Four or five months after returning to the capital since the expedition, Xiao Xuan was actually a little tired of the busy months. Looking back on the past year and a half, I have always spent the past year and a half coping with crises and working hard to develop the strength of the barracks. A person who was not very diligent and resolute in the first place had to become resolute and industrious under the oppression of form, but that was not his nature after all, when the strength in his hands seemed to be sufficient to protect himself, and the newly formed battalions were also put on the right track. Xiao Xuan made the last adjustment of the name of the establishment. The original Guards Battalion and Brave Guard Battalion were reorganized into the Guards Brigade and the Brave Guards Brigade. The newly established 18 brigades were changed to the 1st to 9th Guards Brigades and even the 1st to 9th Guards Brigades. The original brigades and squadrons were officially replaced with the names of battalions and companies. Of course, it doesn't take much experience to simply change the name without changing the organizational structure.

After these things were done, Xiao Xuan's time to inspect the various military camps was slightly shortened, and the time to practice martial arts was not as long as before. At least after dark, you still have plenty of free time.

Xiao Xuan is not a person who is determined and tenacious like many other protagonists in the late Ming Dynasty, and has very strong self-control. After all, when people observe the characters in the book, they often expect more from others than they actually can afford. For example, if there is a protagonist who cowers on the battlefield, is so frightened that he can't even speak, he will not be appreciated or even understood by most readers. It seems that the real protagonist should be as brave and decisive as a well-known general. It would be even less understandable if there was a weaker person in modern urban or campus texts who compromised in the face of the threat of a rogue ruffian hand-to-hand fight.

And if Xiao Xuan is under normal circumstances, he is obviously not a hero with strong self-control. Since March of the second year of Chongzhen, all preparations for the expansion of the army seem to have been completed. In their spare time, they went to the Forbidden City to look for flowers and willows among the women, and they became more and more frequent.

Although the quality of the women in the harem in the old days was not as terrifying and bad as that of the late Qing Dynasty or modern Iran, based on Xiao Xuan's perspective of various modern film and television advertisements and even beauty economic makeup shows and books before Xiao Xuan's time travel, most of them are not much better than the median of school girls in first- and second-tier towns after the 80s and 90s, who are well-nourished. At most, it belongs to the kind of dinosaurs that don't have spicy eyes or crooked melons and cracked dates. This is still the result of screening and eliminating many people. In fact, it is not difficult to understand that in this era of long-term poverty and labor for most people, and even the closure of clans and regions, the "beauties" of the modern minimum standard are simply rare, and such people will definitely be monopolized by grassroots ghosts, snakes, and gods like Huang Shiren. How can there be many people who are really top-notch in the palace when they are sent to the palace to choose a concubine?

Of course, there are special cases, such as those teenage girls selected by Xiao Xuan's side who have not yet developed, and several of them are very beautiful. It's just that when he is too young, Xiao Xuan, who was born in modern times, always has a sense of guilt.

Ke Yinyue is also a person who has gotten rid of the routine of choosing concubines in the palace and is very in line with modern aesthetic standards, but now Ke Yinyue seems to have aged a few years since she was born last year, and she no longer has even the minimum standard of "charm still exists". Women in their early forties may still be able to win, but the attractiveness of women in their forties to men at the age of menopause has plummeted if they are not maintained by makeup.

Now, in the entire old palace, the only one who makes Xiao Xuan a little favored in his heart is the Empress Dowager of Ming Xi Zong Yi'an. In the past, Xiao Xuan still had a little worry in his heart, after all, something like Yang Guang would still have a slight impact on the political image required by his imperial power. But when he plans to be a modern totalitarian tyrant, this concern is weakened a lot, and the only consideration is only from a more or less moral sense of modern people.

But just when Xiao Xuan began to mess with flowers and grass in the old palace and was somewhat boring in just a few days, the Empress Dowager Yi'an, who still lived in Ciqing Palace, sent a palace maid to see Xiao Xuan in the old palace very abruptly, saying that there was something she wanted to tell her.

Somehow, the decision of Zhang Yan, the still young Empress Dowager Yi'an, gave Xiao Xuan a faint vigilance. Because in her own impression, Zhang Yan should not be this kind of person who can easily deviate. And this kind of thing happened not long after the "Human Declaration", which made Xiao Xuan have to wonder in his heart: is there someone who plans to collude with Zhang Yan to "kill relatives and eliminate harm for the people".

Since the army returned to the division, except for Wang Chengen himself, even if it is Wang Chengen's cronies, the number of services by Xiao Xuan's side has been greatly reduced. After a year or so of tests, especially on the battlefield, more and more teenagers who could be sure that there was no big suspicion and that they were innocent from low-level families were selected to be by Xiao Xuan's side to be responsible for food and daily life.

There is no doubt that if some people around him are traditional, even some girls around Zhou Yufeng, they are likely to fail because of the immaturity and unreliability of those people. Zhang Yan seems to many people to be at least a mature and decisive person, and she will never regret what she promises.

Thinking of this, Xiao Xuan also added a lot of caution, and did not take the initiative to go to Ciqing Palace after all, but directly let Zhang Yan take advantage of the hazy night to come to the Qianqing Palace, which he had been tightly controlled before.

When Zhang Yan saw Xiao Xuan, her expression was not abnormal, natural and frank. In the beauty and refinement, it gives people a sense of righteousness and righteousness, as if this kind of dignified and national woman is completely different from conspiracy and trickery.

Xiao Xuan, who has always been very vigilant, had no intention of sleeping with the suspect at this time, and asked in the same businesslike: "I heard that the Queen Mother knows that there is another secret vault, and there is private wealth equivalent to about one million taels of silver buried?" ”

"It's not just the private wealth of one million taels of silver, the mourning family also knows: after the explosion of Wang Gongchang before, a lot of sulfur transported into the palace has not been destroyed. At that time, the Emperor of the Apocalypse planned to assemble a pro-army like His Majesty, but for some reason, just after transporting a lot of raw materials for gunpowder, various accidents began to occur in many places. Later, after Wang Gongchang's punishment, no one dared to fight such an idea anymore... ”

"Thank you to the Queen Mother for telling me bluntly. In the future, I will also be grateful to the Queen Mother... Xiao Xuan's expectations were also very indifferent, and there seemed to be no implication.

To Xiao Xuan's surprise, Zhang Yan didn't seem to have any excessive hints at this time.

However, when Xiao Xuan really followed the information provided by Zhang Yan, from a deserted courtyard cellar not far from Wang Gong's factory, at least tens of thousands of catties of sulfur and at least about seven or eight hundred thousand taels of silver, his suspicion of Zhang Yan was discounted a lot.

(End of chapter)