Chapter 1582: Rewarding beauties and troops
After seeing off the eunuch who announced the imperial edict, Su Mingzhe went to the study to receive the second group of envoys.

"Minglan (Yuhe) pays respects to the prince and wishes him a long and healthy life!"

When the two little maids arrived in Dadu, they originally lived in the inn.

However, the two women came to the palace every day to inquire about news. After becoming familiar with the people in the palace, they accepted the invitation and lived in the guest rooms of the palace.

"No gifts!"

Su Mingzhe looked at the two girls' pretty and charming faces, and felt a lot of emotions in his heart for a moment.

When Tang Anan asked me to sow the seeds, the four maids helped a lot and put in a lot of effort.

When they met again after many years, Su Mingzhe naturally would not put on airs like a prince.

After the two girls stood up, they placed the rosewood dressing box in front of Su Mingzhe and said respectfully:
"Your Majesty, the Queen ordered us to bring this box to you..."

"What's in here?"

Su Mingzhe asked as he lightly flicked his finger and cut the copper lock on the box into two halves.

"I don't know!"

After Minglan and Yuhe got the box, they never opened it, so naturally they didn't know what was in the box.

Su Mingzhe stopped asking the two girls and casually opened the box. He saw a small red bellyband inside the box.

When he unfolded it, he saw that it was embroidered with a red snake, a golden toad, a black scorpion, a centipede and a spider.

"Five Poison Bellyband?!"

Su Mingzhe was stunned.

The Five Poisons Bellyband is usually worn by newborn babies.

Minglan was very smart. Seeing the bellyband, she quickly reminded him:
"Your Highness, have you forgotten that this was embroidered by my daughter...my lady..."

Su Mingzhe immediately understood that Tang Anan gave him the Five Poisons Bellyband to tell him that the little Emperor Zhao Chun of Lin'an was his own child, so that he would not rebel.

Putting down the Five Poisons Bellyband, Su Mingzhe picked up another item in the box.

When he unfolded it, he was at a loss whether to laugh or cry. It turned out to be a white silk handkerchief with a black stain in the center.

If you look closely, you can tell that the black stain is actually blood.

When Minglan and Yuhe saw this, they quickly lowered their heads.

Su Mingzhe casually put the silk handkerchief and bellyband back into the box, and then asked the two women:

"When the Queen Mother asked you to come here, did she have any message to convey?"

The two women shook their heads quickly:

"No."

Su Mingzhe asked again:

"Do you have any family in the South?"

The two girls looked dejected and shook their heads again:
"No."

The two girls were sold to a brothel when they were young and became Tang Anan's maids. They had long lost contact with their families.

Seeing this, Su Mingzhe made the decision directly:

"In that case, you don't have to go back. Stay by my side and serve me from now on!"

Although Su Mingzhe has many women, they are all from good families, so it is inevitable that they are a little restrained in their married life.

Minglan and Yuhe grew up in a brothel since childhood. They learned music, chess, calligraphy and painting, and also knew all kinds of tricks.

When he was in Lin'an before, Su Mingzhe was very satisfied with them.

Now that they have come to him on their own initiative, Su Mingzhe will naturally not let them leave.

……

A long absence is better than a new marriage.

That night, after the little fellow Su Hui fell asleep, Su Mingzhe took Xiao Longnu to practice the "Panlong Dafa".

Until dawn.

Su Mingzhe didn't get much rest. After breakfast, he went to the study where government affairs were handled to hand over government affairs to Huang Rong.

After the handover was completed, Huang Rong was about to go outside the Great Wall.

……

In June, Guo Jing led his troops to the Northern Expedition.

In August, Tokyo was conquered.

In September, Shangjing was captured.

After conquering Shangjing, Guo Jing wanted to continue to lead his troops to sweep across the Baishan and Heishui regions, but the army encountered heavy snow and the road was blocked.

Guo Jing had no choice but to take his troops back to Shangjing to spend the winter.

After receiving the news, Huang Rong insisted on going north to reunite with her husband.

……

Among the thirty-two beauties sent by the Song court in Lin'an, four girls came from noble families and were kept by Su Mingzhe for his enjoyment.

The other twenty-eight beauties, although also stunningly beautiful, were all from impoverished families and had no marriage value, so they were given away by Su Mingzhe.

Six of them were awarded to Yang Guo, Wu Xiuwen, and Wu Dunru.

The rest of the rewards were given to the twenty-two brave generals under his command.

……

"Brother-in-law, are you really willing to give so many beauties to those generals?"

When Wanyan Ping learned that Su Mingzhe had given most of the beauties away as gifts, she was puzzled and rushed to the study to ask the man.

In her opinion, Su Mingzhe is definitely a lustful man.

But this lustful man pushed the beauty away.

"What's there to be reluctant about?"

Su Mingzhe stretched out his hand and pinched the woman's soft face, saying indifferently:

"I already have quite a few women around me. In a few days, Cheng Ying, Wu Shuang, and Miss Gongsun will marry into my family, and there will be eleven women in my house (not counting the maids). Even if I let five of them sleep with me every day, there are still five people who have to stay alone in an empty room for a day, and then there is one person who will have to take a vacant turn."

After hearing the man's explanation, Wanyan Ping suddenly remembered something and her face turned red with shame. She was about to leave the man's study, but the man hugged her in his arms.

Seeing this, Minglan and Yuhe, who were serving nearby, went to close the door and windows tacitly.

The air is dry in the north in winter.

Everyone has nothing to do, so they can only stay at home with their wife and children.

Su Mingzhe was not immune either.

……

Winter goes and spring comes in a blink of an eye.

Six women, Wanyan Ping, Yelu Yan, Cha Bi, Wang Chen, Cheng Ying and Xiao Longnu, became pregnant one after another.

When the news spread outside, congratulations came one after another.

Many of the civil and military officials under Su Mingzhe's command had served in the Jin Dynasty and later surrendered to the Tatars. When Duo'erzhi and Liu Bingzhong chose to surrender, they also surrendered to Su Mingzhe.

When later generations record history, these people will inevitably be labeled as "traitors".

In this situation, except for a few exceptions, most people hope that Su Mingzhe will unify the world.

Because they don't want to be 'slaves of three surnames'!
……

Spring March.

The ice and snow melted everywhere and the communication channels were restored.

Liu Bingzhong, who was in charge of the advisory group, came in a hurry and reported the bad news:

"Your Highness, the spies from the grassland just sent us news that Mongke has seized the Khan throne and granted Kublai Khan an army of 500,000. Now Kublai Khan is heading straight for Dadu!"

"Five hundred thousand troops, that's a lot!"

Su Mingzhe looked at Liu Bingzhong, then at Cha Bi beside him, and the disdain in his eyes was beyond words.

For him, let alone an army of 500,000, even an army of 600,000, 700,000, or even a million, could be easily wiped out.

Liu Bingzhong thought Su Mingzhe was arrogant and reminded him:
"Your Majesty, Kublai Khan has an army of 500,000 men, and they are coming aggressively, but Dadu only has 60,000 men. We must be on guard!"

"Well, 60,000 versus 500,000, it's definitely a little less!"

Su Mingzhe pondered for a moment, then asked Cha Bi to grind ink for him. Soon, three transfer orders were ready:
"Bingzhong, send someone to pass on these three transfer orders immediately!"

Liu Bingzhong took a quick look and found that there was only one transfer order, which was to send 40,000 troops from Jingdong Road to support Dadu.

The other two orders were to dispatch large troops to the border of Jinzhong and Guanzhong to prepare for a counterattack on Mengge's territory.

This made him horrified:

"Your Highness is going to use an army of 100,000 to fight against Kublai Khan's army of 500,000?"

"A hundred thousand troops are too many. In fact, I only need fifty thousand. The extra fifty thousand will be used to capture prisoners!"

Su Mingzhe didn't want to explain any more to Liu Bingzhong, so he just waved his hand and told him to do it quickly.

Although Liu Bingzhong was puzzled, seeing Su Mingzhe's confidence and considering Su Mingzhe's previous brilliant achievements, he could only leave with suspicion.

(End of this chapter)