Chongzhen's domineering

Chapter 25 Imperial Concubines Enter the Palace and Go to Serve in Liaodong

Time flies, and three days have passed in the blink of an eye.

The day when Lu Xiang-sheng and Sun Chuan-ting were escorting grain and provisions to Liaodong arrived before they knew it.

Early that morning, around dawn, Zhu Jue led Wang Chengen, Fang Zhenghua, Liu Ruoyu, and their entourage across the Jade Belt Bridge to the west side of the imperial city.

Ever since he saw the progress of the factory wall that day, he has come here every morning.

However, the Imperial Guards no longer need to block the passage from Xi'an Gate to Yudai Bridge.

At this moment, the wall between Yuxi Palace and the Zangfa Bieku has already begun construction, and the Imperial Guards only need to guard the section at the bridgehead.

He hasn't gone to the woods south of Wanshou Palace yet today.

He actually led his group directly through a gap in the wall that was under construction and headed towards Xi'an Gate.

Actually, there is no danger inside the imperial city. Of course, this danger refers to the danger of assassination.

This is because there are tens of thousands of imperial guards protecting the capital, and thousands of eunuchs in the palace. Unless there is an internal traitor, anyone who tries to assassinate the emperor in the capital is courting death.

Civil officials didn't have the martial prowess either, so those guys could only resort to underhanded tactics, like drugging people. Taichang and Tianqi both died suddenly because they were given some kind of special drug.

Therefore, he was not worried at all about being assassinated in the capital.

However, to avoid unnecessary trouble, he specially changed into a crimson unicorn robe, the court dress of dukes and nobles, instead of wearing a dragon robe.

They passed through the West Wine House and the West Flower House, then turned north and entered an alley.

As Liu Ruoyu walked, he explained in detail: "Your Majesty, turning left ahead leads to the Sutra Repository, turning right ahead leads to the Inner Peace Hall, and directly ahead is the Directorate of Ceremonial Affairs' Sutra Repository."

The Directorate of Ceremonial Affairs' ceremonial workshop used to be the Qingfu Hall. North of the Qingfu Hall were the tiger shed, leopard shed, and livestock shed. Further north were the treasury for confiscated goods and the inner drill ground. The western part of this line, along the city wall, was entirely comprised of storehouses.

As they spoke, the group walked out of the alley and arrived in front of the Directorate of Ceremonial.

Zhu Jue turned his head to look to the west and couldn't help but show a look of shock. What a huge row of warehouses!
The row of enormous warehouses beneath the city wall must have stretched for at least two miles, and in the hazy morning light, it seemed as if they could not be seen at all.

At this time, the carriages carrying valuables had already entered through the wider alley next to the Xi'an Gate, and the huge square in front of the warehouse was bustling with busy eunuchs.

The view from the mountain is quite different from the actual place. He didn't realize how big this place was when he was on Wansui Mountain, but after walking over here, he found it to be surprisingly large.

The area enclosed by the walls of Qianqing Palace and Kunning Palace is not even half the size of this row of storerooms, which shows how big these storerooms are.

He didn't come here specifically to check on the warehouse; he came to wait for Lu Xiang-sheng and Sun Chuan-ting.

Lu Xiang-sheng and Sun Chuanting were to take the military pay from the inner treasury to Liaodong early this morning, while the military pay for Liaodong had already been packed into boxes and stored in the Guanghui Treasury.

As soon as they arrived at Guanghui Warehouse, a shout rang out from the wide alleyway to the south.

Zhu Jue turned his head and was stunned.

Wei Zhongxian actually led two teams of eunuchs and a line of young girls towards this place.

This little girl is so long, you can't see the end of her line at a glance!
Wei Zhongxian hadn't paid much attention to the group of people in front of Guanghui Warehouse, but when he saw Liu Ruoyu's familiar figure, he prepared to come over and greet him.

When he looked at the people around Liu Ruoyu, he was stunned.

Why is the young emperor wearing a scarlet unicorn robe?
I almost didn't notice.

He paused for a moment, then scurried over, whispering furtively, "Your Majesty, are you traveling incognito?"

What is the purpose of my incognito visit to the capital?
Zhu Jue shook his head slightly, and instead of answering, asked, "Why are you bringing so many young girls to the capital?"

A talent show.

Wei Zhongxian quickly flattered, "Your Majesty, these are all young women selected for the imperial examinations. They are from Daxing and Wanping, which are located in the capital. This servant is taking them to the inner training ground for the preliminary selection."

Oh, so she's a concubine selected for the imperial concubine selection.

He had a general understanding of this; the draft wasn't a single round, but eight.

The first round was a public selection, choosing all unmarried women aged thirteen to sixteen and sending them to the capital. The second round was a preliminary selection, overseen by eunuchs, who eliminated those who did not meet the height and build requirements or were considered unattractive. Wei Zhongxian was quite keen on flattery, even personally leading a group to the preliminary selection.

Zhu Jue nodded slightly, then waved his hand and said, "Okay, you go ahead and do your thing."

Uh, what are you guys doing here?
Wei Zhongxian was very curious, but when he asked, the person wouldn't tell him, so he could only bow and take his leave.

Not long after, a thunderous sound of horses' hooves echoed from the direction of the Xi'an Gate.

Soon, Lu Xiang-sheng and Sun Chuan-ting rode up side by side, followed by two rows of cavalry guarding a carriage, all neatly arranged and stretching as far as the eye could see.

When they saw Zhu Jue waiting outside the Guanghui Treasury in a qilin robe, they were taken aback. They quickly dismounted and, with two burly men in iron armor, strode over, bowing and saying, "Your humble servant greets Your Majesty."

Zhu Jue nodded slightly and looked at the two burly men behind them, asking, "Jian Dou, who are these two?"

Lu Xiang-sheng quickly introduced, "Your Majesty, this is General Zhou Yu-ji, and this is General Huang De-gong."

Hmm, not bad, not bad. Both of them are very strong and muscular, and their aura is like that of fierce tigers. They are indeed worthy of being called fierce generals who will be remembered in history.

Zhu Jue nodded slightly, then asked, "Where is General Sun?"

Lu Xiang-sheng quickly explained, "Your Majesty, General Sun has taken several hundred carriages and most of his troops to the Imperial Warehouse near Chaoyang Gate to load grain."

The imperial city could only store a few hundred thousand shi of grain at most, and most of that was for the palace's own use. It was impossible to store millions of shi of grain. The grain used for rations and pay was stored in the various treasuries of the Ministry of Revenue.

Zhu Jue nodded slightly, then looked at the two neat rows of armored cavalry and praised, "Jian Dou, not bad, you've trained quite well in just three days."

This hardly qualifies as presentable.

Lu Xiang-sheng quickly replied modestly, "Your Majesty, I only drilled the formation a little, so they look fairly well-organized. Moreover, they were all carefully selected to escort the military pay, making them slightly better than the others."

Well, it's already quite good that you can train to this level in three days.

Zhu Jue nodded slightly, then waved his hand and said, "You hurry up and take them to load the paychecks. Boya, stay here."

Upon hearing this, Lu Xiang-sheng immediately led Zhou Yu-ji and Huang De-gong to direct the soldiers to move the silver boxes from the Guanghui Treasury.

Zhu Jue then asked, "Bo Ya, where do you plan to begin your journey to Liaodong?"

How do you say this?

Sun Chuanting thought for a moment before cautiously saying, "Your Majesty, I plan to first distribute the pay to stabilize the morale of the troops, then carefully examine the situation of the Liaodong border army, and at the same time send out scouts to investigate the situation of the Jurchens before making a decision."

Yes, that's right. Knowing yourself and your enemy will ensure victory in every battle.

Zhu Jue thought for a moment and then asked, "What about the ships that transport the grain?"

This is not that fast.

Sun Chuanting quickly explained, "Your Majesty, your humble servant and Jian Dou have already ordered the various garrisons in Liaodong and Jizhou to report the number of warships and grain transport ships, but they have not yet had time to report back."

The inconvenient transportation is a real problem.

Zhu Jue nodded slightly, then instructed, "Transporting grain is of paramount importance. After they report back, calculate how many grain transport ships are needed, and immediately send a fast rider to report to me. I will allocate grain transport ships for you."

Sun Chuanting nodded repeatedly and said, "Your Majesty, I understand."

The pay has already been packed into boxes, and each carriage can only hold about ten boxes. In addition, the soldiers of the Beijing garrison are numerous and strong, so loading the carriages is very fast.

They chatted for a while, and Lu Xiang-sheng had already instructed his soldiers to pack up the pay, cover it with a thick cloth, and tie it securely.

Seeing this, Zhu Jue earnestly instructed, "Boya, I know the general situation in Liaodong. Remember not to be too hasty. It doesn't matter if it takes ten or eight years to recover Liaodong. The key is to be stable and not give the Jurchens any opportunity to take advantage of us."

Sun Chuanting repeatedly cupped his hands and said, "Your Majesty, I understand."

Zhu Jue nodded slightly, then waved his hand and said, "Alright, let's go."

Sun Chuanting bowed and said goodbye before leaving to govern Liaodong.

(End of this chapter)