Chapter 66

After the New Year, a sensational piece of news spread throughout the capital: a street battle had erupted near the Hongwu Gate in the southern part of the city. Dozens of royal princes and nobles led over a hundred men in a fierce fight against an equally numerous coalition of young men from the major aristocratic families, driving them to flee in disarray.

The battle raged for nearly half an hour, leaving almost everyone injured. Fortunately, it took place on the wide imperial road, so no ordinary citizens were harmed.

Xu Hao walked among the crowd with a bitter smile, surrounded by royal princes and nobles with their arms in slings, bruised faces, and limping bodies. Only he and Zhu Gaozhi, skilled in group combat, emerged unscathed. He regretted it deeply, wishing he had slammed his head against the wall to appear the most injured.

Although the young men of the Zhu family were all injured and were escorted into the palace by dozens of Jinyiwei guards wearing elaborate dragon robes and carrying imperial-issued Xichun knives, their heads were held high, as if they were victorious generals, each one proud and elated.

Xu Hao, who was on tenterhooks, quickly glanced at Zhu Gaozhi, who was sitting leisurely in a soft sedan chair. He cursed the guy for being smart, staying out of the fight, and clearly knowing that with his fat body and clumsy skills, he would have been the one beaten up if he had joined in.

This seemed to be the first time in his life that Xu Hao was entering the real imperial palace. Although he had visited the Forbidden City in his previous life, he still felt uneasy and couldn't help but look around.

There was a central axis running through the entire palace and the city, which was the white marble imperial road under his feet. It stretched from the Zhengyang Gate in the outer city, straight to the Hongwu Gate of the palace, then to the Chengtian Gate, the first gate of the imperial city, wide enough for about twenty horses to walk side by side.

After passing through the massive and thick Hongwu Gate, five white marble arch bridges appeared, known as the Outer Five Dragon Bridges by the citizens. Below them flowed the imperial river, with government offices on both sides.

After entering the Chengtian Gate, to the east of the imperial road were the vast sacrificial halls, including the Temple of Heaven, used for ancestor worship and honoring meritorious officials. To the west were the Altar of Land and Grain and some temples for the worship of deities.

Ahead was the Wu Gate, the main gate guarding the imperial palace. It was said that inside were five Inner Five Dragon Bridges, twice the size of the Outer Five Dragon Bridges, with an inner imperial river flowing beneath them.

Xu Hao had once accompanied his female relatives through the Wu Gate on the Lantern Festival. The night was brilliant, and the place was filled with tourists, making it feel very romantic. Now, it was empty, with no idle people around. The guards, with their bright armor and axes, looked imposing and intimidating.

Xu Hao, who was curious, thought that Old Zhu must be very angry, otherwise why would he make his grandsons walk all the way here?

After passing through the heavily guarded Wu Gate, they indeed saw five white marble arch bridges lying on the extremely wide path. Ahead was another palace gate, with a large golden plaque inscribed with "Fengtian" in the emperor's own handwriting.

It seemed that the Forbidden City in Beijing was modeled after this place. Xu Hao felt a sense of familiarity, able to see the three magnificent halls behind the city walls. Indeed, after the Fengtian Gate was the Fengtian Hall, followed by the Huagai Hall and the Jingshen Hall.

Xu Hao squinted at the grand hall, imagining the scene of the court officials paying homage to Zhu Yuanzhang during the morning court. It seemed that the hall wasn't big enough, and the ministers couldn't all fit inside, right?

He didn't know that during the morning court, Zhu Yuanzhang usually held court at the Fengtian Gate or sat outside the Fengtian Hall, discussing state affairs with the officials in the open air. As he continued to walk, he saw red walls and bright glazed tiles everywhere, and pavilions with carved beams and painted rafters in all directions. Eventually, he became numb and took a long time to walk through the three halls.

The entire imperial palace had thousands of gates and halls, making it easy to get lost. However, a three-dimensional map of the Forbidden City automatically appeared in Xu Hao's mind. Even though he didn't know the names, he knew that after the three main halls, the inner palace's central axis also had three main halls, followed by the Eastern and Western Palaces, the Six Eastern Palaces, the Six Western Palaces, the Imperial Garden, the Imperial Kitchen, and other miscellaneous halls. Although it looked like a maze, the layout was roughly symmetrical and had a clear pattern.

A sense of superiority as a commoner arose in Xu Hao. He secretly laughed, thinking, "So what if it's the imperial palace? If I'm allowed to wander around, I can find my way out in no time."

If Zhu Yuanzhang knew that this guy could be familiar with the palace layout without ever having been there, the Xu family would surely be executed.

The first palace in the inner imperial city was the Qianqing Palace, where Zhu Yuanzhang lived. Eunuchs guided the group of princes and nobles to stand on the open ground in front of the palace. Xu Hao suddenly felt uneasy and moved to one side, standing alone, away from his comrades-in-arms.

Some of the princes playfully winked and giggled at him. This battle had truly made Xu Hao famous, and he was now known to all his peers in the royal family.

Zhu Yuanzhang seemed to treat his grandsons leniently, and the princes, having won the fight, stood without proper posture, joking and laughing carelessly. The surrounding Jinyiwei guards and eunuchs simply ignored them, pretending not to see.

Zhu Gaozhi had already been escorted into the Qianqing Palace by the eunuchs. Xu Hao stood properly for a while but felt awkward. "I'm just a commoner, why should I be afraid of the emperor?" he thought.

With this in mind, Xu Hao relaxed, stretched, twisted his waist, and bent down to loosen his legs. A nearby Jinyiwei guard glared at him angrily.

Xu Hao, who had fought several times with the aristocratic young men and was now with a group of royal princes, felt bolder and glared back, "What's it to you? Go back to your post."

The Jinyiwei guard was furious but couldn't do anything due to his duty. This guy clearly wasn't an official, so what could he say?

At this moment, Zhu Gaoxu laughed and gave him a thumbs up, saying, "Brother Hao, you're the man!"

Xu Hao laughed heartily, completely relaxed. "If President Xi were to eat baozi in front of me in the future, he would surely be friendly and have no airs. But a small section chief or department head acts like a petty emperor, with no grace or dignity."

"Zhu Di, you can't compare to your father," Xu Hao thought, remembering the old grudge of the Prince of Yan not meeting him. Since he was here, he should be able to see the emperor, especially with his good friend secretly advocating for him.

Feeling playful, Xu Hao joked to the group of princes, "Stand properly, you all have no manners."

The princes immediately responded with boos and laughter, with some laughing and scolding him for being punished just like them. But Xu Hao, smiling, walked forward, saying, "As the emperor's grandchildren, you should follow his orders. His orders didn't include me, right?"

The middle-aged eunuch in charge of guarding them was about to speak but was silenced by this. "That's true," he thought. "This guy isn't a prince, so the emperor's orders don't apply to him."

Seeing this, the others also kept quiet, and the princes sighed and laughed, calling Xu Hao a cheat.

Xu Hao spoke lightly but didn't dare to move around freely. He walked a few steps around the Qianqing Palace and stopped, suddenly surprised to see a frozen field of land in the middle of the imperial palace.

This unexpected field was clearly created by Zhu Yuanzhang, and no one else had the audacity to do so. Xu Hao vaguely remembered someone saying that the emperor liked to farm in his spare time, which he had taken as a funny story. Now, he saw it with his own eyes.

Turning back, Xu Hao thought about how to answer the emperor's questions when he met him, deciding to tell the truth.

Unfortunately, his wish was not fulfilled. When Zhu Gaozhi mentioned that Xu Hao was a descendant of Xu Da, Zhu Yuanzhang, who had initially shown some interest, quickly lost it.

However, considering that Xu Hao was a descendant of a meritorious official, had a clean family background, and had a connection with Xu Da and Zhu Gaozhi, and that the princes spoke highly of him, and that he and Zhu Gaoxu had performed exceptionally well in the fight, he granted Xu Hao the position of a sword-carrying guard in the Forward Guard of the Imperial Army.

Since Xu Hao was under twenty, he was transferred to the Young Guard and would be promoted to a sword-carrying officer after turning twenty, with an initial rank of a Sixth-Class Zhongxian Commandant.

Zhu Yuanzhang also felt that the descendants of meritorious officials, who lived in luxury due to their fathers' military achievements, had become increasingly weak in archery and martial arts over the years. They enjoyed their fathers' and brothers' salaries, indulging in drinking and music, unable to ride horses or shoot arrows, and could not serve the country.

For example, the commander of the Yangzhou Guard, Shan Tao, who inherited his father's position, led his troops to flee in fear when ordered to capture bandits, resulting in a disastrous defeat. To encourage a martial spirit among the descendants of meritorious officials and the common people, he specially rewarded Xu Hao to set an example. Thus, Xu Hao unexpectedly received a Sixth-Class Wujiwei for his involvement in the fight.

When Zhu Gaozhi came out to congratulate him, Xu Hao, dazed, didn't know whether to cry or laugh. He had become a professional soldier, not a Jinyiwei guard, which meant he might be sent to war.

Seeing Xu Hao's worried face, Zhu Gaozhi, guessing his thoughts, smiled and said, "Don't worry. The Forward Guard of the Imperial Army is one of the top three guards among the twelve imperial guards. They only go to war if the emperor personally leads the troops. Besides, you're still a Young Guard, and most of your time will be spent training and serving as a guard for the crown prince. I can even transfer you to my side, and you can do whatever you want."

"Deal," Xu Hao said happily, nodding vigorously.

PS: I haven't thanked everyone who has been voting for me every day. I'll thank you tonight and also thank those who have given me donations and ratings. I noticed many errors in the previous chapters, and I'm blushing! I also realize that the writing is too light-hearted, but Xiao Chai's personality is like this, and it might be hard to change. I hope to improve my writing skills as I continue to write, and I will try to avoid the self-indulgent writing style. I apologize sincerely!