There is no such thing as the Kangxi and Qianlong eras

Chapter 184 Becoming King
Jingzhou, the general's residence.

"Madam, there is a letter from Master Chen." The maid Xing'er stepped forward slowly, holding a letter in her hands.

Chen Huilan was resting in the garden when she heard this. She got up, took the letter, quickly glanced at it, and then nodded: "Xing'er, wait for me for a moment. I'll write a letter home to Father."

Although the Han army has issued an edict to free slaves, and even General Nie Yu has taken the lead by terminating his slave contracts with all his household slaves and replacing them with long-term labor contracts, there are still a considerable number of wealthy and powerful families in the Han army's territory who secretly keep servants and maids.

Yes, they really were just servants and maids. All of these servants and maids had their employment contracts amended to be officially recognized by the government.

Without using force, they almost entirely relied on throwing money at people to keep them there. Even Nie Yu, knowing this, didn't say much.

Since they are all legitimate employment contracts, and both parties are acting on their own consent, it's really no one's business if they have the money to hire as many maids as they want.

The maids serving General Chen Huilan were all part of the Chen family's dowry. Their employment contracts were still with the Chen family, and they received wages from the Chen family every month, which were quite high.

Don't ask why, the answer is always face.

"Xing'er, please send out the reply for me!"

Chen Huilan finished writing the letter. There was nothing special in it; the whole letter was about inquiring about the health of her parents and showing concern for her second brother and sister-in-law.

This letter was clearly significant, because currently, the only member of the Chen family who hadn't taken up an official position was Chen Xingping, the second son.

The eldest son, Chen Xinghuai, became the prefect of Jingzhou, while the third son, Chen Xingye, was ordered to go to Xiangyang.

Chen Huilan's thoughts were also very simple. Although her marriage to her husband was a political alliance, she still wanted to be the "Empress Ma" of the Han Dynasty.

This Empress Ma is not the same Empress Ma as before, but the second virtuous empress in history—Empress Mingde, née Ma. Coincidentally, this Empress Ma not only had the surname Ma, but was also the most powerful virtuous empress of the Eastern Han Dynasty, making indelible contributions to the "Reign of Ming and Zhang" of the Eastern Han Dynasty.

Empress Ma of the Ming Dynasty was compassionate towards the people, advocated frugality, and disliked interfering in military and state affairs. Even when Emperor Ming wanted to bestow honors upon the Ma family, Empress Ma stopped him, saying, "No one knows a subject better than the emperor, let alone relatives. How can I betray the late emperor's wishes and the virtues of my ancestors, and repeat the disaster of the fall of Xijing?"

Chen Huilan pondered to herself that handing the letter home to Xing'er was her duty as the mistress of the household. As the mistress of the house, managing the household's stability would allow her husband to fight outside with peace of mind.

"Qiuyun, what time is it now?" Chen Huilan asked the maid after resting for a while.

Qiu Yun glanced at the clock and replied, "It's already eleven o'clock, it's almost time for dinner."

Meals were not exclusive to the emperor; any noble family of high status could dine there—it was a respectable way of putting it.

In the second chapter of the novel "The Flower in the Sea of ​​Sin", it is mentioned that: "After the two finished their meal, they washed their faces and rinsed their mouths."

Just as Chen Huilan was about to get up to pay her respects to her father-in-law and invite him out for a meal, she suddenly felt an overwhelming wave of nausea.

"Ugh~"

He gagged, but nothing came out, which frightened the maid Qiuyun who was standing next to him.

"Madam, what's wrong?" Qiu Yun asked in a panic.

Another maid, Ziping, glanced at her and bowed, saying, "Madam, perhaps we should call a doctor to take a look!"

The doctor arrived quickly, accompanied by Nie Jieren, the relatively idle eunuch. However, he stood outside the door; only the doctor, led by a maid, entered the room to take the pulse of Chen Huilan, who was lying on the couch.

In no time.

The doctor smiled broadly: "Hehe, congratulations, madam! Congratulations! You're pregnant!"

"Pregnancy pulse? What is pregnancy pulse?" Chen Huilan seemed a little dizzy and asked blankly.

The doctor was very understanding. He stroked his beard and said, "Madam, have you been feeling weak and sleepy lately, and have you also noticed an increased appetite? These are all signs of pregnancy. Madam is pregnant for the first time, so nausea and vomiting are normal reactions. I will prescribe some medicine to help stabilize the pregnancy and replenish your blood and qi, so that the pregnancy can be stabilized. After that, you just need to rest and recuperate."

Chen Huilan finally realized what was happening, and despite trying to maintain her composure, she couldn't help but beam with joy. The doctor left with a smile and then informed the anxiously waiting Nie Jieren of the news.

Not long after, Nie Jieren’s hearty laughter came from outside the door. Before his only son got married, he looked forward to getting married every day. After his only son got married, he looked forward to his wife having children so that he could hold his grandson as soon as possible.

Now that their daughter-in-law is pregnant, the Nie family can finally have an heir.

Over the next two days, the civil and military officials of the Han army in Jingzhou Prefecture successively learned the good news that the lady was pregnant.

This is indeed good news. They are not like Nie Jieren. Nie Jieren only thinks about his son getting married and having children to continue the family line. But they think about much more. The general is getting married and has an heir. This means that the foundation of the Han army is truly solid!

Without offspring, no matter how large the rebellion is, it's like a tree without roots or duckweed without water. What if you die?
There are countless historical examples of this, the most recent being the Southern Ming Dynasty. The Southern Ming Dynasty was wiped out because Emperor Chongzhen insisted on saving face and refused to move the capital to Nanjing.

The legitimacy of the Southern Ming throne was seriously questioned, and a very tense situation arose. Marquis of Ningnan, Zuo Liangyu, launched a campaign to purge the court of corrupt officials, claiming that he had received a secret edict from Crown Prince Chongzhen to attack the puppet emperor in Nanjing.

Liu Jun immediately sent the message to Hanyang via radio, while also seeking instructions from the General.

When will you declare yourself king?

In Hanyang Prefecture, Nie Yu, who was temporarily stationed at the prefectural government office, looked at the translated telegram and was somewhat surprised and astonished.

His father had already informed him of his wife's pregnancy via radio that very day.

Liu Jun must have known about this, and he even sent a radio report on it, clearly intending to use the opportunity to report and request instructions on something else.

Nie Yu initially thought that the other party wanted to use his unborn children to make a fuss for the Han army, in order to win over and appease the gentry and the people.

Nie Yu had already made preparations, but now Liu Jun suddenly asked him when he would declare himself king.
Becoming a king is no small matter!

The Han army started their rebellion against the Qing in the sixtieth year of the Qianlong Emperor's reign, and it has now been almost two years since then, in the second year of the Jiaqing Emperor's reign.

While the Han army's territory was not entirely secure, it had distributed all the land it was entitled to. The people, having received their share of land, were naturally willing to support the Han army. Even the gentry had largely come to terms with reality, realizing that the Qing government's troops would not be able to retake the country anytime soon.

The territory that the Han army can control now is close to one and a half provinces.

Within Hunan, the Qing army had been largely eliminated. Apart from the areas controlled by various rebel groups such as the Yao and Miao, the Han army controlled almost the entire Hunan territory. Even the various rebel groups of the Miao and Yao were mostly willing to coexist peacefully with the Han army, keeping to themselves.

The expansion in Hubei is still relatively small. The Han army has already captured key locations such as Wuchang, Hanyang, Jingzhou, and Jingmen.

Anlu Prefecture is still under attack, and Xiangyang is not in a hurry to be attacked, but it has been infiltrated by the Han army and is riddled with holes. Even the governor-general is dead, and the admiral is seriously ill and about to die.

It's impossible to protect it.

Once Xiangyang, Wuchang, and Jingzhou are lost, Hubei will practically be in the hands of the Han army, like fish on a chopping board, ready to be cooked at any time.

It was after reading the continuous battle reports from the Han army and deducing from the map that Liu Jun used the important event of his wife's pregnancy to subtly inquire about the matter of becoming king.

In Liu Jun's view, he may not understand military affairs, but he understands human nature.

When the Han army only had Jingzhou, anyone who was eager to declare himself king was a complete clown!
With the Han army controlling almost the entire Hunan province, it was up to them to declare themselves kings or not. They could continue to play it safe and develop their strength, hoping to buy themselves as much time as possible.

But now, not to mention Hunan, Wuchang and Hanyang have fallen, and the Qing army's two armies have been almost completely wiped out, with the Governor-General of Huguang killed in battle.

This is a huge matter; any one of these issues alone would be significant.

Even if Nie Yu still doesn't declare himself king, it's no use, because the Qing court isn't stupid. Even if Emperor Qianlong is senile, he can still see that the Han army has become too powerful to control.

Rather than doing that, it would be better to take advantage of the current situation, now that the news of the Qing governor's death in battle has spread, and directly seize the opportunity to ascend the throne and establish a legitimate cause!

(End of this chapter)