In Wuchang, in the palace of the Da Chu Empire, Wang Qiaoer and his sister Wang Xiuer were sitting together. Wang Qiaoer put his hand gently on his swollen belly, but his eyes were looking at his little sister!
Summoning his sister into the palace was the result of Wang Qiaoer's careful consideration after she became pregnant last year.
As one of the first two women around Luo Zhixue, Wang Qiaoer knew very well that her majesty was not an affectionate man.
She seemed to pamper him before, but it didn't stop him from finding Hou Yunmeng and other women.
Since she became pregnant, although His Majesty has visited her from time to time, the frequency of visits has been much less, and sometimes he has not even been seen for more than half a month.
There is no need to ask where Luo Zhixue went during these days. He must have gone to Hou Yunmeng, Queen Wang and a few others.
There are too many women in the harem, but there is only one Luo Zhixue!
A typical wolf has more meat and less meat.
After Wang Qiaoer became pregnant, she was always worried that Luo Zhixue would be completely stunned by other women and then forget about herself.
After thinking about it, she thought of her sister back home.
Her sister is two years younger than her and has been staying in her hometown. After Wang Qiaoer studied with Luo Zhi last year, Wang Qiaoer gained status, and the status of her natal Wang family also increased. Soon, a poor family turned into a wealthy place in the local area. Home.
After Wang Qiaoer was officially granted the title of concubine last year, the king's father was also granted the title of concubine, a non-hereditable lifelong baron.
At that time, Wang Xiuer, the younger sister of the Wang family who was still in the boudoir, also attracted many people to propose marriage.
As the rise of the Great Chu Empire became inevitable, many people began to bet on the monarchs and ministers of the Great Chu Empire. Some people chose to cling to the ministers of the Great Chu Empire, and some also chose to take other routes.
As Luo Zhixue's favorite concubine, Wang Qiaoer's natal Wang family also attracted the attention of some powerful families in the local area, and people came to ask for her hand in marriage.
However, these proposals for marriage were ultimately stopped by Wang Qiaoer personally writing to him and asking his father to send Wang Qiaoer to Wuchang to ask Xiuer for advice on poetry, court etiquette, etc.
Wang Xiuer stayed in Wuchang for several months, and after learning poetry and etiquette, finally in June, when Queen Wang was presiding over the selection of a group of show girls, Wang Qiaoer asked someone to insert Wang Xiuer.
Then he used the path of Luo Zhixue's personal female officer, and only after obtaining the tacit approval of Queen Wang, Wang Xiuer was sent to Luo Zhixue's palace.
This person was sent to Luo Zhixue's palace, naturally not to be a personal maid. This does not mean that Wang Xiuer's status is special, but that Wang Xiuer can't help Luo Zhixue's personal maid.
The selection process of Luo Zhixue's personal maid is very complicated and strict!
Empress Wang was responsible for the preliminary selection, but it had to go through multiple reviews by the Guards Office and the Investigation Section of the Hanlin Academy, and finally had to be interviewed by Luo Zhixue in person before it could be finalized.
After all, these personal maids are all people who follow Luo Zhixue. When Luo Zhixue is sleeping, these personal maids are not far away.
In order to avoid being suffocated by maids with pillows when sleeping, Luo Zhixue's selection of personal maids is very strict.
Family background and character must be strictly investigated and meet the requirements.
One of the very obvious characteristics is that every personal maid's parents are still alive, and they also have brothers and sisters.
Luo Zhixue didn't have the courage to use a woman who was alone and had nothing to worry about.
Therefore, not just anyone can be sent to Luo Zhixue to be a personal maid. Wang Xiuer appeared in Luo Zhixue's palace just to meet the emperor as a newly entered palace maiden.
As for why the other beautiful ladies who entered the palace went to see Luo Zhixue in a group, but she went alone, Wang Qiaoer's efforts were naturally indispensable.
This group of beauties were placed in front of Luo Zhixue. Most of the time, Luo Zhixue could just look at them and then become blind...
But if a beautiful woman stands in front of Luo Zhixue, it will be easier to leave a deep impact.
Not to mention, Wang Xiuer and Wang Qiaoer are very similar. 0
And this kind of effort finally paid off. That night, Wang Xiuer was summoned by His Majesty to sleep with him.
The next day, that is, this morning, a female official came with the order and conferred the title of Zhaoyi on Wang Xiuer.
As for Zhaoyi, this was already the title second only to concubine among the harem titles in the Great Chu Empire.
Luo Zhixue actually didn't confer many concubine titles. He didn't have any concubines, but he only had three concubines. All of them were stunningly beautiful women who were deeply loved by Luo Zhixue. There were five concubines.
This adds up to only eight concubines.
There are actually not many Zhaoyi in the lower ranks, only about twenty, and the rest are all talented people, nobles, selected attendants, and ladies.
Under this title system, even if Wang Xiu'er is Wang Qiao'er's sister, it is difficult to be directly awarded the title of concubine, let alone concubine.
Wang Qiaoer, Wang Libin and her younger sister Wang Xiuer and Wang Zhaoyi were brought to the palace. This matter quickly attracted the attention of many people and concubines in the palace, which in turn caused some minor turbulence and even discussion, but Luo Zhixue was indifferent to this.
Luo Zhixue has never interfered much in the affairs of the harem, and fully supports Queen Wang in governing the harem.
Now that Queen Wang had allowed Wang Xiuer to enter the palace and went to her palace alone to meet the emperor, Luo Zhixue didn't bother to care whether there was any dirty business or deals behind her.
And even though Luo Zhixue has been hanging out with the girls in the harem these days, it is all at night and is part of daily life.
During this period, Luo Zhixue's focus has always been military affairs.
After finalizing the commanders of the 7th and 8th Divisions, Luo Zhixue took the time to cross the river to Hanyang and inspect the 8th Division and the 6th Artillery Regiment.
A few days later, Luo Zhixue observed an exercise jointly held by the Guards Division, the 1st Brigade of the 7th Division, the 1st Cavalry Brigade, the 1st Mortar Regiment and other units.
This exercise was different from previous exercises. This time there was no Ming army simulated by the garrison. Instead, the Seventh Division was directly asked to play the role of the Ming army, imitating the new standard army of the Ming army.
In the previous battle in Chunan, the Chu army encountered the left army and the right army of the New Standard Army under Yang Sichang.
Although the Chu army completely wiped out the new standard army Zuojun.
However, in the Battle of Changsha, the right army of the New Standard Army, which was still weaker in combat effectiveness, was able to cover the breakout of Yang Sichang and others. At the same time, when subsequent battles were carried out in Hengyang, Yongzhou and other places in southern Chu, the troops of the South Route Army of the Chu Army returned many times. Encountered the ministry.
According to the reports from the South Route Army, the right army of the New Standard Army did a pretty good job. They once ambushed a partial division unit of the Fifth Division in the Daozhou area of Yongzhou Prefecture.
The strength of the right army of the New Biao Army is a reinforced battalion of about 800 people, and the strength of the Fifth Division is a supply battalion.
After being ambushed, although the 5th Division stabilized its position and persisted until a nearby infantry battalion rushed for emergency reinforcements, it also paid the price of hundreds of deaths or serious injuries.
After cleaning the battlefield afterwards, it was discovered that the other party had left nearly a hundred corpses and seriously injured people behind.
Although there was a gap in strength between the enemy and ours in this battle, they were also ambushed, and the troops participating in the battle were only a supply battalion, not a regular main infantry battalion.
However, the one-to-one casualty ratio still caused shock to the Fifth Division and even the entire Southern Route Army.
After actual combat and various intelligence collections, the South Route Army judged that after Yang Sichang led his troops to retreat to Guangdong, he quickly re-armed the New Standard Army Right Army. Not only did it expand its troops, it also equipped a batch of muskets and two and a half kilograms of field combat equipment. gun
At the same time, intelligence revealed that the Ming Dynasty had begun large-scale imitation of large-caliber muskets and field artillery in the Foshan area of Guangdong. The equipment of the New Standard Army Right Army was purchased from Foshan and a batch of guns from the Portuguese.
In addition, Xiong Wencan, the governor of Guangdong and Guangxi, also followed Yang Sichang and began to organize a new standard army. It is said that he also received the support of the Zheng family, the maritime overlord, and his new standard army numbered tens of thousands.
Various intelligence shows that the Ming court, or to be precise, the local governors of the Ming court have followed Yang Sichang's example and begun to train the new standard army.
The reason why these Ming court governors acted so quickly has a lot to do with the Chu army's impressive record.
When people see the Chu army winning consecutive battles and their combat prowess is off the charts, anyone who is not a fool will start to study why the Chu army is so good at fighting.
However, most of them will come to the same conclusion: Chu thieves are strong because of their sharp guns!
And if it's just that the guns are sharp, then it gives them hope to follow suit.
The Chu army is different from the Eastern captives.
The civil and military ministers of the Ming Dynasty also knew that Dongli was very strong, but for such a long time in the past, the Ming Dynasty did not say anything about following Dongli's example in forming elite troops, because it was difficult for Mingting to follow Dongli's army.
The combat effectiveness of the Dongdi is mainly reflected in two aspects. One is their own heavy armored infantry, and the other is the elite cavalry formed by the Mongolian cavalry after the Dongni conquered the eastern Mongolia region.
In these two cases, the human factor is greater than the equipment factor. If the Ming army wants to imitate, it is easier said than done.
How to put it, in fact, there is no essential difference between the Dongdu and Ming armies. From equipment to tactics, they are actually similar. The reason why one is strong and the other is weak is the influence of other factors.
But the Chu thieves are different. At first glance, the Chu thieves' army doesn't seem to be very elite... they can fight well and rely more on their guns.
But guns and guns can be imitated, and the cost of imitation is not high.
The Chu army and the Dongluo army were two completely different armies. The elites of the Dongluo army required years of training and accumulation before they could train a group of elite infantry and cavalry.
As for the Chu army, you find a group of young and strong peasants, give them each a musket or a spear, and after two or three months of training, they can be dragged out to fight!
As for the artillery, it’s not a difficult thing. Isn’t it just the small Hongyi artillery? They Mingting played a lot of Hongyi artillery, so they got a small Hongyi artillery, and then they got a new cannon made by the Chu thieves. If it's mounted, then it's a field artillery piece.
Therefore, in the eyes of the governors of the Ming court, the Chu army was easy to imitate, and it was easy to see results.
This is also the reason why Yang Sichang, Xiong Wencan and other governors spontaneously formed new standard troops one after another.
