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

Chapter 522

"Let me tell you, when General Lu led his troops to seize the Mongol flag, he had people carry the Mongol flag to lure the Mongols over, killing them one by one as they went. It was so satisfying."

At the celebration banquet, Hu Zongxian met with Zhao Zhenji, Zhu Xianrong and others again. Even though Hu Zongxian was a reserved person, after a couple of drinks, he couldn't help but start showing off.

After releasing the merchants from the Prince of Jin's residence, Zhou Chu ordered all officers of the army above the rank of centurion to attend the victory banquet. Of course, the Xuanwu Army did not attend; instead, they hid outside Datong City, waiting for Anda to walk into their trap. On the city walls, Zhou Chu also arranged several thousand garrison soldiers to keep a close watch on the movements outside the city. If anything went wrong, they would be bombarded with artillery fire.

Of course, all of this was arranged in secret. On the surface, Zhou Chu, others, and even Yu Hai, a commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, were all participating in this grand victory celebration banquet.

Originally, Hu Zongxian and his group were not qualified to attend the victory celebration banquet, but when Prince Zhu Junzhang learned at the banquet that the Crown Prince of Chu was also in the army, he directly ordered someone to summon them over.

Zhou Chu naturally wouldn't refuse the request from the Prince of Dai, so he had someone summon Hu Zongxian and the others.

"You're lucky that your squad leader has binoculars. Usually, only centurions have these things in the army, and many centurions don't even have them. A captain definitely has them, otherwise you wouldn't be able to see anything."

Zhao Zhenji, standing to the side, said with a sour expression.

He was assigned to the artillery, but not to fire the cannons; instead, he was responsible for handing the cannons to the gunners, essentially acting as an assistant.

Originally, he had the best view from the city wall, but because Yun Jin was too far away from the city wall when she was blocking the Mongols, the people there looked like dots to him, so he couldn't see anything clearly.

"Look what this is?"

Zhu Xianrong pulled a pair of binoculars from his pocket, looking quite smug.

"Where did you get this thing? The quartermaster doesn't sell it to green recruits."

Hu Zongxian's eyes lit up when he saw the binoculars in Zhu Xianrong's hand. He had known about these things ever since he joined the army, and had even gone to the quartermaster to ask about them. The quartermaster told him that if you wanted to buy one, you had to be at least a squad leader.

This left Hu Zongxian with immense regret.

"Don't you even know who I am? I'm the Crown Prince of Chu. I told the quartermaster, and he consulted his superiors. In the end, it alarmed my teacher, who gave it special approval. You wouldn't believe it, would you? This thing was invented by my teacher. He said it's a basic application of the study of things."

Zhu Xianrong smiled smugly.

"The study of natural phenomena is truly all-encompassing."

Zhao Zhenji couldn't help but sigh.

"Hu Zongxian, did you hook your horse's leg? How did it feel?"

Zhu Xianrong casually handed the binoculars to Hu Zongxian and asked.

Hu Zongxian held the binoculars in his hands and played with them, clearly quite fond of them.

"Yes, but I was a new recruit and could only use the short-handled hook-and-sickle spear. I couldn't use the long-handled one. But I was lucky. A Mongol soldier and his horse just happened to fall in front of me. I swiftly swung my knife, first hooking the horse's leg, then hooking the Mongol's neck."

Hu Zongxian said with high spirits.

"Wow, you're amazing!"

Zhao Zhenji slapped his thigh in disbelief, wishing he could take the place of the emperor.

"At that time, I felt my blood rushing to my head and I couldn't think of anything. I just did it subconsciously. After I finished, I was so excited. So this is the battlefield. No wonder the ancients said that one should be drunk and sleep on the battlefield."

Hu Zongxian added.

"Teacher is amazing. He outmaneuvered Anda and those Mongol cavalry. Moreover, I heard that these garrison soldiers were originally extremely weak in combat. But since Teacher came to Datong more than half a year ago, helped them retrieve their military pay, and had General Lin begin to formally train them, they have achieved their current combat strength."

Zhu Xianrong said with a mysterious expression.

"No wonder. I had heard before that the garrison troops were not very good at fighting, but the Datong garrison I saw this time was not like that. Both the intensity of their training and their discipline were far superior to those of ordinary troops. It turns out that the teacher had them trained."