I want to be emperor

After arriving in Cadiz, Luo Zhixue first met with local civil and military officials and listened to the work report of European Governor Du Xingchang. Then he met with the three main officials: the Army European Garrison Commander, the Army 28th Army Commander, and the Navy European Fleet Commander. The military generals chatted.

The navy has nothing to do... With the strength of the Chu Empire's navy, even if it only uses a few frigates for miscellaneous purposes, it can actually gain control of the surrounding waters and block the indigenous sail warships in the port. .

Therefore, the navy is actually the most relaxed service among the four armies of the Great Chu Empire... There is basically no pressure in foreign operations, so it is thinking about using the sea to control the land all day long, building ships at low cost, and improving the comfort of warships. , and then engage in some messy design and research of cutting-edge battleships.

It is precisely because there is no combat pressure that the navy can mess around. Otherwise, it must be focused on building a fleet to compete for sea control.

Relatively speaking, the Army has more problems... It doesn't mean that the Chu Empire Army can't defeat the natives, nor does it mean that the Army can't control the situation in Europe.

There are no large-scale wars, but sporadic battles are always going on... Your Chu people have come to Europe to colonize. You can't expect these European natives to be obedient serfs for you to exploit. No, there will always be Someone tried to resist.

There is no large-scale resistance, but sporadic attacks have always existed.

The army's response to this was to further concentrate the regular army to control and guard the directly-controlled and administrative territories, as well as a few strategic transportation points in the vassal states.

As for the task of suppressing the vast vassal country, it is left to the foreign legions. These foreign legions will be dispersed and deployed in various places to continue to attack the local resistance forces.

Under this strategic adjustment, the Chu army's regular army strength in Europe and North Africa has dropped to about 50,000, and they are mainly stationed in various directly-administered territories.

However, the corresponding strength of the Foreign Legion has increased significantly, and has now increased to more than 300,000 people... Most of the soldiers of these Foreign Legion are Indian untouchable soldiers and West Asian soldiers.

Similarly, the soldiers stationed in India and West Asia are mainly European soldiers.

The Chu Army usually serves these foreign legions in other places... Even if they do not exaggerate regional service, they will also serve across countries.

In order to avoid the risk of rebellion caused by potential foreign legion collusion with the powerful in the host country.

Relying on a large number of cheap foreign legions, the Da Chu Empire Army established a complete defense zone system in Europe, divided into six defense zones: Northern Europe, Central Europe, Western Europe, Britain, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean to suppress all dissent.

But even so, sporadic attacks still occur from time to time, and the soldiers of the Foreign Legion have suffered thousands of combat casualties throughout the year.

Moreover, the Army reported that in sporadic attacks in recent years, the indigenous resistance forces have begun to use rifled firearms, some of which are various civilian rifled rifles and pistols circulated on the black market. In addition, some were lost in battle and were Seized Type 18 rifles and Type 19 rifles.

And the proportion of resistance forces using Type 18 and Type 19 rifles is increasing year by year!

Although the total quantity is still very small, the momentum is not very good... because once the resistance forces obtain the breech-loading rifled rifle, even an outdated single-shot rifle such as the Type 18 rifle can be used by the Chu army, especially It's the Foreign Legion that poses a threat!

If a small-scale scattered force faces a small-scale patrol force or an outpost in the Foreign Legion... they can take advantage of the range and accuracy of a single-shot rifled rifle to conduct an ambush.

In this regard, Luo Zhixue was not surprised after learning about the situation... Individual weapons will always be leaked through various methods.

It is not as valued by the Chu army as heavy weapons such as heavy machine guns and artillery. Individual rifles are often lost on the battlefield. It is possible for the resistance to obtain these single-shot rifles.

However, simply losing the firearms and falling into the hands of the indigenous resistance forces is actually not a big problem... because just having a gun is not enough, you also have to have bullets.

And bullets are consumables!

At the same time, all rifled rifles in the Chu army, including the Type 18 single-shot rifles, use metal fixed bullets. The technical content of this stuff is very high, and there is no need to worry about the indigenous people being able to imitate it.

It is even impossible to use cartridge cases for large-scale reloading... Because to reload, you not only need warheads and propellants, but also primers...

You can make the warhead yourself using a mold, and the propellant can also be made directly from black powder, but the primer cannot be imitated, because the primer is a product of the industrial age, and cannot be made by hand by the indigenous people. of.

The natives occasionally rely on theft, black market or battlefield seizures to obtain some single-shot rifles, and they accumulate to a certain number, but bullets are more troublesome... because this thing is a consumable, as long as you continue to fight with Chu If the army fights against the enemy, it will not survive.

What's more... the real weapon of war in the rifled era was not rifles, but artillery.

Since the smoothbore era, artillery has become the god of war, and this situation has become more prominent after entering the rifled era.

Because artillery in the rifled era had a longer range, higher accuracy, and greater power!

In a real fight, a 70mm infantry cannon in the hands of the Chu army can kill hundreds or even thousands of indigenous resistance troops.

Generally speaking, the threats faced by the Army in Europe are there, but they are sporadic low-intensity threats. At the same time, the rifled weapons in the hands of the indigenous resistance forces are also within the controllable range.

This part of Europe is incapable of trouble.

Luo Zhixue is not prepared to change some military strategic issues in overseas areas for this reason. For example, if the strength of the indigenous resistance army increases, he will then equip the foreign legions with better repeating rifles; or simply open up the export of single-shot rifles. restrictions and gave some vassal states purchasing rights.

None of this is necessary.

In fact, it has not been many years since the Foreign Legion was equipped with single-shot rifles... What's more important is that the regular army before the Chu State purchased too many single-shot rifles. Most of these single-shot rifles still have a considerable service life, so they can be directly used. These single-shot rifles were abandoned, but it was not cost-effective to replace the Foreign Legion with better repeating rifles, even the early Type 25 11mm caliber repeating rifle.

And there is no need for the troops in the vassal countries to be armed...just let them continue to use percussion guns.

The sporadic small number of indigenous resistance forces is too small to become a climate.

Even if the export authority of single-shot rifles is released, Luo Zhixue is worried that the troops of these vassal countries will turn into transportation captains... Then overnight, those resistance forces will have a single-shot rifled rifle.

This is worse.

Therefore, the situation in Europe can just continue as it is, and sporadic resistance cannot restrain the Chu army's energy.

What the Army says is serious is more to highlight the importance of the Army and exaggerate the so-called resistance!

After exchanging basic information with the civil and military officials in Europe and gaining a certain understanding of the recent European situation, Luo Zhixue summoned the ninety-six vassal states in Europe and North Africa on the fifth day after arriving in Cadiz. The actual ruler such as the monarch or regent of a protectorate.

This summons should be the most complete summons for European monarchs in history. Under the imperial edict, no matter which indigenous country the monarch is, he must obey the instructions of the Chu people and set off for Canada in advance. Sri Lanka.

The monarchs of some countries even arrived in Cadiz three months in advance to wait for the summons.

This summons is of great significance to the local indigenous countries... but for the empire, it is a time to highlight the master-slave relationship between the empire and the vassal states, and the relationship between Luo Zhixue and the monarchs of these vassal states. For ceremonial occasions.

In this summons, except for a few monarchs from indigenous countries who stood in the front row and had good eyesight and could vaguely see what Senior Luo Zhi looked like, the others actually didn't even see clearly what Senior Luo Zhi looked like... There was no way , the distance is too far.

Later, some monarchs of indigenous countries were hundreds of meters away from Luo Zhixue when they had an audience.

This is not for safety reasons, but for etiquette!

When Luo Zhixue presided over the imperial meeting, in fact, apart from the senior imperial officials and senior nobles standing in the front row, other ordinary officials and nobles were also far away, and it was difficult to see what Luo Zhixue looked like...

After all, there is only one Luo Zhixue, but there are hundreds or even thousands of ministers. How can we let them all get close to Luo Zhixue.

When summoning the monarchs of these vassal states, Luo Zhixue also took advantage of the situation and gave a short speech, talking about trade, cultural exchanges, etc. between the empire and Europe.

These are just words for a scene, just listen to them, but don’t take them seriously...

While Luo Zhixue was meeting with the monarchs of various countries in the front, Queen Wang, who was behind, also met with more than a hundred show girls selected from Europe... Queen Wang looked at the large group of show girls from various vassal countries in front of her with different hair colors, and felt in her heart They all sighed!

It's not that Luo Zhixue's drafting is not good... but that she has never quite understood why her Majesty is interested in these barbarian women... There are countless good daughters in the empire, why do they still draft girls in Europe?

Look at the messy hair color and the color of the eyes of these barbarian women... In addition, many women have high and curved noses, so they don't look like beauties! But His Majesty is just fine with this... More than twenty years ago, various barbarian women began to appear in Jinling's harem. When they conquered Europe, a large-scale draft was held in Europe.

And this time, it is the second time that the draft has been held in Europe.

But even though I don't understand in my heart, I still have to do what I need to do... meet these selected European nuns, and then arrange for female officers to teach them, and then divide them according to their personal conditions.

You can't send more than a hundred showgirls to His Majesty's bed, right... In fact, there are only a dozen selected European showgirls who can be sent to Luo Zhixue's bed in a short period of time. As for the others, It depends on their own opportunities... Of course, with Luo Zhixue's temperament, there is a high probability that they will not be kept waiting for too long.

How to arrange these women now is the job of Queen Wang... Unless there are special circumstances, Luo Zhixue will generally not interfere with Queen Wang's management of the harem.

Although Empress Wang did not understand this European draft, she still attached great importance to it. She had already given instructions and arranged for a capable female official to take charge. With the assistance of the Imperial Household Agency and the cooperation of the European governors, she launched a year ago Just do a full scale draft.

The draft procedures and conditions are very harsh... First of all, women from ordinary families are definitely not eligible to be selected.

The first criterion for selection is that one must be of noble origin.

Then there is the selection of appearance... When selecting people, try your best to select beautiful girls who match the aesthetics of the people of Chu... No, they are beautiful girls who match His Majesty's aesthetics.

What kind of woman does Your Majesty like?

In fact, it’s very simple: fair and pink skin, delicate and beautiful facial features, a curvy figure and long legs... In short, you need to be young, beautiful and in good shape!

This kind of aesthetics is actually different from the mainstream aesthetics of society in the pre-Ming Dynasty and even the early empire... What was the aesthetics of the pre-Ming Dynasty? The emphasis is on being weak and flat-chested... Well, Lin Daiyu's kind is in line with the aesthetics of ancient literati.

But Luo Zhixue is a modern person, and his aesthetics are naturally also modern people's aesthetics. He doesn't like flat chests...

Luo Zhixue's aesthetics actually continued to influence the aesthetics of the middle and upper classes of the empire, and ultimately the aesthetics of the entire society.

As the same saying goes, what is good for those above is what is good for those below... His Majesty likes tall and long legs, so he will naturally choose this aspect during the draft, and then the top dignitaries in the empire who want to marry wives and find lovers will follow suit!

Then this kind of aesthetics will gradually become popular in the upper class society... Today, more than forty years later, this kind of aesthetics has already kept pace with the traditional weak and flat-chested aesthetics, and each has its own audience.

In the European auditions, the appearance standards are also based on this standard... so the ones selected are big breasts and long legs with firm facial features and pink skin.

The other criteria are fine, but pink skin is hard to find... After all, white people, including people in the peninsula and West Asia, have white skin due to racial issues, but it is a kind of pale. Large pores and lots of hair.

It seems to be quite white and tender from a distance, but not so good when you look closer.

Of course...with such a huge base, all kinds of women can actually be found...The Ottomans plus North Africa and Europe have a population of hundreds of millions. Although the number of nobles among them is smaller, the Chu people do not limit themselves to It needs to be a big noble, but someone from an ordinary small noble family is also fine.

Under such circumstances, it is actually not that difficult to find some beautiful girls with passable appearance.

However, it is not enough to pass the test. Family background, personality and even knowledge must be comprehensively reviewed later.

The knowledge among them is actually mainly to assess the cultural level... It is not necessary to understand Chu culture, but at least you must be literate and have basic learning ability and judgment ability... After being selected, you can completely train in the following year Learn Chu language and culture.

The Imperial Household Agency would not dare to send a group of illiterate idiots into the harem...

In the end, more than a hundred show girls who passed various selection reviews appeared in Cadiz!

Queen Wang arranged for female officials to assess and select these showgirls, and selected a dozen of them with outstanding dancing skills, and asked them to perform a dance for Luo Zhixue that night. After His Majesty enjoyed the dance, Long was very happy, and he He gave some pointers on the dancing skills of several of them on the spot, which for a time also demonstrated the harmonious relationship between the empire and the vassal states.

In the morning of the next day, Luo Zhixue took several members of the royal family on the Royal Princess, and, escorted by some ships inspecting the fleet, crossed the Strait of Gibraltar and entered the Mediterranean Sea.

The inspection fleet will stroll around the Mediterranean Sea, with its main destination being Crete, the most important directly-administered territory of the Chu Empire in the Mediterranean region.

Luo Zhixue heard from his subordinates that the scenery in that place was very beautiful and suitable for sightseeing, so he decided to go there this time.

This trip to the Mediterranean didn't involve any inspections, it was purely a family trip... so there weren't that many things going on in this trip, and there were no interviews or anything like that.

We went to the island along the way and spent about ten days before returning by boat.

By the time Luo Zhixue answered Cadiz, many ships had also completed maintenance and repairs in Cadiz, but he had not set off immediately. He still needed to stay in Cadiz for a few days, waiting for the Royal Princess to complete maintenance and repairs.

During the few days of waiting in Cadiz, Luo Zhixue continued his vacation mode and basically did not meet with officials... During the day, he basically took his family around, and in the evening, he enjoyed various talent performances by European showgirls... not to mention Said, these carefully selected European showgirls really have a unique flavor...

After all, having a group of princesses and noble daughters from other countries dancing in front of you is enough of a psychological satisfaction... not to mention that these are a group of carefully selected princesses and noble daughters!

So Luo Zhixue inevitably watched a few more dances...

Until the Royal Princess and other ships completed maintenance and Luo Zhixue and others boarded the ship to leave Cadiz, Luo Zhixue did not forget to bring these European beauties aboard the Royal Princess... all the way to the east coast of America. Manman, how can we not have singing and dancing to accompany us?

Regarding Luo Zhixue's behavior... neither the Queen nor the other concubines accompanying him pretended to have seen it... and it was even more impossible for them to be jealous or even act!

The concubines who can be taken out by Luo Zhixue for travel are actually the concubines with relatively high status in the harem and who have been favored by Luo Zhixue for a long time!

And these people were able to get through in the huge Jinling harem and gain the love of Luo Zhixue... and even gave birth to princes and princesses, and were even taken on trips by Luo Zhixue... This was no brainer.

The competition in the harem of the Great Chu Empire is fiercer than in any workplace or even officialdom... Because there are really more wolves and less meat... At the same time, Luo Zhixue is a person who likes the new and hates the old. The women in the harem are slightly older and have good looks. If she is in poor shape and has not given birth to a prince or daughter, it will be extremely difficult for ordinary harem women, let alone climbing onto the dragon bed. Even if they want to meet Luo Zhixue, it will be extremely difficult for ordinary harem women.

After all, there is only one emperor, but there are more than a thousand women of the emperor... These thousands of emperor's women refer to women who entered the palace through official drafts and other channels, and they all have women with the title of concubine for talents and above... But Not counting the palace maids who serve as service personnel.

Palace maids and concubines are two different things in the harem of the Chu Empire!

The former is just a staff member of the royal family. If he is not favored by the emperor, he can actually leave the palace at any time... The palace of the Dachu Empire does not force the maids to go out. Instead, it pays attention to strict entry and wide exit... It is not easy to get in, but It's easy to leave. Once you submit a resignation application, you can immediately leave your job. After passing the quarantine review, you can pay your salary and leave.

Luo Zhixue didn't want a group of grudge-minded maids to appear in the harem, and then one night the pillow would suffocate him to death... so at the level of the maids, strict entry and wide exit were implemented.

However, the show girls are different. They are originally selected according to the standards of concubines, and the Chu people do not pay attention to forced selection. What they pay attention to is your willingness and my willingness... Sign up for the election yourself, and the royal family will not send people everywhere to recruit them. The young women were pulled out one by one from the list and forcibly drafted. , even in the European draft, the same is true, there is no force.

The world is so big, and there are so many women, there is no need to force a draft, and then bring in a few women with a grudge... On the contrary, you may not be qualified to be selected even if you sign up for the draft.

The threshold for the draft is also very high!

Since they voluntarily signed up to participate in the election, these show girls will be given various low-level concubine titles, such as Zhaoyi, Cairen, etc., which is equivalent to determining their status... From a traditional theory, they She is already Luo Zhixue's wife.

From now on, it was impossible to leave the Jinling Palace... Even if he died, he would have to be buried in the royal cemetery.

There are so many famous women, plus the extremely mobile and even larger number of palace maids... Well, don't think that these palace maids are not competitors. In fact, many concubines are from these palace maids!

Sometimes when Luo Zhixue sees the right people, he will favor these palace maids and grant them the title of concubine.

This leads to more wolves and less meat.

One can imagine the fierce competition in the harem!

To be honest, none of the women who can stand out in such fierce competition in the harem are simple characters... They are all women with online looks and IQ.

A woman without any brains can't even climb onto Luo Zhixue's bed, let alone gain a harem status.

The seven or eight concubines who are now out inspecting with Luo Zhixue all belong to this kind of women... They do not have the jealous mentality that ordinary women have.

What's more, they also know that Luo Zhixue is basically interested in these barbarian women on a whim and will not miss them for too long... Many barbarian women have appeared in the Jinling Palace kilometers before, but in the end, except for a few Except for the women who married the prince and his daughter, all the others have now disappeared from Luo Zhixue's sight and can only die alone in the deepest part of the palace for the rest of their lives.

Even those barbarian women who gave birth to princes and princesses and were given the title of concubine would basically not be able to appear next to the emperor again if they were a little older.

After getting along with each other for a long time, we basically know Luo Zhixue's tendency in matters between men and women: he likes the new and dislikes the old to a certain extent!