Actually, being an empress is quite nice. Managing the harem, eating and drinking, it fits the lifestyle of retirement nowadays.
Xie Lanzhi wasn't against it, but now wasn't the time to enjoy it, nor was she the type to be content with the harem. That would be too much to ask of her.
She suddenly became serious and said, "Shang Guang, in your eyes, have I really become an old man who doesn't care about worldly affairs?"
Xie Shangguang shook his head: "No, Marshal, you are amazing. You are the one who took down the second-in-command of the Hu Xiongnu. Even if you retire now, no one will look down on you!"
"Alright, I've finished asking," Xie Lanzhi said. "Go on patrol."
She turned and went into the hall, put on her black armor, and hung the white belt around her waist. After leaving the hall, she ordered her personal guards to prepare a horse for her.
The guards, looking shocked, led over a horse: "Marshal, your injuries haven't healed yet; it would be better if you stayed in the palace."
Perhaps because Xie Lanzhi had been recuperating for two months, she would often chat with her personal guards when no one else was around. After chatting so much, she naturally became more approachable in their eyes. Now, whenever a personal guard opened his mouth, he would subconsciously ask her a few more questions.
Xie Lanzhi thought that if she continued to rest, the situation outside might become so uncontrollable that even she could not manage it. How could she let it go unchecked?
"My health is almost fully recovered." After saying this, Xie Lanzhi mounted her horse and rode straight to the palace gate.
The Xie family's main base is now located at the South Gate.
Ma Hong and Xie Changwang arrived with the imperial edict and announced the new ranks of the generals from various regions. Each Xie clan captain's rank was broken up into 30% and the remaining 70% were new recruits.
Meanwhile, Ma Hong's newly recruited army was also a mix of 30% new recruits, 30% new soldiers, and 30% veterans. The veterans were all complaining and didn't want to be Ma Hong's soldiers.
He even lashed out in front of Ma Hong.
Enraged, Ma Hong overturned the soldiers and ordered them to be taken away and subjected to military law.
When Xie's officers saw that their soldiers had been attacked, they felt that Ma Hong was trying to intimidate them, and they made a move to charge forward.
Ma Hong was about to draw his sword.
"Report! The Grand Marshal has arrived!" a soldier suddenly shouted.
A note from the author:
Thank you to all the little angels who voted for me or watered my plants with nutrient solution between 2022-01-19 19:52:12 and 2022-01-20 20:15:57!
Thank you to the little angels who threw landmines: Lianghuan and Qingshan (1 each);
Thank you to the little angel who watered the nutrient solution: Feiyue (1 bottle);
Thank you so much for your support! I will continue to work hard!
Chapter 157 Xie Lanzhi Unleashes Her Power
Ma Hong and the Xie family officers were all taken aback and quickly put away their weapons, fearing that the marshal would see them take action.
Xie Lanzhi saw the group of unruly brats from afar, so she immediately dismounted, glanced at her soldiers, and they all lowered their heads, not daring to look at her.
Ma Hong immediately ordered his men to drag away the soldiers who disobeyed him.
When Xie Lanzhi saw that he was going to use military law, she shouldn't have stopped him at this time, but the Xie family was known for not learning their lesson, especially from outsiders.
She said, "General Ma, the Xie family doesn't know you yet. Your Highness's sudden reassignment of them to another place is bound to cause them some resentment."
"Give them some time to get to know you."
Ma Hong originally wanted to give the marshal face, but when he thought that the Xie family were a bunch of ungrateful bastards, he immediately refused.
"Marshal, military orders are absolute! I cannot retract them."
When Xie Changwang saw the marshal arrive, he was already somewhat resentful because Ma Hong was not giving him any face. Now, Ma Hong's attitude made him explode.
"Ma Hong, you should know when to stop. Don't think that just because His Highness is backing you up, you can ride roughshod over the Xie family!"
Ma Hong insisted, "Military orders are absolute!"
"you!"
The two men immediately glared at each other with anger, neither willing to back down.
Xie Bing and the newly promoted army were not on good terms with each other; even the generals were like that, each harboring a shared hatred for the enemy. For a time, they were locked in a stalemate.
"Don't think you can bully us just because we are fewer in number!"
"You're the ones who shouldn't bully others just because you're powerful!"
"You are the ones who bully others by abusing your power!"
"If you've got the guts, let's fight. Whoever loses is a coward!"
"Come on then, who's afraid of you!"
The newly promoted army and Xie Bing were about to clash. Both sides were well-equipped, and Xie Bing even raised his gun, seemingly about to start a conflict with the newly promoted army.
Ma Hong and Xie Changwang are still facing off here.
Suddenly, a swift, dark figure flew past, weaving between the newly promoted army and Xie Bing, before finally stopping behind everyone.
The newly recruited soldiers and Xie Bing, who had been fighting, were all knocked to the ground.
Ma Hong realized what was happening and was about to scold her when Xie Lanzhi walked up to him, patted his shoulder, tripped him by the calf, pressed down on his shoulder, and spun him around, sending him sprawling on his backside.
Xie Changwang had just launched a sneak attack when it was his turn to strike Ma Hong, sending him sprawling with his buttocks in the air.
The rest of the people didn't escape either. All one hundred people present who were handing over the task were knocked to the ground by Xie Lanzhi, right in front of all the soldiers in the main camp.
Xie Lanzhi threw all of Xie Lanzhi's officers, including the newly promoted General Ma Hong, Xie Changwang, and Xie Bing, to the ground.
The generals were all lying on the ground in remarkably uniform postures.
There were hundreds of buttocks facing the sky.
The scene suddenly fell silent, and an eerie and awkward atmosphere spread among the crowd.
The ten thousand soldiers below, awaiting the handover: ..........
Xie Changwang scrambled to his feet, utterly humiliated. He never imagined the marshal would attack anyone, especially in front of an army of ten thousand. Everyone had lost face. Forget about winning or losing; neither side had gained an advantage. They'd both even been beaten.
After Xie Lanzhi finished her attack, she held her sword on her right arm, her brows furrowed, and surveyed the generals of the Imperial Guard. Her tone was solemn: "They haven't even been on the battlefield yet, and they've already been ambushed and unable to react in time."
"Did I ever teach you this way?"
"Or did His Highness instruct you to do this?"
"Tell me, is this how you lead your troops?!" Xie Lanzhi said, taking a step forward. Everyone quickly scrambled to their feet, knelt on both knees, and clasped their fists together. The once-fierce fighting roosters suddenly became docile.
Ma Hong clasped his hands and said, "Your Highness absolutely did not allow this humble general to abuse private punishments!"
Xie Changwang and the others said, "The Marshal never taught his subordinates to violate military discipline!"
“Very good.” Xie Lanzhi turned to the side and stretched out her arms to the crowd: “The generals of the Imperial Guard will be the elite of our Great Jin in the future to stabilize the country and bring peace to the nation.”
"Whether it is the Xie family or the newly promoted ones, they should unite against the common enemy and pacify the world in place of the Southern Central Plains."
"We have only one enemy, and that is the Xiongnu in the north!"
For a century, the Huns and Xiongnu were regarded as a foreign race by the people of the Central Plains and were never accepted. This was because the Huns and Xiongnu violated the Confucian and Taoist principles of the Central Plains, practiced foreign customs, and attempted to de-Sinicize. Their intention was to seize power and replace the Han Chinese with their own people. What did this mean? It meant exterminating the Han Chinese and replacing them with Hun descendants.
At this time, the people of the Central Plains should feel a sense of crisis, unite sincerely, and drive out the foreign enemies.
Everyone present saw Xie Lanzhi's skills clearly. Even Ma Hong secretly wondered about her abilities. She didn't seem to have exhausted her skills and be unable to fight.
Could it be that the marshal has a backup plan?
Xie Changwang and the others were overjoyed. Seeing that Marshal Liu's skills were almost the same as before, they immediately felt reassured.
Everyone began to cooperate obediently with the division of forces, and there were no more objections.
Xie Lanzhi was watching from the side, and she reminded Ma Hong, "Military orders are absolute, and those who should be punished must be punished."
Ma Hong hesitated for a moment, then nodded: "The Marshal is absolutely right."
Those Xie soldiers who opposed following Ma Hong were immediately beaten with military sticks. The newly recruited soldiers were relatively cooperative and followed Xie's captain.
Everyone was assigned to a soldier post. Xie Changwang also tallied the number of people present, dividing them into two major capital garrison armies and seven battalions. Each battalion had 1,300 men.
Ma Hong led the Imperial Guard to distribute new uniforms. The uniforms consisted of black armor and red undergarments, a combination of the uniforms of the Xie family and the newly promoted army. Even the flags were changed to red flags with a black dragon pattern.
The integration of the Beijing Guard went relatively smoothly on the first day, and it is believed that the 50,000 Xie soldiers and 200,000 new recruits will be fully incorporated by tomorrow and the day after.
Afterwards, Xie Lanzhi specially arranged a banquet for the generals of the Beijing garrison who remained at the headquarters, acting as a middleman to help them get to know each other better.
The Xie family officers softened their attitude considerably. Ma Hong drank the wine they were pouring for him, thinking to himself, "These brats are deliberately messing with me." He immediately grabbed one of the Xie family officers to drink with him.
The captain immediately experienced the bitterness of being forced to drink alcohol.
Captain Xie was immediately taken aback. This General Ma was too fierce; he punished anyone he disliked on the spot. However, it also showed that he was straightforward and had the magnanimity of a great general, and would not harm people in secret.
Because of this generosity, the Xie family officers were inexplicably persuaded to accept it.
Ma Hong kept pulling people to drink, and the Xie family officers also took the opportunity to pour him wine. The two sides drank each other to the point of exhaustion, and afterwards, they were so drunk that they couldn't separate from each other.
A group of burly men were hugging each other, which was quite an eyesore for Xie Lanzhi.
Finally, his soldiers helped Ma Hong and the others away, and the party quieted down a bit.
Xie Lanzhi herself had drunk quite a bit of wine, and she rode back to the palace overnight.
Reeking of alcohol, she stepped into Lanzhang Palace and went straight to the inner chamber to find a bed. She lay down on the bed, rolled up the blankets, and fell fast asleep.
When Si Xitong returned from Jianzhang Palace, he saw Xiao Xiu taking off Xie Lanzhi's boots.
After finally taking off her boots, Xiao Xiu saw His Highness enter and exclaimed with delight, "Master, you're back?"
Si Xitong nodded: "Bring over a basin of hot water, then go and rest."
"Yes!" Xiao Xiu went out and brought in a basin of hot water, then closed the window and door for the two of them.
Si Xitong had just soaked a towel in the basin of water, wrung it out, and was about to wipe Xie Lanzhi's face.
Xie Lanzhi rolled over on the bed, getting even deeper inside, clearly not wanting to wash her face.
"Lanzhi." Si Xitong knew she wasn't completely drunk, otherwise she wouldn't have rushed back overnight.
Xie Lanzhi wasn't fully asleep, but she was almost. She said with her eyes half-open, "You've worked hard."
Si Xitong wiped her hands for her and said, "I've heard about what happened during the day."
"The way of the army is that only you can make them submit."
Having witnessed Xie Lanzhi's skills firsthand, the Xie family naturally felt reassured and cooperated obediently. To them, Xie Lanzhi was their sense of security and their courage; with Xie Lanzhi around, they had confidence.