The disgraced official I took care of was actually Zhu Houcong's childhood friend.

Chapter 692

After receiving the imperial decree from Jiajing, Zhou Chu went to the Ministry of War without delay and asked Wang Xian to appoint five thousand soldiers for him.

The importance of places like Java Province was far less than that of Datong before the Ming Dynasty completely conquered the grasslands. Datong was an important northern town, facing the menacing Mongols, so it was natural to station a large number of troops there.

However, whether it was Annam or the soon-to-be-established Javanese Administrative Commission, they were merely frontiers for the Ming Dynasty, posing no threat of external invasion. The presence of troops there was simply to ensure the Ming Dynasty's rule over them.

The Ming Dynasty's army was said to be large, but if you remove the logistics and supply troops, the actual number was not that many. The largest number were stationed in the border garrisons and in Jiangnan. At most, the total number could be 200,000.

Now Datong and the surrounding garrisons have been liberated, but correspondingly, as the border continues to expand westward and northward, these troops also need to move westward and northward.

In reality, the borders of the Ming Dynasty are only going to get longer now. In addition, Tibet, which was previously recovered, also needs to be heavily guarded to prevent a backlash from the local landlord class. Furthermore, with the military operations in Japan and Europe, the Ming Dynasty's military strength is already stretched thin.

Wang Xian was able to allocate these 5,000 troops to Zhou Chu, which was already a case of robbing Peter to pay Paul.

Many years ago, if Jiajing wanted to mobilize troops through the Ministry of War, he would first have to go through the Grand Secretariat to draft a proposal. However, now Jiajing has absolute power and control over the military. Other matters may require the Grand Secretariat to go through, but mobilizing troops only requires an imperial edict to go directly to the Ministry of War.

Zhou Chu led his 5,000 troops onto the train. Transporting these 5,000 troops required many trains to come in shifts. Currently, the locomotives and carriages of the Ming Dynasty's trains are basically four-carriage trains. The trains are mainly used for transporting goods. Trains for passengers are still under construction and will be put into use soon.

However, transporting troops was not so complicated; all the soldiers could simply get into the carriages and sit inside.

Fortunately, it wasn't a military campaign, so there was no need to be uniform; transporting goods by train was not a problem.

After traveling by train for seven or eight days, Zhou Chu arrived in Annam.

"Li Chun pays his respects to Lord Zhou."

As a Duke, Li Chun was, in theory, no one in the Ming Dynasty, except the Emperor, had a higher administrative rank than him. Even Zhou Chu was only at the same level as him.

But the name Zhou Hengqi was a name that Li Chun had heard of. The female general Lu Yunjin, who had conquered the capital of their Li Dynasty in less than a day, was said to have been taught military skills by this Lord Zhou. Now she had married Lord Zhou, and she was marrying the princess's daughter at the same time.

Li Chun harbored deep psychological trauma towards Lu Yunjin. How could such a female general be willing to marry this man alongside another woman without any complaints? Li Chun simply couldn't fathom the true value of this relationship.

There were also the two young men who led troops to quell the Toungoo Dynasty and unified the surrounding area in three months. According to the Annam Provincial Governor, these two had not even entered officialdom yet; they were merely students of the Commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard. They had been fighting alongside this Lord Zhou, and presumably, they had learned their military skills from him.

Thinking about all this, Li Chun found it difficult to be on equal footing with Zhou Chu, and felt inferior from the bottom of his heart.

"This humble official greets Lord Zhou."

The Annamite governor hurriedly bowed and said.

"Lord Annam, there's no need for such formalities. We are of equal rank, so why the need for formalities?"

Zhou Chu helped Li Chun up and smiled.

Upon hearing this, Li Chun felt flattered and overwhelmed.

“Lord Zhou, you are joking. Although we are nominally of the same rank, Li Chun knows that there is a world of difference between us.”

Li Chun flattered.

"Thank you for waiting here for so long."

Zhou Chu was too lazy to exchange pleasantries with Li Chun and turned to the provincial governor beside him.

"You flatter me, sir. This is simply my duty. I imagine you and your soldiers must be weary from your journey. Your Excellency and I have prepared fine wine and meat to welcome you and the soldiers back."

The provincial governor bowed and said.

"In that case, I'll have to trouble you two."

Zhou Chu nodded upon hearing this.

The soldiers traveled by train, which was faster than a train loaded with goods, but they had been on the train for seven or eight days straight, eating and sleeping on it. As for relieving themselves, all the trains, under Zhou Chu's orders, would stop every two hours to allow the soldiers on board to get off and take care of their business.

Even so, after seven or eight days, the five thousand soldiers were extremely exhausted and needed to rest in Annam before heading to Champa.

The food that Li Chun and the Annamite governor arranged for the five thousand soldiers was not particularly good, only of ordinary standard, but it was still much better than the dry rations they had been eating these past few days. The soldiers wolfed down their food, and after they were full, Zhou Chu came to them.

Seeing Zhou Chu arrive, these people dared not be negligent and got up to assemble.

"There's no need to assemble yet. You've all had a long journey, so rest here. The Duke of Annam has prepared military tents for you. Rest here for a day, and tomorrow you'll come with me to Champa."

Zhou Chu waved his hand and said.

"Yes, my lord."

These soldiers stood up and spoke.

If it were anyone else, they might not have acted this way, but who is Zhou Chu? He is the military god of the Ming Dynasty. The General of the North and the General of the Far Reaches were both trained by him.

The deeds of Zhou Chu—pacifying the Japanese pirates, sweeping across the grasslands, and recovering Tibet—had already spread widely among the Ming army. Most of the soldiers in the Ming army had never met Zhou Chu, but they held him in high esteem as a military genius of the Ming Dynasty.

Now that they have the opportunity to follow Lord Zhou, even if it is only for a short time, these soldiers are all honored.

Zhou Chu didn't even need to train them; they were able to obey orders without question.

In fact, the quality of the Ming army is much better than before. After all, the Ming Dynasty is now thriving. The reason why the army was in a slump was mostly because of insufficient military pay. After the national treasury was full, Jiajing immediately ordered the military pay to be distributed and even sent people to supervise the distribution of military pay to ensure that all military pay reached the hands of these soldiers.

As for those who had previously embezzled military funds, Jiajing chose to turn a blind eye, since a thorough investigation would likely cause a major incident in the army. However, Jiajing would not allow these people to continue their misdeeds, and gradually transferred them from their original positions under various reasons and pretexts.

This process can be described as slowly boiling a frog. Starting with Zhou Chu's thorough investigation of Datong, Jiajing began to consciously do this. Now, after several years, the Ming army has basically completed a major overhaul from top to bottom.

With the added support of military pay, the soldiers of the Ming Dynasty are now well-trained, well-fed, and full of fighting spirit.

Thus, Zhou Chu led his five thousand soldiers to rest in Annam for a day. On that day, Li Chun and the Annam governor sent people to invite Zhou Chu to a banquet several times.

"Lord Zhou, I have specially prepared some beauties from Annam for you."

Li Chun said humbly.

"No rush. We can enjoy it after I take over Champa and return. We cannot let personal matters interfere with His Majesty's important affairs."

Zhou Chu said.

Upon hearing this, Li Chun breathed a sigh of relief. At least this powerful figure did not refuse, which was good news for him.