Chapter 1596: Guo Xiang's Doubts, Promotion of the Eight Banners System

"It's so noisy——"

Guo Xiang grabbed the silk quilt and covered her head, but she still couldn't block out the noise of the children.

After checking into the Chengde Palace last night, she followed Cheng Ying to live in the harem bedroom.

Cheng Ying and Lu Wushuang each had five children, seven boys and three girls in total.

The oldest is eleven and a half years old, and the youngest is one and a half years old. Every day, as soon as the youngest wakes up, the others will wake up soon after.

Then, the whole bedroom was filled with noise.

Influenced by Su Mingzhe, Cheng Ying and Lu Wushuang believe that children's liveliness and activity are in their nature and rarely restrict them.

However, Guo Xiang couldn't stand it. She grew up on Peach Blossom Island and had never seen so many children making noise.

Seeing his nephew complain, Cheng Ying felt helpless and could only call out to the eldest brother:

"Yanxi, take your brothers and sisters out to play!"

"Let's go, let's go out and play!"

When Su Yanxi heard that she could go out and play, she jumped up and down with excitement.

In the past, it would have been time to practice in another quarter of an hour or two.

If I can go out and play with my younger brothers and sisters today, I can practice one less day.

For a child of Su Yanxi's age, practicing one day less is definitely a great joy.

Not long after.

Cheng Ying's bedroom finally became quiet.

But Guo Xiang just couldn't fall asleep.

It was the hour of Mao.

When Guo Xiang heard the sound of a whip, she knew that Su Mingzhe had started to busy himself with government affairs.

Guo Xiang tossed and turned, unable to sleep, and a blush suddenly appeared on her small oval face:
"Besides being a bit lustful, he's pretty diligent..."

In recent years, under Su Mingzhe's governance, people's livelihood in various parts of the Ming Dynasty has recovered rapidly.

Guo Xiang still remembered that when she first followed her parents to Dadu, there were barren mountains and wilderness everywhere.

Nowadays, canals have been dug and water conservancy projects have been built in various places, and crops have been planted on the wasteland.

Moreover, after the founding of the Ming Dynasty, there were good weather and good harvests year after year, and people everywhere were able to have enough food to eat and warm clothes to wear.

The Beggars' Sect, once the largest gang, has not been able to recruit new members for many years.

Guo Xiang was lost in thought and slept in a daze until almost noon, then she got up.

Stretching, the two little rabbits on her chest trembled, reminding Guo Xiang of some bad scenes.

She didn't know what was going on. She was only sixteen years old, but the two little rabbits were older than her older sister who had given birth to a child.

In order not to attract attention on weekdays, she could only wrap them with long strips of cloth, and only let them loose for a while at night.

Had lunch.

Guo Xiang came to the queen's bedroom.

As soon as I entered the door, I saw Wanyan Ping coaxing a child.

Wanyan Ping also knew that Su Mingzhe had some feelings for Guo Xiang. Now that they met, she reached out and held Guo Xiang's hand, smiling gently:

"Xiang'er is here!"

"Empress Shu!"

Guo Xiang wished her the best of luck.

"Why is Xiang'er here?"

Wanyan Ping took Guo Xiang's hand and walked into the bedroom, then asked curiously.

She remembered that after Guo Xiang entered the palace, she either stayed with Guo Fu or Cheng Ying, and rarely came to Xiao Longnu's side. When Xiao Longnu heard the noise, she also looked up at Guo Xiang, her eyes full of curiosity and inquiry.

After Su Mingzhe established the country, he had not added concubines to the harem for ten years.

However, just before coming to Chengde this time, Su Mingzhe found Xiaolongnu and said that he had taken a fancy to Guo Xiang and wanted to summon her into the palace as a concubine.

Xiaolongnu was very curious about this. She wondered what kind of magic power Guo Xiang had that could make Su Mingzhe make an exception for her.

Facing the curiosity of the two girls, Guo Xiang spoke calmly:

"My queen, Xiang'er heard that the queen has a treasure that can keep her youthful and youthful, so I wanted to come and see it!"

Wanyan Ping couldn't help but burst out laughing after hearing this:
"Xiang'er, where did you hear this gossip?"

If Xiaolongnu really has a treasure that can keep people young and youthful, and she is Xiaolongnu's biological sister, how could she not borrow it to use?
Guo Xiang was disappointed to hear that there was no treasure, but she still asked unwillingly:

"If the Queen doesn't have a treasure that can keep her youthful appearance, how can she stay so young?"

……

Hall of Light.

In the imperial study room.

Su Mingzhe dealt with government affairs for the whole morning, and Cha Bi, who had just woken up, came in to bring him lunch and cold drinks.

When Su Mingzhe saw Cha Bi, he waved and waited for the woman to come closer. He then reached out and put his arm around her waist, saying with a smile:
"Your father just came and said that he wanted to pass the throne to Suerhuodu and asked for my opinion. I agreed!"

Chabi's father, Bosihuer Anchen, was the chief of the Mengwu Hexi tribe and had 8,000 soldiers under his command.

Suorhuodu is Anchen's youngest son and Chabi's brother from the same mother.

Chabi's father wanted to pass the throne to his youngest son, obviously for Chabi's sake.

When Cha Bi learned that his younger brother would be able to inherit the throne of Hexi King, he hurried to express his gratitude.

"You deserve this!"

Su Mingzhe helped the woman up, held her in his arms, and started to be intimate with her.

In his harem, the looks of Xiaolongnu, Chabi and Tang Anan were obviously a level higher than other women.

Xiao Longnu's temperament is as cold as the ice and snow on the mountains. It has remained the same for more than ten years and is difficult to melt.

Tang Anan lived in the Qin Mansion outside the palace and was only occasionally called into the palace for some affectionate time.

Chabi was with Su Mingzhe most of the time. Over time, Chabi gave birth to three sons and three daughters for Su Mingzhe, and Su Mingzhe's feelings for Chabi grew deeper and deeper.

The two chatted about family matters for a while, and Su Mingzhe suddenly said:

"My beloved, in recent years, the Eight Banners system has been implemented in the Baishan and Heishui regions outside the Great Wall, and the effect is quite good. I plan to implement similar systems in the grasslands, the north and south of the Tianshan Mountains, U-Tsang, Dali, Nanyue, Nanyang, Tianzhu and other places. Your father's Hexi tribe has only 8,000 soldiers, and according to the regulations, it can only be rated as the lower five banners. You should inform your father about this later, so that he won't get anxious and angry!"

Over the years, Cha Bi has assisted Su Mingzhe in handling government affairs and is no stranger to the 'Eight Banners System'.

The "Eight Banners System" of the Ming Dynasty refers to a policy system implemented in places where Han people and various ethnic tribes live together.

The so-called "Eight Banners" are divided into the upper three banners and the lower five banners.

The upper three banners must be tribes with a large population. Because of their large population, they are qualified to ask the Ming Dynasty for help in building cities and to trade with the Ming Dynasty.

In addition, the Ming Dynasty would confer the title of "General of the Central Army" on the tribal chiefs of the upper three banners, which was equivalent to the governor of the Ming Dynasty province. Not only would they be given the second-rank official seal, but they would also be given the first-rank Qilin robe.

The status of the Lower Five Banners was much lower. They could only come to the Chengde Palace to pay homage in May, June and July. The location of trade was not fixed, and their title was only a "Cavalry Commandant". Their position was the same as the prefect and county magistrate of Daming Prefecture. They were given official seals of the third, fourth and fifth ranks, and tiger and leopard robes of the third and fourth ranks.

Cha Bi had been assisting the government for so many years, so he naturally understood that Su Mingzhe's promotion of the 'Eight Banners System' in the border areas was a blatant attempt to sow discord.

However, because the Ming Dynasty was the most powerful and had the initiative in trade, the tribal chiefs of all ethnic groups had no choice but to accept this system.

With the establishment of the 'Eight Banners System', the security issues in the Ming Dynasty's border areas were reduced by 90% at once.

In addition, the Ming Dynasty has always advocated the system of military farming on the border. If the tribes encounter extremely bad weather and come to the Ming Dynasty for help, the Ming Dynasty will provide assistance.

It can be said that as long as the 'Eight Banners System' is promoted, the Ming Dynasty's borders will be stable for at least 30 years.

Faced with such an effective system, Chabi would naturally understand that it would inevitably be promoted among the ethnic groups in the border areas.