Chapter 36: Li Tao is Demoted! Zhu Ying's Battle Victories!

“What does it say?” the Tartar commander immediately asked.

The Tartar soldier took one look and said with a grim expression, “It says... it says that one day, we shall storm your clan's courtyard, behead your chieftain, and exterminate your entire tribe. It tells... it tells our chieftain to wait.”

Upon hearing this.

The Tartar commander’s face flushed with rage. “Seeking death!”

“Pass down the order!”

“Continue the pursuit!”

“I will tear these damned Ming soldiers into ten thousand pieces!” the commander roared.

“Yes!”

The Tartar thousand-man commanders responded loudly.

...

Ansha County!

The military camp.

“Commander.”

“Although we have submitted the military report this time, I wonder if the Commander-in-Chief will reprimand us?”

The deputy commander under Li Tao asked worriedly.

“What reprimand could there be?”

“I have written everything exactly as it happened in the report.”

“Zhu Ying is obstinate and willful; he actually intended to use a meager force to raid a Tartar tribe guarded by tens of thousands of troops. It was undoubtedly a suicide mission.”

“To avoid casualties in my Thousand-Man Battalion, I naturally had to report it.”

“Besides,” Li Tao gave a faint smile, completely unconcerned, “we also harassed the Tartar tribe before our withdrawal. How could there be any reprimand?”

Just then!

“Reporting to the Commander!”

“The Commander-in-Chief has sent someone!”

Li Tao’s personal guard hurried over to report.

“Let’s go.”

Li Tao responded immediately.

He then led the two deputy commanders toward the main hall.

As soon as they stepped outside, they saw Bu Wan’s personal guard captain.

“Captain Chen,” Li Tao bowed deeply. “What are the Commander-in-Chief's instructions?”

“By order of the Commander-in-Chief, I am here to deliver military orders,” the captain said in a heavy voice, glancing at Li Tao.

“I am ready to receive the orders.”

Li Tao knelt immediately, and the two deputy commanders behind him also bowed.

“Li Tao, Thousand-Man Commander,” Captain Chen announced loudly, holding the military order. “For failing to respect the superior's command, leading troops to desert the battlefield out of cowardice, you are hereby stripped of your rank as Thousand-Man Commander and demoted to a common soldier.”

“Deputy Commanders Wang Wu and Liu Wei, for failing to offer counsel, are demoted one grade to Hundred-Man Commanders.”

“The Third Cavalry Thousand-Man Battalion has already been reassigned to another commander by the Commander-in-Chief.”

Hearing this, Li Tao and his two deputy commanders turned pale.

“Captain Chen? Why is this?”

“How did I fail to respect the orders? How did I desert the battlefield?”

“My withdrawal was ordered by Zhu Ying! And the reason I did not follow his command was because he wanted to lead our brothers to their deaths. I wasn't being disobedient; I was trying to advise him!”

“Furthermore, he said that as long as I harassed the southern Tartar tribes, we could withdraw, and the merits would offset the faults!” Li Tao panicked and immediately argued back.

“This order was personally issued by Lord Bu Wan; I do not know the specific reasons.”

“But... you are wrong about one thing.”

“Commander Zhu Ying’s raid on the Tartar tribe was not a suicide mission. The results of that battle have already been reported back. Commander Zhu led his troops to break through the northern Tartar tribe, slaying ten thousand enemies. The results were immense.”

“Among the five Thousand-Man Battalions under Commander Zhu, only your Third Battalion deserted. The others all followed him to win glory for the nation.”

“Because of Commander Zhu’s actions, the entire Tartar tribe was distracted, making it impossible for them to send reinforcements to the Yuan court, thus providing temporary safety for Da Ning. This is a great achievement.”

“As a soldier of the Great Ming, you deserted the battlefield, disobeyed orders, and acted out of cowardice. You are shameful,” Captain Chen said coldly.

He showed no sympathy for Li Tao.

The military had its own way of handling matters and its own code of conduct. Those who feared death were naturally despised.

Having finished, Captain Chen did not waste any more time. He tossed the military order, stamped with the Commander-in-Chief's seal, at Li Tao and turned to leave.

Looking at the order before him, Li Tao’s expression became extremely unsightly.

“He actually broke their tribe?”

“With only four thousand troops?”

“How is that possible?”

Li Tao’s heart churned; he clearly had not expected Zhu Ying to achieve such results.

But as he thought it through, a deep hatred welled up in his heart. “It must be that Zhu Ying broke his promise and intentionally reported me to the Commander-in-Chief, claiming I deserted! That villain... he deserves to die!”

“Commander,” the two deputy commanders looked at Li Tao with bitter faces. “What do we do now?”

“This isn't over.”

“Zhu Ying...”

Li Tao’s face was filled with hatred. Clearly, he realized he had been played by Zhu Ying.

...

Time passed!

The Northern Frontier!

Under the cover of night!

Aside from the faint moonlight, everything was silent.

Zhu Ying was studying a map by a campfire.

Zhu Ying and a group of thousand-man commanders were gathered together.

“Commander,” Zhang Wu reported with a smile, “those Tartars have been lured away. We drove over a thousand warhorses to run east and west; the hoofprints are completely scrambled, and they have been totally misled. In this vast Northern Frontier, it won't be easy for them to find us.”

“When we first arrived in the Northern Frontier, everyone thought this was a death sentence. Yet, the Commander has kept us alive for so many days and even dealt such a heavy blow to the Tartars. As the saying goes, 'killing one pays for the cost, killing two makes a profit'—but we've gained much more than just two,” Wei Quan said, looking at Zhu Ying with admiration.

“Indeed,” Zhuang Wei chimed in with a smile. “Originally, seeing how young the Commander was, I thought he would just lead us to our deaths. Although I followed his orders, I was still worried and skeptical. But now, if anyone dares to speak ill of the Commander in front of us, I'll slap them right in the face.”

One could tell from their words that after these days of intense fighting, Zhu Ying had led them to destroy enemy tribes and slay thousands of Tartar cavalry. Such a victory brought them immense satisfaction. It had also earned their complete trust, leaving no room for resentment.

“Have the casualty statistics been compiled?” Zhu Ying put down the map and asked in a deep voice.

“Commander,” Wei Quan said excitedly, “in this direct confrontation with the Tartars, although our numbers were inferior, our Han warriors are all brave men. In this battle, we slew at least four thousand enemies, while our army suffered two hundred and fifty-seven dead and four hundred and eighty wounded.”

Such a result could only be described as a great victory—a victory that was incredibly difficult to achieve.

Of course, the thousand-man commanders all knew that the fundamental reason for such a result was Zhu Ying. Had Zhu Ying not been incomparably brave, charging directly into the enemy lines to slay enemy generals and strike their banners—thereby preventing a total collapse of enemy morale—their soldiers' casualties would have been far higher.

Just as Zhu Ying had said when he first became a commander: "If the officers do not fear death and the soldiers do not seek to survive at any cost, they shall be an invincible army."

Whenever a great battle occurred, Zhu Ying was always the first to charge. This served as the ultimate inspiration for every soldier.

Naturally, the authority and the official seal also provided a boost to the combat effectiveness of his troops, which was why their casualties were so low.

“We have shaken them off for now,” Zhu Ying said with a smile. “Let the brothers rest well and get a good night's sleep. I will take the first watch tonight.”

...