C152

The Prince Duan had led troops for many years, so naturally they had good generals under their command.

Just for the sake of Xu Shiqiu's face, when Prince Duan selected people, he only picked half of those soldiers who came with him.

He had taken the remaining half at random from the other generals in the military camp.

According to Prince Duan's calculations, even if the people he brought out beat the people he brought out, there was still a 50% chance that the people he brought out would be able to tie with the people he chose.

Prince Duan thought very well, but when the two sides truly fought with a hundred people in total, he realized that he had really underestimated the strength of the Iron Eagle Brigade soldiers.

Different from the other soldiers, every time the Iron Eagle Brigade soldiers attacked, they would use their killing moves, and would not retreat or dodge, only attacking from the beginning to the end.

"Shiqiu, they've been attacking all this time?"

The Prince Duan looked at Xu Shiqiu in confusion, but when Xu Shiqiu heard his words, he only nodded and said, "Reporting to the Prince Duan, on the battlefield, the best defense is offense. In such a close battle between the two armies, it is impossible to unleash such a large-scale battle formation. The only way to win is to constantly fight and constantly attack. "

Just as Xu Shiqiu finished speaking, the Emperor Ruikang wanted to ask if he was not afraid of the casualties.

However, before he could even ask, Prince Duan already nodded his head and said, "This arrangement is indeed not bad. I saw that they have coordinated very well, so they must have trained for a long time."

When the Prince Duan's voice fell, he looked down at the drill grounds carefully and recognized that although the fifty people with Iron Eagle Brigade were few in number, they were still five. They were fighting in an orderly manner in one direction, and did not barge in randomly.

After he saw this point, the look in Emperor Ruikang's eyes when he looked at Xu Shiqiu was also slightly more appreciative than before.

Right at this moment, Xu Shiqiu suddenly looked at Prince Duan and replied: "Actually, they did not train intentionally, because that's how they usually train."

If it was at the beginning, Prince Duan would definitely not believe what Xu Shiqiu had said, but now, he chose to believe Xu Shiqiu.

This was because while they were speaking, the outcome of the match had already been decided in the drill grounds below.

Amongst the twenty-five soldiers that were specially selected by the Prince Duan, there were less than ten who defeated the soldiers from Iron Eagle Brigade.

One must know, the soldiers beside Prince Duan all followed him to the battlefield.

Those who fought Iron Eagle Brigade, on the other hand, the remaining twenty-five who were selected by the other generals, all lost to the Iron Eagle Brigade's soldiers.

"Truly worthy of the name Iron Eagle Brigade. They, can live up to this name."

After the Prince Duan gave this evaluation, he moved closer to the Emperor Ruikang and explained in detail about the fight between the two sides.

Only after hearing Prince Duan's professional explanation did Emperor Ruikang understand how difficult it was for Iron Eagle Brigade to achieve such victory today.

"As expected of a family of generals. He has truly put his heart into these soldiers." It had been a long time since Emperor Ruikang saw such an ambitious young man. Thinking back to his original plans, he could not help but sigh: "Looks like we were too careful before, and had to recruit more soldiers from the very beginning. Who knows, maybe our heroic Iron Eagle Brigade today will increase by a few more people."

Before they came here today, Prince Duan had already communicated with the Emperor Ruikang in advance and knew that Royal Brother wanted to give Xu Shiqiu a promotion.

So upon hearing Emperor Ruikang's words, the Prince Duan immediately continued: "It's not too late yet. As long as royal brother has the heart, this official brother would definitely be willing to train more Iron Eagle Brigade Soldiers to come out when the time comes."

Just as Prince Duan finished speaking, Emperor Ruikang's eyes fell on Xu Shiqiu.

Sensing the look in the Emperor Ruikang's eyes, Xu Shiqiu immediately bowed and said: "This general will do his best to train out more qualified Iron Eagle Brigade warriors to ensure that our rivers and mountains remain stable!"

"Alright!"

Seemingly at the same time Xu Shiqiu finished speaking, the Prince Duan could not wait and said "good".

Hearing his praise, and seeing that the Emperor Ruikang was extremely satisfied with Xu Shiqiu, the officials who came with him naturally followed along to praise Xu Shiqiu.

Ye Jingxing, on the other hand, merely echoed him twice and did not say much.

He had clearly seen that his second son was fighting against a soldier who was much stronger than him, but he was not afraid at all. He was even more vicious in his attacks. It wouldn't be long before he defeated his opponent.

How could Ye Jingxing not be happy when he saw the changes that Ye Shuo had undergone?

Ye Jinghui also discovered his fifth brother's excitement. He looked down and guessed why his fifth brother was so excited.

"Royal Father, don't forget the soldiers who were fighting just now, I think that there are a few that are not bad, how about you give them an official body today?"

This kind of words, only Ye Jinghui would dare to say it to the Emperor Ruikang in such a bothersome tone.

Everyone present also understood, the reason why Ye Jinghui said that, was entirely because of the Iron Eagle Brigade soldiers that Xu Shiqiu had selected. Other than the second son of the Fifth Prince, there were also a few civil servant sons in the imperial court, and even the eldest grandson of the Department of Revenue's Liu Shangshu.

The Emperor Ruikang naturally understood Ye Jinghui's meaning. He was also willing to give these children an official position.

There was no harm in giving him more of those low grade seventh or eighth rank military officials.

With an official position, these children, who had originally been neglected at home, could also do whatever they could for the imperial court.

Emperor Ruikang was in a good mood. Since he had already promised Empress Hu a bit of compensation in the first place, he raised Xu Shiqiu's rank to General Dingyuan from the third rank right in front of everyone.

After being promoted, Xu Shiqiu naturally had to accept the decree of gratitude. The remaining seventh, eighth, and low rank military officials would also have to wait for Xu Shiqiu to send over the names of the soldiers who had performed well in his Iron Eagle Brigade before the Emperor Ruikang would arrange for the officials and soldiers to be recorded.

According to Xu Shiqiu's plan, after the morning arrangements were completed, he would treat Emperor Ruikang and the others a meal in the army camp at noon.

The food in the army camp was naturally not that exquisite, but Prince Duan ate it with relish. He even said that it had been so many years since he had eaten such an authentic military pot.

This was also the first time for the Emperor Ruikang to eat all these. The servants by his side thought that the Emperor Ruikang would not be able to eat these crudely made food, but they did not expect that not only did the Emperor Ruikang eat them, the food he used today was even more than in the palace.

"From now on, Your Majesty has to walk around more everyday as well. Before, even at home, he wouldn't be able to eat so much food." Xu Shiqiu was now like a junior who was concerned about his elder. After he finished saying this, he smiled and pointed to a bowl of cold stir-fry vegetables at the side, "This dish is what the wife wants. The soldiers in the military camp all like to eat it, it's easy to produce and it's also very appetizing.

Emperor Ruikang enjoyed the feeling of being cared for by Xu Shiqiu a lot. Other than Seventh Brother, none of his sons would care about him this much.

Since his own son was concerned about him, Emperor Ruikang might be worried that he had other plans in mind. However, Xu Shiqiu's concern for him put him at ease.

It was not that cold at the entrance, but maybe it was because the weather was already late in the autumn, so Emperor Ruikang ate another half a bowl of rice.

After finishing lunch, Emperor Ruikang went to rest in the tent Xu Shiqiu prepared, and after Emperor Ruikang went to take a nap, he found Xu Shiqiu and praised him greatly.

"I don't dare to accept such a compliment from my prince. I, Shiqiu, have merely done this matter with my heart and soul."

Hearing Xu Shiqiu's words, Prince Duan could not help but sigh: "Right now, the hardest thing to come by are the words' care '. Seeing you now can be considered as having a firm footing in the army, your father probably won't have any regrets."

Xu Shiqiu understood why the Prince Duan said this. His father was sad that his elder brother and second brother were not fond of military affairs, and felt that he would not have a successor.

At the time, he did like these, but due to his bad luck, he was unable to go out.

So his father must have died with regret.

After Prince Duan said this, he saw the look of longing on Xu Shiqiu's face, and couldn't help but remind him: "Now that you are a third ranked official, if you go up any further, you should be going out to stay for a while."

Xu Shiqiu understood why the Prince Duan said that. After he was promoted to an official, he would definitely be out for a period of time.

Although military officials were different from civil officials, those who wanted to reach a high position had to go out and gain some experience.

Moreover, Xu Shiqiu already had the thought of leaving the capital to take a walk. The Iron Eagle Brigade under his hands, only by going out and actually seeing blood could he truly become a qualified Iron Eagle Brigade Soldier.

What Xu Shiqiu did not know at this time, was that this chance would come very quickly.