"Your Majesty Qin Lihua, Ma Wannian, bow to my emperor, long live my emperor!"
"Kowtow to the imperial concubine, the empress is a thousand years old!"
"The two beauties are equal!"
"Please sit down!"
"Thank you, Your Majesty."
Qin Lihua was in her thirties, also dressed as a military general, while Ma Wannian was only fourteen years old. After the aunt and nephew thanked each other, they carefully sat down on the small stool, both looking nervous and embarrassed.
"General Qin, is Old General Qin still in good health?"
"Thank you for your concern, Your Majesty. Returning to Your Majesty, my aunt is old and her old injuries have recurred. She is now bedridden."
Qin Lihua answered truthfully, with a sad tone.
"Alas! The old general of Qin was a woman who was loyal to the country. He fought for decades and made great achievements. More than ten children of the Qin and Ma families died on the battlefield for our Ming Dynasty. He is actually a model for the family of military generals and a role model for all generals.
…”
Zhu Cixi said with some emotion that compared to the so-called nobles of the Ming Dynasty, although the Qin and Ma families were chieftains, they were more like nobles who were separated from the country.
From the time when Qin Liangyu took charge of his husband's duties during the Wanli period to the time when he ascended the throne, he has gone through five dynasties. For decades, he has led the white-armed soldiers to suppress rebellions and resist slave establishment, and there have been hundreds of major and minor battles.
During this period, his two younger brothers, his son, his daughter-in-law, and a nephew died in battle one after another. Tens of thousands of white-armed soldiers died in the battle. They were really loyal to the family.
Thinking of the fact that this old general died with hatred in history, Zhu Cixiang was also filled with regret. He wanted to recruit her to the capital for retirement, but he was worried that she would not be able to withstand the bumpy journey. After all, she was 70 years old this year.
"General Qin, Old General Qin is old. I want you to serve as the chief military officer of the Eighth Town. We will recruit fifty thousand troops in Shizhu. You only need to follow the new establishment. As for daily drills and equipment, you can continue to follow the original white regiment.
They will be trained in the manner of pole soldiers. From now on, military salaries and pensions will be the same as those in each town, all allocated by the imperial court."
The white pole soldiers are good at mountain warfare. In the future, whether they are conquering the chieftains in the southwest or encircling and suppressing Zhang Xianzhong, they will be unable to do without the support of the white pole soldiers. Therefore, Zhu Cixiang does not intend to interfere with their training and tactics, as long as they follow the new military system and rank.
.
"Thank you for your majesty's respect and trust. I will never give up!"
Qin Lihua did not expect that His Majesty would not only allow her to expand the number of white-armed soldiers to fifty thousand, but would also allocate all military pay and pensions, so she knelt down and bowed excitedly.
If my aunt had 50,000 soldiers and horses, how could she be defeated by Xian's thieves and eventually let them attack Sichuan.
"Okay! General Qin will not give up his country, and the old general Qin has a successor. I will hand over the eighth town to you. As for Ma Aiqing, he can stay in the military academy temporarily to study. If the Qin and Ma families have suitable children, they can also
It is recommended to come to Beijing to take the assessment.”
Zhu Cihong nodded, Qin Liangyu was already old, his two grandchildren were still young, and the other nephew was not of much use, so it was actually his niece Qin Lihua who was leading the army and taking care of Shizhu's affairs.
Now it is justifiable for her to serve as the chief military officer of the Eighth Town. As for Qin Liangyu asking her to serve as a small general military officer again, it is definitely not appropriate.
After all, although she is a prostitute, in terms of qualifications, no one can compare to her, and not many people can compare to her in terms of military exploits.
When they led troops to fight, Wu Sangui, Zhou Yuji and others were probably still wearing crotchless pants.
Although the aunt and nephew had just arrived in the capital, they now understood what it meant to be a student of the Royal Academy, so they both knelt down and thanked them again in excitement.
Zhu Cixiang reassured them with kind words for a while before letting the two of them retreat.
"Your Majesty, this old General Qin is really a strange woman. It's a pity that we never have the opportunity to meet her. It's a real pity!" The red lady couldn't help but sigh, obviously she admired Qin Liangyu very much in her heart.
"Yes, why don't I want to meet this old general who fought for the Ming Dynasty all his life?"
"Your Majesty, please go see them off."
Looking at the backs of the two of them, the red lady suddenly said, obviously she was very fond of Qin Lihua, who was also a woman, and wanted to get close to her.
"That's fine!"
Zhu Cixiang smiled and nodded, knowing that she had found a soulmate and wanted to have a good chat with Qin Lihua.
The red lady was so happy that she immediately chased Qin Lihua out, and finally brought Qin Lihua to the imperial concubine's house. The two chatted until late at night, and then slept together on the same bed.
The next day, early in the morning.
Zhu Cixi held the investiture ceremony in the Imperial Palace.
Although military ranks can be roughly distinguished based on the style of military uniforms, Zhu Cixiang still developed a set of detailed signs for differentiation.
That is, each person will have a rank plate directly in front of his helmet, and a groove will be reserved on the forehead of the helmet for inserting the rank plate.
The military rank plate is three fingers wide and one finger long. Not only does it not look out of place when inserted on the helmet, it is also very beautiful and adds a touch of domineering.
There are four types of military rank cards. Ordinary soldiers have wooden ones painted with blue paint. Sergeants have five red lines on them, corporals have four lines on them, left soldiers have three lines on them, right soldiers have two lines on them, veterans have one line on them, and recruits have none.
Officers at the rank of colonel have a black iron plate, with one red bar for a major, two for a lieutenant colonel, and three for a colonel.
The rank plates of generals are made of sterling silver. Major generals are inlaid with one pure gold six-pointed star, lieutenant generals have two stars, senior generals have three stars, and senior generals have four stars.
The Grand Marshal rank plate is made of gold, with only a golden dragon on it.
With such a rank plate worn on the helmet, even an ordinary soldier who cannot read a single word can distinguish the rank of the other party at a glance.
At this moment, Zhu Cixiang was wearing his exclusive golden armor, with a gold medal on his head, conferring titles on all the generals one by one, and all the generals also put on new armor uniforms and helmets.
The first person to be awarded the title was naturally the Red Lady. The Red Lady was dressed in silver-white armor and knelt down on one knee in front of Zhu Cixiang. Zhu Cixiang picked up the silver medal symbolizing the rank of general from the tray on the side and inserted it into her helmet.
in the groove.
After the red lady gave the ceremony, everyone thought it was Wu Sangui's turn. Even Wu Sangui himself was ready to step forward. Who would have thought that the name the eunuch who was preside over the ceremony read out was Qin Liangyu.
What shocked everyone even more was that His Majesty not only awarded Qin Liangyu the rank of General and the title of General of Jinguo, but also made her a Marquis of Zhongzhen, a First-grade Lady, and a Crown Prince.
Of course, the most shocking thing is that His Majesty actually named her the Right Governor of the Grand Governor's Mansion, a position that all military generals covet to death.
Although everyone knew that this was probably a false position, because Qin Liangyu was over seventy years old and could not come to the capital to take up the post, they were still surprised.
They all felt uncomfortable because the governor's left and right governors were all women. How could this make everyone feel uncomfortable?
But neither Qin Liangyu, nor the Red Lady, nor even Wu Sangui can say that they are not qualified.
The civilian officials on the side obviously saw the thoughts of the generals, and they all looked gloating about their misfortune.
The person who came to accept the canonization and title for Qin Liangyu was her grandson Ma Wannian. At this moment, he was kneeling on the ground holding the armor, military rank plate, canonization edict, alchemy iron scroll, general seal, right governor seal, etc. He was also excited all over his body.
Trembling.
Qin Lihua on the side also had tears in her eyes. She couldn't imagine how excited her aunt would be after learning this.
The third one was finally Wu Sangui's turn, followed by four generals including Zhou Yuji, Huang Degong and Ying Gong.
Then there were eight lieutenant generals, and finally there were hundreds of major generals, but there was not even a single senior general.
As for lieutenants and ordinary soldiers, they are awarded by the chief officers of each army on behalf of the emperor.
