The two women walked around the garden. Along the way, Shen Qianqian saw that Qin Lingjun seemed to be thinking about something and remained silent, so she did not disturb her.
After shopping, the two returned to Zichen Palace.
Qin Lingjun sat down on a chair in the main hall and suddenly said: "Sister, after seeing this harem, do you have any thoughts?"
Shen Qianqian thought for a while and said with a smile: "I don't have any other feeling, it's just that it's too big."
Qin Lingjun sighed and said: "Yes, it's just too big. In such a huge harem, are we the only two serving the king? I'm afraid those ministers will say that I, the queen, have no virtue!"
Shen Qianqian clenched her hands slightly and said, "Sister, do you want to help the king choose some more concubines?"
Qin Lingjun hummed and suddenly clapped her hands, and saw eight women in palace attire walking in from outside, standing in two rows, and bowing to the two of them.
There is a woman in the front left with an elegant appearance and slightly round cheeks. She is Tao Ai, Qin Lingjun’s apprentice.
Shen Qianqian glanced over and said in surprise: "Sister, these seem to be the maids around you!"
Qin Lingjun smiled and said: "Well, they were originally the concubines of Han King Chen Youliang. They are not bad in appearance. After I observed them for a period of time, they all have docile temperaments and are willing to serve the king."
Shen Qianqian looked at the woman in front of her on the right, and saw her oval-shaped face, as soft as a bone, and charming, with a little beauty mark on her forehead.
Although the other women were beautiful, she was not worried. Only this woman had the same temperament as her, but her appearance was better than hers, which made her feel a little bit in danger.
Qin Lingjun glanced at her and said: "The one on the right is Xiao Yu. She is very timid and has a very docile temper. If you don't like it, just let her continue to follow me!"
When the woman named 'Xiao Yu' heard this, her body trembled violently. Even Shen Qianqian felt pitiful when she saw it, and said with a smile: "Sister is joking, I like her very much."
Qin Lingjun said happily: "That's good, I will mention this matter to the king tomorrow."
Since the 17th year of Zhizheng, Jiangdu's army has ceased its activities. The local government has been recuperating and restoring people's livelihood, while the government and the public are preparing for the enthronement ceremony.
The war in the south of the Yangtze River that had been going on for several years has finally ended. Except for rebellions in some areas, the people have entered a rare period of peace.
However, the war in the world is still raging.
Today's biggest wars are mainly concentrated in Shandong and Sichuan.
The situation in Sichuan is the most chaotic. Chongqing is occupied by Ming Yuzhen, and the Green Turban Army is raging in the north.
Pingzhang of Sichuan Province was named Wanzhedu. He was originally stationed in Chongqing, but was later driven to Chengdu. He hated Mingyu deeply.
Because of this, he did not care about the Green Turban Army's burning, killing and looting in Sichuan, but concentrated on planning to defeat Ming Yuzhen and regain Chongqing.
Since Ming Yuzhen established a temple for Xu Shouhui, she has gathered many old members of the Han army, and with the assistance of a group of wise men such as Liu Zhen, the army has become increasingly powerful.
However, he also has a problem, that is, he is surrounded on three sides.
To the west is Chengdu, which is still under the control of the Yuan Dynasty. To the east are Zhang Bixian and Zuo Junbi, who are also very afraid of him and have deployed heavy troops on the border of Chongqing.
What worries Ming Yuzhen the most is the Jiangdu Army in the south.
Although Jiangdu's army has not yet shown its intention to attack Chongqing, Jiangdu's army is too powerful, with hundreds of thousands of troops deployed along the river, making him always uneasy.
Ming Yuzhen also wants to get rid of the situation of being surrounded on three sides.
He can't afford to offend Jiang Dujun now.
Zhang Bixian and Zuo Junbi are located in the north of the Yangtze River. Even if they are defeated, they still have to guard against the Jiangdu Army in the south of the Yangtze River, which is useless for him.
Only Sichuan is uniquely endowed with fertile soil. If we can conquer Chengdu and use Longshu as our foundation, we will have great potential in the future.
However, if he sent troops to conquer Chengdu, he was worried that Zhang and Zuo would attack from behind, so he could only prepare his troops and wait for the opportunity.
At this moment, Chengdu's Quanzhe couldn't bear it any longer. He gathered an army and stationed troops at the Great Buddha Temple in Jiading, hoping to seize Chongqing.
Ming Yuzhen was not surprised but overjoyed. He wished that Wan Zhe would come and attack him, so he immediately led his troops to station in Zi County, preparing for a decisive battle with Wan Zhe.
Each of the two families continues to gather troops, and the war is about to break out.
One night, a village leader named Niu Shanzhai came to the camp of Ming Yuzhen's general Wansheng. He only said that he admired Ming Yuzhen very much and wanted to submit to him.
Wansheng personally introduced the leader of Niu Shan Village to meet Ming Yuzhen, and Ming Yuzhen treated him with courtesy. The leader of Niu Shan Village was very grateful and offered a strategy to defeat the enemy.
It turns out that there is a small road in the mountains where Niushan Village is located, which can bypass the Great Buddha Temple and go straight to Jiading.
Jiading was the place where the Yuan army gathered grain. Only 10,000 troops were left to garrison, and the main army was gathered at the Great Buddha Temple.
As long as they can pass through this small road and attack Jiading by surprise, the Yuan army will be defeated without attacking.
Ming Yuzhen was so happy that she immediately adopted the strategy of the leader of Niu Shan Village and sent Wan Sheng to lead 20,000 troops to attack Jiading.
On the advice of counselor Liu Zhen, he personally led an army of 100,000 troops towards the Great Buddha Temple, creating an opportunity for Wan Sheng to attack Jiading.
As Ming Yuzhen took the initiative to attack, the Yuan army from the Great Buddha Temple slowly came over. The two armies were getting closer and closer, and were about to meet at Tieshan.
At this moment, news came from behind the Yuan army that Jiading was under attack.
Those who finished had to rush back with their troops to help, but Zhao Zi was firmly opposed to participating in politics!
At this time, Ming Yuzhen retreated in panic, and Ming Yuzhen's main force was bound to come from behind, and the Yuan army of more than 100,000 people would not be able to escape and be destroyed.
Zhao Zi had always had great prestige in Sichuan, but no one could defeat him, so he had to lead 30,000 people to rescue Jiading, leaving most of his troops to defend him.
After he led his troops to retreat, Ming Yuzhen indeed advanced with all his strength. Fortunately, Zhao Zi led the remaining troops to withstand Ming Yuzhen's frontal offensive.
On the other side, after being attacked by Wansheng, the Jiading defenders rushed into battle and the city was captured that night.
When Wan Sheng learned that Wan Zhedu led troops to come to the rescue, he ambushed his troops in the eastern suburbs of Jiading and defeated Wan Zhedu.
The entire army was wiped out, and they fled back to Chengdu with only a dozen cavalry.
After Jiading was captured, Zhao Zi was cut off and could only defend the Great Buddha Temple.
Just as Ming Yuzhen was leading the army to attack the Great Buddha Temple, she suddenly received news that Zhang Bixian and Zuo Junbi had attacked Chongqing Road from the rear and had reached Shaoqing.
In desperation, Ming Yuzhen had no choice but to lead her troops back to Chongqing to aid.
Shaoqing only had 5,000 garrison troops, and the garrison Zhang Bingwen was good at strategy and used a trick to delay the war for several days.
By the time Zhang Bixian and Zuo Junbi reacted, a group of cavalry under Ming Yuzhen had already rushed back to Shaoqing County.
Zhang Bixian and Zuo Junbi immediately attacked Shaoqing, but Ming Yuzhen's reinforcements continued to flow.
When Ming Yuzhen personally led the main force back to Shaoqing, the Chongqing army took the initiative to go out of the city to confront Zhang and the left coalition forces.
Zuo Junbi challenged Ming Yuzhen in front of the formation and wanted to decide the outcome. Ming Yuzhen ignored him and the whole army pressed forward. The two sides fought fiercely outside the city.
The battle lasted from morning to night. Zuo Junbi was so brave that he killed more than 20 generals under Ming Yuzhen.
The leader of Niu Shan Village who had just defected was good at blowing arrows. The sound of blowing arrows was silent and difficult to hear on the battlefield, and the arrows were coated with snake venom.
The leader of Niu Shan Village hid in the dark and fired three arrows in a row. The first two arrows hit Zuo Junbi's armor and were bounced away, but the third arrow hit Zuo Junbi and was inserted into the back of Zuo Junbi's neck.
After Zuo Junbi was attacked by a sneak attack, he fought hard for another quarter of an hour before he finally couldn't hold on any longer and fell off his horse. Fortunately, his own soldiers snatched him back.
When Zuo Junbi was injured, the morale of the Luzhou army was greatly reduced. The Zhangzuo coalition was quickly defeated and had no choice but to evacuate Chongqing.
Ming Yuzhen did not take advantage of the victory to pursue, but regrouped her troops and headed towards the Great Buddha Temple, hoping to seize the opportunity to capture Sichuan.
However, Zhao Zi of the Great Buddha Temple took advantage of the situation when Ming Yuzhen was restrained by Zhang Zuo's coalition forces and transformed the Great Buddha Temple into the Great Buddha Village, which was extremely tightly guarded.
When Ming Yuzhen attacked again, she was still unable to take down this barrier.
Just at this time, the scouts came with news that the Qingjin Army in northern Sichuan had heard about the defeat of the Yuan Army and actually attacked Chengdu directly.
None of them could defend the city, and Chengdu was invaded by the Qingjin Army.
After Li Xixi led the Green Turban Army into the city, they burned, killed, looted, and looted wantonly. Ming Yuzhen immediately sent Wan Sheng with 50,000 troops to attack Chengdu directly.
As soon as Wan Sheng's army arrived on the outskirts of Chengdu, Li Xixi fled from the north gate with the stolen gold and silver, food and weapons.
In the end, Wan Sheng captured the city of Chengdu without bloodshed and captured a large number of officials from Sichuan Province.
Among the captured officials was Zhao Zi’s wife.
Wansheng sent Zhao's wife to the Ming Yuzhen military camp.
Ming Yuzhen treated her with courtesy and said: "Mrs. Zhao, your husband Zhao Zi is a Han Chinese, why do you want to work for the Hulu? As long as you persuade him to surrender, I am willing to break the earth and make a marquis for General Zhao!"
Zhao’s wife promised.
The next day, when the two armies were fighting, Zhao's wife and her son rode a carriage to the foot of the Great Buddha Village and shouted to Zhao Zi: "General, I and my child were captured in Chengdu. I will treat you with courtesy. I hope the general will read."
The love we have for each other will save the lives of my mother and son!"
After finishing speaking, he cried loudly with his son.
Zhao Zi said sternly: "My family's third generation ancestor was ordered by Sheepskin. As a political lady, how dare you insult my family? What if you don't die?"
Picking up a bow and arrow, he shot his wife to death, and when he was about to kill his son as well, Ming Yuzhen hurriedly ordered someone to protect him with a shield.
Zhao Zi killed his wife in front of the formation, and many of his soldiers were dissatisfied with him.
When Ming Yuzhen attacked Dafo Village that day, the soldiers were less determined than before. Buddha Village fell, Zhao Zi fled, and Sichuan fell into Ming Yuzhen's hands.