In the eighth year of Tianshun, on the seventeenth day of the first month, Hanhai City.

After Liu Juntao, Chen Mao, the governor of the Hanhai Metropolitan Protectorate, and Yue Zheng, the governor of the Hanhai Prefecture, sent out the plan, they continued to finalize the final details of the affairs of the Hanhai Metropolitan Protectorate. Then, Liu Juntao and the two of them spent a Spring Festival in Hanhai City, until the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, and then prepared to lead the army south to return to Datong Town.

Before leaving, Liu Juntao specially called Zhou Zongsheng, who had been promoted to the chief military officer of Hanhai Town, and said: "After the governor goes south, the officers and soldiers of the Changshui Army will guard Hanhai Town, and the civil affairs of the Hanhai Protectorate shall not interfere with the Changshui Army; Militarily, you must also fully cooperate with Chen Duxian. Of course, military cooperation is only limited to Hanhai Town, if Chen Duxian wants to recruit the Long Navy Army for an expedition, or go south, you have the right to refuse. ”

Zhou Zongsheng naturally understood that the jurisdiction of Hanhai Town was limited to a radius of three hundred miles from Hanhai City, not the entire Hanhai Metropolitan Protectorate. In other words, Chen Mao, the protector of Hanhai, did not command the Changshui Army as big as it seemed.

"Don't worry, your subordinates must keep it in mind!"

On the same day, Liu Juntao led more than 100,000 soldiers of the Tiance Army to set off south and returned to Datong Town under the respectful send-off of Chen Mao, the governor of Hanhai Prefecture, Yue Zheng, the governor of Hanhai Town, Zhou Zongsheng, the chief military officer of Hanhai Town, and a number of civil and military officials and leaders of various departments.

Looking at the leaders of the various tribes who were crawling on the ground, Liu Juntao couldn't help but feel happy in his heart, and at the same time, he was completely relieved. Now the various ministries in the desert have not only been defeated militarily by themselves, but also the backbone of the various ministries has also been completely broken by themselves, and they can no longer have the slightest heart of resistance.

Even if these Hu people will rebel again one day, it will be a long time later, at least one or two generations, as long as Liu Juntao himself and the soldiers of the Tiance Army are here, such a thing will never be allowed to happen!

When the army arrived at Datong Town, it was already half a month later, although the Spring Festival and Shangyuan Festival had passed, but when the soldiers of the various departments of the army arrived that day, the entire Datong Town was still full of lights, and the firecrackers in the city were ringing out, even more lively than the New Year.

Hearing that the soldiers of the Tiance Army were about to go outside the city, countless officials and people flocked to the city for a while, and under the leadership of Xue Tong, the chief military officer of Datong Town, the chief envoy of the Acting Wangfu, and the prefect of Datong Mansion, they went out of the city for three miles to meet the soldiers of the Tiance Army who returned triumphantly.

Liu Juntao and the soldiers of the whole army were moved when they saw this, this more than a year of hard work, huge sacrifices, at this moment is also worth it, to be able to get such support from the people, presumably there must be only the Yue family army in the Song Dynasty, so thinking about it, the soldiers are even more proud in their hearts: they have laid down thousands of miles of territory for the Ming Dynasty and China, which is enough to shine in the annals of history!

That night, the entire Datong town stayed awake all night, this night, thousands of people drank and carnivaled, this night, the soldiers of the Tiance Army returned to their hometown!

February.

At this time, all units of the Tiance Army had already gone to Shanxi and Shandong in accordance with the deployment of the imperial court, and the commanders of each army were all promoted to the post of chief military officers in various places.

In the city of Datong Town, in addition to the soldiers and horses of Datong Town, only the Long Xiang Army is stationed here.

Hu Dexing, who had been promoted to the governor of Shandong, also led the trapped army back to Shandong, and before leaving, Hu Dexing specially asked Liu Juntao for instructions on the next order. Liu Juntao said with a smile: "Now that we are all governors of a province, don't ask for instructions." ”

Hu Dexing said: "Bingxian, that's not what you said. Although the humble position is the governor of Shandong, the military constitution is not only the marquis, but also the secretary of the military department, and the position of the governor of Shanxi is only concurrent, so the humble position is still the subordinate of the military constitution, which will never change! ”

Liu Juntao smiled and nodded, he has known Hu Dexing for so many years, although Hu Dexing's ability is not very high, but in terms of judgment of the current situation and grasp of relationships, he is really strong. Originally, the two of them were equal, and even Liu Juntao asked Hu Dexing, but at this time, he was firmly on top of it, and ordinary people would have some mustard in their hearts, but Hu Dexing was willing to do things and was very serious, which made Liu Juntao very appreciative.

Liu Juntao encouraged Hu Dexing a few more words, and said: "After I go back, discuss with Xiaojun, and requisition part of the reserve force in Shandong Town, you are the governor of Shandong, and you must have a soldier and horse of your own under your command, and the scale of the army will be prepared according to the trap army, and the relevant documents will be sent to you as soon as possible after I go to Beijing to take office." ”

Hu Dexing was stunned for a moment when he heard this, and then he was overjoyed, but he still hugged his fists and said: "Rest assured, go back to your humble post and report the plan to Bingxian for review as soon as possible, and the generals at all levels of the new army will also be selected from the trapped army, and the logistics supply of the new army will also be responsible for Shandong Town!" ”

Hu Dexing ceded the personnel rights and equipment supply rights of this new army, let Shandong Town control them, and put a layer of shackles on himself.

Liu Juntao said with a smile: "You can discuss these things with Xiaojun yourself, and just tell me in the end......"

Then, the two said some more words, and Hu Dexing said goodbye to Liu Juntao.

A few days later, Liu Juntao began to order the reorganization of all units of the Tiance Army, and selected elite soldiers and strong generals from the reserve forces in Shanxi and Shandong, and all of them were supplemented into the various departments of the Tiance Army, so as to recover the casualties of the various units in the Northern Expedition.

A total of more than 7,000 reserve officers and men were requisitioned, and a large number of troops and garrisons were successively shipped from the military war bureaus in Shanxi and Shandong and delivered to the battalions of various departments of the Tiance Army.

At the same time, Liu Juntao also has his own considerations for entering Beijing this time, and serving as the secretary of the military department means that he will stay in the capital for a long time, so on the one hand, he must handle Shanxi's military affairs, and on the other hand, he must also transfer the military and political focus under his command from Shanxi to Gyeonggi.

As a result, Liu Juntao ordered the various ministries of the Shogunate of the Governor's Office to begin to mobilize manpower, and all the ministers of the Shogunate followed him to Beijing, and the elite men from the various ministries also went together;

The military headquarters should mobilize craftsmen and materials and prepare to go to Gyeonggi with the army, and prepare for the construction of a new military bureau and armory at a suitable location in Gyeonggi; The Ministry of Commerce does not need to build warehouses in Gyeonggi, but only needs to build warehouses in Shanxi and Shandong.

For the local military affairs in Shanxi, Liu Juntao thought about it and decided to move the Shanxi Governor's Mansion from Datong Town to Taiyuan Town, and at the same time let all the shogunate departments leave some people to stay in Taiyuan Town; Liu Juntao decided that when he went to Beijing to sit in the town, Yan Hu, the chief military officer of Taiyuan Town, temporarily took care of Shanxi's military affairs, and the chief military officers of the other towns listened to his control.

At this time, it was not a wartime state, so this moderation was only institutional, and Yan Hu did not have the right to mobilize and command the rest of the ministries.

In this way, Liu Juntao and the shogunate were busy for more than a month, until the beginning of March of the eighth year of Tianshun, and the holy decree of Emperor Tianshun urging Liu Juntao to enter Beijing immediately to take up his post was sent again.

Almost at the same time, there was also news from the Ministry of Intelligence and the Ministry of Inspection, and the news from both departments confirmed that Emperor Tianshun's condition was getting worse and worse, and there were many signs of instability in the court!

Liu Juntao looked at the holy decree sent by Emperor Tianshun, among the holy decrees, Emperor Tianshun's words were very intense, and he strictly ordered Liu Juntao to immediately lead the soldiers and horses of the Long Xiang army to the Beijing Division, and the deadline of 20 days must be stationed in the Beijing Division, and the specific garrison location will be issued later.

This message strongly tells Liu Juntao that Emperor Tianshun's purpose in letting him enter Beijing is not just to go to work!

The news of the Ministry of Intelligence and the Ministry of Inspection all show that at this time, Emperor Tianshun was seriously ill and could die at any time, and some courtiers of Emperor Jingtai took the opportunity to find trouble with the prince everywhere, and impeached the prince six times in a month, from the taboo of food and clothing, to the prince's words and deeds were not in line, and then to some unwarranted reasons, these ministers became more and more bold, and even some remarks appeared in the court that "the prince is not virtuous, and he will be abolished according to the will of heaven", and many ministers are watching the fire from the other side, which makes Emperor Tianshun extremely angry.

These situations have been spread in full swing inside and outside the capital, and even the restaurants and teahouses in the capital are rumored, and the intelligence department and the inspection department did not spend much effort to find out.

This shows that at this time, the situation in the court is already very critical, and Emperor Tianshun is no longer able to control the government, so he is so anxious to let Liu Juntao lead the army into Beijing, so as to deter the ministers, stabilize the court, and protect the prince!

"It seems that I am destined to be a powerful minister!"

Since Liu Juntao figured out Emperor Tianshun's plan, he couldn't help but sigh that the heaven of the Ming Dynasty was about to change again.

At the same time, Liu Juntao also gave up his plan to bring Guo Muying's mother and son to Beijing together. The fortune and misfortune of going to Beijing is unpredictable, and he will lead the army into Beijing, whether he will eventually help Sheji or become the contemporary Dong Zhuo, it will be determined by the trend of the situation in the court, and a person's power is too small in the staggered forces of the government and the opposition, even if Liu Juntao has a strong army, it is the same!

Therefore, Liu Juntao still decided to send Guo Muying's mother and son to Taiyuan Mansion and stay in the Shanxi Governor's Mansion to wait for him to come back.

When Guo Muying learned of Liu Juntao's decision, although her heart was full of worry, she didn't say anything, but fully supported Liu Juntao's decision.

"The husband's entry into Beijing this time is extremely dangerous, and the concubine does not understand the affairs of the court, but he also knows the truth that the open gun is easy to dodge and the hidden arrow is difficult to prevent, most of those ministers are human spirits, and the husband must be cautious in everything, and he must not be rash."

Speaking of this, Guo Muying said: "At the beginning of Dong Zhuo's entry into Beijing, he didn't have the idea of helping the country, but in the end, he cholera hit the Han Dynasty, why? The concubine didn't believe it, the civil and military forces of the Manchu Dynasty at that time did not play any role in fueling the fire! ”

Liu Juntao also nodded, and the pressure in his heart was also heavy, and said: "Madam, don't worry, I am not Dong Zhuo, and those ministers in the court are not the late Han Dynasty gates, and the current Ming Dynasty is not the late Han Dynasty in the twilight of the West Mountain!" ”