Not only Guo Quanshu and Huang Chengxuan have objections to the military's lavish spending, but Chen Xingkai, the Secretary of the Ministry of Taxation, also has objections. In late June, when the military and the civil service held a meeting to discuss military expenditures, Chen Xingkai said: "My subordinates The tax collectors are working hard all day long to make money for you. It's better for you to just fire artillery shells for free. I heard that during the Battle of Changsha, they knocked out more than a dozen artillery pieces by just making a small mound. It's really worth the money. It was brought by the strong wind!"
In this regard, the military showed no signs of weakness. Xu Zhixian almost spat on Chen Xingkai's face on the spot: "I have given you a lot of face in the past six months, and you really think that you are a figure. I... what the hell!"
"Without my hundreds of thousands of soldiers, you, Chen Xingkai, were still looking for hunters in the mountains to collect taxes. Now that you think you are powerful, you dare to turn your back and deny it."
"Don't think we don't know. At least more than eight million yuan was confiscated in this Chunan battle. According to what we agreed before, we will take the big head and you will take the small head!"
"Five million taels, one copper less, I will stuff you into the barrel of a cannon and shoot you out!"
After saying that, Xu Zhixian walked away directly, leaving Chen Xingkai with drool on his face. His hands were shaking with anger and his expression was extremely distorted.
Guo Quanshu walked over with a gloomy expression: "These warriors are bullying others too much!"
The first negotiation between the military and civilian officials on military expenditures ended on bad terms!
Luo Zhixue had already anticipated this, and at the same time, he still did not choose to intervene too much.
As the emperor of a country, he naturally knows the actual financial situation, and he also knows that spending another five million taels of silver will not have a big impact on the current finances.
But it is also clear that according to the way the military spends money, if it continues like this, military expenditures may have skyrocketed to more than 30 million by next year. In a few years, the huge military expenditures may completely delay the finances of the Great Chu Empire. .
Therefore, control of military spending is necessary.
However, Luo Zhixue would not choose to do it himself!
As the emperor of the empire, he has to play the role of strategic decision-making. When ministers or factions have conflicts of interest or other conflicts, what he has to do is not to be personally involved, but to act as a guide and referee. .
To let things go, you have to follow your own ideas, but you can't end it yourself and reduce yourself to the same status as your ministers.
He wants to remain aloof.
The emperor is different from his ministers.
On the surface, Luo Zhixue did not interfere too much in this military spending dispute, but without his acquiescence or even hint, it would be impossible for the civilian leaders to target the military.
Therefore, after Luo Zhixue learned that the meeting between the military and civilian officials broke up, he just smiled slightly, then ignored the matter and continued to deal with a lot of documents.
Anyway, this military spending dispute will not affect the preparations for the Eastward Campaign for a while. Although the military seems to be short of money, it is not to the extent that it cannot even prepare for the Eastward Campaign.
After handling the government affairs for the day, Luo Zhixue returned to the harem in the evening, and first went to see Queen Wang!
Looking at Queen Wang's slightly swollen belly, Luo Zhixue also put aside many government affairs outside and stepped forward with a smile on his face.
Queen Wang was diagnosed as pregnant by the imperial physician in March. Now she has been pregnant for four months, and her abdomen has begun to swell.
In fact, before Queen Wang, there were already two pregnant women. The first one was Wang Qiaoer and Wang Libin who were pregnant in December last year, and the second one was Chen Debin who was found to be pregnant in February this year.
Queen Wang is the third one!
However, these three women are all currently pregnant. Even Wang Libin, who is the first to be pregnant, is still about three months away from her due date.
The successive pregnancies of these three women have reduced the number of voices within the empire that continue to ask Luo Zhi to learn how to draft.
Before they were pregnant, civil servants such as Guo Quanshu and generals such as Xu Zhixian were all rushing to find women for Luo Zhixue.
Their purpose is simple and pure, which is to consolidate the country's foundation and allow Luo Zhixue to give birth to a prince as soon as possible to strengthen the country's foundation.
An empire cannot exist without heirs.
Especially when Luo Zhixue is alone and has no alternatives such as relatives or nephews.
Luo Zhixue gave birth to a son as soon as possible, which was directly related to whether the foundation of the empire was stable.
Luo Zhixue didn't care much about these things before, and he was too free to pursue anything. In addition, he had been leading troops to fight before, and he didn't have much time or energy to pursue these things.
Well, in the end, Luo Zhixue always felt that he was still young...
With his body, he is only seventeen years old this year... This is still a virtual age.
Although he had already rebelled and became emperor, he still felt that he was still young and things like starting a family and having children had to be postponed, so he often even deliberately took some contraceptive measures.
This is also the reason why Wang Qiaoer and Hou Yunmeng were not pregnant for a long time in the early days.
When Luo Zhixue thought that he was only sixteen years old and only fifteen years old, he would give birth to a child and call him dad... He felt awkward.
But later he officially founded the country and proclaimed himself emperor. Considering the political impact, he gradually changed his mind. He felt that having children now was not unacceptable, so he just let nature take its course.
After letting nature take its course and not deliberately taking contraceptive measures, the three women became pregnant one after another.
After having dinner with Queen Wang and talking some more, Luo Zhixue got up and returned to his palace.
Although he and Queen Wang are husband and wife, they do not live together on weekdays. Luo Zhixue has his own bedroom, and Queen Wang also has her own bedroom.
On the way back to the palace, Luo Zhixue casually ordered the female official who was accompanying him: "Ask Concubine Hua to come and attend the bed!"
Concubine Hua was also Hou Yunmeng. The day after Luo Zhixue made her the queen, he formally canonized all the ladies in the palace. Hou Yunmeng, who had always been loved by Luo Zhixue, was also canonized as Concubine Hua.
Concubine Hua is currently the only three concubines in the palace. The others, including Wang Qiaoer and Wang Li, are just concubines.
It can be seen that Luo Zhixue still loves this girl very much.
If there was no concubine he particularly wanted to see, Luo Zhixue would often let this concubine sleep with her, more often than the Queen and Wang.
But for some unknown reason, both Queen Wang and Wang Libin became pregnant one after another. Even Chen Debin, who had not been with Luo Zhixue for a long time, became pregnant, but Concubine Hou Hua, who had been with Luo Zhixue for the longest time, was pregnant. Not pregnant.
Luo Zhixue had not used any contraceptive measures on her in the past six months, but she just couldn't get pregnant.
Concubine Hua herself was a little anxious about this.
After the evening was over, she took a particularly weird position, lying on her back with her buttocks and feet raised, and she asked the show girl on the side to help her support her...
Looking at Luo Zhixue's puzzled expression, Concubine Hua said: "Mama Li said it would be easier to get pregnant this way!"
Seeing this scene and hearing these words, Luo Zhixue suddenly lost interest in talking.
Since Wang Qiaoer became pregnant first, Concubine Hua has become different from before. She always thinks about pregnancy, and even seeks medical treatment by the imperial doctor on her own. She takes medicine all day long...
Luo Zhixue can understand her thoughts and actions...
But, seeing her in such a weird posture now that she was done, Luo Zhixue still looked away.
The next night, Luo Zhixue did not invite any concubines to sleep with him, but slept alone.
After this person fell asleep, he found that he felt quite comfortable.
There is no need to exert physical strength or do anything else. As soon as I go there, I feel extremely relaxed...
The next day, Luo Zhixue got up refreshed and finished his breakfast. Just when he was about to sigh that sleeping alone is the most pleasant thing, he suddenly discovered that there was an extra personal maid today.
His more than a dozen personal maids looked at him every day, so they were naturally quite familiar with her. Even if they couldn't name her, they still looked familiar.
But there was one person among them whom I had never seen before.
Well, these are not important, the important thing is that this girl is very beautiful...
Well, this is still not important. What is important is that this woman looks very much like Wang Qiaoer!
The facial features and body shape are at least 80% similar to Wang Qiaoer's.
The face also looks relatively childlike, slightly shorter than Wang Qiaoer, but more bumpy, with a rather large chest. This is basically a smaller version of Wang Qiaoer with a more prominent figure.
Luo Zhixue was not an idiot. Just by looking at this woman's appearance, and then thinking that this woman could suddenly appear here, he basically guessed what happened.
In all likelihood, this girl is Wang Qiaoer's sister or cousin, and she was also summoned to the palace by Wang Qiaoer.
The purpose can generally be guessed. It is nothing more than that Wang Qiaoer is pregnant now and wants to use her sister to continue to tie Luo Zhixiang's heart.
Thinking of this, Luo Zhixue showed a kind smile: "New guy? What's his name? Come forward."
After hearing this, the woman's expression showed a trace of fear, but she still stepped forward honestly and said: "I come to see your Majesty!"
concubine?
This self-identification is not the self-identification of an ordinary palace maid, but a self-identification that a titled woman would use when talking to Luo Zhixue.
Ordinary palace maids usually use the titles of servants, slaves, servants, and the like.
In the harem of the Great Chu Empire, there were three major groups, and they were all distinct.
Ordinary palace maids are all recruited from good families among the people. They need to be paid a salary, and the salary is not low.
In addition, if the palace maid is unwilling to do this and still maintains her status as a yellow flower girl, that is, if she does not have sex with the emperor, she can directly resign and leave the palace to resume the life of an ordinary person...
Luo Zhixue didn't want to have a group of resentful palace maids around him. If someone poisoned him that day, he would be doomed.
Ordinary palace maids pay attention to strict recruitment and freedom to resign.
It is not easy for ordinary palace maids to come in, but they are welcome to leave at any time...
At the same time, some capable palace maids will be selected from senior palace maids who have given up marriage, and promoted to female officials to fill various management positions in the harem. This kind of service is often lifelong.
And even a female official cannot call herself a concubine in front of Luo Zhixue.
That is exclusive to the concubines in the harem!
If you want to call yourself a concubine in front of Luo Zhixue, you must at least have the lowest title of show girl!
Obviously, this woman has a title, belongs to the serious harem concubine sequence, Luo Zhixue's woman.
However, after Luo Zhixue thought about it for a while, he still couldn't remember when he had seen her.
If he had met her before, with her similar appearance to Wang Qiaoer, he would have discussed the philosophy of life with the sisters.
If there are three of us traveling together, there must be my teacher!
So Luo Zhixue is very sure that he has never seen her, or he didn't notice her when he saw her, which is why the current situation of not knowing her happened.
And don't think it's strange that Luo Zhixue doesn't know his woman.
If you had hundreds of women, you wouldn’t be able to recognize them all…
