It is not a trivial matter for the emperor to go on patrol, and the most important of them is the safety of the way. Don't look at Sima Shu's prestige in China, but there are still many people who want his life, so he doesn't dare to relax his security at all.

In order to protect the emperor's safety, the Privy Council mobilized 10,000 elite guards to accompany him, while the navy dispatched 15 warships. In addition to these, every palace for His Majesty to rest along the way was responsible for tens of thousands of troops and government soldiers sent by the envoys of various festivals.

Although the emperor handed over most of the government affairs to the cabinet during his tour, there were still some major events that Sima Shu needed to deal with. Therefore, under the condition of ensuring the normal operation of the imperial court's government affairs, Sima Shu will transfer some officials to accompany him, among which Pei Wei, the second assistant of the cabinet, has become the luckiest of the cabinet ministers.

Many ministers wanted to accompany the emperor on his southern tour, after all, it was an honor to be selected by the emperor to accompany him, but in the end, in addition to Pei Wei and some young officials, Sima Shu only asked Jia Mo, the director of the Li Fan Division, to select some capable personnel from the Li Fan Division to accompany him.

After arranging the affairs in the court, Sima Shu turned his attention to the harem. Although this southern tour was under the banner of inspecting Jiangdong's government affairs, Sima Shu himself knew that he just wanted to go to the south to play, so of course he hoped that his concubines could go.

It's just that Sima Shu knows that this is a bit unrealistic, at least it is impossible for the queen Wang Huifeng to leave Beijing, and the emperor must at least have a master in Beijing. At this time, in the queen's bedroom, Emperor Sima Shu was discussing with the queen about going on patrol.

"Queen, after I leave, the affairs inside and outside the palace will be handed over to you. Outside, there are Meng Sun and others to deal with it, and Concubine Ai only needs to do a good job of supervision. As long as the cabinet does not violate the laws of the imperial court, the concubine cannot interfere. In the event of an emergency, the concubine can quickly adjust the northern and southern armies to defend the palace, this is the troop transfer talisman, you take it! Remember: you must not give it to anyone without My will! Sima Shu explained in a serious tone to Wang Huifeng, she still has a lot of trust in the queen Sima Shu, she definitely stands firm, and she can also distinguish the importance.

"The concubine understands!" Wang Huifeng silently took the talisman handed to him by Sima Shu. Of course, she understood that this was just a precautionary measure. Her chances of being able to use the talisman may not be as great as the Emperor's assassination on the way. But sometimes things do need to be arranged in advance.

"Well, I'm still very relieved about the queen, it's a shame that I can't take my concubine on patrol this time, and I'll have a chance in the future. I will definitely make up for my concubine! Sima Shu did feel that he owed something to the queen in this matter. Especially when most of the concubines in the palace go on patrol with His Majesty. Just leaving the queen, this is probably the so-called higher the status, the greater the responsibility.

Following. Under the leadership of the queen, this time it has been determined that the concubines who will follow His Majesty's southern tour will all come to the queen mother's bedroom, preparing to pay to the queen mother. Xingqing Palace has not had such a lively thing for a long time, and the concubines, palace maids, and chamberlains have gathered all over the house. Everyone knows that His Majesty honors the Queen Mother, so even the concubines who were not selected to leave the palace came.

Because the emperor was not there, the palace concubines were also very lively when they laughed, and Concubine Pei Jin said to the queen mother: "Queen Mother, this day has passed so fast, in the blink of an eye, this year has actually passed." ”

The Empress Dowager smacked her lips: "Yes, more than ten years have passed somehow, the mourning family and the emperor only know how to enjoy the blessings in the harem every day, and they also cultivate their self-cultivation, and this time slipped past by their side with a sigh, why didn't the mourning family notice the change at all?" ”

This old lady's cultivation has really reached a certain level, and a sentence suddenly popped out of Concubine Deyang's mind: "There is no Jiazi in the mountains, and the cold does not know the year", she smiled slightly: "That is the queen mother's mind is used in the affairs of the emperor, when people are busy with things, they just can't feel that life is coming quickly." ”

At this time, Concubine Wang Huiying also sighed: "Don't talk about this year, when I saw those little girls who had just entered the palace, the former concubine suddenly remembered the situation when she entered the palace by herself, how many years has it been?" ”

Concubine De sat close to her, stretched out her hand and pushed her: "As far as you think too much, I see that you are all right, so you are cranky." ”

Concubine Hui clapped her hands and said: "Exactly, others are so busy that they forget the time, you are so idle that you missed the hour." It's really a person who doesn't have to worry about it, the third prince has entered the hall, his grades are very good, and he usually has the queen mother to teach you, so you don't have to worry about it as a mother, doesn't it just make you idle? ”

The empress dowager's sense of amazement because of her previous words was immediately dispersed by several daughters-in-law, and she pondered: "It seems that the mourning family is too idle. ”

Everyone rolled their eyes in their hearts, you are really too idle to do something.

Everyone laughed once, and the concubines didn't dare to interject, basically the queen and the concubines accompanied the queen mother to joke, their status was slightly lower, and they couldn't help but make fun of people with higher status than themselves in person, so they could only listen with a smile, and expand the smile on their faces when the concubines laughed in a timely manner.

"Concubine Xian, in two days, you will follow Your Majesty on a southern tour, and you must take care of Your Majesty on the way, and you must not let Your Majesty contract any diseases! Bring more good medicine in the palace, it's better to use it than to use things outside! In addition, the mourning family also has some things here, and you will all take them with you later! Soon everyone's topic shifted to this southern tour, the empress dowager still didn't worry about Sima Shu, from the bottom of her heart, she didn't really want the emperor to leave the palace, and the Western Capital really scared her that time.

"Please rest assured, the concubine understands that in order to ensure the safety of His Majesty, there are dozens of imperial doctors accompanying him alone!" Concubine Xian Luzhu hurriedly comforted.

"Alas, so is Your Majesty, you said that you are staying well in this palace, why do you want to go on any patrol!" Queen Mother Xie Jiu was a little angry when she thought of this.

"This, this ......" Lu Zhu was dumbfounded, of course she knew the real purpose of Sima Shu's southern tour, don't look at the obvious saying that the emperor wants to inspect Jiangdong's work, but in fact it is just to let her go back to her hometown to see.

"Queen Mother, Your Majesty's southern tour is also for the sake of my Great Jin Jiangshan Sheji, the people of Jiangdong are unstable, and Your Majesty is out on patrol to win the hearts of the people in Jiangnan!" Queen Wang Huifeng explained for the Queen Mother. When the queen mother and the concubine were talking in the harem, Sima Shu was also making the final arrangements before the tour.

"Your Majesty!"

"Aiqing, please get up!" In the imperial study, Sima Shu said to Zu Ti with a smile. Zu Ti and Li Teh have always been Sima Shu's two most important military generals, and Zu Ti is the first great talent to defect to Sima Shu, so he occupies a very important position in Sima Shu's heart.

"Aiqing, after this southern tour, the military affairs of this court will be handed over to Aiqing, you must take care of this door for me!"

"Please rest assured, Your Majesty, the minister will never let the military have any problems during this period!"

"Well, I have no doubt about Aiqing's ability. However, I have one more matter to leave to the Privy Council. This year, I am going to officially start the expedition to the west, but there is a lot of preparation work to be done before that. Immediately after I left Beijing, you organized the Privy Council and began to work out the relevant battle plan. ”

"In addition, the elite of the Xiang army in various parts of the imperial court will also start to secretly adjust their defenses, in order to recover the Western Regions, I decided to use 120,000 Xiang troops, and the troops under my jurisdiction are still insufficient with the northwest jiedu. Therefore, Aiqing had to coordinate with the envoys of various places to see where to mobilize troops to supplement the northwest. ”

After these years of adjustment and expansion, the total strength of the imperial court's Xiang army has reached 350,000 people, and they are basically scattered in various festivals and administrations in peacetime. However, due to the different tasks undertaken by the local jiedu, the troops under their jurisdiction are also different.

After the recovery of Jiangdong, the focus of the Great Jin Dynasty's defense gradually shifted to the west and north, making the Huainan Jiedu Embassy, which had previously commanded 50,000 Xiang troops, less important.

"Your Majesty, in the opinion of the ministers, you can transfer the troops in Huainan to the northwest, and at the same time transfer some troops from the Central Plains, so that you can basically meet the requirements of the war in the Western Regions." After thinking about it, Zu Ti said his plan.

"If troops are transferred from Huainan, will it affect the security of Jiangdong?" Sima Shu was still a little worried that a large-scale northward transfer of the army would lead to instability in Jiangdong, and although a subversive event was unlikely, a small-scale rebellion was even more disturbing.

"Your Majesty doesn't need to worry about this, with the establishment of the Jiangdong Jiedu Embassy and the Governor's Mansions in various places, the situation in Jiangdong is no longer in serious trouble, and the local army is enough to deal with any changes!" Zu Ti replied affirmatively.

"Well, then follow Aiqing's suggestion! I would like to emphasize once again that the matter of troop transfer must be carried out in secret, and must not be known to the countries of the Western Regions in advance! Sima Shu repeatedly told him that in order to catch his opponent off guard, he must do a good job of secrecy.

"Weichen knows that in order to confuse the other party, our Privy Council has already formulated a plan A, in which the Great Jin Xiang Army will carry out large-scale mobilization for the purpose of the Xianbei people in the northern land. Even if the enemy finds out, they will only think that we are going to wage war against the Xianbei people in Mobei. ”

"Well, that's right, if the Great Jin wants to successfully conquer the Western Regions, they must be broken individually, and take advantage of the suddenness of the battle to make it too late for the countries of the Western Regions to unite together, only in this way can we achieve the greatest results at the minimum cost."

Soon it was the day when Sima Shu was going to go on patrol, and on this day, after Sima Shu said goodbye to the hundred officials, he took the carriage to the Weishui Wharf first. The emperor's guard of honor, men and horses, and convoys had to board the fortune boat here, and then enter the Yellow River waterway all the way down to Luoyang. Sima Shu basically had to cross the boat all this way. (To be continued......)