Chapter 61: Fu Youde Personally Welcomes Him!

The garrison soldiers of the thousand-household camp on patrol here gazed upon the appearance of these thousands of troops, the filth covering their bodies, and the palpable, overwhelming aura of slaughter radiating from them.

They could not help but feel a deep sense of shock, their very hearts trembling.

"What... what kind of war have they been through?"

"Did they just slaughter their way out of the netherworld?"

Almost every single soldier harbored such thoughts at this moment.

For them, prior to this, the brilliant victories achieved by Zhu Ying and his troops against the Jianzhou Tartars had only been heard of secondhand, passed down through official battle reports.

Yet, at this very moment, they were witnessing the truth with their own eyes.

It seemed as though they could see the tangible traces of more than two months of bloody warfare imprinted upon Zhu Ying and these three thousand soldiers.

"Brothers, we're home," Zhu Ying shouted out loudly once again, his voice filled with intense, surging emotion.

"We're finally home."

"The Garrison Commander is taking us home."

"Great Ming, we've finally returned."

"Zhao Si, do you see this? We're home."

"Wang Wu, you blocked that blade for me, allowing me to live while you passed away. Today, the Commander is bringing us home. Rest in peace, we are home."

"Wuwu... Chen Lin, you're home. Good for you, becoming a heroic spirit and leaving me here to shed tears for you."

"Return, oh wandering souls! Brothers, we're going home..."

Hearing those three words—"we're home"—the soldiers who had survived and returned from this desolate northern frontier could no longer hold back, bursting into loud, unrestrained weeping.

It was a grief of the most profound kind.

Perhaps they cried out of gratitude for surviving the northern frontier, but even more so, they wept for the comrades and brothers who had fallen and remained behind in that alien land.

They had returned home.

Yet so many of their brothers-in-arms were left behind forever in foreign soil, and all they were bringing back were their skeletal remains and ashes.

At this very moment!

The sounds of wailing echoed fiercely once more.

Even Zhu Ying could not stop the tears from streaming down his face.

Although he had taken countless enemy lives during this campaign and slaughtered foes without number, the soldiers who followed him were his brothers-in-arms. To watch them die at the hands of the enemy, to see only their bones returning—to say he felt no sorrow would be a lie.

"Brothers."

"Bring the heroic spirits of our comrades home."

"Return, oh souls!"

Zhu Ying shouted at the top of his lungs, his voice trembling slightly.

"Brothers."

"We're going home."

"Return, oh souls."

"Return, oh souls..."

Nearly three thousand soldiers cried out together, as if summoning the heroic spirits of their fallen comrades to return to their homeland, to return to the nation they had sworn to protect.

This scene was exceptionally tragic and stirring.

Out on the frontier, the thousand-strong Ming garrison soldiers patrolling the area could not hold back their tears either.

As military men, how could they not understand this sentiment of brothers-in-arms perishing and failing to return?

"Brothers, form up!"

"Welcome the heroic spirits of the Daning Garrison back!"

"Return, oh souls!"

Qianhu Wu Xiong shouted loudly at the top of his lungs.

As his voice faded, the thousand soldiers immediately split into two orderly lines, solemn and respectful.

The next moment, moving in perfect unison, they burst into a thunderous roar: "Return, oh souls! Return, oh souls!"

The cries calling the souls home echoed across the entire land of Liaoning.

Meanwhile, within the main encampment of the Northern Expedition against the Yuan Dynasty:

"Report!"

"Reporting to General Fu."

"Garrison Commander Zhu Ying of the Daning frontier army has returned."

"He has now entered the territory under our army's control at Jincheng."

A personal guard hurried swiftly into the command tent and reported in a loud voice.

Upon hearing this!

Fu Youde, seated in the main commanding chair, brightened visibly, a look of eager anticipation rising across his face.

The expressions of the various generals within the tent mirrored his, filled with curiosity.

Although Zhu Ying was merely a garrison commander, the military achievements he had forged far surpassed his official rank; such exploits alone commanded the utmost respect of the generals in the army.

"Quickly summon Zhu Ying to the main camp."

"He has rendered extraordinary service, and I have long wished to meet him," Fu Youde said with a hearty laugh.

"General," the personal guard reported respectfully, "Garrison Commander Zhu Ying and his men have been battling fiercely in the northern frontier for months, and their appearance is rather unkempt. A thousand-household officer has already led Commander Zhu and his men into the camp and arranged for the logistics corps to fetch water for them."

"Ah, right, right, right."

"Having fought bitter battles in the northern frontier for over two months, they must be exhausted by now."

Fu Youde nodded immediately.

Then he stood up.

"My generals, accompany me to welcome Zhu Ying."

"His military exploits are well worth me greeting him in person," Fu Youde declared immediately.

Hearing this, the generals in the tent could not help but cast sidelong glances of surprise.

Who was Fu Youde?

In terms of military command, he was the deputy commander of this expedition, wielding authority over a hundred thousand troops, holding a status comparable to a commanding general.

Moreover, measured by his peerage, he was a reigning Duke of the realm, and one of the founding Dukes of the dynasty at that, possessing supreme status.

To have a reigning Duke go out to greet someone personally—throughout the entire Great Ming, apart from members of the imperial family, there was only Zhu Ying.

From this, one could clearly see the high regard Fu Youde held for Zhu Ying.

Seeing Fu Youde take the initiative, the other generals naturally set aside their innate pride. Naturally, they also wished to see what this legendary Zhu Ying looked like.

After all, in this campaign launched by Great Ming against Nahachu, many of the Huaixi generals had yet to secure any notable achievements, whereas Zhu Ying had proven exceptionally brilliant, his merits repeatedly memorialized to Yingtian, winning the favor and high regard of both the Emperor and the Crown Prince.

On the other side.

Where the logistics corps was stationed:

Zhu Ying and his remaining force of less than three thousand soldiers had reached the camp gates.

As soon as they arrived, the first thing that caught their eyes was a group of generals waiting by the gates, clad in full battle armor and wearing black cloaks.

"Their status is not low."

From afar, Zhu Ying had only one immediate impression: these men held high positions.

In Great Ming, one's status could easily be discerned from their armor and attire.

Much like the imperial guards within the Forbidden City in Yingtian, every single one of them wore red cloaks, making them appear all the more stern and formidable.

Within the army, only generals holding the rank of commander or above were permitted to wear cloaks.

"This subordinate pays respects to General Fu."

At this moment, Wu Xiong, who had been leading the way, caught sight of the generals ahead, his expression turning deeply reverent as he immediately bowed low.

"Fu Youde?"

Hearing the surname Fu, Zhu Ying instantly recalled the identity of the middle-aged general standing before him.

A founding Duke of the realm, the current deputy commander of the expedition against Nahachu, commanding a force of a hundred thousand: Fu Youde.

Within Great Ming, he enjoyed the profound trust of the reigning Emperor.

Of course, that was for the present moment.

In the future, following the untimely death of Crown Prince Zhu Biao, Huaixi would face a genuine and thorough purge, or rather, the entire imperial court would undergo a massive cleansing.

"Commander Zhu, this is General Fu."

"He is the deputy commander of this expedition against the Yuan general Nahachu, commanding a force of a hundred thousand troops," Wu Xiong lowered his voice and whispered to Zhu Ying.

Faced with an official of such immense power, Zhu Ying did not dare to be negligent. He stepped forward immediately, bowed deeply, and said, "This subordinate, Zhu Ying, pays respects to General Fu."

At this moment, Fu Youde's gaze had already landed on Zhu Ying. Not only him, but the eyes of all the surrounding generals were fixed entirely upon Zhu Ying as well.

Their first impression: They could not clearly make out Zhu Ying's face because it was covered in dried blood and dirt.

Their second impression: Zhu Ying looked like a wild savage who had just burst forth from a sea of corpses and blood, reeking of a pungent, unpleasant stench of carnage.

Their third impression: Profound respect.

As military men, they understood all too well what kind of horrors Zhu Ying must have endured in the northern frontier to be reduced to such a battered, wretched state.