Hearing the cries of "father" and "mother" that he had longed for for over a year, Yang Daniu's father dropped the shovel in his hand with a clang. His cloudy eyes stared intently at the figure kneeling at the doorway, his lips moved a few times, and in the end, he could only squeeze out a soft sound: "Niu'er?"
Perhaps startled by the sound of the falling shovel, or perhaps by the cry of "Niu'er," Yang Daniu's mother unconsciously stopped her spinning wheel and looked towards the doorway.
"Oh my," she exclaimed after a startled cry, quickly standing up. She paid no mind to the toppled chair and hurried to Yang Daniu's side, looking at him and asking, "Niu'er? Niu'er?"
Yang Daniu nodded vigorously and responded with an "Mm," saying, "Mother, it's Niu'er, I'm back. Niu'er is unfilial, to return and see you so late."
Yang Daniu's mother also responded with an "Mm." Suppressing the urge to sob uncontrollably, she reached out and pulled Yang Daniu up. Her withered hands caressed Yang Daniu's face back and forth, asking, "Niu'er, why are you back? Weren't you supposed to return only at the end of the year? Did you sneak back?"
Yang Daniu, who had been on the verge of tears moments ago, found himself in a state of wry amusement by his mother's question.
He reached out to wipe away his mother's tears and then said with a smile, "Mother, what are you thinking? The army is so strictly managed, how could your son possibly sneak back? To tell you the truth, our regiment is set to deploy in two months, and our regiment commander specifically approved me to come home for a visit."
Before Yang Daniu's mother could react, Yang Daniu's father suddenly snorted coldly and said in a deep voice, "The army is about to deploy, how could they possibly let you come home for a visit? Don't you officials fear you becoming a deserter?"
After asking, Yang Daniu's father took a couple of puffs from his pipe and waited quietly for his son to give him an explanation.
Yang Daniu's mother also tightly gripped Yang Daniu's arm and asked tremblingly, "Niu'er, you didn't run back as a deserter, did you?"
Yang Daniu looked at his father's gloomy face and his mother's worried expression, and with a mixture of amusement and exasperation, said, "I really didn't desert! Our regiment commander specifically approved me to come back to see you both. However, your son only has two days of leave. I'll stay at home tonight and must return to my unit tomorrow morning."
Receiving Yang Daniu's explanation, Yang Daniu's father's expression finally improved slightly. He snorted and, as he walked towards the door, said, "It's good that you're not a deserter. You wouldn't have the guts anyway."
Yang Daniu was taken aback and asked, "Father, where are you going?"
Yang Daniu's father, puffing on his pipe, stopped and snorted, "Your father is craving something, I'm going to kill a chicken to eat."
Yang Daniu's eyes welled up, and he reached out to stop his father, saying, "Father, you just rest. I'll do it later."
Yang Daniu knew his father's temper. Ever since he could remember, it had been this way. Whenever he prepared something delicious, he would always say he was craving it himself, but in reality, he ate it all himself, and his father never ate much.
Yang Daniu's father snorted again and said, "Your father isn't so old that he can't kill a chicken. You get aside and talk to your mother properly."
However, Yang Daniu's father never expected that the usually honest Yang Daniu had not told the whole truth this time.
It was true that the regiment commander had specially permitted him to return to visit his parents, and the two-day leave was also true. But Yang Daniu had one thing he hadn't told his parents.
This opportunity to return home for a visit was given to him by the old soldiers in his company. This was his first time home to visit his parents since joining the army, and it might also be his last.
As the old soldiers said, life on the battlefield was perilous, and no one knew if they would return alive. For a green recruit like Yang Daniu, to die on the battlefield without ever returning to his company felt like a considerable loss.
Yang Daniu didn't feel it was a loss.
Just as the supervisor had said, fighting was not just for the Great Ming dynasty, nor just for the Emperor, but more for oneself, for one's parents, wife, and children.
This was a lesson learned on the very first day of enlisting.
When he thought about the life they used to have and the life they had now, when he thought about their house being rebuilt with the help of the Farmers' Association, and when he thought of his father and mother at home, Yang Daniu felt that even if he died on the battlefield, there was absolutely no such thing as a loss.
Anyone who felt it was a loss to die for their parents was truly heartless!
With this thought, Yang Daniu chuckled and then helped his mother sit back on the bedside. He began to tidy the room.
The habits he had cultivated in the army made Yang Daniu want to arrange the coal lumps by the stove neatly, and to polish the table until it could reflect a person's image.
Watching their son busily moving around, unable to be stopped, Yang Daniu's mother sat on the bedside. Although tears still rimmed her eyes, her face was filled with unstoppable smiles.
As she smiled, Yang Daniu's mother couldn't help but start to murmur, "Last month, during the New Year, officials from the township and county came to our house and gave us twenty catties of flour, ten catties of rice, two chickens, two fish, and five hundred copper coins."
"Oh, right, last year, officials from the township and county also came once and gave us the same amount of things."
"Your father said we had enough grain at home and your remittances were enough, so we didn't need these things. But the officials insisted that your father and I accept them, saying that since you were a soldier in the barracks, the local government had to take good care of your parents."
"The officials also said that if there was anything wrong at home, we should go to the yamen to find them."
"Right, your father, that clumsy bear, still hasn't figured out what 04208 is, and the post office can't explain it either. They only said that if you write this on the letter along with your name, you'll definitely receive it. What is it?"
"Also, what kind of soldier are you? Where are you serving? Mother knows you might not be far from our home, but Mother doesn't know exactly where you are, and wants to visit but can't find the place."
Hearing her mother's string of questions, Yang Daniu could only respond with a wry smile, "Mother, please don't ask these questions. You just need to know that writing 04208 on the envelope will get the letter to your son. The rest is classified, and breaking the rules will result in punishment."
Yang Daniu's mother quickly nodded and said, "Then Mother won't ask anymore."
But after a moment, Yang Daniu's mother couldn't help but say, "Speaking of which, that post office is amazing. Just writing 04208, and they can deliver the letter to you, and they don't even charge money. That's really good."
"..."
After rambling on for a long time, Yang Daniu's mother tentatively said, "Niu'er, Mother has found you a marriage prospect. When it gets dark later, when that girl finishes work, Mother will call her over. You can meet her?"
Yang Daniu rubbed the rag in his hands and said with a wry smile, "Mother, please don't make such a fuss. Don't you see our family's condition? Would that girl's family agree? Besides, even if she agreed, she wouldn't come to our house at this time, would she?"
Yang Daniu's mother chuckled and said, "You don't need to worry about that."
"Mother will tell you, that Xiu Niang is also from our Qing County. Her parents passed away early, and Xiu Niang, all by herself, taking care of her eight-year-old brother, fled with us to Shandong, also a tragic fate."
"Later, Xiu Niang was arranged by the government to work in the textile workshop, and her brother also studies in the village school."
"Mother asked someone to inquire, and as soon as Xiu Niang heard you were a soldier, she agreed immediately, saying that she would marry you as soon as you returned."
"Mother has also seen Xiu Niang. Not only is she beautiful, but she is also good at managing a household. She also comes to visit your mother from time to time. She is a filial and good child."
"Mother tells you, after you get married, you cannot mistreat her, otherwise, Mother will not forgive you!"
Hearing his mother's constant praise for the woman named Xiu Niang, Yang Daniu's hand, which was wiping the table, paused slightly. Then he shook his head and said, "Mother, let's talk about this after your son returns."
Yang Daniu's mother was about to say more when she heard Yang Daniu's father call from the courtyard, "Niu, come here for a moment."
Yang Daniu walked into the courtyard and squatted beside his father, asking, "Father, what is it?"
Yang Daniu's father, who was plucking feathers from a chicken, suddenly paused, then looked up at Yang Daniu and asked, "Niu, tell your father honestly, are you going to the battlefield to fight?"
Yang Daniu was slightly startled, then nodded and said, "Yes."
Yang Daniu's father's hands paused again. After a while, he continued to pluck the chicken feathers, "News of the impending war has already spread. It's just that your mother doesn't go out much, so she knows less."
Having said this, Yang Daniu's father simply pushed the half-plucked chicken to Yang Daniu's side, washed his hands in the clean water basin nearby, and then took out his pipe and began to puff on it.
"From the time you said the army was about to deploy, Father knew that war was imminent, so Father was worried you might have deserted."
Yang Daniu nodded and mumbled while plucking the chicken feathers. "Didn't I do it to avoid you worrying?"
Yang Daniu's father squinted his eyes, took a couple of puffs of his pipe, and then suddenly reached out and stroked Yang Daniu's head, saying, "Go ahead, your father is not so muddled that he would stop you."
"Don't worry about things at home. Your father and mother, you don't need to fret about them."
"Your father only hopes that you can fight well."
"Come back victorious soon, and then, according to your mother, marry Xiu Niang. If..."
At this point, Yang Daniu's father tapped his pipe, took a couple more deep puffs, and then said in a deep voice, "If you can't come back, your father and mother will go to that Martyrs' Cemetery to see you."
"By the way, keep it from your mother for now, so she doesn't worry."
...
Unlike armies that only know how to serve for pay, the army under Zhu Jinsong is composed of millions of Yang Daniu's –
When every soldier knows what they are fighting for, when every soldier holds a common belief in their heart, this army possesses a soul. It cannot be broken, cannot be defeated, and is enough to give anyone who opposes it a headache.
Qian Long the old dog once had a terrible headache. Zhu Zhongji and Zhu Zhongfeng, who were already dead and cold, also had terrible headaches.
Now it was Zhu Zhongqu and those more than twenty feudal lords' turn to have headaches.
In terms of equipment, the equipment of Zhu Zhongqu's army was no worse than that of Zhu Jinsong's army.
In terms of numbers, Zhu Zhongqu's side had a million allied troops, while Zhu Jinsong had only two hundred and forty thousand.
But what gave Zhu Zhongqu and the assembled feudal lords headaches was that as soon as their own forces had completed their assembly, they heard the news that Zhu Jinsong's army had also completed its assembly. A few days later, they received news of attacks in areas like Shaanxi, Hubei, and Anhui.
Zhu Zhongqu thought Zhu Jinsong must be crazy.
Facing the threat of their million-strong army, Zhu Jinsong not only divided his forces but even took the initiative to attack?