The First Prince of the Ming Dynasty

On the 14th day of the intercalary fourth month, at a drill ground of the Beijing Garrison in the south of the city.

Zhu Houzhao arrived at the place early that day, as if he were enjoying a spring outing, accompanied by many of his close advisors.

Few court officials were invited; apart from Duke Zhang Mao of Yingguo and Duke Zhu Fu of Chengguo, only Yang Yiqing was invited.

"Mr. Yang, the main reason I called you here today is to tell you that your entry into the cabinet has been decided. In the next couple of days, pack your things and go to the cabinet. I will entrust the affairs of the Ministry of Personnel to others." Zhu Houzhao was very excited.

At this moment, Zhang Yong personally handed over a new flintlock pistol.

Zhu Houzhao took it in his hand, weighed it in his hand, and said, "It is indeed much lighter than before. How do I use it?"

Zhang Yong said, "Your Majesty, this musket is loaded with propellant and bullets from here, and then fired by igniting it from here. It's very fast."

"Is that so? I'll give it a try."

Zhu Houzhao was also a pragmatist. In his view, talking without doing was useless, so he immediately wanted to personally take matters into his own hands and fire the gun.

Zhang Yong hurriedly reminded him, "Your Majesty, the stability of this musket still needs to be verified. Two groups of people have already been arranged to conduct demonstrations today. It's not too late to fire it after you have seen the demonstrations."

"Yes, yes, I was too hasty. I should at least have looked at how others use it."

Zhu Houzhao squinted at Yang Yiqing beside him and said, "Mr. Yang, you also served in the military. Why don't you try out this new firearm?"

Yang Yiqing said, "I am old and frail and cannot bear this burden."

"Mr. Yang, there is another matter today. Among the people who will be demonstrating later is the stepson whom I intend to adopt. Didn't he perform well in battle in Zhangjiakou? Today, we can see his riding and archery skills to verify whether he is truly capable of being of great use."

Zhu Houzhao looked at Qian Ning beside him and asked, "Is everything arranged?"

Qian Ning smiled and said, "Your Majesty, arrangements have been made. This young prince is ready to go. In a moment, he will lead ten men to the shooting range ahead. There will be twenty scarecrows set up a few dozen paces away, dressed in Tartar military uniforms. After they have gone over, they can only retreat after knocking down all the scarecrows. The team that finishes in the shortest time wins."

"Interesting, interesting," Zhu Houzhao said excitedly.

It seems they couldn't wait to get involved themselves.

Qian Ning noticed something amiss, but didn't say anything at the time.

……

……

Then we moved on to the preparation phase.

Qian Ning was also unhappy to see the emperor still chatting with Yang Yiqing, after all, he was usually the one who served the emperor most enthusiastically.

He would feel envious if the emperor was with other people.

To put it bluntly, Qian Ning has no tolerance for others.

"Eunuch Zhang, I ask you, does that little prince really have the ability to kill enemies?" Qian Ning vented his anger on Zhang Yong after coming down.

Zhang Yong said, "How many times have I said it? Do you think we're just flattering him?"

Qian Ning sneered, "That's fine too. I plan to go up in the third round later and have a match with him to see who has better archery skills."

"What?"

Zhang Yong frowned.

Qian Ning said, "What, does Eunuch Zhang think I'll lose to him?"

Zhang Yong quickly reminded him, "Commander Qian, you're wasting your time. Putting aside your long-standing lack of combat experience, even if you're truly confident you can win, you'd better think it over. Winning won't do you any good. A dignified Commander of the Ming Dynasty's Embroidered Uniform Guard, barely managing to defeat a prince! People won't think you're strong. On the contrary, if you lose..."

"We won't lose!" Qian Ning emphasized firmly.

Zhang Yong said, "I'm telling you this right here, and if you don't listen, then I'll consider myself a petty person."

After saying that, Zhang Yong turned and left.

No matter what Qian Ning wants to do, it would be best if he just lost, lost face in front of everyone, let the emperor know that he is not even as good as a little prince, and made him lose all face!

……

……

The military drills began at the drill ground.

The first group, consisting of eleven elite musketeers from the Shenji Battalion, had already formed ranks at their designated positions, waiting only for the order to ride up and fire.

Similar to a triathlon, these soldiers had to ride horses through numerous obstacles to reach the designated firing position, and they also had to knock down all the scarecrows on the other side before they could return. Because there were only eleven people, even if everyone's musket hit the target, at least one person had to fire two muskets.

This requires reloading mid-flight, which tests both skill and ability.

Qian Ning did not accompany the emperor from above; instead, he dismounted first and walked to the centurion Zhong Ning.

"Commander..." Zhong Ning was chatting with a group of subordinates when he saw Qian Ning appear in person. He was very surprised and quickly bowed.

Qian Ning frowned and said, "Weren't you supposed to be fighting alongside that young prince from the Ning family?"

Zhong Ning said, "That's right. The young prince went up with several guards from the Ning family. From the beginning, we weren't allowed to prepare."

"How could this be?"

Qian Ning thought that by bribing and arranging his subordinates in the Imperial Guards, he could get them to deliberately let Zhu Yi win, so that even if Zhu Yi was the only one who was powerful, his side could still win and make a good impression on the emperor and his generals.

Who would have thought that they were using their own guards, and that his group of Imperial Guards had nothing to do with it.

Zhong Ning asked, "Is there something wrong?"

Just then, a cannon salute was heard from the side.

It is also the starting pistol.

The first batch of soldiers from the Beijing garrison, relying on old-fashioned muskets and cannons, charged out of their positions in eleven riders and rushed towards the opposite side to attack.

The crowd erupted in cheers, and the soldiers watching shouted and applauded.

Qian Ning quickly looked up at Zhu Houzhao on the viewing platform on the hillside not far away. At this moment, Zhu Houzhao was with Yang Yiqing, each holding a monocular telescope, watching the competition.

Qian Ning was even more excited and said, "Arrange for a few capable men to come up with me."

Zhong Ning said, "Commander Qian, are you going too? Where are we going to find someone at this last minute?"

"They're up there! They're up there!"

Someone is shouting.

When the person who shouted stepped back and saw Qian Ning there, he immediately fell silent, terrified.

Qian Ning stood at a relatively low position and looked out.

The first group of people did indeed rush forward. Because the old-style guns and muskets were relatively heavy and inaccurate, aiming from fifty paces away was almost blind firing. After one round, only two or three scarecrows were destroyed.

A group of people were loading fireballs again.

After a while, the second round was slightly more accurate, and only four or five more were knocked down.

After going back and forth like this for six or seven rounds, they finally managed to scatter all twenty scarecrows. Everyone was so exhausted that they could barely ride a horse back.

However, there were more people cheering around, since the soldiers had never seen a better performance. When they saw the Shenji Battalion in action, it was enough for ordinary soldiers to witness the exemplary demonstration of an "advanced army".

"I've never eaten anything like bran."

Qian Ning's side has made preparations and plans to try it out with the new musket.

In his opinion, since Zhu Yi was capable, he himself would perform even better than Zhu Yi.

Such opportunities are rare, so I should make the most of them.

Just as Qian Ning had already had his armor changed, Zhang Yong came down from the platform.

Zhang Yong earnestly reminded him, "Governor Qian, I advise you to think twice. There's really no need to show off."

"Do you think I'm just showing off? I come from a military background. If it weren't for my military skills, would I have gained His Majesty's favor?" Qian Ning felt that Zhang Yong was looking down on him.

At this moment, the sound of drums outside grew louder.

Zhu Yi's second team was ready to go.