The Wanli Emperor of the Ming Dynasty was extremely rebellious

Chapter 662 The Rakshasa's Ambitions Are Not Small
It seems that Emperor Wanli suddenly remembered that he needed to arrange marriages for his princes and princesses.

After Princess Rongchang got married, he actually announced to the world that he would select candidates for the Eastern Prince Zhu Changluo and the Northern Prince Zhu Changxu.

He set a precedent again.

It's normal for emperors and even crown princes to hold imperial selections.

It's unheard of for princes to hold imperial selections, especially those who have already taken up their fiefs.

If it were a prince who had not yet taken up his fiefdom getting married, he would simply select a woman of marriageable age from a prefecture near the capital. It was the first time he had announced a selection of women to the world like this.

He even abolished the original rule that only commoner women could be chosen, allowing women from the families of dukes, nobles, civil officials, and military generals to be selected.

This caused an uproar throughout the entire Ming Dynasty.

The Eastern King Zhu Changluo and the Northern King Zhu Changxu were quite different from the previous vassal kings.

The vassal states of these two vassal kings were incredibly large.

The vassal state of Zhu Changluo, the Eastern King, was the former Dongying, now known as the Dongyang Dusi, and its subjects numbered in the tens of millions.

The Northern King Zhu Changxu was even more formidable, as his fiefdom encompassed the Liaodong Regional Military Commission and the Nurgan Regional Military Commission, a territory larger than the two capitals and thirteen provinces of the Ming Dynasty.

If we only consider the size of the vassal states, these two vassal kings were almost on par with the emperor.

Who wouldn't want to be a princess comparable to an empress?
Moreover, both the Eastern King Zhu Changluo and the Northern King Zhu Changxu were not good-looking.

When they returned to attend Princess Rongchang's wedding, most of the people in the capital saw them, and even people from other places who came to attend the wedding banquet saw them.

The Eastern King Zhu Changluo appeared mature beyond his years, exuding a heroic spirit and possessing the air of a scholar-general.

The Northern King Zhu Changxu was even taller and more imposing, with muscles all over his body, as strong as an ox.

With his looks and appearance, even if he weren't a prince, many young girls would still like him.

Moreover, they were vassal kings comparable to emperors.

Countless women in the capital secretly harbored feelings for them and longed to marry them.

This talent show was truly spectacular.

Those who were afraid that their daughters would never come out of the palace and would never be favored, thus ending up lonely and miserable for the rest of their lives, and who deliberately hid their daughters away, no longer exist.

Because this was a selection of candidates for the princes, those chosen would go to their respective fiefdoms with the Eastern Prince Zhu Changluo and the Northern Prince Zhu Changxu. Those not chosen would not have to enter the palace to become palace maids; they would be sent home directly. There was no such thing as being unable to leave once you entered the palace.

Once selected, one will live a life of luxury, and their family will also benefit.

Therefore, every family with a girl of marriageable age sent her to the capital for a tryout.

As a result, because there were so many people coming to the draft, the elimination rate was incredibly high. Every day, thousands of naval fast ships were being sent to the capital and thousands were being brought back.

Because princes didn't have the traditional concept of "three palaces, six courtyards, and seventy-two concubines." According to the rules of the Ming Dynasty, a prince could have at most one principal wife and ten secondary wives.

Emperor Wanli did not want his sons to become too addicted to the arts, so he did not plan to give them many palace maids. The same was true for the Eastern Prince Zhu Changluo and the Northern Prince Zhu Changxu; they could only keep one hundred palace maids.

The elimination rate is so high that anyone whose appearance, height, weight, or even the slightest deviation from the standard will not pass the preliminary selection and will be sent back immediately.

Ultimately, only about two thousand people were able to stay and participate in the preliminary selection.

Moreover, only 222 can pass the rigorous screening.

What level are these 222?

Emperor Wanli was very curious about this.

On the first day of the eleventh month (Dingchou day), the second round of selection finally came to an end.

Early that morning, around 7:00 AM, Emperor Wanli, carrying the young Zhu Changxun, arrived at the corridor of the Hall of Supreme Harmony with Imperial Noble Consort Qin Lan, Consort Wang Gong, Prince Zhu Changluo of the East, and Prince Zhu Changxu of the North.

He and Zhu Changxun sat on the dragon throne at the top of the steps as usual, while Imperial Noble Consort Qin Lan, Consort Wang, Prince Zhu Changluo of the East, and Prince Zhu Changxu of the North sat directly at the bottom of the steps.

The more than two hundred selected young women were already kneeling below, waiting.

Seeing that Imperial Noble Consort Qin Lan, Consort Wang, Prince Zhu Changluo of the East, and Prince Zhu Changxu of the North were all seated, Emperor Wanli raised his hand and said loudly, "No need for formalities, rise."

"Thank you, Your Majesty."

A delicate, crisp voice rang out, and all two hundred or so young women stood up.

When Wanli took a look, he couldn't help but be amazed.

The women selected through these rigorous processes were truly beautiful—their looks, their figures, their skin…

Uh, never mind, I'm not watching anymore.

He knew very well that there was no benefit in becoming obsessed with this.

Especially for emperors, not only will their health decline day by day, but problems are also prone to arise in the harem.

Therefore, he only favored a few concubines, such as Empress Wang, Imperial Noble Consort Qin Lan, and Noble Consort Zhang, and rarely went to the inner palace.

In addition, Empress Wang and the others were getting older, and he was worried that there would be dangers in having more children, so no princes or princesses were born in recent years.

He glanced at her and then asked bluntly, "Xun'er, how are you feeling?"

How do I feel?
Upon hearing this, Xiao Zhu Changxun looked completely bewildered.

He didn't feel anything.

He's only eleven now, not even twelve yet.

Moreover, every day he sees either the same few familiar concubines or his sisters, all of whom are very beautiful.

What could he possibly feel?

This question truly stumped him. After thinking for a moment, he simply asked, "Father, what does this feeling mean?"

Uh, doesn't the little guy feel anything yet?

Wanli paused for a moment, then explained, "Is this what you mean by 'you think they're pretty'?"

Oh, that's what you're asking about.

Xiao Zhu Changxun looked up and examined them carefully, then slowly nodded and said, "They're all pretty, but not as pretty as my older sister and younger sister."

How do you feel?
Forget it, let's wait until you're older before talking about it.

At this moment, all the young women stepped forward in rows and bowed respectfully.

Whether the Eastern King Zhu Changluo and the Northern King Zhu Changxu were staring intently or too embarrassed to speak, neither of them uttered a sound.

Imperial Noble Consort Qin Lan and Consort Wang kept whispering in their ears, seemingly very engrossed.

When should we choose to go?

Emperor Wanli was getting restless. He was pondering what to teach young Zhu Changxun when Xu Weizhi, the heir of the Duke of Wei, suddenly strode over, holding an envelope and bowing, saying, "Your Majesty, an urgent report from the General of Liaodong."

Ma Gui finally reported it.

There was no other way; for now, they could only travel by water to the Yeni River basin, from the Nenjiang River to the Heilongjiang River, and then make a huge detour to the mouth of the Yeni River, which was more than 10,000 to 20,000 li away.

It's estimated that Ma Gui and his elite cavalry will arrive there around mid-September. Given the vast territory of the Siberian Khanate, they'll be able to get a rough idea of ​​what's going on before it freezes over.

He opened the urgent report and, sure enough, Ma Gui only gave a brief overview, saying that the Russians seemed to have already occupied the Siberian Khanate.

The nomadic tribes over there, led by Ma Gui, only sent their elite cavalry to survey the area from a distance. It seemed that each tribe still had Rakshasa people guarding it.

As for how many troops the Russians sent to the Khanate of Siberia, they had not yet found out.

After reading the urgent report, he couldn't help but frown slightly.

Little Zhu Changxun looked down and couldn't help but ask curiously, "Father, are the Russians very powerful? They've conquered such a large Khanate of Siberia."

Are the Rakshasa very powerful at this time?

That's not necessarily true.

However, their ambitions are truly considerable.

Wanli slowly shook his head, then patiently explained: "You can't just look at the size of the Siberian Khanate's territory. A country's military strength is not determined solely by the size of its territory."

For example, our Great Ming Dynasty, our territory has expanded by at least five or six times compared to before, does that mean our combat power has increased by five or six times?

It's not that simple. When we first started our large-scale expansion, we had about two million troops. Now, including the garrison troops, we only have five or six million troops.

Our Great Ming Dynasty still has a large population, which is why we can muster so many troops. The Siberian Khanate, on the other hand, doesn't have a large population.

When Kemai went to investigate last time, he estimated that they had a population of about 100,000. Adding those that Kemai didn't find, they probably had a population of 200,000 to 300,000 at most.

Even if each of the five population groups were to be allocated a certain percentage, that would amount to at most 40,000 to 50,000 men.

Therefore, the fact that the Russians conquered the Siberian Khanate does not prove how powerful they are; even General Ma hasn't fully grasped their strength yet.

Oh, the Khanate of Siberia only had a force of forty or fifty thousand men at most.

Xiao Zhu Changxun nodded slowly, then pondered, "Father, it seems the Rakshasa people aren't very strong. General Ma's men should be enough to deal with them, right?"

You must not underestimate your opponent.

Emperor Wanli shook his head slightly, then patiently instructed, "You cannot underestimate any opponent, especially those colonial bandits in Europe."

They believe in the law of the jungle, the survival of the fittest. Their development strategy is to plunder everywhere, bully the weak, and devour whatever they can.

Moreover, in order to become the strong in the jungle, most of them like to wage war and are particularly warlike.

These Rakshasa also came from Europe, and their ambitions were considerable. More importantly, they also possessed firearms and cannons.

Therefore, you can't underestimate them. General Ma's troops might be able to hold the city at the mouth of the Yeni River, but dealing with the Russians is highly unlikely.

Does this mean the Rakshasa are very strong?

After thinking it over carefully, Xiao Zhu Changxun asked, "Father, should we send all the Divine Martial Camp cavalry to help General Ma deal with the Russians?"

Do you think Rakshasa are Oirats?
Wanli shook his head slightly and patiently instructed, "We cannot treat the Rakshasa as we treat the Oirats."

Because the Oirats did not have firearms or cannons, while the Russians did.

In this situation, if we send the Shenwu Battalion cavalry, victory is likely not a problem. However, the Shenwu Battalion cavalry cannot withstand muskets and cannons.

They would suffer heavy casualties if they charged in, you know that?
We must try our best to avoid casualties, so we cannot let the Shenwu Battalion cavalry charge head-on under gunfire.

In this situation, we need to move the armored chariots of the Shenshu Battalion and the artillery of the Shenji Battalion over to minimize casualties.

Should both the Shenshu Battalion and the Shenji Battalion be deployed?

I've never seen a battle between a car formation and an artillery formation.

Upon hearing this, Xiao Zhu Changxun excitedly asked, "Father, when are we going? Will we go next year?"

You can't just think about fighting.

Wanli slowly shook his head and said, "Your father has already told you that we cannot just think about expanding our territory; we must develop the territories we have conquered."

We have conquered a lot of territory, but we haven't developed much of it. The reason why Father Emperor launched the campaign against the Oirat Mongols was to relocate the border towns and develop the conquered territory.

Therefore, we're not in a hurry to fight the Rakshasa. Next year, we'll focus on developing the territories we can exploit first.

(End of this chapter)