After saving the Empress, I became the top scholar in the imperial examination.

On March 14th, the weather was sunny and the warm breeze was pleasant.

The woman stood on the steps in front of the Qianqing Palace, touched her lower abdomen, and her face glowed with a rosy hue.

Two months have passed since the child's father went north to the old capital to serve as an envoy to the Northern Dynasty.

The baby in her belly has grown a bit bigger.

I'm more than three months pregnant, and although it's not very noticeable yet, I asked Dr. Jiang, and she said it will start to show in about a month.

For the past two weeks, I've been feeling much less weak, less nauseous, and eating more. My mother and brother are relieved.

Before she was pregnant, she could review memorials for hours on end without feeling tired. But after she became pregnant, she had to take a short rest every half hour.

Later on, even glancing at a few memorials made him feel dizzy.

After several months of gritting my teeth, I finally managed to slowly persevere. Now, I'm back to the point where I have to take a break after reviewing papers for half an hour.

The woman touched her lower abdomen with mixed feelings, sometimes hoping that the baby inside would move around more, and sometimes worrying that the baby wouldn't bother her too much.

The wind rustled through the branches.

"Your Majesty, everything is ready."

A deep, gentle voice came from ahead.

Wearing a round-necked red official robe with a bull-patterned badge on the chest, the eunuch Wang Bing silently approached the steps and bowed to her.

The empress, who was slightly lost in thought outside the palace, nodded, her voice cool and clear:

"Are you all here?"

Wang Bing nodded and said, "Li Dahei from the New Weapons Bureau and Xu Tong from the Embroidered Uniform Guard are already at the Fengtian Hall Square. Jiang Luzhi, the General of Jiangpu Army, Shen Yue, the General of Liuhe Army, and General Fan of the Yongwei Battalion have all arrived, each bringing their respective quartermasters. The officials from the Five Military Commissions, the Ministry of Revenue, the Ministry of War, the Ministry of Personnel, and the Ministry of Works have also arrived, as have the officials from the Weapons Bureau and Eunuch Hong from the Armory Bureau. Lord Yan Yuqing and I, along with Your Majesty, have prepared everything according to His Majesty's orders."

Zhu Cuiwei nodded and replied calmly:

"it is good."

She then stepped down the stairs.

Chunyu, a maidservant of the eighth rank, was carrying a mink coat, while Qiumu, a ninth-rank concubine, was carrying a hand warmer. Led by two stern-faced senior palace maids, a dozen or so eunuchs and palace maids followed behind His Majesty in a grand procession.

They went together to Fengtian Hall.

The square in front of the Fengtian Hall was now filled with officials dressed in red and green.

The two army commanders and several generals who came from Jiangpu and Liuhe were not wearing armor today, but only their red official robes.

The commanders of the four major battalions of the Beijing Garrison, the Brave Guard Battalion, the Five Armies Battalion, the Divine Machine Battalion, and the Divine Pivot Battalion, who were stationed in the capital, were all present.

among them.

The Brave Guard Battalion, numbering ten thousand, is the elite of the Liang army, comprising seven thousand infantry and three thousand cavalry, all handpicked warriors.

All personnel were equipped with firearms, and the cavalry were all equipped with three-barreled muskets.

In contrast, the once glorious Fifth Army Battalion, after several purges of ghost soldiers and reductions in old and weak soldiers, now has only 8,000 men left. It is considered the city's garrison and is not capable of fighting outside the city.

The Divine Pivot Battalion was originally a battalion of three thousand men, entirely composed of cavalry. Now, however, it only commands a little over a thousand men and serves merely as the emperor's ceremonial guard during his daily travels.

The Shenji Battalion still had more than two thousand men left.

However, with firearms now widespread throughout the army, the Shenji Battalion is now only responsible for maintaining the city's defensive firearms and the artillery defenses along the Yangtze River for over a hundred miles in Nanjing.

Jiang Luzhi's Jiangpu Army, under the command of General Jiang, comprised 30,000 soldiers, including 15,000 infantry, 5,000 cavalry, and 10,000 naval troops, and commanded hundreds of warships of various sizes.

The Liuhe Army was equally formidable, commanding a total of 20,000 soldiers. Among them were 13,000 infantry, 2,000 cavalry, and 5,000 naval troops stationed in Zhenjiang.

The Yongwei, Jiangpu, and Liuhe battalions are all combat troops, the most elite and powerful armies of the Great Liang.

In addition, there were 10,000 troops from Yunhu Camp, 20,000 troops from Jiujiang Camp, and 10,000 troops from Chizhou Army along the Yangtze River, guarding the coastal defense line from Jiujiang to Nanjing.

The Governor-General's Office of Huguang had 50,000 men under its jurisdiction to guard Wuchang Prefecture.

The Sichuan Governor-General's Office had 40,000 men under its jurisdiction to garrison Chongqing Prefecture.

It controls the entire Yangtze River.

Warships and artillery were deployed along the entire river, in coordination with the Jiangpu and Liuhe battalions.

Once the Northern Court crosses the river, the Jiangpu and Liuhe battalions will advance and threaten Huainan.

However, apart from the Yongwei, Jiangpu, and Liuhe battalions, the other battalions were a mixture of garrison soldiers and recruits, and their combat strength could not be compared with the three battalions.

Moreover, although the imperial court changed the inspection cycle from once every five years to once every two years, the practice of various military units receiving salaries without working continued unabated, and the city of Nanjing was filled with anxiety every single day.

on the square.

There are many officials.

Military officers now hold a much higher status than civil officials, a position that was previously held by civil officials.

However, this only applies to military officers not having to kowtow to civil officials; it does not mean that military officers can ride roughshod over civil officials.

No matter how chaotic the world becomes, they will not allow the Great Liang to fall into the chaos of the Five Dynasties, watching generals lead beasts to devour people, and the people suffer.

The person in charge here is Yan Yuqing, the commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard.

The old woman had a bad temper, but was deeply trusted by His Majesty, so everyone treated her with deference, and there was not much noise in the room filled with hundreds of high-ranking officials.

However, the positions of the various halls, departments, and armies still had a distinct sense of separation.

The military officers, led by General Fan Shiwei of the Brave Guard Battalion, mostly stood on the left side of the square.

The civil officials, led by the ministers of various departments, stood on the right side of the square.

As for the officials of the Five Military Commands and the Ministry of War who were caught in the middle, fortunately, Yan Yuqing had spoken up and summoned these ten or so people to the left side of the square in front of it.

In front of the square.

Looking to the right from the left side where the Five Armies Commandery was located.

Three long tables were arranged in a row.

At the first long table was Cao Du, the Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of Works.

Lord Cao, who stood firm in the imperial palace to prevent the Grand Prince Consort from committing murder, has earned unanimous praise from both the court and the public over the past two months. It is said:

"A common man's courage could divide the north and south, but fortunately, Cao Cao saved the day."

Even at the Northern Dynasty's embassy, ​​both Da Chun and Ni Long sent gifts to Cao Cao, praising him as "exceptionally wise and brave, capable of turning the tide. His virtue is comparable to that of Confucius and Mencius, and his benevolence is such that he does not shy away from his teachers."

When Da Chun went to court to plead his case, he even sneered, "If it weren't for Lord Cao, I would have thought that your court was full of vulgar commoners!"

If the Grand Prince Consort were to succeed in his crime and kill Hongfeng in court, not only would the current favorable situation of the alliance between the North and the South be lost, but it wouldn't be an exaggeration for the Northern Emperor to be furious and send troops the next day.

Fortunately, Cao Gong intervened and grabbed Prince Hongfeng's collar, thus preventing a disaster.

Standing next to Cao Du was Yu Xun, the ambassador of the Ordnance Bureau.

Behind Yu Xun stood a group of twenty or thirty master craftsmen from the gunpowder workshop, firearms workshop, armor factory, bow and arrow workshop, and other military equipment under the Ministry of Works and the Ordnance Bureau.

Among the firearms workshop, Qi Shan, the master craftsman, was the best, followed by Yu Bai.

The second long table.

A slightly overweight eunuch named Hong Wei, who had been squinting, was in charge.

This is the platform of the Armory Bureau.

The Bureau of Armory was responsible for making weapons for the generals of the Han Dynasty, the imperial guards, and the Embroidered Uniform Guard. It was the head of the eight bureaus of the Imperial Household Department and the royal "workshop".

Hong Wei, with his slightly protruding belly and hands behind his back, was the chief eunuch of the Bureau of Armory, holding the rank of fourth grade, and wearing a round-necked scarlet robe.