “It might be too early for me to tell you this now. However, around the time we set off, Tuo Huan and the others arranged for Javanese merchants to meet with me, and I discovered that even they were paying attention to this issue.”

"Huh? Are they also planning to make a fuss about this issue?" Zhu Wenkui immediately became sensitive when this group of friends was mentioned.

“Probably.” Tang Sai’er seized the opportunity to put pressure on him: “You may not consider Jeanne an outsider, but what will others think? Jeanne herself just told me that many times, the most important thing is not how we think, but how others will think after we do things.”

“Look at Jeanne, her eyes are all blue, she doesn’t look like a decent person at all. How could the Yuan people let such an obvious problem go unnoticed?” She shook her head, then deliberately added a fair word to show that she wasn’t intentionally targeting Jeanne: “Of course, this isn’t me intentionally attacking her either. After all, the Yuan people didn’t forget to mock me back then.”

"Why are they mocking you? Didn't you two work together before?" Zhu Wenku asked.

“Back then, everyone got what they wanted, so of course we could cooperate. Now that we’re close, the Yuan people aren’t stupid; they’ll definitely see through it and naturally change their attitude.” Tang Sai’er said, “Those wealthy merchants from Java, like Zhang Laocai and Chen Guangtou, deliberately mocked me at the meeting, saying that I’m clearly a rebel, so how come I’m getting along so well with you? Do you want to become legitimate and marry you as your queen?”

"Are you really going to say that directly?" Zhu Wenkui ignored the nicknames she gave to the Yuanyous and quickly asked.

“Yes. Wait for me to finish. This isn’t even the core of the satire.” Tang Sai’er continued, “I hadn’t even figured out how to respond when that ‘Sun Shiwan’ said something like, ‘Your great-grandmother—Empress Ma—wasn’t she also a female rebel who rebelled with her adoptive father? And you and your father, you ran away from the Ming Dynasty after getting into a conflict with someone. It’s clear that your Zhu family likes to be rebels and marry rebels.’ He even sarcastically said, ‘If you marry me, you’ll be just like your great-grandfather. It’s clear that we’re a perfect match.’”

"Oh, how can you say such a vicious thing? You're directly attacking your great-grandfather and great-grandmother, and even saying we're just like them." Tang Sai'er shook her head repeatedly, emphasizing, "How could the people of the Yuan Dynasty be so wicked!"

"???" Zhu Wenkui was dumbfounded.

(End of this chapter)