sbdcsierra Chapter 422: Queen Yu Ziling of Qi
Chapter 422: Queen Yu Ziling of Qi
After a moment's silence, the Emperor of Qi said,
"What you two nobles said makes sense. We must collect the grain, and we must mobilize the local troops.
Let’s put it this way. When summoning local troops, let the counties and prefectures below make arrangements as appropriate.
It doesn't mean that every household must give birth to a son. If there is no male or only one male in the family, they don't have to give birth to a son.
If there are two or more males in the family, one will be selected.
Whether father and son or brothers, one male must join the army to serve the country, and the remaining males and women in the family can continue to collect grain.
That's it, let's leave."
"Your Majesty is wise!"
All the ministers saluted together.
Only the prime minister was still frowning and sighing sadly.
The emperor's original intention was good. If there were many males in the common people's families, he could select one to fight in the war so that the males in the family could work and protect the family. Even if the men died in battle, the family line would not be cut off.
But after the imperial edict is passed down, will the officials really carry it out honestly?
The prime minister is an old official and he knows the officials under him very well.
He knew that those officials would definitely take the opportunity to accept bribes.
Those people from rich families would definitely not join the army. They just needed to pay some money to the officials.
But the poor cannot afford to pay.
If the rich pay money but don’t join the army, who will fill the vacancies?
It must be the poor people who can’t afford to pay who will make up for it.
Not to mention one male at home, even if there were three or four, they would all have to be dragged to the battlefield to become cannon fodder under the Yan army's artillery.
By then, every household will hang white silk and there will be cries in every house.
The emperor's decree may seem ideal, but it will actually cause endless troubles.
After Emperor Qi left the court, he walked towards the imperial study. When he arrived at the door of the imperial study, he sighed and did not go in. He was too tired now and just wanted to go back to the bedroom to rest.
In the harem, in a large courtyard, there were many wooden dummies, each of them covered in armor.
In the middle of the yard was a woman wearing black armor, holding a spear in her hand and a sword on her waist.
The woman had a very beautiful face. She did not have the complicated headdresses of queens and concubines, nor did she have an elegant and luxurious hairstyle. She just had a simple ponytail.
There was no makeup on her face, her eyebrows were full of heroism, her eyes were sharp, her nose was straight and upturned, and her cherry lips were tightly tightened, which made people's hearts beat fast when they saw her.
The woman dressed as a female general is waving a spear and practicing a set of marksmanship.
The spear technique sometimes pierced the vital points of the wooden dummies in a tricky way, with a fast and sharp speed.
Sometimes it opened and closed violently, sweeping across the army. As the woman leaped into the air, several wooden men were directly broken and fell to the ground.
After finishing a set of spear skills, the woman casually threw the spear out, which went straight through the helmet of a wooden man and stabbed it hard. Then she immediately took out the sword at her waist, held the sword with both hands, and practiced sword skills on the wooden man.
Emperor Qi just watched her practice martial arts quietly.
This woman is none other than the Queen of Qi, Yu Ziling!
Yu Ziling is the biological daughter of Yu Xiao, a famous general of Qi State. Yu Xiao was the most famous and respected general during the previous emperor's time, and had made great military achievements.
However, due to a misjudgment by the previous emperor, the army led by Yu Xiao was surrounded during the battle with the Kun people. After three months of hard fighting, they were cut off from water and food and were completely wiped out.
Not long after Yu Xiao died, his wife died of depression.
Only a fifteen-year-old daughter, Yu Ziling, was left at home.
Yu Ziling was born into a family of generals. Since childhood, she has been interested in martial arts rather than needlework. Every day, she followed her father to practice military martial arts and learn military strategies. She was determined to become the first female general of the Qi Dynasty.
After Yu Xiao's death, the late emperor felt very guilty towards their family, so he decided to arrange a marriage between the crown prince and Yu Ziling, who would become the crown princess in the future. When the crown prince ascended the throne, Yu Ziling would become the queen.
The late emperor made Yu Ziling the future empress, firstly out of guilt, and secondly because all of Yu Ziling's family members had died. Without her maternal family, there would be no foreign relatives, which would prevent foreign relatives from interfering in politics and from having too much power to interfere with the emperor.
Therefore, after the death of the previous emperor, the new emperor ascended the throne and directly married the 20-year-old Yu Ziling and made her the queen.
The two of them can be considered a married couple.
But they don't seem to be very harmonious.
Because Yu Ziling always felt angry.
She wanted to be a female general, but was forced to become a queen and marry a weak man whom she despised.
She wanted to kill her enemy with her own hands to avenge her father, but the former commander of the Kun Army was transferred back to Shengjing not long after the battle. He was framed, imprisoned, and died in prison. The southern commander of the Kun Army was replaced by Yu Huatian.
Later, Yu Huatian was also framed and transferred to the north, where he was framed again and his entire family was almost killed.
It seems to be a tradition for Kun people to frame those who have made contributions.
The enemy died, but Yu Ziling was unable to kill him personally to avenge him, so she had to change her target. She wanted to lead the troops to fight personally and destroy the Kun Kingdom to avenge herself.
Last year, Yan, Qi and Liang joined forces to destroy Kun. She was so happy that she volunteered to lead the troops. The Emperor of Qi couldn't persuade her, so he could only say that he would let her go after the war went smoothly and they reached Shengjing.
However, before the Qi army even broke through Xingyang Pass, the Kun State had already been defeated by the Yan State.
When Yu Ziling heard the news, she was so angry that she almost vomited blood.
Her dream was shattered again.
She couldn't do anything she wanted to do, and could only practice martial arts every day, venting her emotions and releasing her energy that had nowhere to go against a group of wooden stakes.
There's no way around it. When people are idle, they always have to find something to do.
Soon, she finished practicing martial arts. She was exhausted and sweating, but she felt relaxed all over. When she turned around, she saw Emperor Qi standing at the door looking at her.
"Humph!"
Yu Ziling snorted coldly, turned around and walked straight into the bedroom. She wiped the sweat off her face with a towel and asked the maid to take off her armor.
The Emperor of Qi also hurried in.
After entering the door, he sat on the chair and sighed.
"What are you doing? You look so sad so early in the morning. What bad luck!"
Yu Ziling scolded without even raising her head.
The Emperor of Qi had long been accustomed to the temper of this tigress. He sighed, waved his hand, and asked the palace maids to leave.
After Yu Ziling wiped her face, she sat down to drink tea.
The Emperor of Qi sighed,
"The truth has been revealed."
"Hmm? What's going on?"
"I sent assassins to Shengjing to lurk, and told them that if Yan showed any signs of attacking us, they should find an opportunity to assassinate Emperor Yan and Shen Changgong.
As a result, those useless guys were really disappointing. Not only did they fail to kill the two men, but they were defeated by Shen Changgong alone. They were also captured alive and confessed that it was our Qi State that did it. Now Yan State has another reason to send troops to our country.
It is said that the Yan army on the southern front is about to start to move. This time, the Yan people are coming to destroy our country."