In order to be able to gain a firm foothold in Datong as soon as possible, Yang Hongzhang also fell into the cliché, and wrote a note to the imperial court before leaving, in addition to saying that he would follow the order to dispatch troops to immediately rush to the aid of Datong, but also hoped that the imperial court could arm Tianjin recruits as much as possible, and now the Tianjin new army is nearly 13,000 people, but only 3,000 people brought out by Yang Hongzhang from the capital have weapons and equipment, so I hope that the imperial court can give supplies when the army passes through the capital.

Of course, the current Tianjin is not rich, and Datong has been sacked by the Mongolian cavalry, so the next 10,000 people's grain and grass and military salaries must also be solved as soon as possible, and it is best to bring them with them when the army passes through the capital.

Yang Hongzhang also knew that in this way, there would be people in front of the emperor who would give him eye medicine in front of the emperor, saying anything about supporting the army and self-respect, taking advantage of the fire to rob and so on, but Yang Hongzhang is not a saint, let alone a god, how to fight without food, grass and military salaries, not to mention that in the future, he will rebuild the various county towns and fortresses of Datong Mansion.

In the concert, Leon Hongzhang also described in detail the construction and development of Tianjin City, and solemnly recommended Song Yingxing, hoping that the imperial court would let Song Yingxing take over as the prefect from the perspective of stabilizing and continuing the development plan.

Before leaving, Yang Hongzhang also gave a good explanation to Song Yingxing, and said his long-term plan for Tianjin City again in person, although he knew that Song Yingxing might not be able to be the master next, even if he became the prefect, most of what to do still had to listen to the imperial court, after all, he was just a civil official who had just risen from the eighth rank to the position of Tongzhi, Yang Hongzhang trusted him to have room for him to play, and if he was an ordinary prefect, he was an echo worm or even set up. But fortunately, Sun Chengzong has returned to the capital and has become the first assistant, as long as he talks to him in the capital, maybe Song Yingxing will be more likely to succeed, even if he can't take over, at least the development of Tianjin City will not be interrupted.

Yang Hongzhang was about to leave Tianjin, and the most worried was naturally Tian Hongyu, as well as the shareholders of the Jiangnan Trading Company, who were worried that the general soldiers and prefects sent by the imperial court would not be all the way with them, and would modify or even terminate the development of Tianjin City. Tian Hongyu even pegged Yang Hongzhang to ask whether Datong Mansion was worth investing, Yang Hongzhang also spread his hands, as a friend, he couldn't pit Tian Hongyu, just smiled and said, if you really feel that Ejing City is not safe, go to Jiangnan, Jiangnan's wealth is far beyond his imagination Tian Hongyu.

Tian Hongyu is also not sure about the situation in Shanxi, especially when he heard Yang Hongzhang say that there are a large number of businessmen in Shanxi who are actually traitors, and he will take this opportunity to vigorously rectify it, maybe this is also an opportunity, so Tian Hongyu insisted on investing in Datong, and the amount of investment will wait until he arrives in Datong to see the situation. Tian Hongyu can only welcome this. After all, Datong Mansion is so big, and it is close to Mongolia, and the benefits obtained by Shanxi merchants crossing the border wall every year are also astronomical.

Another more embarrassing person is Shi Lang, he led the sailor, but he did not enter the establishment of the Ming court, and it is impossible to follow Yang Hongzhang to Datong. Fortunately, now that a trading company has been established, they will not be pirates in the future, and Yang Hongzhang has also explained that Shi Lang and others must insist on operating in the Bohai Rim area, guarding the Jiangnan Trading Company while understanding the surrounding pirate situation and hydrological and geographical conditions. In Yang Hongzhang's plan, Shi Lang is undoubtedly the training object of the Admiral, and the first step of the Ming Navy Master is to restrict Japan and Korea, contain the Qing Dynasty, and the Bohai Rim is a very important area, and familiarize yourself with the environment of this generation in advance, but also lay the foundation for the Navy to cross the sea.

Yang Hongzhang was also worried that Shi Lang, especially his subordinates, would have changes in their hearts, so he explained to Shi Lang that no matter how the new Tianjin General Army treated this small naval division, even if he Yang Hongzhang himself could not supervise the Yangtze River within three years, he would definitely persuade the imperial court to rebuild the Yangtze River Naval Division, and he would definitely recommend Shi Lang as he recommended Song Yingxing.

Considering that Datong was in a big war, Yang Hongzhang asked all the soldiers' families to stay in Tianjin temporarily. In this regard, Zhang Linfeng and other auxiliary battalions had the most cumbersome tasks, but despite this, when loading materials, in addition to a large amount of grain and iron ore, Zhang Linfeng still loaded baskets of jade wheat and sweet potatoes into the car under the surprised eyes of everyone. Some people laughed at him, this is not a transfer of positions, this is a posture to move the Tianjin Mansion away, and some people asked him if he wanted to bring some with him, Zhang Linfeng didn't care about this, but he knew how much attention these jade wheat and sweet potatoes were in the hands of Dashuai and Mr. Song last autumn. In that place in Shanxi, especially in Datong, there are not many open flat bottoms at all, and the water source is pitiful, and even if the commander organizes people to make water-lifting machines, he will not be able to feed too many wheat fields.

The key is that these things were personally explained by the marshal, telling him that Yang Hongzhang could lose grain and pig iron, but there were a few things that could not be lost, one was those Western monks and craftsmen, and the other was these jade wheat and sweet potatoes. The role of Western monks, Zhang Linfeng didn't care about it before, but after experiencing the water lifter, he also carefully observed the exchanges between these Western monks and the marshal, and almost all of the so-called flintlock pistols came from the handwriting of these monks, and the craftsmen of the Ming Dynasty were either apprentices to them, or they were responsible for the production of spears and broadswords. Dashuai can compare Yumai, sweet potatoes and these Western monks, Zhang Linfeng naturally does not dare to slack off.

After two days of preparation, the army left Tianjin and headed for Datong Jinfa, but before that, Jing Ruiying, who was personally trained by Yang Hongzhang, had already moved in advance, and they dispersed to Datong. In addition to understanding the battle situation on the front line as soon as possible, another important person is to understand the situation of border trade among Shanxi merchants. Yang Hongzhang has not forgotten that when he bragged to the emperor Zhu Youzhen in the prison, he said that the strategy of subduing the slaves in the five-way system is a very important part of restricting Shanxi merchants, which is why Zhu Youzhen used Yang Hongzhang to guard Datong at this time, which is an opportunity for Yang Hongzhang to play, including the goodwill of the people to break away from the Manchu Qing Dynasty, and weaken the Manchu Qing Dynasty.

Along the way, the fighting spirit of the Tianjin New Army was high, especially the cavalry of the pioneer battalion was in high spirits, and they finally had the opportunity to go to the battlefield again. However, compared with them, Yang Hongzhang always felt empty in his heart, and he didn't know what he was worried about and what he couldn't let go.

It wasn't until he was less than thirty miles away from Beijing that Yang Hongzhang finally understood what he was concerned about.

This is a eunuch, a eunuch that Yang Hongzhang has only seen a few times but is very familiar with, because he is serving today's noble concubine Xiang Yunfang.

After the eunuch entered the barracks, Yang Hongzhang's order came down, and he camped twenty miles away from Beijing and waited for the imperial court's instructions.

It was the eunuch who left the camp during the day and returned, and then Yang Hongzhang took dozens of personal soldiers to follow the eunuch car and ran towards the imperial nunnery not far away at night, Yang Hongzhang on horseback was excited, he couldn't imagine that Xiang Guifei, who came here to practice in the name of praying for the royal blessing in order to avoid the plague, had been living here, and gave birth to the eighth prince Zhu Cihao. So he couldn't understand why Zhu Youzhen didn't urge the mother and son to return to the palace. You must know that although Zhu Youzhen is young now, there are many princes and princesses, but he gave birth to seven princes before but died two of them, and now he is still alive, the eldest prince, the second prince, and the third prince were all born to Queen Zhou, and the fourth prince and the sixth prince were born to Tian Guifei, and now Tian Guifei is dead, and the status of the eighth prince is only his three elder brothers. Perhaps it was precisely because of the death of two princes in the palace that Zhu Youzhen accepted Xiang Yunfang to live in the nunnery for a long time.

It's just that when Yang Hongzhang saw his beloved woman through the eyeliner, which eye-catching cousin was also there, she also glanced at the child in her arms, and then glanced at Yang Hongzhang and muttered, it's really like!

Yang Hongzhang had the experience of being in the palace last time, and directly ignored her existence, looking at the second person in front of him with burning eyes, Xiang Yunfang, who was a woman, seemed to be more charming, so that Yang Hongzhang, who had repeatedly warned himself to be calm on the way here, fell in an instant.

The cousin also seemed to be interested, and when Xiang Yunfang pounced on Yang Hongzhang, she quietly hugged the child and left. Although Yang Hongzhang no longer saw a woman for a year on the sea in the past year, Xia Yan also often lived in Tianjin, but the moment Xiang Yunfang threw himself into his arms, Yang Hongzhang's heart was melted, and he also responded to Xiang Yunfang enthusiastically, holding this lovely person in his arms.

When Yang Hongzhang and Xiang Yunfang had a few clouds and rains, the cousin seemed to have calculated the time and walked in with the child in her arms again, and said: "Some people are really bold, other people's sons are still here, so they dare to steal other people's mothers." ”

Faced with such a spicy and direct woman, Yang Hongzhang was speechless for a moment, and finally spoke to Yun Fang to relieve the siege: "Sister, don't make trouble, Hao'er should sleep for me." ”

Hearing this, the cousin glared at Yang Hongzhang, handed over the Eighth Prince, and then went out with his ass twisted.

Xiang Yunfang brought the child to Yang Hongzhang and said with a smile: "Do you think he is beautiful?" ”

"Pretty, pretty, pretty, of course." Yang Hongzhang was very awkward in his heart, although he could be sure that Xiang Yunfang's heart was in him, but after all, she had become the emperor's woman, and now she had given birth to a prince, if he wanted him to continue to praise this prince in person, he was really calm.

, seemed to see Xiang Yunfang's embarrassment, Xiang Yunfang turned around and put the child on the bed and smiled at Yang Hongzhang: "Okay, he's just a child, you still eat his vinegar, you should also go, I heard that there is still a war over there, be careful." ”

Yang Hongzhang nodded, did not speak, but opened his arms to wrap the beauty into his arms again, and refused to let go for a long time.