Time flies so fast, and in a blink of an eye it’s February of the seventh year of Taiping in the Ming Dynasty.
In the more than half a month after the New Year's Day, the most eye-catching thing in Beijing was undoubtedly the personnel changes of the right minister of the Ming Dynasty and the rise of Zhuge Weidao and others.
The position of right minister of the Ming Dynasty has been almost monopolized by the Zhuge family for more than a hundred years! The reason why it is almost is because there are also children from the eight major aristocratic families other than the Zhuge family who have briefly served as the right prime minister, but this is the first time that a person from a non-eight aristocratic family has served as the right prime minister!
In addition, although Mr. Yu Quan and Yu were also from the Yu family, he was from a commoner family and had not received a title for three generations. Moreover, Yu Quan's father's official career was not very good, and he was just a minor local official throughout his life. With his background being able to reach the rank of Prime Minister, there is no doubt that it has opened up a path for talents who are not directly from the eight great aristocratic families and nobles!
This new Ming Dynasty is good in all aspects, but the joint rule of noble families initiated by King Zhuge Wuzhong is a bit unfair! Oh, it’s not completely unfair. After all, the ancestors of those noble families also returned to China after a hundred battles, and they were forced by King Wu Zhong to equalize and restrict land, so they did not share the country’s wealth privately. . Later, they also established education, broadened people's knowledge, and developed industry and commerce, ushering in a peaceful and prosperous era that lasted for more than a hundred years, so it was not too much for their descendants to do what they wanted to do. It's just that their monopoly has been a bit long, more than a hundred years... It should end, no, it should move behind the scenes.
And seeing that a world-wide struggle is about to begin, this is the time for heroes to make great contributions. Those of you old and famous families always occupy good positions, and won’t the enthusiasm of others be affected?
And Zhuge Weidao, a large group of people, rose rapidly because of the Battle of Peshawar, which seemed to prove to people that a new era with heroes in large numbers was coming!
Although Zhuge Weidao, Mu Zhongjun, Zheng Guoxian, and Li Kezhi are all from the Eight Great Families, Guan Tianpei, Guo Xiaobao, Wang Wen, Yu Hui, Yu Yang, Ye Wu, Ma Xuchen, Ling Zongjun, and Yu Deke are not from the "Eight Great" families. , and several of them are simply from civilian backgrounds.
Now they have all benefited from the Battle of Peshawar, and all of them have been promoted!
Among them, Guan Tianpei, who was born as a civilian, was promoted to rear admiral and became commander of the naval aviation force - this was a lieutenant general position. According to the practice of the Ming Dynasty navy, Guan Tianpei could be promoted to lieutenant general as soon as he accumulated enough seniority.
Ma Xuchen, who was also born as a civilian, was promoted to lieutenant colonel, followed Guan Tianpei to the Naval Aviation Corps, and became the captain of the First Airship Brigade. He also has a bright future!
There are also two captains, Ye Wu and Ling Zongjun, who were born as civilians and were promoted to majors. They both went to the First Airship Battalion to become squadron leaders. Their futures are enviable!
Second Lieutenant Wang Wen, who was born as a civilian and was expelled from the Navy, this time he was promoted two levels in a row, jumping directly from second lieutenant to captain, which can be regarded as making up for the previous "loss".
Li Kezhi and Yu Yang, two naval lieutenants who came from noble families, were only promoted to lieutenant colonel. Compared with those officers from civilian backgrounds, they did not receive special preferential treatment...
As for Zhuge Weidao, who was the "first contributor" in the Battle of Peshawar, he was not promoted again because he had just been promoted to lieutenant colonel, but he "due to merit" won the position of military advisor of the Zhuge family! Moreover, he was officially appointed as the captain of the Lushun on February 8th - this was a colonel position, and as long as he had enough seniority, he could be promoted immediately.
In addition, Guo Xiaobao, who only participated in the "half-time" Peshawar effort, also became a major and enrolled in the Naval Staff College.
Don't underestimate the official positions at one or two levels... Promotion in the military is like a knockout competition between classmates. Whoever can rise faster than others wins!
Of course, those officers who lost in the "knockout" will not be left in poverty, because the eight major families, including the Zhuge family and the Zheng family, have already arranged a retreat for them - the eight major families are not only political families, but also Still a big chaebol! He controls a large number of industrial and commercial enterprises, which can provide a large number of positions with more money and less work close to home, such as directors, supervisors, trustees, consultants, etc., which are all prepared for losers in the promotion competition. When these officers reach age and cannot be promoted, and must retire from active service, there is still a comfortable and comfortable second half of life waiting for them.
Therefore, in the army of the new Ming Dynasty, there is often a phenomenon of "young people don't know the eight good things". That is, the young officer who just came out of the military academy is very dissatisfied with the phenomenon that the children of the eight aristocratic families and distinguished nobles cheated in the promotion and elimination rounds. But when they get older and reach the position of major or lieutenant colonel, and they can no longer go up, they will feel that they are also members of the eight aristocratic families... The eight aristocratic families are so fragrant!
...
On the second day of February, when it was getting dark, Zhuge Weidao, who had just received the appointment certificate as captain of the cruiser Lushun, and Wang Wen, the newly appointed operational staff officer of the Lushun, sat in a carriage and returned home talking and laughing. My own Xishan villa. As soon as they got out of the car, they saw a carriage with the name of Xishan Palace parked there. There was also a young black eunuch holding a whisk and guarding beside the carriage. One of the black eunuchs recognized Zhuge as Dao. When he saw him coming back, he greeted him with a smile: "Eighteenth Military Advisor, you are back... Chief Feng came early in the morning."
"Chief Feng" is Black Whirlwind. Empress Dowager Zheng's confidant eunuch was promoted to the chief steward of Xishan Palace a while ago. Instead of serving the Queen Mother in the palace, he went to Zhuge Weidao's villa in Xishan early in the morning. It can only be one thing...
Thinking of this, Zhuge Weidao hurriedly rushed into the door of his villa in three steps and two steps. He walked around the screen wall and saw Ah Li standing guard outside the lobby door.
"Ali!"
Zhuge Weidao quickly called her, and then he saw Ali Fei rushing to Zhuge Weidao. He even forgot to do the courtesy and just said in a low voice: "Congratulations, master, your second twin has been born." , is a son!”
It turns out that twins can have one baby first, and then a second baby after some time...and the first baby is the second baby, which is the younger brother, and the second baby is the first baby, who is the older brother and sister, and now they are still have no idea.
"Great, I have..." As soon as Zhuge Weidao said this, Ah Li suddenly reached out and covered his mouth, and whispered, "Captain Wang is coming in."
It turned out that Wang Wen came in.
Only Natalie, Yu De, and Ali in his family knew about Zhuge Weidao and Empress Dowager Zheng. Even Wang Wen and Nalandili were kept in the dark.
At this time, Ah Li said to Zhuge Weidao: "Master, please go into the house quickly. Captain Wang's slave will take care of it."
"good."
Zhuge Weidao agreed and quickly walked into the main room of his villa. There were two people in the room, one was Natalie with a big belly, and the other was the black whirlwind. The two men were sitting very close to each other and talking in low voices.
Seeing Zhuge Weidao walking in, Natalie made a closing gesture to him. Zhuge Weidao quickly closed the door, and then walked quickly to Natalie and Black Tornado.
"Eunuch Black," Zhuge Weidao first hugged Black Whirlwind, "The Queen Mother..."
"The Queen Mother is fine," Black Whirlwind whispered, "Mother and son are safe."
"Then can the lower official enter the palace to have an audience?" Zhuge Weidao asked again.
"Not yet," Black Tornado said, "You can only enter the palace after the first twin is born."
"First cell?" Zhuge Weidao glanced at Natalie's belly and counted the days. It will be at least another month, right? The older brother or sister of twins is born one month later than the younger brother...
Natalie smiled and said: "Daozi, the Queen Mother has finally recovered from her illness these days... She knows that you are going to be the captain of the cruiser Lushun and serve the country, so she wants the slave family to go to Xishan Palace. I’m expecting a baby, so I sent the black father-in-law here today just to bring the slave family into the palace.”
Black Whirlwind said: "The Eighteenth Military Advisor, the Queen Mother said that the Grand Duchess Natalie is the princess of the Rakshasa Kingdom. Her pregnancy is of great importance, and there must be no mistakes, otherwise it will affect the Ming Dynasty and the Rakshasa Kingdom. relationship. You have military affairs, so the care of the Grand Duchess will be taken care of by Xishan Palace. You can go to sea with peace of mind and make meritorious service to the country!"
This arrangement had been discussed long ago, otherwise how could Natalie give birth to twins?
Zhuge Weidao nodded, and then looked at his virtuous wife Natalie, "Dear, I will be back in three months at most this time, and there will be no danger, so don't worry."
Although Ming Dynasty was determined to beat Japan up, it was not the time yet. First of all, Ming Dynasty is a country of etiquette after all. It must be polite before fighting... First, tell Japan the conditions of being a dog. If the other party agrees, then there is no need to fight.
Of course, if Japan does not agree to be a dog, Ming will not go to war immediately. Ming will only impose a comprehensive embargo on Japan - everything including food, energy, and iron ore will not be allowed from Ming's homeland, overseas provinces, and The vassal states transported them to Japan, and ships carrying these materials were not allowed to go to Japan through the territorial waters of the Ming Dynasty and the vassal states of the Ming Dynasty!
If Japan could accept this life of forced isolation and retreat from the industrial age, then Ming Dynasty could also ignore the existence of this country.
Secondly, the great military advisor Zhuge Weijiu is now on his way to Europe. The best time for the Ming Dynasty to start accepting Japan as a dog will be when he is almost there, because that will leave a deep impression on the forgetful European powers. .
Thirdly, of course, it is because Ming Dynasty still has at least five to six months to secretly complete war preparations, so there is plenty of time to talk slowly.
