The empress lived in the Mingde Palace in the harem. It was only after the emperor went to Mingde Palace that he learned that the empress had been summoned to Kunde Palace by the Queen Mother.
After Emperor Hongde hesitated for a moment, he could only drive to Kunde Palace again.
As the emperor, he naturally did not stop him from seeing the Queen Mother. He soon saw the Queen Mother in Kunde Palace, and His Majesty the Emperor bowed and saluted.
"Meet the Queen Mother."
At this time, the Queen Mother was standing behind the Queen Mother. After seeing the Emperor salute, she bowed slightly and saluted: "I have met Your Majesty."
Empress Dowager Sun was smiling all over her face. She waved to Emperor Hongde and said with a smile: "Your Majesty, sit down and talk."
The emperor responded and sat down next to the Queen Mother obediently. Then he looked up at the Queen and said with a smile: "I heard that Zitong is pregnant, so I came over quickly to take a look."
Upon hearing this, Empress Dowager Sun turned to Empress Sun and smiled: "See, Your Majesty still cares about you and will come to see you immediately."
Queen Sun lowered her head slightly and said nothing.
The emperor was stunned for a moment, then smiled and said, "Did Zitong say something bad about me in front of his mother?"
"What bad words?"
Empress Dowager Sun glanced at the emperor and said, "How many times a month can you go to Mingde Palace? Isn't it true that you are neglecting your first wife?"
The emperor was scolded by his old mother and could only smile and said nothing.
Empress Dowager Sun smiled and said: "Fortunately, with the blessing of our ancestors, the empress is pregnant again. If she can give birth to a prince this time, our imperial lineage will be completely safe."
Empress Dowager Sun sighed slightly: "It also saves the Ai family from worrying all day long that the country your father left behind has ended up in someone else's house."
"The queen mother is always thinking nonsense."
Emperor Hongde smiled and said: "To this day, who can still touch our family?"
At this moment, His Majesty the Emperor was quite confident: "Even if Uncle Jin Wang was carried to the throne, he would not have the courage to sit down."
At this moment, Emperor Hongde has been in charge for more than seven years, and this year's spring examination has also been completed. In other words, since he has been in charge of Hongde for six years, he has been selected for Jinshi in three subjects.
The new people in the imperial court are already disciples of the emperor.
In addition, the Council has also gone through two rounds of "iterations", and the current Council is the third version of the Council.
The imperial court's finances, personnel, and military power are all in the hands of this still young emperor. Now his throne can only be described as as stable as Mount Tai.
"That's what I said."
The Queen Mother glanced at the Queen's belly and sighed: "But the Ai family always wants to have a grandson."
"I hope that the one in the queen's belly is a prince. Then the Ai family will be completely relieved. Even if they close their eyes immediately, they will be worthy of your father and your Li family."
According to Confucian etiquette, with a legitimate son, the foundation of the country is settled, which means that the imperial line of Emperor Hongde is completely stable.
Of course, with His Majesty's current level of control over the court, even if he has no son, it is unlikely that anyone else will be able to inherit his imperial lineage.
The emperor lowered his head and said: "The queen is still young and cannot say such unlucky words."
Empress Dowager Sun smiled and looked back at her daughter-in-law, who was also her niece, and said with a smile: "The queen strives to give birth to a fat boy for the Li family."
The Queen's face turned red, she lowered her head and said, "Yes, Queen Mother..."
Empress Dowager Sun looked at the emperor again and said with a smile: "You two should talk, and the Ai family won't disturb you anymore."
After saying that, Queen Mother Sun stood up and walked out.
His Majesty the Emperor walked up to the Empress, held her hand, and spoke in a rare gentle tone: "Thank you, Zitong."
Empress Sun's eyes were filled with tears and she lowered her head and said: "This is what I should do as a concubine..."
When the young couple were talking in Kunde Palace, it didn't take long for the news to reach the ears of Concubine Hui of Zhaode Palace. At this time, Concubine Hui was also pregnant, and she was already pregnant.
It's a pity that even if there is still a son in the belly, the two sons together are not as valuable as the palace empress's one son.
Concubine Hui was currently teaching calligraphy to Li Wang, the eldest son of the emperor, with her pregnant belly. After hearing the news that the emperor was in Kunde Palace, she reached out and touched her belly, her expression unchanged.
"Wang'er."
The eldest prince was now in his early three years. Hearing this, he immediately raised his head and looked at his mother.
"Aniang."
Concubine Hui touched his head with her hand and said softly: "Grow up quickly and study hard."
Li Wang said "hmm" and nodded vigorously.
"The child will grow taller and taller soon. He will protect my mother-in-law."
Concubine Hui smiled happily.
"Wang'er is the best behaved."
………………
Huai'an Prefecture, Xiangshui Camp.
Shen Yi stood on the edge of the Huaihe River and looked at the warships belonging to the Huai'an Army returning to the south bank one after another on the water.
When the first ship docked, Wan Zhong, who had been promoted to commander, jumped off the ship and immediately began to command the soldiers to carry out the wounded soldiers on the ship.
This is the rule set by Shen Yi for the Huai'an army. At any time, wounded soldiers must be withdrawn first, and at the end of the team, there must be a senior general leading the rear to avoid instability.
Soon, a boatload of hundreds of wounded soldiers were carried out. It was only then that Wan Zhong discovered Shen Yi. He hurriedly stepped forward, lowered his head and clasped his fists and said, "Mr. Shen!"
"When did you come to Xiangshui?"
At this time, the Huai'an army's tactics of harassing the north bank had been implemented for about a month. During this month, Shen Yi was basically in Lianshui and had never been to Xiangshui.
Seeing Wan Zhong ask this, Mr. Shen reached out and patted his shoulder, and said with a smile: "I arrived yesterday. How about this time? Are you not injured?"
Wan Zhong shook his head: "The general is not injured, it's just..."
He lowered his head slightly, with a somewhat unsightly look on his face: "We were ambushed by the Qi people, which resulted in poor results in this battle and hundreds of brothers were injured."
Having said this, he looked up at Shen Yi and said, "But don't worry, Mr. Shen, we haven't suffered a loss."
He opened his mouth and said: "Qi people's casualties are far greater than ours."
Shen Yi nodded and said, "Okay, you can go and arrange for the wounded soldiers."
Wan Zhong nodded and turned around.
Shen Yi continued to stand on the edge of the Huaihe River. After about half an hour, all the soldiers withdrew. Xue Wei and Su Ding were both on the last boat.
After the two of them jumped off the boat, they quickly came to Shen Yi and saluted with clasped fists.
Xue Wei was covered in blood, but when he saw Shen Yi, he was still quite happy. He smiled and said, "When will Mr. Shen arrive at Xiangshui?"
Shen Yi had no choice but to repeat it once.
"Arrived yesterday."
He looked at the two people and said with emotion: "Thank you for your hard work."
"I've asked people to prepare wine and meat, and also boiled a lot of hot water. You go and make arrangements for the brothers to take a bath, eat some meat, and have a good rest."
Mr. Shen put his hands behind his back and said, "You guys should go have something to eat and come see me at the handsome tent later."
The two of them were very familiar with Shen Yi, and they were not polite when they heard the words. They both clasped their fists and said yes.
About half an hour later.
The two talents came to Shen Yi's handsome tent together. They both changed into clean clothes and washed away the blood on their bodies.
Shen Yi sat on the main seat and motioned for the two of them to sit down.
After the two sat down, Shen Yi asked: "I heard from Wan Zhong that they were ambushed by the Qi people?"
"yes."
Su Ding lowered his head and said: "This time, our army marched thirty miles further north than last time, and was ambushed by Qi people. Fortunately, their number was not particularly large, and our army was well-organized, so we only suffered a small loss.
After that, we immediately fought back."
"We still won."
Xue Wei took the words, patted his chest and said with a smile: "Mr. Shen, at this time last year, it was still a bit difficult for us to defeat the Qi people. This year, when we met the Qi people in the wild, we are not afraid of them at all!"
Shen Yi nodded slightly and asked: "How many new recruits did you bring this time?"
"two thousand."
Su Ding opened his mouth and replied: "There were five thousand people in total, and they brought two thousand recruits with them. Most of the injuries this time were caused by these recruits."
Having said this, he paused and continued: "Furthermore, all the 10,000 recruits on the Eastern Front have been replenished. Basically, all of these 10,000 recruits have gone to the north bank."
Mr. Shen sat in his seat, took a sip of tea, looked at the two of them, and asked: "Do you think the time is ripe?"
Su Ding did not answer, but looked at each other and nodded to Xue Wei, signaling for Xue Wei to speak.
Xue Wei also rarely spoke. He thought seriously for a while, then he looked up at Shen Yi and said, "Mr. Shen, there are only 100,000 soldiers on the north bank of the Southern Conquest Army."
"They suffered losses from the Huaihe Navy last year. They cannot continue to deploy all their forces to the north of Huai'an this year. At this time, the number of troops north of Huai'an is estimated to be only 40,000 to 50,000 people."
He said slowly: "When Duke Shen gives the order, the general will immediately lead his troops and send troops to Haizhou!"
Shen Yi nodded and said silently: "I understand what you mean."
He took a sip of tea silently, then put the teacup on the table and said, "We just had a war, so you guys need to rest for a few days."
Su Ding thought for a moment and asked, "Is Mr. Shen ready to officially march north?"
"The heat is almost done."
Mr. Shen said leisurely: "It's just a matter of the right time."
"This time..."
Shen Yi looked calm.
"I have asked Ling Su and the others to fight for it."