Great Zhou Empress

The next morning, Ayila went to the palace and waited for Yuan Hanzhang to go to court almost as soon as he went to court.

The residence of the current imperial palace used to be the mansion of a duke of the state. Naturally, the size cannot be compared with that of the palace in Bianjing. The main hall of the early dynasty was the original reception hall of the duke of the state. Not too big, when Xue Zhijing walked into the room where the maids were resting, he saw Ayila was already sitting in it drinking tea.

"Xiao Jing, you are here!"

Ayila greeted Xue Zhijing.

Xue Zhijing sat down on the chair next to Ayila, and a maid came to serve her a cup of tea.

"How long have you been sitting here?" Xue Zhijing asked while drinking tea.

"It didn't take long, let's have a few cups of tea!" Ayla said with a smile.

"How have you been in the palace for the past two years?"

"I'm fine, especially the empress dowager is very kind to me and takes good care of me." Ayla said with a bright smile. Although she was covered with a veil, there was a brilliant light in her eyes.

Xue Zhijing raised his eyebrows, and the feeling of being overwhelmed in his heart became more and more intense.

Morning morning at dawn, Ayila didn't know how long she had been waiting here, how urgent she was.

I really want to know the story of Ayila and the Empress Dowager. Xue Zhijing felt like a cat scratching her heart. She said mischievously, "Of course the Empress Dowager is fine! When I was young, I came to her work around."

While talking about Xue Zhijing, he observed Ayila’s expression, the eyes are the windows to the soul, even if you cover the lower half of your face, your eyes will reveal your emotions.

Sure enough, Ayila's attention was attracted by Xue Zhijing's words.

"At that time, I was almost occupied by an eunuch. If it wasn't for the queen mother, I would still be a humiliated little court lady now." Xue Zhijing said.

Hearing this story, Ayila's eyes revealed a surprised expression. She probably didn't expect Xue Zhijing to have such a past, after all, in her opinion, Xue Zhijing was the second in the entire Dacheng Dynasty except for the Queen Mother. Great woman.

Xue Zhijing struck while the iron was hot and continued, "In my eyes, the Empress Dowager is like a god, her charisma is worthy of the admiration of all people, before I know it, I have been by her side for almost five years, and she is still so dignified. "

Having said all this, Ayila couldn't hear the close relationship between Xue Zhijing and Yuan Hanzhang, and couldn't hear Xue Zhijing's strong feelings for Yuan Hanzhang, her eyes really changed.

She said dryly, "Yes, the empress dowager is naturally the best."

Seeing Ayila's expression, Xue Zhijing felt that he seemed to have teased her a little too much, and made a big joke.

My feelings for the queen mother are different from Ayila's. She respects, respects and loves the queen mother, but she never possesses it.

And Ayila clearly has the desire for monopoly, what is the desire for monopoly, it is love.

No, Ayla was a little unhappy.It seems that it is still Ayila's unrequited love for the Queen Mother. People who have unrequited love will think a lot when they encounter something.

Xue Zhijing hurriedly added, "Oh, in my eyes, the Empress Dowager will always be the Empress Dowager. I respect her strength of character. She is like a teacher to me, and she is always worthy of respect."

While talking, she didn't glance at Ayila, finally seeing Ayila's emotions seemed to ease down.

It seems that I can't tease her anymore.

The two of them changed the subject and talked about something else.

Yuan Hanzhang got off the morning court and invited the two to take the same car to the school grounds.

The range of the bed crossbow is 500 paces, [-] meters. There is no such a large school yard in the city, so they are going to a school yard outside the city.

The queen mother travels in a mighty way.

Although Jiankang City was the capital of a dynasty hundreds of years ago, it has been too many years. The current city was newly built during the Dacheng Dynasty. It was not built as a capital city, and the streets are not as wide as Bianjing City. The Empress Dowager's convoy moved slower because of this.

Because of internal and external

With a serious illness, Yuan Hanzhang's security has also increased a lot. The front and rear are all guards, and the inside is her hidden guard. Xue Zhijing even said hello to the hidden guard Haitang before getting into the car.

Haitang still hasn't changed, she still has the same ordinary appearance. If the two of them hadn't become familiar with each other, Xue Zhijing probably still couldn't remember her appearance clearly.

I forgot to mention that Xue Zhijing is now considered a member of the Empress Dowager's hidden guard.

Speaking of it, Xue Zhijing's feelings for Yuan Hanzhang are also very strange. Xue Zhijing's mental age is almost the same as hers. Xue Zhijing can also understand Yuan Hanzhang's way of doing things and inner thoughts, so she can get Yuan Hanzhang so quickly. trust.

Yuan Hanzhang is a very responsible person, and his sense of responsibility is so great that he trapped himself.

But she is also a person with great leadership charisma, strong character, and knowledgeable cultivation.

Xue Zhijing is naturally willing to get close to Yuan Hanzhang, whether as a team member, as a friend, or even as a relative.In such a relationship, if Yuan Hanzhang had any more thoughts on her, she would readily agree.

If not, as Yuan Hanzhang treats her as a friend and relative now, she will also treat Yuan Hanzhang as a friend and relative.

No, in the car in front of the light bulb, Xue Zhijing still has a feeling of "consolation".

In fact, Yuan Hanzhang is what she looks like on weekdays, except that she will show some sense of strength when arguing with the chief executives in the court, when she is with maids or female officials on weekdays, she is very casual, There is no temper, her eyes are even like a sea, with a strong tolerance.

When she looks at you, it's easy for you to tell her everything about you, and you even feel that she has seen through the things you haven't said yet, but she doesn't make you feel uncomfortable, as if everything The words are what you want to say.

Presumably this is also the result of years of practice.

So Xue Zhijing really can't see whether she treats Ayila differently. The only thing that has changed is that when Ayila unbuttoned her veil, Yuan Hanzhang seemed slightly startled.

But Ayla's appearance is too amazing. I have known her for so long and I can't get used to it, so I can't use it as evidence.

On the other hand, Ayila was too enthusiastic about Yuan Hanzhang, her eyes seemed to be glued to Yuan Hanzhang.

Along the way, Ayla never stopped talking, and I don't know where she found so many topics.

In comparison, today's Zhijing Xue is just like a gourd with a saw-mouthed gourd, purely watching a show.

The sky was clear, and a high tent for Yuan Hanzhang had been prepared on the school grounds, and tables, chairs and coffee tables were also placed inside.

The maid beside her quickly prepared dried fruit snacks and tea, while Xue Zhijing sat in the tent with Yuan Hanzhang.

Ayla went to get ready.

Under the high platform, slowly, a group of courtiers gathered, most of them were old men with white beards.

The dynasty has been established for too long, and gradually, the senior officials will over-select from ability selection to seniority selection, and most of them are old men.Most of the old men were conservative, and gradually, the dynasty's enthusiasm for innovation disappeared.

A bed crossbow was pushed over by a group of sergeants and set up on the open space directly in front of Yuan Hanzhang. There was a huge haystack five hundred steps away as the target.

Ayila came over to Yuan Hanzhang's side, and said with a smile, "Empress Dowager, you are ready, and you can experiment at any time."

Three long arrows were loaded onto the bed crossbow.

It is said to be a long arrow, but it is actually the same as a spear. The shaft is made of hardwood, and the pointed end is equipped with an iron sharp weapon.

Just looking at this size, you can know how strong the attack power is.

Ayila explained to Yuan Hanzhang next to him, "Three bowstrings are installed on this bed crossbow, and the hard arrows are ejected with their combined force. Every time, five to ten strong soldiers must twist the capstan to pull the bowstring. .”

The sergeants demonstrated below creaked and twisted the winch to pull the bowstring above. Although machinery and pulleys were used to unload the force, such a large-scale tool still required a lot of manpower.

Finally, the bowstring was drawn, and a sergeant beside the bed crossbow looked at Ayila on the high platform with a small flag in his hand.

Ayla asked Yuan Hanzhang, "

Empress Dowager, the bowstring has been drawn, can I try it? "

Yuan Hanzhang: "Okay, experiment!"

Ayla raised her hand and waved it down, and the sergeant below who was holding a small flag suddenly waved down the flag in his hand.

Seeing the flag waved down, the sergeant operating the bed crossbow fired the long arrow.

I saw the three long arrows whizzing away in the air, drawing a parabola visible to the naked eye in the sky, and then stably pierced into the target haystack, completely submerged.

A sergeant pushed the haystack over, and the courtiers below immediately exclaimed.

They could see it, at a distance of [-] paces, many courtiers were short-sighted, and that was a place they couldn't see at all, but the three hard arrows, which looked like spears used by soldiers every day, didn't go in. A palm-length tail is outside the haystack. Even if the haystack is loose and easy to get in, it is enough to stimulate people's eyes.

Yuan Hanzhang also took a deep breath.

She clenched her hands tightly on the arm of the chair beside her.

Obviously excited.

It's not that Yuan Hanzhang has never seen various long-range weapons of the Forbidden Army. On the contrary, she must check them regularly, but this long-range weapon that can reach a distance of 500 meters and is accurate and powerful is too amazing.

This is already the top weapon of this era.

Then, the bed crossbow was pushed down, and some firearms were brought up.

For example, "rockets", "fireballs" and "fire thorns", these are weapons with fire fired by traditional bows and arrows or trebuchets, mainly to throw flames to the target position.

In addition, the prototype of firearms in the modern sense is the "huohuo wooden warehouse", which uses a bamboo tube as a tube, contains gunpowder, and has a "zike" inside, which is shot out under the impact of gunpowder, which is infinitely close to modern weapons.

However, these weapons can reach a distance of more than 100 steps at most, and the impact force is much smaller than that of the bed crossbow.

After the experiment was over, Yuan Hanzhang convened all the officials in the school grounds to discuss equipping these new equipment into the army, and at the same time, there was a new formation of troops.

Xue Zhijing and Ayila also participated in it.

However, at the end of the meeting, an old man from the Privy Council gave a slow salute to Yuan Hanzhang, and said, "Empress Dowager, the minister has long wanted to speak up. How can the female officials in the harem participate in this court meeting? What about the speech?"

As soon as these words came out, Xue Zhijing frowned, and Ayila's expression was not particularly good.

Yuan Hanzhang didn't show it on the surface.

The old man continued, "The emperor is young and sick. It is helpless for the empress dowager to take the place of the son and the emperor. Now that the country is in dire straits, we don't mind the so-called rooster serving the morning. But the empress dowager has legitimate reasons. The reason, but the position of the female officer in the harem should be to deal with the affairs of the harem, why did you come to the former dynasty?"

The old man's words were loud and righteous, especially the last sentence, like a sharp sword, pierced straight into the chests of several people.

Yuan Hanzhang's face sank like water, and he didn't say a word.

The old men around also talked in a hurry.

"The female officer should be in the palace, how can she come to attend the imperial meeting."

"Everyone performs their duties, and the important affairs of the court are the responsibility of the important ministers of the country."

"I hope that the Empress Dowager will rectify the harem so that the ladies in the palace will stick to their duties."

Even the ministers and ministers of the Ministry of Industry stood up, and they didn't even look at who improved these weapons for them, it was all thanks to Ayila.

It's a pity that Ayila's official status is the director of the Sitian Zao Office in the palace, and she has no relevant authority at all.

Yuan Hanzhang smoothed things over with a smile, "My two female officials, Xue Zhijing, Shanggong of the Shanggong Bureau, is good at economics, and Ayila of the Sitianzao Office is good at making utensils. I think they can play their part in the imperial meeting. ability to help the country.”

But the old man said stubbornly, "The economy has its own household department officials, and the utensil manufacturing has its own industry department. There are so many important officials in the country. Why do we need two harem women to participate? It is the empress dowager who thinks that we, who are well-read The pillars of the country are not as good as two young children who are not yet married.

Is it a girl? "

This is a heavy word.

But Yuan Hanzhang can't say that, I really think so, after all, the foundation of the entire dynasty is these scholars and courtiers, she can't say anything that will make her fall into the whirlpool of public opinion.

So Yuan Hanzhang laughed, "Guo Ge is always laughing at me, it's just two little girls, why bother to go online like this."