Brother Zhu Youxiao

Chapter 419 Preparations for Li Court
"Take off all your clothes, don't hide it, if you don't have good posture, you won't be able to blame your old age for being eliminated!"

On the second day, when the beautiful women in the Imperial City Courtyard were gathered again, everyone nervously began to obey the arrangements of the female officials.

Although no one was eliminated yesterday, that's because yesterday it mainly selected ordinary-looking women, and all the beautiful women who made it here were top-notch.

More than [-] beautiful women were housed in [-] large houses, and each house was still divided into groups of [-] people.

Today, the female officials are in charge of the inspection, not even eunuchs, and what Cao Huachun and the others have to do is to continue to sit and wait in the big square to make sure that the eliminated women do not meet the standards.

As for the inspection in the big house, only the female officials can see it.

"Swish, swish, swish..." Following their orders, all the beautiful girls undressed one after another, revealing their fair skin, for the female officials to inspect one by one.

Looking down from the stage, the room is like a "grove of meat", all the beautiful women have pretty red cheeks, when they are swept by the female officer's eyes, they can't help but feel a little nervous and want to block some parts of their body, but seeing the female officer frown, He straightened his back quickly.

Today's level is mainly to check the facial features, hair, skin, neck, back, length of hands and feet, waist span and other parts.

There should be no defects in facial features, even moles must grow in the right places.

The hair must be black and bright, and the relatives within three clothes in the family cannot have dominant features such as hair loss or baldness, and the hairline of the person is too high.

The skin should not have defects such as fish scale skin, chicken skin, large area scars, and obvious color difference.

There should be no neck lines on the neck, the back must be smooth, the length of the hands and feet must be in accordance with the standard, and the same is true for the waist.

For these top-notch show girls, if they fail one or even one of these inspections, they will be eliminated directly.

"hands up"

The female officer's words rang in the ears of Zhou Sujie, Chen Xiangjun, Yuan Xibin, Tian Xiuying and others. They could only stiffen their bodies and raise their hands.

After all, she was circled popular, so her salary was higher than other show girls.

The selected seventeen national beauty and the other ten outstanding girls were put in a big room.

The one who checked the 27 of them was Keshi who hadn't moved around for a long time.

Since Zhang Yan gave birth to an heir, her status in the inner court has plummeted. Although the emperor still respects her very much, her status is not as good as before.

Zhang Yan also sent her here for this draft.

Although Zhang Yan was not pleasing to see Ke Shi, Ke Shi had taken care of Zhu Youxiao and Zhu Youjian for a period of time after all, and knew what Zhu Youjian liked in the past, so Zhang Yan sent her here.

"Xiao Nizi looks quite attractive..."

Walking in front of Yuan Xipin, the 43-year-old Hakka couldn't help being jealous of these alluring national beauty.

She knew in her heart that among the 27 beautiful girls, there would probably be five concubines, so although she was jealous, she still behaved well and did not show any face.

According to the rules, she stretched out her hand to check the various parts of 27 beautiful girls including Yuan Xibing, Tian Xiuying, Zhou Sujie, Chen Xiangjun.

After all, they are all unmarried innocent women. In front of an "veteran" like Keshi, although the other party did not do anything out of the ordinary, it still made everyone blush.

Sometimes Keshi's hands were a little stronger, and the pinched Xiunu could not help but groan, but in order not to make Keshi unhappy, everyone still tried their best to endure.

Ke Shi didn't take it seriously, but carefully checked the 27 women one by one, and finally walked up to the stage and sat down:

"Put on your clothes."

Mrs. Ke washed her hands, and the 27th girl also blushed, and hurriedly put on the clothes next to her one by one.

After the clothes were put on, the blushes on everyone's faces faded away, and Keshi followed the rules and asked them to come forward to answer one by one.

This process is actually similar to an interview. Each person needs to report their age, place of origin, height, weight, family background, etc.

This process is not for self-introduction, but for voice checking.

Show girls whose voice is too weak, whose voice is too muddy, whose voice is too rough, who can't speak clearly, or who respond to panic, will often be eliminated in this level.

But the voice, in fact, has been checked by the local government and the vassal states, and if the show girls can't speak the official language well, they are unlikely to come here, so there is no problem after the Hakka inspection.

All the 27 girls cleared the level, and compared to them, the show girls from other big houses are a little bit worse.

Out of 520 and seven people, 560 and five people were eliminated on this day, leaving only 960 people, which can be regarded as one in a million.

The 560 five people who were eliminated, after Cao Huachun and others looked at them, felt that they had no regrets, so they agreed to be eliminated.

Cao Huachun asked them to pay each of them a travel fee of ten taels of silver, and then asked them to pack their things and go to the post house in the inner city.

There, provincial officials arrange for escorts to return them home.

Ten taels of silver is a lot for some of the show girls, but for many of the show girls who were eliminated, it is just pocket money.

In fact, their family members came to the capital with them a long time ago. Since they were eliminated, they would go home in a carriage and escorted by the servants of the mansion...

"It's not bad that all 27 national players have stayed."

After arranging the place to eliminate the show girls, Wang Tiqian glanced at the document in his hand and sighed slightly.

Cao Huachun picked up the tea and took a sip before saying:

"This is just the second hurdle. Tomorrow, the third hurdle will be passed, and they will be counted as having passed the primary election."

"Hmm..." Wang Tiqian and Cao Huachun didn't have a bad relationship, he held the document and said:
"The third level tomorrow, you and I continue?"

"No, the Imperial Horse Supervisor is busy with business, let Cheng En come." After saying that, Cao Huachun put down his teacup, got up and prepared to leave.

Seeing this, Wang Tiqian and Li Yongzhen also got up and left one after another, while Ke Shi sent someone to Zhang Yan and Concubine Liu with the paperwork that had passed the checkpoint after the selection.

When the document arrived, Zhang Yan and Concubine Liu were having lunch, so they read the document at the same time. After all, Concubine Liu was an old man in the Wanli period, and she had chosen princesses for many princes, so after seeing the number of people left behind, it was unavoidable. Surprised:
"The quality of this draft is surprisingly high..."

"After all, there are various Xunfu's joining, so it's not surprising that the quality is good." Zhang Yan closed the document and put it on the table, while Concubine Liu continued to read.

"Those seventeen national colors are pretty good, meeting the criteria for choosing a concubine."

"Especially this Chen Xiangjun and Zhou Sujie..."

Concubine Liu praised without hesitation, but Zhang Yan frowned and said:
"That Zhou Sujie's body is a bit thinner, and I'm afraid it won't be easy for her to have a son in the future."

"It's true..." Concubine Liu did not refute Zhang Yan like in the past, because Chen Xiangjun's situation is indeed better than Zhou Sujie.

"Tian Xiuying and Yuan Xibin are also good. As for the other few, their waists are a bit narrow. I'm afraid it will be difficult to give birth, but Li Shaoxi from North Korea is above all."

Concubine Liu gave pointers to the seventeen nationals, while Zhang Yan discussed with a few hints:
"Although Li Shaoxi is the most beautiful daughter of my Ming Dynasty's first foreign clan, she can't be a noble concubine, but she can be a flat concubine."

"As for the concubine, if there is no problem with the memory in this document, then Tian Xiuying is pretty good. She is also proficient in calligraphy, painting, Guqin, Guzheng, and Dongxiao. She can also ride horses and play chess. Female red gardening is not bad as a palace in the palace."

Zhang Yan was very satisfied with Tian Xiuying, and Concubine Liu also looked at Tian Xiuying's introduction and was equally satisfied:
"It's true that her waist span is wider than Zhou Sujie's. Being able to ride a horse means that her body is good and she can give birth."

"Wait until they pass the preliminary test tomorrow. If there is no problem, select the fifth concubine and thirty concubines."

"Will thirty be too many?" Zhang Yan frowned, but Concubine Liu said with a smile:
"There is often only one time for a prince to choose a concubine. It is better to have more concubines and more children."

"Then listen to your mother, but I am curious about what your Highness and Wansui always did when they were young." Zhang Yan nodded slightly, no longer entangled, but started to discuss other things, such as what Zhu Youjian Zhu Youjian did when he was young. some "stupid things".

"They..." Concubine Liu looked reminiscent, then smiled and said:
"Long live and His Highness have different temperaments."

"Why is it different?" Zhang Yan was curious, and Concubine Liu also said with a smile:
"Back then, Emperor Shenzong ordered people to collect golden nanmu to prepare for the construction of the three halls, but because there was not enough wood, he worried that the craftsmen were not good at workmanship, so he asked them to repair the East Palace, East Sixth Palace, and West Sixth Palace first."

"Wan Sui was young and always liked to observe, so he fell in love with these skills after going back and forth."

"At the beginning, I liked to build houses and played tricks. I often danced with joy after the houses were built, and pulled King Jian Huai, King Qi Si, and King Huai Hui to admire them repeatedly. After the excitement passed, I took an ax and destroyed them immediately. , reinventing new samples and never getting bored.”

"In the 46th year of Wanli, Wan Sui personally built a small palace in the courtyard. The shape was similar to that of the Qianqing Palace. It was only three or four feet high, but with subtle twists and turns, small and exquisite, and exquisite workmanship."

"At that time, Emperor Shenzongxian was very happy to see it, and specially gave him a piece of agarwood."

"But I don't want Long Live to get the agarwood on the first day, and then make the agarwood into a rockery on the second day, and carve the Chitailin Pavilion on it. The carving is so meticulous that even the craftsmen of the outer court applaud."

Concubine Liu fell into memories, while Zhang Yan was a little unhappy that her husband liked carpentry, so she specifically asked, "Long live, do you have any other hobbies?"

"Of course." Concubine Liu answered subconsciously, and then said:

"Long live likes playing ball when he was about ten years old, and often took King Jianhuai and the eunuchs to play in Changle Palace."

"At that time, Wansui felt that it was not fun to play, so he used his 300 taels of private money to design and build five Cuyuan halls by himself."

"Later, the situation in the palace was complicated, so Wansui seldom went to the ball..."

Speaking of this, Concubine Liu also felt a little embarrassed, but Zhang Yan heard a different Zhu Youxiao.

"Your Majesty, there is one thing that I am very concerned about..." Zhang Yan asked puzzledly after sorting out the story:
"In your words, Long Live often plays with King Jian Huai, King Qi Si, and King Huai Hui. What about His Royal Highness King Qi?"

From the stories Zhang Yan heard from Concubine Liu's words, it was rare for Zhu Youxiao and Zhu Youjian to play together, but the two brothers are very close now, which made her very curious.

"King Qi?" Concubine Liu was stunned for a moment, and then said:

"King Qi liked reading very much when he was a child. After Concubine Liu Xian (Zhu Youjian's mother) was killed in battle, he seldom went out, and even when he went out, he would not smile."

"I remember that once Emperor Shenzong Xian asked the kings to take the princes to Long Live Mountain to play. The other princes were playing and playing, but he was sitting on the grass with a book, reading it."

"At that time, he was taken care of by Concubine Li Kang, but Concubine Li Kang didn't like him very much, and when she grew up with Princess Le An, the money in the Xuqin Palace where he lived was often withheld by Concubine Li Kang, so there were very few clothes."

"However, even if he has very few clothes, he will tidy up his clothes every day. If the clothes are not cleaned, he will not see the servant if he is not wearing them."

"No clothes to wear?" Zhang Yan was a little surprised. He really didn't expect that the majestic King Qi would have such an unbearable thing to look back on.

Zhu Youjian's childhood experience was completely different from Zhang Yan's, so she couldn't help asking: "Didn't Long Live love King Qi very much?"

"That's after that..." Concubine Liu said with a wry smile:
"Before Wanli 45 years ago, Wan Sui liked to play with King Qi Si more, because the two had similar personalities and were very lively."

"It was only after the death of King Qi Si that Long Live put his attention on King Qi."

"King Qi likes to study, so Long Live will give him the books and paper from Ciqing Palace. Every time the East Palace brings good silks and satins, he will also send someone to Xuqin Palace."

"Prince Qi is cold-tempered. Long live has been pestering King Qi for about a year, and King Qi is willing to mess around with Long live."

"That's it..." Zhang Yan was thoughtful, she heard a different story today, and learned about a different Zhu Youxiao and Zhu Youjian.

But judging from the moment, Zhu Youjian's personality seems to have changed a lot, so she couldn't help but wonder:
"According to what your mother said, King Qi only liked piano, chess, calligraphy and painting when he was young, so why is he so good at bow and horse now?"

"I don't know about this either, it seems to be..." Concubine Liu thought for a while before saying:

"Probably after Wan Sui succeeded to the throne, the two often rode horses and shot at the back left door, and then they fell in love with it."

"I heard from Wang An at the time that King Qi was very talented in martial arts. He was able to beat the waves proficiently for the first time riding a horse, and he could hit the bull's-eye within ten steps. He can only open a bow and arrow a few years older than a child."

"Thinking about it now, King Qi should have liked horseback riding and archery at that time."

"His later achievements, the empresses and concubines who watched him grow up in the inner court were very surprised. They couldn't believe that he could lead soldiers to fight with his temper."

Concubine Liu told a lot of lucky secrets to Zhang Yan, and Zhang Yan wanted to continue asking after hearing this, but Concubine Liu glanced at the pendulum clock in the palace, got up subconsciously and said:
"It's getting late, Your Highness should take a lunch break earlier, Ran'er and the others still need your counseling in the afternoon."

"Well, I'll see you off..." Zhang Yan immediately got up to escort Concubine Liu after hearing that.

Before leaving the palace gate, the two chatted about Zhu Ciran and others' matters. It was not until they walked out of the palace gate that Concubine Liu took the female officials and maids in her bedroom and left.

After they left, Zhang Yan looked at Concubine Liu's back thoughtfully, and a young female official who was brought into the palace by Zhang Yan also took the opportunity to say:
"I really didn't expect His Highness King Qi to be so embarrassed when he was a child."

"It's not surprising..." Zhang Yan shook her head, and sighed, "Heaven will send you a great mission, so people must first work hard on their minds, muscles and bones, and starve their bodies..."

"His Royal Highness Qi can achieve such a feat now, which is probably related to his childhood experience. Compared with His Highness, Long Live is still a bit smoother."

After finishing speaking, Zhang Yan turned around and returned to Kunning Palace, and when she said this, an arrow hundreds of miles away was also shot, and with a sound, the sound of horseshoes resounded in Yanshan Mountain.

"Hit it! Don't go up, watch out for this bastard to go crazy!"

Zhu Youxiao's excited voice sounded. At this moment, he was riding on horseback, leading more than a dozen soldiers of Xiao cavalry to surround a black bear.

But in the face of the black bears, the horses under their crotches were a little restless, and they kept spinning, which was difficult to control.

"Shoot an arrow at him!"

Zhu Youxiao gave the order excitedly, but the guard soldier next to him said: "Long live, if you shoot an arrow, the fur will be..."

"Then how do we kill it?" Zhu Youxiao asked back, he was very excited because this was the first time he had hunted a bear, even though it was a smaller black bear.

"Just wait until it bleeds dry." The chief banner officer of the Xiao cavalry guards replied, and at this moment, the sound of horseshoes came from afar again.

Zhu Youxiao heard the sound and looked, but saw his younger brother wearing a fish-scale armor and coming with more than ten Xiaoqi guards on horseback.

I have to say that Zhu Youjian is taller and more handsome as an adult, and Yanshan, which just rained this morning and then cleared up, makes the picture of riding a horse even more beautiful.

Horseshoes trampled on them, water splashed in the grass, and more than a dozen horsemen rushed forward.

"Shut up!"

Due to the high speed, Zhu Youjian's horse accidentally slipped under his crotch, and he staggered for a while.

The hearts of the people around were tense, but Zhu Youjian dismounted sideways without panic and dissatisfaction. While stabilizing the horse, he drew his bow and arrow, raised his legs and walked towards the black bear.

"Brother is dangerous!"

"Your Highness!"

Everyone shouted worriedly, but Zhu Youjian drew his bow and set an arrow, and walked towards the black bear without stopping.

"Awwhhh..."

The black bear who was hurt by the arrow looked at Zhu Youjian who was coming, and couldn't help being a little frightened, and he was about to rush towards Zhu Youjian.

However, as soon as the roar sounded, Zhu Youjian drew his bow and set an arrow. Before the black bear could run, the sound of the arrow tip piercing the air sounded. Before Zhu Youxiao and others could react, the arrow pierced the black bear's eye sockets. After running for a few steps, the black bear rolled down and fell to the ground.

"Cut skin."

Zhu Youjian threw the longbow to Sun Shoufa who was following him, and calmly gave orders to the Xiao cavalry guards.

Everyone broke out in a cold sweat from being frightened by him, but he was very calm.

Seeing that the black bear was dead, Zhu Youxiao quickly got off his horse and walked up to Zhu Youjian to have a look:
"Brother, this is too..."

As he spoke, he looked at the motionless black bear, a little surprised in his heart, and squeezed Zhu Youjian's arm by the way.

"It's really solid..."

"Cough cough!"

Zhu Youxiao sighed with his hands up and down, but Zhu Youjian was pinched uncomfortably, coughing and reminding his brother to pay attention to his image.

After being reminded, he smiled and withdrew his hand, and said casually, "My brother got up late."

It was noon now, and Zhu Youxiao and Zhu Youjian had originally agreed to go hunting at [-]:[-] p.m., but Zhu Youxiao waited for a quarter of an hour before Zhu Youjian arrived, so he set off to hunt first.

I never thought that it took half an hour for Zhu Youjian to appear, and there was a reason for Zhu Youjian's delay.

"Before I was busy mobilizing the soldiers and horses of the Shangzhigong Guard Battalion to go north to change defenses, so I was delayed for a while. I wanted someone to notify my brother, but when I came back to make arrangements, my brother set off first."

Zhu Youjian explained why he came late, but Zhu Youxiao said after hearing it:
"It's only July now, and there are still eleven months until June next year. Are you preparing so early?"

The transfer of the Gongwei Battalion was naturally to change defenses against the Shangzhi Sixteen Guards, and the transfer of soldiers and horses of the Shangzhi Sixteen Guards was of course to encircle and suppress Jianlu.

Zhu Youxiao knew all these things, but he felt that it was too early to start preparations at this time.

"Soldiers and horses went ahead without using food and grass. The imperial court's foundation outside the pass is weak, and it is difficult to support the local people, let alone the nearly [-] soldiers and horses."

"If you want to save people's power, you have to start adjusting grain and going north from now on."

"If you want to save labor and go northward, you can only transport it by sea to the Liaohe River. After landing in Daning Mansion, you will travel [-] miles to Taining by land. It will take two months."

Zhu Youjian took a deep breath, and then said:

"Yingzhou's 600 million stone grains are enough to fight this battle, but after arriving in Taining and Yidong River City, there may only be 400 million stone grains."

"If the army is to be mobilized, 300 million stone grains must be made into military rations before departure, which will take three months."

"Together, it will take five months to prepare grain and grass, and grain cannot be transported in winter, so in fact, this year, the grain can only be transported to Daning Mansion for temporary storage after the grain is harvested in Yingzhou."

"Wait until the snow melts in March next year, then send the food to Taining and Yidonghe City."

"The food will be delivered and reprocessed into military rations, which can be completed by the end of May, and our army will launch the sweep of the north in early June, so the time is still quite rushed."

Zhu Youjian told Zhu Youxiao about the various procedures, and only then did he know that there are still so many ways to fight in the Northeast.

"I don't worry about my brother, I will leave this battle to my brother."

Although he knew the way, Zhu Youxiao was not worried at all, because it was Zhu Youjian who led the army this time, and Zhu Youjian had never failed to lead the army.

"This time, Jianlu was defeated, and the railway to Liaodong and Nu'ergan must be pushed forward quickly, otherwise the imperial court can only imprison this place."

"The current danger to my court still comes from the north. My ministers have to solve the problem in the Northeast in the past few years, and then proceed to drive out the northern captives."

Zhu Youjian used to drive away, because he was not sure that he could completely wipe out Lin Danhan.

Needless to say how good Lin Danhan can run in history, Huang Taiji and Daming have nothing to do with him.

Although Duogan is now captured by Daming, it is not ruled out that this guy will go to the Western Regions or Central Asia.

Although his strength alone is weak, but now that the three major tribes in Mobei and Harqin have all surrendered to him, he can still pull out [-] to [-] soldiers and horses.

Although this alliance is not very strong, if the Ming army really sweeps north and wants to occupy Mobei for a long time, then this alliance can only move westward.

Tsarist Russia has only explored the Yenisei River so far, and there is only an expedition team of more than [-] people, and after the destruction of the Siberian Khanate, they did not station heavy troops in the Siberian grasslands.

If at this time, Lin Dan Khan took people away from Tangnu Wulianghai to the Siberian grasslands, the tribes of Kalkha Gabri Yaxi, Chahar, and Karaqin in the north of the Mobei had nearly 60 people. Asia, the Western Regions, and Tsarist Russia were in a mess.

So what Zhu Youjian wants to do is to drive them away and let Lin Danhan take people to Central Asia to fight against Tsarist Russia, Kazakhs, and Wala to consume their strength.

But he is not sure whether these tribes are willing to move westward with Lin Danhan.

But no matter what, the topography of Mobei determines that it is impossible for Daming to eat it in one go. It still needs a mile of railway, and a post station to slowly understand the local area.

Thinking of this, Zhu Youjian looked at Zhu Youxiao, but at this moment Zhu Youxiao was holding the bear skin that had just been peeled off, smiling cheerfully...

(End of this chapter)