The weather was very hot in June of the second year of Chongzhen. Chongzhen seemed to have suffered from a stroke and was confused. He had just finished the morning court and suddenly ordered the palace guards to be gathered. Who were they trying to arrest? The Donglin Party members quickly sent out secret investigators from the household department.
Tao Shangshu sneaked into the palace, and soon the most reliable news came out. The emperor was suffering from convulsions, and he wanted to replace all the people who had been brought out from Prince Xin's Mansion. The scholars breathed a sigh of relief.
He can change those few troops as he wants, and just don't touch our Beijing camp again!
"Xiao Aiqing, don't embarrass me when you go to Luoyang!" In the Forbidden City, Emperor Chongzhen, the initiator of all this, was warning the commander of his personal bodyguards with a serious face.
"Wei Chen will definitely not disappoint the emperor. It's just that Wei Chen is gone..." There were not many trustworthy personal guards around Chongzhen. After returning from the expedition to Liaodong, most of them were sent out to secretly implement the new supervision system.
To lay the foundation, although three battalions were obtained from Zhu Youcong, the number of guards in the palace was still the smallest in history. Xiao Changlin was afraid that if he left again, there would be no one to protect the emperor.
"It's okay. I have asked Sun Chengzong and Lu Xiangsheng to allocate two battalions each to replace you. They will arrive tomorrow!" Chongzhen had long been salivating over the new army, but he had been struggling to find excuses to ask for people. Now he is like this
Can he really lose himself when he has a good opportunity?
"I have seen your Majesty!" As she was speaking, Queen Zhou came in surrounded by a large group of palace maids. However, today's battle was larger than usual, and there were hundreds of people behind her.
"Queen, you came just in time! How is the thing I asked you to do?" It was really embarrassing for Chongzhen to do this thing by himself, but it was justifiable if it was replaced by the empress who was responsible for taking care of the emperor's housework.
"Replying to Your Majesty, I have carefully selected six hundred maids to be responsible for the miscellaneous tasks..." Empress Zhou was able to complete the task so smoothly. She really has to thank those ministers from the foreign dynasties. Not long after Chongzhen came to the throne, the world was in a state of chaos.
It was not peaceful. Most of the maids working in the palace were left behind during the Apocalypse period. Those who were so beautiful and were sent to do rough work were basically from the common people and had nothing to do with Shilin.
"Then let them prepare and set off with Xiao Aiqing." Emperor Chongzhen was still very busy. Anyway, he only had to send people there. The little fat man should be responsible for the rest, and he would just wait to pick the fruits.
A month later, when sisters Zhang Yan saw those weak women who had been screened from the palace and passed strict family background checks on the school grounds, they really could not imagine that the selection turned out to be so cruel.
"Brother Cong, can you let them have a rest?" The little fairy finally understood why she tried her best to get Zhu Youcong to agree that she would also come and mess around. The first level of selection was replaced by
She would definitely not be able to bear it.
"Sister Zu'e, how long has it been now?" Zhu Youcong was not willing to come here to torture these poor and weak women, but he suddenly discovered a very serious problem during his conversation with Zhang Yan some time ago. There were several unlucky people in Ming Dynasty.
The emperor was murdered in the palace! And now there is a time traveler over there with the Tatars. What if they want to join forces with the lurking Han Jian to carry out a beheading operation? It's easy to say during the day, but at night you can't let it happen
A group of grown men followed Chongzhen to meet the concubines?
"It's been two hours! Husband, do you think..." Zhang Yan couldn't stand it anymore. She couldn't bear to sit under the parasol on such a hot day, but those people had been standing there since noon.
Under the scorching sun.
"Xiao Changlin, let these maids go to rest first, and the guards will disperse after half an hour. We will continue tomorrow!" Zhu Youcong was unable to afford a strong guard team for the emperor, but after all, he still knew the need for a qualified guard.
What kind of quality? Now that Chongzhen has given it to people, he only needs to choose the best among them. As for the little things like training, it depends on who is unlucky and who will do it!
After three consecutive days, this fool-like punishment of standing was finally over, and the selection results surprised Zhu Youcong. Forget about the guards, after all, they were all doing this, and they didn't even have this ability.
What are you doing? What is unexpected is that among the six hundred palace maids, only dozens of them were eliminated. After asking about it again, I was relieved. Don’t think that you can be popular and drink spicy food after entering the palace. These beautiful women have no backing
The days that folk women lived were even more miserable than training. For them, being punished by standing in a blazing sun was the easiest thing. Being beaten and scolded at every turn was commonplace, and it was not uncommon for them to lose their lives inexplicably.
"Sister Yao Ling, do you think the person we have seen these days is Empress Zhang?" A little palace maid in the female soldier camp was chatting quietly with the sister next to her, stroking her sore legs.
"This...I didn't see clearly either!" The woman named Yao Ling entered the palace earlier. She knew very well that there were too many secrets in the palace and she could not talk about it at will.
"Number 21, come out!" The door was suddenly pushed open, and Zhu Youcong appeared at the door with a group of fierce military police.
"Slave... I have seen... I have seen the general!" The little palace maid whose name was called was the one she was chatting with just now. When she saw these livid-faced men in front of her, she had a premonition that she was in big trouble.
"Do you still remember the military order issued by this general on the first day you arrived?" Zhu Youcong's face still showed no emotion and anger, and his words were cold and bone-chilling.
"General, have mercy! General, have mercy! I am wrong, I will never dare to do it again..." The little palace maid then remembered that on the first day, this seemingly kind-hearted little general had already told anyone in private about the palace or training.
will be punished with death.
"Drag her out! Cut her off!" Zhu Youcong did not give her a chance to continue begging for mercy. Seeing the poor little palace maid being pulled out, he said to the trembling ladies in the room: "Remember, you will be the emperor's in the future.
Personal bodyguards will have the opportunity to come into contact with secrets related to the survival of our Ming Dynasty, so I ask you to remember your duty at all times and don’t say a word that you shouldn’t say!”
When they gathered again the next day, hundreds of people had disappeared from the selection. Everyone stared at the little fat man in front of them with fear. They didn't know that the person who was dragged out last night was not killed, but was arranged.
Go to another heavily guarded place. Like all those eliminated, they will wait for an unexpected decision.
In the following days, these survivors finally saw what real torture was. Various blows came one after another, not only physical, but also spiritual. They were picked up from their sleep and thrown into the open space in the middle of the night.
It’s the easiest thing to face being stabbed with wooden spearheads from all directions. I’m used to being hit by a crossbow arrow without an arrow that comes from nowhere when I’m eating. I’m even used to being dragged to the execution ground and faced with live ammunition.
They are no longer afraid of the baptism, and now they just hope to end the assessment as soon as possible.
"Today is the last test! After passing this test, you will officially join this special force and receive formal training! But before that, I want you to meet some people first!" After saying that, Zhu Youcong said to the people beside him.
The man ordered: "Bring them up!"
Hey, isn't this sister Xiaotao? Didn't she let the general kill her? Yao Ling couldn't believe his eyes, and everyone in the audience also found their old friends among the people who were brought out.
What's going on? This little fat guy has been scaring us before? Then are we suffering all this in vain?
Zhu Youcong pointed to those who were eliminated and said: "Do you all know these people? They were eliminated for various reasons. Today they will return to their long-awaited hometowns after receiving a large sum of severance pay...
"
"General, are you telling the truth?" Xiaotao has almost collapsed after being locked up in that mysterious place for the past few days. She has thought about countless endings for herself, but she just didn't expect it to be like this. Go home? Go back to that place.
Is there a home that my parents have been longing for? This is what I have been longing for since the day I entered the palace!
"Why should I lie to you?" Zhu Youcong said with a smile: "They say that when young people leave home, they will return home. Although you are not old yet, you have already suffered so much in the palace, and you have been frightened here for so many days.
Son. Now I will give each of you two hundred taels of silver. You go home and live a good life. If you really have no home to go back to, just make a home here in Luoyang."
"Thank you, General! Thank you, General!" The eliminated people kowtowed repeatedly, but no one dared to get up and walk out, let alone collect the money. They had seen this kind of thing many times in the palace, who knew this town
Will General Guo take advantage of people like him and stab him in the back when their backs are turned?
"Take it! Go home and honor your parents!" Zhu Youcong stuffed a package full of silver into Xiao Tao's hand and said: "I would have killed you long ago, why waste time acting here? The gate is now open
In front of you, walk with confidence!"
"Thank you, General, for your great kindness, my slave..." Think about it, if a general who holds a powerful army to conquer the country wants to kill him, wouldn't it be like squeezing an ant to death? Xiao Tao bravely stood up and slowly walked towards
Go to the door.
Seeing Xiao Tao walk out of the camp unscathed, the group in charge of security showed no intention of chasing after them, and the eliminated people slowly got up and prepared to leave.
"Now I give you a choice, either leave with them, or continue to accept the final selection here!" In fact, this is Zhu Youcong's last question. Only the people with the strongest will and willing to stay are what he needs.
.
"Aren't you going to leave? I'll give you the last quarter of an hour to think about it!" The eliminated people all left, and nearly a hundred people who were standing in the audience followed them out of the door. Zhu Youcong didn't even blink.
For a moment. He didn't even tell those people to keep secrets, because there are really no secrets here now.
A quarter of an hour passed quickly, and the people in the audience still did not move. They told Zhu Youcong their final choice with firm eyes.
"Very good! Thank you for choosing to stay!" Zhu Youcong nodded with satisfaction. He thought it would be good to keep three achievements after many rounds of screening, but he didn't expect that there were half. "The next training will be more rigorous, and
No one knows what kind of adversities and dangers you will face in the future, but I want you to guard my great emperor at all times. Even if one of you can breathe, you can't let the emperor be harmed in any way.
From now on, all of you, regardless of gender, will have only one common title - Shadow Guard!"