I want to be emperor

Chapter 194
In the past few months, although the rural protection army has taken down many cities one after another, even a strong city like Xiangyang, the gold content is actually very average.

The Township Protection Army was able to take Xiangyang by surprise attack, which does not explain how strong the Township Protection Army's offensive capabilities are.

In addition, most of the other cities captured by the rural protection army were mostly the ones with few defenders and low morale, and they would collapse if they were hit casually.

However, when encountering a city with slightly more defenders from the Ming army, the township protection army did not actually fight smoothly.

For example, in Yuzhou, the [-]th Mixed Brigade took over half a month, and thousands of people were killed or wounded to take it down. If it hadn’t been for a large number of defecting soldiers to be added in the middle, the [-]th Mixed Brigade would have been finished.

For example, at Luyang Pass, the defenders at that time were no more than a thousand people, and the Township Protection Army used the main force of the Second Infantry Brigade, and it was still a flanking attack from the north and the south, but it was taken with relatively large casualties.

After the rural protection army went south from Funiu Mountain, the total number of casualties in the series of battles carried out was actually not many, and more than half of them were caused by the capture of Yuzhou City and Luyang Pass.

Luo Zhixue also realized from a series of siege battles that the rural protection army now has a very obvious shortcoming, that is, its attacking ability is actually very average.

Under such circumstances, it is easy to break the teeth of the township protection army by gnawing at Yicheng, which is garrisoned by tens of thousands of troops!
It's just that Luo Zhixue knows the strengths and weaknesses of his own army, but he doesn't know if the Huguang Ming Army knows.

But it is expected that there will be some understanding. After all, the news of Lu Xiangsheng's defeat should have spread to many places, and the Huguang Ming Army in the south must be the first to get the news.

Even if they didn't know exactly how Lu Xiangsheng was defeated, they still had to be prepared for the township protection army.

If it weren't for their great vigilance against the rural protection army, they would have killed Xiangyang City long ago.

However, from May to mid-June, more than a month has passed, but they still haven't come. This is already a good example of the problem.

It doesn't matter whether they are afraid of fighting or have other plans, but it all shows that they don't treat the township protection army as an ordinary rebel army.

They are discreet!
With this caution, it is easy to defend the city and get out.

In the face of the enemy who can't defend, the current township protection army has no good way for the time being, but can only use their lives to die.

The rural protection army's ability to attack fortified areas is weak, and this is also an important reason why Luo Zhixue ordered Ding Gangyi, the supervisor of the Xiangyang Arsenal, to start trial production of short-barreled heavy artillery for siege, and to study matchlock ammunition.

----

But no matter whether the Ming army is cautious or warlike, the strategy of the rural protection army will not change. If you take ten thousand steps back, then the Ming army really got tens of thousands of troops to defend Yicheng, so the big deal is that the rural protection army He fought with the Ming army in Yicheng.

No matter what, Yicheng must be captured and the Hanshui Channel opened so that the army can go south smoothly.

After Luo Zhixue stayed in Xinye City for a day, he continued to sail southward by boat.

Three days later, he successfully arrived in Xiangyang City and stayed at the General's Mansion.

The road was bumpy and had to deal with numerous military and political affairs while on the road, which made Luo Zhixue physically and mentally exhausted.

Therefore, after entering the city that afternoon, Luo Zhixue did not ask the Ministry of Affairs to arrange any more meetings. He only met some important military and political officials in a small amount, and then finished his daily work in the evening and went to the back house to rest.

Now the Township Protection Army is in the rising stage of fighting everywhere, with various military and political affairs, and working overtime every day until twelve o'clock in the evening may not be able to deal with them.

After this evening, unless there is an emergency military matter, don't expect to pull Luo Zhixue out of the back house.

At the same time, Luo Zhixue is also thinking about continuing to reform the Ministry of Staff Affairs, so that the Ministry of Staff Affairs, which was reformed from the Department of Internal Affairs, can truly play the role of a secretarial agency and reduce his workload, instead of just arranging schedules and writing a few official documents That's all.

Luo Zhixue estimated that the territory of the Rural Protection Army is no more than two prefectures. Strictly speaking, it is less than two prefectures, and the army under its command is only more than 2 people.

This shit is when one thing after another doesn't stop.

If things go on like this, when the size of the Township Protection Army continues to expand and the territory increases, won't Luo Zhixue be exhausted to death?

What's more, even if you work twelve hours a day, you can't finish so much work if you are exhausted.

It's just that this kind of secretarial organization also needs to be highly cautious. If it is not done well, it will become the Ming Dynasty's version of the Supervisor of Ceremonies.

In fact, there is nothing wrong with the supervisor of ceremonies, and it is even a good system used by the imperial power to restrain civil servants.

But the problem is that the officials in the ceremonial prison of the Ming Dynasty are all physically disabled, eunuchs who have no one to follow the rebellion!
The honor and disgrace of these eunuchs depended entirely on the emperor's personal trust. As long as the emperor was upset, he would be killed immediately.

Moreover, eunuchs and civil officials are naturally opposed. If the emperor kills eunuchs, the civil officials will applaud!
For the emperor of the Ming Dynasty, the eunuchs who were in charge of ceremonies did things when they had something to do, especially all kinds of disgusting things, such as inspecting officials, ransacking their families and exterminating their families, collecting business taxes from gentry, and so on.

When it's used up, it's still a scapegoat, and it's used to calm the anger of the outside world.

After the killing, a new group of eunuchs will be set up to continue working...

Very useful!

Of course, not every emperor of the Ming Dynasty could use the Supervisor of Ceremonies well. For example, Chongzhen could not use it well... Such a useful institution was suddenly abolished by him!
From then on, the check and balance of power in the Chongzhen Dynasty was completely over...the civil servants took power alone and without any restraint, all kinds of shitty things came out.

As a result, the Ming Dynasty's war against captives in the east became more and more miserable, and the uprising became more and more chaotic.

In the end, he was killed by Li Zicheng and entered the capital, ruining the Ming Dynasty.

The civil servants of the Ming Dynasty who played with the disabled voted for Li Zicheng on the spot without integrity. However, Li Zicheng's prosperity did not last long, and he was quickly defeated by Dongyao and Wu Sangui.

But it doesn't matter, these civil servants saw Li Zi's success or failure, turned around and knelt on their knees again, and threw themselves into captivity...

If Chongzhen from Hangmeishan can still see his former courtiers after his death, he doesn't know how he will feel if he sees his former courtiers acting like this kind of slaves of the three surnames, even disregarding their shame and defecting directly to the barbarians.

Maybe, he will still shout: I am not the king of the subjugated country, all the ministers are the subjugated ministers!
The inspector of ceremonies in the Ming Dynasty was a very good tool to check and balance power, but the Ministry of General Affairs of the General's Mansion created by Luo Zhixue was a standard civil service institution with a completely different nature.

If the Ministry of General Affairs and the Supervisor of Rituals are given the same power, then in minutes, powerful ministers who sway the imperial power will appear.

At that time, Luo Zhixue had to worry about whether he would be rebelled.

Didn't sleep well.

Therefore, even if he has the idea of ​​delegating power to the Ministry of Affairs, Luo Zhixue will still be more cautious and will not move in a short time.

Now I am slowly thinking about how to reform, and when I continue to expand in the future, I really can't handle so many affairs by myself, and then carry out the reform.

As for now, get tired first!
Alas, this anti-thief leader is really tiring!

Hou Yunmeng saw Luo Zhixue leaning against the side of the bath with his eyes slightly closed, frowning from time to time. She didn't know what Luo Zhixue was thinking about, but she guessed it should be those important military and political affairs outside.

She didn't understand either, and she didn't dare to ask, she just scrubbed Luo Zhixue lightly, her movements were very gentle, for fear of disturbing Luo Zhixue.

The same is true of Wang Qiaoer on the side.

The two daughters were also taken by Luo Zhixue this time, and they went south from Nanyang City to Xiangyang City, where they continued to serve as Luo Zhixue's personal maids and also served as bed warmers.

In fact, Luo Zhixue didn't have any special thoughts about them. When he first recognized them in Nanyang City General Beppu, he just thought that these two women were more in line with his modern aesthetics, so he just took a few more glances.

When he saw these two women while washing up later, he didn't have too many scruples, so he went straight to her, which can be regarded as the end of his childishness in this life.

Added some new beauty to my life in this era.

Speaking of which, since Luo Zhixue's soul possessed him last year, Luo Zhixue was either on the way to escape, or led an army to fight, and spent most of his time in Funiu Mountain, maintaining the body of a boy.

This is not because Luo Zhixue is a monk and is not interested in female sex, but that he had no chance to meet young women before, let alone young women who fit his aesthetics.

There are actually quite a few women in Funiu Mountain, but most of them are migrant peasant women who escaped. These women, like men, need to work hard for two meals a day, and have to do various heavy farm work or housework every day. Wait.

Not to mention the wind and the sun, and he was still sallow and thin due to lack of food, and he didn't have any better clothes on his body, so that he didn't look like a beauty.

Beauties, especially ancient beauties, don't mention all of them, but most of them will only appear in families with no worries about food and clothing.

Because the beauty of a woman depends on her genes on the one hand, and a family that has no worries about food and clothing will naturally not marry a wife who is too ugly. After a long time, the genes will naturally be improved.

What is more important is the maintenance of the day after tomorrow.

At least you must have enough nutrition, otherwise you won't be so skinny and beautiful.

At least you have to pamper yourself, doing farm work every day, under the wind and the sun, the hell will make your skin look better...

Combining all these, in ancient times, beautiful women would only appear in families with no worries about food and clothing. The probability of beautiful women appearing in poor and lowly families is very small, and they can't get enough to eat. What beauty is beautiful...

As for the beauties who came from poor and humble backgrounds, but have undergone acquired nursing care, they are no longer considered to be from poor and humble backgrounds, and they have to be classified as families with no worries about food and clothing.

But in Funiu Mountain, there are no families with no worries about food and clothing, all of them are refugees who escaped.

Naturally, Luo Zhixue would not have any greed for these women, so he never looked for any women, only a few old women and ordinary maids who served daily life.

After going south, the chance of meeting a beautiful woman is much greater, but Luo Zhixue has been leading the army to fight in fear for the past two months, so how could he be in the mood to find a woman.

What's more, he spent most of his time leading the army to fight, and he never stopped at all.

Those few days in Nanyang City can be regarded as his rare rest time in the recent period.

And Guo Quanshu and the others took advantage of this time to match Luo Zhixue with a lot of beauties...

Luo Zhixue could vaguely guess that this was the arrangement of his subordinates, but he didn't refuse.

People, work is very important, but proper adjustments are also very important.

While Luo Zhixue was resting in the backyard, Guo Quanshu and Huang Chengxuan, several civil servants, got together in private to discuss in secret.

This time the topic was much higher than the topic of secretly dedicating a personal maid to Luo Zhixue in Nanyang City!
This time they were discussing how to resolve the marriage of General Luo Zhixue.

Although Luo Zhixue is young, he is still 16 years old, and it is time to get married and start a family.

But in Guo Quanshu's mind, although Luo Zhixue has no claim to be king or emperor now, that will happen sooner or later.

Therefore, although they are now discussing what kind of wife Luo Zhixue should find, in fact, Guo Quanshu and the others are all rushing to choose the future queen...

So this marriage discussion has been discussed and discussed without a conclusion.

The main reason is that it is hard to find a suitable 'Queen' candidate!

(End of this chapter)