Women's League
She felt sorry for her sister, but at the moment she was far away on the border and unable to intervene in matters of the palace. The most urgent task was to take advantage of the fact that this border region was far from the capital and had relatively few informants to get in touch with her sister as soon as possible.
My younger sister commands the legacy of the previous dynasty's martial arts world: the Four Great Halls of Listening to the Wind, Gazing at Snow, Approaching the Rain, and Viewing the Moon. This is a formidable potential force, but it's predominantly composed of men. While she holds these four halls, she should quickly forge alliances with women in the martial arts world and those she can recruit from the general populace to build a female army. The men will handle the main battles, while the women undergo intensive training. The Four Great Halls have amassed considerable wealth; they will use incentives to lure women from the populace. They also possess status; they will use higher positions to attract women from the martial arts world. While male power can be utilized, women will be crucial in the most critical moments.
She summoned Zai Yu and whispered, "Find the safest route and send a letter to the southwest." At the same time, she also asked Zai Yu to contact talented women. Since there were none available, she suggested that he compile a book called "Portraits of Saintesses," one for men and one for women, to provide a basis for women to become emperors.
During her inspection of the camp, she noticed that many soldiers' weapons were badly worn, with dull blades, loose spearheads, and damaged armor. Supplying the border regions, especially with high-quality weaponry, had always been a major problem for the garrison.
While he was pondering, a scout came to report that the Moxi tribe had recently acquired a batch of newly forged weapons, which were quite excellent.
Qian Yuan, the aunt who accompanied them from the Sword Forging Manor, suggested that they just steal it. The male generals, except for Su Lang, all laughed. Su Lang also tried to dissuade them with some concern.
Qian Yuan smiled slightly, unfolded a simple map of the Western Regions, and drew a winding route on it with his finger. His voice was calm and even: "General Lu, as far as I know, there are several small oases and border markets along this route. People from the Western and Northern Deserts, and even our own border residents, often secretly trade goods here. The management is chaotic and the defenses are lax. We can send people disguised as caravans or refugees to infiltrate, find the right opportunity, rob the Western Desert's weapons transport convoy, and then frame the Northern Desert."
This plan was praised even by Qi Shen.
However, the vanguard was in extreme danger. At this critical moment, the two sisters that Lu Yun Chu had previously sought out, Bai Wu Shou and Bai Wu Sheng, were willing to take the lead. The men thought that the two girls could do nothing and laughed at them. Lu Yun Chu was also reluctant to lose the core force and remained silent.
Bai Wushou and Bai Wusheng were born into martial arts families, but their fathers forced them to marry the same man. Unwilling to accept the humiliation, they escaped and were deeply grateful for Lu Yunchu's kindness in recognizing their talent. The two displayed their skills, proving that their abilities far surpassed those of all the male soldiers.
Lu Yunchu nodded and then personally assigned the task. She ordered Qin Lang and Qi Shen to lead elite troops to launch a feint attack on the Moxi outpost camp at dawn three days later to draw out the main force, while Bai Wusheng, Bai Wushou, and Lin Chen would infiltrate to seize weapons and frame Mobei.
At this moment, Qian Yuan unfolded a more detailed map and pointed towards the direction of the Northern Desert Royal Court: "We can take a two-pronged approach. Today, we will send someone disguised as a merchant, carrying some tea that the Northern Desert urgently needs and a small amount of refined iron, to the Northern Desert tribes to show goodwill and express their willingness to establish a long-term secret trading channel. This matter must be done discreetly, but we must ensure that the news can be leaked to the Western Desert."
Sword Forging Manor has always been involved in trade routes. Since resources are scarce in the border regions, it's a good opportunity to open up trade routes to the Central Plains and engage in speculative trading here. They immediately accepted the mission.
After everyone left, Bai Wushou whispered to Lu Yunchu, "This is a good opportunity to join forces with the women of Moxi and Mobei. This place values martial arts, and many of the women here are highly skilled in martial arts."
Bai Wusheng felt that many women on the border were living in hardship and there was a lot of vacant land. He thought it would be a good opportunity to find these women, establish villages, and use the area as a base under the pretext of restoration and reconstruction to train a large female army. At the same time, he would have the women from the mountain villa built by Lu Yunchu come here from the Central Plains to transfer some of their forces and build a women's alliance in multiple locations.
Lu Yunchu summoned all the women together, appointing Qian Yuan as the chief female instructor, Bai Wusheng as the leader of the Western Desert branch, and Bai Wushou as the leader of the Northern Desert branch. The most capable would be given the position, with rewards to be bestowed. He also established the Great Chu Women's Alliance Covenant and its laws, and from then on, widely recruited talented individuals from across the land to vigorously develop the Women's Alliance and build a large female army. Merit would be based on actual achievements and the number of women recruited. She was primarily responsible for military affairs in the Northwest. The alliance's civil officials were led by Zai Yu, and the military officials by Jiang Liu.
Three days later at dawn, the war drums sounded. Qin Lang and Qi Shen each led their troops in a fierce attack on the western outpost. In an instant, the sounds of battle shook the heavens, and arrows rained down, successfully drawing the attention of the western defenders to the main battlefield.
Meanwhile, Bai Wushou, Bai Wusheng, and Lin Chen led a carefully selected squad, dressed in camouflage-friendly gray-brown clothing, and using the terrain and morning mist as cover, circled around to the supply area behind the Moxi camp. There, as expected, were piles of newly forged weapons and armor. Following their plan, they swiftly moved, taking away all the high-quality weapons they could carry, and deliberately leaving behind a few ornaments and arrows bearing Moxi tribe totems.
The people sent by Qianyuan also made contact with a minor leader on the edge of the northern desert tribes. Although the northern people were skeptical, the very existence of this goodwill created a rift in their alliance.
After a resounding victory in the first battle, Lu Yunchu continued to govern the border while intensifying her own training. She would rise before dawn to practice swordsmanship until her arms ached so much she could no longer lift them; at midday, she would practice archery under the scorching sun, letting sweat soak through her heavy armor, her tiger's mouth repeatedly cracked and scabbed from the bowstring, until it cracked again. She also tried to start from the very back of the column, gradually preparing herself to lead troops into battle.
In another corner of the military camp, however, lay a tragedy she was powerless to change immediately: the system of camp prostitutes. She could not challenge this long-standing system before her position was secure, but she observed a strange phenomenon: none of the five main generals—Qi Shen, Qin Lang, Lin Chen, Chi Luofeng, and Luo Cheng—openly engaged in prostitution.
Qi Shen privately cursed it as "filthy," yet he highly approved of the system, seeing it as a rare opportunity for men to indulge themselves. He didn't go himself but encouraged his soldiers to go. Qin Lang strongly resisted all matters of romance, finding them disgusting. Rumors circulated in the army that he had almost become a general's plaything, only to be saved by Chu Chengchao. He would often visit these girls and sometimes stand up for them. Lin Chen had no interest in anything other than fame and fortune, too lazy to waste his time, but he felt the camp prostitute system was effective in motivating soldiers. Chi Luofeng's attitude was ambiguous. He had many concubines, many of whom accompanied him, and he felt the camp prostitutes were neither beautiful nor interesting enough. Luo Cheng, on the other hand, was simply shy and embarrassed, but he had one wife and seven concubines at home and thought it was normal for men to be philanderers.
Lu Yunchu herself often went to see those girls. She always brought dry food and clean cloth, sat among them, listened to their stories, sought possible allies, and led them away to join the women's army.
During a conversation, a young woman named Yuejin looked at the water pouch that Lu Yunchu handed her and suddenly murmured, "You...you look so much like that young prince from before..."
Lu Yunchu's hand trembled violently.
Yuejin sighed: "It's just His Highness Chengchao... He didn't do anything, just brought us some food and told us to rest. He said it hurt him to see us crying..."
So, this is the kind of person he is...
Lu Yunchu remained silent for a moment, then asked Yuejin to help contact the sisters who wanted to leave, saying that she would find a way to abolish the camp prostitute system.
She couldn't directly intervene, but she could use Su Lang to incite infighting among the men. She approached Su Lang and told him that she had noticed the same soldiers were always coming and going from the camp brothel tents. These men were often lax in their training and were destabilizing factors in the army.
"Those bastards who can't control their lower bodies! I've had my eye on them for ages!"
Seeing his intense reaction, Lu Yunchu followed up with her own idea: "Since they have so much energy, why not... send them to do the most dangerous outpost reconnaissance, trap detection, or charge into battle as suicide soldiers? Make the best use of them, and it can also... reduce the burden on the army."
As the soldiers who most frequently sought pleasure were continuously sent to dangerous missions and gradually depleted, the area around the brothel tents indeed became much quieter, allowing more women to leave and giving those who remained a much-needed respite.
Qin Lang and Lu Yun Chu gradually became acquainted. He regarded Lu Yun Chu not only as a trustworthy sister-in-law, but also as a close sister who would share life and death with him. Whenever he heard soldiers gossiping about or humiliating Lu Yun Chu in private, he would fly into a rage, rush over, drag the person out, and berate or even beat them without mercy. Some people spread rumors about the two of them, which worried Qin Lang, but Lu Yun Chu didn't care at all. If she was called a monster, then let her live up to that name.
Unfortunately, some men soon discovered that the number of camp prostitutes had decreased, and some had even joined the ranks of soldiers, leading to widespread opposition.
Qi Shen was the most vehemently opposed. He always clutched a jade pendant engraved with the words "Yun Qing" and grinned foolishly. He claimed Yun Qing was his wife, yet he twistedly encouraged others' behavior of visiting prostitutes. In front of everyone, he mercilessly mocked Lu Yun Chu: "Women should act like women! What's with practicing martial arts? It's utter nonsense! Men, fighting is hard work, and venting their anger gives them more strength to charge into battle! Are you cutting off this path to make our brothers all go crazy?"
Although Luo Cheng maintained a superficial politeness towards Lu Yun Chu due to his upbringing, he nodded slightly in agreement on this matter: "General Qi's words may be rough, but... there is some truth to them. The most important thing is to maintain the morale of the army. A few women won't distract the brothers too much; it's just for fun."
Upon hearing this, Chi Luofeng, standing to the side, revealed a mocking expression that was neither a smile nor a frown on his handsome face. He played with the riding whip in his hand and lazily said, "General Qi's suggestion is not without merit... as a method of encouragement."
At this moment, a clear, cold voice rang out; it was Lin Chen, who had been silent all along. He put down the longsword he was wiping, his gaze sweeping over the three men. His brows furrowed slightly, and he made no attempt to hide the disdain in his eyes: "With a formidable enemy at hand, and the Western and Northern Deserts eyeing us covetously, you have no time to think of ways to defeat them, yet you have the leisure to argue about how gratification can generate power?"
He shook his head, pulled out a plain folding fan from somewhere, unfolded it with a "whoosh," and gently fanned himself before making a groundbreaking suggestion: "Since we lack troops, let whoever is capable go! We should completely abolish the system of military prostitutes and organize all idle women... including those from the common people... well, those who no longer need to bear children... into an army, train them uniformly, and have them participate in defense and combat! The more people there are, the less likely each person will die in battle—that's the right way! Once we're promoted and return to the capital, what kind of woman won't we find!"
Under Lin Chen's impetus, most of the camp prostitutes were organized and given more systematic military training. However, a small number of camp prostitutes were still retained, a policy strongly insisted upon by Luo Cheng and others, which had to be temporarily accepted to avoid undermining morale.
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